Poetry Sunday~ Lazarus

LAZARUS

The sun streamed through the cloud-less sky
Jesus trudged on, knowing just why.
Everyone sought His aid this day,
For Lazarus was dead where he lay.

“Can you help him?” is what they said.
There he lay, left for dead.
As Jesus approached the darkened tomb,
He looked at Lazarus alone in the room.

“Rise up” He said “Come forth with me,”
“Proclaim your life so all can see.”
The one true God breathed life again,
Into this man as only He can.

New life is given for the truth to be known.
Miracles abound for us to be shown.
The story is told for us to believe,
That our Lord above will never deceive.

FREE Writing Workshops

Many new writer’s need an outlet for their work. A writing workshop is the place for you.
There are so many FREE Writing Workshops online that there is no reason that you’re not in one right now. (Well because you’re reading me, it is okay to be absent.)

A writing workshop will help with the struggles you’re having as a writer. The people from these sites are usually writer’s themselves and are seeking the same thing for their writing, someone to read their work and someone to tell them what they are doing wrong.

We can’t grow as a writer if someone is always telling us how good our work is. We need someone who will be brutally honest, not to the the point of telling us our work stinks, but maybe a softly guided form where they head you in the direction of what you are doing right and where you are going wrong.

If you understand the basic elements of writing and think that you know everything there is to know about writing, I’m here to tell you that you’re wrong. We writer’s never stop growing in knowledge and we can not ever have such an ego to think we don’t need assistance in bringing our work to completion.

We get published by having someone review our work and through many revisions (and I mean nail biting, cutting to the bones revision.) We think it’s complete and has gone through all the ranks and rigors but when we submit, it still gets rejected. What are we doing wrong?

Nothing! This is a dog eat dog world out here and writer’s are not exempt. Knowing the craft will aid you in becoming a published author, but what it really takes is persistence and perseverance!

Writing workshops, I believe, build the confidence up for you when you’re struggling through the revisions. Having that voice egging you further, having someone as a mentor of sorts with encouragement overflowing, this is what will aim you in the direction of publication. Being persistent in your goal of becoming published is what keeps you coming back to the writing craft again and again.

Listen to your writing peers, fix what is wrong, learn what you don’t know and give to the writing world what you always knew was right at the tip of your fingers all along, and that’s refined writing! Yes YOUR refined writing.

I’m a mentor with a Free Writing Course called F2K (Fiction2000 for those who are bound to ask what F2K stands for.) It is brought to you by Writer’s Village University and offered three times a year. A seven week course of some of the basic elements: voice, characterization, dialogue, POV etc. We offer a mentor (for a small fee) to those who want to upgrade and get that one-on-one indepth critique. It is a peer-to-peer course that remains a success in the writing world. Writer’s who completed the course keep coming back because they love the atmosphere it offers, but most of all, because they love learning!

Mark your calendars for May 20th. Registration is happening NOW!

Write Right my friends and what better way to do that than WITH friends?

Diction/Tone

The definition of diction is:

The accent, inflection, intonation, and speech-sound quality manifested by an individual speaker, usually judged in terms of prevailing standards of acceptability; enunciation.

Tone: any sound considered with reference to its quality, pitch, strength, source, etc.

Now read these two sentences:

“It would please me so to have you join me for a wondrous gala event at my place.”

“Could you join me for a birthday party at my house?”

There you have it, formal diction and a normal tone of inflection. If you’re writing a formal book on manners, you might use the etiquette of kings and queens, but if you’re writing to the reading public, you’re going to need to speak to them.

We have formal diction, used in a scholarly environment. This is where people of knowledge sit around talking in big words that have no meaning for the uneducated. This form is used in boastful conversations where doctors and lawyers want to show each other how smart they are.

Informal, used often in a normal environment. This is where people in a cafe speak using the language that they were raised to understand.

Colloquial, which is a word, phrase, or form of pronunciation that is acceptable in casual conversation. This is where you speak as if you are more educated than you really are. Or this is how you normally speak.

And then there is the colorful use of slang where you use words like “S’up” for “What's up?” or “Cool, man." Slang is usually street talk and fresh words are added with each new generation.

When you read a book, whether out loud or to yourself, you’re going to hear a tone in the writers voice. Whether they are using slang, dialect, or aggression, the tone is going to come through for the reader. You’ll hear it in a sympathetic tone: “I’m so sorry your dog passed away.” Or in an aggressive tone: “Michael, did you hit your brother, again?”

In the one sentence the sympathy is clear, in the other the mothers voice almost drips off the page. I said almost. You did get the idea right? The tone is the words that you are going to use to bring your character alive. To me personally, when you use a formal tone, you’ve lost me. Why? Because I was raised in the city and I know city-speak not a formal tongue.

We need to sound real to our reader and depending on your character that you’ve developed, only you can decide which tone or form of diction that they will use. Whatever you use, make it real to the reader. Allow them to be a part of your character instead of standing in the background wondering what the character is saying.

If you can nail this element, your dialogue will flow freely instead of sounding stiff.

Write Right!

Poetry Sunday ~ The Voice of a Child

The Voice of a Child

A little seed, gently placed, into the hands of time.
Her soul was left amid the blooms in the garden of life sublime.
No one understood her quest and often nor did she.
There she dwelt in a cryptic world where eyes could never see.

Reaching out she uttered words, in hopes someone would hear.
But all alone the resounding truth whispered only to her ear.
She followed the path of righteousness the stones of suffering were lain.
Scattered among the rubble she bravely took the pain.

A force of light it beckoned her; the Eden in her mind.
Surrounded by tranquility’s base, with souls so warm and kind.
Firmly standing in the pool of faith while others scoffed and scorned.
No one could see this young girl’s light or the wings that she adorned.

Cutting through, slashing her strength; all thought that she would fall.
Instead she rose above the realm to the place of duties call.
Sheltered within securities cage, no cries was she to mumble.
Awaiting the grace of a healing shield while always remaining humble.

The blessed healing swiftly came; her thirst did not subside.
Spreading her wings, surely to soar; one light her only guide.
Quenching her desire, her pining never to cease.

Freedom stands at her doorstep...she now has gained RELEASE!!! 

Quotation Saturday~

In writing a series of stories about the same characters, plan the whole series in advance in some detail, to avoid contradictions and inconsistencies.
~L. Sprague de Camp

Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader. Not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.
~E.L. Doctorow

Talent alone cannot make a writer. There must be a man behind the book.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Expansion, that is the idea the novelist must cling to, not completion, not rounding off, but opening out.
~E. M. Forster

All fiction is a process of imagining: whatever you write, in whatever genre or medium, your task is to make things up convincingly and interestingly and new.
~Neil Gaiman

Prose is architecture, not interior decoration.
~Ernest Hemingway

The two most engaging powers of an author are, to make new things familiar, and familiar things new.
~Samuel Johnson

You could compile the worst book in the world entirely out of selected passages from the best writers in the world.
~G.K. Chesterton

Without a pen I feel naked, but it's writing that is my exhibitionism.
~Carrie Latet

Passion

Your Passion..

Sometimes when we write, we try too hard to write a story and all that comes out is 500 words of jibberish. What I want each and every one of you to do is write with passion. Not a lovey dovey type of writing, I mean writing from your heart.

If you have a passion to write, write! Yesterday’s post I wanted to write some writing element for you all to learn but instead my passion took over the keyboard and I wrote what was in my heart.

I often do this in my journaling, but yesterday I wanted to share what happens when a writer sits at her keyboard and freewrites, not worrying about the grammatical elements or the structural elements. I wrote with a passion flaring inside.

I know not all of you, as new writer’s, have this passion but in time as you write a little every day an a affection burns inside like a forest fire igniting words within you that you didn’t even know was there.

Can you dedicate one hour out of the day for writing? One hour is all it takes to get the fire started and if the frenzy flares up to keep writing, then do so. Be cautious though, because writing becomes an addiction that you don’t want to be healed from.

I know as I take my break from WVU, it keeps calling me back, distracting me from my writing. But don’t you worry, I’m writing and everyday I wake and find myself at the keyboard writing something, anything. Even if it is only in my journal, the need to write is running rampant through my veins.

It also helps to have your friends support. During these times it is when you know who your real friends are and who you can do without for awhile.

Now if you’re in trouble with what to write, why not try out my friends site Pumping Your Muse? It is full of daily prompts that you can sink your teeth into and get started writing. All it takes is that one seed to be planted (in way of a prompt or a picture) and you’re on your way writing and wondering where all of the words came from. They came from YOU! That’s right, you’re on your way to becoming a writer.

Now get to writing and come back and tell me how your progress is coming. I know there are followers out there that just “read” my words, but are you writing? Are you taking the next step that comes after reading? Readers write and writer’s read, it’s what we do to get by and high in life.

Enjoy your day in the sunshine and write your heart out!

Breathings of my heart

Breathings of my soul...

Every so often I stop and reflect on what my life has in store.

I celebrate my New Year on Easter Sunday. I build up to Easter Sunday in reflection on where my life was, where it is going and where I hope it to be. As weird as it may seem, I don’t celebrate New Years on January first. Why? Because January first is just a new day of a new year, whereas to celebrate a new YEAR, you need to have new growth.

I’ve been writing my blog, helping writers, acclimating them to the writing skills they will need to become a writer, I’ve mentored a writing course, facilitate a Creative Writing Group, and assist with helping people on a daily basis. I know where my life is at, at the moment, but I also know where I am going.

A few weeks ago my father was told that he had throat cancer. I know this day and age with all of the new technology this shouldn’t put fear in your heart, but my father is 72 and fear struck him. He’s been so busy taking care of my mother (they’ve been married 55 years!) since she had her stroke, that he hasn’t had much time to worry about himself.
He got the news last week after getting another test, that the cancer was nowhere else in his body and that with him being so healthy, the statistics are fairing in his favor.

How does this play into my New Year? Well, it makes me hold dear what I left behind. You see, I’m a thousand miles away from my mother and father and I would be the one to take care of them. My other siblings are all ‘too busy’ with their lives, the parents that took care of them all of their life, are maybe tenth in line of top things to do.

My fiance’ is going blind (a curable illness) but this year has been one of the tough ones for me to endure. And we’re only in March! Whew! What does the rest of the year have in store for me is what I’m wondering. It has HOPE!

What does any of this have to do with writing? What does writing have to do with me and when I celebrate my New Year? Let me tell you, writing has everything to do with my New Year! You know why? Because I’m a naturally born optimist and have a strong faith that this year is going to be one good year for ME!

As the trees burst with life, new nubs form on what was a barren tree left naked by the frost of a cold winter. Branch by branch, the skeleton takes on flesh. Spring has seeped into the area and as the soil craves the rain the trees reach for the sky in a splendid show, a fireworks display of leaves reaching for the sky growing in the Light that drizzles to the drinking bough.

I, as a writer, am awaiting the new surge of life yet to form inside of me. I have hope in a new tomorrow, a New Year!

-Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
–George Bernard Shaw

Poetry Sunday~ I am but a Flower

I am but a Flower

I am but a flower dancing in the sun
protected by Light since my life begun.
I am but a flower flowing in the warm breeze;
safely sheltered by the low hanging trees.

I am but a flower with a purpose in life
I grow and learn through trials and strife.
I am but a flower planted firmly in soil
too much water and my roots will spoil.

I am but a flower please understand
my duty in life is to beautify land.
I can not be plucked and placed where one needs
I have to grow to nurture my seeds.

I’m am but a flower reaching for the sky
Some days I wilt and never know why.
I need some nutrients to replenish my soul
to make this flower feel beautifully whole.

I am but a flower rained on from above
Given life by His gracious love.
Although I grow I have high ambition,
Remember this rose has a sweet smelling mission.

Quotation Saturday

A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language.
~W. H. Auden

We make out of the quarrel with others, rhetoric, but of the quarrel with ourselves, poetry.
~William Butler Yeats

When I face the desolate impossibility of writing 500 pages, a sick sense of failure falls on me, and I know I can never do it. Then gradually, I write one page and then another. One day's works is all I can permit myself to contemplate.
~John Steinbeck

"By far the greatest thing is to be a master of metaphor.
It is the one thing that cannot be learned from others.
It is a sign of genius, for a good metaphor implies an
intuitive perception of similarity among dissimilars."
~Aristotle

Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.
~E.L. Doctorow

If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.
~Toni Morrison

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.
~William Wordsworth

The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible.
~Vladimir Nabakov

Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.
~Anton Chekhov

Never let anyone tell you that you’re not a writer. You might begin believing it, and if you believe it to be true, it will be.
~Joni Zipp

A Paragraph

Paragraph’s

Sure the writing of a paragraph sounds quite simple but you need to take into consideration the elements that make up a paragraph. When writing an essay, the paragraph will need to be broken up by spaces (online) so that it is easier viewing. When we clump it all together, it looks like just that, clumped together words. Writing clumped together words is quite simple, but to create a piece of readable work you’ll need elements and structure.

A paragraph begins with a basic topic sentence. This will introduce the main topic of the paragraph. The following sentences will develop from there, the sentences will relate to that very first sentence. This is what I like to call the “fleshing out” part. The final sentence will be linked back to the very first sentence making the paragraph whole.

When your subject changes, then a new paragraph begins. Sounds simple, does it not? It’s not. It is so easy to get off topic while writing a paragraph and this is why we need to hone the skills in writing so that we remain focused on what is filling the page.

I’m all for free writing. Just letting your muse flow like crazy and come back later to edit what you wrote. But you still need some form of structure in your paragraphs or you will be lost in the revision stages wondering what you wrote. Free writing doesn’t mean sloppy-I-can-do-anything-I-want writing, it just means you can write freely without inhibitions.

In writing a novel or short story, it is not going to be all paragraph writing. There will come a time when you have dialogue. Do you know that the dialogue has to be set in its own paragraph? Each part of the speech, even if it’s a “hi”, one word, it still needs its own separate paragraph. Now when dialogue and narrative are used together, you might want to look at the master’s and see their take on how they handle the situation in writing the short story or novel.

“You’re saying that I need to separate the talking part?”

“Yes, that’s what I’m saying.”

“And I don’t clump it all together and mix all the characters up like popcorn on a griddle?”

The students were filled with questions. I’m sure glad I thought of this topic, “NO!”

If you mix the dialogue together, the reader will then lose his/her place and wonder who is doing the talking. We need to make it easiest on the reader so that they come away with an enjoyable experience not one of confusion. Isn’t that what we want for our reader? To give them the journey of a lifetime through our words?

“Yes ma’am!” They all said with glee.

“Well, what are you waiting for? GET WRITING!”

ANONYMOUS

"Let us, thank be what we are, and speak what we think
and in all things keep ourselves loyal to truth
and the sacred professions of friendship." -- Longfellow

To remain anonymous...

In this ever growing world of Internet communication, it is very easy to remain anonymous.

Lurking in the shadows sometimes makes people feel good about themselves. I find that when adults do it, it is merely a troubled person ashamed of something hidden deep within that they have not either faced, dealt with or they like to remain in troubled pain.

Childish and immature, I see remaining an anonymous figure the way the angels must have looked at Lucifer. He’s there, he needs someone to reach out to him, but he is too proud even to receive the help of the angels, for he is better or so he thought.

I often see in my writing classes people using a mystery name, that keeps them hidden from the world. Writer’s are known to use pen names, which keeps them hidden, but is all the mystery needed? What are they ashamed of?

Pseudonyms are good for the romance writer who wants the “feel good” name to match the book, but is a pseudonym a great idea in a professional atmosphere?

Take Raven for example, she always signs her name after posting as anonymous. AND I know that she uses her real name when she gets published. (I know it because I SAW it) ;-)

But when I see people posting anonymous without any clue as to your name it makes me wonder what is hurting inside you so much that you need to hide?

I am bringing forth a blog to help writer’s, while I am far from perfect ie: typo’s, mis spelling and what not, are all a part of the natural flow of, oops, I did it again. I am in no way a master of my domain. I see many more websites and blogs that far exceed my knowledge.

I am here to guide and aim you in the right direction. I see so many writers making mistakes, I am not exempt, that I feel the need to share with you some of what I’ve learned. Guess what, I see some masters of THEIR domains making mistakes and guess what else, their REAL name is attached to their page so everyone knows them, by name!

Cuteypie gives me no clue as to who you are in a chat room, but when I see a name like that in a professional atmosphere, it makes me wonder just how serious that person is about learning an art.

I appreciate all comments and respectfully comment on each one as they come in. I leave the comments open because I’m assuming that I’ll receive the same respect. You know what happens when you assume don’t you? Nevermind.

I’ll keep my comments open for a bit longer without all of the trouble one needs to go through when they are protected. This is a site for YOU, the serious person who wants to be a writer. I’ll respect you as long as you respect me. (And probably when you don’t respect me, I’ll STILL respect you.) That is WHO I AM!

Poetry Sunday: She Lives

She Lives!

The misfit angel is going home,
all alone
she's left to roam.
Dry as the sackcloth that wiped her head,
as she bled;
left for dead.
Empty spirit gracing a plane,
mildly insane,
in the pouring rain.
Misfit angel bleed no more,
I found a cure,
your soul is pure.
Not forgotten,
body not rotten,
boldly you stood,
when you were downtrodden.
Here's my hand,
take a stand,
reach for me,
the promised land.
Embrace the Light,
through deepened sight,
wash away the tolling night.
Free at last the hour nigh,
breathe a sigh,
I will never, let your soul die!!!

Bad Manners in Writing

Are you a writer? Then act like one!

Here is a general list of bad manners in writing:
The number one thing that is a big turn off in writing is SPELLING ERRORS!
Spelling errors are not acceptable in the writing world. Maybe in an amateurish setting spelling errors are okay, but when you need to be perceived as a professional, you need to spell right. And no the chat room acronyms are not acceptable in the professional writing world. Not all readers are familiar with the lingo so please don’t assume that your peers or editors are either.

TWO: Over wording your sentences with long descriptive images and explanations.
ex: The tall, lengthy brown, uneven tree stood in the bellowing soft dappling sun rays.

Some claim the use of cumulative sentence structure, I call it laziness in bringing home a point that you intended. If you don’t know how to structure a cumulative sentence correctly, by all means, LEARN before using them. Big words, too much imagery is a big turn-off!

THREE: The passive use of structuring your sentences. Something as simple as WAS can be switched to IS, making your writing much tighter that the reader is in the moment. Pass up the passive, I say!

FOUR: Punctuation! If you’re not sure about it, then look at a grammatical site that will give you the right answer. Showing sloppy work is for the lazy. When you are a new writer, you want to show your BEST. So learn the correct punctuation. And this goes for the over use of ellipses too.
The punctuation should be INSIDE the double quotation marks. The single quotation mark is not proper (in our English grammar.) Learn grammar!

FIVE: The over-use of exclamation marks! I have the tendency to drag my exclamation marks out to bring home a point, but never in my story would I use more than one. If the reader doesn’t get that you mean to amplify your point, don’t add five more and think they’ll get the point then. The same thing for question marks, no editor wants to see five question marks glaring at their face. One will suffice.

SIX: The use of colons and semi colons should be used in their proper place. Remember use a colon when logging articles of facts. The semi colon is to add an additional thought to a sentence. It’s not that difficult to remember.

SEVEN: I have come to like parentheses. I use them to set my thoughts separate from the sentence. But in writing a story, the off setting of words in parentheses is merely a distraction. Try your best NOT to use them.
ex. She wandered down the lonely street (I would have never gone down that road) and found herself lost.

EIGHT: Modifiers are another turn-off. No I’m not saying not to use them, I’m saying use them properly. Modifiers are essential in making the reader live with you in the moment. When over-used you run the risk of losing your reader and having them toss the book aside. Learn when they are to be used.

NINE: I’m against the over-use of the word AND. I see alot of new writer’s building a paragraph with over twenty ANDS, connecting sentences. I say finish the doggone sentence, conclude it so the reader or editor isn’t dragged through the mire of cleaning up all of those AND’s, BUT’s and OR’s

TEN: SPELLING SPELLING SPELLING! Did I say this one already? Well it needs to be said again. There is no excuse for your lack of spelling skills if you’re going to be a writer. I don’t mean a typo here and there, I mean the inability to check for the correct spelling of there and their, want or went, hair and hare.

Proofread your work! Make it sparkle and shine like the noon day sun. Then and only then can you consider yourself...a serious writer.

Conflict Arising

Conflict Arising~~~

In last nights writer’s chat we discussed the element of conflict in writing a story. The exercise calls for a scene of conflict. The questions and answers were quite enlightening.

The students asked, "What is conflict?"

Conflict is the struggle between right and wrong. It can be the protagonist, the lead character, fighting off the antagonist, the opposing force to be reckoned with, at every chapter. Or it can be something as simple as the main character having doubts about his/her life’s decisions.

Maybe your character wonders if having a baby at 16 was the right thing to do. Should she have gotten an abortion and made her life easier to live without having to care for a child at such a young age? This is a dramatic conflict that will play out in the sub-conscious of your reader.

This inner struggle with making a decision can be considered a conflict within a story. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a knock down drag out fist fight, or a gunfight while cars are chasing behind you. It is the conscious debate.

Another question arose as to the conflict resolving. In my opinion, you don’t want the conflict resolved right away. You want your reader to go along on the ride and as they place themselves in your character’s position, they are then feeling the same struggles as your character. Let the reader fantasize in his mind what he would do in the given situation. As he does this he is now enthralled with your character, your words, and continues to read to see this conflict resolved.

If you find resolution for your character too early, the reader has no reason to continue reading.

Now remember, a conflict is not a crisis. A crisis is a bad hair day or an overturned vehicle blocking your way to the hospital. A crisis is usually resolved in the chapter or two that you’re writing, while a conflict will be the basic element of your words throughout the story. You’re not going to TELL the reader, you are going to very descriptively SHOW them the tale. Have them live it all over again and walk away breathless.

Give us a hero that we can watch through sequel after sequel. The one book that comes to mind (no, not the Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter; although they are good examples too) but the Odd Thomas series.

Odd was set to be a hero from book one. He wants to save the world through crisis after crisis. With each book the conflict was ever present and only in the fourth book do we see signs of possible resolution. I’m sending a hint out to Dean Koontz, “Odd Thomas is not over YET!”

Just like in LOTR, we see the crisis, we know it so well, the struggle of doing what is right and not liking the way we have to go about it, but then by book three Tolkien gives us a resolution.

Can you see the difference in conflict and crisis? If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask. NOT asking is what will keep you in your struggle with writing.

Conflict and crisis is within, let’s get it out onto paper!

POV/Perspective

Recently I have noticed the biggest problem for new writer’s is not getting the story out, it is keeping the story consistent.

Consistency in POV and consistency with tenses. Sure I see alot of grammatical issues being tossed out there as a new writer, but POV is one tough element of the craft that needs to be honed and mastered.

Mastering the POV will help in keeping the work consistent.

We had an exercise this week in POV and when asked to shift pov, alot of people wrote the same exact paragraph and switched the POV from “He said” to “I said”. To me, shifting the point of view changes the perspective and the ‘who’ is seeing what and from whose point of view.

Here’s an example of something I’m working on: Two pov’s and different perspectives arise.

POV 1 ~ First person
As I hover over my lifeless body lying below me, I wonder where I am. The aroma of a fresh garden surrounds me making me feel like a weightless cloud. I want to yell down to myself, but I can’t seem to communicate from here. I walk slowly toward the endless portal that awaits me. I float like a feather on an endless air drifting into the unknown. No claps of thunder, no bolts of lightning, just eerie warmth surrounds me. A gravitational pull sucks me like a huge non-existent vacuum of space and time. I turn away from the light and try in a motionless effort to reclaim the body I left. Suddenly, I awaken to the trickle of an ice cold shower that releases me from the warm safe haven. I scan the bathroom and wonder how on earth did I get in here?

POV2 ~ Third person
Look at her, a lifeless form in need of assistance. She has left her body only to discover the realm of the unknown. The bright light that has hold of her won’t let her go. She can wriggle and worm all she wants but it is pulling with an endless flux of gravity. She knows this is the end of the line, the place she’s heard about but never wanted to be at the cusp of her youth. She's grappling with fear yet releasing herself without a fight, letting herself drift into the aromatic garden that waits. As moments pass, time is of the essence.
She needs to be revived; it’s not her time. Wait; look; she’s in bathroom shower. How on earth did she get there?

The same paragraph but from different perspectives, and two different pov’s. This shift sometimes confuses new writer’s because they can’t see from anyone elses eyes. They are looking at the paragraph and thinking they need to write the exact same words but change *I* into *She*. When I shift pov, I see from someone else eyes.

I think we need to look at perspective as much as POV. Work on the POV, sifting through all the knowledge you can and retry the exercise and I can bet you’re perspective will change too. You’ll be seeing through different eyes in no time.

Now get moving, Write Right!

Poetry Sunday~ My Father

My Father

He strives to walk along the sand

with all his might he takes a stand.

Raises up one swift hand

He smites the sea; he smites the land

He cowers not to you or me.

Behold his love! Behold his glory!

Turn the page of inner fury

He rises up above the waves;

thrashing down the light that saves.

Scanning all the open shore

the beacon shines forevermore

He is my Father strong and pure

The Light that sits; awaits his call

Amid the storm to rise and fall

The lighthouse stands strong and tall

To guide one home through it all!