writing

Writing vs. Posting

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I have been writing on three posts somewhat simultaneously. I start one, move to the next one, stick a thought here or there, save, and continue. When I went on my pilgrimage, the third came to life. Now, I’ve started a fourth that seems to have taken over.

As many of you know, I usually write on my Kindle; my finger and Swype. For something that takes a little more thought and words I use my keyboard. But then there are those doozys. The ones that go over 700 words just in the head space, and I know that I need something a little bigger: my laptop.

For the fourth wip (work(s) in progress), I need to watch a four+ minute video for my analysis; my meta. I can’t really watch a video of that quality and type notes in a first draft format without my laptop. I’ve been watching, and writing, saving to my dropbox to edit on my Kindle, lather, rinse, repeat.

For the third wip, I typed my handwritten notes with the kindle keyboard, dropbox’d it, and continued in the laptop.

The combined word count so far for three and four is well over 2500 words. Truth be told, they’re closer to 3K and nowhere near finished.

I really, really want to post them both.

Like right now.

But they’re just not ready for prime time, and sitting here listening to my fandom playlist, I was reminded that whatever name I give myself – writer, author, blogger – at no point have I ever said I’m a poster.

Posting is the publication, the end result of the work; the time put in, the research, watching the damn videos, adding the damn links, checking the damn facts, honing the opinion, the WRITING.

WRITING.

However long it takes from thought to page to post, it goes nowhere without the writing. So, if the first one takes five months, and the second one takes three months, and the third two or three weeks, and the fourth one and a half months, no matter. No worries.

The writing is the thing.

And the thing is the most important thing.

The thing is the writing.

Thursday Travels – Writing Space

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Today I am in a writing place. Sometimes, the traveling is far, and sometimes it’s close by. I’ve had this on my mind to write since July, and I’ve finally say down with my computer to start it. Twelve hundred words in and its started. Writing places are special. They can be at desks, tables, coffee shops, parks, and in beds. I’ll get back there this afternoon.

Getting Ready for Summer Recess

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This is the last full week the kids are in school for the year. I need to get the house ready for kids to be home 24/7.

Find the books, check out Pinterest, line up some movies, think about our summer food tasting and hide the snacks and cereal where they can’t be devoured on the first day of summer.

Those of you with kids, what are your plans for when school’s out?

For those of you without kids, is there anything that you do each summer that is only a summer thing?

Intro to History

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If you asked my kids what their feelings on history is, I’m pretty sure they’d answer: “Don’t care,” “Hate it,” “Eh” in that order.

However if you asked child #1 what she thinks of poodle skirts or headbands of the seventies, she’d be on Google faster than The Flash.

If you asked child #2 about the first comic book ever printed, or who holds the record for the most breakouts of Arkham Asylum, he’d tell you. In infinite detail.

My third child could tell you the history of his fire department, and if you asked him the difference between a pumper truck and a medical unit, he’d know.

History is one of those things that we either love it or we don’t know we love it. All three of them are blase about their social studies and history classes, but ask them about something they’re interested in, and they can give you the rundown from ancient times until the present day, up until the point you cry ‘uncle’ or lose yourself in their droning.

My love of history is primarily American and European focused with more interest on the American Revolution and Civil War and the Middle Ages, respectively. I’ve studied the history of language, of writing, of The Celts, Law, Drinks, the Civil Rights Movement, Catholic Church, and quite frankly the list goes on and on. I’ve made historically accurate garments, made and ate historically accurate food, played games, brewed and infused, embroidered, etc.

With the seventy-first anniversary of D-Day approaching at the end of the week, I thought we would take a peek this week at our own views of history: what we think of it, what we think of as history, which histories we’re interested in learning more about, plus some reading recommendations that I’ve personally found enlightening and of course, interesting.

Let’s start with our usual Monday prompt:

Think about your view of history. If you like/love it, great! Which is your favorite historical period? If you don’t like it, think about what you do like and if you might be interested in how it came to be.

Other prompts for this week to think about:

Your State’s (City’s/Town’s/Etc.) History

Family History – who are you named for? Why? What happened to that person? How did your parents meet? What’s your first memory?

When was your house built? Talk about that time period and what your street/community might have looked like.

What’s your favorite hobby? Who started that? How long have you been doing it? How long have others been doing it? (Remember this one for next week’s theme of collections.)