Category: Blog

  • It’s the A to Z Blog Challenge, and A Is For All of Us, Sheltering At Home

    Photograph of bald eagle, missing one wing, taken at Northwest Trek in Washington State in February 2020

    Welcome to the A to Z Blog Challenge!

    We are all in this together, my friends, during the time of Coronavirus. But it’s also the first day of April, and that means it’s the annual celebration of exuberant blogging, The A to Z Blog Challenge.  And it’s also the Grand Relaunch of the Writer Zen Garden, and ALSO Camp Nanowrimo!

    My lovely fellow above is a Bald Eagle, photographed in February before the shelter in place orders really hit in Washington State. He’s missing one wing but he’s as gorgeous as ever. Fierce and unbowed.

    That’s my wish for all of us, my friends, that we emerge from this fierce and unbowed. Even as I write this, I know with tears in my heart that it’s not possible for many, many people. Families touched by the loss of loved ones, countries devastated by overwhelming losses. And yet, we struggle through and fight to come to grips with the challenges facing us.

    Humanity is, and ever has been, a resilient creature. We have survived enormous hardships from wars and conflicts to natural disasters. And through it all, creators have continued to create: writers write books and poetry, blogs and essays; painters paint oils and acrylics, street art and gallery pieces; dancers dance and design amazing shows that leave us breathless; and on and on through the litany of the arts. What it comes down to is expression.

    And here’s the thing: we are naturally creative. We, as in all of us – you, me, that child over there, that old man living isolated and alone in the upstairs apartment – we are, all of us, creative. And that’s what the A to Z Challenge means to me, at its most distilled: an exuberant outpouring of content creation in the month of April whose only stipulation is that Day 1 is related to A, Day 2 to B, and so on throughout the month with Sundays as rest days. 26 days to correspond to the English language alphabet. One can select a theme, or not, as they choose.

    And thus, we relaunch our website and blog into this atmosphere of unbridled blogging fun and creativity. This year, we have twenty bloggers to share with you: from professional authors and insurance agents, to poets, Reiki masters, life coaches, and a whole lot more besides. Our strength is in our diversity and we welcome you, Dear Reader, to journey through the alphabet with us. We’re glad you’re here. We hope that this provides a small oasis in your life, a place to rest, recover, and recreate within your own heart that solace which we sorely lack during trying times. And if you and yours are touched personally, please know that our hearts go out to you. May we all, collectively, be safe and well.

    Namaste.

    And, happy April!

     

     

  • Craft Circle and General Hangout Virtual Coffee Date Thingie

    Image of entrance to a sea cave with the words Craft in the time of coronavirus: a virtual craft circle with date and time, also detailed in body of the post

    Do you like to do crafts? Any craft, be it knitting, weaving, sewing, or other textile art; drawing, painting, collage, or other paper or canvas art; puzzles; writing; woodworking; cooking? Do you like to hang out with others who like to do that, too? Then join us for a restorative couple hours while we craft, chat, and have coffee (or what have you). We’ll be meeting on Zoom this time, which accommodates up to a hundred people.

    Granted, if we have a hundred people, it’ll be a little crazy and chaotic, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing as an antidote to the pandemic, eh?

    Join us!

    Zoom details as follows:

    Hi there,

    You are invited to a Zoom meeting.
    When: Mar 28, 2020 12:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

    Register in advance for this meeting:
    https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIkdOmqqD4iFnL9ytlkh3dx0_P1ZyYxpQ

    After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

  • Let’s Get This Party (re)Started! April Is the A to Z Blog Challenge AND Camp Nano!

    Image of A to Z Blog Challenge Participation Badge for April, 2020

    It’s almost April. And we’re in the midst of a global pandemic, causing unprecedented societal change. Our hearts go out to all those who have lost family members and loved ones, and all of us at Writer Zen Garden HQ send out a sincere and heartfelt wish that we come through this more together than ever before, build solid friendships, and take our writing to the next level. Writing can be a solace in dark times and, we believe, it will help us through this.

    For that reason, we are re-launching our website to coincide with two global events: the A to Z Blog Challenge and April’s Camp NaNoWriMo (note that the format for camp is now as “groups” on the main NaNo website).

    We’ll have more about both in the coming days, and watch this space for our first post come April 1. If you haven’t joined the discussion over in our Facebook group, please join us. All are welcome and there is no cost to join.

    Stay well, friends. Best wishes, and good health to you and yours.

    Namaste.

  • New Artist’s Way Workshop Starting June 16th!

    We’re starting up a new Artist’s Way Workshop! I hope you’ll join me. I will do live broadcasts on our Facebook group, and we’ll have posts there and on our online Forum here. I will also schedule in person meetings here in my valley, in Bellevue, WA, USA. I hope you’ll join us!

  • Last Day of FEARS Workshop

    Today is the last day of my FEARS workshop.  Did you miss it?  No worries.  You can still check it out on the Forum.

    You can continue to ask questions and I’ll ask them as they come through.

    Hope to see you there,

    ~Tina

  • Happy New Year! What’s new in the Garden?

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    Happy New Year, Gardeners!  It’s a great time to be in the Writer Zen Garden.

    Inside this blog:

    1. Prompt Circles are back – next one is Jan 21st from 2-4 at Open Books
    2. Walking In This World online workshop, Jan 22nd through April 22nd
    3. F.E.A.R.S. Workshop – Finish, Edit, Analyze, Research and Submit, Feb 5th to Mar 4th
    4. Dialog – Who Says What To Whom, March 12th to March 25th
    5. A to Z Blog Challenge is coming in April
    6. Camp NaNoWriMo is coming in April

    Check it out:

    The Prompt Circles are back!  After a longer than expected hiatus, we’re excited to report that we are ready to start these up again.  Our venue is Open Books, an awesome place centrally located downtown near parking, transit, Metra, and those blue bicycle things.  Not that you’d want to bike in the dead of winter, but hey.  They’re there if you want ’em.  It’s on Saturday, January 21st from 2-4.

    We have several online offerings, all of which are free but require a membership on the forum.  How do you get to the forum, you ask?  Visit here!

    Did you know that the Writer Zen Garden has a calendar?  If you prefer getting your information visually, click over to Our Calendar and check it out.

    On the Artist’s Way track: Walking In This World.  This is a 13-week workshop running from Sunday, Jan 22nd, through Saturday, April 22nd.  You will need a copy of the book by Julia Cameron, Walking In This World, which is available from your favorite bookseller or public library.  This is a participant-led workshop facilitated by A. Catherine Noon; if you’d like to lead a week’s discussion, please let me know.

    The workshop will be conducted online through thewww.writerzengarden.com/forums website; you will need a user account to participate. There is no cost to join.

    On the Author track: F.E.A.R.S. Online Workshop – Finish, Edit, Analyze, Research, and Submit.  Join author Tina Holland for her popular F.E.A.R.S. workshop, where she will help you Finish your manuscript, Edit it, Analyze it for its best fit in the marketplace, Research homes for it – traditional publishing? digital-first/small press? indie? blog?, and Submit.

    It will run for four weeks starting Sunday, February 5th and concluding Saturday, March 4th.

    Tina is past President of RWA Online Chapter #136 and author of ten romance novels. She is a sought-after speaker at regional writing conferences and a founding Board Member of Writer Zen Garden. We are super stoked to have her present for us and for her to offer her popular workshop for free to WZG members.

    You need to be a member of the Writer Zen Garden online forum.  Membership is free.

    For more information about Tina Holland, please visit her website. While you’re there, check out her popular author interview series (and authors, sign up to be interviewed!).

    On the Writer track:  Online workshop – Dialog, Who Says What to Whom, March 12th through March 25th.

    Join A. Catherine Noon and Tina Holland for a free online two-week workshop on dialog. We will have examples, discuss proper punctuation, (where DOES that pesky comma go? or is it a period?), and have lots and lots of practice exercises. Think of it as the March boot camp to get in shape for April’s Camp NaNoWriMo and the A to Z Blog Challenge.

    You will need a free account on the Writer Zen Garden Forum.

    April is a busy month in the Garden: We have not one but TWO web-based events for you.

    April is the month for the international A to Z Blog Challenge! Find out more, and sign up on the main website.

    We’re looking for Writer Zen Gardeners to participate on our blog this year, so if you’re interested, please contact your organizers A. Catherine Noon or Tina Holland.

    Also, April is Camp NaNoWriMo!  From the folks that bring you National Novel Writing Month in November comes a fun event called Camp NaNoWriMo. You can set your own word count goal; it doesn’t have to be the full 50,000 like in November. Participants are arranged in cabins for mutual support and encouragement.

    Find out more, and sign up, at the website.

    If you haven’t joined the discussion on Facebook, you’re missing out.  Click over to the Writer Zen Garden Facebook Group and check it out.

  • Writer Wednesday – The Dangers of the Echo Chamber and Why Handwriting Is Important

    2016-09-07-pic-1

    We are surrounded more and more by media – social media, augmented reality games, television commercials at gas stations; the list goes on.  I’m the first to admit that the internet can bring people together – I am, after all, writing this on  blog I started with some friends, all of whom are geographically scattered.

    But I have noticed the echo chamber can have an unhealthy effect.  Psychologists call behavior that pushes against another person “impinging,” and it’s my belief that, if we’re not careful about our inflow, that can happen.  I noticed, for example, that when I had Facebook on my phone, the constant dings or buzzes of incoming alerts would break my train of thought.  As I checked in, I would get drawn into whatever was trending:  racist politics, cop shootings, and cats.  Lots of cats.

    I don’t mind cats.  I like them, as it happiness.  But I’m a novelist, and the first casualty in the war for attention is sustained train of thought.

    As a social experiment, I took Facebook off my phone.  My daily round got calmer.  I stopped drinking as much coffee and focused more on my journal.  I noticed a couple of things:

    1. Writing by hand disciplines my mind to hold a train of thought, since I don’t write as fast as I think.
    2. It felt like I woke up from a collective hallucination.  I don’t need strangers’ opinions in my daily round.
    3. I started writing more – always good news for a novelist.
    4. I started thinking more deeply about issues like politics, body image, feminism, and philosophy.

    This Writer Wednesday, I invite you to try it:  turn off the inflow and let your own thoughts loose on the page.  Nanowrimo’s coming.  Let’s be ready.

    Write on!

  • Darla’s Writer Wednesday – Inspiration

    Dear friend and gifted writer Nicole Gordon once gifted me an inspirational book. It’s called “Rip the Page! Adventures in Creative Writing” and offers all sorts of open-ended writing experiments, encouragement from writers and poets, and enough blank pages to let your words roam.

    That’s taken from the cover, by the way, and fittingly descriptive. Karen Benke and company clearly wish to instill a love of words in children, a worthy endeavor, while also entertaining this adult with some very clever suggestions.

    One involves quirky phrases which Ms. Benke suggests we cut apart and put into a little container. Then, when a writer wants something to get creative juices flowing, he or she simply pulls out a slip.

    So that’s what I did today. My phrase ended up being “It’s like a slow collapse of words”. That curious imagery resulted in a bittersweet ficlet to be posted on my Darla M. Sands blog.

    What inspires you? I’d enjoy reading your suggestions in the comments.

    Whatever fires your creativity, I hope you build a bonfire. Happy writing!

  • The Writer Zen Garden – Tools From A to Zen: Reflections on the A-Z Challenge

    2016-05-09 A-to-Z Reflection [2016]

    Wow.  It’s hard to believe it’s already well into the second week of May already.  It feels like it should still be April.  Or, if I’m being honest, January.

    Of 2010.

    But I digress.

    We all know that time seems to whizz by.  No sooner do we put away the holiday decorations and it’s time to take them out again.  So, too, for writing groups.  I’ve noticed small groups tend to wax and wane, some succeeding and thriving, others burning brightly for a short time and then fizzling.  There’s an old adage about groups, that they have several phases:  “Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing.”  It’s an idea that a guy by the name of Bruce Tuckman proposed way back in 1965 and it’s still true today.  Some folks add “Adjourning” at the end, to signify that not all groups survive through the performing state to continue.

    That’s why I’m so pleased about Writer Zen Garden.  The group as it is today is the merging of two different groups; the original Writer’s Retreat that started in March of 2008, and the local Meetup group and international online forum of Writer Zen Garden.  We’re still going, and we launched this new website, where you’re reading this post, in March of 2016.

    One reason I keep coming back to the A to Z Blog Challenge, is that I find it pulls the team together.  Even if we’ve slacked off from posting on the blog, by doing the challenge, we come together as a group and gather ideas and write.  Since on of the central missions of the Writer Zen Garden is to Help Writers Get On the Page, this is all to the good, as far as I’m concerned.  Next year, we might even come up with a joint theme ahead of time – we’re still noodling ideas for what to post for this year, so it’s definitely a work in progress.

    I want to thank you, Dear Reader, for visiting us and leaving comments for the various authors of the Garden.  We sure appreciate your interaction.  We invite you to join the discussion in other ways, if you’ve a mind; we have a Facebook group; a live in-person Meetup group in Chicago, if you’re in the area;  a Twitter stream; and an international writers forum.  We’re glad you’re here!

    Write on!

    The Writer Zen Garden Facebook Group

    The Chicago Area Meetup

    @writerzengarden

    Forum*

    *Note: if you’re interested in joining the forum, please let me know in the comments or PM me on Facebook, and I’ll reach out to you by email.

    For your reading pleasure, here are the posts for the challenge:

    The Writer Zen Garden, From A To Zen

    A:  A is for Artist’s Way…, by Tina Holland

    B:  B is for Blogging!, by Darla Sands

    C:  “C” is for Crayon, by Evey Brown

    D: D is for Day Dreaming, by Grace Kahlo

    E:  E is for Emergency, by Rachel Wilder

    F:  The F Word, by A. Catherine Noon

    G:  G is for Goals, by Tina Holland

    H:  H is for Hens, by Darla Sands

    I:  Is It Inspiration, Invention or Insight? or, Where Do You Get Your Story Ideas?, by Evey Brown

    J:  J Is For Just in Case, by Rachel Wilder

    K:  K Is For Using Krav Maga To Kick the Inner Evil Critique Away, by Grace Kahlo

    L:  For the Love of a Library, by A. Catherine Noon

    M:  M is for Man-titty, by Tina Holland

    N:  N is for Nice Girls Writing Naughty, by Darla Sands

    O:  Things My Grandpa Taught Me – O for Orion, by Evey Brown

    P:  P Is For Prepper, by Rachel Wilder

    Q:  Q is for Writing Quotes, by Grace Kahlo

    R:  Whoops! R Is For I Gotta wRite Something Quick!, by A. Catherine Noon

    S:  S is for Sex Scenes and Story, by Tina Holland

    T:  T is for Tastiness, by Darla Sands

    U:  How to Create an Oral History for your Family; or Unforgettable and Unfortunate Things my Kids have Done, by Evey Brown

    V:  V is for Viking Swords & Fantasy World-Building, by Grace Kahlo

    W:  W is for Why Do I Prep?, by Rachel Wilder

    X:  An Alternative to Xanax, by A. Catherine Noon

    Y:  Y is for Yoga, by Tina Holland

    Z:  Zen, by A. Catherine Noon

    Thank you for joining us for the A-Z Blog Challenge.  If you’re blogging in the challenge, please leave us a link so I can come visit you too.  If you have a moment, please check out these other fine blogs:

    The theme on my main blog, Explore the Worlds of A. Catherine Noon, is The A To Z of the Zoo.  Join me as I explore Brookfield Zoo and finds animals, birds, and insects from A to Z.

    My theme on my Knoontime Knitting craft blog is Letterforms In Nature and the Built Environment.

    The theme at Noon & Wilder is The A To Z of Chicago.  Since I live here in the city and we have our Chicagoland Shifters based here, I figured I’d share a window into the city, Noon & Wilder style.

    The Nice Girls Writing Naughty have a new home, and we’re blogging in the challenge again this year.  Throughout the month you’ll be hearing from each of the Nice Girls, and during the RT Booklovers Convention from April 12th to the 17th, you’ll be getting live convention reports.  Join the conversation!

  • Zen

    2016-04-30 Pic 1

    End mind, beginner’s mind?  We’re at the end of our challenge for this month, the April A to Z Blog Challenge.  Six of the WZG crew participated this month, and we’ve brought you all sorts of content from, well, A to Zen.  Thank you for coming along on this journey with us.

    Why Zen?  Why Writer Zen Garden?

    zen garden symplicity and harmony form a background for meditation and relaxation, for balance and health

    One of the central ideas of Zen Buddhism is to be in the now.  By being fully in the moment, we let go anger about the past and fears about the future, and truly live as we are meant to live.  The Zen rock gardens, like the one pictured above, are a visual representation of what being in the flow, or the now, looks like.  The rock is seen as a metaphorical obstacle, something we must acknowledge and move around.  It causes eddies in our energy, which is represented by the flowing lines in the sand.  The more we make peace with that, the more smooth our metaphorical sand becomes and we are at peace.

    Writing is a little like that.  When we talk about writing, we aren’t being fully in the moment and writing.  We’re not existing in the now.  By learning to sit down and apply the pen to the page or the fingers to the keyboard, we teach ourselves how to get into the flow and to produce.  It’s a lesson we must consistently relearn, which is reminiscent of the quote, “Zen mind, beginner’s mind.”  Author Natalie Goldberg, who wrote, among other things, Writing Down the Bones, relates a story of speaking with her meditation master.  She lamented that she was spending all her time writing, and not meditating.  He told her to keep writing, that her writing was meditating.

    When I decided to start Writer Zen Garden, I wanted a name that embodied this idea of being in the moment while writing.  It seemed natural to include Garden, because we are all growing, and we are all living beings.  Connecting the three ideas of writing, Zen, and gardening made sense to me.

    However you found us, I hope you’ve enjoyed your stay here.  There are additional resources in the top menu navbar, and we blog regularly.  Hope to see you again!

    Remember, May 9th is the A to Z Reflections Post Day, and the Linky List is open from May 9 to May 13.  Keep an eye on the main A to Z Blog Challenge page for more info and updates, and of course come back here on the 9th for our reflections on our collective experience.  We do regular Writer Wednesday features here and will be coming up with some other regular features, so keep your eyes peeled.  And if you’re a blogger, and interested in contributing, please let us know in the comments.

    Thank you for joining us for the A-Z Blog Challenge.  If you’re blogging in the challenge, please leave us a link so I can come visit you too.  If you have a moment, please check out these other fine blogs:

     

    The theme on my main blog, Explore the Worlds of A. Catherine Noon, is The A To Z of the Zoo.  Join me as I explore Brookfield Zoo and finds animals, birds, and insects from A to Z.

    My theme on my Knoontime Knitting craft blog is Letterforms In Nature and the Built Environment.

    The theme at Noon & Wilder is The A To Z of Chicago.  Since I live here in the city and we have our Chicagoland Shifters based here, I figured I’d share a window into the city, Noon & Wilder style.

    The Nice Girls Writing Naughty have a new home, and we’re blogging in the challenge again this year.  Throughout the month you’ll be hearing from each of the Nice Girls, and during the RT Booklovers Convention from April 12th to the 17th, you’ll be getting live convention reports.  Join the conversation!

    The Writer Zen Garden’s brand new website is up and running, and we’re bringing you posts from me, Noony; my partner in crime, Rachel Wilder (the Wilder half of Noon & Wilder); the talented Darla M. Sands – a blogger in her own right, see below; as well as Grace Kahlo, Evey Brown, and author Tina Holland.  Check it out!

    My friends who are participating in the challenge (and if you’re not on this list, tell me and I’ll add you!):

    Write on, and Happy Blogging!