Category Archives: Writing

October 9, 2012 · 6:00 am

How to Hoist Myself Out of A Rut

If other writers knew how long it’s been since I’ve actually written anything besides a blog post here and there, well, I’m pretty sure they’d throw me out of the writing club.

I’m not going to admit how long it’s been since I’ve written.

Mostly because I don’t want to admit it to myself.

I’ve been in a rut.

I don’t have writer’s block– I’ve got great ideas tucked away. I don’t have brain freeze nor am I choking on my words or working off of a lack of experience.

What I do have is as follows:

1) lack of time

2) lack of inspiration

I have been so so so so so uninspired to write lately. So uninspired that the story ideas that once felt so good now feel sad and a little cold. So uninspired that I look back over things I’ve written–good things– and consider them drivel. So uninspired that when I think about writing, I feel passionless.

As for the lack of time, I don’t know any mothers who don’t live with a perpetual lack of time, so I’ve got to stop using that as my excuse.

The lack of inspiration is coming from that same ole place– discouragement. Don’t we all suffer from this from time to time, no matter our circumstances?

Even though I don’t want to admit it, that’s where I am. I’ve been suffering from a case of “I’m Not Good Enough” syndrome. But I know better, so I just need to banish that one, too. After all, I know the One who made me, and I know He has plans for me.

So here’s what I’m going to do:

1) Read. Reading a good book usually inspires me to write a good book.
2) Critique. When I read someone else’s work and help them develop it through a good critique partnership, I’m almost always inspired to write. Something about editing gets my juices flowing.
3) Finish reading the 4,682 craft books I’ve started. Okay, I’ll set a more realistic goal– finish reading ONE of the many craft books I’ve started recently.
4) Just shut up and do it. I’m going to sit down to a blank screen with a story idea and type. No more excuses.

Share with me: When you are in a creative rut, how do you get yourself out of it?

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Filed under Writing

Tagged as discouragement, inspiration, rut, time, writing

July 11, 2012 · 6:00 am

We Interrupt This Regularly Scheduled Programming…

Hey all.

Maybe you’ve noticed and maybe you haven’t, but my web presence has been a little wonky in the last week.

I suppose I had visions of grandeur that I’d be able to schedule time for everything in my life, but I’ve added something new and it’s absorbing most of my time right now.

I’ve taken a position with an online university, helping to re0rganize and re-vamp their history courses.

This puts my history and education degrees to good use while I’m not in the classroom, brings in a little extra cash, and cuts deeply into my writing time, both for blogging and novel-writing.

But it’s temporary.

I’m having a lot of fun diving back into writing curriculum and just being in the world of teaching history, which is one of my great loves.

So while I’m working on that, my blog posts are going to be much fewer and farther between, at least until the end of the summer.

Like I said, I had visions of grandeur.

But I want to be able to do a good job on this project, enjoy the last few weeks of summer with my family (school starts around here at the beginning of August) and produce posts that I’ve actually put time and thought into.

So for now, please forgive me if my posts are sparse and my Tweets are more infrequent that usual (some might actually celebrate that…).

I’d love for you to connect with me on Facebook (click on the link to the right) and make sure you are following me on Twitter (@JenniferKHale). I know I’ll be on both of those for at least a few minutes most days.

And I’ve got some GREAT blog post ideas for when I return to my regular schedule.

Until then, I’ll be working hard, hopefully packing in a trip to visit my sister in Nashville, taking my boys to see The Wiggles in concert, and playing chauffeur for soccer camp and swimming lessons and all the other activities we’ve got going on.

Happy Summer, all!

Share with me: What fun events are left on your summer calendar? When does school start in your area?

15 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized, Writing

Tagged as curriculum, history, writing

June 29, 2012 · 6:00 am

The Absentminded Professor

I’ve had a lot of fun creating one of the characters that shows up in my WIP. He’s an eccentric, zany college professor.

Although he’s only in one scene, it’s a pivotal scene– the scene where my main characters first meet.

Did I mention it’s been a fun scene to write?

I must have eccentric university professors on the brain because I was slicing a watermelon a few days ago and it brought back the memory of one of the most eccentric profs I ever had in college.

And I’ve had a few.

One liked to bring her guitar to class and make us sing campfire songs about teaching. (Clearly hadn’t been in a high school classroom, for which she was preparing us, in a very long time.)

One talked about Nathaniel Hawthorne like they were in a romantic relationship. (Creepy.)

One taught Latin dance lessons (which I took, thank you very much. So fun!)

One wrote his own textbook. (Ego, much?)

One continually forgot what we were doing in class and relied on us to make up our own assignments and grade them. (Not my favorite.)

One was possibly the devil.

But the one I think was the most “eccentric” was really the most fun. He was my geography professor. While many on campus didn’t care for him or his methods of teaching, I enjoyed his classes. Because of my degree, I think I took about 5 or 6 classes from him. Thank goodness I liked him.

He was a good ole Southern boy, but super, super intelligent with lots of wisdom and experience, and he wasn’t afraid to share. He was also a little bit of a dirty old man. In a funny way.

His “rambling” was very entertaining.

His exams were always challenging.

By challenging I mean that you better hope and pray that you wrote down and studied every.single.word that he said in class, because there was absolutely no telling what he’d put on the exam. You might be studying Africa, but a question about politics in the US would show up.

One time he came into class, late of course, and shouted “everyone get out a piece of paper. Draw Russia. When you’re done, you can go.”

By “draw Russia” he wanted an exact topographical map, to scale. Yeah, even this geography nerd found that challenging. Russia’s big, y’all, and it’s got a lot of stuff going on in it geographically. 🙂

But let me get back to the watermelon.

One of my fondest memories of his class is when he went off on a tangent about watermelons. He began lecturing us on the best way to slice a watermelon so that you wouldn’t “lose its soul.”

No, I’m not kidding.

And guess what showed up on the exam?

Question 38– What’s the best way to slice a watermelon so you don’t lose its soul?

No, really. I’m not kidding.

Share with me: Do you have any stories or memories of a zany, eccentric professor from your university days?