It’s been more than a month since my writing group met and I’m beginning to feel the kinks that come from missing a workout. We were supposed to meet last Friday, but due to conflicts, changed our meeting to Wednesday, December 21. (You do realize that’s four days before Christmas, Tam pointed out. We didn’t care, though, because we had to meet.) I’ve been thinking about my writing group a lot since the hardest revision ever, which I think is a funny name because the next time I’m faced with… Read more writing group →
Cutting and piecing and sweating… Recently someone offered to read my first YA novel, Strength, along with the query letter, and offer me feedback. She didn’t offer once, but a… Read more the hardest revision ever →
Too many irons in the fire. This is a phrase I’ve heard most of my life. I started hearing it as a child. My mom’s voice has stayed with me and, now, decades later, I still hear her voice. Too many irons in the fire.I hear it when I think about my writing life. I play with many different writing projects. I like to think of it as playing. I don’t have to be serious. Writing isn’t my livelihood. I write for fun. I write for me and for them and for… Read more mission STORY →
Until yesterday, I never really thought about the goals I have as a writer. I know this seems a little strange (at least to me) considering I started this blog to document my writing life. I do have goals (and they are different than pipe dreams), but I’ve never really stated them in black and white. Regardless, I seem to stay committed to them, but it still seems worthwhile to write them down. Write 1000 words every day. Keep a writer’s notebook alongside students. Keep a writer’s notebook for my… Read more writer goals →
I’ve come to believe with all things creative there is an ebb and flow. I try to ride the tide when it is available and not worry so much when it ebbs. Sometimes, though, I wonder if I’m doing a good job balancing everything that I want to balance. I like to do a lot of creative things. Things I want to do. Things I’ve deemed important. Sometimes when one flows, the others ebb and I wonder if I’m going to be sorry later in life. But life isn’t meant to… Read more ebb & flow →
Last night we went to a dinner and a local playhouse with some of our best friends. Andy (my husband) and Kurt planned a date night for Heidi and me since our birthdays are just a few days apart. At one point in the conversation, they asked: So when do you write? And I began telling them. I realized writing is truly squeezed in around the other (more important) parts of my life. I’m a wife, mom, friend, artist, laundry fairy, house cleaner, reader, doll fashion adviser, train track constructor,… Read more when do you write? →
me, Kristina McBride, & Ruth Metcalfe Tonight (after listening to Gordon Korman speak after the All-Write Summer Institute Dinner + Author event) I hung out with Ruth Metcalfe and Kristina… Read more talking about YA →
Discovering, playing, building… and thinking about a space for me as a writer. A place to discover my writing habits and process. A place to play with words. A place to build bits of this and that into something bigger over time. It’s time I make a space to document my writing life. I hope you will join me and {Discover. Play. Build} your writing life too.
Ruth Ayres Writes 