52-week blog challenge | Mary J. McCoy-Dressel

Tag: 52-week blog challenge
- #MFRWauthor Week 16: Shopping? Pick Up the Phone or Walk Inside
  
  Posted at 2:37 am by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on April 17, 2020
  
  Marketing for Romance Writers 52-Week Blog Challenge. The question for Week 16 is:
  
  Online shopping or go to stores?
  
  Shopping in Person:
  
  I choose both, or I did before a pandemic took over the world. The reason I like going to clothing stores or shoe stores to shop is because I need to try on clothes, shoes, lingerie, the whatnot that goes on my body. I like to go shopping shortly after they open so it isn’t too busy, which allows me to lollygag and just look and touch, and to notice what mannequins are showing off.
  
  If I’m looking for a new television, laptop, printer, electronic device, or even a TV table or desk, I like to see the item in person.
  
  It’s no surprise I love bookstores, but I rarely purchase print books because they are too difficult for me to read with my eye issues. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t look, touch, and smell books, and browse whatever else bookstores have for sale.
  
  My last recent purchases from inside an electronics store was a TV stand and Bluetooth headphones, earbud style. I had intended on purchasing headphones, but when I looked in person, most over-the-head headphones didn’t fit comfortably. If I had ordered online, I would not have known this.
  
  Another new thing though… I never thought I’d order groceries online until I went into self-isolation and then lived with Stay Home Stay Safe orders. Going into the store helped me go above my daily step quota and actually see another human being in person and hear my voice. I am a Michigangander and ALL FOR the Michigan Stay Home Stay Safe order to continue.
  
  Online Shopping:
  
  Sometimes online shopping has better discounts.
  
  I’ve grown to like online grocery shopping. All I have to do is order and pick it up. However, I look forward to in-store shopping for food for as long as I’m able to drive and walk.
  
  Once I’ve purchased clothing or shoes, I’ll order that brand online with confidence.
  
  Once, I ordered a Kindle Fire and iPad online from the same electronics store mentioned above. All I had to do was see the specifications. I also purchased my fitness wrist tracker online without knowing one thing about buying one. It’s a great purchase though for spur-of-the-minute.
  
  My computer is not staying connected to the internet these days, so a new computer might be in my future…by shopping online. Hmm.
  
  These days, you can purchase anything online from flowering plants to hardware items to vehicles. It’s still fun to go to the store, but I like the choice.
  
  Thanks for stopping by today. Have a wonderful weekend.
  
  About Marketing for Romance Writers 52-Week Blog Challenge Blog Hop. “Each week, authors use our writing prompt to create a meaningful blog post. We’ll be posting every Friday… join us as often as possible.” Please click HERE to visit participating authors.
  
  Posted in #AmWriting, #MFRWauthor, 52-week blog challenge | 18 Comments | Tagged #MFRWauthor, #WritersLife, 52-week blog challenge, blog hop, mary j mccoy dressel, Week 16: Shopping? Pick Up the Phone or Walk Inside
- #MFRWauthor 52-Week Blog Challenge: Hobbies. Snap. Cut. Paste.
  
  Posted at 2:14 am by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on April 3, 2020
  
  Welcome to Week 14 in Marketing for Romance Writers 52-Week Blog Challenge.
  
  Week 14: Hobbies outside of reading.
  
  Photography:
  
  The number one hobby I miss a lot is photography. I’ve taken classes at a local college, but I’ve forgotten much of what I’ve learned. However, sometimes my oldest son will ask me a question and I remember the answer. Both of my boys love photography as well. Self-taught, they’re good at it too.
  
  One of the fun parts of the class were the field trips and learning to take night shots. It’s so easy now to take out a cell phone to snap a shot. I use my point-and-shoot digital occasionally like last fall for the scarecrow, fairy, and skeleton displays at festivals. When I worked, I’d take student photos for the school of kids in various activities like the Halloween parade or Christmas parties. Now, all my fancy equipment sits in my camera bag waiting and calling me sometimes.
  
  My dad loved taking pictures so when he had a camera in his hand, look out! He gave me an old Brownie box camera when I was very young. I think it belonged to my step-grandfather. I loved looking down into the view finder in that old thing.
  
  Photo collage:
  
  Since photos are mostly in digital these days, it’s been years since I’ve made a collage. The last one I made was for a boyfriend with pictures of him, us, all of our kids—his and mine not ours—and photos of all the places we had traveled to over a five-year span. He was a photographer, too, and a darn good one with a natural talent.
  
  To construct, I’d use a large frame and situate the photos on poster board, because of the thickness, and glue the images on with a glue stick. I’d cut the photos with random fancy edges and set them in different angles so they weren’t all straight. They turned out nice. I always received compliments on them.
  
  I have a couple more, but these are at the top of the list.
  
  Here is the Link to visit the participating authors.
  
  I’m slow to getting around to visit other blogs because I’m writing one book while getting another ready to publish, and to be honest, I’m distracted with the state of the world and my state. It’s bad here right now in so many ways, and saying “bad” is putting it mildly.
  
  To all of you and your families– Stay Safe and well.
  
  Thank you for coming by today.
  
  All images are from Pixabay.
  
  Posted in #AmWriting, #MFRWauthor, #WritersLife, 52-week blog challenge | 12 Comments | Tagged #MFRWauthor, #WritersLife, 52-week blog challenge, Brownie camera, collages, mary j mccoy dressel, photography, photos
- #MFRWauthor Week 10: Love or Hate ~ Editing!
  
  Posted at 12:03 am by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on March 6, 2020
  
  Week 10: Editing – love it or hate it?
  
  52-Week Blog Challenge Blog Hop
  
  If I had to answer this question after having the first round of my first book edited, it would be a toss-up between dread and hate. I’ve come a long way from not knowing how to use Track Changes.
  
  Editor’s Edits:
  
  This comes as I am working on EDITS just back from my fantastic editor. Do I love it or hate it? Now that I know what I’m doing, I love editing when it comes back from her. I love to see the suggestions she offers to make the book better. So, this part I do love.
  
  If there are changes that will take thought or time, I don’t love it so much because I want my book finished, and then there’s the ego thing with an instant… “No, I’m not changing that” mindset. This is when patience and reality come into play. I usually always make the changes and accept her suggestions because she’s the expert.
  
  Even when it means tossing the complete first four or five paragraphs, and beginning the book in a different place, like with my current book. I loved my beginning as it was, but after giving it a couple of days to think about, I realize she’s right, and I can take some of the original and add it back in elsewhere, per her suggestion.
  
  Self-Editing: Love or Hate
  
  What about revising and editing a book after the final draft and before it goes to the editor? It’s frustrating when a story that looks and feels right in a draft, isn’t the same as when getting down to the nitty-gritty and looking at it with a self-editor’s eye. A time when you now know the complete story–where it’s been and where it’s going. It’s amazing to catch mistakes like: the time-frame is out of sync, or I spelled a character’s name incorrectly, or when I have to move something to a better place. Gasp! Or ditch my precious words. I love to see a book come together and watching characters develop more fully. Settings too become more real. This is what I love about revising and self-editing before anyone sees it.
  
  So there it is, plain and simple. Turns out, I love editing more than I love writing the first draft though I do enjoy writing a draft to see what surprises are revealed.
  
  What I don’t like is revising and editing blog posts.
  
  What about you?
  
  Do other authors love editing? Hate it? We can find out by visiting participating authors at the Marketing for Romance Writers Blog.
  
  Now it’s time to get back to editing.
  
  Image credit:
  
  Featured photo/ glasses & keyboard: Pixabay- Slightly_Different
  
  Posted in #AmWriting, #MFRWauthor, #WritersLife, 52-week blog challenge | 6 Comments | Tagged #AuthorsLife, #MFRWauthor, #WritersLife, 52-week blog challenge, editing, editor, Mary J McCoy-Dressel, Revisions
- #MFRWauthor 52-Week Blog Challenge Week 8: What Are You Reading?!!
  
  Posted at 12:05 am by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on February 21, 2020
  
  Welcome to Week 8 in Friday’s Marketing for Romance Writers 52-Week Blog Challenge.
  
  Reading outside your comfort zone—what is it and why?
  
  As a rule, I stay within a handful of genres—my comfort zone. Reading rules are meant to be broken, though, and I have broken them because I like to believe I’m not small or close-minded or prudish. I believe in “never say never.”
  
  However, there are areas outside of my reading comfort zone. Like fiction with Injustice and cruelty to humankind or animals, or aliens, or dragons. Oh, I wanted to see if you were paying attention. Sorry! I get enough of it in the news.
  
  And SOME, I repeat, SOME taboos that publishers say we can’t submit if we want to publish with them–some are out of my comfort zone. Look it up if you don’t know what isn’t allowed in some or many publisher guidelines.
  
  What you write and like to read is your choice. I admire people who fight for what they want. Thank God, we still have a choice.
  
  Let’s turn this around. “Why” should we read out of our comfort zone? Can we stay in one little box and never experience what other authors have to offer, or experience different and new to us, stories and genres we might love? To experience emotions that words give us whether uncomfortable or not?
  
  Can we read and still be a “little” uncomfortable? I think some of us can.
  
  With so many genres to choose from, we have a choice.
  
  We’re blog hopping so that means other authors are responding to this topic too. I’m curious to see if I replied to the topic the way it was intended, or did I get it all wrong. So, I’ll be hopping over. You can find participants with a click of the mouse to this LINK.
  
  I’m glad you stopped by today.
  
  I’m still making my rounds visiting this and Book Hooks blog hop.
  
  Credit image: Pixabay – Pexels
  
  Posted in #AmWriting, #MFRWauthor, 52-week blog challenge | 8 Comments | Tagged #AmReading, #AmWriting, #MFRWauthor, 52-week blog challenge, mary j mccoy dressel
- #Am Week 32: Balancing Life and Writing #MFRWauthor
  
  Posted at 10:28 am by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on August 9, 2019
  
  It’s time I get back to the 52-Week Blog Challenge after a brief hiatus. I’ve been finalizing two books to come out this year, and I wrote the end to another book also coming out in 2019, but that has nothing to do with this blog hop other than I’ve been busy, busy, busy! ❤ #WritersLife
  
  This week’s topic sounds like a similar topic from the last two years:
  
  Week 32: For an author, does life exist outside of writing?
  
  I can only answer for me and whether life exists outside of my writing world. This answer is twofold. Putting words to paper took the back burner for a lot of years while I grew from a child to a teen to a young adult to a wife. I raised a family and worked outside of the home. These were happy times, but the need to write was always there.
  
  Through the years, I always scribbled down words be it a poem or a short story, and I knew one day I’d write books. It just wasn’t the right time back then because I had a life outside of writing. What I didn’t know was how important it would become one day. Or how much time it would take to keep up with the business side.
  
  Moving forward many years when everything about my life changed. Kids live their own lives, but I still receive much joy from spending time with them. Retirement allowed me to write full time, so nowadays, creating stories is my life, and no, I don’t have much of a life outside of this career, but I do make sure to find a balance that works for me.
  
  I still have friends that I had when I was young and raising a family, plus new friends. They know of my dreams. We still go out to walk together, take little day trips, socialize, and continue to talk about my writing and books. However, I don’t do as much with them as they’d like.
  
  Family and most friends understand that this is how I roll these days. Still, they would prefer I had an equal balance of life and career. I do keep my heart and soul in harmony. If I won the lotto or sold hundreds of books a day, I’d be happy to give the same amount of time to work and life–maybe even more to LIFE.
  
  What about other authors? Participants in this blog challenge will tell you by visiting the 52-Week Blog Challenge blog for links to their blogs.
  
  I appreciate your visit today. Enjoy what’s left of summer. It goes by too fast.
  
  And now, I’m going for one of those walks.
  
  The BALANCE sign is made of metal and hangs on my refrigerator by magnets on the back. While shopping with my son and daughter-in-law, I purchased this at a quaint little store in a small town nearby. As soon as I saw it, I had to have it! ❤
  
  Balancing rocks credit: Pixabay
  
  Posted in #MFRWauthor, #WritersLife, 52-week blog challenge | 12 Comments | Tagged #AmWriting, #MFRWauthor, #WritersLife, 52-week blog challenge, Balance, Balancing Life and Writing, career, Does life exist outside of writing, Harmony, life, living, Marketing for Romance Writers Blog Challenge, Mary J McCoy-Dressel, past present future life outside of writing, Week 32 Blog Hop, writing
- #AmWriting Week 28: Can I Be Found In My Stories? #MFRWauthor
  
  Posted at 6:08 pm by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on July 13, 2019
  Week 28: Putting yourself in the story
  
  I’m late with posting to the blog hop, but here I am now with a 52-Week Blog Challenge post. Taking part this late means I missed the Linky Sign up deadline.
  
  Let’s begin:
  
  This topic came around a year or two ago, but I can’t find the post referring to it.
  
  No, I don’t put me, the actual person into my stories. Nope. Not as “myself,” but events in my life and more, aspects of my personality, or the way I think about things–negatively and positively, have turned up in many of them.
  
  I admit, some aspects of my personality do come out in my story. How can it not? I know myself so well.
  - Moonlight is important to some of my characters. Could this be because I’m a moonchild? Regardless, to me and my characters, moonlight is romantic.
  - I’ve worked with kids all my life. My characters relate to kids like I do.
  - Family is a major part of my branding as it is important to my life. My books have strong family ties.
  - I’ve used settings from places I’ve lived, which oftentimes reveals memories that might end up in a book.
  - Without realizing it, some of my wardrobe and decorating styles have come out in my characters.
  - In my upcoming book five in the Double Dutch Ranch Series, I mention a tragic episode that I had experienced in my life.
  This happened outside of the book and in the interim between books four and five, so readers never experience the event. Readers will find glimpses of the aftermath through the eyes of the Carlson family. I’m sure this will move avid readers of the series and make them ask “why?” Because:
  - My characters experience emotion, empathy, and real-life situations. I suppose that’s another reason some of these events are brought into my books.
  These are some ways I add similarities to events I’ve experienced either first-hand or how I saw it through the eyes of someone else, but I tend to keep a lot of me hidden. To the best of my knowledge, my heroines are more themselves than me, because a girl can’t give away all her secrets.
  
  As always, we can find the other participants at this Linky Link on the main Marketing for Romance Writers Blog. #MFRWauthor
  
  Thanks for reading!
  
  October 2019!
  Posted in #AmWriting, #MFRWauthor, 52-week blog challenge | 6 Comments | Tagged #AmWriting, #MFRWauthor, #WritersLife, 52-week blog challenge, blog hop, mary j mccoy dressel, Week 28: Can I Be Found In My Stories?
- #AmWriting Week 26: Getting the Call of Acceptance #MFRWauthor
  
  Posted at 9:44 am by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on June 28, 2019
  Sorry to have missed last Friday’s topic about planning a dream wedding. I was too busy planning a fictional wedding. ❤ I did write the post though so maybe one day I’ll post it anyway.
  
  Week 26: How getting the call (or acceptance) changes lives.
  
  This really isn’t the topic for me though I’ve received the call of acceptance twice. Years ago, when publishing was soooo different, I turned down one call of acceptance. Yes, they actually called. Turns out, they wanted more money for editing than what they’d pay me. Yes, they made money on editing over publishing, though they called themselves a publisher.
  
  LISTEN TO ME if you’re just starting… Stay away from them. They should pay you not the other way around. I’m glad I had enough smarts to walk away.
  
  Another time, well, I can’t say I had a call of acceptance, but an editor at one of the biggest New York publishing companies had requested my complete manuscript. He suggested changes in the manuscript and then to send it back to him. That’s a big deal. It was a big deal!
  
  The way my luck runs, I shouldn’t have been surprised. #WritersLife Hah! I had finished with all his suggestions, and my manuscript had been ready to go, but I learned that he had moved to a different publishing company. OMG. Lickity split. He’d left me. Ha-ha. It felt like he’d left me.
  
  I still sent it to a different editor there and explained my plight, but two years later, after I had contacted them, they sent my manuscript back with a rejection. He or she, I don’t remember now, didn’t like my story as much as the first guy. Sigh.
  
  In the interim of searching for an agent and a publisher, I had received many rejections, requests to read more of my manuscript, and more rejections.
  
  Keyword here: I didn’t give up. Don’t give up.
  - I kept writing.
  - I continued submitting.
  However, I got another call some YEARS later and should have walked away then too. I didn’t, but it was my opening—my beginning, and how it changed my life. My new beginning wasn’t with them because later, I paid them to get my rights back to two books they’d published. I say it was my beginning because I left them to make my own dream come true.
  
  Did you pay attention? To make my OWN dream come true. Kindle Direct Publishing came around at the perfect time for me. I didn’t know anything about publishing on my own.
  - I learned.
  - I’m still learning.
  - I have a lot more to learn.
  Back then, and even now, some turn their noses up at self-published authors. Whether anyone wants to face it or not, it’s true.
  
  So, yes, I’ve received the call a couple times but I don’t like to talk about those times because as I said above: I made my OWN dream come true.
  
  Each of us has to do what works best for us. Me? I’m too old now to wait for others to make decisions about my writing career, and I’ll be even older on Saturday. 🎂
  
  Thanks for stopping by to read another #MFRWauthor post in the blog hop. Find links to the other authors in the hop, HERE.
  
  Enjoy your weekend!
  
  I’m excited over recent news– My November release has been edited and is with the proofreader now.
  
  A brand-new heartwarming Christmas Novella moments ago came back from my editor and a cover is being made for it. Yay.
  
  And two weeks ago, a frightening call-back to have a test redone freaked me out. It came back fine. How scary and stressful that previous week had been.
  
  Last but not least, my daughter-in-law has been in town this week for work, and she took me out for a birthday dinner last night. How sweet! (They live out of state.)
  Posted in #AmWriting, #MFRWauthor, #WritersLife, 52-week blog challenge | 8 Comments | Tagged #AmWriting, #MFRWauthor, #WritersLife, 52-week blog challenge, blog hop, Indie publishing, Marketing for Romance Writers, Mary J McCoy-Dressel, Publishing, Week 26: Getting the Call of Acceptance
- #AmWriting True Love? #MFRWauthor #WritersLife
  
  Posted at 8:07 am by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on June 7, 2019
  
  Week 23
  
  True Love: Do you think it really exist?
  
  Well now. Interesting topic for this 52-Week Blog Challenge Blog Hop. Do I think true love really exist? Darn right I do. I believe it with all my heart. How do I know? Simple answer. I’ve experienced true love. What kind of romance writer would I be if I didn’t believe true love existed? Songs are sung. Classic and modern-day novels and poems are written about true love.
  
  *This way to my son and daughter-in-laws wedding reception almost two years ago to the date.
  
  How could I create a hero and heroine falling in love on the page and in my head and heart if I didn’t believe it existed? (Yes, in my head and heart.) True love comes in many shapes, sizes, ages, genders, species, but no matter who you love, I don’t only think, but I know true love exists. My heart tells me so.
  
  To this day, my heart still experiences (and pines) for a special true love. The ache in the pit of my belly, the extra beat of my heart, tears behind my eyes, and a knot in the throat—the yearning—at the…memories. Sometimes we don’t realize how true a love is/was until it’s gone.
  
  I see true love when I observe how my youngest son and daughter-in-law look at, speak to each other, and laugh together.
  
  True love, comes in many forms. We can experience a true love with our Lord, a friend, lover, our child/children, or other relative like an aunt or an uncle, sister or brother, grandma or grandpa… Our parents. Our dogs, cats, horses, etc.
  
  Our partners. If the kind of emotion we feel upon experiencing love, isn’t true love, what else would you call it?
  
  Have you ever had a best friend? Did you love the person—truly love them? Mine passed away a little more than two years ago. We were best friends since I was eighteen. I wrote about her in my first Marketing for Romance Writers 52-Week Blog Challenge post. This kind of true love is a different kind of love than how you love a spouse or partner, but it’s true love, nonetheless.
  
  What about chocolate? Ha-ha. Thought I’d throw that one in to see if you were paying attention.
  
  I could go on and on about this topic. Don’t worry. I won’t. Since I’ve poured my heart out, let’s see what other authors in the Marketing for Romance Writers Group have to say on the topic. Find out HERE. #MFRWauthor
  
  Have a wonderful weekend.
  
  Image Credits: Pixabay
  
  Happily Ever After Sign: Copyright Mary J. Dressel.
  
  *This sign was also used recently for my #WordlessWednesday post.
  
  Posted in #AmWriting, #MFRWauthor, #WritersLife, 52-week blog challenge | 12 Comments | Tagged #AmWriting, #MFRWauthor, #WritersLife, 52-week blog challenge, best friend, heart pounding emotion, love and romance, Marketing for Romance Writers, Mary J McCoy-Dressel, partner, Romance, spouse, True Love
- Week 21: UGH, Allergies! #MFRWauthor #WritersLife
  
  Posted at 1:00 am by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on May 24, 2019
  
  #MFRWauthor Week 21: Allergies:
  
  How to endure them without suffering overmuch?
  
  Here we are with week twenty-one of the 52-Week Blog Challenge Blog Hop, and the perfect time to talk about allergies, er, well, if you have seasonal allergies. I wrote about allergies in a previous post similar to this one. Sorry, blog followers and friends for the similar topic, but this one asks us how we endure without suffering overmuch.
  
  With tons of food or products to be allergic to, everyone on this earth must be allergic to something. Me? Seasonal allergies among a few others like *Kapok, a filler in comforters, pillows, and some furniture, for example. Trees, and duck feathers too.
  
  I can control the filler and duck feather allergies by reading labels. Oh, and by staying away from ducks. bada bing
  
  Spring and fall is an awful time for me and out of my control other than to take medication. The other day my maintenance man had to come into my apartment. He sniffled and coughed a lot. I asked if he had pneumonia again because he had it this winter. He said, “No, seasonal allergies.” We both said UGH. I told him I used a prescription allergy nasal spray, and it worked wonders.
  
  Years ago after allergy tests, I’d get allergy shots, but I didn’t keep them up. For the past three or four years, I’ve endured seasonal allergies by using prescription medication. I see no reason to suffer needlessly when there are medications. This, after suffering most of my life with non-prescription remedies.
  
  However, I have a life-threatening allergy too. It’s an allergy to a contrast dye used for heart tests. Sometimes we don’t know we are allergic until a product is given to us. I thought I had died seconds after the contrast entered my body. I broke out in a rash almost immediately, beginning with intense itching all over my body. Even my tongue and inside my mouth! Try scratching the inside of your mouth with an itchy tongue.
  
  I remember asking if itching was a side effect. The tech who administered the contrast, said, “No. Why?” I showed her my hands which had become one big red rash. They gave me Benadryl. Then I had an anaphylactic reaction and remember nothing from that point on. I came to, hearing the tech say ‘her blood pressure is up to 40/20.’ UP TO? The good thing is, I didn’t have a heart problem.
  
  Since I went through this experience, I’m afraid to take a new medication. What if I’m home alone and have the same thing happen? Am I going to die from anaphylactic shock? To endure this, I try to have someone with me if I take a new drug, but it’s frightening, and I can’t always have someone with me.
  
  The way I endure the allergy to contrast dye is by NOT using it again. This allergy is in my medical records now and in the Emergency section of my phone.
  
  Does your phone have an Emergency Info section to list medical issues? Mine is under Contacts. My family all know, but can they help when they live thousands of miles away? (Hey, crime writers, there’s an idea for your next plot.)
  
  Will a cop or Emergency Medical Technician look at my phone? Chances are, the first thing they’d want to do in the ER is run heart tests. My best bet is to keep my heart healthy. I don’t know what else they use this contrast for. It isn’t the same as the contrast they use for a CAT Scan because I’ve had them before.
  
  What about you guys and gals? How do you endure allergies without suffering too much?
  
  Blog readers, you can find out how others endure their allergies at this LINK. We might find a new cure, but always check with your doctor before trying anything new.
  
  Thanks for your visit today. Enjoy your weekend!
  
  It’s Memorial Day Weekend in the US. Please be safe.
  
  Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for remembering and honoring people who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. The holiday, which is currently observed every year on the last Monday of May. ~Wikipedia
  
  *Kapok– A mass of silky fibers that surrounds the seeds of the kapok tree and are used especially as a filling for mattresses, pillows, life preservers, and sleeping bags and as insulation. Merriam Webster.
  
  Posted in #AmWriting, #MFRWauthor, 52-week blog challenge | 6 Comments | Tagged #AmWriting, #WritersLife, 52-week blog challenge, blog hop, enduring allergies, Marketing for Romance Writers org, mary j mccoy dressel, Seasonal Allergies, ugh allergies, Western Romance Author
- #AmWriting Week 20: Forming a Habit with Journaling #MFRWauthor #WritersLife
  
  Posted at 9:26 am by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on May 17, 2019
  
  Week 20: Does journal keeping help with the writing process?
  
  Doggone. Before we know it, we’ll be typing week fifty-two. Eek. Slap me now for thinking so far ahead but my point is: the year is moving too fast.
  
  This week, I’m not sure how to answer the question since I haven’t journaled in years. What I do remember about journaling is how writing everyday became a habit and a need to write in it daily. We can’t call writing everyday a bad thing. Can we? Not me.
  
  It doesn’t take long to fall into a habit… What do I know other than how I fall into a habit? After writing the last couple sentences, I became curious to find out how long it takes to form a habit. There are many links, but I jumped on the first one in Bing Search by James Clear at the site James Clear who explains research others have done in an article called “How Long it Really Takes to Build a Habit.” I don’t know James Clear nor do I know of his work, but kudos to him for popping up first in search. I want to investigate further.
  
  Sorry, I let the habit thing get off track.
  
  I’ll go back to say journaling, for me became a habit, encouraging me to write daily. I write daily now. It might not always be novel writing, but I’m writing something.
  
  Do you think journal writing is only done in freehand and not on a computer? We can’t speak for everyone, but I always wrote my journal freehand and had fun with my notebook and pens since I collect both. I’ve explained more about my journaling in a previous post for our 52-Week Blog Challenge titled “Lighthouses to Love Notes: Journaling.” One thing I mentioned in the previous post was how I did then and still do now keep a journal for book related “stuff.” The quote is from the post and explains another way journal writing helps me as a writer:
  
  Now I keep a photo-journal for images of people, clothes, animals, places, etc., links, and a future title and character name journal for my books.
  
  Without journaling for so long, I don’t have the right to say much more on this topic.
  
  Other authors do though. Hop on over to Marketing for Romance Writers Blog to find their links.
  
  Thanks for reading! You guys and gals have a great weekend. Yeehaa.
  
  Spring finally came to my area.
  
  Posted in #AmWriting, #MFRWauthor, #WritersLife, 52-week blog challenge | 7 Comments | Tagged #AmWriting, #MFRWauthor, #WritersLife, 52-week blog challenge, Forming a Habit with Journaling, Marketing for Romance Authors
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