Wintertime with its darker days and colder weather tends to bring me down, but it also helps me to reflect and to imagine more which helps with the writing. I tend to journal more when it’s grey outside.

 

 

When I retired from full time teaching four years ago, I had to re-imagine what to do. I found purpose in writing, art, and travel, volunteering my time, and being with family.  I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to visit a number of countries including Switzerland, Germany, Egypt, Israel, Kenya, and Tanzania.

 

 

 

Re-imagining a story involves looking at it more as a reader than a writer, and then going back to do some more writing. As a pantser more than a plotter, I do a lot of revision until I get what I consider the best story. It may take additional editing, but I feel more confident that it’s done. I am currently writing the rough drafts of two stories, a YA paranormal novel set in New Jersey which is about a teenage witch and a women’s fiction story about a young immigrant from Ireland. I realize both will take more time and more re-imagining.

Inspiration for my writing and revising comes in many forms. These may include other stories, photographs taken from online sources or print magazines, and my critique groups. I’m currently in two. Even art can inspire as I “see a story” in a certain painting.  A diversity of music helps. I enjoy listening to a variety of musical genres including classical, pop, country, and spiritual. Sometimes I play music in the background as I’m writing.

My latest travels included a safari in Kenya and Tanzania with a stopover at the famous William Holden Foundation,

Road Scholar Tour of Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Tetons, and the Badlands took us through parts of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana, and Switzerland.

 

Seeing new places, meeting people, and learning so much about the culture provides enrichment and inspiration for my writing. Despite the doldrums of winter, it helps to seek out that inspiration and mainly to keep on writing. As a well-known writer, editor, and former agent, Alice Orr, once said, “Do It Anyway” when it came to writing. That’s gotten me through a lot over the years.