Back in the beginning of this decade, I started a new website Michele Cacano Writes. The intention was to host a blog as well as offer events like classes and workshops. I booked space for six workshops in 2020-- one every two months. The first one, "From Page to Publication" went swimmingly. The second one, "2020 Vison: Taking the Leap" had 15 signups, but one attendee. It was Feb. 29th, 12 days before the Lockdown due to the Covid pandemic. 

I didn't make the shift into online classes. I just didn't have them. I never wrote another blog post there, either; not that I've been so very active here, either. Like many, I've struggled with managing my time and expectations, my goals and my reality. While I am still (forever) a major night owl, I find my self awake but not productive most midnights. And that is OK, but I do feel less anchored to writing time than I was pre-pandemic. I used to do much of my writing in cafes, but I no longer go do that (they all close too early now and I'm on a different schedule). I am still planning on resuming events, though, later this year. 

At the start of the 2020s, I mused over what the coming decade might look like. Would it have a catchy nickname like the 1920s? I posited mostly rhyming alternatives for the Roaring Twenties, leaning towards the "Restoring Twenties," for myself, as I was just 14 months post-diagnosis for my anemia. 

So, here we are in 2025...how's it going?

I still don't have the energy I used to...the physical stamina and brain fog is real. Whether it is a leftover of my anemic years, my ADHD worsening due to perimenopause, or some other fatigue, I couldn't say. No matter what the reason, the effect is just as discouraging. But, I'm still working towards better health and energy. 

 I shift between periods of active periods of writing and submitting and less active periods of low energy and brain fog, where not much gets done. 

The Meetup Mess

For 17 years, I ran the Seattle Writers Meetup on the Meetup site. Meetup was a great hub for community: Anyone could join for free, select their interests, and find and join groups that meet online or in person for anything from hiking, to movie clubs, to French conversation practice, to wine enthusiasts, to book clubs, to cooking clubs, and anything and everything in-between. If you started your own group, you paid an annual fee, but members joined for free (although some clubs did charge fees for attendance and events, it was optional). In 2017, WeWork bought the site. The made some changes, raised the annual fee, but it was still pretty good. Then an Italian venture capitalist group bough it, and started removing more features, and jacked the price up 100%, then another 100%, and also started charging membership fees for everyone. There was little technical support for the few features left, and the prices were too damn high. I let the subscription expire in January of this year.

I researched alternatives, but nothing as of yet comes close to what Meetup was. The important features to have are:

•  the ability to be found by prospective new members
• working calendar of events with notifications (optional for members)

The features we used to have but no longer do, and would be nice to have again:

• saved documents for resources and information
• message boards or forums for member-to-member communication
• searchable photobooks and posts

I decided to just make my own website for the group, and use Eventbrite for the outreach portion. 

This project is still very much in progress, but I hope to have it up and running for June 2025.

I plan on shifting from an ongoing drop-in Monday critique round table to blocks of time. For instance, August open Monday nights in person, September Workshops and/or manuscript reviews, December online open feedback, March feedback meetups for screenplay writers or novelists, April meetings to critique poetry specifically, etc.

Change is hard. I am hoping to make this new model work as well as the old one!

Seattle Writing Day Workshop Seattle 2023

April 29th was the Seattle Writing Day Workshop, at the Seattle Convention Center. I have participated as a volunteer with them for years, but this was the first year I was a presenter. I'm such an overthinker, I prepared three different handouts, 3-4 pages each. Everyone seemed happy to have them, though! 

There were around 150 attendees to the conference. After lunch, I led the "Writers Got Talent! First
Page" panel, with four of the attending agents giving feedback to the anonymously and randomly chosen first pages. Always a valuable experience to listen to the impressions made and advice given by the folks who do this on a daily basis. 

Following that, I made my presentation, "Writing Is Not a Solitary Act," where I discussed different types of writing groups and their benefits, how to find one or create or your own, and the basics of giving and getting good feedback.

Surprisingly, I forgot to take photos all day! Very unlike me. Thanks to Edwin Staples, I have these two shots of me in my presentation. 

Despite people coming in and out (mostly to attend their appointments with agents, to pitch their manuscripts), I had a good audience. Most attendees were very engaged, and I was happy to be able to answer many questions regarding writing groups and feedback. I love you question-askers!

I will be happy to present again in the future, on this or another topic. 

It was fun to meet a few members of my Monday night writing group in person, for the first time, since we have been meeting on Zoom for three years. As always, chatting with my writer friends that worked as volunteers at the event was great, too. It's hard to make time to see everybody... events like this are a good excuse to catch up!

Seattle Writing Day Workshop 2023

 I'm excited to be a part of the Writing Day Workshop, here in Seattle this coming Saturday (4/29). I'll speaking from 2:45 until 3:45:

 Writing Is Not A Solitary Act: 

Understanding Writing Groups, Beta Readers, and Exchanging Critiques. 

How do you find writing peers? How do you gauge a peer’s skill? How do you give and take useful feedback? This class will help you find writing group friends who can aid your journey and help you improve your work, whether you meet with those people online or in-person.

 You can still register ahead of time or on site. Check out the details here:

https://theseattlewritingworkshop.com/

2021 Writing Goals & Resolutions May Check-in

 I've been setting Top 3 Priorities for each month, and, so far, that seems helpful. 

April's Goals: 

😃 1. Camp NaNoWriMo - 20K words on a new NF book on women in business. - Yes, I wrote just over 20K!

😕 2. Submit 4 Pieces for publication - Nope, but I have 3 things ready to go that I plan on homing soon.

😃 3. Go through the drawer - Find pieces to work on, finish, edit, etc. and submit them - I went through the folders of 2014-2019, and found 14 pieces that have promise. I am working on them.

May's Goals: 

1. Revise and polish four poems to send out.

2. Revise and polish one old short story (from the drawer)

3. Make four submissions (carry-over)

~    ~    ~

    I recently discovered a writer I know sends forty submissions out each month. That floored me. I started out years ago with my first submission goal of 3 for the year, then hit that in three months, so moved it up to 6. I have been aiming to get one piece out per month, maybe even one per week, but the thought of forty.... that's more than one per day! I'm sure she is submitting the same piece to multiple places, and tweaking it for reuse, but still-- I am feeling challenged. I am not going to raise my bar just yet, but I am doubling down on making those subs this month.

    I am feeling a little overwhelmed by the number of unfinished projects I have going. I feel the need to finish them and get them out, but keep switching from project to project, getting each closer, but not yet done. Hoping to overcome any internal blocks I may be putting up myself, as a self-sabotage or procrastination.

    Every time I look to submit my poetry, I get weird about it. It's personal writing. It feels more personal and more vulnerable than prose, even my memoir stuff. So, when I look at publications, I feel like I am not ready, or maybe I'm not a real poet (old fears about not going to college), and they aren't good enough, or I don't have enough good, finished poems. I am taking a Hugo House class this weekend on Poetry Revision, so hopefully that will help me get over that doorstep to publishing poetry.

    So, that's where I'm at in my writing journey. I have more plans for revision and submission in June, and plans for a new screenplay project in July. 

   

2021 Writing Goals: The 2020 Reboot

 Hello... it's been a long time. Like most of you - and the world - I feel like I'm simultaneously standing on a cliff, hanging from this time one year ago (when the world stopped for COVID-19), and speeding through time, barely registering, much less remembering, all the crazy things that have happened since February of 2020. 

Since my birthday is the first of February, I've always treated that as my new year's day. January is just the warm-up, where I shake off the previous year and reset myself for the year to come.

In a nutshell, my 2020 Goals / Resolutions included:

• Rebuild Writing Routine
• Schedule Write-Ins (at cafes, etc.)
• Create and Maintain Checklist of Tasks and Projects
• Use Spreadsheet to track Writing Goals
• Get back to submitting short stories for publishing
• incubate story ideas
• write stories
• edit and revise stories
• find appropriate markets
• submit stories for publication
• Write Non-fiction book
• On Writing (Holistic)
• Massage & Health Related Topics
• Ocean
• Finish Poetry Project
• Finish Memoir
• Editing Projects - keep a few going throughout the year
• Teach six writing workshops
• Jan: From Page to Print
• Feb: Vision Boards for Life and for Projects
• April
• June
• September
• November
• Platform Building and Marketing
• Create and update Wordpress site
• Make Health Newsletter more widely available through sign-up
• Health Focus 
• Continue to raise mental and physical energy: build iron, work towards optimum balance and health with vitamins, food, exercise, etc.
• Daily Meditation (at least 5x week)
• Daily Act of Spiritual Practice 
• Daily Walking
• Financial Health
• Build Sanctuary Fund to allow for more time off for writing and travel
• Open a SEP-IRA Retirement Fund
• Travel
• LA in Sept
• MD & NY in Oct
• Florida - when?
• Scotland? 

So, how did I do?

Clearly, the travel plans did NOT happen. I also did not open an IRA, or get money set aside for writing trips and travel. Lockdown sapped my creative energy for a few months, too. And there was always the worry about money - would I get unemployment assistance as a self-employed person? (Yes, but not much.) Would I be able to see any clients for massage therapy? (Yes, a few... managed to keep the business open and the bills paid.) How long would this pandemic last?!? I knew it wouldn't be over by May 2020 or even September 2020, as I heard so many say. But here we are in February 2021, and I think we will be still masking up and dealing through this year... possibly into 2022. Sigh...

I did not finish any of the listed long-term projects, although I have worked on most. I also have yet to submit anything for publication...that will be a carry-over goal! I do have a number of nearly-ready pieces, though, and plan to get most of them homed in the next three months. I kept up on my spreadsheet of writing goals (need to start the one for 2021, though!), and I planned and produced the first two workshops - Jan & Feb - but, of course, the pandemic put a stop to anything beyond March. I could have shifted to online classes, but felt unmotivated to teach from my bedroom or my massage office. I need the designated space of a classroom - I had rented community center space to hold my classes, and I set up the tables and chairs and snack station and everything the way I wanted it. I will look forward to resuming those in 2022.

While my writing routine did not go as planned - I like to write in cafes, and had been meeting other writers to add to that energy - I did manage to get much writing done. I joined a friend's small writing group in July for Camp Nano (of NaNoWriMo.org) and wrote 3/4 of a NF book. The group continued, and we still meet up to 6 times a week (not all of us make every day) for writing time, workshopping, and games. I aim to make 3 each week, and usually manage that. 

I was great at daily walks, daily meditation, and regular workouts through most of 2020, but fell off the wagon around Oct/Nov and have been avoiding the wet outdoors since. But I chalk 2020 up as a WIN for health, fitness, and meditation goals.

So, what's my 2021 Resolution List?

1. Continue Building Writing Routine
1. Camp Write-Ins 3x week
2. Make new Goals spreadsheet and maintain
3. Aim for earlier-to-bed and earlier-to-rise schedule so I can get some writing and tasks done before work/family time/etc. (my goal is to sleep between 1/2/3 AM and 9:30/10:30/11:30 AM)
4. Tweak Calendar system to better find and hit deadlines and goals
2. 
   Writing Projects
1. Get those short stories out for publication - at least 6 this year; 3 by June
2. Keep working on memoir
3. Finish NF book
4. Finish Poetry Project and find a home for it
5. Finish MG Ghost Story book
3. Platform Building and Marketing
1. Reconnect with writing and publishing community
1. Hugo House
2. Conferences?
2. Finish websites so all are connected and people can sign up for newsletters
3. Blog regularly
4. Look at doing shorter online workshops?
4. Health Focus
1. Keep working on creating optimum health 
1. Vitamins & supplements
2. Healthy Eating
3. Check-in with Naturopath
4. Get iron checked when possible (post-COVID- July?)
2. Daily Routines
1. Walking
2. Meditation
3. Workouts
5. Home Office & Writing Space
1. Try to make time and money to finish clearing out Spare Room and set up a new desk and workspace for myself - open shelves, project boards, etc. 
2. Keep motivated at home with dedicated writing time and space (currently folding desk in BR)

October Update

These past nine months have been both slow and fast. Some of the slowness is much appreciated; the chance to stay home and rest, develop close relationships, and not feel guilty for not "getting out there" and "doing more" has opened eyes to the way we've set up our lives and the manic pace many of us maintain. But so many more people are not able to find those pleasures, because the stress of being an essential worker or, conversely, no longer having a job to work at all. Trying to navigate the unemployment system, scrambling to keep food on the table and a roof overhead - and none of us knowing how long this quarantine and pandemic life will last. I'm lucky that I have a partner, and we both managed to get approved for unemployment. We each work a fraction of the time we used to work, but we have little debt and are managing.

I've had every intention of posting a new blog. My last one here was August 2019. I had a family trip to Florida in September 2019, where my husband, my brother, and I visited with our mother and spent time with our dying father. He passed away August of this year, and I'm sorry I didn't get one more visit in, but am grateful for that one last year.

I had a half-formed idea for a novel that I tried for NaNoWriMo 2019. I wrote almost half - 22k words - before I shelved it for another time. (Still fighting that anemic fog!)
 

In December, I focused on creating six writing workshops. I built a new website on Wordpress (But I have to admit, I'm still learning how to do it!). I rented a great space, and held the first one in January. The second one was visual storytelling through vision board collage, held on Leap Day. There was already a weird buzz in the air about the highly-contagious respiratory coronavirus, and   my turnout was very lower than expected. We had a good workshop, anyway. Of course, a week later, the world was shutting down for quarantine. 

      

My day job as a massage therapist was out of the question. I've never had so much time away from it! My husband's catering business dried up in a flash. And yet, with all that free time... I could write nothing but cleaning protocols and health tips.

Some days in May, more in June, I managed to work on a poetry project I had started in December (still in progress).

I joined a friend's writing group for Camp NaNoWriMo in July. I set a goal of 35k words, and came close - 30k - on a non-fiction manuscript (still working on it!)

August started with my annual GISH scavenger hunt, and I did a lot of fun things, including painting on black velvet, creating watercolor with tea and coffee, writing and recording a slam poem, a protest song, and an interview with a shelter dog. I donated my voice to the Human Voice Bank, and helped raise money for charities benefiting Criminal Justice Reform and Nothing But Nets (fighting malaria around the world). All this creativity gave me a good kick in the pants.

Finally, half-way through September, I started to feel a few fiction sparks. I did a flash fiction story for a NYC Midnight competition, which I actually like. I plan on working it a bit more soon - making it longer and developing the concept more. I also wrote a short screenplay that will most likely stay in the "thanks for the practice" category, and one more this past weekend that I like better.

I've gotten more tips to tweak my health recovery process - taking my iron and magnesium supplements thirty minutes apart, and thirty minutes before or after eating, with just vitamin-c/OJ. Seems like that is improving my absorption rate, and my iron (ferratin) was up to 37 in July (on a scale of 15 to 150, where I started at 5).

Three months to go until 2021. I am NOT about to say "I can't wait", "good riddance to 2020" etc. because in 2020 time, three months is equivalent to half a decade. And, we can make significant changes in our lives on both the micro and macro scale in those three months. If nothing else, I believe this crazy year of pandemic and disaster will push everyone to re-evaluate what's important.

I bought the latest oracle deck created by Colette Baron-Reid, called The 7 Energies.

 As I become familiar with these cards (used as focal points for meditation and reflection), I've drawn three cards about once or twice a week. Inevitable, no matter what question I pose, one of the cards that turns up is that number 33, "Ears Wide Open," which speaks of deep listening as a way to immerse ourselves in the truth of the world/ When we are fully present, we open our hearts and minds to that which is communicated through more than words. And, often, it is in these subtle clues that we are given opportunities for more than we could have imagined.



I am doing my best to put down the phone and be fully present in each moment. Attempting to do less multi-tasking, and more mindfulness. I am interested to see what I might see that I might've missed, in the coming months.

Overcoming Obstacles to Writing Consistently

Sit down and write. Butt in chair, words on page. Just write something - anything - every day. We all know these mantras, right? This is classic, stalwart, trustworthy advice. But most new writers ask, "how?" 

I'm not a new writer. But I've had some setbacks the past few years in my health and my energy level was barely enough to function at the minimum level of my life; nothing left for creativity. I was unable to maintain many practices: Social events, exercise, walking, summer lake swimming, reading, writing, attending conferences and classes of any kind, teaching classes of any kind, housework, etc. I didn't even realize how much I'd eliminated from my life until this summer, when my iron levels are finally starting to rise above chronic deficiency.

Iron deficient anemia and the ensuing lethargy and low energy was my main obstacle to writing. I couldn't stay awake long enough to even think clearly. I'm better, still improving (I expect to hit my prime iron level target in 15 months, which is November 2020), but feeling foggy as hell whenever I sit down to write, still. I sit, like now, and wonder where my notes are, which project I should work on, and how to get back to where I was in the revision process on now four-year-old works. I also have a couple of important projects I am editing and assisting other writers with, and one joint project that needs attention. 

Is it a case of the shoulds? I "should" be writing, I "should" be editing, I "should" be submitting...

Perhaps. There is something to the idea that we often self-sabotage and talk ourselves out of even the most rewarding aspects of life. Shoulds are things we worry about, avoid, don't want to do, don't feel able to do, feel overwhelmed by, feel guilty about, think we need to do, feel expected to do by others, or otherwise get weighted down by. This burden weighs on us, limiting our happiness and ability to be in the moment. And Lightness, Being in the Moment (Presence), and Feeling Free are all needed to be creative, open, exploratory, and productive. 

Here is a list of things I do (and plan to do) to get out from under the weight of the Shoulds:

1. Make a List. Write it down, write it down, write it down. This is my go-to advice for most problems! (I am a writer, after all...) Today, the first thing I did after sitting down to write (and thinking all those foggy thoughts) is pull out my notebook and a pen. I write down all the things I "Should" be doing - working on memoir, editing book, writing query letters, researching topics, submitting shorts and poems - and write about the feelings I have about those things. Is anxiety a feeling? I mostly feel that. And guilt, for how much time has passed without progress. I also feel a physical lump in the pit of my stomach. And a rush and a push to get going! Those feelings are actually stopping me from doing the items on my list.
   
   So, you make the list. Everything. I should walk every day. I should cook more at home. I should go visit my parents. I should call my relatives. I should cancel my subscription to a magazine I don't read. I should save money. I should get that tooth implant. I should figure out to build my brand. I should finish organizing that spare room. I should buy shelves. I should practice my foreign language skills. I should clean out my car.
2. Breathe. 
• Take a deep breath in. Fill your lungs, stretch your rib cage open, relax your shoulders. Breathe out, letting all the worry float away with your breath. 
• Breathe in, feel the air flow into your head, neck, back, shoulders, arms, hands, fingers... breathe out and let them all relax. The air flows through your body like a river, cleansing.
• Breathe in, down your spine, through your hips, thighs, knees, legs, and feet...breathe out and let your feet sink into the floor. 
• Picture your invisible roots, like a tree, spreading into the earth deep below, and let the little knots, anxieties, worries, negative thoughts, etc. flow out into the ground, away from you. The deep elements of the earth will recycle unwanted energy. 
• The roots draw clear, clean, nourishing energy up into your body, like a tree or plant draws energy up through the roots. Picture this flow of energy. Breathe. Feel grounded.
3. Go Back to the List. No write down why you should do each thing.
   I should clean out my car because I'll get better gas mileage, it's safer, and it won't be bothering me each time someone else gets in my car.
   I should work on my memoir because I want to get it published.
   I should work on the editing because I told that writer I would do it.
   I should get the tooth implant because my bite could go wrong in time without it.
   I should buy shelves and finish organizing so that I can have more room to do art and stuff.
   
   Dig deep; find the origins of those shoulds.
   
   ...to do art and stuff... because I am an artist that is frustrated by a lack of working space and easy access to art supplies. I want to be more creatively productive.
   
   
4. Questions to ask yourself about the list items:
   1. Is this something you want/need to do for yourself or is it someone else's expectation? (i.e. I "should" get up every morning by 9 AM... because that's what society expects adults to do. (not good reason for me!)
   
   2. Is your should-item realistic or based on unattainable ideals?
   For example, if you are always on a diet to lose that last ten pounds, are you keeping yourself from enjoying food, social activities, certain clothes or trips or events? What will that "perfect" weight or clothing size really get you? Or your housework - do you never invite guests over because your home is not magazine-perfect? Is it relatively clean and functional? Isn't that what's important? If not, what is? Why?
   
5. Take time to reflect on these answers. Use these list items and responses as journal prompts, exploring further the ideas of goals and priorities, influence and self-image.
   
   Shoulds often mask deeper fears and resistance to change. If we should do something, and we know it, why aren't we? Is it time for a change in your life that you are reluctant to make? Why? Are you afraid of failure? Of not being perfect? Of not being good enough? Of not having anything to look forward to in the future if you accomplish your "someday" goals?
   
   
6. Shift your focus. Rewrite your list, substituting the phrase "If I really wanted to, I could..." for every "should". This change from guilt-ridden "I should" to the positive possibility of "I could" opens us up to what we really want and what we are capable of.
   
   
7. Creating a path forward: How do these new sentences make you feel? Is it clear which ones you actually do want to do, and which ones you don't?
   
   Ask yourself these questions:
• What truly matters to me right now?
• Who has done what I want to do successfully? Who are my role models? Whose advice do I trust?
• How do I want to live my life? What are my core values? What makes life worth living?
• Will striving towards these goals bring about the changes I want to see in my life? In the world? How will achieving these goals make my life and/or the world a better place?
• Are there other ways to achieve these goals? Have I considered all my options? Have I left room for the unknown and unexpected? Sometimes help comes from strangers, answers come in leaps and bounds, and we don't always know the outcome of our actions. Be open.