Hello faithful followers, it’s Tamara here again! I know it’s been a few weeks since I last blogged, but it hasn’t been months – or has it? At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter how long it’s been, what’s important is I’m back and more importantly, back writing again.
As I detailed in my last blog post, I have made some changes in how I’m planning to go about my writing life. Most notably I was going to write more about what I’m most familiar with. So how is that going you might ask? Not bad. I’ve dusted off a couple of my ideas, brought them out into the light again, shelved a few (for now) and renewed my commitment to write something every day.
This brings me to today, my first full day at my writing group’s Annual Fall Writing Retreat. Some of you may recall I belong to a writing group here in my local community. The group hosts writing mornings, regular weekly meetings, which may or may not include guest speakers, and the spring and fall writing retreats. In years past the fall retreat has been held up at one of our local ski mountains, which was very beautiful, but unfortunately that particular venue priced itself right out of our market. Fortunately, the venue we host the spring retreat at had an opening in October, so we seized it.
When here I am plunged back into the writing mode in the most stunning log home, with supportive writers tucked away in every available nook and cranny. As I have mentioned in previous blog posts, I am not the most active member of this group, but I have to say, coming to the retreat always makes me feel like I’ve come home, and it’s a really nice to be kicking off my renewed writing life in this cozy environment.
I will provide a full retreat report next week. Until then here is my quote for the week.
“Success if the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out”.
Robert Collier.
Tamara
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Published by Tamara Mercer
Okay, off the top I want to declare I was once a ‘corporate cog in the wheel’; in fact, I was that cog for over 27 years, and miserable for most of the time. In 2006, my entire department was outsourced. Happy to have been kicked to the curb, I turned my attention to what I was going to do next. Not surprising, I entered the world of self-employment that lead to several mediocre, haphazard positions; including a home renovation business, several direct marketing forays into the health and wellness world and finally two failed attempts at selling horse related products. In between, I had to take jobs at the local box stores to make ends meet.
I was tired of following the beat of society’s drum. Feeling defeated and dejected, I stepped back to look at my life and asked myself, “what do I truly want?” I decided I needed the ‘free spirit’ inside of me to flourish. Of course, I also needed to make some money. After all life is not free.
About this same time, a good friend was starting to experience some success as a writer. She and I had always spoken about writing, and she had taken the daring leap to becoming a full-time writer a few years earlier. As the author of a successful series, her success was now inspiring me to consider a dream I’d always had, but kept quiet inside me. With her encouragement, I decided to find more time for writing. The answer had surfaced, “I want to be an writer!”
That was a few years ago. Where am I now? Well, I’m not a best selling author – yet. I spend as much time as I can writing when I’m not busy at home or working. My husband and I own a small ranch that’s also home to horses, dogs and a feisty barn cat. We don’t have children, of the traditional variety, so we give all our love to the four-legged kids. Horses are a big part of my life. They are the calm that keep me centered on this earth. Fortunately, I’ve managed to develop a small business working with horses so, while I eventually want to write full-time, at least I’m much happier at work now versus those unrewarding days as a cog.
As far as developing as a writer, I’ve written a few horse-related articles, and a short essay, about one of my own horses, was published in an anthology. Currently, I have three books in the works. While my writing doesn’t revolve around horses, there’s always one or more horses layered into my stories. I get a lot of writing ideas and tips by listening to podcasts. I think I might actually be a podcast junkie! I am fascinated by the entire writing industry and how it is evolving.
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Tamara Mercer 
So glad that you were able to make it there! I think a writer’s life is composed of regularly re-imagining, tweaking and re-thinking one’s vision.
Enjoy your companions and the opportunity to learn and reflect.
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Thanks Jodie wish you were here to enjoy with us. So far we’ve had some exciting moments including fire alarms and bears in the night and it isn’t Halloween yet.
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Wow! I’m missing all the action including the ‘jump around’!
You are definitely gearing up for Halloween 🎃
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