Fabulous Fifteen - IWSG September 2026

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who’ve been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. Co-hosts for September are Kate Larkinsdale, SE White, JS Pailly, Olga Godim, and Natalie Aguirre. For links to all IWSG contributors, click here.

Hey all! I’m passing on this month’s question in order to celebrate IWSG’s fifteenth anniversary. When I read that number, my first thought was, IWSG is fifteen? Oh Lord. How old does that make me? Please. Don’t ask!

When IWSG first came along, I’d been blogging for a while and was starting to realize how helpful it can be to communicate with other writers. I was also feeling pulled in a few different directions. Somewhere along the line, instead of struggling to post daily here, then weekly, I began limiting my Middle Passages entries to these first Wednesday of the month IWSG posts. So many years later, each time that monthly head’s-up email arrives, I make it my priority to sit down and write a solid essay. That’s fifteen years’ worth of solid essays, my friends. Do the math. To my knowledge, I haven’t missed a one.

It happens that a few weeks ago, I opened Middle Passages to its pre-IWSG days, searching for a piece I’d written years ago that included a recipe for roasted tomato pasta sauce. It’s been a prolific tomato summer and I hadn’t made the sauce in a long time. BTW, it’s simple, and every bit as yummy as I remembered, so if you want the recipe it’s here. Anyway, once I found what I was looking for, I kept clicking around this blog, jumping from post to post reading, finding quite a few I don't remember writing. My daughter was sitting across from me, and when I looked up I said to her, “You know what? I AM a good writer.”

That’s what IWSG has done for me. It’s delivered the opportunity to practice and improve my craft, often challenging me to dig deep to discover my views on a particular topic, and then to word my thoughts in a clear and understandable way. Today, I may lack confidence in some aspects of the writing life, but thanks to IWSG, that doesn't pertain to my actual writing. On top of that, IWSG has introduced me to so many other writers, people whose posts and comments teach, support and encourage me. I am better at what I love because of this. Please know how grateful I am to each of you.

During a seminar English class my senior year of college, the professor asked if anyone kept a diary, and I was the only one who raised a hand. When she asked why I did it, I said, “Because when I’m ninety years old, I want to look back and see who I was now.” Welp, I'm not there yet, but there's been a heck of a lot of living since then, and I haven’t kept a diary in eons. Instead there's this, a hundred and eighty IWSG essays making up a body of work that informs me not only of who I’ve been, but also of who I’ve become.

I was clueless when I wrote my first IWSG essay that I'd still be here after all this time, nor did I anticipate what a tremendous resource for writers this space would become. I'd like to extend a huge thank you to Alex for his foresight in founding, managing, and growing IWSG, as well as each of the  the administrators who’ve donated their time to make IWSG a success.

Last, but not at all least, thank you to those who read and comment here. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t, or wouldn’t, do it without you.

What has your experience been with IWSG?

Reminder: as a way to celebrate IWSG during this anniversary month, if you can, please support some of our fellow members by buying a couple books from those who have links on their pages.

Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda - IWSG August 2026

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who’ve been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh.  I’m delighted to be cohosting this month along with: Shannon Lawrence, Diedre Knight, and Pat Garcia. For links to all IWSG contributors, click here.

August optional question: As a writer/author what is something you regret? Or something that you wish you'd done differently in your writing process?

My biggest regret is not knowing myself well enough to start a dedicated writing practice sooner. Priorities were what they were when I was young. Taking care of a child while working full time, caring for a home, saving money, of course all these things were important, and I let them override my desire to write.

In spite of myself, that buried want forced its way out. I wrote an essay about blueberry picking with my daughter and her cousins when they were little, but didn’t have enough hutzpah to do anything with it. I composed poems sometimes, edited them like crazy and even submitted a few, but nothing happened. 

At work, I drowned myself in memos and training documents, because they meant writing. As a recruitment manager for a national retail chain, I hired creative talent and did a lot of work for a copy director.  At one point, he had an open copywriter position. As part of the hiring process, each  candidate was required to develop copy for an upcoming ad campaign. I wrote my own copy, wondering if I’d have the nerve to present it to him and be considered for the open position.

I didn't. 

It took until I was in my late-forties, when my first piece was published in a niche magazine for me to call myself a writer. A few years later, a job elimination that I call one of my life's greatest blessings,  fanned the proverbial flames. Before that, I hadn't really admitted to myself that I was essentially going through the motions in my career. But when life gets yanked out from under you, things get real fast. At fifty years old and unexpectedly unemployed, I immediately understood with complete certainty that whatever I did next had to involve writing. Every iteration of myself since then has.

These days, I’m proud of my writing, but wonder if I'd been true to myself earlier, whether I might have accomplished more.

What are your regrets related to writing?

Revise and Reduce! IWSG - July 2026

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. Thank you to this month’s co-hosts,  Rebecca Douglass, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Cathrina Constantine, and Jacqui Murray. For links to all contributors, click here.

Optional question - Is there anything you'd like to see changed, added, and/or rearranged about the book publishing industry?

I’m passing on this month’s question, other than to say I wish we could go back thirty or forty years…

Onto another topic. This is my second summer of retirement and I’m still tickled by the idea of waking up with no real agenda, other than what I come up with on the fly. Although that’s not really true. I do have a schedule of sorts, working in the gardens, yoga classes and from June to August, swimming laps from seven to eight am, during the only adult lap swim offered at our town pool on weekdays.

Lap swimming can be pretty darn boring without waterproof earphones, but this summer I’m using the time to think about my writing, which helps things go quickly. Specifically, I’m reacting to comments from a friend/author/editor who read my current novel recently. The good news? She said, “Really. It’s good. It’s publishable as is…” but then of course she offered suggestions to enhance it, and they got me thinking, which after all, is what I’d hired her to do. After pondering her comments, my overriding thought was, sure. Maybe it’s good enough as is, but if there’s a way to make it better, shouldn’t I do it? Heck, yeah.

Her suggestions were as follows: Option #1, make one of the two POV’s in the book a secondary character and tell the entire story through the remaining POV’s eyes. Option #2, keep the second POV but give the character more of an arc, without increasing the word count.

I pondered for a while before nixing the first option. I’ve murdered many darlings in my day, but in this case it would remove the reader’s closeness to my second POV. I’d have to find a way to tell everything that happened to her, without having the readers live it through her eyes. I guess I like her too much to relegate her to secondary status, so Option #2 it is.

Amping up my second POV character while not increasing the word count means there are plenty of other darlings to kill, and lately my morning swims have involved major what-if-ing. Sometimes I lose track of the swimming. When I finish up, my Apple watch tells me I’ve swum more laps than normal. 

Cutting words while burning calories? I’ll take that as a win!

A Thorny Proposition - IWSG June 2026

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. Thank you to this month’s co-hosts, Victoria Marie Lees, Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre, and C. Lee McKenzie. For links to all contributors, click here.

May was busy. The month was full of weeding, mulching, seeding, and transplanting. Every time I went outside I saw something else that needed to be done. The operative word in that last sentence is “saw” because aside from the gardening, I had two cataract surgeries. Apparently, I’m on the young side, but they can come earlier for severely nearsighted people like me. When you’ve been wearing coke-bottle glasses since childhood and wake up one morning post-surgery, and can see a hummingbird zipping outside the window with your naked eye, it’s life-changing.

The yardwork and surgeries provided an excuse for writing-avoidance. After completing a class on creating a saleable submission package for my latest book in April, I sent out two more queries and received two more quick rejections. Enough! I don’t want to waste this book, so long story short, it’s out being edited (again) which put me in waiting mode, which is to say, I took a break from writing.

I know. I should have distracted myself with another project, but my motivation to start anything new has been on such a prolonged break, I’d begun to suspect it had walked off the job. Spring gardening, plus pre and post-op appointments, kept me too busy to think about that.

Amost.

This leads me to this month’s question. Do most of my story ideas come from one place (the news, dreams, etc.) or do they hit from all over the place?

The only consistency related to my story inspiration is that for a long time, I’ve had nothing but empty head space when I ponder writing a new one—that is, until one day recently. I was weeding under a holly tree, which requires yanking up “volunteers” while avoiding thorny leaves that clutter the ground in the spring. Often I listen to audio books during such tedious jobs, but on this day, my headphone batteries had died. I’d challenged myself to clear a certain section though, so hoed away in silence. Two hours in, temps had peaked at an unseasonable ninety-plus. The weeds were stubborn and sweat trickled down my face.  I’d reached a point where I was whisper-cursing at holly thorns poking through my gloves.

And, that my friends, is when a story idea struck.

Really? Now?

In truth, I wiped my forehead and sat back on my heels, pretty darn tickled. The thought that arrived had nothing to do with the task at hand, but afterwards, the weeding felt easier somehow.

Since then, I’ve thought about that under-the-holly-tree revelation a lot. I’ve even done a bit of research trying to decide if there is enough there to flesh out a story. I’m not sure, but that’s okay.

The whole business gave me a measure of relief. It’s a new month. My eyes working and there’s hope that once I choose to listen, my writing voice will come in clearly, too.

Where do you find your inspiration?

Harvesting Inspiration - IWSG May 2026

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. Thank you to this month’s co-hosts, Jenni Enzor, Jemima Pett, Jamie of Uniquely Maladjusted but Fun, and Kim Lajevardi. For links to all contributors, click here.

Optional May question: What was the most inspiring feedback you received from readers, including agents, editors, and beta readers?

While not necessarily feedback, a writer, author, teacher I know once offered this inspirational phrase: “Thinking is writing too.”

These days, I can’t muster up the energy to work on a new novel, but that doesn’t mean words and images don’t continue to spin their little kaleidoscopes inside my brain. It comforts me to acknowledge them, knowing they’ll be there if I decide to call on them some day.  

It’s still cold here. An east wind off the ocean delivers a damp chill, but even so, free-form forsythias wave their yellow arms, and “PJM” rhododendrons bloom fuchsia.  Still bundled in my winter jacket, this morning I walked the sidewalks in our downtown under a bower of Bradford pear blossoms. I looked up through them, unable to tell where the flowers ended and the white sky began. That picture resides in my brain now, ready in case it’s called to the page.

Crossing the street, I strolled through the town common. Beyond me, out for his own walk, a man wearing shorts above two prosthetic legs zigzagged the path. I caught myself wondering what had happened to him. Had he been in the military? Was he in a car accident?  What kind of courage had it taken for him to get to a point where he could jaunt across the common on this damp spring day? I’ve stored those thoughts for future retrieval.

Our county Sherriff's office brings in a shredding truck for a few hours once a year. After my walk, I sorted through old papers to dispose of and found insurance documents from when our house was robbed over twenty years ago. At the time (and still now), the only things I owned of marginal value had been handed down, or marked a significant occasion, and those were the things the perpetrator went for. Entering via an unlocked back door, they helped themselves to a ring that had been my great aunt’s and then my mother’s, who handed it down to me when I was sixteen. A necklace my husband gave me for our first Christmas together disappeared. They took our daughter’s gold christening bracelet, earrings my husband gifted me on our fifth wedding anniversary, and another pair he gave me years later for reasons I won’t go into here, but which made me treasure them. The lost items scored higher for sentimental value than anything else, and that meant while they were theoretically replaceable, they could never be replaced. To add proverbial acid to the wound, the thief stole a digital camera, filled with pictures I hadn’t downloaded or printed. Of course, we were grateful no one was home when it happened. No one was hurt. The lost items were just things. For a long time afterwards though, I felt vulnerable and violated. The intruders had taken pieces of my history. It felt like they'd taken part of my heart.

So, what has all this got to do with today’s question? Inspiration can be found anywhere. On my way back to my car after dumping a cardboard box of papers into the shredding bin, long forgotten anger and frustration stemming from that robbery percolated inside me. It took a few minutes sitting in my warm car to realize I could restore a feeling of control by harvesting those old emotions to use the next time a story pops up.

Where do you get your inspiration?

Tuned IN II. IWSG April 2026

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. Thank you to this month’s co-hosts, Melissa Maygrove, Cathrina Constantine, Kate Larkinsdale, and Rebecca Douglass. For links to all contributors, click here.

Optional April question: If you have a playlist (or could put one together) that either gets you in the groove to write or fits with one of your books, what is it? What type of music or what songs?

I’m not in the habit of playing music when writing, but once, ages ago, when my subject matter had Irish connections, I turned to a Celtic playlist while drafting. Inspired by the result. I wrote a Middle Passages post about that magical experience here.  Other than adding a few commas, I’m not sure I could write it better today.

That said (or read), after that expressive time, I went back to writing in silence. For me, concentration requires quiet, but as I discovered recently, apparently silence during cooking isn’t as important. I had some interior house painting done a few months back. At the end of the day, one of the painters mentioned my voice.

Huh?

It turns out the painters, father and son, perform in a band and had been listening to me singing away in the kitchen while they worked in the living room. I wasn’t aware I’d opened my mouth. I guess that goes to show that while I prefer to write in quiet, music is a part of me.

Anyway, back to today’s topic. Intrigued by that post I wrote so many years ago, and in the spirit of IWSG participation, I turned on some tunes while drafting what you’re reading right now. You never know. Maybe I’d grasp a shadow of that long ago Celtic muse. Instead, the first song blasted me back to a party in a linoleum-floored college dorm room where a group of us belted out the chorus. Back to the present. This time I was aware and it was probably good there was no one in my house,  because I employed my high school chorus instructor’s lessons to sing from my diaphragm. That is to say, loudly.

So much for writing.

Next thing I knew, I’d spent long minutes replaying the details of that particular college evening [insert youthful drama here], thinking how back then, every joy lit our insides like skyrockets, every hurt plunged us into arctic oceans. We had yet to experience the depth of the ways in which life would have its way with us. I wanted to reach back to that naïve girl singing her heart out, and say, “You think today is a big deal? Brace yourself, honey. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

Let’s just say the music-generated nostalgia didn’t help me get this blog post written.

Or did it?

What kind of music do you listen to when you write? What songs catapult you back to the past?

Climbing Out - IWSG March 2026

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh.

I’m writing this post mid-February and pre-posting as I won’t be available closer to the March IWSG deadline. With no monthly question to answer, I’m going rogue. That said, as always, thank you to this month’s co-hosts and to Alex. To read March posts from other IWSG contributors, click here.  

I’ve just completed a class called; You’ve Written a Book—Now What? It covered one line pitches, queries, publishing perspectives and marketing plans.

Some history. I started querying my last novel late last summer and after quick rejections, stopped to ponder what to do to improve my chances. When the opportunity to take the course came up, it seemed like a smart way to force myself forward. The class met on Saturdays, with a homework assignment in between, and after our second class, the task was to write (or in my case, re-write) our queries.

The following Monday morning I sat down to work on the main paragraph of the query, something like 200 words. I had plans for three hours later and usually put an alarm on my phone as a reminder, but since there was plenty of time, I didn’t bother.

Oops! I had to bolt out of my chair to make it to my destination in time, arriving there sans wallet and phone. I’d looked forward to the activity, but once there couldn’t focus. Half of my brain sat back in front of my laptop, tweaking word-by-word. Then, once I arrived home again, I discovered I’d been so distracted I’d left a folder of information behind.

Really?

It was a query letter--theoretically, not “fun” writing at all. But it reminded me that any writing has always brought joy, even in my vintage HR days when I’d get lost creating a training document or a relocation piece, only to look up and realize I’d almost missed a staff meeting. As far back as Miss Markey's sixth grade creative writing class when I wrote five extra pages for an assignment just because I was having fun.

The following day I drove twenty minutes to retrieve the folder I’d left behind, thinking that while I love when writing swallows down a deep hole, sometimes climbing out can be a challenge.

Tell me about a time that you got lost in your writing.

Building the Supports - IWSG February 2026

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. Thank you to co-hosts for the February posting of the IWSG are J Lenni Dorner, Victoria Marie Lees, and Sandra Cox! For links to all contributors, click here.

Optional February question - Many writers have written about the experience of rereading their work years later. Have you reread any of your early works? What was that experience like for you?

My favorite part of re-reading old pieces is recognizing the improvement in my writing. I’d only written non-fiction and poetry when I attempted my first piece of fiction. A blogger I followed offered a contest in which she provided the first and last sentence of a short story. Contestants had to fill in the middle with a specific maximum word count. I gave it a go and ended up astonished. Who knew I could write a story? Of course I didn’t win. There were all sorts of structure problems. But who cares? It started something. Another blog offered daily writing prompts and I used them to challenge myself. Eventually, a few more contests brought a mention or two, enough to keep me going. A scene storming exercise led to my first novel attempt, a bomb, but ten years later I got back to it. Now it’s a fully realized manuscript.

The gist is, a lot of my early work is emphatically cringeworthy, but so what? Writing is like everything else. The longer we practice the better we get. Those early words are the pilings beneath the pier. They support what’s built on top of it.

How do you feel about your early writing?

It's a Hard Wall - IWSG January 2026

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. Thank you to co-hosts for this month: Shannon Lawrence, Olga Godim, Jean Davis, and Jacqui Murray! For links to all contributors, click here.

Confession. While I’m good at putting appointment reminders in my phone, I rely on the email prompt administrators typically send out a week before our monthly IWSG posting date. This morning I walked three miles, ate breakfast and started reading the news before realizing today is the first Wednesday of the month. I checked my email and found the reminder that arrived yesterday afternoon. Oops. So what you are getting here is a totally off-the-cuff post, published prior to noon, instead of my typical 6:00 am.

This month’s optional IWSG question: Is there anything in your writing plans for 2026 that you are going to do that you couldn't get done in 2025?

As it happens, I’ve known for two months about a class focused on creating novel submission packages. It’s going to be offered once in 2026, for five weeks during January and February and the deadline was December 31. To bring you up to date, I started querying my novel last summer, got my first round of rejections and decided to rewrite my query. I got no further than that.

The objective me thought this might be a good time to take the class.

But the subjective me (read that as, the chicken **** me) kept finding excuses not to act. It’s by Zoom and I hate online classes. There will be a follow-up class offered in March and I’m going to be away. Money isn’t really an issue, but I wondered if it was a good time to spend it right after the holidays.  

But here’s my real reason for delaying.

I’m scared. Taking it will mean I’d have to follow through and I’m afraid to find out my query stinks, or worse, that my book, the fourth one I’ve written, stinks more. Yes, I’ve had readers and editors, but still, I suffer from a mega case of imposter syndrome, posting like a writer here on IWSG for so many years. The truth is, I’m terrible at marketing myself, great at giving up, and suspect I may be a half-good writer who’ll never publish a novel. Chances are this fourth novel is my last.

Say that ten times fast. Chances are this fourth novel is my last.

Thankfully, that particular phrase circled in my brain as I sat down at my laptop on New Year’s Eve and remembered the deadline for signing up for the course.  

Nothing like backing up against a proverbial wall. 

I made it with a few hours to spare. 

Class starts Saturday.

Wishing you all a happy and successful 2026.

The Gift that Keeps Giving - IWSG December 2025

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. 

I am delighted to co-host IWSG this month with Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Pat Garcia, Tara Tyler, and Natalie Aguirre! For links to all contributors, click here.

December’s optional question - As a writer, what was one of the coolest/best gifts you ever received?

Not all gifts are material, and the one for which I feel most grateful is the gift of awareness.

It began when I started this blog and challenged myself to write a post five days a week. That could have become boring, or at the very least a struggle, so in trying to furnish myself with subject matter I spent a lot of time walking with a camera, noticing things I’d never had time to appreciate before. Pretty soon I had images—storm clouds reflecting off a still harbor, herons and egrets stick-walking through the marsh grass, lobster boats laboring in with their catch. After a while, it didn't matter if I took a photo. I learned that winter sunsets are stunning, but it's the subtle color that displays in the east just as the sun goes down that touches the soul. I drank in views of the city across the bay from a park I’d never walked before, visited secret gardens and strolled a World War II munitions depot the state turned into walking paths. I discovered a lighthouse on a spit of land where, if timed right, it's possible to watch the sunrise and turn around and to watch the moon set in the same minute. My walks took me through museums, graveyards, antique stores and old homesteads. Each of these things delivered a sense of uniqueness and wonder as well as a profound feeling of good fortune for the beauty and history that surrounds me.

The habit of noticing stays strong in me. Even now as I walk the same route most mornings, things are  different than the day before. Beauty is ever changing, ever evolving. How lucky am I that awareness arrived with a two-for-one bonus gift of ongoing appreciation.

As a writer, what has been your favorite gift?

AWOL - IWSG November 2025

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. Thank you to November  cohosts, Jennifer Lane, Jenni Enzor, Renee Scattergood, Rebecca Douglass, Lynn Bradshaw, and Melissa Maygrove. For links to all contributors, click here.

November’s optional question - When you began writing, what did you imagine your life as a writer would be like? Were you right, or has this experience presented you with some surprises along the way?

I knew I’d be away and unavailable when the email announcing this month’s IWSG post arrived. I pre-wrote my post, unaware of the optional question. Happily, I came close enough!

Sixteen years ago when I created Middle Passages, I was besotted. Every word I wrote felt as rewarding as that electrifying, innocent joy of first love. But as we all know, dazzling first loves don’t always remain for the long haul. It’s like that with writing too. Many submissions and rejections followed those initial earnest blog posts, which taught me that real writing takes hard work, patience and time. I get it, but I’d be a liar to say I don’t miss that period when everything was fresh and exhilarating.

These days, writing feels more like living with a trusted partner. We know we belong together and have enough confidence in our relationship that sometimes we do things apart.

Occasionally though we experience a lapse in communication, which happened this past April when my writing brain forgot to tell me it planned to take off to parts unknown the same day I retired. I trust it to return, but patience is key. While it's been away, I've been reading, walking a couple of miles a day, taking yoga and Zumba classes and learning Mahjong. I want to tell you my days are full, but they aren't, really. I have plenty of time to write, but zero inspiration. So, to keep myself going, I’ve been playing around with my old blog posts, cutting and pasting them into a Word document, then editing the heck out of them. 

You know how when you love your own words, your proofreading eyes fail to find mistakes? Now I see them all. Mostly though, I find ways to tighten the essays to make them more compelling. It's fun. Re-reading the early-writing me feels like visiting with an old friend I haven’t seen in years. It's a little like receiving postcards from afar. It helps me stay in touch with my imagination while it's off galivanting.

What do you do when inspiration takes a holiday?

Choosing My Children - IWSG October 2025

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. Thank you to October  cohosts, Beth Camp, Crystal Collier, and Cathrina Constantine! For links to all contributors, click here.

This month’s optional question: What is the favorite thing you’ve written, published or not? And why?

I wonder if asking this question of a writer is similar to asking a parent to identify their favorite child. They’re all my favorites! But if I had to choose, would it be the poem I wrote in high school that my English teacher submitted to the literary magazine without telling me? The one that when my friend congratulated me, I said, “Huh?”

Or would it be the piece I wrote off the top of my head before work one day and submitted to an online writing magazine before thinking about it? A few weeks later an editor called telling me I’d won $500 for my essay and I'd almost forgotten writing it.

Perhaps my favorite is the first piece I had published in an actual print magazine about living through the stages of life as an older mother of an only child. The essay was called “Middle Passages” and yes, it inspired the name for this blog. That particular essay put the bug in my head about beginning a regular writing practice.

But how can I forget the pieces I wrote for local magazines when I was freelancing? I had a blast writing them. Well, mostly. I was assigned a feature highlighting the best restaurants in which to dine on oysters. At the time I didn’t eat them, and every chef I talked to wanted me to sample their dishes. Gulp. (Now, I love them fried!) Then there’s the story I wrote about a neighbor’s yard, three acres filled with gardens, cairns, a labyrinth plus a three-tiered tree house. He was so delighted with the piece he had the photographer who took the accompanying pictures come back and take more after which this neighbor made them up into his own book. My copy has pride of place on my book shelf.

Another time I wrote an article about an encaustic artist, who painted with wax. Not only was I clueless about the medium prior to interviewing the artist, but my GPS was clueless too. It kept trying to send me north of the city when I needed to go south. But during the ensuing stop-and-start trip, I dead-ended at a pier on a river I’d noticed for years while speeding by on the highway. I’d always wanted to find it. Check that off the bucket list.

Of course I can’t leave out the four unpublished books I have under my belt which have taken years upon years of effort. I do, actually, have a favorite there, but I’m not confessing. I wouldn’t want the others to feel bad, especially the one I am currently querying.

In the end, they're all my children and there’s no way I can  choose. After all, there are sixteen years of essays I’ve published here at Middle Passages. Let's just say if I had to rank them, my “Church of the Jetty” posts would land close to the top because I cherish the memory of visiting our harbor breakwater with my husband on summer Sunday mornings. I miss it still.

But then there are my "Festival on the Common" posts. They're pretty good too...

https://middlepassages-lcs.blogspot.com/2009/03/practice.html

https://middlepassages-lcs.blogspot.com/2012/07/summer-blessings.html

https://middlepassages-lcs.blogspot.com/2013/08/church-of-jetty-take-three.html

https://middlepassages-lcs.blogspot.com/2014/07/church-of-jetty-2014.html

https://middlepassages-lcs.blogspot.com/2015/08/church-of-jetty-2015.html

How about "BI" instead? IWSG September 2025

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. Thank you to September co-hosts:  Kim Lajevardi, Natalie Aguirre, Nancy Gideon, and Diedre Knight. For a list and links to all contributors, click here.

September 3 question - What are your thoughts on using AI, such as GPChat, Raptor, and others with your writing? Would you use it for research, story bible, or creating outlines\beats?

I’ve never used AI to produce any of my actual writing and I’ve been annoyed by and ignoring Microsoft Word’s “Copilot,” each time I open a new document and it proposes topics for which it can create a draft for me. Given today’s question though, for the first time ever, I clicked on one, which was an offer to provide "a witty blog post about a sailing trip." Insert raised eyebrows here. Does my computer know I used to sail with my husband? Is it aware that I write these once-a-month blog posts?  

The old eyes widened when I read the completed blog post the computer provided to me. Cliche though it may be, my hackles rose. The last time I read something fictional I knew was AI generated, it involved clunky surface writing lacking in emotion, so the wry, amusing post created by Word's AI interface scared the you-know-what out of me. It had enough personality that I could easily believe it was generated by a human. The thought made me feel a little sick. As AI becomes more “proficient,” how are we EVER going to know the difference between what’s human created verses computer generated?

Are there ways in which AI might be helpful? Sure, I guess. When I started this document, one of the options Copilot suggested it could create for me was a low-budget, three-day trip plan for Paris. If I needed to design a trip for a character (or for me!), typically I'd search using Google to learn about landmarks. Newer AI offerings may deliver more detail and speed, but research is research, whether your using an Encyclopedia Britannica (which was on my bookshelf growing up), or ChatGPT. HOW we use that research in our writing is what matters.

That Copilot-generated blog post crossed a line for me. I've mostly buried my head in the sand as it pertains to AI, but that post woke me up because it showed me how easy it could be to cheat. How many people do? Apparently enough. As I was writing this, I realized that every agency I've queried over the last two months has asked me to answer an AI disclaimer. Oh man! 

So yes, for this month's IWSG I researched using Copilot. But it took several hours of writing to clarify my thoughts on the month’s topic. This post contains the results, and every idea, experience and feeling  arrived via MY brain. 

Here it's all about the humanity. I'm going to call that "Biological Intelligence."

 

 

 

Sneaky Minds - IWSG August 2025

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. Thank you to August co-hosts: Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Natalie Aguirre, Sarah - The Faux Fountain Pen, and Olga Godim! To read other contributors, click For a list and links to all contributors, click here.

I’m not experienced enough to have an opinion on this month’s question about the publishing industry, so today, you get just—me— surprising myself.

I think I mentioned here that after writing four (frustratingly unpublished) novels, so far, nothing has inspired me enough to consider spending years devoted to a fifth.

This wasn’t so scary in April when I retired, because I still had to make edits to my fourth manuscript. In late June, I started querying it.

Oye. Such an exercise in hair pulling. Current count, nine submissions, two rejections, many, many, many more to go and well, each time I'm working on a query it kind of feels like when I worked for a living, except for the lack of constant interruption, and, yeah, well, I’m not getting paid. For sure, querying isn’t creative.

But the human mind is a sneaky thing, and in between queries, mine has been goading me.

“What? You’re not writing anything new? Well, then here. Let’s throw you a storm. Let’s make your fireplace leak and your little boat almost sink. Now, write a poem about it.”

“Um, okay?”

“Boring laps in the pool followed by walks on the beach. That’s good for another poem.

“Really? Are you sure?”

“Yes. And by the way, repainting your bedroom from Sherwood green to Chamois white? There’s definitely a poem in that.”

“You think?”

“Yup.”

“Huh!”

“When you’re done, how about a poem about hummingbirds?”

“Aha. Gotcha. I already wrote that one.”

“Then what are you waiting for? Pull that sucker up on your laptop and give it an overhaul!”

And so it goes. I even wrote a poem inspired by an old poem I found on my hard drive. So while fiction has been non-existent over the last few months, unsolicited poems have muscled their way in. I get lost in them, spending as much time as it takes me to send out a query (and more!) tweaking one single line.

How do you make yourself move forward when writing is a struggle?

Not Work at All - IWSG July 2025

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. Thank you to July co-hosts:  Rebecca Douglass, Natalie Aguirre, Cathrina Constantine, and Louise Barbour. For a list and links to all contributors, click here.

Optional July question: Is there a genre you haven't tried writing in yet that you really want to try? If so, do you plan on trying it?

I don’t entertain significant thoughts about writing in a different genre. Occasionally I ponder taking blog posts from when I was writing regularly about life around me and combining them with my pictures to make my own little book, but pondering is as far as I get.

Speaking of the world around me, though, I’m finding it a new place post-retirement. For the past few weeks, I’ve woken up sans alarm, pondered life for a while and then popped out of bed to head to the (summer only) town pool. Adult lap swim is from 7:00 to 8:00 am. Given that my alarm used to go off at 5:30, it’s no hardship for me to yank on a suit and drive five minutes to dive in. I grew up swimming but haven’t had a chance to do so in forever. It feels like going back in time. After the laps, I head right to the beach, where I set a timer and walk for at least a half an hour. By the time I get home, there’s breakfast to eat, coffee to drink, planters to water, and as I write this post, queries to send.

Yep, the foot-dragger gave herself a deadline and finally started querying. The process is as hard as it’s always been, but now I have time to focus on the chore. In the past, I created my own query tracking sheets but this time I’m using Query Tracker. For $25 for the year, I gain full access to a database to identify agents and their preferred genres/wish lists, assess response rates, and to track submissions and replies. Before querying, I can see how active an agent is and can read comments from other writers in regard to their experiences with a particular individual. Query Tracker also offer tutorials on how to get the best out of the database, links to articles of interest, some of which have reinforced what I think I know, and others that have taught me things.

My plan is to send out a handful of queries over the next few weeks and then wait for a bit before assessing where I stand. It’s summer. Fourth of July is coming up. The world will be going on vacation. Inboxes will fill up. I get all that. But now that I have all the time, there is no excuse not to be diligent with this process. Perhaps putting that in print here will hold me accountable.

And there’s some good news. Even though querying is a challenge, I’ve rediscovered something. When you can sit down and focus on work you actually want to do, it doesn’t really feel like work at all.

Have you used Query Tracker? What has your experience been like?

And because I can... a photo. The beach at 8:15 am, on a recent walk

Always a Good Read - IWSG June 2025

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. Thank you to June co-hosts: PJ Colando, Pat Garcia, Kim Lajevardi, Melisa Maygrove, and Jean Davis. For a list and links to all contributors, click here.

Optional question for June - What were some books that impacted you as a child or young adult?

Last fall, my local library started a new book group. While working, I could never make the existing morning group, but this one met after hours, so I signed up. The focus was “gentle” reads and while the selected books varied in their “gentleness,” they were all stories I may have never encountered, except for one.  

Don’t laugh, but the choice for May was Anne of Green Gables. Readers of this blog may not be surprised that this story remains one of my all-time favorites. I’ve probably read it twenty times since eighth grade.

But while "Anne with an E" is so well known, folks may not know that the author, Lucy Montgomery, wrote seven sequels to Anne. Early in our marriage, my dear husband did some research and bought me the eight-book series as a Christmas present. I’ve purged a lot off my shelves, but those books will never go. Every several years I start the first book and I have to plan accordingly because nothing can stop me from binging on the rest. 

For those of you who don’t know, Anne of Green Gables is about a lonely orphan from Nova Scotia who uses her imagination to help her through the toils of her early life. She mistakenly lands with Matthew and Marilla, an elderly brother and sister who think they’re adopting a boy to help on their farm. Ultimately, they decide to keep her. Anne’s imagination gets her into a lot of trouble, but through her antics, she stimulates humanity in the stern couple, both of whom learn to love her as much as she ends up loving them. All sweet, all endearing, and the bonus is stunning description that makes me yearn to get to Prince Edward Island. It’s definitely a gentle read.

But Anne of Green Gables for an adult book group? Well. I guess? I mean, I was happy enough to read it again, but what about the other twenty  group members?

So there I was in our last meeting, defending Anne as other readers projected today’s diagnoses on her. “She must have had ADD,” one person said. "She definitely needed counseling," said another. Ugh, I thought. She’s fiction. How can you label a character from the late 1800’s with today’s manifestations?  In my opinion, she's just how she was written, adorable, trouble-prone, creative, imaginative Anne. But regardless of my thoughts, there was some hearty discussion and it ended like this. After each meeting, we score the book from one to five, with five being the best. The members of the book group are mixed in age and gender. Everyone with the exception of one person scored it five. It was by far the highest and most consistent rating of any book we read.

And, in case you are wondering, yes, I kept reading. (I can do this now! I’m retired!) I rocketed through the eight books this time, and was particularly touched by the last book, the story of Anne’s youngest daughter, a spoiled, happy-go-lucky teenager who matures during the painful years of WWI. I tell you. Anne of Green Gables and its sequels stand the test of time.

Spoiler alert. After our early May gathering, the librarian who ran the Gentle Reads Book Group retired with no replacement. Anne ended up being our last book.

What book from your past do you re-read?

Managing - IWSG May 2025

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. Thank you to May co-hosts:  Feather Stone, Janet Alcorn, Rebecca Douglass, Jemima Pett, and Pat Garcia!  For a list and links to all contributors, click here.

This month’s optional question: Some common fears writers share are rejection, failure, success, and lack of talent or ability. What are your greatest fears as a writer? How do you manage them?

My fears? Easy peasy. All of the above. How do I manage them? Well, that question provides some muddy grounds for introspection…

Remember how Dorie from Finding Nemo use to say “Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming?”

That’s me, I guess. A long time ago an acquaintance, a published author of fiction and non-fiction, said to me, “As long as you never give up, you’ll get there.”

I keep that advice front and forward, but sometimes a little voice inside me suggests it’s time to call the game on account of darkness. It’s time to hang up my typing fingers as it were. But then I think of the hours I’ve put in, and more importantly, of how much joy the writing has brought. It would be awful to let it all come to nothing. Besides, if I let myself drift away from my writing, I have zero doubt that eventually it will call me back. It’s a kind of addiction. The craving to write always lurks.

At the current time I’m probably in a writing lull, but it’s OK. Fulfilling a promise to myself, upon retirement I started working on the lessons from Walking in this World, by Julia Cameron. That means as soon as I wake up, I’m writing “Morning Pages,” three pages longhand. It’s a brain dump. Letting whatever is on my mind out. It’s not writing that will ever be published, but it’s writing. So if on a given day, I miss sitting down to work on something that’s theoretically publishable, at least I’ve written something. I’ve kept the neurons firing.

Sometimes I post things on IWSG to hold myself accountable. So here’s a confession. I have (very) slowly begun a list to where I want to query my current novel. It’s slow because Julia Cameron requires that I walk. I’m also having fun working in the garden and getting things done at my own pace. It's beyond marvelous not to have to cram all the “to do’s” into one weekend. Quite frankly, I plan to  luxuriate in it for a bit.

But in spite of how much I’m enjoying myself, let’s be truthful here. You would be correct to call these lovely distractions procrastination. File them under “Fear of failure.”

What are your writing fears and how do you address them?

Endings and Beginnings - IWSG April 2025

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. Thank you to April co-hosts: Jennifer Lane, L Diane Wolfe, Jenni Enzor, and Natalie Aguirre. For links to all contributors, click here.

This month’s optional question: What fantasy character would you like to fight, go on a quest with, or have a beer/glass of wine with?

I’m not big into fantasy so this question isn’t my bailiwick, but a butter beer with Hermione Granger might be kind of fun.

So, writing related. No. Sorry. Life related. 

This week marks a new era for me. 

I started this blog to deal with the emotional fallout related to unexpected job elimination from a long-term employer. Middle Passages led to some freelance writing and one of my freelance jobs resulted in an offer of a position for my town council on aging. When I accepted it I promised myself I’d keep writing, no matter what. I’m proud to have done that, getting up at 5:30 in the morning, five days a week to spend an hour writing before work. But on Friday April 4, I’ll be turning my alarm off permanently. At noon that day, I’ll be officially retired.

I let out a long breath as I typed that last sentence.

Being used to so much structure in my life, I’m not sure what shape unlimited free time will take, but I hope I’ll buckle down and focus on getting one of my darn books published. Over the last year while working on a revision for book #4 as well as one for book #2, I stopped doing anything query related. It left me disheartened and it was hard to write and query while working and keeping up a home, pretty-much singlehandedly.  

I’m honest enough to recognize that other people find a way to do it all. I however, have not.

That says something, and I know it. With all the time in the world, I wonder if I’ll call my own bluff and dedicate my energy toward publication. If anything, I’d love to shut off that nasty voice in my brain that says, “It’s not that you didn’t make time. You’re just not good enough.”

In the meantime, I do have one plan for early retirement. Fifteen years ago I worked through the lessons in The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron, which I’ve referred to so many times here in Middle Passages. Between morning pages, artist’s dates and the weekly lessons, I determined my future course. Without The Artist’s Way, I’m pretty sure my four novels would never have been written.  

The book sits on my bookshelf with other treasured reading. After a vacation down south to clear my head, I plan to open it up again.

 

The Half Full Glass - IWSG March 2025

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. The March co-hosts are Ronel Janse Van Vuuren, Pat Garcia, and  ME! For links to all contributors, click here.

This month’s optional question: If for one day you could be anyone or "thing" in the world, what would it be? Describe, tell why, and any themes, goals, or values they/it inspire in you.

This is a pretty creative question and since I don’t often get particularly introspective, I’m finding my answer hard to articulate, but here goes.

If I could be one “thing,” it would be the particular feeling I get in my heart during certain experiences. Without being cliché, although I suppose I am, it’s what I feel after waking on a February morning to see pink clouds behind skeleton trees and realizing the sun is coming up earlier. It’s the joy of discovery when I find the first Snow Drop in my early March garden. It’s the sound of seagulls as they soar over tidal mudflats. It’s the belly laugh I get from my adult daughter when, once again, one of us says what the other is thinking. (“Get out of my brain!” we yell at each other!) It’s the sad-joy I experience when I see a fleeting glimpse of my dear late husband in the gait of his brother who lives next door. It’s the kindness of the volunteers with whom I interact, who use their own time to drive senior citizens to medical appointments, prepare hot meals and deliver food to the homebound in my town. I could go on and on, but I suppose the feeling I’m trying to describe is gratitude for all the gifts I receive and witness on a daily basis. But it goes beyond gratitude. It’s the continued feeling of unexpectedness to these things and an all-encompassing delight that they are a part of my life. The newness never goes away.

I’m aware as a general rule I’m pretty naïve, but humor me here. There are so very many people in the world experiencing challenges beyond anything I can imagine. If I could, I’d infuse my feeling into every being across the world,  so that everyone could experience positivity even when things look beyond bleak. 

If you could be any one or thing, what would you choose?

Back to the Future - IWSG February 2025

 

 Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. Co-hosts for February are Joylene Nowell Butler, Louise Barbour, and Tyrean Martinson. For links to all contributors, click here.

February optional question - Is there a story or book you've written you want to/wish you could go back and change?

Funny you should ask. The first book I ever tried to write was such a disaster I put it away, took a couple of writing classes, and moved on to other things. When I thought of that first attempt at all it was only to consider how not being able to write it propelled me forward.

But over a year ago, I found myself at a low point. I had no interest in starting anything new but wanted to keep writing. Rifling through a drawer, I discovered a printout of that first muddle. Sorry to say, it was even worse than I remembered. But the timing was good. Pulling that mess together would certainly involve a challenge.

Today, what was once a wreck of a novel is now a solid piece of work I like. The red-ink comments of a trusted reader are sitting beside my computer. She suggested I rewrite one scene to make the stakes higher, but I'm happy to say that other than that, her feedback was positive, her changes few.

Honestly, I thought this book was a lost cause. Even now I’m surprised I had the nerve to dive into it again. So in answer to this month's question, I can’t say I “wished” to return to this particular story, but I’m delighted I proved to myself that I could.

Do you have stories you wished you could go back and change?