I did more writing than walking today.
However, even on short walks, there are things to see!
(Delicate purple flowers growing out of the drystone wall)
Yum! If I were home, I’d make a little pie.
White lilac (more a tree than a bush), but oh! the scent!
a toy store decked out for last week’s coronation, complete with a photo op golden carriage at the bottom and the royal family at the upper window
I will never, ever, ever get tired of this view!
Today, I’m going to show you the little “British touches” in my cottage that I love and will miss back in Texas: the architecture (crooked beams above the windows and slabs of stone above the fireplace and door), the skeleton key lock and letter box (the “plop” of the village magazine landing on the mat always takes me by surprise), the little egg cups and egg timer, my teapot and breadbox, my fireplace, and British commercials! It’s the little things that I love the most.
I walked to the train station this afternoon. It was 65 and sunny, and I never saw so many people walking around with ice cream cones.
A steam train was scheduled to pass through (but not stop) about 4:00. Here are the train station, the stationmaster’s house, the old water tower and coal house (for use back when steam engines were prevalent), and the Settle signal box, which is now a fascinating museum. Enjoy!
Despite no rain in the forecast for two days, it feels like time to settle in today and do some solid writing. (But yes, I’ll take “walk breaks” today.)
I’ve received a few questions about the cottage I’m staying in for three weeks. This is my third time here, and it feels like home. Here’s a tiny guided tour through The Old Brewhouse on Constitution Hill!
The kitchen, dining area (which is my writing spot), and the living room are on the ground floor. Downstairs is the bedroom and bath and a door out to the private garden and laundry room (watch your head!) Pretend you’re opening the front door and walking in…
Day 3: my walk with Julia…
I met Julia Chapman five years ago, and she’s become a dear writing friend. This morning she took me up into the “bluebell woods” (Wharfe Woods) near the village of Austwick, where she lives. https://www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/be-inspired/what-to-do/the-yorkshire-dales-in-spring/ We saw dozens of lambs, bluebells, wild lavender orchids, yellow cowslips, ivory primroses, wild garlic, and other wildflowers. (It’s absolutely stunning what a well-watered countryside can produce—no offense to Texas.)
From the bluebell woods:
Writers are the same on both sides of the pond, and we talked nonstop all things publishing. It was such a joy to see Julia again. Her books are for sale everywhere, including the beautiful local Limestone Books bookstore.
Stone bridge several hundred years old…
Wild lavender orchid
Primroses
A stile built of stones projecting from the drystone wall
See the little lamb behind me with its mama!
Lots and lots of little bleating lambs…my favorite thing!
Stopped in a pub/café on the way home and found this in the “loo”!
I took three walks today, just to get reacquainted with the village and buy food. (England has the BEST gluten-free bread!) Photos today include a few historic buildings in the village plus the surrounding hills, limestone crags, fields with new lambs, drystone walls zigzagging uphill, and everything so GREEN! Everywhere you turn, something is blooming in flower boxes, hanging baskets, and tiny gardens. Enjoy!
Left: Gallery on the green: this phone booth has been converted into a local art gallery. I don’t know how often it changes, but at this time, it features a book by a writer/historian I know here.
Below: Old street sign pointing to neighboring villages and the way to London! Embedded into a stone wall on what must have been a main thoroughfare several hundred years ago.
I never get tired of this view: the stunning hills (fells, they call them), and the sheep. Lots of new lambs! [The third one is a poor sheep with its head caught in a traffic cone!]
And now…some of the flowers! 
I’m back at my writer’s retreat in the Yorkshire Dales. I plan to spend my days writing, reading, sleeping, and walking (a lot).
I plan to show daily some highlights of my stay in the Yorkshire Dales. A few photos, a few notes…from a small village filled with lovely people.
Confession: I also bought ten books today–so many old bookstores here! I’m going to have a lot to mail home! I’m going to post pictures daily for the three weeks I’ll be here. Thanks for coming “with” me across the pond!
The top picture: the coronation of King Charles was this past weekend, and the village is still decorated. My favorite thing is how ladies have crocheted decorations for the tops of the mail boxes. [That’s a crown on the top.]
The view out my cottage window looking down on my tiny back garden…
Looks like pink snow! It’s a flowering cherry tree and smells heavenly.
They have hedgehog laws too for preservation.
Love their garden and lawn ornaments! The hills are filled with tiny lambs right now.
This is the back side of Falcon Manor. Looks like the manor appropriate for the Lord who used to own most of a village, but it was actually built in 1841 for a Reverend Swale with money from his two grandmothers. See here for the gorgeous front: https://www.visitsettle.co.uk/thefalconmanor.html
Time for bluebells, and they are everywhere!
I’m too old, I’m too tired, I can’t write for hours anymore… But something won’t let me quit writing! Is there a solution?
Through a lot of trial and error, I found the solution for me: the 5-Minute Life. It didn’t just revolutionize my writing. You can also break a bad habit, or start a good habit, or rest when you’re weary—all in 5-Minute slices of your day.
Want to break a habit of overeating at a meal and not stopping when you’ve had enough? After your meal, set your kitchen timer for 5 minutes and do something else. Maybe you’ll still eat more when the timer dings, but many times you won’t. The craving actually disappears in about 90 seconds, according to “habit experts.”
Want to start a new habit? Maybe lift weights, floss your teeth, write on your work-in-progress daily? Set your kitchen timer for 5 minutes, and when it dings, you can quit! Or, if you feel like going longer, you can and often will. (Getting started is usually more than half the battle, and you conquered that. Staying in motion is immeasurably easier.)
What about weariness or those pesky aches and pains? When you realize that your body is protesting, stop and set your timer for 5 minutes. Close your eyes and do deep breathing. Listen to uplifting music, something that soothes your soul. Wander around your back yard and see what’s blooming. You’ll be amazed how much 5 minutes can refresh you. (Just don’t waste it on your phone, email or social media. You’ll feel worse instead.)
“It doesn’t make sense to continue wanting something if you’re not willing to do what it takes to get it. If you don’t want to live the lifestyle, then release yourself from the desire. To crave the result but not the process, is to guarantee disappointment.” ~~James Clear, author of Atomic Habits
WELL, YES . . . AND NO.
“To crave the result [the finished manuscript] but not the process [your writing habits, or eating habits, or sleeping habits, etc.] is to guarantee disappointment.”
I had a suspicion that something was wrong with my process. After floundering, I would have wonderful energetic re-starts, but the older I got, the amount of time I could stick to my writing schedule grew smaller. No matter how you take care of your health, age happens (if you’re lucky) and energy declines a bit each year.
I was sick and tired of giving up, getting depressed over NOT writing, then reading motivational books, praying hard, making check charts for the closet door to keep track of my work hours…and after a week or so, quitting again.
When younger, I could keep a rigorous writing schedule while teaching and raising kids, but not now at 71. I wanted to live the process and love it, but I found myself no longer able. [And it still bugs me to admit this.] Did that mean I had to quit writing books? It was beginning to seem so.
What if I could invent a writing process that I COULD fall in love with all over again? When I started writing and publishing in 1983, I had to work my writing around a newborn, a toddler, and a newly adopted boy from Korea who spoke no English. But I found a writing process (writing in bits and pieces) that worked for me then, so I launched my career (while we added yet another baby.) Many of those experiences became my two writing books, Writer’s First Aid and More Writer’s First Aid.
. . . the more they stay the same.
I’m no longer scrambling for bits of time in the same way. But getting started writing when not feeling well or when busy with volunteer and grandchildren activities still takes some grit. However, writing or marketing for five minutes is doable for anyone.
Yes, more than half the time, my 5-minute chunks of writing or marketing stretched into 30-45 minutes. Even when it didn’t, though, I was astounded by how much I could do in 5 minutes–just like I had trained myself to do during the baby years. I started giving myself high fives for every bit I wrote. Silly maybe, but it worked!
I stop for different reasons now, of course. It’s not because a toddler fell and cut her lip or a baby needs changing. It is more often the aches in my wrists [shattered left wrist in 2017 and broken right hand in 2019] that crawl up my arms. But while stopping is different, starting is remarkably similar.
Give it a shot and see! Live the 5-Minute Writing Life!
Lately, I’ve been short on energy, even when I had enough time to write.
Like most “modern” writers, I take short (unproductive, but frequent) breaks to check email or social media posts.
In a word, I multitask.
Multitasking: the Energy Drain
Yes, I’d heard that multitasking was bad, but I figured I must be the exception to that rule. (I mean, really, haven’t all working moms had to multitask with expertise just to survive?)
Then I saw these statistics in a Flourish Writers presentation! Take a look…
Focusing on one thing at a time = 100% of your productive time and energy.
Juggling two tasks at a time = 40% of your productive time and energy to each task. 20% is lost in task switching.
Juggling three tasks at a time = only 20% of your productive time and energy goes to each task, while 40% is lost in task switching.
I routinely lose 40 PERCENT of my available writing energy every time I sit down to write! It was a no-brainer as to why I was behind on my goals. A 40% increase in time and energy during every writing session would move me AHEAD of my goals (like in the “good old days” before the Internet when I had my first books published.)
Time to take action! I deleted social media apps on the phone, powered up my Pomodoro app for focused writing periods, turned on my white noise machine, and got in the writing zone—and STAYED there!
If you have experienced betrayal as an adult, or abuse as a child, trust is a big, scary deal. You are a rare person if, in today’s world, you don’t have trust issues.
I very, very rarely write a book recommendation after only reading an Introduction and the first chapter, but Dr. Henry Cloud’s newest book (to be released the end of March) is one such book.
It’s called TRUST: Knowing When to Give It, When to Withhold It, How to Earn It, and How to Fix It When It Gets Broken.
Few authors’ books have been as life-changing for me as Henry Cloud’s books, starting in the early 90s with the Boundaries books, and now his podcasts and classes on Boundaries.me. He writes on topics close to my heart (and millions of other people’s). If you pre-order Trust, you will receive two great bonuses: the introduction and first chapter of the new book, plus an excellent PDF download to help you apply the first chapter right away.
If you’ve ever been deeply hurt in a relationship, you may simply have a life-long issue with trusting even trustworthy people. If so, the first chapter and study workbook alone will help considerably! (Working through the exercises in the downloaded workbook has already helped me with a troublesome issue!)
Do you want to build solid, healthy relationships because you can assess people effectively before you trust them? Do you want to know why and how trust is broken? Can you learn to repair valuable relationships that fall prey to misunderstanding or miscommunication? Do you want every aspect of your life and relationships to work? Then order Henry Cloud’s new book ASAP.
[And if you’re a writer who has boundary problems with the people in your life, grab a free copy now of my e-book, Boundaries for Writers.]