Category: blogging

The Writing Life…

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn 2019, Autumn at Sonnystone Acres, blogging2 Comments

I’m in a slump… >sigh<  I want my Words to Flow effortlessly from my fingertips.  I want every stroke of the key to reveal a sentence that is perfection.  I want each of my Elevated Thoughts to be expressed so exquisitely that you gather at my feet enraptured by my Wokeness.

Being a Writer is an old, old dream that I cooked up six or seven Lives ago. Through the years, I scribbled in notebooks and journals, but always thought that if I only had the time that Great American Novel would write itself.

I’ve blogged for 15 years now, but being a blogger is not considered to be the same as being a Writer.  In fact, I’ve been told by several writer/friends that it is my blogging that gets in the way of my writing.  Actually, I feel like the time I spend working on the book just gets in the way of my blogging.

I guess I’ve put some ancient expectation on myself that I have to publish a book in order to be a Writer.  In this day of self-publishing, how difficult could it be to satisfy my ego with a published book?  So I’ve written some chapters and re-written them and put them away.  I get them out and re-read them and think, that’s not bad, just finish it.  Then I end up editing them and putting them away again, on a loop.  It feels forced and Not Fun and sort of depressing.  Currently I want to burn it all…

I realize that I’m not a conventional blogger who monetizes her blog and cranks out the “5 things you can’t live without” posts.  I know that my following is meager.  Still,  the idea of not blogging gives me the existential heebie-jeebies.  For the most part, I have thoroughly enjoyed writing these 1000+ posts over the years.

Thanks to the Feeling of Freedom that has persisted since our trip, I’m letting go of the worn-out dream of Being a Writer aka writing a NYT bestseller (but I’m not going to burn the pages I’ve written).  I’m letting go of the daydream that I’ll be a hit on all the late-night shows (but I’m still preparing clever repartee, just in case).  No more guilt or feeling like I’ve not lived up to…something.  I’m sticking with what I enjoy, no matter how hard it is…even if I have to blog about doing the laundry or cleaning the house…even if nobody reads it.

An interviewer once asked one of my favorite authors, Ursula LeGuin,  advice for writers, and she replied: “I am going to be rather hard-nosed and say that if you have to find devices to coax yourself to stay focused on writing, perhaps you should not be writing what you’re writing. And if this lack of motivation is a constant problem, perhaps writing is not your forte. I mean, what is the problem? If writing bores you, that is pretty fatal. If that is not the case, but you find that it is hard going and it just doesn’t flow, well, what did you expect? It is work; art is work.”

Look out!  The Blogger is Back.

 

Thanks for reading!

Peace

 

Distraction

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn 2018, Autumn at Sonnystone Acres, blogging, November Writing ChallengeLeave a comment

I’m determined to write daily in November, but if I am to judge by this morning, my subconscious is equally determined to not… I’ve cycled through most of these distractions….

Procrastination has always been my m.o. (“if I start writing now, when I’m not really rested, it could upset my thinking, which is no good at all”…Charlie Brown), but modern times have added distractions beyond my ability to ignore.   I open up the computer and I’m like a fly caught up in a Worldwide Web, clicking away at who-knows-what until I forget what I originally started to do.

November is Officially National Novel Writing Month  and I Officially accept The November Writing Challenge.  The Distractions are many and Ours is shaping up to be busy with grandkids, as Jess has a surgery scheduled next week and is going out of town for work week-after-that.  Of course, we’ll vote next Tuesday.  Thanksgiving is just a big blank on the calendar right now, but I’m sure we’ll come up with something festive.

In the meantime, that’s all I’ve got for today, except for this Distraction meant to distract you from the fact that I didn’t really write anything…just told you I’m going to, or will try…

Last night’s Trick-or-Treaters

Peace

 

Long story short…

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn 2018, Autumn at Sonnystone Acres, blogging, updatesLeave a comment

Oh, my!  I have been so neglectful of my blogging…wondering again whether to quit or jump back in with renewed vigor, writing daily.  For now, I’ll catch you up on recent activities…

Martha called and said she’d be visiting town, so she and Nancy and I had a fine evening chatting and eating…

 

The Master Gardeners Fall Conference was super this year!  Jack Barnwell, manager of the gardens on Mackinac Island, presented a terrific slideshow that really made me want to visit there.  Chef Nathan Lyon did a cooking demonstration for us that was both informative and hilarious.  The after-lunch speakers were Scott Beuerlein from Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden and Kerri Ann Mendez from Perennially Yours.

I was also delighted that Sharon and  Charles Sorenson were there, peddling her books.  I’ve been stalking her to buy her latest,

and finally I caught up with her.  This book has me so excited about my Bird Garden project for Spring 2019.  Planning next year’s garden is a great way to get through the winter…

The UE production of Spring Awakening was excellent, though I can’t say I actually like the show…such a bummer.  The theatre always has a full roster of wonderful actors and I’m grateful we have the opportunity right here in Eville to witness their talents.

I’ve fallen down the rabbit-hole of genealogy…  I got out everything I’ve already done and put away about 6 years ago and going through that was a trip into the past, darkly.  In addition to my family tree, I had put together some information on the history of my house and I had forgotten some of the facts I had unearthed.  I’ve gotten it organized and I”m ready to dive into it deeply…

Perhaps I could combine the genealogy research with rejuvenated blogging habits… hmm…

The leaves are beginning to color the trees with splashes of orange, yellow, and red…think I”ll go out to the Thoughtful Spot and figure it all out…

Peace

Going dark…

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn 2018, blogging, Breaking News, Random, Winter at Sonnystone4 Comments

I’ve been doing this blog thing for…oh, my gosh, it’s been nearly 14 years!!!  Over a thousand posts, hundreds of thousands of words, a plethora of pictures, and about 300+ readers followed along the way.

The original Sonnystone Acres morphed into The News, then expanded to include 3 other blogs:  Growing Every Season, Rave On,  MadWoman, and Trailer Trippin’.  (Growing is a seasonal gardening blog and the trippers only post when we are traveling —unless it’s to Disney, which goes on The News.)

Anyone who has tried to maintain a blog can tell you it’s not easy. Each post takes a couple of hours to write, even if it’s a photoblog.   It’s intimidating to hit the publish button…you are putting your Self out there…and I’ve written plenty of stuff that I decided to not share. If you want folks to come back, it has to be published consistently and it has to be at least decent, and interesting, or have pictures of darling children!..  Over the years, I’ve often sacrificed quality just to get something posted, but overall, I’m proud of what I’ve written.  It’s been rare that anyone has actually criticized me, though I can always count on my family to point out my weaknesses.  It’s almost as rare that anyone has actually “liked” my posts on wordpress!!

My faithful readers have shared my joy–births of 4 grand-daughters, 5 Camp Sonnystones, 6 Disney trips– and my pain–Eric’s 1.5 years of fighting cancer, deaths of friends, that damn hip thing.  I sincerely appreciate you.

Lately, though, I’ve felt more obligated than inspired…

So I feel like I have to tell you that I’m taking a 6-week-sabbatical from The News.  The MadWoman will likely be in touch, and I’ve got a few other writing projects going, but mostly I want to just shut up for a while.

I know I’ll be back in time to celebrate the February birthdays, so we’ll get together then!

Peace

How I came to be a blogger…

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn 2015, blogging3 Comments

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Back in 2004, my daughter began blogging.  I was intrigued and in 2005 she set me up with a blog through the platform she was using, I know not what…(it was http://www.sonnystoneacres.com/—go there and you’re nowhere)

I started out blogging as my cat, Sonny, a legendary feline with exquisite taste, who wrote about the 2 caretakers (Casey and me)  of his estate, Sonnystone Acres. Melissa was in and out of the hospital, so when I visited NYC, Sonny would turn over the typewriter to me for live reporting.  It was before smartphones or facebook, so it was a good way to keep the folks back home informed.

Not too many months after I started the blog, Sonny died.  I was devastated.  I did publish his Last Will and Testament, some of my most best work, and a fitting, tearful tribute.

From then on, the blog was in my voice.  I wrote about Melissa’s surgeries, Michael’s wedding, the birth of my 2 oldest grandchildren, the constant remodeling of the house and grounds…

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Technology kept improving, and I decided to start a free wordpress blog, Growing Every Season, to feature my gardens and garden photos.  When I signed up, in 2010, it was just so damn easy, so much more reliable than the old platform.  I decided to start up a second blog, called it The News from Sonnystone Acres, and announced to my dozen or so followers that I would be moving.  They were all family, anyway…

I started a third blog, Rave On, Madwoman, with the vision of lively discussion of current events.  It never got off the ground, probably because every time somebody argued with me, I removed the post…

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Along came Facebook, and with it the ability to share my blog with another kind of friend.  My reader stats increased nicely, and there was the immediate gratification that comes with lots of “likes”.   I felt a little more pressure to please, to entertain, and to do it well,  and that motivates me to keep the calendar full of photo ops and enviable activities.

It was 3 years after that when I took a Blogging 101 class here at wordpress and, surprise!, there’s a whole ‘nother kind of reader out there—fellow bloggers..!  I learned tons about appearance, tools, pages, media , and all that, but couldn’t quite relate to the community.   It seemed like all the other “students”  bonded and within a month or so had 3-4x as many followers as I have, so I am a tad bit jealous.   We all know, though, that I’m a confirmed introvert.

While it was never my intention that my blog become famous, the immediate gratification of “likes” is addicting.  Comments put me over the moon…

It is difficult to not feel disappointed when you write something you consider good, and your only proof that anyone read it is an indecipherable bar graph on a stats page…

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Still, I do so enjoy writing this drivel.  I hope you like it…