Today I completed a few exercises to cover some suggestions from yesterday with regard to my pursuing a new career in writing.
One of the suggestions was to read your own writings from some time ago. I surmise this gives you a perspective into your writing skills at that time and perhaps may even reassure you that your writing is actually pretty good. Affirmation perhaps.
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So… I followed the first instruction on my list of ways to avoid putting off beginning to write again, and stop procrastinating. Something has created a road block. Getting past that road block could be just a matter of taking a walk or a run. It’s one of the suggestions on my task list from yesterday. I myself chose an early morning walk at 29 degrees. It does get you going and well worth the chill you feel. An awakening for sure.
But I also decided to go back in time to my blog, and visited my very first post on June 30th of the year 2010. I’ve included the txt of my first post below. It was interesting…..because I had, by that time, owned my new shop, Contessa’s Garden and Gift for a couple years. I had only just acquired a new digital camera and was still using a “flip phone” and I was teaching myself how to master WordPress, an online yearly subscription tool, that I’ve now subscribed to for over 13 years. I was using a laptop at the time. WordPress opened up a whole new world for me in communicating my gardening and store ownership knowledge, to my customers using the internet. Within a couple years I was into the purchase of an Apple iPhone and so I ditched the digital camera for a camera right on my iPhone. It was a fantastic transition. And it changed my business from known, to very well known. And my writing skills from good to pretty darn good.
So it’s now almost 2023 and I’m going to take a whole day to read back to where my blog began. Check out my writing style and see where I can improve and learn some things about how my blog has evolved. In terms of “my writings.” I think it might prove to be an eventful exercise🦋.
One of the other tasks on the list from yesterday, was to read a book. I am reading a book right now and this is giving me an insight into the writing style of another author. It gives me a focus on what this writer is trying to communicate, and in the case of this particular book, it has exercises in teaching you new skills. To see how the author writes and what he is trying to convey is interesting. This reading will broaden my vocabulary, perhaps improve my spelling and grammar skills, perhaps teach me how to incorporate some humor into my writing and open my eyes to content that I have never read before. Of particular interest to me in the book is a technique in a chapter called Progressive Relaxation. The suggestion that if you are not truly in a relaxed mode your creative energy may not flow. For example, you sit down to write or create and you are just not able to spit it out or get the words on paper. It happens. Burn out, can sometimes paralyze creativity. So doing the exercises mentioned in this book might help, and focusing on some mind exercises to “relax” you, could very well be a great answer to turning your writing creativity around. Some deep breathing combined with some muscle tension exercises might create relaxation and bring a calmness into your heart and it might even lower your blood pressure, creating a sense of better, and a more whole relaxation. All good points and ways to combat, what I myself might call brain fatigue or brain fog.
So today to recap, I explored two items on the task list which could help me to get past my current roadblock that’s keeping me from creating new “writing,” and new ideas for content.
More exploration tomorrow. Tonight I am reading “past” blog postings and my book called; Fighting The Inside Dragons. New steps to explore in broadening my new writing career.
We will return tomorrow to reference my task list again. I look forward to sharing once again with you.
NOW is a great time to clean up your garden beds and your pot containers. Remove dead leaves and blossoms. Cut back your stems by half. Yes it will temporarily make you plants look bare, but nature is divine and she will replenish your blossoms and beautiful leaves within about two to three weeks time. Add fresh Miracle Grow Potting Soil by about one inch to your pot containers. Push garden dirt towards the roots of your garden flowers. They will love the attention and the protection they get from fresh, moist dirt around their stems.
Our intense heat in Virginia has been relentless and some flowers are looking a bit weary. Mid summer is a great time to plant a few new flowers with color. Try some marigolds, nasturtiums, morning-glory and sunflowers. The birds will love these new additions and in the fall you will love the fact that these lovely colorful blossoms are still “Hanging In.”
Another great addition for July is to add some Sweet Potato Vine and Coleus. They provide endless color and if you take clippings once your plants are established, you will be able to bring some in and place them in a vase with water. They will root in a matter of days and you can then create new plants to enjoy and even share with friends.
Lastly, water only in the early morning, or late evening, but do water daily.
76 years of life. I am not retired. I work. I own my own gardening business. I still earn a living. I am working at one of my passions and one of the special gifts my Lord and Savior has given me. I have several passions. My brain is curious about so many things and I have cultivated my various interests. So blessed am I.
ContessasHome formerly Contessas Garden and Gift, LLC 
