I dreamed about being a writer and here I am living my dream. I'm a writer. But this is not an end, it's a process, a journey, and it continues. Come, walk along with me as I write.
I used to believe that I couldn’t possibly write about writing. Although I had pieces published at Absolute Write, Writing Corner and other writing sites, I still felt I could never consistently write about writing as eloquently as the other writers did. No way could I ever invoke such passion in myself or worse, in others, especially writers. Nah, I’d stick to my decorating pieces.
Yet here I am embroiled in this blog and connecting with some wonderful bloggers: passionate, creative, joyful, inspiring writers - identifying with their stories, and they identifying with mine.
It's not about writing eloquently but truthfully, authentically and passionately.
Thank you for following and subscribing to Perspectives on Writing. You are the ones who are fueling my passion and sprinkling petals of inspiration on my journey.
It is official. I’m babysitting my granddaughter and I’m asking myself, how did I get here? It seems as if just the other day, I resigned from my job to spend my days writing. It seems as if just the other day, I was reveling in living my dream, writing fulltime. It seems as if just the other day… Well, those days are gone and here I am.
Whenever I am on the brink of a major life change, I usually step back from my accustomed activities. It is almost as if I am stuck in a holding pattern. That is what happened last week - no writing in my journal, no blogging, minimal commenting on my favorite blogs. Last week I felt disconnected and lost. I was standing still and waiting for the train of change to stop by my door.
Babysitting Sian is more or less a three-year commitment. She should be going to kindergarten at 3 - 3 1/2 years. Of course, as she gets older my daily routines will change and many days I will depart from how I function the day before. Nevertheless, it is a commitment I embrace joyfully.
These are the promises I’ve made to myself :
1. I will write in my journal daily, regardless of the composition of my day. I figure, I must go to bed so at least I can journal before I slide under the covers and switch off the bedside lamp.
2. I will honor my writing obligations - column, blogs, assignments, deadlines etc. My column and other miscellaneous assignments are the bread and butter and meat and potatoes of my writing life. My blogs are just as significant because they keep me on my writing toes, allows me to share my experiences, my thoughts and my feelings about life and writing. The ones I read religiously and comment at and my wonderful, creative, inspiring, caring and supportive blogging friends are the delicious, decadent desserts I need to have a balanced, informed, inspiring and creative life.
3. I will schedule personal time to nurture and nourish myself physically, mentally and spiritually by engaging in activities, I enjoy- napping on the couch, sitting on the porch, reading, writing in my journal, writing letters, drawing and photography.
Today wasn’t too bad. I managed to write a few blog posts and scheduled them for publication, finished the final read-through of the article for my column and sent it off. I identified the topic for the next installment and wrote a detailed outline. I prepared and emailed my invoices for work published last month. I backed-up my files and copied them to the notebook computer my husband gave me. It is so much more convenient to use anywhere. It’s smaller and lighter than my laptop.
I’ve always boasted that I am a lark (a morning person) - more inspired, more creative, more productive and all that good stuff between dawn and noon. I’ve been practicing to be an owl (a night person) and I’m not too bad at it either. Talk about change.
Jan Lundy from Awake is Good gave me this award. As I accept it with gratitude and humility, I am just as happy to pass it on to 6 bloggers who inspire me every single day with their beautifully written posts that drip with the essence of their creative passions and their joy in sharing their lives with the people who read and follow their blogs.
Jan Lundy - Awake is Good (I don't know if I am allowed to send the award to the blogger who sent it to me but how can I not present it to Jan who has had such an impact on my life and my writing?)
The following piece was first pubished on February 10th 2008 in my weekly column. I decided to share it here to encourage you to not forsake writing when your world crumbles around you.
This could be the year that you’ll sail on calm seas and reel in the best that life has to offer. For some of us though, turbulence maybe waiting just beyond today’s calm waters. For some of us, our worlds will explode and everything we hold dear will fall in fragments around us. It’s easy then to let the emotional devastation overwhelm us, cause us to lose our sense of direction and sink into the dark, murky waters of despair.
Journaling is an easy and effective way to deal with the pounding waves and battering winds. It can help us to understand the storm’s true impact on our lives and to regain the will, power and strength to gather the shattered pieces, apply the appropriate glue to mend them and move on with the business of living.
Certain events can easily throw us overboard, disrupt our normal lives, shatter our emotions and leave us struggling and sinking out at sea. Periodically we surface just long enough to see that we have drifted far from the familiar shores of our lives and have instead settled into a strange treading pattern, breathless and disoriented. Parents often insist that they have to stay strong and survive for their children. But we have to survive for our own sakes as well.
Here are two things to keep in mind as you consider using a journal to stay afloat in the ocean of your crisis.
Start early. As early as possible after the storm hits, reach for your journal or any notebook and start writing. Forget eloquence, flawless prose, accurate sentence structure and precise grammar. Instead, focus on writing out your disappointment, your pain, your anger etc. But don’t let your preconceived ideas or my advice hem you into writing certain things and in a particular way. Write your way, whatever it may be; individual words, stream of thoughts like a prayer, a letter to the person who has hurt you, or to someone who might be going through the same torment.
Visualize land. As in most instances in life, you’ll want to keep your eyes peeled on the horizon -- the life to which you hope to return or your dream destination. In the grand scheme of things, it might only be a hazy strip in the far distance but keep paddling by writing as often as possible.
Journaling provides a way to ground yourself, at least for little snatches of time. It is a safe, private haven where you pour out your confusion and sorrow and still maintain the composure and grace to carry out your daily functions.
When our hearts are broken, seemingly beyond repair and the pain feels so real, we clutch whatever we can to keep ourselves afloat. Reaching for your journal is far better than launching an attack or “spilling the beans” inappropriately.
The record you keep now for your sanity can one day be the catalyst for initiating a positive turnaround for you or for someone else going through his or her own crisis. Library shelves and the Internet are loaded with stories written by survivors of some of life’s most devastating incidents and many of them started with journal entries as memory aids and therapy. And they provide a clear record of their struggles, hopes, deliverance and triumphs.
Your circumstances are no less worthy of pen and paper. The account of your turmoil and how you survived will live on in your journal long after the event and serve as a reference for lighting the way for you in some other unfortunate situation or furnish you with just the right words to comfort and encourage someone else.
Keeping a journal helped me to brave the fear of my deepest feelings, bring them to the fore and engage with them to understand my reactions to the storms in my life. The practice also taught me how to gain a different perspective on life’s events based on my spiritual beliefs.
Only when I forced myself to reread my journals did I discover how a particular period of my life appeared to me. My written record read like the delirious mumblings of someone in the throes of an insane fever. The handwriting was almost illegible. But the pain, was so evident right there in black and white, sprawled across the pages. Naturally it evoked some red hot tears of remembrance. But between the lines, in the midst of the obvious anguish, it was evident that I was hopeful when despair and mental exhaustion diluted my emotions.
As a writer, I have found value in my journal not only for myself. But I hope, words of comfort, advice and encouragement that will help turn today’s victims into tomorrow’s survivors. Often I unearth something that strikes at the core of a topic I am researching or the pain I hear in someone’s voice or see in their eyes. That something, that experience, that truth, my truth inspires me to look at life, my life from a different perspective and provides me with globs of soothing balm to help ease someone else’s pain, clarify their confusion and revive their hope.
When you find yourself sinking in the current of an agonizing, confusing time of your life, take your journal and write your pain, grief, loss and prayers of hope in it. The practice will help you brave the storm and reach land once more.
I’m not a fan of memes but tried it a few times and discovered a strange kind of freedom that came with sharing snippets of myself. Still I don't respond to every tag that comes my way. This time my friend Jan Lundy over at Awake is Good tagged me. I had so much fun reading her responses that I thought I'd give it a try.
7 things you may not know about me:
1. From the moment I envisioned my dream to be a writer, whenever my mother scolded me i would respond with a letter explaining and apologizing for whatever I had done. Only when I became an adult did she tell me that she enjoyed reading my letters because in them she could trace my maturity.
2. My father died on October 25th 2007 and even now the pain is so fresh, so raw and so deep, that I still can’t talk about it or him without emotional blood flooding my heart.
3. I am an avid collector of kitchen gadgets, pens, teapots, journals and baskets.
4. I dream of the day when I could live alone, completely alone. As a teenager I used to insist that I will not get married until I had a chance to live by myself. It didn’t happen and the dream is still alive.
5. I am a silent rebel. My husband was the first person to see it, say it and feel the effects of my silent rebellion.
6. I was a real push over until I reached my mid-thirties. That’s when I began drilling in my own head that when I reach forty I will no longer take crap from anybody. The drilling worked too. Silent rebellion coupled with taking-no-crap helped me to stand, fight and defeat efforts by family members and friends to make me conform to their version of who I should be, control and limit me and stifle my dreams.
7. I want to be a speaker. Sure I’m scared like hell even to admit it. But I read a post recently at Good Life Zen that inspired me to speak it out loud. This meme gives me the chance to own it and share it.
Guess what I discovered? I can't write on Mondays. Well, except for in my journal. I can'texplain it but I simply can't hunker down to any serious writing.
Sure I go to my writing space with my morning coffee (a must have) and sit. I can't write. Nothing comes out, literally nothing, not even gibberish. BLANK screen, BLANK mind.
I check and respond to email, read my favorite blogs and a few that are not on my list of favorites. I save stuff to folders to read later. I still can't write.
Instead of beating up myself about it, I've decided to label Monday my official personal writer's day off or is the correct term writing day off? Any thoughts?
Freedom! I don't have to force myself to write a piece or two for my column or posts for my blog.
Maybe, just maybe, with no pressure, I may write next Monday. I may just write up a storm and dash off two advance articles for the column and schedule a few posts for my blogs.
Anyway, until that happens, I'll enjoy my Monday day off.
Is there a day in the week when, no matter how you try, you just can't generate words for serious writing. Do you have a writer's/writing day off? What do you spend time doing on your day off?
In response to Joanne DeMaio's post at Whole Latte Life, I left the following comment:
Hi Joanne,
My front porch is my personal retreat, my favorite place to sit, and think, and dream, and read, and write. Lately I've included photography in the mix.
As a lover of Country Style, baskets feature prominently in all areas of my life. And my afternoon porch sessions are no different. I keep a basket by the front door and it holds the essentials for my almost daily retreat - latest Writer's Digest magazine, current book I'm reading, dictionary, journal, writer's notebook, and an assortment of pens, pencils and highlighters.
I'll post a picture of it on my blog.
This is a photo of my favorite accessory, my basket for my almost daily retreat on my front porch.
This is just awesome! Joanne DeMaio from Whole Latte Life gave me this wonderful Lovey Award. I'm so thrilled.
The Lovey Award is for "blogs that are exceedingly charming. These kind of bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to three bloggers who must choose three more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."
B J is a kindred journal- keeper whose passion for the practice oozes from every line in every post. If I didn't keep a journal, after reading one post on her blog, she'd have me journaling in a heart beat as if my life depended on it.
"Writing stories that leave a fingerprint on the heart" describes Terri's blog but Terri is the true treasure because each post is a reflection of her generous heart.
In the pursuit of a full, rich and purposeful life, sleeping is not an option. Awake is good, in fact it is much better than sleeping-waking through life. Jan shows you how to wake up to your life and incorporate the daily practices that make it special.
I'll leave you now to hop on over and visit these wonderful bloggers/writers.
My weekly column Wright Words of Wisdom, featured in their Sunday edition will have its last run on Sunday 1st February.Below is a copy of the emailI I sent to those readers who have contacted me since the column debuted in September 2006.
The Trinidad Guardian "streamlining their cadre of freelance writers" - their words. They have terminated the services of several of their freelancers, and I am on that list.
Although I was half expecting it, now that it has actually happened, I still feel a bit lost. The column was so many things to me. It marked my transition from fulltime employment to fulltime writing - a long-held dream. It confirmed my purpose and my message. Although I have been writing for publication since 1998, the rhythm of writing an article every week helped me develop my writing style and fine-tune my voice.
To a certain extent, the column defined me. It was the focus of my day after I my morning devotions (Bible reading, prayer, meditation and journaling) and taking care of my daily chores. Even more important, at the center of all that were the readers who emailed me every week with thanks, with their own stories, with encouragement to keep writing and sometimes even with requests for a copy of my book.
For the last two years, I’ve been thinking of upgrading my skills and my writing qualifications. The Writer’s Bureau had been sending me a prospectus for their writing courses for several years. I was interested but never made a decision. When the prospectus for their journalism course came three weeks ago, I decided that it was time to move. I took my own advice in an article I wrote recently, and enrolled. These are hard economic times and the perfect time for upgrades even as the global economy is spiraling downward.
While I still have miscellaneous assignments for online publications, they don’t require the kind of daily discipline the weekly column demanded. So I have ample time to devote to the comprehensive 28-module course and I am aiming to complete it in three years instead of four. That’s my main priority after which comes that book.I plan to work on it in earnest. My blogs need attention – more regular postings. I will keep writing and submitting my work for publication both online and in print. Then I have two other activities that are more than mere interests. They are passions I have only recently renewed – photography and art.
In my articles I often encourage readers to have a support system as they contemplate, plan and embark on their own journeys. I have mine – a cheering section that won’t let me forget who is steering my life, who I am, what I have already accomplished, what I can do and what I am passionate about. With that kind of support there is no time to second guess myself, procrastinate or give in to fear. I look forward to stretching myself and expanding my boarders.
So I move on – not forgetting but fondly remembering the stage of my life that has just passed and all the people who have shared it with me and helped to make it enjoyable, successful and above all, memorable.
Thank you for the encouragement you’ve been to me. I hope to see your name in my Hotmail Inbox and in the comment section on my blogs: Perspectives on Life, Cheryl Wright Writes and Quiet Time with God.
God bless you.
Have you been considering or facing changes with regardto your writing? Come on now, you know you're not alone. Bring your stories into the comment section and let's support and encourage one another.
For a while now about a year, I'd say, I've wanted to upgrade my skills and qualifications. Although several interesting and potentially lucrtive options stood before me, I held on to my desire to do something related to writing.
The Writer's Bureau have been sending me their prospectus for years. Their writing courses are much more comprehensive than the one I did with Penn Foster. Although I could have chosen specific areas, somehow I remained unsettled.
When God moves, the time is always right. A few weeks ago I received another prospectus from the Writer's Bureau for their Journalism Course. They have sent me this information so often in the last two years that I practically know the course outline by heart. This time though, not only was the price right (reduced by 100. pounds) but so was the timing.
In view of the economic downturn, which has not yet impacted my country on the scale I hear about in places like the US and UK (recently confirmed as officially being in a recession), I have been concerned about upgrading the kind of freelance work I can pursue and services I can provide.
Reading through the 28 modules being offered in the journalism prospectus, my heart was at peace and excited at the same time. This is what I should do. This is what I want to do.
Once I make up my mind about something, I don't waste time second guessing myself and asking everybody else's opinion. So I contacted the school with a few questions and when they replied, I proceeded to register. Yesterday morning I hit the "Checkout" button and sent my deposit whizzing through cyberspace. In seconds I had access to the first modules online while they packaged the textbooks to send through the post.
I have four years to complete a comprehensive 28 module journalism course. My goal is to complete it in three years instead. It will yank me out of my comfort zone and although I am a little scared, I am much more excited about the adventures that await me.
Soon ythere'll be a new journalist in town and you will see "journalist" in my email signature, my bio and my byline -
Rules direct and guide us. Rules keep us organized. Rules foster efficiency and productivity. I have nothing against rules. But rules can be a stumbling block to our creative spirits, tripping us up and throwing us down as we fight to free our selves and cast our hearts and our words on the uncertain waters of the writing sea. Rules can be tall, thick walls that keep us out of the success arena, until we have paid dues and done time. Rules can be a real pain in a writer’s behind.
So how do we deal with the rules of the writing game without throwing out the proverbial baby with the bath water?
Know the rules. Heed the ones that fit our personality, our lifestyle and how, when and where we work. Adopt those that encourage and enhance our writing styles and our writing process. Work with the rules that motivate us to stick our toes out the door of our comfortable place. We focus on those that have a positive effect on our writing - teaching us discipline, keeping us motivated and inching us along the path to our writing dreams.
Bend the rules. Some of the existing rules don’t support our efforts, our inspiration or our need for adventure but with a little tweaking, they just might work. We could bend them a little at first. Throw in a loop and a couple of turns to see if we get a better fit. We could play with them one way and then try another and another. Before we decide certain rules are not for us, we should give them a chance to prove themselves - to see if they could help us become the kind of writers we want to be.
Example 1: Write what you know. Maybe what you know is the very thing that’s driving you to write outside the box and full throttle into something far removed from your experience. You’re an adventurous soul and what you don’t know tugs at your heart. If that’s you, this rule is not for you.
Example 2: Write as soon as you wake in the morning. Writers who hold down 9 – 5 jobs, have toddlers to care for and other commitments may barely get to breathe in the morning. As soon as they open their eyes they are on the go. Writing during their lunch hour at work or while sitting on the toilet at home while the children do homework, play or get ready for bed, might be more their style. If that describes your life, then do that, be content with that, own it, embrace it. It is your time. Bend the write-in-the-morning rule; write at a time that suits your lifestyle.
Break the rules. Some rules are just way over the top for some of us. We have a saying here in Trinidad, "Pick sense out of nonsence," and that's what we have to do with writing rules. From the moment we read or hear certain rules, we know they won’t work for us. We have to break them outright. SNAP! Forget them ZAP!
Example 3: A writer writes everyday. Yeah right, with 3 kids (ages 8 months, 3 years and 7 years), a husband in Iraq, a fulltime job, night classes, PTA and church responsibilities, in which lifetime? Maybe that is your response or something close to it. You decide when you will write. Maybe your mother, sister or friend can only take the children on weekends, maybe only on Saturday evenings for two hours. Is that your only time, your best time, your free time to spend by yourself and writing? Claim it. It is your sacred time. Forget the write-everyday rule. Once a week is perfect for you. It is a better and more productive time because you can give writing your undivided attention and your full heart.
Write our own rules. The world is replete with people who are living and succeeding by their own rules. Writers can do the same. Some have and many do.
I'm not a rule-breaker by nature. In fact I'm more of a color-between-the-lines kind of person, borderline OCD and mildly adventurous. My usual first response is to go with the rules. That's not bad. it is a good place to start. After awhile, as my confidence grows, I shimmy close to the line and step over every so gently. Then if I feel comfortable, I'm off and running buoyed by a few rules of my own.
Some of the rules we write by today were coined by people who probably dared to do things differently, to follow their own hearts, sing their own songs and dance to the beat of their own drums. We have the same right.
When it comes to writing (like other forms of creativity) we should use the rules that work, bend some to fit our lives, our writing style and process, break those that don't work and write our own. After all it is our writing isn’t it? Even if we're writing for someone, we’re the ones doing the writing and in order to write better and smarter, only the best rules, the most appropriate rules will do.
I’ve only shared three of the more common rules. Do you know the ones that work for you? Which rules can you bend to fit the shape of your life or break out right? Come on in the comments section and share some of the rules you’ve written and used to help you achieve your writing goals?
It was time to observe my New Year ritual, so I settled down on the porch with my 10-year journal, my notebook, my new journal and a cup of tea for some serious review, reassessment and planning.
I identified a few goals I want to achieve this year but more importantly, I decided to adopt and focus on the term, "just one more" with every writing and writing-related task or project I undertake - administrative duties, research, writing/blogging, editing, reviewing, reading, etc.
The days of stopping short of completing tasks on my to-do list are over. With God's help I am taking a new approach to everything I do to enhance and advance my writing career.
The concept of "just one more" entails doing one more thing, going one more step, reading for one more hour or one more chapter, writing one more page, doing one more round of editing, sending one more query and submission to one more market, etc.
I've read about and experienced first-hand, the benefits of doing one more thing, taking one more proactive step, not settling for less than excellent efforts. And that is what 'just one more" means really - refusing to settle for mediocrity or good enough.
If we want to achieve our writing goals, accomplish our writing dreams and be the writers we want to be, then we must be willing to give ourselves one more push, go one step further, take one more chance and do one more thing to make them happen.
It is not always easy to do one more of anything at the end of a busy day of home, family and work responsibilities and other demands that may come up unexpectedly. Even fulltime writers can easily become overwhelmed and sidetracked by the other responsibilities in their lives.
From time to time, I will share my progress with you. Hopefully you will be encouraged to adopt this concept for your own writing practice.
Guess what? I wrote one more post for our Saturday Soirée and scheduled it for posting next Saturday.
Have you sorted out what goals you want to go after this year? Do you have an overriding goal or strategy to improve your success at achieving them? I've shared mine; you're welcome to share yours.
Whatever our writing goals are, however simple, however grand, however varied, let's determine to keep writing, a little everyday or as often as our lifestyles and responsibilities will allow because we're writing up a storm this year. Aren't we?
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