Writers are important but so are readers. Readers and writers need each other. Writers provide their audiences with news, valuable information as well as entertainment.
I would continue doing what I do now even if money wasn’t a concern. I work as a private caregiver for the elderly. I love what I do. Most older people are so very grateful for whatever help they receive. They have some great stories to tell also. Times were different for them. Some of them lived through wars and the depression. One of my ladies would tell me stories about traveling on the railroad to go shopping or the movies. She also had some war time and love stories she shared with me. Care giving is more than a job. It’s a wonderful experience filled with joy and love.
My second choice would be to make a home for foster children. The stories you hear about foster children neglect and abuse are horrifying. We have all heard some of the terrible stories of children who were raised by bad and abusive foster parents. I have a friend and a sister-in-law who were foster children. Actually, both of them were better off in a foster home. A woman I know has been taking in foster children for years now. She has done such a marvelous job and made a difference in a lot of children’s lives. Some of her foster children are now grown up and in college. She and her husband adopted several of the children they took in.
My third choice would be to do the other job I am now doing. I would be a fully retired, do nothing but what I want to do. I would spend my days writing. When I wasn’t writing I would be napping, watching movies, cooking good food, reading good books. I would generally do just whatever I wanted. The totally ideal job. I would be the best boss I ever had.
Daily writing prompt
List three jobs you’d consider pursuing if money didn’t matter.
Smilie027 Positive thinking means having a positive approach towards anything and everything.
The best piece of advice I ever received came from my sister. She suggested that maybe I should stop being so negative about everything. And I was seeing the bad in most everything. I don’t really remember why that was. But for some reason, I wasn’t seeing and appreciating the things I did have.
Having a positive attitude is an upbeat way of looking at life in general. It helps you look for solutions and answers to problems. A positive attitude is believing in your own value as a person. If you have a positive attitude, you see failure as lessons for doing better in the future. You become better equipped to adjust to new or difficult situations.
There was a time when I was very good friends with a woman I worked with. We did a lot of things together. But there came a time when we went our separate ways. Later, I started to notice how she had such a negative attitude towards our co-workers. Actually, that’s what caused the problem between the two of us. I hadn’t paid a lot of attention to her attitude when we were friends. But later, I saw how she treated other employees and I realized how her attitude had rubbed off on me. I began to change my own attitude at work and learned that friendships can affect our attitudes and beliefs. It is important who we choose as our closest friends.
After my sister gave me that advice, I did try harder to be less negative. I looked at things a little differently. And eventually, I became more positive about a lot of things. I also started to notice other people who had a negative attitude. People didn’t care much to be around them. I noticed the same attitude in my son recently. I passed on my sister’s advice and other words of great wisdom.
Daily writing prompt
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Knowing I will be doing something new the next day can fill me with energy. Sometimes just thinking of ideas for writing can excite me. Those new ideas often give me too much energy that keeps me awake at night. Where do those ideas for writing go when I wake up the next day? Do others have this problem? Or is it just me?
I have several hobbies. When I start a new project or am about to start one, it fills me with energy. I can get up in the morning feeling like the energizer bunny. Learning new things always excites and energizes me. Lately, writing has taken hold of me and I get excited and energized every morning. Until about noon time.
Weather can certainly affect my energizer levels. If its a bright sunny day I am full of energy. But if its a very hot day, all energy seems to desert me. Rainy days are depressing and makes nap time a necessity. Sunny but cool days with a breeze are the absolute best. On those days I even am capable of finding the energy to clean the house. Fall and spring weather are the best times for getting things done.
Travel Excites Me
I don’t often get the opportunity to travel to new places. When I do get an opportunity I am full of energy. I really enjoy seeing new places and doing different things. This summer I went out fishing at the beach for the first time and that was both exciting and interesting. I hope to do more traveling in the future.
Health
Taking care of my health helps to sustain energy levels. Eating good healthy food, drinking lots of water, getting enough sleep and exercise all contribute to energy levels. I try to do all of those things. Going out for walks or to the gym helps to increase my energy. Getting enough of good restful sleep is a problem at times. Eating fruits, vegetables and drinking healthy juices all help to sustain a healthy diet and energy. I did try one of those expensive, supposed to be healthy drinks recently. It was so terrible it went in the garbage. So I won’t be drinking any of those HEALTHY drinks in the future. The picture below is akin to the sign where I bought that awful healthy drink. But its not where I bought it and it cost a lot more.
Everyone has different ways of increasing their energy. But it’s a proven fact that living healthy boosts energy. Eating a healthy diet helps as well. Getting enough sleep and exercising are also beneficial. And for your health, give up those nasty cigarettes.
Where to start?? There are so many topics I would like to study and have more information about. I would like to have more knowledge and skills about history and writing. Health, money, and laws are also of interest to me.
I have always wanted to learn to make soap, candles, and rugs. I would also like to learn weaving. How’s that for a list of things I will probably never have the time left on earth to learn. I also want to add this. There are a lot of good books which I will never have the time to read.
Writing is something I would like to have a better knowledge of. I want to take some courses in writing. One thing my writing needs improvement on is dialogue. For me, history goes with writing. Writers are recorders of history so I would wish for better knowledge of history.
Health, Money, and Laws
These are all topics that most of us should have more knowledge of. They affect all of our lives. The better I understand health and the things that affect my health, the better my body and life will be. As I get older I wish for a better understanding of how my body works. I need to know and understand about medicines and medical tests and procedures. Health also has the elements of history and writing. Here again, it is writers who document health reports and studies.
Doesn’t everyone wish for more knowledge about money? How to earn money, spend it wisely and invest it to make more money. I know I have always wanted to learn more about those topics.
Another topic I have often wished I was better informed on the topic of laws. I have sometimes encountered situations in which I would have like to be more informed about laws. Lawyers are very expensive and thankfully I have not had much need for lawyers.
Someday, I am going to find the time to learn how to make candles, rugs and weaving. I also want to take a course in pottery at some point. These are all topics I hope to explore some day. I would also like to learn to do some real weaving. These are my topics I would like to learn more about. Dreams for the future.
Daily writing prompt
Which topics would you like to be more informed about?
I wish I had learned that all people have value. Even those like me who think they don’t have value.
I was raised in a large but poor family. One very important lesson that I have learned in life is that I might have come from a poor family. However, I had a much better life than younger generations who are given everything they want. We had a stay at home mother and a hard working father. They both loved us very much. Today, I still have five living and loving siblings. I have often said that our family very closely resembled the Television show (The Waltons). I loved that show.
There is another story I would like to share. Dolly Parton had a big hit song with her song (Coat Of Many Colors) that her mother made for her. I can also relate to that. My mother was a good seamstress and she made me a coat. Now my coat was nice. My mother got a lot of compliments on that coat. It was all blue denim but she made it with love for me.
Being poor did have bad influences on me. I didn’t even know I was poor until another girl in third grade brought me an Easter egg. She said that my family was poor and I probably didn’t get anything for Easter. She was right. It was then that I started to notice that my clothes weren’t as nice as the other girls. My hair was cut by my mother and wasn’t stylish. I came to think I wasn’t as good as other children.
My self esteem suffered. I started to stay in the background trying not to be noticed. This pattern of behavior followed me throughout my school years. I decided against college because I felt we couldn’t afford the cost. I had started working in my junior year and I enjoyed having money of my own. I enjoyed being capable of affording some new store bought clothing. Years later, I did return to college. I wish I had done that when I was young enough to have enjoyed the experience.
But I didn’t always appreciate my large family. I hated that we were poor. But we survived and made better lives for ourselves and our children. But looking back, the one lesson I wish I had know was how terribly valuable everyone, including myself, is. The second lesson I wish I had know, was how valuable family is.
Daily writing prompt
Share a lesson you wish you had learned earlier in life.
This is a true story. The story of the dead woman in the bathroom. Two of the ladies who were there told it to me. Years later all but one of these women have passed on.
In our small town, just about everyone knew each other. They worked together, went to church together, or had some social events they were involved in. This led to close friendships for these four women, Gertie, Maggie, Ginny, and Martha. All of them were retired. Their friendship included afternoons of getting together and playing cards. All of them had been married, raised children, and assisted each other when they lost their husbands.
Martha was a retired elementary school teacher, greatly loved by her former students and the community. She was in her seventies but continued to be very active and healthy. She still continued donating a lot of her time to church activities and helped any children with schoolwork difficulties. She had recently started a part-time job in a small restaurant. This helped fill her time after her husband’s death.
Maggie had worked as a secretary and clerk until retirement. She was the one who was full of laughs and told some off color jokes in private. She usually kept the card group laughing at some of her stories she liked to tell. She also was still active in church and community activities.
Ginny was the quiet serious one. But like Maggie she had a few good stories of her own. She had worked for the local doctor for years and still occasionally filled in when he needed her. She was the oldest member of the ladies card club, but still stayed busy with various activities.
Gertrude (Gertie) was a combination of all the ladies. She had been quite popular with the gentlemen in her youth and she had some wild tales of her own. Gertie had been a nurse at the nearby hospital. After retiring she had worked as a private nurse in some of the wealthiest homes in the surrounding area. When anyone really needed her help she would still step up and help.
One day in early September the four friends gathered in Martha’s spacious dining room. The house smelled of freshly baked bread, and cookies. Moreover, each of the other three women had brought food and snacks for lunch. The smells gave the promise of an awesome lunch. Good food was as important as friendship, gossip and card games.
The four women quickly settled in the dining room. They began playing cards. They laughed and caught up with the latest news and gossip around town. There wasn’t much news or gossip and the conversation lagged as each lady focused on winning the card game. After the first game had been completed they took a break.
Maggie announced that she was going to use the bathroom and disappeared down the hallway. The other three ladies continued chatting and shuffling the cards, getting ready for the next game. Ten minutes passed and still Maggie hadn’t returned from the bathroom. Gertie, Martha, and Ginny looked at each other and wondered what was keeping Maggie so long in the bathroom. They patiently waited another five minutes, then Martha was sent to check on Maggie. The others were getting anxious to start the new game.
Suddenly Martha came rushing back into the dining room. She said there was something wrong with Maggie in the bathroom. Maggie wasn’t responding when Martha attempted to wake her. Maggie was just sitting on the toilet with her head resting on her chest. They needed to call the doctor right away. Gertie, the nurse, promptly went to check on Maggie while Martha made the call to the doctor.
Several minutes later Gertie returned. The other three women were stunned and unbelieving as Gertie said that Maggie had died in the bathroom. Martha and Ginny were confused and frightened by the sudden death of their good friend, Maggie. They clung to each other, cried and grappled to understand how this happened. It just wasn’t possible they said, Maggie had just been sitting at the table with them. They found this too hard to be believable.
The doctor’s office was close by and he arrived within a short time. After a quick examination he confirmed Gertie”s verdict that Maggie was indeed dead. She had suffered a massive heart attack. The funeral director was called, who also lived a short distance away. He arrived and transported Maggie to the funeral home, leaving behind three very shocked and shaken card players.
This story sounds like it could have been an episode of (The Golden Girls). I assure you this is a true story.
Maggie’s death ended the card game that day for the women. It would be some time before any of them recovered from the shocking death of their friend. As they say, life does go on. In the small town where the four friends lived, life went on. However, not one of them ever forgot the day that a friend died in one of their bathrooms.
My ideal home would be very much like my home that I presently own. I love my home. It’s a large four bedroom home with a wrap around porch. And I really enjoy that porch. In the mornings, I can spend time reading on the shaded side. In the evenings, I can move to the other side to enjoy the shade. It’s old, over one hundred years old now. I love older homes. They have character that new homes lack. They bring back memories of growing up in a home akin to the one I now live in.
Of course, my home isn’t perfect and being an older home needs some repairs. But it is large and spacious and has everything I need. Still, I would make some changes to make it ideal.
Changes I would make
I would like to have a bathroom downstairs and move my laundry upstairs from the basement. I know there will come a time when stairs become a problem. My upstairs needs painting and some updating, ceiling fans would be nice. I would also add bigger mini splits for air conditioning upstairs. I would like to update the bathroom upstairs. But too many modern changes would lose the old house charm.
The Kitchen
They say the kitchen is the heart of the home and I believe that to be true. The kitchen is large but can use some modifications. A large modern kitchen mixed with an open design into the dining area would be nice. Opening the wall into the dining room, a counter looking into the dining area would work. When I first moved into this home, the kitchen was nothing but a huge room with a single sink. Thanks to my sons, we have modernized the kitchen. I now have two sinks, counter space, and a dishwasher. Opening up that wall into the dining area would be nice addition.
Family in the kitchen praying before eating
Family
An ideal home would include family gatherings like the gatherings which I grew up with. The family would get together regularly to enjoy meals, cookouts and family fun. The children would be out in the evening catching fireflies. The adults would enjoy sitting on the porch with some wine or coffee sharing news and stories of the past. This is what my parents did when I was a child. Someday, hopefully my home will truly be idealistic.
I have usually been writing articles dealing with women and history but I am going to switch gears here and go with some of my other articles that I have written a few years ago. Some deal with money management, some deal with health and diets. Perhaps some of you might suggest some other topics I could add.
Just A Writer
Just so everyone knows I am not a person with a degree in much of anything although I do have a degree in accounting and a diploma in computer programming from years ago. So I am an expert in nothing that I write about. Most of my articles are from my own experience and should not be taken as if it’s the absolute truth. Articles on money management are from my own experience in raising a family through rough times such as the last four years of inflation and high gas prices. Believe me when I say, it takes careful management of your money to help you survive through hard times.
Hope You Enjoy
Hope you enjoy the articles and send me some feedback. Perhaps some of you might suggest some other topics I could add. And remember I am just the writer.
Nellie Bly was born in 1864 in Cochran Mills, Pennsylvania at a time when women were expected to stay at home, have babies, take care of their men and be happy doing that. Women had very few rights at that time, little education and they rarely had good career choices. Nellie was born into a large family of fifteen. Her father had ten children before he married Nellie’s mother, who then gave birth to another five children. Nellie was named Elizabeth Jane but was also nicknamed “Pink or Pinky”. Later when she began her career as a newspaper woman, she changed her name to Nellie Bly as her pen name. Nellie’s father died when she was six years old and the family fell into hard times. Her mother remarried but it is said that her new husband was abusive. Sometime later her mother divorced the stepfather leaving Nellie and her mother to support the family by operating a boarding house just outside of Pittsburgh.
Nellie had wanted to become a teacher and briefly attended the Indiana Normal School, now know as Indiana University of Pennsylvania. However, the family’s finances forced her to give up her teaching dream. It was at this time that Nellie left school to help her mother run the boarding house but she still had dreams of what she wanted to do with her own life.
Nellie Begins Her Career as a Reporter
Nellie began her career as a writer and reporter in 1885 at the Pittsburgh Dispatch newspaper. She had written an angry letter to the paper’s editor in response to an article that she felt disrespected young girls and women. After reading Nellie’s letter, the editor offered her a job working for the paper. Very few women were ever offered opportunities like this and Nellie quickly accepted the offer. She was generally given assignments that were considered of interest to women. Here Nellie could give a voice to issues that concerned women such as poor women who had to support themselves as well as the working conditions these women found themselves in. Of course, some of her articles didn’t sit well with the business class and this was the reason she was reassigned to writing just for the women’s page such as society news. Nellie soon grew tired of these boring assignments and wanted more of a challenge. She found her challenge by going to Mexico as a foreign correspondent for the paper where she spent several months writing about the lives and conditions she found in Mexico. After a few months however, she drew the displeasure of the Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz when she wrote articles critical of his leadership and government. Nellie was forced to leave the country but later she published her book “Six Months in Mexico”. It seems Nellie’s honesty as a reporter was not always appreciated and tended to get her into trouble.
Nellie Exposes the Insane Asylum Blackwell Island
In 1887 Nellie decided it was time to move to New York where she took a job at The New York World paper as a reporter. Her first real assignment with the New York World paper was to go undercover as an insane girl to the Blackwell Island mental institute. How many of us would willing have ourselves committed to an insane asylum? Not very many of us I am sure. Here she spent ten days living locked up with insane women. She saw and experienced everything that a truly insane person would experience. As a result, she wrote a series of articles exposing the mental health facility and she was able to bring about awareness for the mentally insane and instigate an investigation into Blackwell Island. This brought about much needed reforms for mental health institutions. Her story of her time in the mad house later became the movie, “Ten Days in a Mad House”. It was an awesome movie but I believe it was rather dramatized as they tend to do with movies.
Some of the reforms that were brought about by Nellie’s daring venture into Blackwell Island institute for the mentally insane included:
Better food for the patients
Better health care
Warmer clothing and more blankets
More oversight into the doctors and nurses treatment of the patients
Warm baths instead of icy cold baths
Cleaner clothing, towels and personal care items
Blackwell Island for the Mentally Insane Asylum
The Blackwell Mental Institute for the insane where Nellie Byl spent confined for ten days
Nellie Travels the World in Seventy Two Days
Nellie also had the opportunity to travel around the world to beat the previous fictional world record of eighty days. When Nellie brought up the idea of beating the old record her editor told her it wasn’t a job for a female so Nellie challenged him to send both her and a man at the same time. Her editor gave her the assignment. She left Hoboken, New Jersey on Nov 14th, 1889 by ship, traveling to London. From London she took trains to Paris and throughout Europe. From there she traveled to Egypt then on to the Suez Canal then headed towards Middle Eastern countries. From there, she next journeyed through Asian countries and into Japan. From Japan she headed home to San Francisco, Ca. Her journey consisted mostly of travel by trains and ocean liners but there are also reports of various other means of transportation such as horses and Asia rickshaws. Nellie completed her journey in record time with a total of twenty one seven hundred and 40 miles in seventy days, six hours and eleven minutes. I am not sure Nellie was aware at the time she began her journey that the Cosmopolitan magazine was also sending another female reporter, Elizabeth Bisland, on the same mission.
During those seventy two days as Nellie traveled the world, the editor of The New York World used her trip to drive up circulation of the newspaper. Nellie would send dispatches to the paper on where she was every day. The newspaper sponsored a contest offering a prize of a trip to the person who made the most accurate guess as to how long her trip would take.
Upon her return arrival in San Francisco on Jan 25th 1890 Nellie was greeted with crowds of admirers and was given a special train to make her trip back to New York. When she arrived in New York she was honored with parades, brass bands and fireworks to celebrate her victory and safe return. She later wrote her book titled “Around the World in Seventy Two Days”.
Nellie’s Many Accomplishments
Nellie Bly was certainly a woman ahead of her time. In a time when women were looked on as nothing more than a wife, mother, housekeeper and laundress, she blazed a path of her own. In 1895 Nellie married Robert Livingston a man quite a bit older than her. After his death, Nellie wrote numerous articles covering the women’s suffrage movement. Her words and her stories were a powerful tool for women everywhere. Nellie also covered the First World War reporting from the Eastern front lines. Nellie received numerous awards for her work throughout her lifetime and she certainly left her mark on the journalist world. In 1998 Nellie Bly was indicted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
Nellie Bly was a leader whose work influenced women’s lives in many ways. Her early work exposed factories and influenced changes in safety. She became a role model for young women who dreamed of becoming something more than a wife and mother.
Some days it seems like ideas for writing just flow through your fingers and onto paper. But then along comes the dark days when nothing you write seems to be right and there seems to be no new ideas. Writer’s block is seen as a condition where creativity is blocked, frustration and irritation tends to set in. Writer’s block occurs when the writer wants to write but can’t seem to find the right ideas and words. Some writers suffer from writer’s block after having a story or book rejected or criticized. I have read that even well known authors suffer from writer’s block at times. What can a writer do to help get back on track and beat writer’s block? I know from experience that getting rejected or not being able to make money by writing that many of us including myself, tend to get discouraged and put our writing on the back burner to pursue other avenues. Certainly not the right thing to do, but it happens. So how do we get back on track and beat writer’s block?
Stories Are Out There Waiting for Us to Write
You have probably already heard the great advice, that says you should write about what you know. This may be very true, but writer’s generally write about just about anything. Whatever their passion is they will write about it. Some writers write books while others are content to write short stories, poetry or articles. What is your passion? Write about that.
Romance: My favorite and a big seller
Family
Your own personal stories
Science Fiction if you have a great imagination
Social Issues: Writing about something you feel strongly about can change our world
Sports are a big part of our lives and so much to write about
Politics are exciting to write about and can influence other people’s opinions
News is always happening around us every day. In our own communities and around the world
Science and history: I personally love history and always have so this is my niche. Science not so much for me.
News articles about current events
Stories are everywhere just waiting for the right writer to put the words down on paper. That writer could be you.
Romantic Stories Ideas
Love stories are very popular. Who doesn’t love a good love story with a happy ending or maybe a not so happy ending because not all love stories have happy endings.
Love stories are all around us. Ask some older couples who have been married a long time how they met and they will be happy to give you a great story
Or how about a man or a woman who travels back in time torn between two loves
Another great story idea is two people in love with each other but live miles apart but can’t seem to find a solution to be together
How about a story on celebrities couples who have survived a long turbulent relationship
Tell your own love story good or bad
History is Full of Great Stories
Write fiction stories based on historical events and people
Write nonfiction on real characters and events
Write your family history. Did a family member serve in one of the wars? I just recently started searching my family history and found several interesting relatives that with some imagination should make for interesting stories
Veterans are a great source of information and stories of their experiences serving our country
I often research old newspapers for some ideas about people and events that may make interesting fiction. Just be sure to change names and other identifying personal facts unless you have the written permission of the parties involved.
Ideas Right in Your Own Backyard
Gather some odd or old items like old pictures, jewelry, clothing, games or old letters and create a story combing all those items.
Look out your window to see what the neighbors are doing (be nosy)
Take a walk through a park and watch people and make up stories about how those people are related and what they are doing. What’s the story of the older couple sitting on the park bench? Go talk to them.
Has someone in your life inspired you to become a writer? Write about who that was and how they influenced your writing.
Talk with some disabled people and write about how their disability affects their lives and their family’s lives. Maybe volunteer to help someone who is disabled.
Invite the neighbors for a cookout and just sit back and listen to some of the stories which you will hear.
Imagine that you have inherited an old house that is filled with old documents and personal papers.
Imagine that you find something that affects your life. Or maybe you find old stocks and bonds that are worth a fortune. What will you do with all that money
Your Own Personal Life
While I feel that my life has been way too boring to write much about there have been some tough times and decisions, I have had to make that I am currently writing about. For example, years ago I wrote an article about going through a divorce and how it affected me and how I worried about how my children were going to affected by the divorce. I just now while writing this have come up with a brainstorm. Now years later, I am going to write about just how it did affect my three sons and their lives.
These are just a few ideas and tips to break the writer’s block we all experience at times. But what’s really important is that we get started and don’t stop writing. And the most important advice is to never give up, never quit writing.
What Works for Me
have recently found some new ways to get creative. First, I joined some writing groups on Facebook and found some new ideas.
One thing I do is look for some ordinary pictures such as a boat washed up on the beach. Then I start describing the area around the boat. Some people are standing in the background, so I make up names and personalities for them. I image these people coming out for a family holiday out on the boat and picnicking on the beach. After a while my story starts to develop. Who are these people, how are they related, what are they doing at the beach? Are they a family or just a group of friends.
Another thing I am doing is to read the obituaries of any newspaper and make a story of that person’s life. I don’t use the names of course. But I can tell a story by their age, marriage or marriages, children, grandchildren. If they were in a branch of the service, or what organizations they belonged to such as churches, or if they were a teacher. Again, a story begins to develop as you write. In other words, I model my characters after these people.
I also love watching movies and documentaries which don’t always answer my questions so I begin doing research on my own and the next thing I know a story evolves. I change the names and make it a work of fiction.
These are a few of my ways of beating writers block and they work for me. I hope they may help others to do the same.
Best Tips to Beat Writing Block
Have fun and experiment with new things and ideas
Keep learning and researching.
Go exploring in your local area or travel if you can afford to do that.
Read anything and everything.
Research through old newspapers (Library of Congress) is a great source.
Local newspaper may also provide some inspiration.
Get started writing every day and new ideas will start to form.
Schedule writing time just like a regular job. Even just sitting down and writing whatever comes to mind. Write those ideas down for future references.
Carry a small notebook with you and jot down things you observe that may make a good story or article later.
Write about anything that interests you. Don’t limit yourself. Write about times you were happy or had a terrible experience or a life changing experience.
Putting it All Together
In conclusion, most every writer experience writer’s block from time to time. I know I do. I also know that we must all hold ourselves responsible and keep writing even when it’s difficult. Writing is not always easy, but we must not give into the temptation to just throw in the towel. If writing were easy everyone would be doing it. If writing is your passion, then you will keep those fingers flowing over the keyboard and the words filling the pages.
History Lovers Corner 