You Picked a Fine Time to Post This

I used to post every Monday.

Then I switched to Wednesdays.

Sundays were open for the occasional Thought Bubble.

Pfft. Occasional. That’s funny.

Point is, I had a schedule. It cut down on the stress of blogging. (Anyone who blogs, no matter how much they love it, knows there’s a certain amount of stress that goes with the blogging territory.)

You have a day or two or whatever and that is when you post.

Your readers know when to expect you. It’s what you’re supposed to do…

But that’s not why I did it. I had specific days I posted because it fit in nicely with my schedule OCD. I liked it.

But I don’t have a prompt or a series.

If something interesting happens in my life, I write about it. Sometimes, when the scheduled day comes along to publish, it’s not relevant anymore. So it sits here. Wasted words. Such a shame.

What if…? No…

But…

What if I posted whenever I felt like it? *gasp* Besides potentially annoying readers, what harm could it do?

I decided the answer was “none”.

So, at least for now, I’m posting whatever day I decide to write and hit ‘publish’.

Watch out. The Lemon Shark is going to show up when you least expect it.

Writing that just made me feel queasy. Also… free.

My Sunday thoughts in 200 words or less.

When do you post? Do you post whenever you feel like it? Do you have certain days? Do you ever deviate from your schedule?

Vernal Equinox: Spring in My Step

Posted by Sarah Brentyn

Today is the first day of spring. The Vernal Equinox.

I had this really cool post planned. It was introspective and thought-provoking.

It was full of serious talk and thinking stuff.

Instead, I wound up with this barrel full of monkeys. Because that’s what my brain feels like.

I finally fell asleep around 4 am last night. So, I’m working on about 3+ hours of sleep. I’ll let you in on a little secret: I need eight.

Where was I?

Right. The post mentioned all the wonderful things I was going to do today.

I had plans to pause, enjoy nature, seek balance, embrace something new. Pretty much none of that happened. (Unless you consider exhaustion-induced zone-outs “pausing”.)

I will copy two lines from the post:

It is a time of beginnings.

It is a time of balance.

The Vernal Equinox is, indeed, both of those things. Spring is a time of new beginnings and the Equinox a time of balance. I wanted to embrace these.

I didn’t.

You know those days you walk into a room and forget why you went in there? Or you open the fridge seven times because you forget what you were looking for? Yes. It was one of those days—all day.

No fresh starts or balancing for me today. I ruined it.

Or did I?

Because, I used this opportunity to not do things. Such as beating myself up for not posting this morning, not reading other blogs, and not getting to my own blog comments.

Also, I didn’t get angry at myself for not living that perfect day I planned.

For me, that’s one hell of a fresh start.

As far as balance? I accepted that, along with the light, joyous pieces of me, there are dark, upsetting ones.

I’m human. I’m whole.

There’s nothing wrong with that. I’m going to just put it out there and say if you’re all sunshine and no shadows, you’re probably pretty boring. Or lying. Which might make you slightly more interesting but certainly not any more likable.

So I didn’t have a beautiful first day of spring. But I did have one more day on this earth. And I learned a few things while I was here. (One of them being that I can go a whole day without beating myself up about anything. And I’m counting that as a win.)

My Sunday thoughts in a sleep-deprived ramble of nowhere near 200 words.

What happens when you plan a day and it falls short of your expectations? Do you give up? Beat yourself up? Move on? (Or a combination?)

Happy Spring! (And, to my friends in Australia, Happy Autumn!)

Be Your Own Muse #Tweets4Blogs

Posted by Sarah Brentyn

I’m tired of my talented tweeps telling me they have nothing interesting to write. (Say that three times fast.) Whether on their blogs or on Twitter… Doesn’t matter.

So. We’re going to mine our tweets for inspiration. (Please do read that when you get a chance—it’s short.) Yes, you will have something to mine. And, no, it will not be boring.

I’ve had numerous fellow writers recently ask me about Twitter prompts.

I have pointed them (you know who you are!) in the direction of a variety of challenges but I think there’s some shyness or confusion somewhere.

No matter.

Here’s the deal. I am going to give you a prompt each week and you will write a poem or micro fiction or memoir in 140 characters or less.

It will take no time at all and you will soon have a collection to scroll through for your blog. You might spark an idea or an entire blog post. Maybe a flash fiction piece.

I’m going to make this easy.

Every Tuesday I will pin a prompt to the top of my timeline. Why Tuesday? Eh. Why not?

Follow the prompt, write something, and use this hashtag: #Tweets4Blogs

Like this:

I’m writing haiku
To demonstrate how easy
Tweets 4 Blogs will be

#Tweets4Blogs

See, in that “haiku”, I’ve also managed to demonstrate how awful the writing can be. But that doesn’t matter. It’s the spark of the idea, remember? Good.

Once you’ve tweeted, move on with your day. That’s it. In a few weeks, use the search bar and enter your handle and the hashtag. Like this:

@sarahbrentyn #Tweets4Blogs

Look at the garden you have! No, seriously, look at that stuff. It’s gold.

The seeds of inspiration that move like ticker tape on a Twitter timeline don’t have to be masterpieces.

Here’s our mantra: It doesn’t have to be good, it just has to be done.

Two minutes. Every week.

Be your own muse!

Visit me on Tuesdays for the prompt.

The Green-Eyed Fish (Okay! I Admit It…I’m Jealous)

Posted by Sarah Brentyn

When my writer friends get published, I’m happy.

Seriously.

I send them cyber hugs and virtual cake and buy their books.

Lucy, over at Blonde Write More, wrote a post about becoming jealous of your friends when they have success in the writing world and how to stay positive about yourself.

I enjoyed this post, but it made me realize how not jealous I am.

I’m genuinely happy for my fellow writers.

Although, one of her points was developing “writing confidence issues”. Ah. Yes. Those.

That’s when I realized I am jealous.

I’m a big, jealous, green-eyed Lemon Shark.

But it’s not other writers’ successes.

I’m envious of their freedom to fuck up. Of their risk-taking. Their ability to knock the internal critic off their shoulder and just go for it.

Just write.

I’m forever holding myself back. Hesitant of hitting ‘publish’ on my blog. Self-editing as I work on my novels. Riddled with self-doubt as I type.

So, yes, gentle readers, I’m envious of you.

For not caring what others think. For giving yourself a break. For swearing on your blog. For writing whatever the hell you want to write.

I’m getting there. Slowly. *deep breath* Just write.

My Sunday thoughts in 200 words or less.

Do you get jealous of other writers’ successes? If not, is there anything other writers do that you’re envious of? Can you be supportive and jealous at the same time?

* Yes, a shark is a fish. That’s not a typo.