Happy New Year...To My Return!

The frozen Platte River

Prov. 7:19 “For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey:”

Happy New Year…to my return

Well, that break went well, except I missed writing every day. I tried and I am committing myself to pulling out some of my fiction and working on it but my blog needs me, my friends need me. 

You might think I don’t see you suffering in pain, and you might think I’ve left you all behind never to spare another encouraging word but it is that need that pulled me back. I need you all as much as you need my encouraging words.

Again I am not pinpointing anyone out here; my words are for many who see themselves in what I say. Pain. Who doesn’t relate to that one? Sickness! Who can’t say they haven’t been warding off a sickness these past couple of months (if not years); Not many I’m sure. 

I realized something the other day and am quite honored to say that people respect me and expect a certain manner and moral compass from me. They look to me for inspiring and encouraging words and will quite surely make note of when I’ve veered off track.

I posted something on facebook the other day with a negative overtone. While everyone expects the positive and encouraging words from me, they are quick to call me on anything negative. It’s kind of funny though, for an entire year I watched people day after day (and still do) share negative and hate filled posts and no one calls them on spreading hate and negativity. They just bask in the glory of feeling good about themselves by sharing the hate with the world.

That’s when I realized something, people respect me so much and have come to expect a positive energy from me that when something appears to have a negative overtone they steer me back on the enlightened path. That’s when you know your words actually are having an effect on the masses. That’s when you know that you’ve touched the souls of many.

So by realizing people miss my words of encouragement, I of course do what I normally do and that is WRITE! I think you all miss my blog because it is like I am journaling and you like peeking in on all that is going on with my life and how much like your journey is to mine. Not in a bad nosey kind of way but a good concerned kind of way as you relate. You think to yourself, ‘I wonder how Joni is doing’ and maybe wonder what I do to get through the same pain-filled days you yourself might be trudging through. I think you might need that bit of encouragement that has left your reading days empty while I was away. 

I’m back. I can’t give up writing and I certainly can’t leave you all hanging in wonder. I’ve decided to take you on this journey of discovering my medical condition so I don’t feel so alone is the process of whatever is going on with my body. 

I’ll seek a doctor, I’ll get diagnosed and I’ll let you in on the homeopathic process I hope I’m allowed to take. The only way they can diagnose MS is through a spinal tap and just reading about it made me cringe, so that is a big no! An MRI okay, if it’s an open tube (I’m claustrophobic), if not, I’ll live with my disability as I’ve been doing for four almost five years now MED FREE! 

I have some stuff to share and no facebook post is enough space, I NEED my blog, I NEED to write, and most of all I NEED YOU, my friends who CARE about me. So come along on my continuing journey of Christ and see where it is I’m being led to now. If you’re reading this, like it or not, God called you along for the ride! 

My trees awakened by the morning sun!

Drama Writing ~ Ray Bradbury

Here you have it, the secret to all good writing, and that is drama! “I’m leaving, it’s personal.” That’s a statement trying to drum up drama but not being skilled, the person loses their mark. When drama happens it is important to show, and that means details. Telling someone something is not drama. You can tell someone you’re leaving but without the details of showing, you just come off as a whiney drama king or queen. Your character musters no sympathy when they TELL, your reader wants details and showing them is the only way.


Yesterday we lost a great writer, Mr. Ray Bradbury; he was 91 years old. This man knew the art of drama and if anyone is a reader of good works, you’ve read at least (at least) one of his books. They called him an iconic Science- fiction writer, but really, can you put a name on art like that? He was an artist who knew the written word, period! With such titles as “The Martian Chronicles”, “Fahrenheit 451” and “Something Wicked this way Comes”, he showed writers the edge of humanity and took them on a ride through wondrous worlds.

The writing world is in mourning for this artist that taught us a little about the way the written word is to be received. When I read a book, so many times I’m dissecting the way it is written; the plot, theme, the drama of it all; I lose pertinent elements of the story. Mr. Bradbury had a way to make me forget that I’m a writer and made me a reader of his words. I’d dive in, become entranced by the story, and by the end of the book I was sighing thinking, “Why did it have to end?” So I’d begin reading it again as a writer, dissecting sentences, fishing for structure, and finding all the points that made this a wonderful read.

My point here being, that Ray Bradbury had a way with words. We as writers would do him justice if we learned from him and anything he wrote. Sure he was pegged a sci-fi author, but he was so much more, just as Stephen King is more than a horror story master. They are masterful writers of drama! Any way you read it, the drama is spilling out of the pages, and it is with that, you finish reading with a sigh.

Drama can mean a play or screenwriting, but today’s blog topic is more about intense, in your face drama that a reader connects with. It might be considered conflict, but that is more physical action in your writing. Drama is the intense feeling you get as a reader of what will happen next. It’s the ability to bring home a page-turner for the reader, like Ray Bradbury had the knack of doing for us.

So when you want to be a drama queen, don’t just tell people, “I’m leaving, it’s personal.” Give the reader something to be intently involved with. “I’m leaving this place because Burt has abused me for the last time! Bruises and hospital visits are over, and so are we!” NOW you want to know…the rest of the story.

Rest in Peace Mr. Bradbury! Long live your words!

Poetry Sunday~ One Voice

Gen. 22:18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
***

One Voice
All rights reserved: copyright © Joni Zipp
I hear the voice in the still of the night
it whispers to me causing a fright
I toss and turn I can not sleep
this voice I hear is from the deep.

It wells within the heart of my being
sweltering my soul I wind up fleeing.
Alone in this world with nothing to hold
I straddle my fears as if I am bold.

I wallow in the shapeless city
there to smother in my own pity.
I know no one who’ll toss me a rope,
clinging here; relishing hope

The voice it says, “You must convey
your message to all so they’ll obey.”
but is my voice reaching the few
who need it the most, who haven’t a clue?

I’ll spread out my inspired word
in hopes one ear it will be heard.
Handling the message that I must give,
an awesome release of all I live.

One voice...
All rights reserved: copyright © Joni Zipp