Category Archives: Travel Writings

Traveling – and dreaming about traveling – is an inspiration for me

#BookNerdProblems – Again

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About eight and a half years ago, I wrote a blog post titled #BookNerdProblems, in which I briefly mused about the challenges of moving when you have a ton of books. Well, eight years later, I’m moving again, and this time I have even more books.

I’m moving only a few miles away this time, instead of across the country. I love my small town and the rural area where I live, and I’m moving out of my house in town to live on my family’s acreage. I’m looking forward to it, except for the actual moving part of it. I’m also moving to a smaller house, so downsizing is a must.

Downsizing my collection of books is of course not acceptable, so getting rid of furniture, clothing, knick-knacks, and other stuff is what I’m working on right now. Writing on my current manuscript has unfortunately taken a back seat, as well, but I’m still plugging away at it.

Stay tuned to this blog and my social media for more updates about my (slowly progressing manuscript) and the new home for all my books!

Like what you’re reading? Buy me a lemonade!

Of Moss and Stones that Roll

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Mossy stones in the creek

You’ve probably heard the old phrase “a rolling stone gathers no moss.” There’s no proof of exactly who coined the term or when, but it likely originated as a Latin phrase and it’s been well-known in English-speaking areas for several hundred years now. 

The basic meaning of the phrase is two-fold. A somewhat negative spin on the phrase is someone who is a rolling stone has no home and no roots, and can never “gather moss,” or collect anything permanent like wealth, family, or stability. A more positive meaning is a person who is carefree with no worries or commitments, or a perpetual traveler who is a “citizen of the world.” 

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Writing Is…Seeing the Big Picture

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I recently wrote a post about seeing the details. Details add richness and flavor to stories and to life.

Along those same lines, seeing the big picture is just as important. Where I’m living now in north Idaho, everything is big: the trees, the mountains, and especially the sky.

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Writing Is…Seeing the Details

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Writers are observers. We need to observe life in all its grand scope and small detail—places, things, people, events, words, emotions.

A couple of weeks ago, I moved from one state to another one—literally across the country. Since everything about my new home is new, I’m in major observation mode right now. There are so many details that may or may not ever make it into a story. But whether a certain detail actually makes it into a book or not isn’t really the point. Every detail observed and pondered is another wrinkle on the brain, another thought or sound or smell added to the richness of experience.

Details like the dirt road I drive on every day that leads up to the house where I’m staying. I’m learning the spots along the road where the rain has eroded the dirt into a washboard surface, and the spot that looks smooth but the dirt makes the car fishtail ever so slightly whether the road is wet or dry.

Details like the lichen that grows in abundance on the trees. So many different kinds and colors:

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Writing Is…Not Writing

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I have not been very active in the blogosphere or on social media for the past two weeks. Normally I am one to preach about the importance of being consistent with your blogging or social media postings. Consistency does indeed count for a lot, but hopefully I’ve built enough of a following that my two-week absence hasn’t cost me all of my supporters. (Right? I say, dear follower, isn’t that right?)

Anyway, my excuse is that I was moving. Across the country. I’ve lived in Virginia my entire life, and I decided to move to Idaho. And I drove the whole way (well, my sister drove with me. She awesomely gave up a week of her life so I wouldn’t have to drive solo cross-country). But still, I spent a week either driving, navigating, or passed out in a hotel room. I didn’t have phone or internet signal a lot of the time (sometimes it was enough for the GPS, sometimes not).

After the drive, I’ve spent the last few days getting settled in the room I’m temporarily renting, putting my stuff in storage, learning my way around town, etc., etc. And so finally, for the first time in two weeks, I have a chance to sit down and write. Continue reading →