Ang Shaef Writes

Do you ever quit reading books you just can't get into or don't like? I'm currently 100 pages into a book and although the writing is well done and I'm interested in the setting, I simply don't care what happens next.  Usually I keep plodding through to make sure I don't miss out if it gets better. I can think of two specific books that I quit because the writing was trash. (I'm thinking of you, self-published romance author hawking your book in Costco!) And for some reason I was never excited to pick up  Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet or whatever that book was called. Even though everyone else raved about it. Maybe I finished it, I don't remember.  I just remember wishing I was reading something I actually liked  and what terrible feeling it was to have to read something you don't want to.  Hold on, I'm going to check my Goodreads... Nope, never finished it.  Well good for me. That's exactly what I'm going to do with the book ...

Last year I participated in Albert Flynn DeSilver's Friday writing workshops. I wanted the accountability of a weekly live writing class.  I loved the positive, strong sense of community. At first I hesitated to join because I worried the prompts would take me away from moving forward on my own book. But DeSilver recommended I write from the POV of my characters and I always ended up with great stuff.  A couple times I even shared what I wrote.  I stopped the class when summer came because I wanted more flexibility while Nick was out of school. But they were a great source of inspiration and motivation. For more information, click here .  

Inspiration for revisions and ensuring chapters end on cliff hangers! Shout out to my mom who thought these first attempts by her five-year-old  were worth saving. #oldestchild And on a side note,  who decided that five-year-old Angela needed to go from this cute haircut... ...to this? That's a story I'd turn the pages for.

This morning I biked past my old house on a route I haven't rode in five years.  I saw two familiar ladies -- for 13 years we passed each other while exercising, but I don't even know their names. I like to think that when they saw me smile they recognized e too and also wished we could stop and catch up because it was good to see a familiar face. Even though I know nothing about them, I've missed them. It was good to see you old friends.

For the nycmidnight challenge this month, we had 24 hours to write a 100-word microfiction story. At midnight, Eastern time, all participants were assigned a genre, an action that must take place in the story and a word that must be included the story. You could have one of a dozen genres --  horror, suspense, sci-fi, historical fiction, rom-com, action, comedy etc. And there were a variety of actions and words within these genres.  So of the 6000 people who entered, only 50 people had the exact same prompt. See how that works? My assigned genre was horror and I wrote a 100-word microfiction in just a few minutes. Write a terrifying scenario? My imagination has been prepping for this my whole life. Genre: Horror Action: Tracing something Word: lite In a couple of months, judges will notify finalists of each category to move on to a 2nd round where they'll be assigned another genre, action and word and have another 24 hours for a new story. A winner is chosen from that round. O...

It's not always easy, but so, so important in forging  a strong relationship with your grownish children.  Trust they'll use good judgment. Making decisions is how they learn.  We might not agree with all the choices they make, but we might be wrong. I love the point Essy's father makes to her that the world is changing and our children's future is different than what we looked forward to at their age.  They need to adapt in ways that may feel scary to us. But in the wise words of both my father-in-law and my own dad,  "Put your arms around them and love them."