Category: General Writing

General Writing · Journeys · storytelling · Time management · writing · Writing and Family

Writing, But Not What I Expected

Susan Coffin

I did not expect to fall in love with ancestral writing.  This type of prose differs from memoir but has many of the same elements- a snapshot of the ancestor’s life with an inciting event that leads to a conclusion. The beginning and ending are linked with a unique phrase or concept. However, whereas memoirs are generally book-length, ancestral pieces are generally shorter. 

Ancestral stories are intentionally void of non-fiction. You can certainly add impressions of what could have happened or elements of your own introspection, but it must be clear what is fact and what is not. 

So far, I have written about my paternal second great-grandmother who helped establish Cordell, Oklahoma, a paternal second great-grandfather who was a prominent farmer in Oklahoma, and great-grandmothers on both sides of the family who died young from disease and forever changed the lives of their infant sons. I continue writing these family stories and sharing them with my ancestral writing group created by our local genealogical society.  I have some exciting characters in my blood family!

That said, I have not accomplished much lately with writing fiction.  Now, being on a two-week staycation from my paralegal work, my goal is to redistribute my schedule so that I can do some serious writing each day.  I will not be picking up old unfinished work, some of which might not ever see the light of day.

I have decided a new beginning is what I need now.    

Today, I started working on a new novel using an idea that I have been chewing on over the last few days. 

A novel with a catchy title and twists and turns in the prose.  Unusual elements become characters in least expected ways.

A thriller with elements of my life of living at a lake—real life events slathered with embellishment to push readers to the edge of wherever they happen to be.    

Like I said, I love ancestral writing, but I have also missed writing fiction. 

Carry on, keep writing.    

blogging · Change · curve balls · General Writing

Fire

Susan Coffin

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I had been working on an article about how to successfully move your business from one County to another, but this has been put on hold due to the fires in the county I moved from (Sonoma) and a fire in the county I moved to (Lake).

Sunday, October 8, 2017, the wind was fierce and concerning. Later that evening as I worked at my computer, an alert came across my phone regarding a fire near Calistoga resulting in road closures to Sonoma County. I became worried because the next day Don would travel from our home in Clearlake Park to the Petaluma Creamery in Petaluma to pick up cheese and then deliver it to various places around Lake County. Since he was already asleep, I left him a note on the kitchen counter, saying he might want to take a different route due to a fire.

After going to bed late on Sunday evening, a popping woke me. Since the wind was blowing harder now, I thought nothing worse had happened than the electricity going out and had quickly fallen back to sleep. At about 2 a.m. Don woke me and said something was going on, the electricity wasn’t working, and that we needed to get out now. At about the same time, a mandatory evacuation order came over his phone with direction to go to a designated shelter. In the dark, we grabbed a few things and tried to capture the cats, but they became agitated and would not let us near them. We had no choice but to leave them behind and hope for the best.

When we stepped outside, the night sky was bright with flames from Sulphur Bank Road in a neighboring village, Clearlake Oaks. Smoke hung heavy, making it difficult to breathe. In what is normally a quiet area, a flurry of activity was taking place: fire trucks with flashing lights were hurrying toward the fire and cars with headlights like fear-stricken eyes were quickly moving the other way down the hill.

As Don and I drove the 20 minutes to the evacuation center, all I could think about was how close the flames appeared to be to our home. I cried because our precious fur babies were still in the house. My worst fear was that, being inside cats, they would not be able to escape if our house caught on fire. If they did escape I hoped they would be able to survive.

When we arrived at the evacuation center, rows of cots with pillows and blankets filled one side of the large building. People milled around in a daze, while other lay on the cots trying to sleep. Being pushed from our home and at the evacuation center was surreal and scary, as if we were living a Stephen King horror novel. When we finally settled in with coffee at one of the tables, we all attempted to smooth over a tough situation with conversation about everyday life sprinkled with our early-morning evacuation experiences.

While still at the evacuation center, I went looking online for information about the Sulphur fire—the devil that had chased us from our home—and read that Santa Rosa was burning up too. I discovered that friends had been evacuated from various parts of the city, and later learned that many had lost their homes. With barely time to get away from approaching flames, our family members lost everything they owned.

While Don and I were blessed enough to stay with a friend, and to have other offers shelter, the evacuation centers quickly filled up. In Lake County, during the two days we were not allowed back home, strangers embraced and shared their stories and tearfully talked about the continuing destruction in Santa Rosa. Community came together in loving and compassionate ways that we often forget about in ordinary life.

The evacuation in Clearlake Park was lifted on Tuesday night of that same week. Because it was dark and the electricity was not yet back on, we returned home on Wednesday morning. I thought coming back would feel a little normal, but it did not. The air smelled burnt and smoke billowed from the sky in the distance. Our cats gazed at us, as if to ask where we’d been for two days. It took several days for me to adjust before realizing we were safe and that the danger of re-evacuation had passed.

Now, two weeks later, the northern California fires- Lake, Mendocino, Napa, and Sonoma-have all reached almost full containment. In the Lake County fire there were 545 structures destroyed and 43 structures damaged.

In the combined Sonoma County, Napa County, and Mendocino County fires 42 civilians and one private tender operator. Entire neighborhoods in Santa Rosa are devastated and people’s lives were turned upside down in a matter of hours. In Santa Rosa alone, approximately 5,300 structures were destroyed. In the combined fires of Lake, Sonoma, Mendocino and Napa counties, about 9,000 structures are demolished.

The aftermath of the devastation is just as staggering as when the fires ravaged through entire communities. Now, some people will stay and rebuild, but others will move on to start new lives elsewhere.  In this, my hope is that all paths will lead to a place of healing.

blogging · discipline · General Writing · goals · Marketing · Time management · writing

Time Management: It’s All About the Time You Already Have

Susan Coffin

TIME MANAGEMENT

The many years I worked full-time it was easy scheduling time to write. I would pencil in my lunch break or the few hours before bed, and I would tell myself that I could put in some extra writing hours on the weekends too.

It took me awhile to learn that scheduling time to write and the act of writing were two different things, especially with a stressful job that required periodic overtime. I often ended up relaxing at lunch instead of writing, and on most overtime days I was too tired to fire up my computer in the evening.

Sometimes I could get some quality writing time in on the weekends, but that was only if I was not suffering from low motivation after working all week. Because I had created poor time management habits, and I was allowing myself to become stressed and overtired in my job, my writing suffered and I eventually shelved my works in progress for extended periods of time.

In July of 2017 everything changed. I got laid off from my full-time job and found myself with nothing but time on my hands.

While applying for unemployment, looking for work, setting up my own business as a notary public and loan signing agent (which included building a website, researching the market, and doing online marketing), getting my condo ready for rental, and preparing for a long-planned move to another county, I suddenly found myself inundated with work.

This thing is that I’m still ultra-busy dealing with being laid off and moving, but I’m sitting here right now writing this article for my blog.

The difference between then and now is that my writing no longer sits in the back seat. I have chosen to put my writing in the passenger with my notary and signing agent work because I love them both so much.

My attitude about how to manage my time has also changed. I don’t have to make time for the things I love to do, I just need to utilize the time that I already have.

The reason that I could not see my writing opportunities before is because I was allowing stress and dissatisfaction to take over my life.

Things are looking better for me every day.  I have been doing temporary work when available and landing some notary and signing gigs.

And, I’m still finding time to write.

I have been earning a little money from writing content and pitching to companies that need writers.

Tomorrow I will work on a guest article for a writing friend’s blog, and I will begin working on an article I have been hired to write for a magazine. After the gym, I will fix my oatmeal with fruit, make my mocha, and work on these articles while I eat.

Oh, and I’m back at working on my first novel again-making changes and killing little darlings, as the saying goes.

Every day is a new day and reveals how much time I will have to write—and, there is always time.

blogging · Change · discipline · General Writing · goals · writing

Placeholders (Places You Have Been)

Susan Coffin

1 TYPEWRITERMy grandparents owned an old Underwood typewriter that my mother used in school during the fifties, and her four sisters used in the sixties and seventies. It was old, durable, and downright tough against all the fingers that tapped its’ keys to complete many a school paper.

When I was twelve years old and announced that I wanted to be a writer, my mother bought me a pink typewriter for Christmas. I don’t recall if it was a Royal or Olympic, but I do recall typing stacks of my handwritten poems onto onion paper to create a booklet for my mother.

That pink typewriter lasted through junior high and high school and has always been a well-remembered placeholder symbolizing when I first became serious about writing.

In fact, placeholders are important to remember as we walk our journey to success because they tell us where we have been and where we are going, and let us know when we have reached our destination.

Where You Have Been

One of the most important things to remember is where you come from. Even if right now you’re churning out novels, stories, or articles left and right and making a living writing, chances are you didn’t start that way. You started where all writers start and faced rejection, and more rejection, probably until you were ready to give up.

For example, Dean Koontz sold the first short story he wrote then received 75 rejections before selling anything again.

Stephen King said that by the time he was fourteen, his rejection slips hung heavy from a nail on his wall. When the nail would no longer hold the rejections slips, he replaced it with a spike and went on writing.

It’s clear these two prolific writers never forgot where they came from and, despite the odds, they kept moving forward.

Where You Are going

It’s important to have a clear picture of where you are going.

If you want to be a writer, then you must write and keep writing. You must use a pen and paper, or open a word processor, and you must write, and keep writing.  To do this, it’s a good idea to:

1. Find a quiet place to write
2. Open notebook or laptop, or engage typewriter or desk top computer
3. Cut our all distractions
4. Put butt in chair and write for a specified amount of time each day

If writing isn’t your thing but law is, then you must go to law school and make sure your activities revolve around law. A lawyer never starts off as a lawyer, even if their dad or mom, or uncle, practiced law.

If you want to be a nurse or doctor, you must first complete educational requirements. You don’t just start off as a nurse or doctor, you take steps toward working in your chosen profession.

As you take each step toward where you want to be, keep in mind the path that is helping you travel toward your goals. Each place you have been holds purpose and intention.

Where You Want to Be

Finally, there is that moment in life when you reach the place you want to be. Perhaps you finished law school and decided to practice elder law, or you earned your RN and became an emergency room nurse.

If you had not stuck out all the prerequisites in college to get into law school, or endured all those late-night nursing, you would not be doing what you had set out to do.

Or, after years of enduring rejection slips, you finally sell that story or novel, that leads you to writing more novels and becoming a midlevel or bestselling author.

Had you let those rejection slips knock you down, you would not have met with success so many years later. You would not have reached your goal of honing your craft and finally selling your work.

If I remember correctly, my grandparents donated that old Underwood to the local historical society. As for me, I don’t remember what happened to that old typewriter, but the clickity-clack of the keys in motion is forever embedded in my memory.

 

 

Change · curve balls · discipline · General Writing · goals · Marketing · storytelling · writing

When Life Throws You A Curve Ball

Susan Coffin

FLYING BALL
When life throws you a big fat sock-her (or sock-him) ball….

Quick, DUCK!

But stay in the game.

Seriously, we have all experienced a fast-moving curve ball that we saw from a mile away, or that we did not expect at all.

It’s our attitude that will break our spirit or carry us through a difficult time.

When a curve ball comes our way, we have two basic options: we can let it slam us to the ground, or we can duck and use the opportunity to learn.

In the business world, a speeding curve ball can actually be a life-saver.  Read further to find out what I’m talking about.

Honestly Assess the Situation

Whether or not you saw the sock-her ball coming, it’s important to assess the situation and look at your part. For example, if you lost a client and are not sure why, think about your working relationship.

Were you and the client not a good fit, but you continued the relationship anyway because you needed the money?

Or, did you make some big mistakes, only to realize that the project was out of your league?

It does no good to point your finger at whomever threw that curve ball.  Assess the situation through your own eyes and learn from it so that you may better service your current and future clients.

Enjoy a Big Glass of Lemonade

When I was a kid and I complained about things not going the way, my sweet mother used to say, “Well, take those lemons and make some lemonade.”

After you have made that lemonade and downed about half of it, take a look at the glass. Is it half full or half empty?

If you see the glass as half empty, you are focusing on what you do not have.  On the other hand, perceiving the glass as half full means you are fully aware of what you do have.

Focus on what you have gained from the arrival of the curve ball, not on what you have lost.

For example, you may have lost a client that was not a good fit but you now have room to take on some new projects.  Or, perhaps you made some mistakes with that huge project, but now you know how to change your behavior to produce a better work project.

 Stay in the Game and Up the Ante

force-2483944_640.pngNow that you have figured out your part in the situation and you see a half-full glass of lemonade, what’s next?

Vow never to give up. Stay in the game and up the ante.

For example, before considering future clients, take time to assess whether you are a good fit.  The quality of a working relationship is far more important than money.

If your work product suffered, explore ways to improve performance for future projects. For example, if you were coming up on a deadline and cut corners instead of asking for an extension, learn how to manage you time better. If your work had too many errors, take steps to improve.

Final Words 

So, whether life has thrown you a sock-her or sock-him ball, the important thing is to remember, as my mother used to say…….

It’s not the end of the world. This too shall pass.