“That’s One Small Step” @ Clara54

That famous quote of Neil Armstrong’s as he became the first man to step foot on the moon in reference to his great accomplishment, ends with “One giant leap for mankind.” I’m sort of feeling like that for the stuff that’s been happening here at clara54 since its inception in 2008. Needless to say, this site started out as a single black female nurse, woman in transition who needed to find her purpose,release her literary & insistent muse kept under lock and key and explore all of that great feedback from folks in the business of writing back in the day… Pondering those long ago tidbits of ‘light’ from a creative writing professor’s “You are a great writer, my dear!” to a Louisville Theatre calling my One-Act play submissions, “a work of merit,” to pocketing small checks from poetry contest winnings while folding away reception invites to read my works…Those days of denial in dealing with my muse attack are past AND

I’m happy, humble and ecstatic really, to report how much clara54 has grown since the journey of emergence began. I’ve published a bit. Made a bit of profit. Started my freelance writing biz, which has been picked up by Google. Wrote my first advice column for nurses, promoted my blog for women (great feedback) and landed a free one years’ membership to The National Association For Professional Women Charter in my city… Clara54 continues to make important connections with bloggers, authors, fashion designers, celebrity,filmmakers ,folks in government positions and work a ‘day’ job. Life as I live it, is sweet, productive and doable, so why complain?

It’s impossible to follow the path of others when I’ve been following my own path for decades and that’s what I’d encourage all creatives wanting to “create their own vision” to do. Not to get it twisted. The business of writing is a lone one, but, it doesn’t have to be a lonely one-sooo many networking venues/ ole & new writing friends are there to encourage & offer assistance if and when the need arises. Two such writers clara54 recently had the pleasure of connecting with are:

1. Mary Aagaard @ Play Off The Page, where she journals about music (a pianist) art, kids and drama. Her great ‘found’ quotes at every post are quite inspiring.

2. Roxane B. Salonen and I connected via The Urban Muse. She’d commented upon “How I built A Popular Blog For Women” and has since become a frequent flyer. Roxane, a newspaper columnist and author of best selling children books writes Peace Garden Mama, awesome storytelling on following the muse. She also has a Wednesday blog @ Peace Garden Writer.(she deems more professional)

As Sonya Carmichael Jones would say. “keep dancing!”