Watch your language!

Bandon Writers, circa 2009, a year after I joined, a year after two of its members died.
Since this picture was taken we lost two additional members who were not pictured here.  The entire group here is still writing, some of them also painting, and all of us meeting regularly on Monday mornings, rain or shine, holiday or not.

These folks still meet and discuss word choice, grammatical errors, obscure notations, and the ins and out of writing and publishing, I'm the second person from the right, standing up. The first person on the right is a famous writer, John Wadleigh, a.k.a Oliver Lange, author of Defiance, the plot adapted and rewritten for the movie Reds, starring Patrick Swatzie. He can still look at your work and give you a most chilling evaluation that summarizes what needs to be done to improve the piece.  He no longer frequents our little group regularly, but drops in now and then.

Nobody else in this picture is famous YET.  Ginney Eatherton is the most prolific, working on her third book, self published, and self promoted. Look for her Looping for Love and No Broken Bones at Amazon.

A group of friends with a single vision can do wonders. We know each other's personal lives and we know each other's genre, peculiarities, strengths and difficulties. We meet outside of Mondays' meetings too, to chat, to share a piece we are working on, to cry on each other's shoulders.

Go out there and find yourself a group.
Don't know of any?
Stop by the local eateries and ask the waitresses.
Check the library for contacts.
Scour the local papers and fliers.
Write a want ad.

Sure, you have on line support, people you have never met but love what you do and encourage you to  continue writing. You are satisfied with this arrangement. You get plenty of feedback on these sites too.

But, do you get friendship? Real, touching, knowing what motivates you, what keeps you up at night, what you really want to talk about when you ramble on?

Easing in and Easing Out, a Solution to improve the workforce.

I catch myself starting conversations with this phrase, a nostalgic nod to the profession I loved. "I used to be a teacher, a school administrator..." 

Nowadays, nobody asks me what I do, or did for a living. Nobody cares to know that.
Yet, that's who I am, always the teacher, observing and studying, then translating the results into bite=sized=pieces to be presented to someone, some group. I taught grades 6-14, upper elementary to junior college.  I'm an expert without a platform.

As seniors, we are judged by the clubs and volunteer activities we are involved in.  In our town, there are quilt groups, garden clubs, yoga and dancing groups, school tutors, reading groups, walking groups, bird watchers, trail blazers, environmentalists, council members, board members, canoers and kayakers, fisher people, surfers, painters, writers, jewelry makers, potters, metal-sculptors, gamblers and church members.

None of these activities require a degree or a certificate, or a recommendation. In some cases, you run for office and let the community know you want their support. Otherwise, come in, sit down, learn with everyone else. What you did in your previous life doesn't matter at all. Go on, join up, pay your dues and swing-to-maloo, or whatever tune the group moves to.

I miss not contributing to my field of studies. I miss young people, their energy, their needy situations that allowed me to help out. I miss solving problems, planning, collaborating to achieve a mutual goal. What I contribute in my elected position as a school board member is infinitesimally smaller than anything I ever did on a daily basis.

I should be happy not to have so many responsibilities.  Not at all!

All seniors I know, would rather be contributing members of society. Their health, their energy and attention span levels, however, are not what they used to be.  Part time employment, project that would take a few weeks, a few months, paced differently, these would be great ways to employ seniors.

Retirement for most people is a forced choice.

If you ask us, we'll tell you about our work, we'll show you.
But, we are not being asked.  All that we could pass on as mentors, all those resources are wasted away.


We need a smoother way to start working, and a smoother way to stop working. In our early years, we need time to learn incrementally, and apply few lessons at a time, with the help of a mentor until we can handle a full time load on our own. 

In our late years, we can mentor young people, help them see the elements in a work day that can be leveraged carefully to help all other elements work well.  Our time with youth would help us ease out of full time work, and would help the corporation utilize the skills we have for a few more years.

There should be a decade of easing in and one of easing out.
Work should be geared to our life needs; not, the other way around. 

Why we write...

This wonderful award arrived a couple of days ago, and just in time for me to rant about blogging again. First, though, I want to thank the bestower, Lizzy Frickfrock, http://wwwfrizzfrock.blogspot.com/
a thoughtful blogger who called me the philosopher.
Thank you Cheryl. I will treasure this and will pass it on at the end of this post.



At about the same time, Sallymandy was questioning herself, questioning if blogging made us 'writers' . This was my response.

lakeviewer said...
I'm late to this conversation, literally. Only after I retired I began indulging my fantasy of writing and sharing my writing with others. I too thought that if I couldn't get published, I should stop writing. I have come to accept a couple of things:








1. if you don't enjoy doing something, and it doesn't need to be done to pay the rent, stop doing it.


2. If you enjoy doing something, even if it difficult and it doesn't sell or give you any compensation, if you enjoy it, do it well, and do it with all your heart. It will still bring you pleasure.


3. Think of all those monks in the Dark Ages, religiously copying manuscripts, adding their illuminated illustrations to break the monotony and to highlight a good story; they were doing what bloggers are doing today: they were passing on the thoughts of civilized people. So, I'm sure that you and I and millions of us are adding illuminated illustrations to the daily events of life that would be unreported, unappreciated.
May 8, 2009 7:52 PM



If you don't know Sallymandy, do visit her at http://www.thebluekimono.blogspot.com/


As for me, every time someone brings up a question , I become wiser, clearer in my pursuit, happier with my modest output, invigorated by knowing I'm not alone here, and I'm not excluded.


There is a big world out-there, caring and supportive, in the business of encouraging all kinds of pursuits; writers at all skill level, and numerous teachers and professionals who share their secrets. For photography, visit David, at http://www.authorblog.blogspot.com/



I'm sharing my life, and I get to enjoy others' as well. Geography was never this easy. Good thing, too, since our dollar doesn't take us too far these days.

About the Friendly Blogger Award, I will need to pause and think about it for another day before I pass it on.