Poetry Sunday ~ If...

IF...
All rights reserved: copyright © Joni Zipp

If on scorched land I fall
will someone carry me through
will I find relief through it all
parched lips will cease to be new.

If on the flaming fire
I search for seeping rain
will someone see the mire
and save me from the pain

If on knees I crawl
can you come to clear my mind
while all along I maul
I seek but cannot find

If all alone I fail
to the Lord I will confide.
on the seas I sail
He will be my guide.

Happy Birthday Astri
b. 4-26-04 ---d. 4-26-04

All rights reserved: copyright © Joni Zipp

Quotations for your Saturday

Everywhere I go I find a poet has been there before me. ~Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939)

Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment.
~Baltasar Gracian

Natural ability without education has more often attained to glory and virtue than education without natural ability.
~Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)

Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.
~Henry Van Dyke

Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go much further than people with vastly superior talent.
~Sophia Loren (1934 - )

Time is just something that we assign. You know, past, present, it's just all arbitrary. Most Native Americans, they don't think of time as linear; in time, out of time, I never have enough time, circular time, the Stevens wheel. All moments are happening all the time.
~Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.
~C. S. Lewis (1898 - 1963)

Beneath the rule of men entirely great,The pen is mightier than the sword.
~Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803 - 1873), Richelieu

Be generous, be delicate, and always pursue the prize.
~Henry James (1843 - 1916), from his essay about the rules of writing

The way you define yourself as a writer is that you write every time you have a free minute. If you didn't behave that way you would never do anything.
~John Irving (1942 - )

Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.
~Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121 AD - 180 AD)

Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles.
~Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

And so faith is closing your eyes and following the breath of your soul down to the bottom of life, where existence and nonexistence have merged into irrelevance. All that matters is the little part you play in the vast drama.
~Real Live Preacher


Author's note: I am moving this weekend from Texas to Nebraska. I needed to post the quotes so you wouldn't feel I've forgotten you. I will be back as soon as possible enlightening you with all my knowledge. For now peruse all my links and things and dig into older posts. godspeed my friends...

Poetry Sunday~ Home is Where the Heart Is

Home is where the heart is
I’m longing to go home;
a place for me to finally
allow my soul to roam.

Home is where the heart is
blossoms always flourish
moistened soil and fragrant air
it’s there my mind will nourish.

Home is where the heart is
this place has passed away
but not for long there is another
that will sweep my life away.

Home is where the heart is
my new family will soar
as long as we take the first steps
and walk right out the door.

My home is where my heart is
It’s with my son and beau.
This place I’m being led to
by God’s own hand I know.

Quotation Saturday

Keep writing. Keep doing it and doing it. Even in the moments when it's so hurtful to think about writing.
~ HeatherArmstrong, Keynote Speech, SXSW 2006

Write something to suit yourself and many people will like it; write something to suit everybody and scarcely anyone will care for it.
~ Jesse Stuart

If any man wish to write in a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul.
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

Say all you have to say in the fewest possible words, or your reader will be sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words or he will certainly misunderstand them.
~John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)

Thus, in a real sense, I am constantly writing autobiography, but I have to turn it into fiction in order to give it credibility. ~Katherine Paterson The Spying Heart, 1989

There's always something to write about. If there's not then you need to live life more aggressively.
~Min Kim, Better Blogging Brainstorming, SXSW 2006

A good many young writers make the mistake of enclosing a stamped, self-addressed envelope, big enough for the manuscript to come back in. This is too much of a temptation to the editor.
~Ring Lardner (1885 - 1933), "How to Write Short Stories"

I never feel that I have comprehended an emotion, or fully lived even the smallest events, until I have reflected upon it in my journal; my pen is my truest confidant, holding in check the passions and disappointments that I dare not share even with my beloved.
~Stephanie Barron, Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor, 1996

There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.
~W. Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965)

We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.
~Frank Tibolt

To use or not to use...

A thesaurus...

This quote by Stephen King got me thinking.

Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule. ~~Stephen King

What did he mean by that? When I’m writing a poem or writing anything in general and I keep repeating the same word over and over, and other words are on the tip of my tongue, but I just need to look the word up in the thesaurus to grab a hold of it and use the elusive word.

I think what he meant is that if you need to HUNT for a word to use, then it is the wrong word. He meant that you are not getting your message across clearly if you need to dig for words to use.

If I say, “It was a dirt laden path.” Maybe I want to say, “Before me was a grungy dirt laden path.” or, “I tread upon the dirt laden path that was gravelly and muddy leaving tracks an inch thick behind me.”

Now if I go to my Thesaurus, I’m given a slew of other words to use for dirt. Unsightly,bedraggled, smutty, unkempt and the list goes on and on. Well they were all on the tip of my tongue but with so many other words on my tongue they all got lost along the way. I didn’t need to hunt for them like they were cheese on a mousetrap. They are all there in my mind, sometimes I need a refresher to show me the word I’m thinking of. (Hey, I’m not getting any younger here.) With them, I don’t need to repeat the same word over and over again.

I’m not as educated as Stephen King. I’m far from it. Although I am steeped in knowledge, my words don’t flow fluently like a river. I haven’t written the enormous amount of novels that he has to where the words obviously spring to mind like popcorn on the stove!

To tell the new writer a thesaurus is out of the question, is like telling them to dig somewhere else for gold, this is his spot. I’m sure he’d be the first to tell you that he’s not the smartest man in the world and none of his sage advice is set in stone. I’ve found so many different writing books that contradict one another, I’ve stopped reading them.

The writing world can be crazy and confusing to new writers. They dive in trying to drink in everything and anything there is about writing only to find themselves confused with what is right and wrong. Guess what people, there is no tried and true formula! Writing is a talent, a gift. You either have it or you don’t.

I think if your style is in line, the words are in check, you don’t need a special class to tell you how to write a sentence. My sage advice? Just write RIGHT!

Poetry Sunday~ He is Risen!

He is Risen
***
The road long and winding
the cry is loud and clear.
A message came in ample time
The King of Kings is here.

Rejoicing for His coming;
the palms laid at his feet.
He entered the city in triumph
all souls were there to greet.

His life was given over,
the battle not yet won.
Our sins were being beaten from
our God’s own living Son.

The Lord was set upon the cross
while flesh was torn away.
A seat on the throne in heaven
will be given to Him this day.

“Please forgive them Father
for they know not what they do.”
Thunder erupts while rain pours down
Making mankind new.

Three days pass when news has come
He is Risen from the dead!
All the sins have washed away
Our souls have now been fed.

Rejoice in the risen King;
Sing praises for his birth.
In life and death He came to save
all people on this earth!
* * *
Alleluia, He has won it all for me!

Quotation Saturday

The way you define yourself as a writer is that you write every time you have a free minute. If you didn't behave that way you would never do anything.
~ ~~John Irving (1942 -)

Say all you have to say in the fewest possible words, or your reader will be sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words or he will certainly misunderstand them.
~~ John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)

I take the view, and always have, that if you cannot say what you are going to say in twenty minutes you ought to go away and write a book about it.
~~Lord Brabazon

You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance.
~~Ray Bradbury,(1920 - ), advice to writers

’Detail makes the difference between boring and terrific writing. Its the difference between a pencil sketch and a lush oil painting. As a writer, words are your paint. Use all the colors.
~~Rhys Alexander, Writing Gooder, 12-09-05

A good many young writers make the mistake of enclosing a stamped, self-addressed envelope, big enough for the manuscript to come back in. This is too much of a temptation to the editor.
~~Ring Lardner (1885 - 1933), "How to Write Short Stories"

Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.
~~Stephen King (1947 - ), "Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully - in Ten Minutes", 1988

I never feel that I have comprehended an emotion, or fully lived even the smallest events, until I have reflected upon it in my journal; my pen is my truest confidant, holding in check the passions and disappointments that I dare not share even with my beloved.
~~Stephanie Barron, Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor, 1996

The Tales of your Soul

Non-fiction writing

We writer’s can conjure up fairies and spellbinding magical lands. We can take you deep into the abyss while leaving you, the reader, breathless from the journey. That’s what writers do. We captivate you.

But ask us about intimate triumphant stories of our personal lives, then suddenly a lot of writer’s will put up a barricade not letting you enter into that domain. I see a growing market in this shattered economy for true stories. Sure the fiction will always carry us to the fantasy worlds of our dreams but reality is much more intriguing.

People tend to want to hear about struggles, pain and suffering. Just like our fictional characters have there ups and downs, when it switches to the character being a real live person with hardships and heart break, we the public want to read about the quest.

I, personally, have no hard time telling of the tragedies that have befallen my dysfunctional family and life. You know why? Because I would not be the woman I am today if ever I changed one incident.

Think about that for a moment. When someone says, “Do you have any regrets?” or “Is there anything you would change if you could go back and do it over again?” I always give a resounding, “No!” If I changed who my parents were, I would be a different woman. If I changed the poverty of my family, I would be a spoiled rich kid. If I changed my career and slung pizza’s all of my life (yes, I did sling pizza’s for a living.) I would not be the appreciative God fearing woman that I am today.

I always hear people complain about trivialities. “I broke another fake nail.” or “My car broke down and my kid needs to get to school, and I’m broke after we ordered out last night.” Why did you order out? Didn’t you think you would ever have a circumstance where the money was needed more than the “take-out” dinner?

Wake up people. Life is happening all around you and misfortune is knocking on everyone’s door. No one is exempt here and I don’t care what country or state that you live in, you are feeling the pain too!

Write about your life’s story. Give the world a tell all odyssey that they can sink their teeth into and most of all, relate to on many different levels. People in the world need to know that they’re not alone in their plight. Just think, you can touch someone in Somalia, making them feel not so alone.

So what are you waiting for? Are you going to let fear of the unknown stop you from sharing? Are you going to let the fantasy writing tie you up and bind you and keep you in denial any longer? Liberate yourself. Free the person within; participating in human compassion.

Poetic Prose

Poetic Prose

I often read books for the sheer beauty of the words written. Okay I sometimes read for good content, but more often than not, I’m always sinking into a prose train of thought.

When I read Tolkien it is like diving into a masters brain. I often read his work just to stimulate my writing. Sometimes I get stumped on what to write, a block of sorts, and when I read poetry or artistic writing, it always inspires me to write.

Creativity will flow through my veins and smear the screen in colorful poetic prose and then that is when I feel my muse is flowing once again. Where are you at in your writing? Have you tried writing prose?

Let me try and put this simple for you. There are writer’s who write words. A lot of the times it’s more of a telling style. Then there are writer’s who leave you enamored with their style of work. There is a way of showing you the story through the prose style of writing that will have your reader sinking their eyeballs further and further into your story.

So what are you saying to me? (oh I can hear/read you) That you can’t write like that? You don’t know how to give the reader what they want? What is this blog all for nothing? I have told you over and over again, yet you’re still telling me you have troubles?

Hmm... the best way to get over this bump in the road is to sit and write for an hour a day. Just free write, not going back to check what you’ve written. Okay, now you’re going to look at it again. But through a poetic window with new eyes.

“The wind blew hard that day in December.”

“The gusty winds swept through my hair on that cold December day.”

It’s just a matter of sprucing up plain words with some more active adverbs and adjectives. I’m always saying, “Don’t overuse those adverbs and adjectives,” but there is a time when your words need that imagery to carry your reader to the next paragraph.

If he/she isn’t interested in your work, than you need to try harder in bringing the images alive for them. Think of the paper/screen as a palette. You are the artist going to paint the colorful scene only you have no paintbrush, you have pen (or keyboard) in hand and your words are your magic wand that will put a spell on your reader after the first sentence.

There are many tools to the left to help you get where you want or need to be as a writer. Are you using them to the best of your ability? C’mon you can do it. I know you can. I see so much activity over the Internet that there has to be room for YOU! Yes YOU can be the writer you always dreamed of being. Learn the craft. Hone the skills. Practice the elements!

Now get to it! There is nothing holding you back but you.

Poetry Sunday

Our Greatest Love

One love, the greatest love

the sacrificial Son.

He carries us on wayward shores

We’re unified as one.

*

One love eternal love

our sins have washed away.

Bonding Truth boundless glory,

our Lord has shown the way.

*

Obedient love embracing love

Our Father, the One to guide us

Faithful servants we become

To Him we sing a chorus!

Quotation Saturday

I've always believed in writing without a collaborator, because where two people are writing the same book, each believes he gets all the worries and only half the royalties. ~~ Agatha Christie (1890-1976)

I always wrote with the idea that what I put out there is going to stay there. Once I publish something, it has been published. I've never deleted more than one or two posts from my site. I don't think that there are takebacks. I don't feel right about it. ~~Alison Headley

If the weak hand, that has recorded this tale, has, by its scenes, beguiled the mourner of one hour of sorrow, or, by its moral, taught him to sustain it - the effort, however humble, has not been vain, nor is the writer unrewarded. ~~ Ann Radcliffe

Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say 'infinitely' when you mean 'very'; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. ~~ C.S. Lewis

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it. ~~ C.S. Lewis

A classic is classic not because it conforms to certain structural rules, or fits certain definitions (of which its author had quite probably never heard). It is classic because of a certain eternal and irrepressible freshness. ~~ Edith Wharton

A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: 1. What am I trying to say? 2. What words will express it? 3. What image or idiom will make it clearer? 4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect? ~~ George Orwell

You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you're working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success - but only if you persist. ~~ Isaac Asimov

If any man wish to write in a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul. ~~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Please write again soon. Though my own life is filled with activity, letters encourage momentary escape into others lives and I come back to my own with greater contentment. ~~ Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey

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