Moving Forward

Changes are Happening at By Word of Beth!

And as the photo indicates, change gives new opportunities. For several years, I have had three websites. I am now consolidating them all into one — this one. My editing services now reside here, my thoughts about writing (mine and that of others) will reside here, and all my blog posts will be made here. I hope this will simplify things for my readers and website visitors. I *know* it will simplify things for me! Heads-up to subscribers: I will soon be changing the way people follow my blog, as well. Instead of the current subscription, where a blog post is automatically sent out to you when one is posted, I will be doing a newsletter — monthly is my intention — that will include links to any blog posts I’ve posted in that month, editing and writing insights, and more. I hope this will provide more value to my readers. Because subscription best practices have changed since I set up my last subscription, I will be asking you to sign up for this newsletter, even if you have been a subscriber in the past. This will allow for double opt-in, where you will confirm your subscription, and I be more able to ensure that I comply with all the current and coming rules about subscribers. I appreciate your patience with getting this new format underway. At the moment, I have only the basics of my editing service added to the site, but I’m definitely available for editing. Click on My Editing Service in the menu bar to see how we can work together. More will be added as time goes on. Here’s to new opportunities, growth, and moving forward!

Welcome Back to “By Word of Beth”

*peeks out of my burrow* *looks around* *whispers ‘anybody here?’* *crawls out of the burrow and dusts off my fur* As this gopher has surmised, it’s time to come out of the burrow and reboot my blog. Or maybe that should be rear-boot, as in boot in the rear to get me blogging again. *grin* I hope that in the coming year, I can bring you posts that you’ll find helpful, hopeful, encouraging, educational – or at least, perhaps amusing. The first thing the gopher noticed is that it looks a bit different around here. I’ve done a revamp as well as a reboot, and I hope you’ll look around and see what the revamped By Word of Beth looks like. On the home page you’ll find an explanation of some of the new features, such as what is in the extra menu hidden behind the three-line “hamburger” icon in the top left corner. Wander around. Explore. Make yourself at home. I’m glad you’re here. In coming weeks, I plan to tell you about some excellent books I’ve read since last we met, some helpful writer’s resources I’ve discovered, some websites that have got me thinking, some inspiration I’ve experienced. Until then, for those of you who are writers like me, and for those who aren’t, as well, I want to encourage you to live by the words of Sara Bareilles’ song BRAVE, and “Say what you wanna sayAnd let the words fall out…” Be BRAVE!* *click the word BRAVE to see the video of this wonderful song.

Time to Power Up the Blog at By Word of Beth!

  It’s time for a new blogging season here at By Word of Beth, and I’m ready for it. I’m planning what I hope will be interesting and engaging posts, including:   a series looking at why and how I write, and why and how others write, including profiles of other writers and the occasional interview posts that explore the basics of my logo – empowerment, arts, and words sharing books and experiences through Books, Encouragement, Teaching, Hope a bit of fun here and there NO alphabetical posts. Nope. Not going there again. 😉 Something you may not know about me is that I love to watch HGTV, particularly home-renovation shows (since the day for decluttering and organization shows seems to be over). A couple of my favorites (which are, alas, only reruns now) are Canadian shows Income Property and Leave It To Bryan. My favorite part of the show is the reveal. Which brings me to the reason I got onto this topic. If you look around my site, you’ll see that I’ve spent some time this summer renovating my website and now it’s time for the big reveal. First of all – there’s a new theme around here. I hope you’ll find it easy to navigate and appealing to read. It’s certainly easier for me on the posting end of things. There are still a couple of drop-down menus, but they’re not accordions. And TAGS are back! For some reason, my last theme didn’t allow tags on blog posts, and I have missed them. I’ve also revamped and rewritten all the pages (well, except the blog, of course. A blog is a blog.) There’s a new bio with anecdotes and pictures, although the brief, official-sounding one is still there as well. There’s a brand-new page about the basics of my logo, with a drop-down giving a few words about each of Empowerment, Arts, and Words, along with links to previous blog posts on each of those topics. There’s an easier-to-scroll-through version of my Resources for Writers page. There’s a link to my re-vamped Flubs2Fixes Editing website (yes, it’s been given a facelift, too. Watch for a link when the first post goes up on that blog.) There’s new information about my kid-focused website and blog, The Starborn Revue, including information about the coming serialized story, The Show MUST Go On. (And in case you’re wondering, The Starborn Revue has been refreshed and renewed, too. There’ll be a link here to the first post on Wednesday, so you can experience the reveal there, as well.) There are GDPR-compliant privacy and cookies policy statements in the links in the footer. And there’s a bright, shiny, and functional contact form. I hope you’ll take some time and look around at the new pages, and get a feel for the renewed site. I’ve had a good time with this “renovation” and I hope it will serve you better in time to come. Next week, I’ll be celebrating International Dot Day a little early. I hope you’ll join me for that. In the meantime, here’s to books, encouragement, teaching and hope!

What’s Ahead on My Blog in 2018

Happy New Year to all! Putting up the new calendars with their fresh, unmarked pages is always a joy for me. Those fresh, unmarked pages speak to me of the freshness of the year, of hope and possibilities. May it be a good year for you, and for our world. In preparation for this new year, I’ve been participating in Julie Hedlund‘s 12 Days of Christmas for Writers, which is always a highlight of this season for me. Through her daily posts from December 26th to January 6th, she helps us look at both the successes and challenges of the past year, and prepare for the new year with the intention of building on those successes and entering the year with a spirit of gratitude. Through the exercises she has led us through, I’ve discovered my guiding word for 2018 — intentionality. I plan to be more intentional about sheltering my writing time (thanks to Carrie Finison for the concept of sheltering time), focusing my reading time, and caring for my health. That will be reflected in my blog in the coming months. I will be focusing my blog on what I’m reading. My alphabet posts will highlight some of the best books I encounter. I will also be reviving my mini “What I’m Reading” blog, that will tell you (you guessed it) what I’m currently reading. Those will be very brief posts, with just a couple of links to pique your interest in the book. The titles will appear in the “What I’m Reading” list on the sidebar of my blog, along with a two-letter designation of the book’s intended audience (MG for Middle Grade, YA for Young Adult, or AD for adult). Besides those longer books, inspired by my friend, Darshana Khiani, who tries to read a picture book first thing most mornings (and also reads other levels), I’m embarking on a year-long Picture Book Each Morning self-challenge. To follow along and learn more about what I’m reading in picture books, you can follow my Facebook page, Beth Stilborn Writes, where I’ll post each morning about the day’s book. Here’s to the new year! May it be a year of opportunities where peace, caring, and hope prevail.

Revamping the Site — New Page(s) Alert

It must be the fact that it’s spring that made me want to do a little spring cleaning around my website lately. I’ve revamped a few pages, added a few, made a few changes to my blog’s sidebar… I’m having fun! I’d like to invite you to check out my new pages. You can learn more about my Starborn Revue blog, where I highlight the arts for kids and post about middle grade books and other cool stuff at the page titled My Arts-For-Kids Blog. A while ago, I posted about the new Netflix series about the arts for kids, Julie’s Greenroom. I now have a page about that stellar series, with links to articles that celebrate all that the series offers for kids of all ages. Click on Julie’s Greenroom. I’ve recently read several excellent articles about the importance of the arts to our society that I want to share with my readers. With all that’s happening in our world to undermine the arts, I think we need to support and promote the arts more than ever. My new page Why the Arts? is one way I’m doing that. Thanks for reading! I’ll see you back here tomorrow for my look at the letter V.

Keep Right On to the End of the Road

Have you ever had a mountaintop experience — something so inspiring, so uplifting, so affirming, that you just wish you could stay in that moment forever? Or, by contrast, have you experienced valleys in your life that are so deep you wonder if you will ever come out of them? I suspect you have. I certainly have experienced both, and have experienced the wish that the mountaintop would continue, as well as the feeling that the valley will never end. There are times when we all get discouraged —  either by circumstances in our personal lives; or in the long slog for writers to find an agent, and to get published; or by the conditions in society around us. For both mountaintop and valley, there are some words of wisdom that can encourage us and help us remember that these things are just steps on the longer journey, that the journey continues, and that ultimately the journey is worth whatever mountains or valleys there might be. My grandmother used to use the phrase “keep on keeping on” frequently. (She also told me over and over to persevere — I still hear that word in my mind in her Scottish accent.) My mother used to sing the first line of an old Harry Lauder song: “Keep right on to the end of the road, keep right on to the end…” No matter what we are involved in, we have highs and lows, but those don’t define us nor do they define the process. They are moments in the journey, however joyous or sorrowful or fear-filled, and we acknowledge them, express the feelings, but we keep right on on the longer journey. The journey is worth it. We are worth it. I am saying this to myself as much to everyone else. K is for “Keep right on.” This isn’t the end of the road. Keep on keeping on. And here’s an old, scratchy recording of Harry Lauder to accompany you on your journey. (Doesn’t this K look as though it’s marching?) Come back later today for a bonus post — I’ve recently read a delightful “K” picture book that I want to share with you.

Jumper cables for our lives

One day recently, my car refused to start. I can’t blame it, as it was very cold that day, for humans and for everything else, including little cars. I was sure I’d have to call the Auto Association the next day to do their jump-start magic. However, the next day — a much warmer day — Little Car started without any hesitation whatsoever. I guess it just wanted a rest the day before, and perhaps also wanted to inspire a blog post. There are times when we, too, just need a rest before we get back to the task at hand. We need to pull back and take some time to recharge ourselves in whatever way works for us. (Personally, I spent the weekend concentrating on decluttering, which makes me feel refreshed  with my mind decluttered as well.) There are also times when we could do with a jump start. I’ve experienced a couple of those recently. Both of them happen to have been focussed on writing, but they’ve recharged me in my general life as well. The first is an experience I’ve treated myself to for the past three years. I consider it treating myself, even though it’s free — treats don’t always cost money. I participated in Julie Hedlund’s wonderful year-end/year-beginning 12 Days of Christmas for Writers. In it, Julie guides us through looking back on our past year and making plans for the coming year, and she makes the whole process fun and uplifting. It begins right after Christmas and goes for — you guessed it — twelve days. Despite the name and the timing, it is open to all writers, whether you celebrate Christmas or not. It makes a fabulous wind-up for the year, and sends participants into the New Year energized and inspired. Thanks, Julie! Coinciding with the mid-point in the 12 Days, thanks to Tara Lazar changing her PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) into an idea month for all writers called StoryStorm and moving it from November to January, I joined hundreds of other writers in the plan to come up with thirty ideas over the course of the month. I’m pleased to report that I’m ahead of the game — I’ve already logged more than thirty ideas, and I’ve been having fun with them. Some are for middle grade fiction, some for adult fiction, some are decidedly better than others, and there are a couple I can hardly wait to start working on. This, too, is a great way to jump start the writing process at the beginning of the year. Thanks, Tara! If you’re not a writer, you certainly can find jumper cables to give yourself a boost in what for many is a cold, dreary, and dismal part of the year, in a time in our society that seems uncertain. We all are works in progress, and isn’t that a good thing? I’m grateful that I’m different than I was ten years ago, or twenty, and I know there is still progress to be made. As I said earlier, decluttering helps me in the recharging process. I’ve found inspiration from various sources over the years, including Hellen Buttigieg, the original Apartment Therapy book and home “cure,” and various other books and online challenges. For self-evaluation and personal growth, there is a plethora of resources available, as you’re likely well aware. One I’ve found particularly helpful (and perhaps it’s time I went through it again) is Live a Life You Love by Susan Biali — in fact, one of my first posts on this blog was about this book. J is for a different sort of jumper cables that help you jump start your year — however you do that, I wish you joy on the journey.

Going Forward into Growth in the New Year

I’m back a week before I’d intended to be, because on New Year’s Day I decided that this post needed to be as close to the beginning of the year as possible. In 2017, I want to go forward into growth — there always seems to be opportunity for growth as we look at the fresh, unmarked pages of the new calendar. I look forward to growth in my writing, in my thinking, in my attitudes. And I look forward to the company of others as I journey through the year. Many of you are familiar with the concept of choosing a word to encompass some of what we want to be, or to live toward being, in the year. One of my dear writing friends chose GUMPTION as her word for 2017. What a great word! It brought to my mind a book that belonged to my grandmother. The title of it always appealed to me: GRACE, GRIT, and GUMPTION. I want to incorporate those words into my living this year, as well. I tried on a lot of words for myself, asking them in turn, “Are you my word?” and trying to find the right one to express the kind of lively hope I want to live in and share this year. The word(s) that kept nudging me, and that I finally embraced, is/are ENCOURAGE and its synonyms, INSPIRIT, HEARTEN and EMBOLDEN. (This year’s word is a package deal.) The original meaning of encourage was “early 15c., from Old French encoragier ‘make strong, hearten,’” (from etymonline.com). I not only see it as helping others to find courage, but also infusing courage into my own thoughts and actions. I will be working at coming at things in my personal life from a position of strength and courage in the coming year. I will also be seeking to imbue others with encouragement through my blog posts, the manuscripts I write, and the way I live my life — living into courage myself, as well as sharing courage and heartening others. The synonyms I’ve listed enlarge on the concept of encouraging. Merriam-Webster says (in part) “encourage suggests the raising of one’s confidence especially by an external agency. inspirit, somewhat literary, implies instilling life, energy, courage, or vigor into something. hearten implies the lifting of dispiritedness or despondency by an infusion of fresh courage or zeal. embolden implies the giving of courage sufficient to overcome timidity or reluctance.” You can find the full definition at this link. “Instilling life (and) energy”, “an infusion of fresh courage”, “zeal” — I like those concepts. They truly embody the vitality and liveliness that I want to feel as I make my heart and others’ hearts beat with courage in this year, with a healthy sprinkling of grace, grit, and gumption! Going forward, growth, grace, grit, gumption. I encourage you to embrace those as we head into 2017! What word or words particularly speak to you this year? I’d love to learn about them in the comments.

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