Valerie E. Vancollie

Writing Implements So, the reason I chose Ernest Hemingway’s quote is the same reason why I’ve suddenly gone AWOL. I wrenched my back again. As a result, I really wasn’t able to sit much for a few d…

“Wearing down seven number-two pencils is a good day’s work.”

– Ernest Hemingway

#writingcommunity #writesky

vevancollie.wordpress.com/2025/08/03/w...

Wellspring Not surprisingly, my newfound inspiration is doing what inspiration does best: begetting more inspiration! And last night was absolutely no exception. After my post here, I spent some time jumping …

Inspiration is odd.

Even knowing this, I'm quite confuddled by the bouncing back & forth of my latest inspiration. It goes from driving my writing on, to hopelessly distracting me from it, and then inspiring whole new worlds...

#writingcommunity #writesky

vevancollie.wordpress.com/2025/07/23/w...

National Belgium Day For once, I actually remembered to acknowledge this day rather than forgetting until it’s passed. A disadvantage to living outside your country of birth! Due to the world heritage day challen…

A #haiku written really quickly when remembering today's National Belgium Day!

Fête nationale belge
De dag van de oprichting
Königreich Belgien

#writesky #poetry #haikufeels #micropoetry #belgium #skyverse

vevancollie.wordpress.com/2025/07/21/n...

A Serious Matter Okay, while I take my pens seriously in a lot of ways, I definitely wouldn’t go so far as Anne Fadiman does and call it a pen-bereavement when I finish one. On the contrary, I often celebrate…

“Pen–bereavement is a serious matter.”

– Anne Fadiman

Agree? Disagree?

#writingcommunity #writesky #pens

vevancollie.wordpress.com/2025/07/15/a...

Portable Writing Kits Because someone expressed interest, I figured I’d go into a bit more detail with what I really mean when it comes to always carrying a notebook. First off, as I alluded to the other day, this…

As inspiration can strike at anywhere, I carry at least 2 pens and a notebook with me in whatever bag I'm using.

Those numbers go up if I'm traveling.

I don't want to be caught unaware! It's a good thing I have so many pens...

#writingcommunity #writesky

vevancollie.wordpress.com/2025/07/12/p...

Lol, you'd be surprised how many authors like to write on yellow legal pads!

I have to admit, I don't really get it as I like pretty notebooks, but whatever works is definitely the way to go with writing.

These days, I do a mix of handwritten and computer written, depending on circumstances.

Ah, yes, those pens. I used a lot of them in school! Haven't had one for years.

And now I want to get one...

Never done that, but I do grab ones from hotels - they make me smile when I use them later as they trigger those memories!

😂

I, too, have lots of different pen holders all over the place. The photo is of a bigger set I have in my desk as I ran out of other things to put them in!

I keep meaning to settle on just one pen - likely reverting back to a fountain pen if the notebook permits - but I have so many still that I keep putting it off.

I am getting better at not just grabbing any free pen anymore that I see.

Pens, Pens, Pens V.E. Vancollie – Just a few of my many, many pens!

As someone who writes a lot (and by hand at times), I may have more than a passing obsession with pens...

Anyone else want to confess to being a secret (or not so secret) penholic?

#writingcommunity #writesky #pen

vevancollie.wordpress.com/2025/07/08/p...

Such a cutie!

Is it albino? The eyes don't look red to me in the photos.

If not, it could be another pigment issue, but great photos regardless!

The More You Have I have spoken before about how words beget more words. Or how plot bunnies can multiply out of all control. Therefore, Maya Angelou’s quote has always rung very true for me. I chose this part…

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”

– Maya Angelou

#writesky #writingcommunity

vevancollie.wordpress.com/2025/06/25/t...

I was just asked to "Confirm Humanity" when signing up for a mailing list.

I'm pretty sure that just says it all about where we are now...

Creative Little Pinball When it comes to my writing and my thoughts about writing, I feel a bit all over the place lately. Like a pinball ricocheting around its little machine. There’s been the rereading of snippets…

My inspiration has been all over the place lately. But it's better than when it goes walkies altogether!

Now, to see if I can pin the muse or plot bunnies down to just one thing for a more than a few hours...

#writesky #writingcommunity

vevancollie.wordpress.com/2025/06/23/c...

Moray schoolgirl's message in a bottle gets reply from Norway 31 years later The primary pupil from Moray in the north east of Scotland sent out her message in 1994 and it finally turned up across the North Sea in Norway.

A fun news story with a bit of "fact is stranger than fiction" thrown into the mix.

Can you imagine, #writingcommunity, if you tried to do this in a novel?

#writesky

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

MPs vote to decriminalise abortion for women in England and Wales The vote to decriminalise the procedure is the biggest change to abortion laws in England and Wales for nearly 60 years.

"There will be no more women investigated after enduring a miscarriage, no more women dragged from their hospital beds to the back of a police van, no more women separated from their children because of our archaic abortion law."

Good!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Pizza, Pizza! My original post for today was derailed when I read a news article last night. It was most definitely one of those fact is stranger than fiction ones! A different genre than the burglar meets book …

I do love a good news story that essentially boils down to "fact is stranger than fiction".

I collect them for if people ever try and tell me I did something "too unbelievable" in one of my stories.

#writesky #writingcommunity

vevancollie.wordpress.com/2025/06/14/p...

Revealed: More than 24,000 factory farms have opened across Europe Intensive livestock farms such as those found across the US are spreading across the continent, according to new data

For all the people who've told me "not in Europe" the answer is "yes, in Europe".

Chicken and pig #megafarms are here, too, not just in the US.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Writing Advice: Follow Your Characters It’s been a little while since my last bit on writing advice, but my recent post about Frederick Forsyth brought it back to the top of my mind. This is one I’ve not heard as often, but …

"First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him."

- Ray Bradbury

#writesky #writingcommunity

vevancollie.wordpress.com/2025/06/12/w...

Yes, especially since I still need to have the range of responses: some people will use the proper pronouns, others won't - they either are ignorant, refuse to, or try to but don't always get it right.

So there's already a lot going on around the changes I have made.

True, but at the end of the day I'm still writing in English.

I don't mind doing things a bit differently and already am in other ways, but it also needs to be easy to read.

If you start messing around with things too much, you will lose people. Especially with something as common as they.

The Difficulty with They I’m happy to say that the increased wordiness here has been reflected in an increased wordiness overall. The write-in this past Saturday was particularly productive! Which brings me to anothe…

New challenge discovered.

I often make generic background characters a different sex from the main one, so I can use different pronouns to avoid using names all the time.

But that doesn't work when both are hermaphroditic...

#writesky #writingcommunity

vevancollie.wordpress.com/2025/06/11/t...

A partially completed cross-stitch of a fox curled up on a bed of leaves on black Aida. The leaves are half-crosses in shades of brown and grey, while the fox is in shades of orange, yellow, red and white.

Rather than start a new #crossstitch project, I'm going back to my pandemic fox.

It's a big one!

#wipwednesday #stitchsky #craftsky #crossstitchlove

Wow, glad the million plus ads I've had for this have never even tempted me.

So much winning for AI powered learning...

Etymology As posts like yesterday’s no doubt prove, I love learning the etymology of words. Some of it links up with my fascination with mythology of all kinds. They’re interconnected, with a lot…

Hey, #writingcommunity, are you someone who loves the etymology of words and the nuances of language(s), or are they just a means to an end for your writing?

I love learning of their ever shifting nature...

#writesky

vevancollie.wordpress.com/2025/06/08/e...

Than Atom Bombs Words, as Pearl Strachan Hurd said in his quote, are incredibly powerful. Why else would both book banning and burning be so common throughout history? Not to mention the more recent upswing in it.…

“Handle them carefully, for #words have more power than atom bombs.”

– Pearl Strachan Hurd

#writesky #writingcommunity

vevancollie.wordpress.com/2025/06/07/t...

White Aida fabric with a black silhouette of a woman's head and arms printed on the fabric. Her dress (cross-stitched) is blue and silver with pink roses and green leaves, the flowers popping outwards. Some of the threads have a silvery sheen to them.

I'm on #crossstitch fire lately!

Another finished project.

#crossstitchlove #stitchsky #craftsky

A counted cross-stitch pattern of a woman wearing a blue and silver dress with pink roses that pop out. Some of the threads are shiny. The woman is a silhouette outlined in black on white Aida. Most of the cross-stitch is done.

The same cross-stitch from the back, showing progress better as there's no printed pattern to obscure the progress.

Guess what? It's #wipwednesday, so here are some progress photos.

It's going fast and I love the shiny threads!

#crossstitch #stitchsky #craftsky #crossstitchlove