Tags
Bishop Museum, East-West Center, Japanese Garden, Lili'uokalani Botanical Garden, MNINB, Wordsmith Studio
Aloha Fridays Today I’m saying aloha to the old look of this blog. It will be a transition period over the holidays. Just in time for the New Year.
I started Writing Space last April as a project of self-discovery. Over the past eight months, I’ve discovered a lot. I’ve discovered a group of writerly friends that are now quite dear to me. Go over to WordsmithStudio.org to check them out.
I’ve discovered that it is much easier for me to write fiction than nonficiton. What a surprise that one was. And maybe I shouldn’t use the term “easy.” I write my fiction drafts far faster than my nonfiction pieces.
I’m a fast writer, but I like to edit…and edit…and edit. So this blog is about writing and then not editing quite as much as I normally would. Why? Because the purpose of this blog is the experiment of it. I need to show the construction of the writerly life for me.
Another discovery is that writers get paid well and not so well and not at all. I think writers everywhere are still wrestling with the best ways in which to match up their passions with their practicality.
The About page that I’ve copied and pasted below contains outdated information about the blog, but since this is a project I didn’t want to lose the evidence of how I’d come this far.
Mondays will still be about memoir. Tuesdays will be guest posts from and my own experiences as a tourist. Wednesdays will be about the nuts & bolts of writerly life. Thursdays will thankfully be a way to celebrate others. Fridays will be idea pieces that will find themselves in larger works. And I let you know where some of them find a home.
For now…enjoy what follows as archival material from the earlier days at Writing Space.
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Aloha!Welcome To Writing Space.
Being a writer is my life-long dream. Upon approaching 50,My Golden Jubilee Year, I made space in my life for that dream to become reality. Writing Space is an expression of that effort, claiming physical, mental and emotional real estate to allow myself to write. This blog documents my journey toward supporting myself solely as a blogger, a freelancer, an author, a creative, and a social media specialist with my entrepreneurial shingle, Lara Britt Writes.
Luncheon At Lili’uokalani Botanical Garden
An Experiment In Co-Creation
Writers do not write in a vacuum. Readers are integral to the equation. The essence of art resides not in the artist but in the discourse between the artist and the audience. My readers are co-creators. Interaction with you, My Dear Reader, makes this experiment dynamic dialogue rather than stilted monologue. I adjust our course based on your feedback and comments. Always and ever, we are tacking the sails to find that sweet spot, where my strengths and your interests push us into new territory. Where the lightning strikes and the magic happens.
Tea Time at the Bishop Museum
#MNINB Cohorts
Writing Space was launched in April 2012. After being sent home from work with a head injury, I knew enough to stay up the night to prevent complications from a concussion. I logged onto WordPress and registered this site. Then I started playing catch-up with Robert Lee Brewer’s April Platform Challenge. By leaving comments at the My Name Is Not Bob (MNINB) site, the challengers started to dialogue with one another. Soon strong bonds were formed. Not Bob even wrote a special post, MNINB Spin Offs, about how we were co-creating beyond his expectations. Co-creation, where the magic happens. At the end of April, we declared ourselves “Done” as we did with each and every challenge, but we clarified: Done, But Not Over! Check out my MNINB Blogroll Series under Categorically on the right sidebar. Also, check out MNINB April Platform Challengers: Done But Not Over, the new collaborative blog from the Not Bobbers posse.
Update: Six months ago we embarked on an April challenge. October will see the official launch of our new collaborative website-based community. Come visit us to see what’s in the works at Wordsmith Studio.
Final Stage of Life: Tranquility
Method To The Madness
Otherwise known as, my Editorial Calendar:
Memoir Mondays
Stories, both personal and true, that have had an effect on my creative development.
Tourist Tuesdays
Time taken to see our everyday world through the eyes of a tourist. Sure I live in Hawaii, but some of my guest posters will be taking your on tours of their backyards as well.
Writerly Wednesdays
Bits and pieces of writerly advice, tech tips, industry news, and just sheer writing joys. One of my favorite Wednesday features is Writerly Nooks where I take you to the places and spaces where I find my muse. My lanai, Lili’uokalani Botanical Gardens and The Bishop Museum are just three. More to come.
Thankful Thursdays
Thursdays have been my most difficult day to define. You will find much trial and some error in this category. But nothing ventured, nothing learned or gained. With that motto, I always end up gaining even if it is wisdom and experience that comes from missing the mark. My newest experiment is a synthesis of all that I have tried so far. It is a bigger tent, if you will. Inspirational credit I give to fellow Wordsmither, JoAnn J. A. Jordan, aka Hopeful Jo. Her blog, Chronicles, is a record of her 365 day challenge to be thankful and positive. She shares a handwritten journal entry, a poem and some photos. I smile every time I visit. I am thankful, in this virtual world of ours, I can be touched by people who I would never otherwise even know exist. Thank you, Jo!
Aloha Fridays
Pau Hana! The weekend is upon us, and there is so much celebration going on. Come taste a slice of local life with me. Festivals, parades, Eat Street Kaka’ako, First Friday… Endless supply of fun. And the occasional Island recipe.
Weekend Recaps
In case your week was a busy one, the recaps are meant to fill in some of the news of the week, point you toward some of the conversations in the comment section, and give you the links to the week’s posts in one convenient place. This fall I will be moving this feature to a monthly digest newsletter that will come to your email inbox by subscription only.
Special Additions
These currently can come any day of the week, but mostly on the occasional Sunday. My current series is a blogroll of the MNINB group. These again will be moved this fall to a subscription service where readers will be able to choose the preferences for what arrives in their inboxes.
The new look sounds marvelous. I’ll be here to check it out. And thank you, Lara, for being so supportive of my efforts.
I’m always experimenting and tweaking, but I feel less tentative about my over all direction now. So I’m gearing for the New Year. Thanks as always for stopping in, Jennifer.
Congrats on your plans to update your blog. You’ve hit upon many points which I believe in, too. Like yourself, I, too, consider blogging and social media presence to be a huge, dynamic experiment. What I did six months ago would probably be difficult to replicate today, simply because I don’t feel the same way I felt before. That is why it’s critical to keep up with writing, because as we write more, we are building up our repertoire and ultimately polishing the look and feel of our blogs.
Another way of looking at this is through the eyes of nature. Every single year brings forth four distinct seasons, which invariably, cause weather changes and affect the way people dress and act. What if we lived in a world of 365-day 20-degree weather and were destined to wear parkas and snow boots all the time? I’m sure the skiers and outdoor folks would be thrilled, but I would classify that as boring. Change is needed to help us grow and experience new things.
You’ve captured that main point beautifully by describing your own journey in writing and the need to preserve those memories as archives, as simply part of the continuing journey in writing. What you felt before is not necessarily what you feel now. I couldn’t agree more. Life brings us new challenges to shape our thinking, and consequently, our writing.
You have posted a pretty aggressive blogging schedule to blog nearly five days of the week. That is a lot! A good way to experiment, though, to see if your real schedule allows for that as time goes on. Best of luck with your blogging, fiction writing, and blog updates.
Yes, Amanda, when I first started this blog I needed content and I needed to do a lot of experimenting to figure out how I felt about different areas. Now, although I am retaining a 5 day theme, my goal is to only ship 1-3 posts a week. When I have guest bloggers, I can go to 4-5 more easily. But I don’t feel I am slacking as long as I get out one post a week.
I’m thinking change, too, Lori, and you’ve said it so well. (So did you, Amanda!) Good luck with the new venture. I’ll be following along . . .
I know that you are mixing it up with photography as well as your writing, Gerry. I like the idea of a mixed blog. Mine is mixed. It has an order to it. So you know if you’re curious about memoir to stop in on Mondays. But I would rather be involved with group blogs or guest blogging if I want to write about something other than what my blog would allow. And then of course, there is turning some of my ideas into freelance articles. All of the feedback I’ve gotten over the past 8 months has given me confidence to share my work outside of this blogging experiment. I look forward to seeing how your blog develops as well.
I don’t have your gift for organization! Wish I did. But the blog itself evolves with time. I loved the memoir challenge, and once the holidays are over, I’ll get back to a more regular schedule. Right now, I’m enjoying the photo prompts, so why not? The WordPress one has actually turned into a post I’ll launch later today.
Have you visited Jennifer Crites’s blog? Just click on Writecrites in my comment section and it should take you to her blog. She’s a photojournalist so of course she has a knack for combining story and photos.
Great idea. Thanks.
Your blog is on my 2013 list of special places to visit on a regular basis.
Thank you so much for that, Sabra. It is definitely me finding out who I am as a writer. I’m much further along thanks to you and others who visit regularly and comment.
I look forward to reading your thoughts and poetry both at your own blog as well as wordsmithstudio.org
Ditto the comments about your awesome organizational and follow through skills, Lara. Experimentation is good because we find out our strengths and what we need to improve or shelve.
For me, my blog experience has helped me to find the topics I’m most interested in and subsequently do a better job at writing those posts, than other topics. I’ve also tweaked formats four or five times and found the one that generates more views. My editorial schedule wasn’t working so I reduced the posts to two, sometimes three per week, and felt so much better that I could spend more time on writing and rewriting my novel.
Thank you for sharing your experiences, organizing the other websites, and being a supporter of writers.
Thank you, Monica. I wanted this blog to be a kind of warts and all endeavor. I edit, but not as I normally would. But now I’m feeling more confident in myself as a professional writer, I will be producing posts with more polish and I will be moving from WordPress.com to self hosted. I did buy my URL larabritt.com when I started this up, but I haven’t moved it to a self-hosted site.
Lara, I noticed your site looked different, then stumbled on this earlier post about ways you are evolving your approach. It’s exciting to see how you have developed your interests and skills, and how it will evolve further. I think it’s a great idea to explore freelance, as well. I look forward to reading more.
Oh, you caught me in mid transition here, Elissa. It will look totally different very soon. I got side-railed on two pressing projects over the holidays. So I expect it to be February before I launch the new look. Thanks for stopping by!