Yeah, remember that song, Sister Golden Hair by America? I always loved this line:
“I’ve been one poor correspondent, and I’ve been too, too hard to find, but it doesn’t mean you ain’t been on my mind.”
As the song says, it doesn’t mean I wasn’t thinking about all of you out there, blog followers, and fellow WANA’ers. I will be catching up and getting back in the round of reading, following, blogging and tweeting away this week.
Some of the time I was dealing with life issues, some of it I was helping some friends through a few crises, some of it was my own body needing some down time, and demanding it by catching cold.
Mostly though, I needed to step away from writing. Part of that was my own process in writing my WIP, but I also had a breakdown in my faith in myself. How many of you out there have had that moment of questioning: “Is this really worth it? Can I really make this writing thing work?”
The short answer is yes. No, I’m not getting paid yet, but in the round of distractions that kept me from the computer, I kept finding my thoughts straying to, ‘oh, I should write that down’, or, ‘that’d make a great blog post.’ I found the direction I needed for the major conflict in my WIP. I found that even though the words slow down for a while, they always come back.
I recently read an article that said our best solutions come from our unconscious. When we ‘let go’ of an issue or problem that is bothering us, it frees our subconscious mind to put its supercomputing powers to work. I have had plenty to take my mind off my writing angst.
What distractions? I have 26 of them to be exact; chicks arrived! A little over a week ago, Hub went to the post office and collected our order of chicks. Yes, post office, they came through the mail from McMurray Hatchery. And yes, they do just fine without food or water for the trip. They still have a remnant of yolk sac that provides them with enough nutrition and hydration, so they do not need to eat or drink for the first three days. This adaptation allows mama chicken to hatch all her eggs, which can take a few days, and then she takes them out of the nest to get food. It also allows hatcheries to ship live chicks via priority mail.
They have been a handful to care for! Feeding and watering twice a day, changing their litter, plus all my other animal and people chores meant I fell asleep as soon as I was done eating dinner, at 8:30. It’s a good thing most of them won’t be around for very long, the 16 meat birds will be ready for the freezer in 2 months. The 10 egg-layers are going to be the only permanent residents. Here’s some pics of the little darlings. They’ve grown amazingly fast just in the first week.
I’ve also started my garden for the year. Hub built me my first cold frame:
There is sits, with carrots, lettuce and spinach seeds safely tucked underneath and, hopefully, germinating. This weekend I’ll work on getting my tomatoes, beans, peas and corn going. I might try peppers too. Those seeds I’ll start inside though, too cold still for those tender things outside.
So hello again to all my friends out there in the CyberWorld! It’s pretty fast paced out there I know, hope you all remember me. If not, I’ll remind you! I’m looking forward to catching up on all of your blogs too!
Welcome back Serena! 🙂
Chicks in the mail–that’s fascinating! I had no idea you could get them shipped to you.
I know, cool, right? I love having the choice of breeds, my local feed store is great, but gets only the most basic of breeds. I love having a wide variety of breeds, makes for a beautiful, colorful flock.
They are so cute!! And I think we all wonder if it’s worth it- many times as we trug through writers block, plot break downs and revising. I frequently take time off to regroup, don;t worry about it!
Thanks Alicia! It’s good to know that I’m not alone in this!
Welcome back, Serena. So glad you found the things you were looking for and you took the time to take care of you.
I only blog about once a month so I sometimes feel like folks don’t remember me either, but I do try to get around to blogs for comments.
Adorable little chickies!
Patricia Rickrode
w/a Jansen Schmidt
I remember you! Tagged you too! 🙂 I’ll probably be slowing down my blogging again at some point; I’m looking at reorganizing my site, maybe moving to my own hosted domain, all new skills for me to learn, so it’ll be a slow process.
welcome back, Serena. time to regroup is critical. well done for you
Every time I come out the other side, I always remind myself how healthy it is to step away and give myself a break, even from something I love to do. Also, it feels wonderful to come back refreshed and reinvigorated.
Welcome back, Serena. I have to step away from time to time too — sometimes the hyper-productivity of being online makes my head spin and I don’t always think it’s conducive to creativity and storytelling. Glad you’re back!
I agree Debra. My brain starts spinning too, great way to describe it!
I’m melting! Welcome back, Serena. This posts is loaded with fun surprises. 🙂
Hi August! Thanks! I’ll be posting more on the chicks as they grow. There will more than likely be random song videos in my posts too. 😉
Welcome back! The learning curve of getting online, blogging and keeping up with your WIP takes a tremendous amount of energy. Your creative well just needed a refill. Mine needs that periodically, too, but it’s hard to remember that’s what it is. Mrs. Darkside (what I call the negative side) takes advantage of every single opportunity to make me feel I’m not good enough or it’s not worth it. But you beat her, Serena! Yay! I’m looking forward to seeing the chicks grow.
Hi Lynette! And thank you! I never thought of it as taking energy to learn that balance but you are so right! About the ‘refilling’ too!
Glad to see you back again! I’d been wondering about you!! Sounds like you have a full and busy life. Hope everything has worked out all around for everyone you’ve been helping. I’ve managed to keep five hens and two Silkie roosters (they were supposed to be a PAIR but are not!) alive and we have quite the abundance of eggs! I can’t eat anything I’ve seen alive so I couldn’t possibly raise chickens to eat. Their eggs are fine, though! (smile) Keep writing! It’s obviously a huge part of who you are and as Stephen King says, (paraphrasing), “If God gave you a gift, then you should be using it!” Gifts from God canNOT fail. Blessings!
Thank you so much! I appreciate the King quote and your sentiment! 🙂 I have to admit, the meat birds are easy to not get attached to and they won’t be here for long. It’s not for everyone though and I totally respect that. The little egg-layers though are just too adorable, I haven’t any silkies, are those bantams? I am looking forward to having a superabundance of eggs again, and so are all the people who used to buy their eggs from me. The layers manage to pay for their keep.
I know how you feel, Serena. I’m within weeks of zipping this process up and I’m now just getting those self doubts. That’s great you had some time to breathe, now you can get back to what you need and want to do! Welcome back!
Hi Diana! Thanks! Yes, it felt great to take that break but I am really happy to be back!