I AM WRITING

How about that?!? This is painful stuff though because I am making my life story a novel or fictionalizing my memoir. When it's all done it will be all worth it though.

I am 8,396 words from today's goal. I will keep writing. Last year at this time I felt really torn in every direction, this year is different. Less directions and sometimes getting torn. Even though there are still some obstacles that keep me from putting the words to my novel, I will get it done. I am determined.

I forget exactly how I came across Luna & Sol. It must have been in Facebook. I read voraciously trying to get my writing done. Soul work, old soul concepts are integral to my novel. My first title was "Soul Triumphs" and then the other title I thought of was "Our Stars Crossed." I'm still in the process of writing but wanted to have these references on my blog so I can easily access them. My Child An Old Soul An Old Soul 3 Types of Soul Work

This is the picture I saw when I logged on this computer this morning. Yesterday was Double-up day in NaNoWriMo. I made it to the first 2 write-ins and then family time inhibited me from getting any more writing done. But a writer's mind never stops. When I checked into Werdsmith on my iPhone I saw a this quote supposedly from Oscar Wilde, "You can't use up creativity..." but upon googling it I found this blog-- You Can't Use Up Creativity...Maya Angelou That's all I have today for this blog. Check out my other blogs, http://schizencephaly1999.blogspot.com/ http://rngldtxgrp.wixsite.com/dismithdrmom https://dismithblog.wordpress.com/

I was 20 minutes late but I will double my words today. Here are some quotes that I want to incorporate in my novel: Word Spring in Virtual Write-in is difficult conversation between characters, but I'm going to do quotes instead-- “Dive for dreams trust your heart if the seas catch fire (and live by love though the stars walk backwards). -e.e. Cummings “Creation means finding the new world in the first fierce step, with no thought of return” -David Whyte, “Statue of Buddha” Do not pursue the past. Do not lose yourself in the future. The past no longer is. The future is yet to come. Look deeply at life as it is in the very here and now, dwelling in stability and freedom. -Buddha Where there is life, there is always hope. After a loss the temptation is to stay focused on the future, on achieving a wholesome state of mind and positive circumstances, but that can't happen until I surrender to the unknown and the unexpected. [sasasas[ My children's happiness. What

The program looks good and I believe in the steps they suggest to finish a book. However, I do not have the money to enroll in the program so I will have to use my discipline to write 50,000 words this month to have the rough draft of my novel. I already wrote over 3K words today. Yay, me! It is worth mentioning what they suggest to have in the program and here they are-- To finish writing a book  in 30 days , you need five things: 1. Creativity.  We’ll send you daily lessons, pieces of inspiration, and encouragements from our team of authors so you feel like you have everything you need to finish your book. 2. Commitment.  To finish a book  in thirty days , you need to be committed, but so do your friends, family members, and other important people in your lives. We’ll show you how to get people to buy into your dream of writing a book and get the support you need from your community to finish your book. 3. Check-in.  Our team will check in with you every week to see how

I wrote over 2K words and signed in the virtual write-in. I am doing this!

Being out-of-town and caring my son's surgery has taken my time off of writing. I am trying to get my head back in gear. To do this I have been looking at Writer's Digest (WD) and Jeff Goins' Writing Tribe. I wanted to respond to one I found in WD. Full disclosure: I never bought into any of the myths so I'm really sharing to pat myself in the back because I've known these myths all along. It's always good to be validated. 10 Myth-Busting Answers to 10 FAQs on Grammar, Writing and Publishing by Brian A. Klems  Can you end a sentence with a preposition? Should you always start a novel with action? There are many so-called writing rules that you hear every day, but not all of them are true. Here are 10 common writing myths debunked. 1. GUILTY OF IMPROPER PREPOSITIONING? Q: You can’t end a sentence with a preposition, can you? A: Actually, you can. There isn’t a real grammar commandment that says “Thou Shalt Not End Sentences With Prepositions.” M

It is sad to admit that I only came across John Yeoman after his death. When I subscribed to his blog, I got this letter-- ----------------------------------------------------------- John Yeoman   < cwriting@btinternet.com > to  me Thank you for your email. It is with sadness that I pass on the news that  John   Yeoman  passed away peacefully this month (July). This email account is no longer being regularly monitored, and the website and content will no longer be updated. John  has left us somewhat in the dark about the detailed comings and goings of his website and creative endeavours. I hope that you still manage to get enjoyment from his little corner of the internet, however all incoming and outgoing payments from the business Paypal account have been cancelled as of 13th July. Please be assured if you have donated to MacMillan Cancer Support via  John  we are sending a substantial cheque to this great organisation. Thank you for your contr

Her death stirred me. I really don't know why other than her birthday was around my birthday and I just thought her poems touched me. As some of you may know the United States Postal Service made a tribute stamp for her in 2014 and I promptly bought it. Part of me wanted to keep it as a collectible but I ended up using it. And now I am looking at an empty collectible stamp book and I don't have the nerve to throw it away unless I do something to remember it by. So I'm writing a blog about it. This is what the stamp looked like-- This is the whole page-- And finally, the back said this-- MAYA ANGELOU Author, poet, actress, and champion of civil rights Dr. Maya Angelou (1928-2014) was one of the most dynamic voices in all of 20th-century American literature. The book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,  an autobiographical account of her childhood, gained wide acclaim for its vivid depiction of African-American life in the South. Published in 1969, I Kn

We lost our 14-year-old Min Pin on Wednesday, August 17. We found him a couple miles from our home. He was apparently hit by a car. We miss you, Reggie. It is a small consolation that at least you are no longer in pain (due to your arthritis).

How long did it take Richard Alpert to become Ram Dass? How long did it take Starbucks to become the company they are now today? How long did it take Facebook to become a successful social media outlet? How long did it take for Michael Crichton to write his first book after leaving medicine? How long did it take for John Grisham to publish his first book after stopping his law practice? How long will my transformation take? Patience is hard to come by. I still feel torn in many directions. I have so much to give. So much to learn. What do I do next?

I've done a lot of reading today. Read Karen Slaughter, Emma Donoghue, Brooke Warner, & Kamy Wicoff. And all of the contributors for today's email from "The Mighty." It is the weekend before July 4th. My daughter is with us today and this whole weekend. I made 3 trips into Chattanooga today. My husband was able to ride our horse, Charlie. I'm just writing. Free writing perhaps. Karen Slaughter and Emma Donoghue used the place as a character. Brooke Warner and Kamy Wicoff are coaches/mentors/publishers. I didn't get on my guest blogging certification program today, but that's okay. I got an email from Jon Morrow saying that he is proud of me. It's cute. And definitely encouraging. It's interesting to feel an infinity towards a person I haven't met face-to-face, but I guess it's only natural since I've been listening to him for two weeks now through the blog certification modules. Today was nonstop. I didn't get any down tim

I finished the first module of my blogging certification program. I have so much to do. I'm still unpacking and finding places for the things I've unpacked. July 4th is coming. I get my daughter this weekend. Yay! Freelancing, writing, and blogging is hard work. Being a wife and mother is hard work. My legs are freezing My husband is yawning out loud My son is sleeping I am writing today.

And I will write everyday I will get my content out there Eventually my blogs will become popular But first I have to write Rain or shine In today's case blistering heat Still I write I bought a Guestblogging Certification Program last year!!! I'm glad I did though Because I had money then I already bought a program. Cool. I will be one of the top writers online. He just said that becoming a writer is EXTREMELY, PSYCHOLOGICALLY DEMANDING I am prepared for that! He just said that my first post will take 40-50 hours Rewriting it 5 times! My first post will be a struggle It will be rejected. Be prepared! I am! I will do the work I will follow directions I will come out on the other side I am writing!

April 2012 Walt Disney World June 1 2012 Just entered California state line traveling for days 2013 Atlanta, GA 2014 Tybee Island, GA 2015 St. Augustine, Florida

We moved around the first of May. We have been completing the move and I have been nesting for 6 weeks now. The move was intense! On one of those nights we stayed up over 24 hours loading a car and a minivan after 2 moves from a moving service called Bellhops. It was quite exhausting. This move was a pretty big one. I closed 3 offices in Ringgold on December 31. And brought all that furniture and boxes and forced it into our 2 car garage. Three-months later we move from a 2,000+ square feet home to one that is less than 2,000 square including having to fit furniture from my Ringgold offices. This move was also infused with legal custodial battles with my ex. The father of my children. Finding my bearings has not been easy. But I applaud my humble beginnings--that is 5 posts on this blog since I started in April in the midst of looking at homes, etc. I came across these websites on writing and I wanted to post them here so I can use them as reference. http://www.how-to-write-a

The Fire   from Dream Work by Mary Oliver That winter it seemed the city was always burning -- night after night the flames leaped, the ladders pitched forward. ... Scorched but alive, the homeless wailed  as they ran for the cold streets. That winter my mind had turned around, shedding, like leaves, its bolts of information--drilling down, through history, toward my motionless heart.  Those days I was willing, but frightened. What I mean is, I wanted to live my life but I didn't want to do what I had to do to go on, which was: to go back. All winter the fires kept burning,   the smoke swirled, the flames grew hotter. I began to curse, to stumble, and choke. Everything, solemnly, drove me toward it --the crying out, that's so hard to do. Then over my head the timbers floated,    my feet were slippers of fire, my voice crashed at the truth, my fists smashed at the flames to find the door --wicked and sad, mortal and bearable,    it fell open forever as

Within the last decade since I moved away from California, I sent a card to my father. And I included this poem in it-- The Secret By Denise Levertov Two girls discover   the secret of life   in a sudden line of   poetry. I who don’t know the   secret wrote   the line. They   told me (through a third person)   they had found it but not what it was   not even what line it was. No doubt   by now, more than a week   later, they have forgotten   the secret, the line, the name of   the poem. I love them   for finding what   I can’t find, and for loving me   for the line I wrote,   and for forgetting it   so that a thousand times, till death   finds them, they may   discover it again, in other   lines in other   happenings. And for   wanting to know it,   for assuming there is   such a secret, yes,   for that   most of all. Denise Levertov, “The Secret” from O Taste and See: New Poems. Copyright © 1964 by Denise Levertov. Used by permissi

From May 28, 2012 “Self-boundaries determine even what one is able to think. While it is true that different impressions stimulate different thoughts in the same person, still these thoughts are pretty much determined by the person’s sense of who he is, that is, his self-image. So the thoughts that go through a person's mind are not really accidental, chaotic, or di ... sconnected, although they may sometimes appear so. They appear chaotic because a large segment of the self-image is unconscious or preconscious, and thus shapes thoughts and experiences in a way that the conscious mind cannot be aware of. This fact makes it possible for a person, by careful observation of the patterns and trends in his thoughts, to gain much information concerning his sense of identity. (Almaas, 1986, p. 15)"

I continue to struggle with writing. I've started three blogs today and got stuck at about the 100th word. It's the same struggle, life getting in the way and fear of letting my thought process be known out there. It takes courage that I'm not sure I have. I'm just going to say what I think is safe enough. Hopefully, some of you can relate. My daughter started a journal. It was cute (painfully). She said she started it in the last 30 days. She didn't mean for me to read it because I was left out of her entries and everything was flavored by the fact that she has been living full-time with her dad right now since February 22. This is not what is best for her and it happened because of the good-old-boy system of the South. I've wondered how I could ask God and my friends for help in getting the outcome that is best for her but my shyness gets in the way. Putting it out there is hard for me. I've been able to tell a couple of close, supportive friends but liv

Today I read a blog from Daphne, a writing coach, saying that writing is like Jazz. She talked about "letting go" instead of being restricted by the classical way of learning or playing music. I am a musician so I know exactly what she is talking about. I learned the piano when I was six-years-old. I have a very structured upbringing that has zapped my creativity out of me. I can still add notes to songs from the church hymnal just as long as I am looking at the actual notes but going off the page completely without memorization? NO, I just can't. I'm afraid those neurons in my brain were pruned off shortly after practicing the scales that Hanon wrote. But here's the thing, I'm in the process of re-inventing myself. So I have no choice. Sure I get discouraged as I get caught up in my low self-esteem conditioned brain. That means I beat myself up so many more times in a day than I should NOT. But what I'm finding out as I am writing this is that I have fr