Blind Faith

As you stand among the ruins all around you falling down

You look up to the heavens and you scan along the ground

You close your eyes and whisper to yourself a silent prayer

You hold your ground while in your heart you’d run if you so dare.

But you stay, strong and true, a helping hand you will extend

From early in the morning dawn ’til dusk at final end

Pulling close and holding dear all those who you might save

While all ills falls around you -  keeping positive blind faith.

Hold your hopes high - stay positive.

Keep on Keeping on

It is sometimes a shock to come back to the blog and see just how much time has elapsed since my last post. It is not that I haven’t written a word blog-wise but it’s just that I haven’t written at each and every place that I do post something. I have kept up on my daily journal page and have posted some comments on the bulletin board at our writer’s web site. I have put in some time on the novel but I did let that slide just a little this week as well. I have been tired and knew that this weekend would be for writing since I took a couple of extra days off to catch up on some others things as well. Sometimes there just gets to be too much and I need to just stop. Think. Then continue.

The emotional stress of news received during the week was enough to put things on hold – almost. The truth of one matter will not be known until Monday and is something that hits too close to the heart. Until further tests it is better to be positive and keep on doing what needs to be done. That said, it is not easy to let things slip entirely from your mind. The post previous to this one ended with the comments of feeling things that someone else experiences especially when they are close to you. Again, it does no good to reflect negatively except that it can pull you down if you let it and sadness eats away at you.

Other news received as I asked innocently about someone revealed other things that I did not want to know. This news disturbed me as well but I was able to go forward putting it from my mind just because the situation it comes from is not as close to my heart as the first news.

I want so much to think in a positive way and continue my writing – so I do. Until I know otherwise, this will be the mindset. This post might seem all over the place, not saying anything too concrete but that is how I prefer it for now. I choose to say that things are happening but do not identify the situation or the people it happens to. This keeps it private and although I know others experience their own situations, it keeps it mine and to me it is still not real. If I dwell I see the negative and the unfairness.

With every sundown there is the unconditional hope that a new day will dawn... just as always.

After the Workshop

The day after the workshop I am back at it, knee-deep in words – updating the web site, blogging and thinking of the attack on the next chapter of my novel. Half way through the month and I’m sitting at 30,313 words and since it is still early in the day, I will definitely post more by tonight.

I am happy with my progress and it allowed me to take a break. I took the time yesterday to prepare and attend the Fall Writers Workshop that our group hosts. This would be the fourth year running. It was a success even if the attendance was lower than I would have liked – at least I can say that everyone there, including the presenters were or became a member of the WFSC as of the 14th. The support we give to local writers is evident by the response we get from participants and the commitment shown by our volunteers. Next year we will celebrate our 5th anniversary as an incorporated society in Alberta. Our plans for an all day Writers Conference is receiving great initial response and we would expect a sell-out when the schedule is posted to our web site. Watch for more details at www.wfscsherwoodpark.com

Today, I took a short mid-day break to hear my daughter, Kelsey, sing at the Festival of Trees in the Sherwood Park Mall. The Studio she belongs to put on the show and she is scheduled throughout the Christmas season at several events. I am not just being a biased-more-than-just-a-little-proud Mom – she sings with a natural talent, one inherent in our family. I would love for her to be “discovered” and given the chance to shine like I know she can. She is my angel. Good job.

I was even able to look around Chapters for a bit – shopping hurts my back so I can’t do long stretches – 25% off was a good reason to suffer through and get a start on gift buying. My next stop is back to my desk to complete some blogging and some novel-writing despite the goings-on.

Many things are happening – sometimes all at once – and we take it into ourselves as we move through our journey. We absorb everything that goes on around us – it molds us and makes us better if it doesn’t break us. The things we understand and learn from, push us forward; the things we do not understand we strive to have answered and they hold us back until we attain them; the things that have no answer for we must learn there are none and we must let them go.

This complicated blog wraps me around the things happening in my life and my confused thoughts.  So entwined we are with some events that it makes it impossible to be separate from it – someone laughs and you laugh; someone hurts and you hurt; someone cries and you cry.

Somethings just go on and your journey continues.

We write what we live – we live what we write.

An endless sky like our life - sometimes it closes in on us; other times we see forever

We were talking the other day

I’m sitting here trying to post a blog that is profound in some way – my own way – and I know a topic usually comes to me in due time. I’m on my way to the novel and will try to push my word count for NaNoWriMo to the 30,000 mark tonight. By posting  a blog I get my thoughts focused on the writing and give my fingers a warm up so they can get me to that goal. I found I was trying too hard to think of a subject – what can I write about tonight? It is better to just sit down and start. So that brings me to the point of the title. We (my writing buddies and I) were talking the other night about starting to blog with one of the members who has not started yet. We just threw some ideas out there for him to consider…with the most important point being: just write on something you are familiar with in an everyday way; something that you can describe or feel comfortable sharing. It doesn’t have to be beautiful, in that everything is not the perfect sunset or fragrant flower. It could even be sad or display an anger through a rant about something bothering you or perhaps it’s a “just as I see it” kind of piece. Everyone has something they can share because everyone has a story. Our lives might be busy and that might be the story. Even as individuals, we can identify with some aspect of everyone’s life. There is no unique secret to blogging – just a passion for words and a knowledge that everyone who writes, knows the feeling. I came about this blog because my cat was bothering me and I thought I should write his story some day. It is a funny inspiration but also one we talked about the other day.

"Hey dude, every cat has a tale..."

Fall Writers Workshop

It’s just Tuesday and even with all that is going on I am still looking forward to the upcoming workshop this Saturday. I missed Kelly Ross’ presentation in the spring because I was staying with my mom at the time. She just had knee surgery and I took my holidays to stay with her during her early convalescence. It should be a very interesting topic – research and fact-checking. This is something that all writers need to do no matter what style or genre we write in. It is necessary to portray the facts in an accurate manner so that it validates our work – even if it is a work of fiction. An incorrect reference , one that is easily confirmed with a little research, can tarnish the whole work - the reader will doubt the validity of other references if they find a simple one that could have been corrected. We must write knowing that our audience is intelligent and will pick up on something if we just breeze over it assuming it is not important. This not only means that spacial factors such as timing and location must be probable, it means that all of our references, words and descriptions must match the situation and time period we are writing about. The whole product must match the genre, too.

The second part of the workshop is going to be interactive fun! I am looking forward to that part just as much as the first. It is another part of our writing process – using ideas, prompts and whatever other props necessary to get the creative juices flowing. Our own group president, Twilla Boyce, will lead us in “The Games Writers Play.” On occasion we have used some of the ideas she will present to do some freefall writing – it really gets the creativity happening – and out of it might come an idea or the start of something new. Even if it is a  just “in the moment” exercise for you,  it might be a great way to get your writing started if you are not one to just sit down and get right into the meat of the matter.

Hope to see all you local writers out there. You can check out our web site calendar at  www.wfscsherwoodpark.com for more information.

Take care, stay healthy and keep on writing!

Blogging

It is said that everyone has a story to tell but not all writers choose to tell a story about their own life. It is more common to choose to work in one of the many genres of fiction. The blog phenomena has opened up a window. It allows us a glimpse into the writer’s life. The topics they choose to write about and the style they use, tell us a great deal about what is going on in their life or gives us an idea how they feel about certain issues.

Blogging on a daily basis chronicles experiences and stories of the author and has become the 20th century journal.  The amount of personal detail interjected into the blog tells us about the writer and whether they are comfortable sharing with their readers. We make a connection with a blogger when we can relate to what they are saying. Our opinions do not have to match but we must be tolerant and able to accept another person’s point of view.

Although an autobiography or memoir is not everyone’s goal we can encounter pieces of a writer’s life story in whatever they choose to write.

What aspects of your life are no longer hidden behind closed doors?

Nulla dies sine linea

“No day without a line.”

This is the quote that sticks in my mind to remind me of the minimum commitment a writer must make – write something everyday. Very basic and simple although in our busy life sometimes even this small feat is an effort. It is, though, an effort we must make to ourselves in order to fulfill our passion if we dream of being a published author. If you have signed up to participate in the November novel writing mania, you have chosen to add to your life the effort of writing at least 50,000 words by the end of the month. It is our passion for the written word that drives us to take on this monumental task in addition to whatever other writing we do on a regular basis.

Assign a time to write. Take it and make it your own.

A Slight Diversion

I Would Live in Your Love

I would live in your love as the sea-grasses live in the sea,
Borne up by each wave as it passes, drawn down by each wave that recedes;
I would empty my soul of the dreams that have gathered in me,
I would beat with your heart as it beats, I would follow your soul
as it leads.

Sarah Teasdale

Just taking a break from NaNoWriMo…it’s going great! What a rush to just focus and concentrate on the one thing that will get to first complete draft. Loving it! Keep on writing!

The Day Before

It is yet to be titled but I will be working on an idea that has grown enough to become its own story. I will attempt to put on paper this novel idea over the next 30 days. It is my intent to keep up with my journal entries, my various blogs and other writing pieces necessary to participate in my writer’s life, as per usual…as well as contribute the 50,000+ words for the National Novel Writing Month participatory commitment. I intend to do it. I intend to do it all. In the end, after all is said and done, written and counted, this endeavor will provide me with the boost I need to edit and rewrite and perhaps have that first novel draft out there for consideration.

My first baby – my first novel – is still in the works and is my passion…my love. But it stalled me, or rather, I stalled it and I promise I will come back to it with a fiery vengeance once this “other novel” is out of me. It will be like “taking a break” so I can return with renewed concentration on An Elizabethan Affair. Nothing can compare to my love for William and the romanticism of a time travel romance back to the days of “wherefore art thou…” but Marco’s story must be told, because alas, poor Marco needs my help to figure out the deception that befalls him disguised as love, opportunity and old Italian family influence.

It is exciting. It is daunting. It is probably maniacal given an already too busy life. It’s my dream. The writer’s life is calling.

"Who will believe my verse in time to come..."

See what I mean?

Well, the reason I wrote the last post is because I was thinking of something in particular when I wrote it and wouldn’t you know it I went off on some other tangent forgetting all about that thought! I laugh at me…ha, ha, ha… Anyway, I was tweeting something to somewhere out in twitter space about my blog and then another about planning an upcoming event for our writers group and I thought “wow, how cool would that be if a certain celebrity poet would attend our Conference on April 24th, 2010 and give a little presentation workshop on poetry.” So I tweeted it out there for you know who to possibly pick up and reply to me directly and say “why, yes, I’d love to…”

See where I’m going with this? Always thinking. Always thinking.

Yes and dreaming