Musings

Writing, The Enemy of Good, and ‘Goldilocks’…

What draws us to write is often comprises that which presents our greatest challenge when writing a story, or novel.

The psychic and emotional wounds that compel us to write present the greatest, and yet oftentimes, most invisible obstacles we encounter throughout the process of crafting and refining our stories for public consumption.

So what are these demons that lay in way upon the trail we hew in seeking to manifest our dreams, the demons that rear their heads, beautiful and ugly that can distract and pull me from the path as ordered by my heart?

They come in many sizes and shapes.

Writing, The Enemy of Good, and ‘Goldilocks’… Read More »

Perfectionism, Fears and Good Husbands…

Readying your book for publication, i.e. the printing and binding of the words you have penned is an illuminating process.

First of all, if you’re like me, a perfectionist, nothing you read of the novel or story seems right.

All the sentences you spent hours upon hours crafting, shaping, editing, refining and then re-writing sound horrible. I read my stories and novels aloud during the last stages of editing.

Perhaps the words sound awkward because I don’t want to believe that I’ve reached this point. And under my own steam.

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Last Edits, My Personal Best, and Being Present…

The past two weeks have been a blur.

I’m in the last stages of editing my novel, The House, that is due out later this year, and times have been quite interesting.

It’s funny what happens when you reach a point of having to let go of a book and “put it out there” so to speak.

For me it’s a scary time.

And particularly so, since I’m self-publishing. My first work, Keeper of Secrets…Translations of an Incident” a collection of short stories, was brought to print by a traditional publishing house.

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Give-and-Take, Mysteries and Playgrounds…

Networking is an interesting and weird thing. It requires give-and-take.

In a world or culture so focused on taking, and amassing, the 21st century version of connecting with others can cause us to see some things about ourselves that are not so pretty.

The Internet is clearly a place where transparency is a plus.

You must give to get. And what you give has to be of service to those from whom seek to receive.

So how does one get into this mode of giving without worrying so much of what I’ll receive?

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Distractions, Passion and Showing Up…

Why is it so difficult to write sometimes?

Distraction.

It is the secret enemy of writers and authors that slithers in, most often unnoticed, when we have many things going on.

Ahhh, the art of multi-tasking.

Distraction presents an especially difficult challenge when good and positive things are happening for and to us.

Writers, like most artists, come to our work because we were not seen and acknowledged by our parents.

Well-meaning, and by no means Mommie Dearest, our parents held our well-being as their utmost concern when guiding, and coercing, if not blatantly steering us from pursuing the work we sought to accomplish as artists in our efforts towards financial fulfillment.

They cared for us. Yet, their ideas were oftentimes the least supportive. And so we found ways of distracting ourselves from their desires and will to have us be more normal by choosing careers offering what they felt certain would provide a more stable and secure lifestyle.

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Dear John, A Daughter’s Wish and Moments of Awakening…

My daughter recently stated that she hopes that my husband and I live to a ripe old age and that we die together, much like Noah and Allie in the movie based on The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks. My daughter had just finished reading Spark’s novel, now a movie, Dear John.

That’s the great thing about reading books. They awaken us to parts of ourselves, hopes dreams and wishes, and those held for us by loved ones.

That my daughter, not yet 25, could offer me such a gift I find astounding. Most children, and rightfully so, want their parents alive for as long as possible.

Saying this to my daughter, she responded with, “I can handle my life, take care of myself as long as I know that you and Daddy are together somewhere in the universe, even if I’m not with you.”

Dear John, A Daughter’s Wish and Moments of Awakening… Read More »

Faith, Our Personal Best and the Work We Do…

But I want to stay with mothers, because so often when we write we, and the world, does not take seriously what we do seriously, particularly if we choose to operate primarily as a mother, and a writer second.

Those of us who choose to place our writing second do so because I think on some level we know that we will never reach our personal best at crafting stories until we have nurtured our children to an adequate point in their and our lives.

This is not the only way to come to writing. This is our way.

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