Commenting on Comments~Part 1

 

I enjoyed all the comments that came from the blog. ”Writing – What is Easy, What is Hard.”

Mary Harwell Sayler, doyenne of Christian Poets and Writers asked writers to tell her what they find easy about writing and what they find difficult.

My bottom line answer was that I found blogs easy, but isolated spots in my novels are as hard to write as good pie crust is to make.

I mentioned that I could hardly wait to get my new iPhone so that I’d always have a camera with me. It seems I often come home from somewhere and want to write a blog about it, but because I don’t make an effort to take my digital camera, I have to scrounge to get something together.

 SCOTT’S COMMENT:

Great idea! I have a good smart phone, and occasionally use it as a camera.

JESS SAID

That new phone needs to come home today. Since your birthday was recent, I think a gift of that phone for you and your stories for us would be a great way to celebrate.

Our guru and his wife (our daughter) brought pizza and our new phones last week. We had a big phone party and enjoyed ourselves very much. I learned a lot, and know I have a whole lot more to know. I can take pictures with it, but still have a few difficulties to overcome such as getting the pictures anywhere except my phone so I can put them in my blogs.

I understand you can email them, but I turned on the email and the inbox got flooded with old messages I already had on my computer and it turned me off. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy emails, but since I spend most of my time at home, I don’t need a mailbox full of letters I’ve already answered, stored, deleted, or junked.

There’s something about a full box of emails that disturbs me like dirty dishes in the sink or a meowing cat that needs to be fed. I try to keep the emails washed, ironed, folded and put away so I don’t have laundry lying around. I won’t say dirty laundry, because it’s not that. I could work through it all in a doctor’s waiting room, but in order to keep up, I’d have to go to the doctor a lot more often.

That’s about all I have to say about the new phone, except this, I haven’t learned to take my fingers off the buttons so I got a whole filmstrip of the shadows on the trail – all alike as far as I could tell. It’s pretty cute if I do say so, but I don’t know how to show it to you – yet! My new phone has a stabilizer so the days of tremulous vibrations are over. Thank the Lord for that!

1
On the Trail

I loved the rest of what Scott said: I also find myself inspired by things I see when biking or walking, or even on the bus: people, nature, situations. If I could find a quiet spot and few minutes, I could quickly use my electronics to publish a fast blog post.

I got clear pictures and the flavor of his activities. I could imagine him on a rock next to a lake, or at a coffee shop writing away on a blog and having the pictures and everything he needed to send it all off right then. I’ve never thought of it like that before. He’s going to be one of my role models, and one of these days maybe I’ll be able to do something like that too. Until then, I may have to ask Rebekah Lyn to help with the pictures for this blog. Next weekend, we’re going to be sitting outside an Independent bookstore signing our novels as people purchase them. We might get a minute between signing books to work on getting the pictures from the cell phone onto this blog, at that time. Meanwhile, here’s one about the festival we’re attending.

3

 A few minutes after I wrote that, Rebekah Lyn called and asked if she could come over. She helped 2with the email, but she got tired of deleting them too, so I’ll have to do it a bit at a time. It’s worth it to be able to use the pictures. So I didn’t have to wait until Saturday to get my selfie uploaded for you. Ain’t I cute? Ha. But seriously I am very impressed with the lack of blurring from shakiness! We paid extra for it on the 5s, but it comes with the 6 and Rebekah Lyn is pretty sure her IPad has it too. That’s one of the greatest advances in photography, but they’re all great, aren’t they?

I just added the word selfies to my dictionary.

 

 

 

Writing~What is Easy What is Hard

Mary Harwell Sayler, doyenne of Christian Poets and Writers has asked writers to tell her what we find easiest about writing and what is hardest for us. I’ve been thinking the questions over and I’d like to tell her these things.

Blogs are easy for me, though I’m sure she’s not asking what genres we like or don’t like. But I’ll tell you why I find blogs such a pleasure to write. Like journaling they let me re-live good experiences twice. Take the blogs I wrote today: one was about going to see the “Gone With The Wind Exhibit” in Orlando on my birthday and one was about a fall Saturday when I got a lot out of ordinary things. Both of these will be on www.oldthingsrnew.com on a Monday at some point.

I’m going to get a new phone one of these day with a really good camera because I’ve discovered that whether I go out for a meal, take a walk, or finish a piece of artwork, it’s probably going to flow from my brain and heart in a blog and I’m going to want pictures. Quite likely if I don’t take notes, I’ll wish I had those too. All my senses are keener when I know I’ll want to write about the experience, and I’m convinced I enjoy things twice as much. While things are happening my brain is recording. I see a string of third graders riding bikes on the trail and ask their leaders what’s going on as they pass. I count the children – eighteen. When I got to a neighborhood yard sale, I want to tell who I saw, what I bought, and the reasons for everything. Once I got overly nosy like a real reporter, and got “thrown out” of a big library. I wanted to know about all the homeless people I saw hanging about. I thought it was great that they had a splendid place to be in the daytime. The woman at whose desk I sat to ask my questions apparently thought I was there to make trouble. I can’t talk about that she said primly and clamped her mouth shut. I said, “Oh, okay,” and left. Now, I’m more interested than ever, of course, but I won’t pursue it as a real reporter might.

Memoir, blogs, experiences, descriptions are the easiest things for me, the hardest task comes when I’m writing a novel and must come up with a new scene. What happens next? Then my imagination groans and labors like an old furnace starting up after a halcyon summer off.

Everything we do has hard and easy parts to it, we do it anyway, especially if we are called to it and have found that we love it. So that’s my answer for Mary Harwell Sayler’s question. I’m glad I was inspired to think it through. Thanks, Mary.

DiVoran at computer