Master Plan: part II

Gen 1: 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
***

Well yesterday’s post got a lot of positive responses with the folk over at facebook who I share some of my work here with. :) So today I’m going to write about another master plan and that’s the one you’ll need to write a story.

Whether it is a short story or a novel, you will need a master plan. Not much unlike God’s plan for our lives and all He did to create the universe, our writing needs to shape up just as if we were the Creator himself. We are in essence a god to our characters because we are the creator of our intricate stories. They look to us to feed them and nourish them.

What will we need? We will need to breathe life into a character. Allow the person to shape a world. Make a mountain out of a molehill. Give your character a place to live and play. Give them a strong name. I think Mike and John are overdone. Choose something unique so that your reader will be walking around with the name on their tongue as if they just bit into an m&m or something. Like Odd Thomas, the name is quirky, but it clings to you like gumdrops to the roof of your mouth.

We’ll also need a help mate to carry the story along. Male or female, this character is necessary in creating scenes within this bubble. Allow them exploration of the world you’re creating. Give them full reign of the playground but withhold the ‘tree of life’ from them. As they explore and find the tree, perhaps the antagonist will lure them away with a good conflict that will bring your story to new heights.

An antagonist will surely add to the story to fill in all the juicy parts. Think satan running rampant and wreaking havoc on the earth. Surely your Adam and Eve will be finding new life, discovering new things but they’ll also be tempted to do the wrong thing in this right world that you’ve created.

Now that you’ve had the seed planted, don’t take seven days to create your world, take 30. An entire month of 2000 words a day. Don’t spell check and edit as you go, create! Do you think the Lord stopped on day one and said, “Now let me think, I gave Adam a backbone, but I don’t like it, delete?” No, he kept on creating, and when He had finished, Genesis 1: 31 “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.”
 
Write the entire month, no edits, no looking back. Create a masterpiece that the human race will look back on and one day say, “This is very good!”

Master Plan

Job: 14:9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.
***

Have you ever prayed and the prayer not been answered immediately when you wanted it to be answered. Did you ever wonder why? Here lately things have been happening, all part of a Master Plan.

First of all, beau lost his job in Sept. of 2008, we prayed and prayed. Beau went blind about eight months later. More prayer. I could feel the tides moving, shifting, swaying. I could feel the power of prayer working and the good Lord swirling his answer to our prayer into our lives. No one else could feel it as I watched doubt sweep many. I sat, patiently waiting as I know a Master Plan takes time, sometimes years to get it all into the whirlpool to spew out results.

There were many changes that had to take place, inside and outside. There was construction of a new person, there was re-shaping of minds, there was miracles being displayed. But I’m telling you, if you’re not a believer, to you it all looked like a case of bad luck.

I don’t believe in luck or coincidence, so I prayed, rejoiced, praised and felt the earth moving in a direction that swayed my inner soul. I watched as impatience sweltered, looked sorrowfully as some strayed from their faith, sat in awe of the wondrous work of a living rainbow take shape. I never lost my faith once because I know the secret of the Master Plan. It’s no secret really if you know the Lord. Master Plans take TIME!

You see, when you pray, God already knows the answer to the prayer but he really wants to get the full throttle of effectiveness out of the prayer. He wants to not only answer your prayer, He wants to change as many people as He can along the way. He wants to lay a hand on everyone possible so they see the beauty of prayer and the wonderful Glory of, a Master Plan!

As beau, Adam and I had to move, figure out where to go and what to do, jumped over hurdles, figure out a few techniques and made the enormous leap of our lives, that is the leap into Gods arms, knowing He’d carry us, we’re now still reaping the benefits of the Master Plan!

I look down the gravel path and see many faces, lives altered by everything that we’ve gone through. All of our actions and reactions are all a part of the Master Plan. Is it just us three who are being transformed? No way. Many peoples lives are being touched. If you are reading this, you my friend are not exempt, you too are a part of the plan! Feel it, embrace it, know it is bigger than you and I!

It’s not about ME, me, me, or you, or my beau. We’re just instruments; a part of an orchestra that plays in Heaven and the music is divine to my ears and the Master’s. His plan, His time, His Glory!

Poetry Sunday ~ Change is Coming

Job 14: 14 If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.
***
Change is Coming

Change is coming swiftly
I feel it in the breeze
I hear it rolling loudly
through the sounds within the trees

No one understands
my glory or my pain
alone I stand in silence
with a story and some rain.

I long to feel a touch,
caress, a hug would do
I fear I may die lonely
not ever kissing you.

Who will carry my love
with them while I persist
When will someone notice
that this woman in me exists?

Change will ride on swiftly
I’ll catch the breeze and go
Tired of feeling lonely
this much I truly know.

Carry me Father far away
this journey that I reign.
Hold me in your arms so tight
So I never touch this pain!

Quotation Saturday

COURAGE

We must have the courage to believe that the world we have dreamed will one day be made manifest and that what we do as individuals makes a difference. We must have the courage to reject the idea of settling for work that is destructive to human happiness, or even indifferent to it.
--Laurence G. Boldt


Live courage, breathe courage, and give courage.
--Dhan Gopal Mukerji
Gay-Neck: The Story of a Pigeon

RECOGNITION

“When you are able to applaud yourself, it is much easier to applaud others.”
-- Denis Waitley

“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.”
-- Mother Theresa

“When someone does something well, applaud! You will make two people happy.”
-- Samuel Goldwyn

“We can secure other people's approval, if we do it right and try hard; but our own is worth a hundred of it.”
-- Mark Twain

THOUGHTS ON WORK

If you have fun at your job, I think you're going to be more effective.
--Meg Whitman


Making anything a success rests with people and commitment, strong will to always do the best, confidence in one another...and absolute determination.
--Jorgen Roed

“Take complete control over the messages you allow into your conscious mind.”
--Brian Tracy

“If your sunshine wants far outstrip your cold morning desire, have a talk with yourself. Then have a lot more talks with yourself. Convince number one that you can succeed--and you will succeed. If you don't believe in you, why should anyone else?”
--Tom Hopkins

You become what you affirm; positively affirm your greatness, genius and fullest potential.”
--Mark Victor Hansen


Allow me to say on this Quotation Saturday:
My JOB is writing. No need to go out and find something to do with my time now that my son is in school. Now, I move forward in my WRITING CAREER! Praise be to God for this GIFT!

2 Cor. 9:15 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

Another one bites the dust

Job 16:3 Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?
***

Well it has officially come to an end. Next Wednesday the boards will be swept clean like old cobwebs moved out of the attic. F2K ends another successful session, and October is when the next class will be available to anyone interested.

I’ll post more as we near the date, like the registration link to WVU’s (Writers Village University) F2K! It’s a free writing course and a successful FREE writing course for 15 years now and still going strong.

This session was a positive experience in that, at the close of the doors, we still had  well over fifty people active in their sixth lesson. Normally as we near the sixth week, the classrooms dwindle down to maybe four or five a room, and some rooms are left empty with one student and that student walks the halls looking for a person to critique his/her work.

Not this time, oh no. We’ve had a surge of students and they liked the new format so much, they stayed on so they didn’t miss anything exciting that was happening. Besides the drama of a bad apple who wanted to spoil everyone’s learning, we soared to new heights this session and I’m happy to report the bad apple went foul and was never seen/heard from again. So that’s why he waited until lesson six! Poor little man, had nothing better to do with his life so he attacked me. I pray for him and hope it made him feel like the BIG man on campus. (as little as he appeared)

I hold onto things in a big way. I’m always telling my son to ‘let things go’ and Steven is always telling me ‘just let it go’, but I have a tendency to hold onto things like gum on a shoe. It just sticks with me.

Words from my son:
Adam says, “I’m scarred, inside.”
Mom replies, “It’ll get better, you’ll heal.”
“No mom, scars don’t heal. They stay there, see?” he says pointing to a big scar on his leg. “They never go away, you just have to live with it.”

So this is why I hold onto things that have hurt me in the past? I’m scarred and the scar is never going away, I just have to deal with it? Hmm.. gives me something to think about.

But on a happier note, F2k and the new format (graciously bows to Bob Hembree), with all its groups, discussions along with the fun ability to post pictures, and the NEW certificate of completion, is a triumphant success.

“Writer’s write right, and leaders lead... creators create and artist succeed!” ~joni

Getting Organized

Job 33: 5 If thou canst answer me, set thy words in order before me, stand up.
***

To whom it may concern, Joni is in deep need of getting organized. Last week was an emotional roller coaster ride of a week and I think the fog has cleared this week allowing me to see what I must do.

First let me say, Adam aced his first History test! YES! Proud mom! I knew he could do it, he wasn’t so certain but he did it! YAY Adam!

So I decided to dig in and look for my stories I want revised, tweaked and submitted. Lo and behold I found a disorganized mess! I’m always saying, “Organize!” June is always piping in, “Get organized.” And sometimes I hear these voices but time and clouds in the brain just were not allowing me to get organized.

This week is much clearer with cooler temps too. I looked out the window and the first falling leaves have begun their descent to cluttering the lawn. The grass is growing still and may just get its last mow this week, and my files are in such disarray I’m having trouble finding those amazing stories I had for publication! Oh my!

My files look like my lawn actually; cluttered and disarray is an understatement. So what do I need to do this week? I promised June I would get writing after Adam started school. I didn’t know I was going to be such a mess last week. But before I can get writing, I need to get organized. Why?

Organizing will get me focused on what I need to do; what I will be able to write; and where I go from here. After I find all my work I’m placing it in a priority file, then I’ll find other work and put that in a WIP file (work in progress), then I will begin submitting so I’ll have a file titled submissions with the time, date and who I’ve submitted to. This should help my clutter immeasurably.

I’m ready to move forward in my writing and getting organized is what’s going to shape the next couple of months. In life and in work, organizing can only mean that you are growing in the fact that knowing you need this organization, your leap into the crazy world will be much easier.

My house is spic-n-span so why aren’t my files? Because I’ve been too busy to even notice that they were getting sloppy. “Okay Joni, brush off the moss under your butt and get moving. Times a wasting and all you can do is sit here and write?”  Joni replied, “But it’s my blog about writing!”

Ahh... I’m glad this place is organized. *deep sigh of relief*

The Drama of it All...

1 Sam. 2:3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.
***

What’s in a word? Okay jokesters, besides letters!

Words can hurt, heal, make you smile and even garner a chuckle. This weekend was full of words for me. I posted my quotations on Saturday, words that linger in my soul even after I’ve read them. Then I posted my poem yesterday that was an expression of how my heart felt after releasing my son into this big bad world, trusting in God to carry him.

I thought I’d pop over into my class and see what was going on with the students, who are in their sixth week and ready to post their last lesson. I was shocked, to say the least that someone was degrading me, again.

Last session someone came down hard on me for not being ‘more specific’ in my lesson tips. They went on and asked about my qualifications and other mean and hurtful things. So when this post was on my board yesterday after the long hard week of separation from Adam, I was stunned.

I’ve had such a good run at f2k this session. I’ve stayed out of many discussions, left the bad seeds to their own fruition, in hopes someone else would stand up and say, “Hey, wait a minute.”

Ron did not agree with my answer to a question back in the beginning of f2k. He chose NOW to berate, belittle and to me, come down pretty hard on me and he even dragged another person into his rant, speaking FOR that person mind you. The person in question quickly stated that they would not be a part of his crappola, and that I, joni, and benning were nothing but helpful to them.

I couldn’t believe it. Not again is all that I could think of. Granted I’m a dramatic person, I’m a writer and drama is an effortless release for me. I decided to go to the main board and turn in my resignation. Sure it is a volunteer position, but I just wanted Bob to know how sorry I was for bringing this to f2k. I would bow out quietly and be on my way.

Well hold your horses! The response was heartfelt pleas of, “Don’t go!” Bob wrote:

“You've been an integral part of F2K's success over the years. I'd also like to remind everyone that F2K Mentors volunteer their time to help aspiring and experienced writers. Though there will always be differences of opinion, no good can come from escalating it to a personal level. WVU's 15 year history is built on a foundation of common interests, tolerance, respect and more importantly, empathy toward our fellow writers; as we move into the new social format, other challenges will emerge, but they will strengthen rather than change these values.”

In other words. You’re STAYING! I don’t need to defend my opinion of a sentence. We all see things differently and feel things differently. I can disagree with you and you me, but don’t degrade me, I am too good a person for that kind of treatment.

Respect me, and I’ll respect you. Disrespect me...and I’ll still respect you!

Poetry Sunday ~ We Walk Alone

Job 41: 22 In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him.
***

We Walk Alone

Where is my heart and why is it sore?
It left the moment he walked out the door...
I saw his hair brush passed the tree,
He walked alone without me.

I wanted to run and say don’t go                        
before I could, the bus was a show.
I watched as it rode off for the day
why can’t I just have it my way?

We shared our tears before he left
and now I’m alone my heart bereft.
My boy has grown into a young man.
he’s off to school with a master plan.

I enter his room, it’s lonely and bare.
Not one single sound is hiding there.
All that I hear is the tapping of keys,
with him not here doesn’t set me at ease.

Joy, sorrow, grief and pain
mingled in the release of rain.
Droplets fall as tears roll down.
my son is off in another town.

I’m letting go of all that I know
truth be told, it hurts to grow.
we both have the Lord as our guide,
No failure there with Him by our side.

Quotation Saturday

"We grow through tribulations. We learn through growth. 

Growth and pain go hand in hand." ~Joni

 

"Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them -- every day begin the task anew."
Saint Francis de Sales

"A pearl is a beautiful thing that is produced by an injured life. It is the tear [that results] from the injury of the oyster. The treasure of our being in this world is also produced by an injured life. If we had not been wounded, if we had not been injured, then we will not produce the pearl."
Stephan Hoeller

"Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy."
Thich Nhat Hanh

"Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keep friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment."
Greenville Kleisser

“If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.”
 Margaret Atwood

“The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair.”
 Mary Heaton Vorse

“The easiest thing to do on earth is not write.”
 William Goldman

“Planning to write is not writing. Outlining-researching-talking to people about what you’re doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing.”
 E. L. Doctorow

Day 5: Letting go...

Isa 23:7 Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.
***

Today is Friday! YAY! This is the last of my “pity-me-my-son-is-not-here” posts. I’ve had to do some soul searching this week as I let my son go out into the great beyond called, The World. It’s been an enlightening week for sure.

Letting go is a hard obstacle to maneuver around. The last time that I let anything major in my life go, was about seven years ago when I left my home in Maryland and moved to Texas with a strange man, and brought my son on the journey with me. He was only seven at the time and we both had major adjustments to get used to.

I had been married for twenty years, and the marriage disintegrated quickly after I got a computer. The obsessive type of man could not bear me having friends whether online or off. Paranoid and controlling did not work for me, fun and fancy free, so we both parted ways. I left everything.

Steven came and picked me up, rented a small u- haul to hang on the back of his truck and it followed us to the grand state of Texas. Not before letting go of all my worldly possessions. There were treasured nic-nacs, favored dolls, ornaments, some books, memorabilia, and yes, the beloved home, a cape-cod surrounded by trees and a garden full of birds! Not to mention, my family.

No one came on the day I left except my niece. (I have four brothers and a sister) I had seen my father, mother and sister’s clan the prior evening, so on the day of my departure, I walked alone. Only I wasn’t alone, I had Adam, my life support.

Now I know how Adam must have felt on day one of his first day at school. The same way I felt when I left home. Lost, lonely, scared, uncertain of what the future holds. But I sit here almost eight years later and can see that had I stayed, I would not be the woman I am today. I’m a writer! Back home I was a wife, mother, servant, in that order. Today I’m a mother, writer, fiancé, servant of God. I wouldn’t change a thing.

I’ve often been asked the question, “If there was one thing in your life you could go back and change, what would it be?” My answer then and always will be, “Not a thing!” You see, if we change one thing, then everything that followed that one thing would change. Everything would be different. Your life, your family, your SELF. I would not change my SELF because I like who I am!

Sure I’ve lived, loved and lost, but I am who I am today BECAUSE of all of my experiences. Sometimes we just need to let go so new doors are opened for us. The winds of change will not be able to swiftly blow through your hair if you leave the door closed.

For Adam’s sake and my own...IMNOPENDOOR!

Thank you all for your support during this time!

Job 8:19 Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others grow.

Day Four: Another Day Alone

Pss. 102:7 I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.
***

Well friends this is day four of the Adam saga. I call it a saga because I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life. Yesterday I did pretty good, I didn’t cry until I saw Adam get off the bus. Such a sense of relief knowing he was home safe, in my arms.

Yesterday as I drove into town alone, I realized something. This is it. I am really alone. With Adam off at school and Steven doing his thing on the computer; I’m riding into town, passing the luscious trees, crossing over the Platte River, inhaling the aroma’s that only the fields of corn can emit, taking in all the sounds of moving cars, while listening to Praise music on my car radio. Alone.

The drama queen in me really wants to curl into a ball and forget I even exist in this world. But the human being who loves God more than life itself, knows I have to move forward with each day and take the new strides as a growth spurt. I know I feel a story in here somewhere. Will I ever get to it? *shrugs*

Adam likes school. He likes making friends, he likes all his classes except Algebra, and his health teacher, who sounds like a bully to me, but hey, maybe that’s what teachers have to do to get kids to listen up! Adam even got into his stickler of a locker! Never having touched one in his life, he had troubles so he just carried the 100 lb. backpack around with him all day.

He’s lost weight. I don’t know if it is from stress, not eating, or lugging those darn books!He came home, we ate, I helped with his homework and we went to bed. A new routine to fall into and one we both need to adjust to because it looks like this is the way it is going to be. I told him that by Friday we’ll know if this is what he really wants. I am not pressuring him in any way. If he succeeds yipee, if he fails, AT LEAST HE TRIED his darndest, and for that, he will never fail in my eyes!

I’ll start  with the writing posts again after this week but really I just needed this week of support from my writing friends. The community that never lets me down.

The next leg of my journey is whether I continue as a writer, or say adios to the writing biz. The life I’ve tried so hard make for myself may just be coming to an end. Only God knows what is in store. I could take this time to dive into my writing, or I can let it go and get a ‘real job’ as I’ve been told to do on so many occasions.

The writing community will tell me to stay, but not having funds to help my own son through this school excursion is darned near killing me. And remember, my son will always come first. The saga will continue... be blessed  or just BE!

Day 3: A Lesson Learned

Acts 10:40 Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly;
***

Well today is day three of Adam going off to school. Guess what? I didn’t cry, he didn’t cry and we parted in a joyful, “I love you” as I watched him cross the lawn to go off into the world of knowledge.

I felt selfish the last two days crying and moping like a big baby, but then I thought, Crying because you love and miss your son is not being selfish, it’s pain being released. Selfish is not allowing him to grow.

It hit me the other evening when our neighbor, who is in the same school and rides the bus with Adam, had said, “I hate school. I’ve learned all I needed to and I don’t need it anymore.” I told him, “You never stop learning. Even me, I’m still learning.” God slap moment!

I realized that Adam needs to grow in knowledge that I can no longer give him. He needs to see and feel the world for all it is. I’ve taught him all that I can and now it is time for him to use what I taught him and go and learn from others. Last night as Steven, Adam and I all sat around doing Algebra (ugh) I realized so much of what Adam really needed.

Already surrounded by love, he will now flourish as a human being, and yes folks, I needed to FEEL this for myself. It’s like being told about God, but what a person really needs is to FEEL God in order to know the truth. No one person can tell you about God, you need to be shown.

This is still a writing blog about writing and I feel the need to share with all of my friends and followers the real me. I need to show you that there is a real human on the other side of this screen who is alive and willing to grow with all of you. I could have just started a new blog and made it all about Adams journey but I like to share the aspect of myself, that as a reader, you never connect with if I remain all about the technical field of writing.

You signed up as a follower, you signed on to me and all of me, not just what is nice and beautiful about me, but all the pains and heartache I, as a writer, go through. We’re on this journey together and always remember this, “You never stop growing!”

I know sometimes the day to day mundane crappola that we all go through might seem like we’re just robots functioning, but we’re humans. We think, feel, grow and live and we NEVER stop growing!

Thank you again for all your support! This is one writer who appreciates each and every one of you! ~~ Angel always...godspeed my friends!

Day 2:Selfish me

Isa.13:7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:
***

Well this is Adam's second day in school. He liked his English class where they will be reading To Kill a Mockingbird for this first semester. Two other kids and himself were the only ones who’ve already read the book. Out of twenty some kids, 3 have read this classic.

He liked Workshop, Physical Science, and his Spanish class where they have a virtual teacher? My how times have changed. There is no real teacher in the classroom, she is via Skype, teaching. I do have to wonder what happens when the kids spit a spitball at the screen. Well, I read that they have camera’s around the room to monitor, but is this really what our classrooms have come down to? Will we be putting teachers out of jobs soon and let the virtual things teach?

Adam didn’t like being away from home and I didn’t like him being away. We’re pals, buddies, we lean on one another like two peas in a pod. I’ll know more how he feels by Friday. You can’t judge in one day. Getting lost and not knowing things like all of the other kids, not having friends like all the other kids, and wandering around dazed and confused in a new place on the first day can be kind of scary to a ‘babe in the woods’.

I am being selfish in saying, it was me and all me who raised him. Steven and I are raising him. I give the love, tenderhearted support and Steven does the dishing out of chores and making sure things get done in an orderly manner. It’s not all about me. There are three people being affected and as Adam’s bus was appearing outside to drop him off from school, both Steven and I raced to hear the exciting news of how his day went.

This will definitely take some getting used to and as my heart bleeds each and every second I don’t see Adam, I know this is for the best. I just wish everyone would stop with the, “This will help him grow.”  “This will benefit you both.” “This is the best thing you could have done for him.” and oh so many more things to try and make me feel better.

I’m glad you all have the right answers and since you have the manual on “How to Raise a Child Exceedingly Perfect” could you keep it to yourself? It is like when someone dies you say, “He/She’s in a better place.” Do you know that for a fact? No. You’re saying it to be a comfort but sometimes, well all the time, it is no comfort to the person who just lost someone. They want that person back and words are not going to do it!

I do thank all my friends for their support. I would not have gotten through yesterday without those kind words. And after all, Adam is ALIVE and he came home! It doesn’t seem like we spent any time together yesterday. Two, three, four hours doesn’t cut it, when we normally spent at least 16 waking hours a day together.

I’m in Zombie mode. I’ll make it and I’ll write all about it...someday.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

First Day of School

Eph.1: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
***

I rose this morning at 4:45. “Got to get Adam up and off to school.” I said out loud and to myself. It was still dark and the blanket of stars had not yet lifted from the sky. This is Adam’s first day ever at going to school. He’s been home schooled all his life and now,  ninth grade of all years, he wanted to go to school.

My heart aches but I know this is what he wants and where the journey for the young man that I, and I ALONE have raised. His father is absent, his kinda step-dad has supported us for seven years and now, things need to change...for the better.

Adam was so excited this morning, scared like any normal kid venturing off on uncharted territory, but to insure his comfort, he took his new bible with him and I bet he gets to read it some time today.

He has eight classes to get through, some hard and challenging, some right up his alley. Workshop, and Art is his forte. He’ll love English Lit! and learning Spanish, but it is the Math and Science I am concerned with.

Being a home schooled kid, did I give him enough knowledge to carry with him on this adventure. Am I going to be shown for a failure? All these things are running through my head but upfront and most sticking out is, my best friend is off somewhere without me. He’s been by my side since the day he was born and only twice in my memory has he been away from me for any more than a few hours.

Twice! Can you imagine? Was I selfish in wanting to protect him from this crazy world? Am I wrong in loving my child? Can one love their child too much? I think you can love them too much through strangling their freedom but you give them a chance to grow in so many other areas that other kids are never allowed to grow.

I am a good mother. I have done my job and now it is Adams turn to soar with all that I taught him. He will go with God, and he will grow with God. This is what I want for him.
I’ll have to write and tell you all what a great day he had today. My little novel writer has grown up to be his own person. Now I get to watch him bloom!

Poetry Sunday~ On You I depend

Luke 15:5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
***

On You I Depend...

To whom is the one
on which I depend
my family, my son
my elusive friend?

Where do I go
and where do I send
My love in a shell
on which I depend.

Why do I try
my honor defend.
No one cares
on whom I depend.

Will you be there
and try to mend
my heart that bleeds
with whom I depend.

My Lord my Savior
The One who will tend
my soul will heal
On YOU I’ll depend.

Quotation Saturday

ON WRITING

"The ability to "fantasize" is the ability to survive. It's wonderful to speak about this subject because there have been so many wrong-headed people dealing with it.... The so-called realists are trying to drive us insane, and I refuse to be driven insane.... We survive by fantasizing. Take that away from us and the whole damned human race goes down the
drain."
- Ray Bradbury

"Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You simply must do things."
- Ray Bradbury

"Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for."
- Ray Bradbury

ACTION

“Achievement seems to be connected with action. Successful men and women keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.”
 - Conrad Hilton

“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.”
- Mohandas Ghandi

“Inspirations never go in for long engagements; they demand immediate marriage to action.”
- Brendan Francis

YOU ARE UNIQUE

“There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but reveal to them their own.”
- Benjamin Disraeli

“You were born rich with 18 billion bountiful, beautiful, totally available and in all probability under-used brain cells awaiting your desire, decision and directional compass to take you onward, upward, goodward and Godward.”
- Mark Victor Hansen

Accomplished Writer?

Pr. 1:5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
***

The term leaped out at me like a fish springing out of water. ‘Accomplished writer’ stood there staring me in the face. “Wow,” I thought, “We have an accomplished writer among us?”

What does that term mean to you? Well it means more than being a writer. To me an accomplished writer means they have accomplished many goals in the writing world, such as having novels published by a literary firm, having many stories (short or flash) published, and having many years of study under their belt.

Being published in an anthology does not make you an accomplished writer. Having a book self published, does not make you accomplished, and not being paid for your writing talent does not make you, or give you the right to boast, “I am an accomplished writer!” If this were the case then by all means, I am an accomplished writer!

My goal AS a writer is to be published. Not just take the easy routes to publication but by tried and true efforts in advancing my writing. I want a publisher for my novel, I want to be paid for my poetry, even if it is five bucks and a free copy of a magazine, being paid for writing is my set goal.

I googled Accomplished Writer. A man came up with 68 articles and three novels published. He is an accomplished writer. I think of Stephen King as an accomplished writer, I think of  Dean Koontz, Orson Scott Card and oh so many other writers. But to be in a beginners course study, have a book self published, this does not make you an accomplished writer.

To even use the term as if you WERE an Accomplished Writer is deceptive and misleading the reader, falsifying the truth, boasting of something that just isn’t so, and thus leaving me, the reader thinking you’re a phony, who’s trying to be something that you are not, yet.

In writing, there is no shortcut to success. You can’t buy it, you can’t plant it in the garden and force it to bloom, and you can’t just say the words, and it will be so. People will find out the truth and you will be called on it and then you’ll be standing there holding a slimy ball of wax and all that Accomplished writing that you’ve never earned will melt away quicker than it took shape.

So please writers, wait until you really are an accomplished writer, before touting that you ARE an accomplished writer, then just maybe, I’ll believe you and read your book(s).

Newspapers out ebooks in...

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

Proverbs 3:5-6
***

It’s kinda scary when you think about it, newspapers becoming obsolete? I remember back home in Baltimore there used to be a ‘News American” and ‘The Sun”, one went to the Poe graveyard and the other is still hanging by a thread.

What happened to make Newspapers so scarce. Oh the internet. By the time people read the newspaper, a new fact surfaces and the paper tries a retraction but too late, people already read the misinformation, and found the 'truth' on the internet.

What scares me as a writer is that there won’t be any print publications to submit to. Books can be published in ebook format, magazines can be read online, and newspapers are just shy of closing up the printing shop.

Have we become so obsessed with getting information and downloading and storing it on our computers that we don’t get the newspaper tossed on our front lawn anymore? Did we put all those young entrepreneurs out of business when this cyber world came into our reality?

I still love reading a book. I love holding it in my hand and flipping through the pages awaiting the next leaf that will carry me on an imaginary journey of someone’s created world. Fiction is an art, non-fiction is abstract art.

In a perfect world the internet would be obsolete. The printing of newspapers would come back in full force ready to reclaim their life on our shelves. In a perfect world, man would learn how to practice the human emotion of love, and never hate. In a perfect world, two would become one and never undone except through the hands of fate.

Fate, the all powerful flow of synchronicity riding a tidal wave of  energy, colliding, meshing, forming into something only two people can understand.

What is it that makes the world we live in imperfect? It isn’t the advent of the internet that’s for sure, it is man and man alone is to blame. All that we as humans can do is accept this causality, and hope for the best.

Where there is light, the darkness will reside also. Where there is love, a smidgen of hate lurks. Where there is man, there will always be a need of the woman to complete the cycle. Where there is print, there will be a wave coming across the internet like a tsunami waiting to wipe out the hard work of men before him.

I’m writing this knowing full well that this is being read on the internet, coming to you via a satellite spiraling somewhere in the heavens of space. Maybe one day, you’ll be holding in your hand a book written by me, flipping through the pages and smelling the newness of the print publication. One can only hope that the written word will be around for centuries to come.

A girl can dream can’t she?

Poetry Sunday~ Balancing Act

Prov. 11:1 A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.

***

Balancing Act

The nation gives rise to quiet pause
ever briefly without a cause
I long to see a solid base
where love and land takes its place.

Faces melt into the sea
blurry eyed for you and me.
No one holds the Truth and Light
it never dawned that it’s their plight.

They claim to honor and believe
in a god with no reprieve.
He’ll mold nicely, into what they form
with every task, through every storm.

I  hear them writhing in sordid pain
entrapped and drowned in the watery bane.
They thought their God would fit right in
to their pitiful wretched sin.

Actions speak louder than anything heard
accept the honorable biblical Word.
Repent, pray, practice, fulfill
The Lord Jesus loves you still!

Quotation Saturday

CONFIDENCE

"I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It is there all the time."
-Anna Freud

"Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings."
-Samuel Johnson

"Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained."
-Marie Curie


RESULTS

“The results you achieve will be in direct proportion to the effort you apply.”
-Denis Waitley

“Well done is better than well said.”
–Benjamin Franklin

“The content of your thoughts and personal beliefs can be proven by a single indicator – your current results.”
-James A. Ray

VISION

We can change ourselves for the better and cause ourselves to subconsciously pursue our most precious desires with almost total success, if we crystalize the images clearly enough in our minds because the subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between real and vividly imagined situations.
-Charles A. Coonradt

The successful man or woman has a guiding vision, a dream, a sense of focus. He or she has a clear idea of what he or she wants to have, do, or accomplish. It is the achiever's divine right to dream.
-Dennis Kimbro

POSITIVE vs. NEGATIVE

“Don't let negative people determine your self-worth.” -Denis Waitley

“When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.” 

-Charles A. Beard

“If you train your mind to search for the positive things about other people, you will be surprised at how many good things you can observe in them and comment upon.” 

-Alan Loy Mcginnis

“Keep your face in the sunshine and you can never see the shadow.” 

-Helen Keller

Blog Blog Blog

Matt. 19:26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
***

Well it has been a week or so since I’ve really blogged. I keep up on my Quotation Saturday and Poetry Sunday though so you all have something to come here and visit me for.

You might ask, “What have you been doing? How are you?” Well, let me tell you, I’ve been doing a lot of running around, getting Adam ready for his first day of school. Literally, his first day of school. He’s been home-schooled, and he wanted this, so as any good mom, we always give them what they want.

He’s gotten all of his shots, been to the dentist, been to the eye doctor (he now wears glasses) been to register for school and in between all that I’ve been mentoring at F2K Free Writing Course. And I’m on the ball, so my blog got a little left behind.

I did receive this in the mail Wednesday during all my busy-ness. I stop and check my mail and thought I’d share with you, my readers, my fans.

During the month of July, the International Blogging Recognition Council (IBRC) had the pleasure of reviewing your blog One Voice, A writers blog.  Your blog was referred to IBRC through our Refer-A-Blog program.  "Quotation Saturday" was the topic that the Council reviewed. Based on the review, the Council has recommended that your blog receive IBRC’s designation of “Recognized Blog”.  IBRC reserves this honor to those blogs that effectively connects with the audience and promotes the sharing of ideas and experiences.


Did I get a certificate of accomplishment? Did I get a Medal of Honor? A button to place on my wall to show my excellency? No, I got recognition of my hard work by someone other than Adam and Steven. I have a lot of my friends support, but sometimes this blogging business feels all in vain. “Who’s reading, Who’s commenting, What is the purpose of all this?”

I had been questioning where to go next. Get a job when Adam starts school or continue writing and pounding the streets of the Internet and submitting until my fingers bleed? Well I think this in some way helped me with my decision. God had said to “continue with the TALENT that I gifted you with.”

That’s easy for Him to say. We need money! And my writing is not paying any dividends. BUT here’s the clincher, do immediate rewards from a paying job satisfy the very soul that you live and breathe to nourish? No, it doesn’t. People will and always have said, “But it doesn’t pay the bills.”

And my response, “Are ye of little faith?” God has provided for me for well over thirty years now, am I supposed to do what ‘people’ say, now? I don’t think so. With God all things are possible and sorry to dampen your spirits ‘people’ but I TRUST God more than I trust you and your opinion.

Let go and Let God. I live God, I don’t just believe. :) godspeed to you all.

Poetry Sunday ~ Sullen

Sullen

***

I realize now I don’t fit in
I was born and raised back east.
I grew to know all the ill
the streets they held the beast.

I wonder where I’ll make my place
among the men of the land.
I wander through this leg of life
I hope you understand.

Broken, battered, a loss for words
I try to fill each day.
My muse it holds a special nook
I’ve yet to find my way.

Pluck me from confusion
train my eyes on you.
without your unwavering love
oh Lord I’d never pull through!

Poetry Sunday ~ Daggers

"Then followed that beautiful season...Summer....
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape
Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood."
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

***

Daggers
*
Through my skin they slice,
away at my heart for a price.
Blood drips endlessly down
seeping, sawing  I wear a frown.

Words are like deepening daggers
everlasting gifted swaggers
Push the button until it pops
pain is ceaseless it never stops.

I cry for love to whisk me away
futility has its hard earned play.
I’m fighting death as it grips me
let it now be lost at sea.

I’ll wander the wonder of it all
stand erect not one to fall
All those daggers I send right back
Truth I hold, no random slack.

My God with all His glory hold
My life his balm, my veins unfold.
I’ll carry on without a mask
Face this life a daunting task!