Appreciating Those Moments of Clarity
July 12, 2019 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as brainstorming, clarity, writing
Isn’t it nice when an idea becomes crystal clear?
Sometimes there are moments of clarity where the next idea is so strong, it’s obvious what to do.
Other times, you keep pondering over an idea, knowing there’s something more pronounced underneath but not able to give it the bandwidth needed to figure it out.
Sometimes I’m just too busy and miss the opportunities right in front of me.
If you are anything like me, my to-do list is fifteen miles long and has everything on it; laundry, take my son glasses shopping, help get another son ready for college, figure out what to cook for dinner. When all I really want to do is sit down and write and breathe and let all my thoughts come to the surface. Of course even in my writing list, there is so much there it’s hard to figure out what I should work on first and what things would make the biggest impact now.
Just the other day I had a moment of clarity and it felt so motivating and I want more of them.
So I’m trying to figure out what got me to that moment and then ideas of when they’d happened before popped up in my head.
- I’ve had moments of clarity when I’ve met someone new that inspired me.
- Or came when I attended a writers’ conference/meeting/seminar.
- Or when I was out and about and something triggered an idea. (Why is it always when I’m driving or in the shower?)
- Or on those rare occasions when I have a moment to just stop and think.
And voila! Something clicks. It feels right. Confirmed inside your heart and soul.
As a writer, I want these moments more than they happen, but when they do occur I can at least now recognize it as something important and write it down and move forward with it.
Of course, now I have to find time to make it happen, but that’s an entirely different blog post!
Do you get these moments of clarity? Where are you when they come? And what do you do when you have one?
Happy Writing,
Denise
0 0 Read moreNew Chapter By Denise M. Colby
June 12, 2019 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Family, Graduation, New Chapter, writing
Books are written with chapters. Some books organize thoughts and points by chapter. Others are just continuing the story either from a different POV or a new plot twist, which makes us want to continue reading, wondering what will happen next.
Our lives are a little like this as well.
Some can be really long chapters and some can be short. A lot depends on what we are doing in the middle of the chapter and our control over whether we are starting fresh or not. Sometimes a new school year can be a new chapter, sometimes a new semester, or sometimes it’s changing schools or graduating. All these stages in life can be a new chapter.
All three of my boys have new chapters this year – they are graduating something.
The oldest had his a few weeks ago from the Community College he has been attending. And today we celebrate the other two – my youngest graduates 8th grade, while my middle son graduates high school. Both on the same day. It’s been a bit nuts the past few weeks. Lots of lasts, lots of goodbyes, lots of getting things ready for the next year, whether it was math placement tests, or turning in paperwork for college. It has been so fun to be on this journey with them, but I’m also very excited to turn the page and see what happens next.
At my age it’s a lot easier to reflect back and know what an exciting time this is for all three of them. They can do anything they put their minds to. Many doors will open and some will close. It will be up to them to make it all happen. And it’s interesting to see how quickly something can change or an opportunity presents itself.
Kind of like our characters do in the books we write.
It makes me think about my writing and somehow trying to put that same expectancy on the page. So that when we read we can’t put a book down because we are excited for what’s around the corner and we don’t want to miss it.
I sort of forget how flexible we all were when we were younger. Not so set in routine and order. Maybe that’s something I should keep in mind when I’m working on my book.
Happy Graduation boys. Mom is super proud of you!
0 0 Read moreIt’s A ‘Short And Sweet’ Mother’s Day!
May 12, 2019 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby, Writing tagged as books, Mother's Day
Today is Mother’s Day. I was very excited when I realized my monthly post fell on this special day. I knew immediately what I wanted to write about. So first, I want to wish everyone a Happy Mother’s Day, whether you are a mom or you have a mom (which we all do, even if they are no longer with us!)
This is my first Mother’s Day since my mom passed.
I have to admit, it’s really weird. But as a mom myself, I’m celebrating with my kids and my mother-in-law, and thinking about my mom in so many ways.
I’ve actually written a lot about her this past year. Writing is therapeutic, so maybe writing about her has been part of my healing process. So given it’s Mother’s Day, I figured you wouldn’t mind if I wrote about her, again.
After all, she is my mom!
Even though I miss my mom, I have much to be thankful for this Mother’s Day, including a new article published in the 6th edition of the Short and Sweet series, titled Short and Sweet’s Family Album. All of the articles and poems are written about family members and each article is in one word syllables.
My article is all about my mom, titled Thanks To Mom.
I had originally wrote it as a poem a few years back (which I posted last July in the post Smile and Be Grateful In The Little Things when my mom passed away).
Since it was not included when my first article was published in the 3rd edition, which I wrote about in this post, I was quite excited to be contacted for this issue.
The editor asked me to rewrite it in prose vs a poem, so it’s completely different than the poem, even though the underlying theme is the same. I was even able to include a picture of my mom and myself.
It’s special to me, that I’ve been able to write about her in such a permanent way.
And it’s special to me, that I have yet another publishing credit to my name! I love being a part of the Short and Sweet family.
And Mother’s Day is a perfect time to celebrate both my mom and my writing.
Have a blessed day!
Denise
Books by Denise Colby
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Writing Magazine Articles: Writing is writing, right?
April 12, 2019 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby, Writing tagged as publishing, writing, writing milestonesMagazine articles may not be a full novel but I have found the process in writing smaller articles to stretch me in ways I didn’t expect.
The Need to Write Something
As a writer, it’s one thing to write down your thoughts, ideas and inspirations. It’s another to hand it over to someone who is going to take it and print it. Doesn’t matter if it’s a full-length novel or smaller articles.
I’ve always loved writing, and had many experiences in the corporate world creating pieces for our customers to use with their customers. But these were always product related and the specifics were crafted by a team of people.
To have something that I wrote from the beginning to completion on my own, is a completely different experience.
You never know where opportunities are going to come from. Because I need to find a way to generate an income if I want to write full-time, I thought to look into other areas. Last spring I happened upon a booth for a regional magazine and inquired about writing articles for them. She gave me the contact for the editor, I reached out and submitted some writing samples. She offered me a choice of some articles and in the July/August 2018 issue, my first two magazine articles were printed. Little did I realize they would be cover stories!
They even used a few of the pictures I submitted, which made it all very exciting!
And then I received a precious rose!
See, in our Orange County Chapter of RWA, roses are awarded for publishing. Different color roses represent different types of works. Novels are Red, and so on. For articles they are white. I have been watching for YEARS, waiting for the day I would receive a rose, so it was so meaningful to receive roses for these two articles plus one more for the next issue.
Each time a new issue publishes, I’ve been asked to write for the next issue (picking from a list already decided upon by the editor). It’s been great writing experience writing different types of topics. I feel my writing is growing stronger. I’m gaining experience in working with an editor, meeting deadlines, submitting and the concept of letting go (which we all know is difficult to do).
Three of the articles are part of their digital library on their website.
July/August 2018 – Adventure Awaits on Route 66 and Homeward Bound
Jan/Feb 2019 – Safety Tips for Your Family – Kids and Tech
Other articles include:
September/October 2018 – Celebrating Milestone Events
March/April 2019 – Finding New Ways, to Thrive Follow Your Passion Now which is the Current issue online.
And printing in the May/June 2019 issue: Women Learn to Brag…you can’t be modest in business.
So today I’m celebrating a few publishing milestones. It’s been a blessing to write these articles and gain this experience. It’s fun to look back and see how far I’ve come. I’d love for you to join in the celebrating with me.
Thanks for reading,
Denise
2 0 Read moreTeaching SEO Marketing and Author Brand to Writers At SoCalCWC 2019.
February 12, 2019 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby, Writing tagged as Author Brand, Faculty, SEO Marketing, Teaching, Writers' ConferenceI’m super excited to announce I will be teaching for the first time at a writers’ conference in June this year. The SoCal Christian Writers’ Conference will be held at Hope International University in Fullerton, CA on June 20-22, 2019.
I will be teaching two workshops. My topics?
- SEO Marketing for Your Website
- Developing Your Author Brand
And I’ve been given a cute social media button to announce that I’m faculty on my website and social media. I thought it would be fun to add it here, too.
What is the SoCal Christian Writers’ Conference?
This is what is listed on their website:
Whether you’re a new writer or you’ve been in the industry for a while, you’ll find a wonderful community of writers at the SoCal Christian Writers’ Conference.
- Meet with and learn from top-name professionals who will share their insights and expertise from their work in the Christian publishing industry, including agents, acquisitions editors, and best-selling authors.
There are several topics that attendees can learn about, but to help you find out more, take a look at their websiteor Facebook Page.
Did I tell you I’m excited? I am a little giddy about sharing my knowledge and experience with others in a way that I hope will be helpful. I’ve been waiting a while to have this opportunity. I also will have time slots for people to sign up and meet with me one-on-one for advice or input. I wonder if anyone will be interested in hearing what I have to say?
Whether you are a screenwriter, fiction, nonfiction, memoir or teen writer, this conference has something for you. The morning is filled with continuing sessions in a specific topics such as platform, editing, screenwriting, memoir writing, fiction, and nonfiction. There’s even a special section just for teen writers. Each morning session builds on each other throughout the three day conference.
Then there are also individual topics in the afternoon workshops in areas including; publishing, the writing life, fiction, nonfiction, screenwriting, specialty and marketing.
This is where my two classes fit.
In the Developing Your Author Brand class, I plan to help attendees figure out what their brand is or at least narrow down options to help them decide later. And how to develop that brand with your target audience. We will brainstorm applicable content for future use and introduce apps that can help create posts for social media and websites. I’m hoping to have it be a hands on class, where people can actually make something on their laptop during class they can use right away.
For the SEO Marketing for your Website workshop, I will go over what is SEO and why it is important, how to use search engines to find strong keywords and how to create strong SEO with your photos and text (and the steps to do it). We will brainstorm content ideas and create one item from your list.
Years ago when I sat in on my first writers meeting, I had an interest to want to teach a workshop. But I felt at the time like I didn’t have anything to offer, especially because I didn’t know much about this industry. How would I ever have enough experience to provide knowledge and inspiration to both published and unpublished authors?
Well, it turns out I can use my knowledge in my 20+ year career in marketing. The only thing I didn’t have, was an understanding of the publishing world. Yet.
Fast forward five years and I’m ready.
I’ve had several years’ experience in creating my own website and evaluating other author’s pages, as well as practicing different theories and formulas and working with experts in the field. And I’ve learned that what comes naturally for me, may not be natural for other writers. But it doesn’t have to be scary. Thus, this is where I can help.
This year, the conference is in its third year. I wrote about the first year in my blog, What Do You Do At a Writing Conference? Since I’ve been involved from the beginning, I’ve made such wonderful friends and have learned something new each year I’ve attended. It’s the perfect place for me to get my feet wet as a new faculty member. I can’t wait!
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