Rae Poynter's Blog, page 3

North Shore Life | February and Fearless Goals

Hello readers, and welcome to the blog post that I’ve been dreading to write.

Dreading, because on the one hand I feel I have nothing to write about (as far as the monthly journal update), yet on the other hand there seems to be too much, and I’m not sure how much I want to share.

For starters, I’ll just come clean and admit that I didn’t take a single photo for the entire month of February. Not one. I’ve totally fallen off the bandwagon this month as far as my plan to get more into photograp...

North Shore Life: What’s it Really Like? | January

This is part of a year-long blog series about what it’s really like to live on the North Shore of Lake Superior. If you missed last month’s entry, you can find it here. 

Do I even need to mention it’s been cold?

Like the rest of the Midwest, the North Shore has been thrown into deep, subzero temperatures, the likes of which we haven’t seen in years. The schools have been closed, the winds have been howling, and we’ve been quickly going through the firewood and hot cocoa. Yesterday morning it...

I Took a 5 Month Honeymoon. Here’s What I Learned About Happiness.

Marriage is not about prioritizing happiness.

I learned this while spending five months traveling Europe with my husband shortly following our wedding. As someone who’s long been an advocate of travel, it was fitting that my fiancé affirmed his love for me not with diamonds but with a European travel guide and plane tickets to the other side of the world.

Since our relationship’s inception, we knew we wanted to pursue a life of common goals. But it was while we were traveling that we uncovere...

Facing Down Your Writing Fears

This year is the year of living fearlessly.

At least, it is for me.

Fearless is the word I’ve chosen as my theme of the year, to be applied to writing, travel, and other areas of life.

Why fearless? 

Because it’s time. And I’m tired.

Not physically, though that’s often an oddly related factor. It’s more that I’m tired of a life that no longer seems to challenge me, or stretch my limits, or bolster my creativity.

I’m tired of my life and my projects feeling stuck.

I’m tired of sticking to my c...

North Shore Life | December and New Beginnings

Since moving to Minnesota’s North Shore I’ve had people ask what it’s really like to live here year-round. In this month-by-month journal, I take you through the full year to give you a glimpse of What it’s Really Like.

Greetings, Northern ones.

This has been a year. I think that goes without saying.

We’ve all felt the joys and sorrows of a year where it felt like the earth was moving beneath our feet. I don’t know anyone who’s come out of this year unchanged, who hasn’t had some of their sha...

North Shore Life: What’s It Really Like? | November

Since moving to Minnesota’s North Shore I’ve had people ask what it’s really like to live here year-round. In this month-by-month journal, I take you through the full year to give you a glimpse of What it’s Really Like. 

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Like clockwork, November came with a slow, long-held exhale.

The skies that had hung bleak and dreary for days finally dropped their first snow. Familiar shops and eateries hung signs proclaiming ‘See you...

North Shore Life: What’s it Really Like? | October

October has come and gone like a whirlwind, bringing some of the loveliest afternoons, brilliant gold colors, and crashing waves. It also took with it the last of the leaves and warm days, and sent us into chilly November as it should.

October is the last hurrah of the busy season on the North Shore. After the aspens drop their leaves, many of our shops and restaurants close. My job up the Gunflint is done, and my husband’s job in town has become suddenly slower. The whole world is beginning...

Thinking of NaNoWriMo? The Truth About Writing a Novel in a Month

Well, it’s October, and you know what that means: yellow leaves, a chill in the air, and a growing buzz about NaNoWriMo.

If that just looked like a goofy jumble of letters and not a word, allow me to explain.

NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, a yearly event where people from around the world dedicate themselves to writing 50,000 words of an original novel during the month of November. If you meet that goal, you’re considered to have “won” NaNoWriMo.

It’s part contest, part social eve...

North Shore Life: What’s it Really Like?| September

Since moving to Minnesota’s North Shore I’ve had people ask what it’s really like to live here year-round. In this month-by-month journal, I take you through the full year to give you a glimpse of What it’s Really Like.

There’s a time to hang on. And finally, there’s a time for change.

Just as we get used to the slow hum of summer, September comes along to shake things up. At least in northeast Minnesota, it’s the wild card of the year (okay, one of the wild cards of the year…looking at you,...

Sticking it Out: When to Keep Working on Your WIP

Greetings, readers and writers!

Last week I published an article that deals with the sticky question of when to give up on your work-in-progress. This is something that I’ve been wrestling with myself lately, and I’ve personally decided to move on from my WIP (for now, anyway!).

While I outlined the tricky times when it’s a good idea to give up on your WIP, there are many instances where, as a writer, you’ll deal with some challenging times that don’t necessitate giving up on your project. In...