Kate Warren

This is now a real website.  I have just deleted my first spam comment on the blog!  I must celebrate, but I need ideas.  I've given up chocolate for Lent and most of my food celebrations involve chocolate.

Anybody have any chocolate-free celebration ideas?  I'm all ears.

Kate
P.S.  apologies for not getting content added to the site more quickly.  Life has been buffeting me lately and there are only s

In order to write you need certain things: words, some way to put them down either on paper (napkins, body parts, whatever is handy really) or computer.  Those are the basics that are required, but there are some other things that are nice to have such as:  Time.

You have to have time to write.  It can be a stretch of a few hours, or even just a few minutes, but it does take time to get the story down.  Those of us with day jobs and/or children (or in my case children who are my day job) know how difficult it can be to make everything balance.  Here are a few ideas for fitting in that precious writing time that is so necessary for a writer's sanity.

Get Up Early.  If you are already a morning person this will be easier for you than it is for the rest of the world.  A half hour before the rest of the house is up can be great for creativity.  Think of it: silence--no one asking for something every ten minutes.  Definite writerly potential there.

Stay Up Late.  After everyone else has gone to bed will also be a nice quiet time to let your muse whisper to you.  This will work particularly well for night-owls.  Warning: do not combine this method with the Get Up Early method; complications of hilarious and possibly even dangerous proportions could ensue.

Nap Time.  Those of us with young children who maintain regular sleep schedules (I've heard those children exist) have a golden opportunity in nap time.  You may be tempted to use this time to do something like laundry, dishes, or starting supper.  If that happens remember that God invented the timer for a reason.  By all means throw something in the slow cooker and fling some clothes in the washer, but in between buzzers sit down and write.

School.  If you have older children, all  of whom can be entrusted to the school system, you should be able to carve out at least part of the school day for scribal arts.  Again timers can be helpful.  Try to corral all other activities (errands, phone calls, housework, litigation) to one half of the school day leaving the other half free for you to heed the siren call of the computer.

Those are my ideas for now.  One thing I must caution you though: do not allow yourself, your significant other, or your children to become ill.  And if you figure out a way to do this please let me know, as I've spent the last week and a half administering so much cold and flu medicine that I should qualify as a pharmacy.   Until next time.

Kate

Are you a woman?  Do you know a woman?  Are you perhaps related to a woman?

If you answered "yes" to any of the above, you may now join in celebrating International Women's Day.  Now I hadn't really heard of this before last week, but I'm willing to bake something delicious anyway and raise a cupcake (or perhaps a cookie) to my fellow women.

Women face unique challenges.  We harbor new life, we give birth to said new life, we often raise the new life (a frequently thankless task),  all while maintaining our homes and selves.  Some of us work outside the home.  All of us work inside the home.

Take a look at the women around you.  What do you see?  Friends, family, a few rivals?  Misunderstandings and sometimes perfect understanding can get in the way of sisterhood.  This is a day to let go of any grudges and respect the challenges we all face everyday, a day to support each other and lift each other up.  Celebrate International Women's Day.    If nothing else, be glad you're not a man.

Kate