3 things I did to stop compiling drafts and start completing my writing projects.
For a few years, I’ve been wandering from one writing community to the next. Listening, reading, watching, trying to learn the craft of writing.
I’ve organized and planned and thought about it. I’ve read craft books about writing. I’ve listened to people talk about writing. I’ve listened to podcasts about writing.
I’ve filled in my notebooks and planners with post ideas. I’ve written ten ideas in my little notebook, faithfully.
I have notebooks, notecards, and post-its everywhere with ideas or character plots written on them. And I mean everywhere!
As an idea generator, I have notebooks full of stories, poems…
“Proper planning and preparation prevent poor performance.” Stephen Keague
This was the plan I drew up for my garden last year.
It was a bit ambitious, I must admit. But with the world shut down due to a pandemic and me working remotely, I had some extra time to think about what I wanted to grow in my 2020 pandemic garden.
I’m not a doomsday prepper by any means, but what I saw going on in the world concerned me.
People were swarming the grocery stores, buying up everything—hoarding toilet paper, flour, yeast, water, and tortillas.
I have to admit…
I did. But I’ve got a plan to change that.
I hate it when I set a lofty goal, full of enthusiasm and organization, all my ducks in a row, only to vie off track a few short weeks later.
It always makes me feel miserable for myself.
One missed day turns into two, and then three. Then the realization that I’ve failed once again makes me overeat.
It might also result in a night of excessive drinking. Or several nights of excessive drinking. Or an online spending binge on crap I don’t need.
A full-on pity party.
I stop showing up to my new exercise class because I’ve secretly…
If people of any other color had scaled the Capitol walls, busted windows, and stormed the House and Senate floors, the National Guard would have been called out to shoot them.
In September 2019, it was noted that Trump had said the words “no collusion” no less than 231 times.
By January, I’m sure that number had quadrupled. It seemed like those were the only two words he could say with his hands waiving to and fro for extra effect.
Recently, he has compulsively claimed “voter fraud,” used the word “stolen” excessively, and claimed to be the “Best President the US has ever had.”
Psychologist Tom Stafford explains, “Repetition makes a fact seem more true, regardless of whether it is or not. Understanding this effect can help you avoid falling for…
I just can’t pretend anymore.
I have a 100-acre farm where I grow a variety of organic produce and herbs from seed. I often share the progress of my garden through photos on social media and other platforms and receive questions about growing flowers and veggies all the time.
A decorative way to keep your fresh onions handy
I used to travel to farmers' markets selling organic produce, preserves, meat rubs, and other organic goodies that I grew and made by hand.
One of my best sellers was the onion braid. Not only does it keep your fresh onions handy, but it also looks old country-cool.
Here’s how to make one:
How you can use this super cool tool to make some extra cash.
This is a typical scene for me just about every weekend. Garage sales, yard sales, estate sales, auctions. It’s a side hustle for me. I love making money, and the Google Lens has made it so much easier to do just that!
Recently, I stopped at a yard sale and as I wandered around, I pulled out my phone and started taking pictures of some of the items on the table. There was a small Asian style blue & white porcelain cup that caught my eye.
As I was taking a picture of it, the owner approached me and asked…
We should never take our freedom for granted.
Trigger Warning: Contains depictions of human trafficking, slavery, and animal sparing matches.
Currently, I am participating in a Zooniverse study entitled “Agents of Enslavement.” This study is being hosted by the British Library’s Coleridge Fellowship, awarded to Dr. Graham Jevon of the Endangered Archives Program.
The aim of this project is to research the ways in which newspapers facilitated and challenged the practice of slavery. To that end, this initial case study will focus on two colonial newspapers published in Barbados:
The Barbados Mercury and Bridgetown Gazette (1783–1848) and The Barbadian (1822–1861)
This study aims to identify four types of…
Look no further, my feather-loving friends!
Have you ever heard a bird singing or screeching and wondered what it was?
Let me tell you about an App that will not only identify the singer but help The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Chemnitz University of Technology with a citizen-research project they are conducting.
Their goal is to see if computers can learn to recognize birds by sound.
This is not an affiliate post. I get nothing for sharing this with you except the satisfaction of telling you about something really fricken cool.
The app is called BirdNET.
A Garden Love Story.
“The husk tomatoes follow the red tomatoes”, my grandmother used to say. Referring to the green bulbs that emerged from the purple striped husks.
She knew what fruits and vegetables ripened at what time during the year and planned her garden and her canning based on the upcoming harvest.
The emergence of Spring onions, garlic, horseradish, and rhubarb always caused a stir of excitement because she knew then, and predicted on her garden calendar, that the ground would “soon give way” to plant her beets, carrots, leafy greens, kale, and Swiss chard.
Summer brought tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet corn, zucchini, squash…
K.L. Bennett
Mother of 6 awesome males, music lover, photographer, avid reader, autodidact, Ninja Writer, Taurus in menopause, seeker of peace.
