Seams Like a Story

January 27, 2024January 27, 2024

5 Reasons I (still) Blog

a computer with a sign that says "Writer at Work" and a jar of colored pencils

This month marks the third anniversary of my blog, Seams Like a Story! My debut post “Creating a Space to Write and Sew” was published on January 4, 2021. Since then, I’ve published 104 posts (59,201 words) and generated 13,885 views.

Some influencers and social media experts say blogging is dead. You’ll get no traction. No one reads blogs anymore. Go to Tik Tok. That’s where the cool kids hang out, they claim. Yeah, maybe. But here are 5 reasons I still blog.

1. Through my blog I share my writing with others.

The bio on my sidebar reads : I designed this site to feel like a cozy conversation with a friend over a cup of tea or coffee. It’s a place where you can read articles that you can relate to, stories that make you smile, think, or encourage you on your own writing journey. I remind myself of this each time I sit down to compose a post.

2. My Blog is a creative outlet.

Composing, editing, and sharing 104 posts has helped me hone my writing skills in creative ways. Now when I’m out and about, I use my writer’s eye to zero in on things I might have passed by, and find ways to bring these stories to you. Using my own photographs to enhance my posts, I see the world with a photographer’s lens as well. Though sewing isn’t the main focus of my blog, I share snippets of projects that I’m working on. Creativity takes many forms and you, my readers, are a talented bunch.

3. My blog posts generate fertile ground for future writing projects.

Though I like to keep the content of a post concise, many of the ideas can be further developed into stories, magazine articles, or books.

4. Writing my blog helps me discover my audience.

Believe it or not, writing for you through my blog helps me discover my audience and my voice as an author. Each post ends with “Threads of Thought”, a place where I encourage you to respond or think about something. When you leave a comment, when my words reach you in a specific way, when we make a connection, my heart sings and I know I’m on the right track.

5. Marketing

There, I said it. The dirty word. Full disclosure, I began my blog prior to the release of my first book in hopes that I would gain exposure as an author. Blogs travel not only to subscribers, but out into the world on the wings of the SEO (search engine optimization) gods, thus expanding my reach. This is crucial for a self-published author. Pretty soon, friends and family tire of buying, or hearing about my book. To take the pressure off of you, at the end of each post, I add a link to direct new customers to my author’s page.

So my friends, I’m not going to TikToc myself. I’m happy right here, blogging for you, and for myself , for as long as the mood strikes me. Three years! Wow! Happy Anniversary, Seams Like a Story!

Three pink balloons with the title 3 years!

Threads of Thought

How did you discover this blog?

Do you have a favorite post?

Send a birthday wish to Seams Like a Story!

A bright blue book with a border of crayons across the bottom and the title OUt of the Crayon Box: Thoughts on Teaching, Retirement, and Life

Out of the Crayon Box: Thoughts on Teaching, Retirement, and Life is soon to be featured in the 2024 Tucson Festival of Books! Stay tuned for mor details or grab a copy here! http://amazon.com/author/debravandeventer

January 17, 2024January 17, 2024

A Letter From My Future Self

a woman in a green sweater writing on a blank piece of paper. A brown coffee cup is on the table

Several years ago, I delved into a book titled: The Artist’s Way ( a course in discovering and recovering your creative self) by Julia Cameron. One of the exercises was to write a letter from your 80-year-old self to your current self. Interesting. I sat with this idea for a while and here’s what I came up with. Though I wrote this in 2022, and (yikes) I’m closer to eight-zero than I was then, I find it to be still relevant. Here’s a letter from future-me to now-me. Will I take the advice to heart?

Dear Deb,

You retired a few years ago (it’s been six years now) and I know you are trying to figure out what to do with the rest of your life. I get it. You dedicated much of your life to family and your teaching career. You probably feel like now is the time to take life easy, but I urge you to not take this time for granted.

First and foremost, keep yourself in the best physical and mental shape possible- it will pay off as you age. Keep your weight at a healthy level, eat well, get plenty of sleep, exercise, stretch and move daily. Keep up with yearly doctor’s exams and address any health issues that could limit your choices down the road.

Cherish old friends and seek out new ones. Find interesting things to do. Travel as much as you can, visit new places. Make memories with Ed, your children ,grandchildren, and siblings.

Make plans and schedules if you like–I know you will, teacher habits are hard to break–but don’t be a slave to them. Travel light. Be spontaneous. Don’t waste your precious time worrying. Live with joy, Live Your Life.

Love,

Your Future Self

Threads of Thought

This was an interesting exercise. Try it! What would your future self tell you?

(Another exercise was to have your 8-year old self write to your present self. That could be serious or funny, or seriously funny)

Out of the Crayon Box :Thoughts on Teaching, Retirement, and Life is available at: http://www.amazon.com/author/debravandeventer

January 5, 2024January 5, 2024

New Year 2024

Resolved: firmly determined to do something.

balloons and 2024 numerals — Happy New Year 2024

Here they come–resolutions to be better, start fresh, wipe the slate clean. Who doesn’t want to lose a few pounds…eat healthier…finish writing that book (I say this as I’ve turned into a total couch sloth this week and I’m determined to finish the remains of the cookies and candies my family left behind when they left after Christmas)

I get it. As a former teacher, I’m goal oriented. In fact, in the later years of my profession, administrators expected us to post daily leaning goals for students and evaluated us on this. I usually engage in the New Year’s practice of setting personal resolutions, and goals for my writing life as well. But before I dove in this year, a dear friend posted a quote from Donna Ashworth that caused me to pause and rethink. It reads in part:

“I don’t see the need for you to resolve to become a whole new you, when you are already so very much indeed.”

This prompted me to look to a favorite resource where I found this from Jon Kabat-Zinn:

“Maybe the fear is that we are less than we think we are, when the actuality of it is that we are much much more.

Now I’m confused. Should I refrain from making resolutions or goals this year joining many who say “My New Year’s Resolution is to make no resolutions.” I sat with these words swirling around in my brain for several days, and I think I figured it out. For me.

What if I see the new year not as an end of my old self, or a beginning of my new self, but a continuation? Can I look back at all I have experienced, the people who have loved and influenced me, the wisdom I’ve gained, the person I’ve become to get me here, to this day in January 2024, and build on that? Can continue to grow and learn, and embrace this new year, wherever it takes me, knowing that right now, I’m enough–much more than I even realize? Yes! I’m resolved.

Hello 2024, it’s me Deb. Let’s do this!

sunrise over a lake — 2024:A new year dawns.

Threads of Thought

What is something you are proud of yourself for right now?

How can you build on that foundation in 2024?

Have a great year my friends!

Warm up with a good book!

http://amazon.com/author/debravandeventer/

December 21, 2023December 21, 2023

Holiday Travel

A personal reflection.

The tip of an airplane wing flying over a city at night

“Strings of streetlights, even stoplights, blink a bright red and green, as the shoppers rush home with their treasures.” (Silver Bells, my mom’s favorite Christmas song)

I’m flying “home”, back to the Midwest for the Holidays. During the three hour flight, I try to occupy myself with a book, but my mind races to holiday plans– making my list, checking it twice, or truth be told, I’m anxious that I haven’t even started my list , or Christmas shopping, or…sigh…

I glance at my current read, which has many references to Our Town, by Thornton Wilder. In the play, Emily looks down on her former life and remarks:

“It goes so fast. Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? Every, every minute.”

I pause, and look out the oval window at the city lights as the plane prepares to land. It’s late evening and traffic snakes along busy streets like glittering beads on a necklace. People are going home from work, or taking kids to practice, or shopping for the holidays, or picking up a takeout dinner. “Shoppers rush home with their treasures” moving in a blur from one distraction to another with the busyness we call our lives. It goes so fast and I wonder–am I noticing it, my life, or am I simply rushing through?

The plane bounces down with an abrupt deceleration that pushes me forward, then back against my seat. Lights flood the cabin and passengers hop up to collect their luggage (that may have shifted during flight). I join the throng and exit the plane, soon to reconnect with friends and family for holiday celebrations.

My luggage is fine, yet something has shifted, ever so slightly.

On the car ride from the airport to our final destination, I make a silent commitment to “realize life while I’m living it”. To try to be fully present this season, through shopping and gatherings and holiday movies and decorating. The busy days and the quiet times. To really see and love and appreciate my friends and family. Every, every minute.

It’s a precious gift I’m giving myself. A tall order. I’m going to need lots of reminders.

Threads of Thought

a note the says "every, every minute." on a Christmas tree

December 11, 2023December 11, 2023

Farewell Spike

an ending and a beginning

If you’ve been following me for a while you know the story of Spike, the agave that Ed brought home from the high school greenhouse when we lived in Indiana. I documented the tale of this baby agave that outgrew its life as midwestern houseplant and moved with us to Arizona, in my first published story (January 2021 issue of the Desert Leaf magazine) and also included it in my first book, Out of the Crayon Box. At the end of the story I wrote:

“Spike is thriving in his new environment. The warm sunshine and blue skies agree with him. I hope he lives long enough to produce a magnificent flower stalk and dies of natural caused like his great-great grand plant before him.”

Ten years passed and Spike continued to grow, but showed no signs of “stalking”…until last January. It was amazing to watch the progress from a tiny nub in the center of the plant to a giant stalk, often growing several inches a day. Spike developed a following as I posted weekly updates on my Facebook page There was no way for us to measure it exactly, but it’s final height was several stories tall. We waited anxiously for the buds to bloom, but an unusually cold spell last winter froze the growth tips.

In the spring, we brought in professional landscapers to cut the dead stalk down. The main portion of the plant continued to stay green for several months, but by summer we knew it was time. Still, we couldn’t bear to part with this silly agave that had symbolized our move to the Southwest, and launched my career as an author.

By December, Spike’s once glorious leaves were brown and droopy. We had to face the fact that Spike had completed his life cycle. This week we called the landscapers back to remove what was left of our agave. From my studio window, I heard saws buzzing as they cut through the tough outer leaves, carefully avoiding the still-sharp points on the leaf tips. The points that got Spike in trouble as a houseplant and gave him his name were still treacherous. It took three men and several shovels to remove the remaining bulb of the plant. I peeked out the window, but in the end, couldn’t bear to watch. Ed saw them put the remains into the trailer to be taken to compost.

Yet, the cycle of life goes on. As a parting gift, Spike had produced a “pup”, a strong and healthy baby plant. Knowing this little plant’s potential, we moved it to a corner, away from the path. Here it can grow as wild as it wants without fearing I will snip off its points. (Your have to read the story to find out how this once got me in big trouble with Spike…and Ed)

A new beginning. This little thing isn’t named yet, but I know in my heart it will be the centerpiece of our desert garden. And if it takes after its parent plant Spike, the stories are sure to continue.

Cue the Charlie Brown Singers….Lu, lu lu….lu,lu.lu.lu.lu.

Threads of Thought

To help us name our new agave, list suggestions in the comments below!

(Know that to maintain the integrity of this site, all comments are moderated. There will be a slight delay before your reply appears).

Besides the story of Spike, Out of the Crayon Box: Thoughts on Teaching, Retirement and Life is the story of my transition out of teaching and into a new life as a writer.

Get your copy here http://amazon.com/author/debravandeventer