Hello Writers! I am up to my neck in paperwork and obligations, but, I did take time for family and self on Saturday and most of today:) I have two mind boggling and humbling announcements to make. I was recently awarded The Beautiful Woman And Warrior Award via Facebook by my dear ex-pat friend and fellow blogger, Pat Mckinzie at X-Pat Files From Overseas
Saturday, I learned I’d been given the “Written Acts Of Kindness Award” seen below! You can visit Pat’s site for her story http://pattymackz.com/wordpress/blog/2012/12/01/written-acts-of-kindness/ and details surrounding this award . Make sure to come back on Monday to visit my Authentic Woman website when I share my story and pass the torch on to the next woman so deserving of this amazing nod from fellow writers on a mission to make a diffference in the lives of so many others!
I am thrilled, overwhelmed and honored by this award:)
written acts of kindness award
Keep writing and sharing your gifts and keep us abreast here at clara54’s writers forum!
What a beautiful morning guys! I’m writing today to talk about Molly. Yea. you’re probably thinking, how grand, it’s not about clara54 right now:) Well, you’d be wrong, sorta. Molly is an RN with two young children and a husband to boot. Yep, men need to be cuddled as well. I digress, but, the point here is, Molly is juggling a stressful job, being a wife & mother, and going back to school to get her Masters Degree.
Molly, I find, has a secret. A secret much like I had when I was a few years younger than she is now. Friday, Molly asked if I’d take a look at a couple of stories she’d written online at FanStory.Com. I said “sure I will” and I did. As a creative who has become quite adapt at scouting out and recognizing the “gift” in others, let me tell you, Molly has the creative writer’s gift!
The story is about Molly’s grandmother, written in descriptive voice in her native Johannesburg.Right off the bat, I’m haunted about how dark it gets at night in Africa. I become caught up in the young girl’s fear. I’m wondering how long the next bus takes, reading how Molly misses the bus that takes her to her grandmother’s house way in the desolute countryside. Then it rains, adding to Molly’s fears because she’d never been out & alone so late before.
When the frightened young woman exists the bus to walk the remainder of the way, she is crying and find herself doing something she’d never done before; Praying…praying for her grandmother. The moment in the story comes when Molly hears her grandmother calling out her name. Her grandmother had come to meet her because she knew Molly would be afraid…just like a grandma!
I never got to read the second story from Molly due to time constraints, but I definitely will. She tells me she’s working on a manuscript, only 200 pages so far. I think about all of the stuff that sometimes take priority over our creativity and I can relate. But, I also know that when I give Molly my thoughts on her work? She already knows of the writer within. At some point, she’ll have to open herself to that…
Ok, so, next week, it’s all about me:) There’s stuff I’m working on and lot’s of stuff coming your way as well. How about you guys? Met any great, clueless creatives out there?
Let’s see, so far today after digging into just one of many boxes packed full of writings from long ago, I’ve come across 4 short story fiction works/completed… 1, One Act play, 1 forlorn & once rejected book of 50 poems sent out to the only publishing company I felt at the time my poetry deserved, & which btw kept them for well over a year before returning them with an “I’m sorry, but” rejection …Anyho, loved those poems and felt sooo dejected after, that I’d thrown them into the box of “Gems” I’m rediscovering and will be dusting off to try again.
Then’s there the short-short pieces of ‘love’ stuff from those times of experiencing a love jones where I’d penned a few personals from those ‘Dear Diary’ breakup & make less time for self days. The one journal entry that I recall vividly writing about when the then object of my affection went off to Paris on a musical tour, leaving me high & dry for 3 weeks…so aptly titled “Fifteen Days” became an essay daily emotions… will try to place that tearjerker, using pseudonym natch!
It’s become quite amazing to me the body of work writers have to fall back on when their muse seem to have gone missing, or the job boards have seemingly hit a dry spell. When we get overwhelmed with other stuff … even when we just want to take a time out to enjoy the ambiance of living life in all its creations, it’s sort of cool to know that we have resourceful bits of writings that can bridge the gap of non productivity.
Looking into these often neglected areas where some of our best ideas & creativity can be found waiting for their rebirth onto the blank page of some editor/publishers paying market can help jumpstart our engines to produce again …
Anyho, I’m on a roll now & so much more wealth of forgotten material awaits… How about you? What writing gems have you found laying dormant atop your closets/in your boxes just waiting to breathe again?
Before the internet& my all time ‘fave’ Canon typewriter… there was for me, the good old pad & pen, ‘bic’ to be exact. I’d find myself writing my own brand of fictionalized stories inclusive of healthy doses of forbidden love, mystery & intrigue…stuff only meaningful to me… These brilliant spruts of creativity often came after reading one of those Harlequin romance novels to the end and thinking a bit disappointedly how I could do better…
Over the years I’ve penned quite a few romantic liasons…fashioned a western roundup, or two where the cowboy seemingly always get the girl in the end : Think Roy Rogers & Dale Evans…then there were a series of dectectives I’d always want to call “Dick”…fun stuff… even if I was the only admirer of my ‘superlative’ fiction aplomb…
This weekend, while enjoying the nice weather, small outings & such, I took time out to revisit some of those short stories I’d boxed away. Retrieved one, tweaked it a whole lot:) before sending it out for a fiction contest, just days short of a deadline.
Since I’ve become accustomed to doing biz on the net, I’m not happy to revisit stories captured in longhand, but, I remain optimistic that they’ll someday find their place in publication…
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