Monday Morning Pick Me Up: Moving!!

I will be MIA for a little while.  My kids and I are moving to a new apartment!  The place is wonderful, but with moving comes packing.  And cleaning.  And unpacking.  And a mountain of paperwork that contains far too many numbers for my word oriented brain.  As soon as I sort through all of these tasks, rest assured, my poetry and I will be back and active.  Until then, enjoy Thanksgiving if you're in the states.  If you're not.... enjoy not gaining 5 pounds in one day.

Wednesday Writing: Take a Break!

As you can see, I have not kept up with my regular posting schedule lately.  You know what?  I'm not sweating it!  I don't feel bad.  I don't feel like I abandoned my blog.  I don't feel like I abandoned my readers.  I didn't feel like I had to write.  I gave myself permission to take care of myself because sometimes life happens and self care is a lot more important than keeping up with writing.

Ready for some shocking news?  Writing is not my whole life.

Earth shattering, right?  I'll give you a second to absorb that.

Understand this, writing is still my passion.  I adore writing, and I will always love the process. It is an integral part of who I am.  I have been a writer since I was thirteen years old, and that is a portion of myself that will never change.  I am very secure in my identity, so it makes it very easy to step away from that portion of myself.

I have been sick for a few days.  I've hugged the toilet more often than I've hugged my children recently.  Monday morning I had a passing thought that it might be helpful to write a Monday Morning Pick Me Up, but that thought was proceeded by a porcelain hug. I was in no shape to do anything but take care of my immediate physical needs.  Resting and staying hydrated were much more important than churning out writing just to fill a blog.  My only screen time was finally bingeing Stranger Things 2.

Burn

The smell of seared flesh

Filled the air

Along with the aroma

Of burnt hair

Tears streaked my cheeks

As my shriek echoed

In the tiny chamber

One of these days

I will learn

To use my curling iron

Without maiming myself

Wednesday Writing: NaNoWriMo

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/218072806930199379/

It’s the beginning of November.  And I’m writing.  About writing.  So, it stands to reason that I’ll be telling you all the wonderful things about NaNoWriMo.  And how I’ll totally be doing it.  Because anyone can do it. Right? Well, kinda.

About NaNoWriMo.  It’s a whole bunch of words smushed together, and it’s a whole thing.  November is National Novel Writing Month.  It’s meant to be a month where people devote time to writing the next Great American Novel.  There’s even an organization to it and a competition, and writers just go nuts over it.  Winners have it plastered all over their author pages, and rightfully so.  Tons of people participate, and if your submitted work wins an award from this event, you should be monumentally proud of yourself and your writing.  I highly encourage you to do it.  If. You. Want. To. Do. It.

If you’re a writer and you’re not digging NaNoWriMo, that’s ok.  It’s not for everyone.  It’s not for me.  Personally, I’m not looking to write a novel.  I thrive on poetry and short stories.  I do articles too, but just for my freelance work.  I’m not one to write long, drawn out work.  I’m a fairly concise writer.  Even long poems are difficult for me.  I love to write, and I can spend a long time writing.  That long time writing is spent writing lots of different things, though.  Maybe it’s my ADD.  I don’t know why it is, but I know that it’s how I am, and that’s totally okay.

I really like keeping up with others’ progress though.  If you’re participating in NaNoWriMo, please let me know!  I’d love to see how you’re doing.  Tweet at me, @reneebellawrite or link your work in the comments below.  If you need more information on the contest, visit https://nanowrimo.org/ and sign up.  You can join people across the globe who are taking part in the same challenge.  Let us know how you’re doing!  Even if you don’t write a whole novel, I’m proud of you for trying.