Someone once said the first 50 years are for learning and the next 50 years are for living. Well, I hope I have learned everything I need because I am on to the living part of my life and I feel inspired.
Retirement came quickly for me – and yet it didn’t. I, like everyone else, struggled and saved and talked about retirement for years. And then when it came, it was in a hurry. This spring I will have been retired for a year and I’m still getting used to it. I listened to the weather last night before bed and thought about the work-week. No, I told myself, you don’t have to go to work this week, no matter the weather. I still have trouble with that concept. I feel like a slacker sometimes. But by now I should have learned all I need to know to live.
And live I will. I am inspired, and I have plans for spring. I have book signings, festivals, workshops, and a myriad of events on the horizon. Spring is conference season for authors; and with conferences, come contests. I’ve been working on several things for contests. I took a 5000-word humorous piece and cut it to 2000 words! Whew! I hope the story is still there. I lost a lot of scenes, and a few characters. But there are limits to contest entries and you must adhere to them.
Conferences and contests are a labor of love. I’ve learned how to do it, now I will live with the results. I am grateful for the opportunity to rub shoulders with other writers and their craft. I network and meet people and it seems the brilliance of their craft rubs off on me. At least the inspiration rubs off. I capture their tiny spark and cultivate it.
Learning to capture inspiration wherever you find it is a great way to live – for the next 50 years or however long I have.
How do you capture inspiration?
Every year as I begin a new series of blogs I look for a theme. 2016 will be the year I attempt to cultivate gratitude. I, like a lot of people, have a lot to be grateful for. In the December 2016 issue of Better Homes & Gardens, Juno DeMelo’s article 10 Micro Resolutions says it best. And of the ten resolutions, the best was saved for last. The author suggested that instead of just saying, I will be more positive, count your complaints. Fewer complaints will help me cultivate more gratitude.
Tonight 1/18/16 at 5:00 CST. S. Evan Townsend, science fiction author, and Speculative Fiction Cantina will be conducting an interview with me discussing my book The Apocalypse Sucks. It will be available at 
I am so pleased to say that I am involved in this venture with 62 uber talented writers and artists. I have a short story along side some of the best. Airship 27 works exceedingly well with writers and artists and this anthology is a perfect example of the type of publishers they are. Check out the new benefit book and you will find 62 original short stories (mine is one of them) with original art (no, I’m not an artist) attached to each. Enjoy!
Chantol Aspinall is a young blogger/poet/writer from Jamaica trying to make a splash in the literary world for herself and others. Exotic, huh? I mean “Jamaica, no problem, mon.” I was in Jamaica once when I was young and it was a fabulous place with fabulous people. We snorkeled and shopped in the market buying things we did not need but we got into the laid back spirit of Jamaica. There was a little rum involved.
Yesterday I spent the day with my books and good friends. Never a bad combination, this day was better than most. I spent the morning with fellow author, Mary McIntyre Coley, teaching a workshop on Hint Fiction to a group at the Public Library of Enid and Garfield County. We had a room full of participants eager to try their hand at tiny stories.
Short fiction is becoming a passion for writers. It is an opportunity to see what you can say in as few words as possible. Unlike the six word memoirs of Hemmingway, (For Sale: baby shoes, never worn), or flash fiction which normally allows 500 words in which to tell a story, Hint Fiction allows the author 25 words to give a hint to the reader of fiction yet to come.
Short fiction is becoming a passion for writers. It is an opportunity to see what you can say in as few words as possible. Unlike the six word memoirs of Hemmingway, (For Sale: baby shoes, never worn), or flash fiction which normally allows 500 words in which to tell a story, Hint Fiction allows the author 25 words to give a hint to the reader of fiction yet to come.
Peggy Chambers "Views from the Hammock" site 