Tag: writing

To Move a Mountain

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“The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” – Proverb

So I have a very important writing endeavor coming up and it’s a really big deal. I will be among nine other writers to take part and not everyone’s script is guaranteed to make the final cut. With just a small window available to get it written, it made me think of this quote. A huge job or task only seems impossible because for the most part, we are trying to do it all at once. When I think about projects it’s usually the finished product. I think about how to go about completing the entire project but in truth that just makes it more difficult than it has to be.

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When I was in High School (well technically I had graduated but we were still in the summer months following graduation), I was chosen to take part in this program. The program was called “Paint the Town”, in which a group of former students sacrificed the rest of the summer to get together and perform one final project on behalf of the school. Since we were no longer students and really didn’t need the credit this was a paid job, so you know we were in. Some of us were already working summer jobs and preparing ourselves to start College the next semester. The job was to paint a mural on a concrete wall in the neighborhood. Initially, it seemed overwhelming because we had to complete the entire wall before the end of the program. Not to mention that we were not professional artists, we were former High School students guided only by the school’s Art teacher. Our job was to decide on a theme, draw out a blueprint and decided how to transfer our vision from paper to an outside concrete wall. It was no easy task as we struggled to decide what was important enough to leave its mark on this wall forever, or for as long as the elements didn’t wash it away. However, once we decided to break it down into parts and sections, and delegate those sections to certain individuals or teams, it didn’t seem like such a large mountain to move. We were able to see the possibility of it all coming together and today, I can walk down that same Chicago Street and still see my name carved among those who participated in the program that took place nine years ago.

When you are faced with an important job, try not to take it all in, but see it coming in slow, a little at a time and eventually the whole picture will come together. It is only when we try to move the mountain in one sitting that we overwhelm ourselves. Just take it one stone at a time; you’ll get there eventually if you remain diligent.

Does Your Blog Reflect Your Purpose?

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This is a question I ask myself often. I must admit it didn’t turn out to be what I initially intended it to be, but that’s a good thing. Personally I think it’s important to be reminded of the answer to this question every now and again. It doesn’t just help me to stay focused on my objectives, but it can also help to produce post ideas. I know that the primary challenge to blogging is to come up with ideas to surround a post. The funny thing about this though is that many of you already have a lifetime worth of post right there in your head. The challenge then is not to consider what to write about, but to dig into your purpose for writing in the first place and connect that with the moment at hand. There’s this exercise I like to do when I’m stumped on what to publish each day. The exercise is that I pretty much just sit around! It looks like I’m staring out in space sure, but there’s a lot actually going on here. I’m digging into the moment. I stop and think about what is happening right now. It may just be the hum of a heater, the ticking of a clock, the whispered conversations of others or the constant stream of updates from CNN. Silently and attentively all of these seemingly unrelated happenings can easily culminate in a nice short story, a poem, or a random list of whatever.

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I’m not sure what direction this blogging thing could go. I would like to add more short stories, more poetry and more insight into the Self-Publishing world for sure. I also plan to continue with the daily quotes that concludes each days posts. Speaking of which, quotes were not part of my initial purpose for this blog. The quote thing actually came from how I usually interact on Facebook under my personal account, where I post lots of inspirational quotes. I decided later to add them here because there is more room to expound, plus I don’t like Facebook like that. As I polished my goals and plans for this blogging thing, I decided that since I like happy people, why not implement something for that purpose. So I think quotes are important to keep up with the inspiration aspect of my purpose.

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Quotes from other authors, writers, and poets are such a refreshing part of the motivation a lot of people need to keep going. Reading other people’s work is also one of the best ways to learn a new skill. And let us not forget about Recipe Sundays! For a little over a month now I’ve been posting delicious recipes to this blog every Sunday which was definitely not part of the plan. How exactly did this begin? To start, I just happen to love recipes. I’m actually not much of a cook (my husband’s the chef around here) so recipes helps motivate me to cook and to find the easiest, yet most delicious ways to do so. The Sunday part is simply because I’m usually at home on Sundays. Because of my already hectic every day schedule, Sundays have become my day to do it all, cook, clean, and anything else left lingering around during the week. I didn’t create a category for Recipe Sundays because I wasn’t sure if I could stay consistent with it, but maybe that is something I will implement to make it easier to find.

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In the end, my hope is to produce quality posts that are not just words to publish for the sake of publishing, but words of substance, of flesh and of bone. Words that don’t just capture your attention but come frequently; complete with all the hunger and thirst that is needed to stick around. I suppose my hope for this blog is that I can transform it into the living, breathing personification of all the symbolism that embodies Pearls Before Swine. We’ll see where it takes us.

Writer’s Quote Wednesday #WQW

Guess what guys? It’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday with Silver Threading …..yaasss.

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Light is truth and truth is freedom, it doesn’t get any better than that.

Stay free people :).

Guest Feature – Barter

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Life has loveliness to sell,
All beautiful and splendid things,
Blue waves whitened on a cliff,
Soaring fire that sways and sings,
And children’s faces looking up
Holding wonder in a cup.

Life has loveliness to sell,
Music like a curve of gold,
Scent of pine trees in the rain,
Eyes that love you, arms that hold,
And for your spirit’s still delight,
Holy thoughts that star the night.

Spend all you have for loveliness,
Buy it and never count the cost;
For one white singing hour of peace
Count many a year of strife well lost,
And for a breath of ecstasy
Give all you have been, or could be.

“Barter”
by Sara Teasdale (1884-1933)

Goodnight 2014

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The wind has released itself from its chambers and spreads its body over the earth. A blanket of hammers slamming low temperatures into the atmosphere, it carries the clouds; full and dark with storms they are coddled into position. The sun has set and is nestled inside the crook of fire in the west wing of the heavens until it is time to renew itself again. The trees expose its private parts except the fourteen or so that do not lose its leaves to the whistling death sentence of winter. In less than a week from now, when the stars loiter on top the sky amidst the backdrop of midnight, people will decorate themselves with the image of change and resolutions, and make intoxicated promises they will never keep. Maybe it is just the warmth of liquor wrapping its arms around their spines, cooling their blood, and pulling at their heart strings. Suddenly it will happen, that moment when the bullet is separated from its shell, the parties burst into confetti, and this moment hushed into a lullaby. Right here, in the middle of a dead winter; everything cold and stiff and silent and yet loud inside a lowering orb of momentary bliss. This is the excited murmur of a new era and it is the canvas to which they will usher in a new year.

Be careful out there.