Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Summertime...


Is the living easy this year? Well, I wouldn't, as yet, put this period into the category of being exactly idyllic yet, especially since yesterday was, largely, one of the rainiest, gloomiest Sundays we've had yet for 2014. It was beautifully sunny real early and then...I'm not going to get negative here, though. (At least, I'll try not to, for sure.) Everything's green, blooming and getting all new again. You have to love that ! Instead of clearing off snow again, it's time to get that lawn mower out. There's no use trying to stop the effects of spring and impending summer. I'm sure I've already zapped about 200 weeds-easy ! My roses out front are a riot of lush blooms and that heavenly light rosy fragrance is permeating my front walk. Nice. Winter is OVER, whew !
I've been feeling more like my regular self for about two months now and I want to keep going with those feelings. I've been getting a lot of writing accomplished and am doing better than ever, overall, on my daily baskets. (Usually better than my average which is about two out of three!) Two turtle doves have taken up residence in the pine tree outside my office window and periodically they peer in at me like I'm invading their space! It just makes me giggle. Oh yeah, I've been giggling a lot more, too.
I've decided that I'm not doing much good burying myself in memories of days gone by- good though they may be. It's time to pick myself up, dust myself off, look around, see what needs to be done and just do it. As Obama said in the middle of his campaign, "It's better to light a candle than sit back and curse the darkness." Indeed. It's not so dark, though, and we all need to take a break from futility. Nothing is futile if you make a concerted effort toward goals and, incidentally, prayer changes a lot of things; More than you might think. I've been going over possessions and keepsakes with such buried thought that you'd think everything was priceless. I know better than that, of course, and you can't keep everything I keep telling myself. What I wanted to keep the most is now far away except in my dreams.

An estate sale is impending and I just need to find a couple of helpful volunteers to help me wrap things up, get things sorted and tagged and get it all out there where someone else can get a chance at some very nice stuff. All I've ever found myself deeply attached to is books and now that I've gone through and sorted about 10,000 of my own it's starting to look like audiobook city. There's nothing like getting your reading done while taking a walk, knitting or clearing up the dishes and straightening up a kitchen. I'm still looking for a change to come real soon. I can feel it in the air. Very soon no one will be able to hold me back and I'll be soaring the skies again and taking all kinds of calculated risks. It's good to be back with the human race.


 Racing with the stars...
The Castle Lady

Friday, June 06, 2014

Not Just Words


     All writers cope with the daily dilemma of living life fully or sitting down to write. If you aren't out there getting your feet wet in it, you won't have anything to write about and if you don't take a good amount of time sitting down and writing about your experiences you won't have a true impetus or drive for your craft and may lose perspective of your writing objective. It's called writer's block. Writer's block is a terminal disease I've never had and never will. I have quite a backlog of ideas just waiting for me to get to them. I'm afraid I'll never have enough time to finish all of them. Only writers will really know what I am saying and understand this entry at all. That's the main problem. We're the most misunderstood people in the world but most of the world is unaware of it. They think they know us. We're that lazy slob that won't get a job. We spend way too much time reading and writing everything down. We can't help it. It's in our genes and our blood. 
     In order for the writing life to work well, a balance must be prevalent which is tricky and, at times, fraught with peril, exhaustion and (most times) crushing frustration. Add to that, the drive it takes to succeed business-wise and you will have enough stress and tension to break stones! We don't show it on the surface, however. We're busy writing about the writing experience- or something else. There is always something to write about- it's inevitable.
     It may be very difficult for a world of non-writers to believe that a profession, in which it appears that you sit and type all day, to be anything more than a very cushy life. If they could see the inner workings in our heads played out in their own, they would run screaming from their own body- if that were possible. Most people would not be able to take it, I'm convinced. (All my fellow writers are saying, "Amen to that, sister!") All of this is the basis for a misunderstanding which has never been discussed well enough between writers and non-writers. To understand who and what the writer is you have to read between the lines and visualize. It is like staring through the bars of a cage to see a tiger. A good writer is well hidden behind his world of words and he likes it that way. We may not want to be found. We may not want to be personally understood. Sometimes, we don't care if you read what we write or not. Our motivations are the most mysterious aspect of our profession but not to us. Figuring us out is your problem- not ours !
     This may sound off putting but what I wanted to convey the most in writing this entry, has more to do with the complicated life of being a writer. We may or may not be antisocial but for some strange reason we prefer a blank page and a pen to all other forms of communication and enjoy the fact that we do this better than most people. Given enough time at the keyboard or writing pad, we are in our realm (our kingdom, if you will) and there is a whole world out there to illuminate through the written word. It isn't just words....it's life.
and everyday at that....

The Castle Lady