Curtiss Ann Matlock's Blog, page 26

Gleanings– Living the Writer’s Life, by Eric Maisel

I point out that the subtitle of Eric Maisel’s book, Living the Writer’s Life, is ‘a complete self-help guide’. I’ve always had more trouble being the writer than with the act of writing. On page 90, he begins a list of sixty writers’ challenges. Fascinating. I came to:

Chaos. Make ‘to do’ lists on erasable boards. Pull the essentials out of the chaos. Lock onto your current writing idea and do not let go until it has grown whole and beautiful. ~ Eric Maisel

My life is chaos. It is what I grew...

Gleanings: New #1 Ladies Detective Agency and More Language of Letting Go

I received the latest book in the #1 Ladies Detective Agency series in the mail on Friday. If I’d been a dog, I would have been wagging two tails. Then and there, not even sitting down, I just had to crack open the cover and read the first pages in the same manner I would have had to pop chocolates. Found this gem on the first page:

“This intrusion of the dawn came from the gap between the curtains–the gap that she always intended to do something about, but did not because there were more pres...

Gleanings– When it Comes to the Writer’s Life…

What is it about being pressed and denied alone time for writing that makes me absolutely furious to write? Some perverse bent within me. I have 10 minutes before a small boy hits my door, demanding my attention. No sooner did I sit here at this blank page, than the new puppy barked to go out. I’ve left her in the backyard and hope she does not get out while where she can squeeze through the fence while I just had to run up here to get out what I’ve been thinking about. The perverseness is th...

Bestselling Christmas romance, Miracle On I-40 at 99¢ and now in print!

On sale at 99¢ in Kindle now! And this year back in print!

I am very much like Anna in this story— there exists in me a fair sized piece of the child who still believes in Santa Claus, even though my heart has been torn and battered over the years. I’ve always thought, as does Lacey in this story, that Christmas is just a darn good idea. It is a focus on love. Nothing can be better than that. And this focus on love has continued to shine and grow now through 2,000 years. There’s magic in that...

Gleanings–from Deborah Chester and Distractions and Miracle On I-40

And I feel that I must now fight off every kind of interruption and intrusion into my inner space, my mind, my imagination, my thoughts, my very being. ~ Deborah Chester, in her blog post: Pressing Forward

I’ve read this blog post from Deborah Chester many times. It helps me to see myself and my choices, and gives me the encouragement to get up and press forward. When those of us who must write as much as we must breathe come to accept that fact, as well as the truth that our writing is a bles...

Gleanings, Maisel, and a bit from Valentine

“Remember: you must hold your own good opinion of yourself…Second place, fifth place, a hundredth place, a millionth. Love yourself anyway and keep rebounding and resubmitting manuscripts.” ~ Eric Maisel

This in in line with the duty to make ourselves happy, and to do that again and again.

I read Steven Pressfield’s Writing Wednesdays post from last week. He put forth that the most important minutes of the day are at the end, when he makes a point to acknowledge the day’s efforts. If there is a...

Gleanings– Karon, Maisel, Beattie, the reading chair

The reading chair stool. It grows more precarious by the day. Do you have places in your house like this?

Now reading Jan Karon’s Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good, and enjoying it immensely!

He had never lacked for something to do, some problem to solve, someone to try and make happy. Then came the course in clergy counseling, and the contemporary notion that he couldn’t possibly make someone else happy, such business was entirely up to the other person. ~ Jan Karon, Somewhere Safe with Somebo...

Gleanings, on the road

I will be on the road when this posts tomorrow, returning from the Novelists Inc. conference in St. Petersburg Beach. The major gleaning from the conference is that the people who are the most successful in their careers and life are those who love what they do and are the most generous. As we give, we truly do receive. The second strong gleaning is that we writers are no longer at the mercy of big publishers’ opinions and power. The sun is fully up on the day of self-publishing, and it is ex...

Gleanings, self-pity and solitude

From Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, by Winifred Watson:

‘ In my life,” said Miss Pettigrew, ‘ a great many unpleasant things have happened. I hope they never happen to you. I don’t think they will because you’re not afraid like me. But there’s one thing I found fatal: pitying myself. It made things worse. ‘

Styles change. The above paragraph, typed just as it is in the book reprinted from 1938, shows the punctuation and spacing style of its day. People and truth, however, never change. Self-pi...

October Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

Fall is here is the Gulf Coast! It arrived Monday night, coming in with a fury. I was struck by the beauty this morning of the hurricane lilies–or surprise lilies or spider lilies, whatever your name– that had sprung up in the front knoll. What a gift!

Sweet olive has come into bloom. Another great gift. They will bloom most of the winter, take a rest and burst forth again early spring for a bit. I cut branches and brought them into the house. Every time I catch a whiff of the scent, I smile....