Waves splashing. Seas rough. Birds chirping. Softly. Quietly. Then louder as if composing a song. As if complaining … oh why so rough?
Now they fly. They soar. They meander. Still chirping high above beneath the sky. The white clouds embrace.
Waves calm down. Storm’s afloat. Passes by the outskirts as if to say, I’ll stop by next time…whenever that is. Behind it leaves weeds on the shore. Washed up. All aghast.
She Reads By The Sea
Book in hand she reads by the sea. Listening. Listening to the sounds of the waves. The birds. People shouting indistinctly in the distance. Soaking up the sun. Then softly covered by the clouds. Be still my soul.
Trees. Palm trees sway softly. Tenderly. Hear the birds call. The sun shines brightly against the afternoon’s wave.
The Right Time To Write
‘Tis the right time to write. To pray. To listen to the still small voice. Speak. Help me listen. Help me hear you. Don’t let me miss what you must say.
I write because there’s something in me that needs to come out. I am at peace when I write. Writers write for many different reasons. Some personal, experiential, or environmental. Christine Caldalzo created a pictogram of 10 reasons writers write. Here I share 10:
10 Reasons Writers Write
They love to write
To express their thoughts
To communicate
To share experiences
To tell about events
To share their feelings
To persuade
To teach
To Ask Questions
They want something
Does any of the above resonate with your reason(s) to write? Any missing that you would like to add? Do share. We would love to hear.
Who are you fooling? Can you write a book in 2 days? Absolutely! But only if you are inspired with the words just flowing like milk and honey from what’s deep down inside. It might be an experience that tugs at your heart through inspiration, trauma, dreams or more. No edits, just letting the words flow.
The Stress To Write
I was chatting with a fellow author at a recent book festival and he shared that he does not write under stress or duress but by inspiration. Me too! I write best from inspiration and not under the stress-to-write. I share that because at the upcoming 2 Days to Write Retreat, you will find the space to getaway! A mini retreat. This will be more about sharing your writing project with a group of like-minded writers where you can receive feedback on your writing project. After all, your work will be shared by the mass and not just for you only (though some choose to go the me-only route).
The Challenge
Participants are encouraged to challenge themselves to a writing project that can be shared at the event. It might be a cadre of poems, short-stories or excerpts of a longer writing book project. Share. Get critiqued. Append. Share again. It will be well worth your writing project as you push through your goal.
It was 1965, after splitting from Harold, when she began her career as an editor at Random House where she was instrumental in publishing American writers and luminaries such as Angela Davis, Henry Dumas and Muhammad Ali.
Yet, she knew there was a story that still needed to be told, one she hadn’t read or seen before.
At first, she was private about her own writing and would do so as a pastime very early in the morning before her boys would wake.
“I remember reading the ‘Bluest Eye’ and thought it was wonderful,” said Robert Gottlieb, a Random House colleague and the chief editor of the Alfred Knopf sub-division.
When Random House got wind of the fact that she was publishing, they wanted to keep her work in house and so, with the exception of one book, Gottlieb got to edit all of her books while they were published through Knopf.
Her first book, as Morrison claimed, intentionally eliminated the white gaze without “codes or notes explaining things to white people,” as she decided to put the entire plot on the first page.
“Quiet as it’s kept, there were no marigolds in the fall of 1941. We thought, at the time, that it was because Pecola was having her father’s baby that the marigolds did not grow.”
It was 1970 and “The Bluest Eye” boasted a story inspired by a conversation Morrison had had with an elementary schoolmate in Lorain many years before.
Her friend told her she had been asking God to give her blue eyes and he never did.
“How painful … can you imagine that kind of pain?” Morrison recounted for filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders in the “The Pieces I Am” documentary. “So, I wanted to say, this kind of racism hurts. This is not lynchings and murders and drownings. This is interior pain. It’s so deep to know that an 11 year old would think that if only she had some characteristic of the white world, she would be OK.”
Readers make writers and writers make readers ~ Carl McKever
Writers write for many different reasons. Never Meaningless, the reasons are specific to each writer. Naturally writing for ordinary work as in preparing policies, reports, or memos differs from the writing writers do, which often is for their own satisfaction. Some writers write poetry. Some write short stories that ignite passion, joy, or pleasure as in fiction writers. Others write non-fiction sharing their own true stories, those of a loved one, or some about topics they care about as in Success. Whatever your reason for writing it makes sense to read a lot in order to write with finesse that satisfies yourself or your audience.
7 Books To Strengthen Writing
Here are 7 books that will help to strengthen your craft:
Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr.
Working People Talk About What They do All Day by Studs Terkel
How Fiction Works by James Wood
The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross
Kill All Your Darlings by Luc Sante
On Writing by Stephen King
Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t by Steven Pressfield
A group of writers were challenged to a Write In, Write Out Session. After free writing for an hour, Akiim Jarrett wrote this spoken word that characterises his gift. Here I share:
Screams, Shrieks and Secrets
it screams – this secret of mine-
hidden heartbreak and soul-stirring agony,
so I crave peace.
a peace which remains unbothered
a peace ne’er t’be interrupted;
but these days dreams don’t get fulfilled and life rolls you along with the punches at whim.
it shrieks – this secret of mine-
divine calamity a beautiful harmony
can you see it in catastrophic splendor?
a jaw dropping visage,
an image and event to die for-
a living truth I’d reluctantly lie for.
it sounds off –
like the loud silence insecurities decorate-
a masterpiece that doubt artfully paints
can’t you see?
or will you see how this feels like it’s been before,
karmic justice settling the score-
quote raven or mock the peacock
choose that which haunts less is all I implore
secrets aside – lies do thrive
tis better to release than bury inside.
it can be different
things need not be the same
you can produce the change
from the inner stain of shame
Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind, is written large in his works. ~Virginia Woolf
A group of writers were challenged to a Write In, Write Out Session. After free writing for an hour, Antoya Lee wrote this delectable piece that shows her talent waiting to be honed. Here I share:
What is Rape? Does it Require A “No?”
~Antoya Lee
If I push my beliefs, wants, and desires on you, and I succeed in having my way, should I be held accountable for my actions? If, my persistence made me successful in having my way but brought upon you harm and danger.
Or, should I be vindicated from my exploitation of your mind and body and be freed from punishment because of my intellectual ignorance? My mind’s ability to reason and understand based on the knowledge or lack thereof, stored within my mind.
Hear, the words, that proceed as I speak. Abuse and harassment, of any type: sexual, verbal, physical, mistreatment, recklessness, carelessness, ignorance and arrogance. Have you been impacted by such activities or behaviors? Were you the offender, or of your life, a victim of such social behaviors that are communicated amongst our social environment?
Sadly, were you an offender in any group or area of your social environment, where you mistreated, misrepresented yourself or something, in order to have your way and accomplish your desires and wants. Or, to support your beliefs and needs, with your friends, with your family, and coworkers, strangers and lovers, church or other group member affiliation.
Were you ever so persistent in having your way to the detriment of another against that person’s comfort and will?
Is rape or harassment just something sexual?
Or, could it be a form of social communication, verbally and physically, expressed in any type of social situation and setting amongst people in your social circle.
Could it be social manipulation, simply to accomplish one’s own disparate deeply desired wishes?
Not just sexual, but could rape simply, but greatly be social dysfunction, after all the offenses in every area of our lives that happened upon us, or we upon them.
I forgive you. Do you forgive me? Of social rape. Trying to have my own way.
My point: Lets be mindful of how we interact and how we share our habits with each other because rape is social contamination.
