Tag: time

Writing 101: Assignment #6- The Space to Write

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Step #1: The Early Morning Wake-Up Call

The best time to write is an hour or two after the sun has risen and the birds congregate on my windowsill with their songs. The sky is still a combination of yellows, orange, and reddish highlights, all tap-dancing on the clouds. I write best when the wind is still waking up and blowing lightly, just enough to sway the leaves. When the air smells like you just bought it from the store this morning. That first early morning wake-up, after morning prayer, and just when the creative juices are new and fresh. This is my ideal time of day to write.

Step #2: Coffee

Freshly brewed dark roasted Folders that grab my throat by its hinges and engulf my body before racing to the tips of my fingers. I arise to the occasion of the coffee cherry. After teaching and tutoring a few years back, I developed a love (addiction?) for coffee. Back when my daily routine consisted of chasing three and four-year-olds around the room and getting on my hands and knees to see which monopoly piece I would be. And now, the coffee bean must accompany me in the next phase of our adventure.

Step #3: Solitude

Give me neither food nor noise. Lock me away from society. I no longer live here. Put me inside a quiet place. Though I would much rather be somewhere in the country, swallowed up by trees and grassland, my home office will have to suffice. Where I shackle myself to solitude and feed from its delicacies. My fingers march to the beat of songs that can only be heard inside my head. I am not here in this office. I am in another place. That place where only writers go. I’m an introvert by nature, but writing is when I am the most adventurous. Let the rushing sound of my heart and the beating of keys be the only noise in the world worth paying attention to at this moment. Please, I beg of you, dare not shatter my concentration with the world and its worries, for I am not of the world.

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If I Could Build a Time Machine

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Who I am today would melt away like falling snowflakes during freezing winters upon meeting the ground, for I would tear down the foundations to everything that built me. I would go back to change everything that makes me strong today. Arrogantly and ignorantly, I would rearrange days to fit my own endeavors; whatever pleases me that I will do. And those who’ve caused me pain I would exact vengeance. I would avoid hurt as if running from a plague, and strategically erase all traces of my own crime scene. Indeed, if I could build a time machine, I would fill my life with days of sunlight and sorrow would be a stranger to me. Childhood, Adulthood— I doubt if I would know the difference, for innocence and naiveté would cover me like fine linen. As such, my shoulders would not know what it’s like to bear heavy loads. My smooth skin would easily chip away at the sight of danger, my mind would know nothing of sacrifice, and in times of distress I would flood my bed with tears. They would fall dangerously from my eyelids like liquid apologies for not knowing the zip, slither, snap, and thump of a broken heart; for not understanding the crackling crunch of a spirit defeated; for pulling back the wounds of wisdom only to create outlines of invisibility, for I would cease to exist.

Don’t try to build time machines to go back to relive mistakes. Everything you are and everything you’ve endured is what makes you who you are today, flaws and all. That said, never linger on old wounds so much that you wish to go back. What is done is done. Meanwhile, the future has plenty of room for change. Embrace it.

Its Raining…

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…it’s pouring

the old man is snoring

he went to bed

and bumped his head

and couldn’t get up in the morning..”

Who remembers this rhyme? For those of you who know this blog by now, you know I love the rain and guess what? It’s raining!

What I love about the rain is how it slows everything down. We live in an age where everything is rushed. Instant gratification has us pulling our hair out because the Internet’s not fast enough, traffic is not moving quickly enough, and if there’s an idea suddenly Writer’s Block sneaks in because the words don’t come fast enough. Everything has got to be at our fingertips or we’ll lose our minds. And then there’s the rain, which tends to put us in a relaxing mood. Some people are like the old man, and get sleepy during the rain because it’s relaxing. Its a great time to read and to reflex and to do some handwriting or some soul searching. It’s a good time to sit back and be still. I like to look at the rain as a time not to move. A time for simplicity. The rain, as a time for clarity.

The Weekend Off

I am exhausted! My husband and I just got back from a Conference in Houston and I have not stopped running sense. Between getting my blog back up to date and getting the book ready to release I have been up as late as 1 and 2 am practically sense July started! (I’m something like a workaholic.) I wanted to post more but I had a radio show to do early yesterday so I couldn’t add any of my quotes and notes or draft my posts for today until late. I’ve also just discovered that my in laws are visiting from Memphis Tennessee (and you married folk know how that is. The parents must be entertained. They are royalty you know 🙂 ) next week and I still have to get ready for a business trip to Monroe LA the week after that (after they leave). In addition, the book release is at the end of this month (a flyer with the official date is forthcoming).

Needless to say this is my last post for today. I am going to take the weekend off. I love being busy when it comes to handling business so I’m not complaining about any of it. I need some sleep though!

See you all next week. I’m still going to try to work on a sample Family Tree for the character building I spoke about in yesterdays post over the weekend so I can present this method of character development to you all next week. It really is a lot of fun and makes the process of creating people with human qualities really easy.

OK I’m out, yall be great. See you next Monday, time permitting. 🙂

Chasing Time

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If you weren’t such an important part of the way we measure our existence, I would call you a coward. Why you choose to hide behind second hands and between work schedules I would never know. You slip away from us with the ease of the wind; attaching only seconds to the opportunity to pour heart matter onto paper or spill thoughts onto the screen. You make it difficult for me to drain creativity out of the dust you’ve left me with. I hurry to catch up to you, forcefully picking up the pace of my fingers that heave in and out of breath. They say its good practice writing everyday so I fish for a way to transliterate thoughts against a racing pulse. Time. It is no secret your lack of compassion. It is the chit chatter of every inanimate object that you wait for no one. Sometimes I wonder if you really exist at all. If clocks and 24 hour days is just a mask you wear to disguise your invisibility; if you are truly infinite. I doubt I’ll find a place for you among the galaxies, or deep beneath the sea. This will mean that we will never actually catch up to you, and must instead appreciate your presence when it is near. Time. The only uninvited guest we hope will out stay his welcome.

#Ronovan Writes #BeWoW Weekly Prompt – Silence is Golden

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I’m not sure what the suggested topic is for today, but I am excited to be back after missing last week. My positive contribution to Ron’s  BeWoW prompt today is Silence is Golden.

I believe there is a time to speak, but I also believe there is a time not to speak. When it is not the time to speak, Silence is Golden. It is worth more than the most trusted opinion, more than the long list of facts, more than the careful strung words we tend to place between our teeth. Silence, when implemented in its time, is a most powerful weapon; it cuts through to the meat and shatters the bones. It ceases the need for a humble snack, or the need to taste your words twice. Most importantly however, it cuts down on unnecessary negative energy. I have come to keep quite on certain matters, not because I am afraid to speak on them, but because I do not desire to give it my energy in the first place. For whatever reason, we tend to realize the need for these things far too late, a lesson we know all too well, that is, hindsight is always 20/20. But that’s life, and what is our existence without these lessons? I have come to understand time as our most precious and most valuable resource, why waste it for the sake of words spoken out of season? Even a fool is considered wise when he closes his mouth and watches his words. Silence indeed is golden.