Notes for VECCA Writer’s Group
February 23, 2020
My Home Office
- iMac 21.5” desktop (I downsized from the 27” and am much happier)
- Phone – thinking about putting it on silent when I’m writing
- Lots of plants
- Lots of important/meaningful touchstones
- Constant challenge: paper piles. I find a clear desk is enormously helpful to my overall writing productivity
Sunroom:
Beautiful views of the pine woods and Massanutten Mountain.
- Morning routines of prayer, meditation, reading, and journaling
- Paper journals
- Fountain pens
- Stationery for note writing
What I write:
I try to publish on this blog (Heartspoken.com) weekly and I write a monthly newsletter called Compass Points. Mostly I write between interruptions. The VECCA group has inspired me to start submitting more articles to other publications.
I write many personal, handwritten notes every week – encouragment, thanks, sympathy, friendship, congratulations, or “just because.” This is an important part of my writing life.
If you’d enjoy getting my monthly newsletter in your Inbox, here’s the sign-up link: https://www.heartspoken.com/newsletters
Productivity Tools
- Evernote – for saving articles and capturing ideas on the fly
- Spiral notebook for writing down ideas too – number the pages and it’s Indexed
- I keep “swipe file” entries in my notebook when I come across a particularly powerful or descriptive piece of writing.
- I use dictation on my cell phone
- Microsoft Word for most writing
- I use WordPress platform for my blog
- I have tried Scrivener but haven’t gotten past the learning curve yet
Podcasts about writing or blogging:
- The HopeWriters podcast – Gary Moreland usually with a guest interview
- The Creative Penn podcast – Joanna Penn
- The Habit podcast – Jonathan Rogers
- The Ann Kroeker Writing Coach podcast – Ann Kroeker
- The ProBlogger podcast – Darren Rouse
Blogs about writing, authoring
- Amir, Nina – www.writenonfictionnow.com
- Goins, Jeff – www.goinswriter.com
- Gray-Grant, Daphne – www.publicationcoach.com
- Greene, Molly – www.molly-greene.com
- Luke, Ali – www.aliventures.com
- Penn, Joanna – www.theCreativePenn.com
- Walsh, Therese – www.writerunboxed.com
Books about writing
- Cameron, Julia. The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
- Cameron, Julia. The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life
- Clark, Roy Peter. Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer
- Dillard, Annie. The Writing Life
- Goins, Jeff. You Are a Writer (So Start Acting Like One)
- Goldberg, Natalie. Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within
- King, Stephen. On Writing: A Memoir of The Craft
- Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
- Ueland. Brenda. If You Want to Write
- Zinsser, William. On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
Some writing that has inspired me
Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker’s Creek first opened my eyes to the ways a writer can make the natural world come alive for readers.
The writings of Wendell Berry, noted American novelist, poet, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer, inspired me to incorporate my own passions into my writing and taught me about creating a strong sense of place.
John M. Barry’s Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America is a powerful example of nonfiction that both educates and entertains. The books of Hampton Sides do the same – I took a seminar from him one time called “How to write nonfiction that reads like fiction.”
Writing reference books in my office
- Strunk & White. Elements of Style
- Rodale, J. I., Synonym Finder
- Chicago Manual of Style
- Associated Press Manual of Style
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