10 answers on blogging, Kindle and my life in general

Von at The Life of Von blog posed these questions (as part of the Leibster Award nominations) and I am going to take a minute and answer them…

Read more about the blog award and my friend Von here:  https://laratracehentz.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/the-visionary-life-of-von-liebster-awards/

1. How is blogging working out for you?

I love it more than I ever imagined. I started on Blogger in 2009 and now have two wordpress blogs = It’s crazy I blog so much.  It’s a good place to write and post on all kinds of things!  A few years ago, I decided to teach a beginners blogging course at the local college. I also run a blog for my class. It’s a lot of blog, I know. (I also help others set up their blogs). But I am a student of life and I am still learning.

2. What is your favourite way of writing?

I type most things on the computer but poems and more emotionally-based writing is still best done by my hand – pen to paper.

3. What things assist your writing processes?

Space! I had to rearrange the office and computer to be next to the window to see and hear the birds I feed – this seems to be the best place for me to start a writing project… I can work day and night and not disturb my dear husband. I also carry a small notebook for ideas that pop into my head so I don’t forget my thoughts. This all works very well for me,

4. Books or Kindle?

Both actually. I love my Kindle Fire but there are many books on my shelf that I refuse to part with.  EBooks and Kindle will become even more popular in the future, I am sure.

5. Do you have a favourite place to write?

I used to sit at the dining room table when I started handwriting my memoir – without fail it was 4:30 am – this went on over two years! It was and is necessary for me to have quiet and silence.

6. When do you write?

I write day and night. Pretty much every day too.

7. Has life offered you challenges and opportunities which inform your writing?

I told myself as a 20-something that I would be a writer when I gained some life experience. I worked many years at all kinds of jobs- developing confidence and the skills that I needed to become “the writer.” Now that I am a former newspaper editor, those skills really help me finish the manuscript.

Being an adoptee and searching for so many years taught me to be patient and courageous. I wouldn’t change a thing.

8. Where do you look for inspiration?

Mostly books. I read others writing – especially blogs like Von’s and many many others. The Lost Daughters blog (where Von and I contribute) has inspired me often, too. I read lots of poetry and bury my head in history as often as I can.

I can look out my window and be inspired – so anything and everything inspires me.

9. R&R?

That’s changing since my husband Herb retired. We walk when weather permits. We go to the Cape so he can fish and I can read, get sun and watch waves. I am working on a work-life balance now and its evolving.

10. What can’t you live without?

Honesty, I could not do all this without my husband’s love and support. So the answer is my husband Herb.

To read Von’s answers to my nomination questions, go here: http://eagoodlife.wordpress.com/2014/01/02/liebster-awards/