New Year, New Organizer

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          I don’t live a one-organizer-fits-all life. Does anyone? Which is good as I receive five or six as Christmas gifts each year and I put most of them to good use.

          Friends and family members give me planners with covers of dogs, outdoor scenes, and creative words—all things I love.

          I have a pocket planner for my purse so I know at all times when any family member has a doctor, dentist, or hair appointment—not to mention vet appointments as well. It fits in any purse so it’s always on hand as I schedule follow up appointments or six-month checkups while at the doctor, dentist, or vet, but there’s not much daily space for everything else going on in life. I use initials for events or people I’m supposed to go to or meet, but often need more detailed entries so there is the social events planner for activities, parties, meetings, and gatherings of all sorts.

          This is a larger planner I keep in the kitchen. As invitations arrive in the mail, by email, or phone, I jot them down on a page with enough space to add details like what dish or wine to bring, I also copy over all the information from the pocket planner to make sure there are no conflicts. Then I record dates for any workmen or deliveries. All other family members’ various activities and parties are recorded here, too.

          While not a planner, the family calendar on the wall in the kitchen is the biggest reminder for everyone what is happening that day, week, or month. That has to be updated from my planner—and any additions made by others have to go into my planners.

          No room for errors or disaster strikes!

          Then I need a work planner. As an editor, deadline dates are etched in stone each week or month. I need to assign articles to contributing writers by a certain day. I need them submitted to me by a certain day. I need to edit them by a certain day, then submit them to the Production Department by a certain date. (I mark all work deadline dates with red stars in the social events planner to avoid conflicts so all information is available in one place.)

          For a monthly publication, this gets tricky. For example, I make assignments for the January issue by November 25. This gives writers three weeks to set up interviews, complete interviews, and write their articles. They turn them in to me on December 15, I have until December 18 to edit them and send to the Production Department.

          The Production Department sends me first proofs about two days later. I have one day to make corrections and return them. Final proofs are sent back a day or two later. Generally, I have half a day to make final corrections—and then I start planning the February issue in December.

          This can get confusing—I’m planning Christmas before Halloween every year!—so I write it all down in a big work planner with plenty of space for detailed notes.

I’m also a contributing writer. Article assignments have many dates: a day to schedule an interview, a day for the interview, and a due date for the article. These go in my work planner as well.

My deadline dates for my freelance work also are recorded in my work planner, but I need space for detailed notes so I have a creative planner as well. This one gives me plenty of space to schedule/track the time I spend each day on my own book, screenplay, and freelance assignments as a writer and editor. There are a myriad of dates I need to remember while editing a client’s book. Writing them in a planner is the only way I can stay on track.

A pocket planner, a social events planner, a work planner, and a creative planner should cover all the bases, but I have one more—an inspirational planner.

I pick this one out for myself since it needs to inspire me even as I write my inspirations in it. I like ones that ask questions—sort of writing prompts in case I’m not inspired—but mostly it’s a place to think about future issues and record ideas for the magazines as well as essays, articles, plots for books, short stories, and screenplays. I like to look back to know when I had an idea and then when I completed it.

My life is full and fully documented. It’s the only way I can make sure everything gets done!

The Power of Lists

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          I love lists. I love writing down the things I have to do, but I love crossing them off the list even more. Mostly, I make lists for big projects, deadlines for the magazines, family stuff, and events.

          My daily errands and chores don’t need to be on a list. I know what I have to accomplish, but I decided to start making the lists anyway—why not? I love to cross off things. I’m now including on my lists small things I always mean to get to but don’t like clean out the junk drawer or donate some items.

          Funny, if it’s on the list it gets done a lot sooner.

          So now I’m making different lists—a bucket list for this year as well as for my life; places to visit with family and friends, a list of writing projects; a list of books I really want to read; cleaning/organizing lists for office and kitchen; and anything else that comes to mind.

          On my daily writer's list:

write at least three pages longhand in my monthly notebook;

read a page of The Writer’s Devotional by Amy Peters each day for a year;

randomly open Writing Fearlessly by William Kenower and read a passage or a page or a chapter for inspiration;

read from at least one other book as well as articles, essays, and/or poems;

write for at least one of my projects—book, screenplay, essays, or articles;

write my weekly Thursday essay for magazines and my blog posts or at least come up with topics;

fill out my Thought a Day Journal;

and plan, write, and/or edit the magazine issues for next month.

I do cross off every item on this list every day. I use The Ultimate Author’s Editorial Calendar and Writing Planner by Jennifer Ruggiero Schultz to keep organized. [Unpaid recommendation] It is big and unwieldy, but her daily page layout of lists works for me. Plenty of room to add tasks and track projects as well as record titles and page numbers of what I read, topics for essays and posts as well as what I wrote for specific projects, essay, blog, etc. Also places for lists of meetings/appointments and calls/emails, too.

There is a lot I want to see and do and accomplish—and I will get to all of it if it’s on one of my To Do Lists because I can’t wait to cross it off!

A Word I Love

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          Last week I reviewed One Word: Contemporary Writers on the Words They Love or Loathe edited by Molly McQuade. This week I wrote about a word I love. In fact, it's my word of the year.

          My favorite word is perspicacious, an adjective based on the noun perspicacity. I would have picked perspicacity, but it’s too harsh sounding when pronounced. Perspicacious rolls off the tongue.

          I think being perspicacious—acutely perceptive, discerning—is like having a super power. It makes you an excellent judge of character, intuitive, wise, and a better writer as words like perspicacious reinforce the importance of finding the right word instead of dragging your writing down with explanatory phrases.

          When I looked up perspicacious in The American Heritage Dictionary to double check the definition, I discovered perspicuity, defined as the quality of being perspicuous, with the sentence example “He was at pains to insist on the perspicuity of what he wrote.” Perspicuous is defined as clearly expressed or presented.

Professional writers are required to clearly express themselves by using the right words—to be exact. To find the right words, I recommend referring to The Synonym Finder by J. I. Rodale and the Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus. They will help you become a perspicacious writer.

         

          For more information, I wrote about these two books in a post dated 6/9/14.

Reads for Writers: The Sweet Smell of Christmas by Patricia Scarry

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

           If you celebrate Christmas, what comes to mind when you read that word? Christmas trees? Fresh wreaths? Cookies for Santa? Candy canes? Not just the seasonal objects, but delicious aromas as well.

          As a writer, I learned the aroma lesson early. On Christmas day when I was six, my one-year-younger sister received a book gift entitled The Sweet Smell of Christmas by Patricia Scarry and illustrated by J. P. Miller. Included in the story of Little Bear waiting for Christmas are six pages with scratch and sniff fragrance labels.

The text and illustrations depict a cozy, old-fashioned home where the Bear family prepares for the holiday on Christmas Eve. Little Bear starts the story with: “Something wonderful is going to happen…My nose tells me so.” Each reader’s nose does, too.

I borrowed that book without permission quite often. I just loved the combination of words and aromas. Father Bear and Little Bear went in search of a Christmas tree and I could smell the pine branches. Mother Bear baked a pie and I could smell the apples. I also loved that there was an orange in Little Bear’s stocking as we always had oranges in the toes of ours. However, the hot chocolate shared with the carolers was my favorite scent.

Aromas bring readers deeper into anything they are reading. That’s why it’s important to be specific—not just flowers, but roses; not just dinner, but roasted turkey with cornbread stuffing; not just dessert, but chocolate cake. Readers will add the thick swirls of frosting covering two layers on their own.

Aromas made this book truly memorable. They can make your writing memorable as well by simply adding “invisible scratch and sniff labels” whenever possible—a terrific writing tool.

  











  

Ode to My Writing Desk

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

 

          After writing last week’s Masterclass post, I was inspired to write about my own writing desk. It’s vastly different than the hulking one with 19 drawers featured in Great House by Nicole Krauss.

 

          Writers are in business if we have pens and paper or computers, imagination, and determination. We can write in beds, on couches or comfy chairs, or at café and kitchen tables, but desks are where most of us work so it’s imperative to find the right one.

          Every desk in my house while growing up had drawers. My father’s. My mother’s. The one I shared with my siblings. We even had a desk built by a great, great grandfather with lots of big drawers. Whenever I visited my grandparents, I loved to sit at my grandpa’s desk, always cluttered, even with five drawers.

So when it came time to buy my own desk, I assumed I would be drawn to drawers. But the desk of my dreams is sleek with long tapered legs and only a keyboard drawer. It looks more like an elegant dining table except for the wooden ridge along the back edge and down a third of the way on each side so pens cannot roll off and disappear—useful although I corral most of my pens in the keyboard drawer along with a few memory cards, Post-it Notes, and other office necessities.

Along with its simplicity, I love all the surface space. At 58 inches long and 26 inches wide, there is plenty of room to work even with a 24-inch wide, three-shelf bookcase filled with reference and writing books in one back corner with my printer in front of it. There is still room for my monitor, computer, keyboard, and mouse. Everything I need is at hand.

Sitting at my desk, I’ve written about 78,000 published words for this blog (over 120,000 including drafts) over 1,100,000 words in published magazine assignments (about 1,500,000 including drafts), and another 3,000,000 or so for freelance work and projects (about 3,400,000 including drafts). In total, over 5,000,000 words have been written at this desk as every word counts, published or not! (There are less draft words in the word count for projects as  there are no drafts when filling a notebook a month.)

My desk is beautiful, but battle-scarred. After 18 years, the dark stain is fading along the front edge from my hands sliding on it as I type—I’m surprised I don’t have permanent stain near my wrists. There are more than a few scratches across the top, but the legs still look good even if a puppy might have chewed one.

I don’t mind any of that. When I sit down, I have a strong and stable base to support me and my accoutrements as I write. I don’t have to think about my desk while it does its job and I do mine. We’re partners—one I wouldn’t want to be without.

 

 

 

Capturing My Writing Days, But Not With To Do Lists

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

While I have a week to write my blog posts, I start them on Thursdays usually for my Monday-at-midnight deadlines. At 500 words mostly, I could write them all on Sundays, but I wouldn’t have time to rewrite and polish them and that’s the real work I not only enjoy, but is necessary to write my best.

I have two other weekly and two monthly regular deadlines. My freelance work and writing classes have variable deadlines. I keep track of them all on a calendar.

I follow through using To Do Lists. These lists are helpful, necessary even, to meet deadlines, but they are only guidelines for my writing days scribbled down on Post-its and stuck to my computer screen.

When I decided I wanted to capture my writing days—not just the deadlines and what I hoped to write—I bought an academic planner that begins in July and ends in June. Inside, each month begins with a calendar of the whole month on two facing pages where I can highlight all my deadlines. On the following pages, each day of the month is given a quarter of a page space which is lined making it perfect to record notes.

          These are the pages I need, but not for To Do Lists. Instead of writing what I’m supposed to do each day in this space, I record what I accomplished.

Professionally, I write assignments with set topics, but which ones on which days? Did I start with one project and switch to another? Did ideas for new projects come to mind? How many words did I write? What projects did I rewrite and polish? Did I complete any assignments that day? What did I edit?

For my personal writing: What topics did I cover in my fill-a-notebook-a-month notebook? Was I inspired by my Muse? Did I go off on any tangents?  Did I complete my Personal Writing Class assignments? Write an essay? Even a fragment of a sentence I loved?

Since writers don’t have time cards, I can also record the time of day and the amount of time I spent on each assignment. For example, I woke up at 1:24AM on Thursday, July 23. While waiting to go back to sleep, sentences and thoughts rushed into my mind about my Masterclass post on Kinder Than Solitude by Yiyun Li (published on July 27). I grabbed my bedside notebook and pen with a built-in light at the tip, noted the time, then dashed down over 165 words in eight minutes.

Later on I may not remember I wrote early in the morning. By recording this and other facts about all the writing I do, I discover what inspires me as well as my writing patterns. It’s also consolidated proof I put in the time to do my job well.

This planner captures my work in progress, i.e., my writing days. It also motivates me as I don’t want any days with blank pages. I am a writer after all.

 

2014 Fun Gifts for Writers

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

 These are holiday gift suggestions for the writers in your life—or for yourself.



By the Book: Writers on Literature and the Literary Life from The New York Times Book Review Edited and with an Introduction by Pamela Paul

          By the Book is a Q&A article included in The New York Times Book Review each week. Here 65 authors share which books influenced them, what they are reading now, what books they recommend, what books they have not read, which three authors they would invite to a dinner party, what books the president should read, what are their ideal reading situations, their opinions on rereading, descriptions of their libraries, and favorite children’s books along with many other questions and answers. You get insights into authors you love, leads on books to read as well as discover authors new to you. An excellent gift!

 

New Bold Cristal BICs

          These are iconic, inexpensive pens. I have used them, but never loved them until now. The bold BICs have thicker 1.6mm nibs. The ink flows smoothly, although there are the occasional blobs. They are a pleasure to write with when you want to get your ideas down quickly.

A Writer’s Ring (see post dated 3/17/13)

          I love my faux, channel set diamond and sapphire ring that I wear on my thumb so I can see it sparkle in the light as I write, but another way to go may be a very rustic initial that looks like the face of an old typewriter key.

A Year of Writing Dangerously: 365 Days of Inspiration & Encouragement by Barbara Abercrombie

          The 365 mini-essays written by the author include thoughts, observations, and stories about other writers. Topics include: #7 Jumping Off; #28 In the Company of Animals; #35 Eight Ways to Sabotage Yourself;  #68 Making Use of Fear; #127 One True Sentence; #243 Stepping Up to the Plate; and #315 Flying Off Course. Each essay is followed by a quote from another writer.

Literary Necklaces

          I bought a few of these necklaces for fun. However, I don’t wear them. They look like miniature framed quotes so I hook the chains over the corners of my computer screen and around the base of my reading lamp so I can read them. My favorites:

Poetry: the best words in the best order

Whisper Words of Wisdom

Book Vixen

I have taken to living by my wits. (Sherlock Holmes)

     

Literary Charms

          These charms are book-shaped with titles like Wuthering Heights and Moby Dick.

 

A Favorite Children’s Book

Memories are wonderful launching pads for writing ideas. I love Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson (post dated 1/21/13), most books by Richard Scarry, and The Frances series by Russell Hoban. New favorites are from the Ordinary People Change the World series by Brad Meltzer including I am Albert Einstein; I am Rosa Parks; I am Abraham Lincoln; I am Jackie Robinson; I am Amelia Earhart; and I am Lucille Ball.

                   

Ceramic Mug, Pot, or Vase

          Pick a favorite color, eye-catching shape, or inspiring quote. They are great for corralling pens for the writer in your life. Of course, the mug can be used for tea or coffee; the pot or vase for flowers—all inspiring for writers, too.

Blank Note Cards

Writing is writing so, if you cannot think of anything else to write, send notes to friends or family members. Make them smile when their snail mail arrives—and help achieve your daily writing goal.

 

A Pad of To-Do Lists

Writers need goals! Lists are a great way to keep you on track for projects and deadlines.

Happy Holidays!

 

Writing Tools Matter

 

From Kate's Writing Crate…

 

        Favorite and  familiar tools make writing easier. Once I pick up my blue, fine point Pilot V Ball pen and my sturdy spiral notebooks, I am in business. I start scribbling away. I stop and start as my thoughts dictate, but I never hesitate because my pen feels too heavy or scratchy.

        If I am working on my computer, I only require white pages and black type in the Arial font. For three days recently, I had black pages with neon yellow type. Not sure how it happened, but I am grateful I finally figured out how to reverse it because this change gave me a headache. I didn't—couldn't—write under those conditions.

        This doesn't mean you shouldn't try new tools. I write in different ink colors when I feel stuck, but I stick to the five colors of my favorite brand of pens mostly. For me, a V Ball pen just feels like an extension of my hand.

        Trying new computer equipment can make a difference, too. Visit any store that sells computers and try them out or, as I did, try out a friend's computer. While visiting her home for a small get together, I noticed she had a very large screen for her desk top computer—about 50 percent bigger than the one I have. A user can see two pages of text, full size, side by side.

If asked, I wouldn't have thought I'd like that—too distracting. It's also a lot of light coming at the eyes. But the more I used it, the better I liked it. I could read documents like books. It made me feel more like a writer which surprised me. It was a new perspective that felt comfortable and familiar quite quickly.

I am now saving up to get a larger screen of my own. Who doesn't want to feel more like a writer? Especially when you are a writer!

 

What tools make you feel more like a writer?

Fill a Notebook a Month

From Kate's Writing Crate…

        Now is a good time to start filling a notebook a month as recommended by Natalie Goldberg in her book Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within. Yes, it's already March 3, but writers need challenges and deadlines so pick up a notebook or a legal pad if that's what you have and GO!

        When I first started doing this, I was excited and nervous, but also committed. I wanted to be a writer and here was an easy writing project.

 

Yet there were still days I didn't write at all. And there were days that I didn't have any idea what to write about when I did pick up my pen. Sometimes I just started writing 'I have nothing to say' repeatedly until I did--and I always did.

 

I filled that first notebook in a month and continued filling monthly notebooks for well over a decade. All that practice is why I now write and edit for a living. And I still fill notebooks, but every other month currently.

 

Writers write if we give ourselves permission, time, and place.

As Goldberg states, "Give yourself permission to write the worst junk." The goal is to fill the notebook with ideas, observations, and thoughts. It's not meant for publication so you can relax and write what you want.

Since you MUST fill a notebook by the end of every month, you are forced to make time to write. Deadlines are a part of every writer's life. Get used to it now.

The place to write is in your notebook, but it's portable so you can have it with you any place you go. There's no excuse not to write in waiting rooms, on public transportation, if you arrive early and/or the person you are meeting is late, in between loads of laundry, during lunch and at breaks. A few minutes here and there add up and so do the pages.

There are many benefits to filling a notebook in a month and continuing to do so for years and even decades:

Practice makes you a better writer. The more notebooks  you fill, the better writer you will become.

Seeing  your stack of filled notebooks grow is proof that you are a writer.

The satisfaction of meeting your monthly goal is a driving force to continue.

You learn to jot things down to capture moments.

You can expand on your observations later—even turning them into poems, essays, short stories, books, plays, songs, and articles.

You learn to pay attention to conversations you overhear so you can improve the dialogue in your work.

You learn to capture details about characters, locations, fashion, cuisine, etc. to ground scenes in your work.

Deadlines are not so fearsome when you meet them on a regular basis.

It is fun to flip through old notebooks for writing ideas—and to see what interested you back in time.

But mostly, filling monthly notebooks keeps you writing no matter what!

        Writers write so start writing now!

How has filling a notebook a month improved your writing?

Well-Defined Writing

From Kate's Writer's Crate…

 

        Writers have tools for their craft: words, grammar, and punctuation. We study them, but few, if any, of us remember all the definitions and rules off the tops of our heads.
 

        I don't claim to be a grammar or punctuation expert. When in doubt, I look up answers in The Chicago Manual of Style or at www.refdesk.com.

        It's more of a challenge for me to take the time to look up definitions of words I think I know.

Being clear and precise are the signs of a professional so it's crucial to make sure you are using the correct words. This is why I have a dictionary in every writing spot in my home or my e-reader nearby. If I'm writing without a dictionary at hand or I don't want to interrupt my train of thought, I circle words to look up definitions later. Better to take the time to check than feel foolish once mistakes are published.

        In following my own advice, I've been surprised at the exact definitions of words I thought I knew like prone. I thought it meant lying down, but the exact meaning, according to The American Heritage Dictionary, is lying face down or front turned toward the surface it rests on.

        I'm not alone in my error. I recently read a mystery where a murder victim was found in a prone position but the blood stains were visible on the front of his shirt.

        The wonderful part of this research endeavor is discovering how many words we have to describe exactly what we mean. Supine means lying on one's back. Prostrate means lying down in either position. Recumbent means lying down, but in a position of comfort or rest.

        In another example, I thought baleful meant resentful, but it's a more intense word. It means harmful or malignant, portending evil.

Imagine how many clues you could scatter throughout mystery books in plain sight which readers would miss if they were not aware of the exact meanings of the words used.

        I hate seeing misused words like flack (meaning the sound of the flapping of laundry on a line or a repetitive noise) instead of flak meaning antiaircraft artillery, bursting shells, or excessive abuse. The Webster's Third New International Dictionary does list flack as a variant of flak, but as the fourth listing so not common usage. The American Heritage Dictionary doesn't list flack.

        As writers, we need to be careful. Mistakes can be embarrassing, humorous, or even deadly. I have read scenes where characters force brandy, coffee, or other liquids down the throats of unconscious people. The American Red Cross First Aid and Safety Handbook by Kathleen A. Handal strongly warns not to do this.

        Writers are people with responsibilities and power. Be well-defined and accurate. You may even save a life!

Newly Found Notebooks

 

From Kate's Writing Crate…

 

        Rejoice with me! I've found replacement notebooks!

 

        If you've been following this blog, you know I have a favorite pen to write with, the blue Pilot V-Ball fine point; a favorite pen to edit with, the red Pilot V-Ball extra fine point; and a favorite notebook, the college ruled Composition Book #730000 Fay-vo-rite made by Fay Paper Products, Inc., to write in as I fill one a month a la Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. (See my September 17, 2012 post "My Favorite Writing Tools." These posts aren't paid endorsements, just my favorite choices. I read the IRS wants this made very clear in blogs so I am complying!)

 

Fay Paper Products, Inc. went out of business leaving me with only 15 notebooks left of the 200+ I had bought for school and writing over the years. I've been searching for an acceptable replacement, but without much luck. Other notebooks were too flimsy and not as simply beautiful with full marbled-color covers in red, blue, yellow, green, purple, and gray.

 

I've been writing more with my computer than my pen lately as I didn't want to run out of my beloved notebooks, but overall writing less as I'm not always near my computer. Not an ideal situation.

 

In my journey to find these perfect replacement notebooks, I've tried a dozen different brands. Also different sizes, but I prefer 11" x 8 ½" or 11" x 8 ¾". I also prefer 80 pages, but up to 100 is acceptable. Filling a notebook a month is a big commitment so 20 extra pages makes it tough when I am on deadline for other projects.

 

 

I was ecstatic when I found a notebook I liked even better—the Oxford 1 Subject Notebook College Ruled which comes in deeper shades of green, blue, red, yellow, gray, and light gray. The reason I like them better is the back cover is thicker so the notebook is sturdier. (Again, not a paid endorsement.) I am starting to stockpile them as I hate not having writing tools I love and depend on.

 

I love to write by hand throughout the day even as I do a majority of work on my computer. When I am writing using a pen, I feel freer to jot down ideas, words, and phrases to come back to later. I also copy quotes I enjoy from books I'm reading into my notebooks for possible use in essays and posts.

 

 Finally, I'm back in my writing routine which includes having a notebook handy at all times. As Natalie Goldberg states, "You have to give yourself the space to write a lot without a destination."

 

I'm not superstitious. I don't need these particular pens and notebooks; I just prefer to have tools I'm comfortable with so I can slip into my writing zone quickly. Writing is hard enough so it's best to use any tools that make it easier.

 

 

What tools make writing easier for you?

 

Writing in Comfort Almost Anywhere in a Folding Writer's Chair

From Kate's Writing Crate... 
   

This is not a paid endorsement--just a chair style I discovered, love, and want to share with other writers because it gives us the freedom to create in comfort anywhere.  

I love to write. I have a notebook and several pens near me at all times in case inspiration strikes, but it's uncomfortable to write for long without a desk and chair so imagine my excitement when I discovered a folding writer's chair. Yes, I know it's technically considered a student's chair, but I am a writer so it's a writer's chair for me.     

      
         You remember the efficient furniture we

used in school--desks attached to chairs.

They're easy to slide around a room, but

difficult to pick up and move any real
 
distance. Convenient, but not mobile—until

now!
 

            I can take my folding writer's chair with the
 
tablet arm into any room in the house or out
 
on the porch. In a city, I'd take out on to a
 
rooftop.

 

            I can take it out in the yard to be with family and/or the dogs and write as long as I wish. It's a bit unwieldy, but I can take it to the woods where I walk the dogs and sit writing while serenaded by birds, feeling the cool breeze, completely surrounded and inspired by nature.     

I can get up early and record my thoughts as the sun rises then later turn the desk around to enjoy the gorgeous sunset outside pen in hand, notebook on desk.    

I can put it in the car and go to a park. I can use it at the outdoor summer concerts in town sitting at the edge of the crowd inspired by live music. I can take it to a beach, lake, river, or pond.     

I also bought a pen with a light in the tip so I can write under the stars. That's truly inspiring! I feel at once both infinitesmal and infinite as part of an awe-inspiring universe. It opens my mind to all sorts of possibilities.     

Now I can't wait until the fireflies arrive. I can sit out at dusk and watch them flash each other. I've always felt they were magical—nature's twinkling lights decorating our yards in celebration of warm weather. And now my glowing pen and I can be writing outside with them, a part of the magic.

Does writing comfortably anywhere appeal to you?