Story to Tell

I was reminded recently that everyone has a story to tell.

Tell your story.

Doesn't matter how: memoir, fiction, movie, play, blog post, journal, recipe book, painting, quilt, cross stitch, audio recording, whatever. 

Tell your story. In your way.

Because everyone has a story.

And everyone deserves to be heard.

book home

Cynthia over at Read is the New Black has been blogging about books that she read as a child/teen.  She's reminded me of a few books I used to love as a teenager and it's put me in a contemplative mood.  There were many books that influenced me, many that made me want to write, to create, and to inspire the same things I felt when I read.  Two of them stand out to me.

Now, I started writing books by the time I was four, so I know I was writing before this, but, THE SECRET GARDEN is the first book that I remember that made me want to be published. It sparked something inside of me, gave me a story idea that I have carried around with me ever since. I don't yet know if the idea will blossom into a full length novel. To this point is hasn't, but maybe someday will be the right time to write that story. THE SECRET GARDEN will always be special because it opened a door for me.

The second book was JANE EYRE. I first read this when I was twelve. I often pestered my mother to take me to the library for more books. She didn't always have time to drop everything at my whining complaints that I had nothing to read. Besides that, she wanted to introduce me to the classics, to teach me about literature, and probably to give me really long books so I would stop pestering her.  She'd been after me for awhile to read this book, and since she wasn't chauffeuring me around as much as I wanted I finally gave in. And I was blown away.  This book taught me what a book could be. JANE EYRE will always be something I strive to emulate. Not the plot or language, but the scope of the novel, the depth and complexity, the fact that after all this time it can still speak to readers and blow them away.

What books influenced you? Did you have a single book that influenced your desire to write? That helped you find your home in a certain genre? Or was it a string of many books that created a home for you?

Pathway to success

I was reading a book and came across this little gem.

Overnight success is a myth. I'd been working since I was too young to remember, dedicating myself to the wire, but celebrity can happen overnight.  GIRL ON A WIRE by Gwenda Bond

It's true, people don't get accomplished overnight. My father sent me a quote my freshman year of college.

The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Celebrity can happen overnight. All of a sudden someone's name is everywhere, their book is selling, they're making all sorts of best seller lists and everyone is talking about them. Just because we didn't hear about them yesterday, last month or last year doesn't mean they weren't working towards their goal. Fighting, struggling, feeling depressed and overwhelmed. In otherwords walking the same path we all walk.

Keep it up. Your books are coming, your celebrity may be next. But for now, keep toiling, because you will never reach success without hard work.

Waste Not, Want Not.

I hate waste. 

I have a hard time looking at something that is still good and throwing it away. Not because I need it but because it will be wasted.  I've been trying to clean and organize for our move and all my drawers and closets are filled with miscellaneous things I don't need and don't remember having. 

I've had to become hard core. It doesn't matter if it's still in good condition. If I haven't seen or used it in years, and can't imagine ever needing it, I'm getting rid of it. Most of the stuff is going to salvation army so it will get a good home. Maybe. It just won’t be cluttering up my closets. 

If I can’t stand to let some plastic piece of junk go, how much more does it hurt to let my own life go to waste? I’m going to clean, de-clutter, find time to write and live to the fullest. Because I can throw away clutter, but I won’t throw away myself.

Turn, Turn, Turn

One thing I have to remind myself of constantly is that there is a time and place for everything.

Just because I used to do it, is no reason that it is a good idea now.  The things I may do now I never did twenty years ago, and probably won’t do in another 20 years.  Each year of our life is different. We have different needs, health, family, jobs, etc.

Looking back and wondering where the ‘me that used to be’ went is no good. That me doesn’t exist right now.  But I exist. And I like myself. I just can’t live by the same hobbies and goals I used to have.  The things that have dropped by the wayside were let go to make room for better more important things.

And that’s all right.

A little while ago I realized that an author I respect was turning 40.  40!  I hope they don’t take this the wrong way but I thought they were older. This person is barely a year and a half older than I am and has at least a dozen books published.  I guess it was a blow to my ego to realize they were so close to my own age, because what have I accomplished? It's come at an interesting time, as The Engineer and I  have been making plans, giving up on some ideas and accepting new ones. A time of flux.

Everyone takes their own journey. Everyone has their own set of crazy to deal with. To everything there is a season and a time and place for everything.  It’s natural for us to compare ourselves to others, to always long for what we don’t have, or haven’t accomplished yet. Striving to make ourselves better is one of the things that make us human. Or maybe one of the things that make us divine. And perhaps that’s why we have to keep reminding ourselves that there is a time and place for everything, and sometimes just being is enough. 

Someday...

There is danger in the word ‘someday’.  Someday I’ll work on this goal. Someday I’ll accomplish my dreams.  

Someday is vague and nebulous. Someday may never come.  

Choose to start today.

Whether it’s that rewrite you’re contemplating, the blank paper waiting, the friends you could find, the promotion you want. Someday won’t be soon enough, what can you do today?

There are times when something must wait for that ambiguous ‘someday’, but only because there is a more pressing ‘today’ to live.  

Find your someday, and make it today. You won’t be sorry.

The worth of a goal

Author and teacher extraordinaire, Barbara Rogan has a post here in which she talks about a study recently done on authors.  In her post Barbara says:


My advice to aspiring fiction writers is and has always been that if they can imagine themselves happy doing anything else, they should do it. 


 This statement wormed its way into my subconcious and brought back out a memory. When my brother, who is an anesthesiologist, was starting at a university and considering the long journey of pre-med, med school, residency, school loans, and such, spoke with many doctors. He asked about the process, if they thought it was worth it, how to prepare for it.  He was told by the doctors, if there is anything else you can do and be happy, then do it.  The long arduous trip was only worth it if you were driven to practice medicine. If it was a calling, rather than an occupation.

It surprised me a bit at first to see the same words applied to writing, but then it made perfect sense.  I've often heard that a writer has to write a million words before they are good enough to get published. I guess those million words are our med-school and residency.  No, writing doesn't save people's lives, but it can save people's souls.

Most, if not all, professions have some sort of training or certification that one has to complete before being able to do the job.  All our training is on the job, and because writing is a solitary pursuit it can sometimes take us a long time to really grow. The pathway to publishing is long, and difficult.  One of the hardest things is how subjective it is.  Even if we practice and write our million words, even if we are very, very good, there is no guarantee that we'll find someone who believes in our book the same way we do. 

All in all I agree with the statement, if you are not driven to be a writer, the rejection strewn pathway may not be worth it for you.  I've known others who have given up rather than trying to learn and grow. The reward of being published wasn't worth the work, effort, and rejection received.

But it is for me.

Writing Knowledge

I was listening to a podcast that had an interview with a food photographer.  They asked the photographer why she takes pictures of food. The photographer answered "If I could answer that question fully I'd probably stop shooting what I'm taking pictures of". 

I've long known that, for me, writing is therapy.  I don't write what I know, I write what I'm discovering, what I'm learning. I write to work through my emotions, my stress, to help me comprehend what is going on and find organization to the chaos of life. 

Maybe that's why certain pieces fall flat after awhile, there's no discovery there, nothing to learn, so the novel becomes stale and boring and is eventually left, figuratively dusty and alone, on the dropbox account.

What about you?  Do you write what you know? Or what you want to know?

Happy Thanksgiving

We have a holiday in The United States this week. Thanksgiving.  The name pretty much says it all. It's a day for us to remember our blessings and give thanks for all we have. Each year, the week before Thanksgiving, the engineer and I like to make a Thanksgiving tree.

We put a paper tree up on the wall. It doesn't cost much, some years we've used those brown paper grocery bags. The structure doesn't matter too much because ideally by Thanksgiving it will be covered by leaves.  Each leaf has one thing that we are grateful for. As you can see we still have a little ways to go, but there's still three full days till thanksgiving. And we have a lot to be thankful for.


It's a great way for us to really remember and visualize all our blessings and it's a great way to help the kids learn about being grateful.  I love this tradition. It helps make our week more than just the stress and hustle of preparing a huge meal.

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you. Wherever you are, and whether or not you celebrate this holiday, I hope you can find something to be thankful for this week.  If you'd like, go ahead and share it in the comments. 

I'd like to say I'm thankful for all of you.  My friends, and somedays the only adult interaction I get.  Thanks for being here, for your inspiration, and for being you! 

Make an Impression

Do you ever come across an author, maybe in something unassuming, a blog post, an article in an online publication, that touches you so much, that even though they don’t speak about their work, you need to check it out? I’ve found a few authors that way. People I wouldn’t have come across otherwise, but that I’m so glad I got to know. This article did it for me. It’s an amazing post, and should be required reading for all authors. It really shows how books can save people.

The post is well written, the language engaging, the flow smooth, but that’s not what got me to check out his work. If you’ve read the article (if you haven’t go do it now) you’ll notice he hardly references his books at all.  He doesn’t spout log lines or back covers. He doesn’t use a hook or describe them in tantalizing ways. He doesn’t even offer sage writing advice. He wrote about himself, and others like him. He wrote about those who yearn. He wrote his heart.  And his heart touched mine.  That’s what makes me connect to a book. And having that connection in an online post makes me believe it will be in his novels too. 

This is the way to get people to read your books. Care. Help others. Have something to say and stand behind it. When people find you, they will find your books on their own. Even better, you just might help someone else who is struggling.

Know Thyself

I spent a great deal of my life trying not to be my sister.  I thought if I did everything opposite of what she did I would be my own person. It took me a long time to realize that doing something just because she didn’t wasn’t  really an indication of who I was anymore than if I had been  trying to be just like her.  I had to learn to listen to myself, find out who I was, and be true to that. Regardless of what other people did and said.  Once I found myself, life was so much easier.  And much more enjoyable.

In many ways finding my writing voice is very similar to finding myself. I’ve had to listen to the stories deep inside, write what I felt and believed, not because it was trendy and not because it was the opposite of what was trendy. I couldn’t copy other authors style, voice, or genre. 

 If I write true to myself and the story, the story itself might ring true to readers. Even if not, even if I never get published I know who I am, and I know what I write.  

And that knowledge is a wonderful thing.