Allowing life to come to you...

I have been doing a lot of writing at home the last little while. I'm also preparing for two upcoming contests that I have coming up. I am also working on both of the childrens series that I had started. I have done outlines for two more and will focus on them next.

My success is coming to me, I know it.. I can feel it coming over the proverbial horizon. I am ready for it. I am so clear on my focus, my abilities, what I want to do and how to do it.

I am also open to inviting the success and then allowing it to come to me. I am positive, I am happy, I am doing what is right for me and I am confident but most of all I am grateful.

I am grateful for my life, for knowing what I want, for knowing how to ask for it, for knowing how to allow it to come to me, for believing in myself and being confident enough to know it will happen.

Writing can be a lonely thing - filled with tense feelings and fear of having our words and thoughts being judged. Instead I choose to welcome the gift of writing, the gift of creativity and the gifts of other people's opinions that will help me grow as both a person and as a writer.

I am ready, I am open... I am allowing... I am grateful.

Family of letters

This picture is called Family of Letters and since it came to me today, I know it has come to me for a reason and that I should so something with it.

I have written many things and while I have yet to post any of it here, one letter I wrote seems to fit and perhaps that is what I should post here today..

Sharing Faith


If you, like me, are lucky enough to have woken up 25 years or so into your marriage and are still in love with your husband I congratulate you. If you have chosen to have children, you may have a daughter that is learning about love all on her own.

As a parent you always wonder what the most important things are to share with your children and for me it is to teach my daughter about the love between her parents. It has always been there as the subtle foundation behind the scenes, but now as she becomes a woman she might want to know some specific mother daughter wisdom. She may not, but I’m still going to write it down so she has it in case she ever needs it.

I am writing this in a letter for two reasons. The first and most obvious is because I am a writer, but second and perhaps more importantly because over the years, my husband and daughter have taught me their currency. I have learned that if I do things in their currencies (as they do mine) it will most likely get my message across in the way I want it to be received. It would read something like this:

My dear daughter, as you embark on the next stage of your life to find yourself and a partner to share your life with, I thought I would tell you a little bit about what I looked for in a man when I was your age. I know times have changed, but believe it or not, some things remain the same. For years I had wondered if I would know when “the one” came along and like most of my friends I had almost given up on that hope on hearing that little voice in my head confirming it to me. That is until I met your father. These are some of the things I’ve learned and want to share with you.

If you can look into his eyes and see them sparkling with excitement about traveling the journey of life with you, then you must never stop looking to see the world through his eyes. If you can hear the warmth and safety in his voice; know it will calm and comfort you through even the most trying of times. Please always listen to him speak as often as he will talk and share his words with you. If both his eyes and his voice dance when he laughs you know that he will always keep you happy, as he knows how to be happy himself. If he knows himself he will be able to take the time to get to know you because he is strong and confident that he is good, decent and can make you happy.

Watch him when he is at home with his family. When you see how he treats his mother, how he listens to her and takes care of her every need, you know he will be a sensitive, loving husband to you. When you see how upset he gets when she is sick or hurt, know that is a sign of how deep his emotions go and how he would go to any lengths to save you from any pain. When you see how proud he is of the moments he shares with his father, you know he will be a loving, devoted father to his children and will always work hard to make all of his family proud of him.

When you’re alone, listen to him as he talks about his dreams and goals for they will show you your future filled with love, fun and adventures together. Let him keep his dreams and his boyish charm and he will romance you on any occasion simply because he wants to make you happy. He will do it because he loves you for letting him be himself and not trying to change him.

Take the time to learn the lessons he takes the time to try to share with you, its’ his way of showing you how he can take care of you. Open your eyes when he takes you to all of his favorite places – even if they are not your cup of tea, he is trying to share who he is with you to bring you closer together.

When you hold his hand and feel its strong yet tender grip, trust him and always keep the faith with him and it will be returned tenfold. When he orders dinner for you, opens the door for you, smile and thank him to let him know that you appreciate him and that you recognize his efforts on your behalf.

If he stays silent after asking him a question, give him the time to process his thoughts on his own and you can be assured when he is ready he will share all because you have shown him that you believe in him.

Let him be a guy and go and play with his friends, know that this isn’t a slight towards you – it is simply how he fills that part of his life, so he can be the man he wants to be with you. Have the confidence in yourself to trust him and more importantly to trust your decision in choosing him, and neither of you will have anything to fear.

Know that you see things in him that he may not yet see in himself and vice versa. Have faith that you are both there because of that greatness and that it will all be there when you are both ready to experience it.

All of these are things I knew about your father from the beginning and that is how I knew he was the right one for me. He always has been and always will be. I hope that you my daughter find a man that is for you, what your father is to me.

If you can feel it - they will too...

It has been said that all we have to do is to ask and it will be given. I think on the base, that is true - but you must also do your part. You must ask for what is right within you, you must believe you are deserving and worthy of what you have asked and when you receive it you must be willing to do so.

Your actions must follow what your words and thoughts are - or else you create confusion. The world as a whole cannot tell the difference between thought and action so will act on whatever is most prevalent. Do not dispair because there is always time to change your thoughts, to clarify what is important. The same goes with your writing. You must be clear on the direction you are heading or at some point it will all fall off the map.

Sometimes free thought writing is a good thing to see what else is going on in your mind, but once you have another direction, that is what you must focus on. Not being clear will create disharmony in your story, its characters and will not make you or your readers feel good. Your words will betray this confusion and will be transferred to those reading.

Be clear in your intention and the integrity of your people and the direction they are heading and your story will follow. Your reader will be able to settle into the world you are creating and be absorbed by its characters and ultimately take part in whatever they are experiencing.

As a writer you need to believe you can create this sort of all encompassing experience and then do everything you can to do so. Then you must be willing to receive the experience in whatever form it arrives. Just as your reader will.

If you can sit with your eyes closed and feel the story, feel the way you want your readers to react, then you can write it. It might just make all the difference in the world...

Photo credit: Istanbul Sunset by Atilla1000 http://www.flickr.com/photos/atillavibes/2647094390/

The richness of perspective...

So many times we are faced with life changing decisions after the fact. When we seem to think its too late to make the requisite changes, or when in fact it is.

Usually we question things when they are going wrong, when we are diagnosed with an illness, when someone we love dies, when we lose our jobs - typically when things are going badly and not according to "plan".

What would happen if we stopped periodically - in advance - to take stock of what is happening in our lives. Are they going the way we planned? Are there changes we want to make? Are there things we need to correct? Are things we can do to avoid a certain outcome now that we have this knowledge?

What is it that makes a person examine their life, their actions, their movements, their words, their legacy? Think of this when you are creating your own characters. Some lives seem fairly simple and others are extremely complicated. Is one 'tagged" or "sterotyped" as boring while the other is seen as exciting? Or is it the other way around... that "plain" is much preferred to "drama". its all a matter of perspective.

Like this gentleman - I believe he is sitting at Preachers Pulpit (and will confirm the photo credit once I have found it). He could be contemplating the greatness of the planet and the richness of his life that has led him to this incredible experience. He could be facing his fears or he could be letting go of hurt and pain. He could be suicidal and this picture was the last snapped before he pushed himself slowly off of the ledge. He could be "testing" his faith or challenging fate. He could also be a student doing a first glance at a geological study he is about to undertake...the options are endless.

So are the opportunities to create our characters and stories ... so why stick with the "expected" or "norms" and instead, think outside of the proverbial box. Try a new hobby out in a book, examine a situation you never want to be in - perhaps these will make you richer as a person and that will impact your life - both on and off of the paper.

Photo credit: Preachers Pulpit - to be advised

What is your fuel?

What is it that makes your fingers type faster than you knew possible? Is the emotion you are feeling truly what you think or is it covering for something else, something deeper?

Does that make your characters much richer than they would have been before? Does it add new layers to the drama?

Nothing is ever how it seems on the surface - not in real life, so why would our writing not reflect the same things? Even if we are looking to read as an escape - it still has to have the ring of reality to it or we will just put the book down.

Worse even than that - as writers, we put our own book down because we have lost interest in it because it has lost its way. Go back to that moment, remember how it felt, feel it, relive it - until you are in that place where it is all too real again. Then you can write about it again - this time with the genuine feelings that will make it all make sense and hold both you to the writing and the reader to what you have written.

Just make sure you are not adding too much fuel to your fire and that you burn out...

We get to create our own reality every day...

I think one of the best things about writing is that we get to create.

Every day, with every sentence on every page. We can create a person, a scenario, a place, a life and so much more - from nothing. We can use previous ideas, people we have met, places we have been as inspiration.

We can create people that we would like to be and events we would like to experience. As well we can explore our own demons and fears by giving them to our characters.

We can do in our stories - first, before we try something in real life. We can play out scenarios that we had left unfinished in our own lives to say what we have left unsaid. We can develop a storyline for what we hope to experience in our future.

I think that being able to "get lost" in a story of our own creation allows us to live as many lives as we have the time to create. We may physically only live one life - but if we are careful to hone our craft and do it well, we can live 10, 20 or 30 or more depending on how prolific we are or the type of things we write.

Every day is a new opportunity to create a different reality. I think the question is whether we should just limit ourselves to do this in our writing.

Just start typing and the words will follow...

What is it about writing that fills us with such joy, such peace, provides calmness and release? Is it the stories that we tell, they way they are told or is it just the simple act of getting it out that makes us feel this way?

For me I know that when I write something - that is when I learn what is going on in my mind, my heart and my soul. Sometimes I surprise myself because what I had intended to write - is something completely different by the time I am done. But its perfect and exactly what I wanted it to say.

I love the days when you have absolutely no idea what you want to write about, what the topic is - yet you push yourself to just sit down and get started. I love those moments of hearing your fingers hitting the keyboard and watching the words you are typing show up on the screen. I love the moments of surprise when you read your own writing and find that by some miracle that a) it makes sense and b) you actually did have something to say.

I believe there is so much going on behind the scenes in our worlds, lives and brain - to name but a few, that it should be no surprise there is always something to say or sort out in one manner or another. My husband for example - figures things out in his head and then talks or writes about it, where a friend of mine figures it out as she speaks. For me, I just start typing.

I love the sense of adventure of not knowing what is going to come out and what it is that I actually wanted to say. Don't get me wrong - not every day is productive and on more than a few days I laugh at what I wrote and then close the file quickly before anybody else has a chance to read it.

I do however have to say that most everything I have written has come to use at one time or another. Some thought, some brief trail of words that seemed so alone with no home when I wrote them all of a sudden are perfect in my third novel when I am trying to explain something. I love it when that happens, it gives me confidence that I am doing something I love and that I should be doing.

Is there anything that you have thought of or written a while ago that didn't have a "home" so you just saved it on its own? Is that message now valid for your current writing? Could you have now found your missing piece and solved your own case of writers block?

Take a look and I'll bet you will find the answers are already there... you just need to look.

Photo credit: Flickr - gclemens http://www.flickr.com/photos/giorgio-clementi/

Writers must also see themselves as readers...

Sometimes we need to look to the past in able to see ahead. At other times we need to face the darkness to see the light.

Perceptions, stereotypes and preconcieved notions can limit us while letting them go can propel us much farther ahead, sometimes gently, other times faster than the speed of sound.

Most everything we do is based on or rooted in past history, past experiences of someone or something.

There are probably not many original thoughts left on the planet. Sure enough there are plenty of opportunities for new thoughts for each of us as individuals, but not as a collective - and that is probably where and why it gets interesting.

If you combine the seven degress of separation that we all live within to the notion of there being only 6 basic stories in the world - you can see how challenging it can be to write something of interest to anybody else. I think that is part of the fun.

What each of us bring to every story is our own experience and our own perspective. Combine that with our own unique way of using words and you have a new twist to any story.

I also think as a writer we need to consider ourselves as readers.

Sometimes we don't want a new idea - we are looking for those feelings of comfort and relief knowing that someone feels the same. Sometimes we don't want the familiar and are looking for a distraction to break the pattern of monotony that has encapsulated us.

Sometimes we want to look at something thousands of years old and pretend we are the first to see it. They joy of that is it is partially true - the first time that we see it - counts as a first time to us. Being able to experience that joy, wonder, amazement and awe is an incredible gift and does not in any way get lessened by the fact that others have seen it before and many will see it after.

I think that is why writing works - because there is enough room for everything. Past, present and future - and for each of us, that is an individual journey. Our own unique gift we bring to whatever we write.

So don't despair when you start to think its all been done before... nobody has done your version of it!

All I Remember is the love...

Today is my birthday and for the first and hopefully only time - I am going to post the same message on my blogs.

Actually, I couldnt say it any better than I did on the first one, so please feel free to go there to read the post.

http://www.damagedbricks.blogspot.com.

Have a wonderful day.

Holding the sun....

I have the "sister" to this picture/illusion "Woman holding the moon" on my other blogsite http://www.DamagedBricks.blogspot.com, if you would like to see it. Both photos have come to me today and as I have stated I believe it is because I am in a state of reflection today as I approach my 40th birthday tomorrow.

I also believe this picture is appropriate for this blog because the first novel I wrote in 2004 was called "Following the Son" and perhaps it is time to revisit it and reconsider the truth of the title.

The novel is about the lessons learned during the pregnancy and subsequent loss of her son, that lead to self discovery in ways that previously had been foreign. The inspiration for the title was from the song by Engima called "Following the Sun" had the lyrics of:

Following the sun, to find the one
Who's giving you the wings to fly
Following the sun, the golden one
Losing sense for space and time

Can you feel the waves of life
(Can you) hear the sigh of love
Do you believe in it ?

Following the sun, just for the one
Till you'll find the door you thought
Following the sun, like everyone
Searching for a sign of hope

Have a look up to the sky
See the billion stars above
Cos (maybe) on one of them
You'll spend your further life

I wonder if instead of Following the Sun... today I should revisit the story to amend it to emcompass the love for her son is still there, but instead of feeling the loss and hopelessness leading her to follow him, I should change it to her finding a place of "Holding the Son" in her heart.

I don't know if he will come back to her in another time, another form or another life, but I do know that she is richer for the experience and carries it with her through her travels of life.

With age comes perspective and change, what changes can you now make with the gift of time that you have been given?

Good vs. Evil, Write vs. Wrong...

Is there really a difference?

The real temple was built in gratitude for victory at the battle of Lake Regillus (495 BC). Castor and Pollux (Greek Polydeuces) were the Dioscuri, the "twins" of Gemini, the twin sons of Zeus (Jupiter) and Leda. Their cult came to Rome from Greece via Magna Graecia and the Greek culture of Southern Italy.

The last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, and his allies, the Latins, waged war on the infant Roman Republic. Before the battle, the Roman dictator Aulus Postumius Albinus vowed to build a temple to the Dioscuri if Rome was victorious. According to legend Castor and Pollux appeared on the battlefield as two able horsemen in aid of the Romans. And, after the battle had been won they again appeared on the Forum in Rome watering their horses at the Spring of Juturna thereby announcing the victory. The temple stands on the supposed spot of their appearance. Postumius’s son finished the temple in 484 BC.

In Greek mythology, the Dioskouroi (Διόσκουροι), Kastor and Polydeukes (Κάστωρ και Πολυδεύκης), in Roman mythology the Gemini (Latin, "twins") or Castores, Castor and Pollux, are the twin sons of Leda and the brothers of Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. Castor means "beaver" in both Greek and Latin, and poludeukeis means "very sweet". In the myth the twins shared the same mother but had different fathers which meant that Pollux was immortal and Castor was mortal. When Castor died, Pollux asked Zeus to keep them together and they were transformed into the Gemini constellation.

The lost Cypria explained the terms of their joint immortality as a gift of Zeus. In Odyssey, Homer renders the paradox: both buried now in the life-giving earth though still alive.
Even under the earth Zeus grants them that distinction: one day alive, the next day dead, each twin by turns they both hold honours equal to the gods" (Thanks to Wikipedia for the above)

No matter what way you take any of this information - this version of the Temple can have an additional element providing you with more of a story if you wish it to or are open to it. In the Hollywood movie Face Off - the two brothers - Castor and Pollux Troy - one is good, one is evil -if you choose to see it that way.

I think most of us at one time or another see things like that - as either black or white, good or bad, yet somehow that is not fulfilling and we look for more depth. When we look for more we can see that the brothers shared a love for each other that dictated they both accept their behaviour, their gifts and their challenges.

Perhaps there is beauty in both if we can look past preconceived notions. I think this adds more depth to each character and provides more options for a story. How would you handle something like this? Would you make both sides into one person? A multiple personality? Or continue to explore as two - but show how there can be good from bad and bad from good etc.? Take out the stereotypical views and attitudes to see how the characters develop themselves. Do they sabotage each other or try to uplift each other - at their own expense perhaps?

Creating things outside the box can be a rich and rewarding exercise and may just create something that is entertaining and brilliant, far more than you could have ever imagined.

Photo credit: dfworks http://www.flickr.com/photos/12081660@N00/

Did you listen to your soul today?

If so.. what did it say? What did the words mean to you? What story did they tell? Were you able to hear it behind all the noises and distractions of the day? Were you able to find the time to listen?

This picture of a bench made me think of that today. Perhaps it is the way the picture was focused.

Sometimes it is music that inspires us, sometimes it is pictures, sometimes it is other peoples words or actions... and sometimes it is nothing at all - just a raw, primal need to put pen to paper or to hear the all too familiar click of the keyboards. You know once you start to do it your beating heart will start to calm and your senses will come alive, you just know you are home, you were meant to be here, at this moment, doing this.

What could be more perfect?

Photo credit: syo0828 http://www.flickr.com/photos/14281332@N06/sets/72157603164785768/

World on fire...

This picture was taken in the Bitterroot National Forest in Montana on August 6, 2000 by a fire behavior analyst from Fairbanks, Alaska by the name of John McColgan with a Digital camera. Since he was working as a Forest Service firefighter this picture is pulic property and cannot be sold or used for commercial purposes.

I love this picture - the beauty of it, not the reality of the situation. What does this make you feel? How would you feel having been Mr. McColgan? If you were in the same situation as the deer? What do you see when you look at it - the beauty of the fire, the incredible beauty of the land, the water and the deer against their backdrop of flames? Do you see the greenness in the surroundings that you don't normally see in this situation?

Do you feel the fear of the deer? Do you feel sadness for the perceived inevitable or do you feel hope for the survival instincts that have led them this far?

How can such an incredible dichotomy be so perfect - yet so real with such real consequences that will far outlast this one single moment? Isn't that what life is about and made up of - moments like this?

Does every moment have such a drama, yet we don't see it because we are so caught up with our own lives? Do you have to feel fear or dread to realize what every moment before it and forever after holds?

On a personal note, when my father found out his cancer was not survivable - he went on a journey to his favorite places. This park in Montana was one of them - although he was there a few years after this fire.

I wonder if the inspiration for the story I will write from this was provided by my father. I wonder if this is my fathers way of showing me to look at more than his death and his final steps with anguish, fear and regrets - but to see the perfect beauty in his choice to be at his happiest with his final days...

Perhaps that is a place to start changing my perceptions that have been limited by my own experiences or lack there of.

There is beauty in everything if you want to see it and take the time to do so.

Alone ...

First lets get the important information out of the way - I found this picture on 'Stuff U Can Use" and there was no reference to who took it/created it. If you do know please let me know so I can advise the credit or remove.

I do not know if it is real or man made - either way I still find it absolutely incredible and it makes me want to write about it.

I think of the power of the ocean, the water and the waves. I think of the gifts water can provide and am in awe of its greatness. Yet I am completely aware of is power and how it cannot be taken for granted.

I love how this single calm seeminly peaceful man - having chosen such solitude seems so resolute depsite what is going on around him as if it holds no meaning or touches no places of fear within him. Is he aware of his possible or probable fate? Did he choose it or has he just come to a final acceptance of it?

Is he thrilled by the power and about to open his arms to embrace the openess of the sea - as if to fly on its highest of waves? Is it just one rogue wave or has each one before grown to end up with this magnificent finale? Or is the downside and having survived the worst he can be calm, knowing that the beast is retreating?

What does that sound like - this all encompassing, all consuming call of the wild. Is he deaf to the noise or just its beckoning threats? What does the cold air smell like? Is the freshness intoxicating? Just like you can smell the rain coming - there is a smell to a storm... but if you are not afraid, does the acridness begin to smell sweet like the froth that is stirred to the top? Does the cold water make you feel alive or numb you to the fullest of the experience?

One single moment - so many thoughts... how could we ever find enough words to capture the love, the fear, the peace, the despair, the power, the acceptance, the anxiety, the release and that feeling of being truly alive with all of our senses fully at their peak?

But you know as well as I do - we are writers and will try to find a way.... and that is as it should be.

I love to write...

It is something that I am fortunate enough to have the time to do. I also think I come by the need to write quite honestly, you see my mother is a writer too. I hope one day we can read something the other person has written as a way of getting to know each other better.

Until then, I'll give you a quick update of where I am today. To date I have written four novels, two childrens series and several articles, none of which have been published. Not that I have received any rejections, because I haven't actually sent anything out yet.

I am currently taking two writing courses that I am enjoying tremendously. I also enter writing contests to challenge myself. One of these days I will get things ready to move ahead to make my dreams come true.

You see I would like to make a career out of being a writer. Perhaps I will be one of the lucky ones and actually get paid for it. While that would be nice, I write for myself and that is payment enough. For now...