Keep Calm, Carry On and Don’t Look Back, for Long

I was reading today a beautiful piece of writing sent to me in Brad Listi’s latest newsletter. If you haven’t yet acquainted yourself with The Nervous Breakdown, it’s a crying shame.

It reminded me of my first true love. A man with a red corvette, curly brown hair and a heart of pure gold. We lived a long-distance relationship throughout our college years. Many trips from either of our college towns down the nine-hour drive to a large southern city populated with either Limos or Toyota Corollas and, for a few weeks a year, one red corvette and two people in love.

During our summer breaks, I spent many a day or evening at his college-town apartment; until 11 pm or 3 am-if we fell asleep in each others arms. He was the quiet shield from the beatings at home of one parent or the crass treatment by a step-mother that only wanted me gone;. She got her wish; mine were not granted. Truth is slayed by hatred so often.

He has a family now and that door has been shut to me long ago Though, for a minute, I allow myself to wonder what our life would have been like to entwine into each others limbs as the evening turned into night and we grew closer through the years.  What would our baby we lost to miscarriage have looked like? His chin, my ears, his feet, my hands. The minute has ended and I must deal with the truth of today and count my blessings. My friends, my faith, the strength I have to fight each minute of pain. Nothing would stop me from working before, nothing will stop me from working through this dying disease today.

The minute has passed and I must deal with today. I count my blessings and move through the pain. Happy that it is in my bones but not my heart. That pain would be too much to bear.Those questions I also look at askance. Lot’s wife taught us not to look backward  No matter how much it hurts to move forward in this body, at least it is moving ahead.

Regrets? Yes, many. But I only acknowledge them peeping at me from the corner of my eyes. There is no point at looking them straight on. I must gather my strength and keep my faith for the current fight; alone, with this disease and its unending pain.

Count your blessings and be happy for what you have. Be happy in your heart for who you have become and, whatever war you face today; keep strong and carry on.

Neil Gaiman in a Commencement Address; Some of the Best Best Advise for Writers of All Kinds.

Saw this on the Writers Blog and had to reblog it here. Thanks, Ali! Do note that the contest on http://thepointofthequill.com is still going on until Friday 14th midnight Eastern. You must put your data into the fields in order for you to be entered into the drawing. Sit back and enjoy this. Nearly every word is golden. I will watch it weekly if not more. (I had no time to watch it with deadlines, reviews, posts, letters, W.I.P., and then stopped to realized one point that totally took my deadline worry away. Thank you, Neil.

If you have a problem viewing the post please go here. (It’s a vimeo video…you know.)

Hello to All. There is a Contest at My Other Site!

Hello to all of you. I sure miss the community here. And the lack of having to take care of the ‘back pages’. Believe me, it is a chunk of time each day that just disappears. And money!

But I stopped by to tell you not only how much I miss you but that there is a contest going on at http://thepointofthequill.com

Since I am spending so much time over there, I didn’t want to leave you out of the drawing on Friday (just posted about an hour ago). That’s Dec. 14th, at midnight Eastern Time.

I had accumulated more subscribers than I expected in a little over a month and since I had started it out as an incentive for my subscribers to take the trouble to sign up again on a coded form for them to be used by my new form and list builder (and down the road, forum or community page), I needed to give them a deadline and incentive. And since I was promoting it I needed to open it up to anyone. So, voila. You are all invited.

I have been updating and adding onto the Writer’s Toolkit over at that page so check it out. And speaking of deadlines, I have a few this week minus the doctors appointments. Calendar is full and wallet is thin. Be happy here. I remember how much i was and it is such a relief to come back. I get many of your newsletters in my email and then sign in to see what all of you are saying. Truly, you are the best of neighbors. Thus, I wanted to let you know of all of the ‘goings-on’. Drop me a line and let me know how you are. I would love to hear from you!

 

 

 

 

 

Movin’ on Up. Because of you, this is second home, but please come and visit me!

image cred: freerange/Geoffrey Whiteway

To all of my dear followers. We are moving to http://thepointofthequill.com !

Within the next 2-48 hours the address will be populated and up. However,

I am told that though the writing reference page, other pages and posts, et al will be moved, there is

not a guarantee that all followers will move. So if you would kindly make a note of the new address

and click on link when website is up, please sign up and there is a lot of help, tips, resources

and support coming your way!

And a quote from a playwright well remembered:

“There is a time for departure, even when there is no certain place to go.”  –  Tennessee William

Luckily, we are certain of the place to go: http://thepointofthequill.com !

Wordcount, Hemingway, and M̶e̶ YOU

Bright clear morning from sunrise to after lunch when the winds kicked up. Now my drapes float through the sun kissed rays that grace my library and I’m feeling oh so…snippy. And no, it’s not that. I was up all night writing, found out some bad news at 3a.m., and my neighbors kept me up for the period between the latter and 9:30a.m. No, not doing that. So I’m a bit whiny. Not a good thing to post something to the blogosphere when your cranky.

Oh k-sara. Though, my idol, Nora Ephron, scribbled, scribbled, scribbled (Note to dear reader; that’s a reference to one of her books.) and had her rants printed on actual paper. So back to snarking away. (Yes, it’s a word. Here are two more: Urban Dictionary.) I was going to write a detailed post about Evernote (with appropriate hyperlinks). In this detailed post, I would include all of the things that you can do with it (screenshots, tips, tricks and all with a jazzy title) for helping fellow writers.

However, after hearing from various informed sources the advice that it is better to hone posts down to bite sized bits as no one has time to read a manifesto (Do you?), I decided to do a little trimming. (see “Busy Blogger?”).

And who wants to read things written out like they are some dumb ninny who only knew how to hit the “Go” button on their computer and were at a loss after that? (Do you?)

Of course not. So in my rehabilitation from fainting outside of my doctors office and getting the hell away from Stethoscope Land only to be taken by a migraine-inducing truck to the Mother Ship of Stethoscopes, I wrote a concise and to the point post about how writers can find relief in their busy, stressful lives by using Evernote [EN]. I am and always have been proficient in EN since before the 1% ever heard of it. And, because I am a perfectionista (yes, i just made that up. The Bard did it, too.)  I honed some more. So instead of giving a Masterclass in Evernote, I chipped it down to one detail that would help those writers who also blog (target audience, kids, target audience)  that want to establish a relationship with larger websites by keeping track of their past comments, as they may be commenting on a guest post by the author on an entirely different site and they would want to establish a fellowship with the author by showing them that they have kept track of their On-In work. (That’s Lee-speak for On-Air but only on the Internet)