Writing a Blog

It’s actually a lot harder than I thought it would be.

Not that choosing a topic is all that difficult; life is full of stories if you know how to spot them. 

The hard part is starting the story. How in the world to you begin? Quite literally, what are the first words to be used? I struggle with that every time.

My strategy, for the most part, involves just diving in and typing whatever comes to mind. More often than not, I have to go back and edit what I’ve said.

I look for grammatical errors, typos, and duplicate words – that sort of thing. I don’t normally use a thesaurus, relying mainly on my own vocabulary – but once in a while I will check it to see if it comes up with a better word.

Eventually, I have something “good enough” for posting. Not by any means perfect, but good enough.

What are some of your tips for a good story? How do you deal with the opening statement? Do you have any advice for an aspiring writer?

Scary Stuff

I’ve made a few decisions lately that are more than a little bit scary.

The first one is that Bryan and I are going to live together. Now, I have not lived with another person (my brief disastrous stint with a roommate doesn’t really count) for well over 30 years, so this is no small decision – but I think it’s a good one. If anybody can put up with me, it would be him. It remains to be seen whether I can put up with him!

The second one is that he and I are going to build our own house! These plans are a lot more fun since it involves me getting to design our Dream House complete with a Craft Room for me and a Shop/Garage for him.

In order to make these two plans work, we’ve come up with The Plan.

Step One: He has to sell the house he’s currently in.

        This involves a lot of remodeling and fixing up, as it is not in very good shape right now. Tentatively I’m giving him until fall of this year, 2016.

Step Two: He will move in with me in my current house.

        The money that he has been putting in to his house payments will be put instead into a bank account to be used as a down payment on the Dream House. I will continue to make payments on my house as usual with no change for either of us on money going out. A year or so will give us a fairly hefty down payment for the new house.

Step Three: We then start looking for property.

        Okay, I admit it: we’re already looking at property. We want more than 5 acres of wooded property with a creek running though it, preferably out in the valley. We’ve found some really nice plots up Buffalo Mine Road and off of Fishhook, just to name a few.

Step Four: We start building our Dream House

        By this time, we’ll have the plans nailed down (Hahahaha!) and will have an idea as to how it will set on the property. We want it to be as “off the grid” as possible, with solar panels, in-floor heating, the whole works. I’m hoping to be in the house by the by mid 2018, assuming all goes well (which it never does).

Step Five: We figure out the job situation

        I would very much like to quit working entirely or at the very least get a part-time job in Palmer; if I rent out my house in Anchorage that would provide a monthly income for me. Bryan is hoping to be able to work from home as well, with perhaps a drive in to the office once or twice a week.

Step Six: He gets his woodshop up and running to build all the furnishings

        He said he’s always wanted a Wood Shop, so I’m taking him at his word. I’ve got a list (of course I do) of all the bookshelves, cabinetry, tables, dressers, shelving, and whatnot for him to build. We can save quite a bit of money off the price of the house this way, and he gets to make things for me!

So. That’s The Plan… as I said to begin with, it’s scary stuff!