Category Archives: Writing

Facebook And Why I Deleted My Account

31 Saturday Mar 2018

Posted by in #family, #sitsblogging, Blogging, creative writing, Family, Humor, Me, Technology, Writing

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I’m done with Facebook and here’s why:

  1. It’s run its course. I truly believe Facebook has become passé. It’s old and dated and a major waste of time. I used to spend hours every week scrolling through to see who posted what. Frankly, who cares what Sally had for lunch at an expensive restaurant?
  2. I never used it anymore. See reason number one. I hadn’t logged into it in months. I deleted the app from my phone to see if I’d miss it, and surprise, surprise, I didn’t even notice that it was gone. I found other things to do.
  3. The content was distressing. It had become far too political. If it wasn’t someone screaming insanely over bullshit governmental issues that don’t affect my day-to-day existence one iota, it was some jackass posting nightmare images of abused animals to get me to support their cause of the week. All my pets have been rescue pets. I’m sorry, but I can’t save them all. I don’t need that kind of crap to give me nightmares and keep me up at night.
  4. It makes people ugly. See reason number three. Fighting with family or friends on Facebook is such a childish thing to do. Fighting with or verbally attacking strangers online is somehow much worse to me. It brings out the ugly side of normally nice people.
  5. I wanted to get off of Facebook for privacy reasons. For the same reason I’ve deleted other online accounts (LinkedIn, Yahoo, Snapchat, Google+, Tumblr, CafeMom, About.me), I just don’t want my content out there everywhere anymore. Yahoo and now Facebook have major security issues, and I was sexually harassed on Snapchat (sorry former friend of mine, I don’t need your juvenile young son sending me images of his penis, and when I emailed you to politely tell you what he was doing, I didn’t even get an apology). While it was fun at first on Facebook connecting with old friends and making new ones, I feel much safer trying to limit who sees what.
  6. I remain semi-active for now on Twitter, Goodreads, Pinterest, Instagram and WordPress. And that’s enough for me.

 

Image courtesy of Pinterest

Thoughtful Thursday #1

04 Thursday Jan 2018

Posted by in #family, #sitsblogging, #truckerswife, Family, Inspiration, Me, Thoughtful Thursday, Topic Ideas, Writing, Writing Prompts

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Regrets. I have a few. There are, of course, more serious things that I’ve done wrong over the course of my life, things that I won’t share here. It’s enough that I know I did them. I tried to learn from them at the time and not ever repeat them.

Less serious regrets? Yes, I have a few.

I wish I’d stayed more active and physically fit.

I wish I’d spent more time on the floor playing with my boys when they were little. (I wish I’d held them and kissed them more, too.)

I wish I’d made more time for hubby when we were younger.

I wish I’d had fun more and worried less and worked less.

I wish I’d told people who are no longer here that I loved them more often.

I wish I’d gotten tattoos sooner.

I wish I’d kept the dolls that I had instead of leaving them in my mother’s house when I left home.

I wish I’d hung onto several of the cars I had and loved instead of trading them in so quickly.

I wish I’d had the courage to be who I am now twenty (or thirty) years ago.

Still, all in all, I am happy with what I have and who I am today. It’s not too late to do some of the things on my “list” (getting active, hugging and kissing my sons more, having fun, spending time with hubby, and getting more tattoos). I try not to dwell on the past and focus on living in the moment. Today is all I have. I can’t recapture the past, and worrying about the future is a waste of time.

I do believe that we are where we are meant to be. Things have worked out the way that they did for a reason, and I am happy with my place in the universe. It is mine, and I am content with it.

Tenacious Tuesday #1

02 Tuesday Jan 2018

Posted by in #family, #sitsblogging, #truckerswife, Animals, Blogging, book blogger, creative writing, Daily Prompts, Donna Reads, Eastern gray squirrel, Family, Goodreads Book Reviews, Health, Humor, If We Were Having Coffee, Inspiration, Me, Music, Nature, Nostalgia, Photography, Poems, Post Ideas, Random Thoughts, Reading, Rhyming, Squirrels, Topic Ideas, Trucker's Wife, Writing, Writing Prompts

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For my first post on a Tuesday in 2018, I’m introducing Tenacious Tuesday. Tenacious Tuesday is all about hanging tough and keeping going. When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

I’d like to think that is what I do on a daily basis. I keep going. 2018 is about keeping going for me. I will persevere and rise above.

I’m going to try something a little bit different this year on Heron, There & Everywhere. I’d like to attempt to follow a themed approach. Each day will have its own theme. I’ve tried to stick with what I know and what I like.

Mondays will be Musical Monday. I will write about anything music-related from my favorite bands, songs or concerts. Music is a huge part of my daily life.

Tuesdays will be Tenacious Tuesday. Tenacious Tuesday will be about challenges and hanging in there when life knocks me down. As a trucker’s wife, every day is a challenge.

Wednesdays will be Wellness Wednesday, and I’ll write about anything health-related that my family deals with – autism, ADHD, diabetes, celiac disease, diverticulitis, etc.

Thursdays will be Thoughtful Thursday. Those posts will be more random in nature from poetry to creative writing to random musings.

Fridays will be Fictional Friday, and that will be the day I post book reviews and anything book-related.

Saturdays will be Sentimental Saturday. I will write about my favorite things. My beloved squirrels will probably show up here.

Sundays will be Silent Sunday. This day will be photos only, no words. I love photography and have thousands of photos.

It is my hope that following a more organized approach will keep me writing more consistently in 2018. Please let me know what you think.

Over Planning

19 Friday May 2017

Posted by in #sitsblogging, #truckerswife, creative writing, Humor, Inspiration, Me, Writing, Writing Prompts

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I have never been able to work with an outline. Hell, I usually don’t even have a solid plot in mind. I have a general, vague idea, and my stories or musings spring from there. I prefer to write as it comes to me, on the fly, off the top of my head, with my hands racing across the keyboard to get it all down before I lose it. I do my best work when I just write and let my fingers take me where they will. I ramble and wander, figuring it out as I go.

Worried how some of my creative efforts have meandered along, I spoke to my hubby, and he suggested that maybe working from an outline would give me direction and make for a tighter story. I freely admit that I don’t like outlines. If I write an outline, I almost never stick to it. I say too much in an outline because putting down cryptic bullet points makes no sense whatsoever to me. Why bother? Outlines always seemed so pointless.

Wanting to be a better writer, I gave hubby’s idea of using an outline a shot. I forced myself to sit down and made an outline. I researched ideas, and I wrote a framework for a novel. Using Scrivener, my favorite writing software, I researched characters, drafting up complete bios for them, complete with pictures of people found online who fit the idea of the people I had in my head. I researched and set up plots for scenes, and I created detailed places for the scenes to happen.

I wrote a prologue with an exciting opening scene. After the action of the prologue, I decided I’d go back in time two weeks and write about how the characters got where they were when the prologue scene happened. And, that was as far as I got. I waited for inspiration to hit, and I got nothing. My mind was a big, fat blank.

My problem with planning and plotting it all out is that now that I’ve done that, the story is already written in my head. It has a beginning, middle and an end, and the pure joy of writing it and creating it moment by moment is gone. I already know where the story will go and how it will end so I no longer feel the need to write it. It’s like I’ve opened the book and already read the ending. I’ve spoiled it for myself.

This stalled effort taught me an important lesson. Outlines don’t work for me. Too much planning puts a real damper on the joy of writing for me. I need the surprise of not knowing exactly where I’m going.

Images courtesy of Pinterest