Surviving the Storm: a Poem

The morning broke

I was alone

No friends around

My heart a stone

A storm approached

There was no breeze

The day was still

There were no trees

Dark clouds rolled in

A mist did fall

I closed the doors

No one to call

My little house

All safe and dry

Is strong like me

We do not cry

We’ve weathered storms

This house and I

We’ve seen worse gales

Pass us right by

We will survive

We always do

This house and I

We will get through

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This post is in participation with the Group Blogging Experience, and this week we used a picture prompt. If you want to blog with us, go to the GBE2 Facebook page and request to join the group. Everyone is welcome.

Plain Vs Plane: Fun with Words

I have to start this post with the same disclaimer I’ve used before: I am not a grammarian. I make mistakes in my writing. I am always learning, growing and (hopefully) honing my craft.

That being said, I do take the time to look up a word if I’m not sure how to use it. When reading a popular fiction blog yesterday, I came across this sentence: 

(MC) felt as if she had been transported to the highest level of the physical plain. Eyes closed, she took a deep breath and considered the possibility that she may have crossed over into the spiritual plain. Intuitively, she knew she must understand how vibration is defined differently on the spiritual plain…

I said to myself – Oh no, not again. 

Homonyms are problematic for many writers. I wrote about some of the usual suspects in these posts: 

Common Words Writers and Bloggers Misuse 

Did that Pique, Peek or Peak Your Interest? 

Regarding plain or plane, here’s a refresher:

Plain: 

Simple, normal, basic 

I’m looking for a plain white t-shirt

Obvious, clear

It was in plain view

Flat, level

He lives near the salt plains of Utah

Plane:

An airplane

A flat or level surface

A carpenter’s tool

Level of existence, consciousness (see above)

It’s confusing because the words plain and plane sound alike. In fact, they both come from the Latin word planus which means flat or clear.

I always have to pause and think when I'm using affect or effect. What about you, are there certain words that trip you up? ____________________________________________________

This post is in participation with the Group Blogging Experience, and this week’s prompt is Oh no, not again. If you want to blog with us, go to the GBE2 Facebook page and request to join the group. Everyone is welcome.

Test Post

I'm trying to install the Shareaholic Social Sharing Widgets in this blog and have no clue if I've done it right. This is a test post to see if I have mad skillz or not.

Here goes...

Update - it worked! Check out the shiny new buttons at the bottom of each post. Now you fine people can share all of the wit and wisdom that flows from this blog on a regular basis. <hahaha>

 

Admission of Suckage

Yes, it's entirely true. I have neglected my blogs in the biggest way possible. In fact, shamefully, I didn't even know the password to get in here. I had to look it up.

I suck.

Let me tell you how bad I suck. There has only been one post between the one I'm writing now and this one, where I vow that I'll start blogging again. See, I win the suckage award.

I forgive myself for sucking.

That's always true. Life happens, things happen, and sometimes something has to give. Usually the thing that has to give is the thing that 1) doesn't need me for health reasons 2) doesn't need me for emotional reasons and 3) doesn't pay me. So as much as I love this blog (is that weird?), sometimes it gets pushed to the side. Not my writing, that never gets pushed to the side. Just the blogging.

Now I'm busting out the password, brushing off the dust, and reintroducing myself to the blog.

If you're reading this, thanks for staying interested. I missed you.

Happy Blogging!

Freelance Work

A few years ago I retired from the corporate workplace. What's that you say? I look too young to be retired? Well, that's mighty kind of you, thanks.

Ahhh, flattery. It always makes my day. Where was I? Oh yeah, work. So I retired from a big job that required lots of hard work and responsibility and decided to be a freelancer - although I had no idea what that really meant. I set about researching freelance opportunities and started a fledgling writing career. I'd hack out corporate communications copy, sales brochures and annual reports all day long; mostly for companies I had relationships with from my previous jobs. Hey, it's a living. But I still didn't know how to develop a 'real' freelance writing career.

In the meantime, I started blogging. Now I'm old school (another age reference? really?!) and didn't know nuthin about no blogging. I jumped in anyway and wrote some pitiful posts. Wavering somewhere between online journaling and mindless drivel, I chugged along. I needed a place to be creative so I kept at it.

Feeling a little more confident and realizing I needed a niche, I began a blog about my pets. People started to read it. I started to like it. I'm a crazy, diehard animal lover so it fit. Then an editor at a corporate dog food blog started reading, one thing led to another, and now I blog for them. Real work as a freelancer! A few more goodies have come my way and I am eternally grateful. I plan to work harder and keep growing.

I'll finish this post with yet another age reference. If you take anything away from this post, it should be this:

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This post is in participation with the Group Blogging Experience, and this week’s topic is work. If you want to blog with us, visit the GBE2 Facebook page and request to join the group. Everyone is welcome.
 

Have You Abandoned Me?

Dear Langley,

I can’t help but notice that the last time you posted here was Halloween. It’s now past Thanksgiving. I try not to be needy or desperate but I’ve got to ask… are you spending time on other blogs? Prettier blogs? More exciting blogs?

What do you want from me? I can be pretty. I can be exciting. I’ll be anything you want me to be.

Don’t forget, you made me what I am. If you’ve lost interest, that’s on you. I won’t take responsibility. In fact, you need to get your act together and come back to me. I am a good and decent blog. You can look all you want but you won’t find a more upstanding, responsible and loving blog. You’re no picnic yourself. Everything’s always about you, you, you, with no consideration for my needs.

If you want to come back, you better be prepared to beg. I will not lower my standards to accommodate you, I have too much self-respect. Things have got to change between us. I coolly await your response. 

Signed, Lonely blog

Dear Blog,

I’ll come back, I promise. This isn’t about you, it’s about me. I’m spending my time writing for paying clients, trying to save money for the holidays. You’re still my number one blog. I have not forgotten all the good times we’ve had; all the fun topics we’ve covered and the nice followers we’ve met. Please accept my sincerest apologies.

Will you take me back if I promise to give you more attention? I can commit to posting at least twice per month through the holidays. If you’ll give me a chance, I’m sure I can be a better and more prolific writer for you. After we get through the busy season, I can even do better. I will try my hardest to post once per week after the New Year.

What do you say? Please don’t throw away all our good times. I’m begging. You’re worth it. Thanks for holding me accountable, it’s one of the many things I love about you. Let’s make this work.

Yours always, Over-committed writer

Am I Really a Writer?

Can you call yourself a writer if you’re not writing? I know writers who claim they must write every day, it’s like oxygen to them. I am not that person. I can go for long periods of time without writing anything. Even if I need to write for financial reasons - if it’s not happening it’s just not happening.

I am in this very slump right now. I’m distracted. Other things seem more pressing. I don’t feel like writing. I wouldn’t call it writers block because I have plenty of ideas.


If I could make myself sit down and put my fingers on the keyboard I’m sure the words would come.

Words don’t fail me. If anything, I fail them.

I wrote a silly poem about writer’s block last year, primarily to get over the hump. Here it is: Overcoming Writer's Block - a Poem. But even then, I questioned the difference between writer’s block and lack of motivation. Are they the same thing? Are they different?

To me, they are different.

I’m supposed to be writing about balance and I am. Are you following? If you’re reading between the lines you’ll gather that I have none. You are correct. I’m either in a writing frenzy or a writing drought. (Maybe writing slack-off would be a more precise description but I’m scared of the word slack-off).

My hope is that this forced post makes me climb back in the saddle. My pocketbook hopes so too.

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This post is in participation with the Group Blogging Experience, and this week’s prompt is balance. If you want to blog with us, go to the GBE2 Facebook page and request to join the group. Everyone is welcome.

An Alternative Look at David Bowie's song, Changes

This post was going to be about David Bowie’s song, Changes. I love the song. It’s brilliant how the lyrics are just vague enough to be open to individual interpretation, of which there are many.

Some believe that the Changes lyrics focus on the obsessive nature of artistic reinvention, which Bowie mastered. More common interpretations include taking a hard look at the process of aging and how you’ll handle the changes that go along with it. Even deeper, the lyrics examine a young man's attempt to figure out how he'll react to moving from the ‘cool, hip’ side of the generation divide to the ‘old, outdated’ side.

My plan was to take an excerpt of the Bowie lyrics and wax academic about the primary text and sub texts, etc., etc., blah, blah, blah.  

BUT…

…this is so much more fun. As I was researching the lyrics I noticed some word discrepancies—especially after the Ch-ch-ch-changes hook. I always thought the lyrics were:

> Turn and face the strain
Ch-ch-changes

It turns out, I may not be correct. Here are some of the alternative suggestions:

> Turn and face the strange
As in - move out and face the unknown.

> Turn and face the change
Which is an obvious repeat of the hook

> Turn and chase the grain
Guessing that Bowie drinks whiskey with a beer chaser

> Turn and get my cane
The refrain Bowie will sing when he gets older

Other notable interpretations:

> Turn and take the train
> Turn and face the stain
> Churn your face in Spain
> Turn and face Loraine
> Time to eat chow mein

Okay, I’m easily amused but these are laugh out loud funny to me. Here, take a listen and tell me what you think the mystery lyrics in David Bowie’s song, Changes are.

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This post was written for The Writers' Post group on Facebook, and this week’s topic is changes.  If you want to connect with other bloggers and join the fun, go to The Writers' Post Facebook page and request to join the group. Everyone is welcome.

Project 2996: A tribute to 9/11 victim Anna Williams Allison

Today I am writing a special post in participation with Project 2996. This project is the brainchild of a fellow blogger, designed to honor the lives of the people who died in the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

Project 2996 is intended to celebrate the lives of the people who perished on that tragic day. To remember the victims as people, not just a list on a page. This is a tribute to Anna Williams Allison.

By all accounts, Anna Williams Allison was a woman who lived life to the fullest. An energetic adventurer with an independent streak, Anna, 48, wanted to see the world.

Shortly before the 9/11/ 2001, Anna and her husband Blake—a wine appreciation instructor at the Cambridge Center in Massachusetts—traveled through France. During their journey, they visited Paris and Alsace. In a quest to do it all, the happy couple also visited Champagne, where Champagne is made and Burgundy, where Beaujolais is produced.

Anna's husband Blake remembers her optimistic attitude: Every day was a new opportunity for her. Because there were new opportunities, there was always hope of doing something good. That's the way she lived her life.

Blake especially wanted people to remember Anna’s infectious laugh. He says: If she got going it just consumed her body and her being. She convulsed with laughter. You couldn't help but hear that and feel a lift of spirit.

I am honored to be a part of Project 2996. Researching about Anna Williams Allison touched me. My tribute cannot adequately convey this woman’s zest for life and positive outlook. She is more than words on a page, more than a name on a 2996-long list; she is a real person. I'm sure if I'd had the good fortune to meet Anna, we would have been friends.  

Common Words Writers and Bloggers Misuse: Fun with Words

Disclaimer: I am not a grammarian. I make mistakes in my writing. I am always learning, growing and (hopefully) honing my craft.

I read a lot of blogs and see common words that even seasoned writers and bloggers misuse. In many cases, online writers and bloggers don’t have editors. We can self-publish with the push of a button. There is danger in that freedom; when words are repeatedly used incorrectly, a writer’s post or article loses credibility.

Homonyms are tricky. They are words that are spelled or pronounced the same way as one or more other words but have different meanings. If you’re writing and you’re unsure about the proper use of a word, take the time to look it up. If you’re in the flow and can’t be bothered, go back and edit before you publish. It matters.

Here are some of the worst offenders:

Testing the 'After the Jump' Function on Blogger

This is a test post. I've noticed that some of my blogger friends write their entire post on one 'page' while others write an intro and add a 'read more' link. Considering which way I should organize my blogs, I posed the question to the blogging community. 

Movie Review: Larry Crowne

Going to a matinee movie is an obvious choice when it's 100+ F outside with 100+ humidity. So the husband and I set off to see what seemed like another obvious choice—the Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts new release, Larry Crowne.

The trailers looked cute, and a lighthearted rom-com starring Hanks and Roberts promised to be a perfect way to escape the oppressive Charleston heat. The premise seemed interesting, with enough realism to give it some teeth. We were in.

The storyline: Larry Crowne (Tom Hanks) is a friendly, hardworking big-box company employee. He's unceremoniously canned because he went into the Navy after high-school instead of going to college, so now he's hit the ceiling at the company. He isn't promotable. Bye.

In financial straights and without purpose, Crowne enrolls in the local community college. There he hooks up with a cast of characters who take him under their social wing. With his new friends' help, he slowly begins to emerge from the defeat of being downsized. In his public-speaking class, Larry falls for his teacher Mercedes Tainot (Julia Roberts). Her life is as messy as Crowne's, for different reasons. Let the story unfold...

See, I told you the premise seemed interesting. Add to it the fact that Tom Hanks wrote the screenplay with the funny Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding). He also directed the film. We were sure Larry Crowne would, at the very least, be entertaining.

It's like the movie never started. Although Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts are nice to watch, it felt like nothing happened. The movie didn't go anywhere. It was bland.

I hope I'm not getting so accustomed to invisibility cloaks, blood drinking boyfriends and ancient struggles between extraterrestrial clans to enjoy a plot-and-character based flick, but I don't think that's the problem. There were cute scenes, fun cameos and a few witty exchanges. It wasn't a terrible way to pass the time but, if you came here looking for an honest opinion then I'll give it to you... the movie was boring.

Have you seen Larry Crowne? I'd love to hear your opinions. 

Larry Crowne trailer:

First Love: an Acrostic Poem

Fair and young, so

Innocent.

Ready to jump in,

Seriously. All the way in.  

This must be the one. Your forever.

Light-headed and giddy, life’s a blissful blur.

Open your eyes. Please. Be

Very careful.

Evolve slowly, precious girl. 

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This post is in participation with the Group Blogging Experience, and this week’s topic is first love. I chose to write an acrostic poem instead of my typical blog post. If you want to blog with us, go to the GBE2 Facebook page and request to join the group. Everyone is welcome.

Links to more acrostic poems:

Exploring Superstitions, in an Acrostic Poem 

An Ode to Spring in an Acrostic Poem 

A New Year's Resolution in an Acrostic Poem 

  

Control Over Your Writing Environment

One of the things I love about being a freelance writer is that the word free is in my occupational description. After a long career in ‘Corporate America,’ I am now free. Free to choose my own clients, projects and topics. Free to write what I want. Free to write when I want.  Free to write where I want.

Kinda.

I discovered something about myself this week. I’m not as free to write where I want as I thought I was. I need some measure of control over my writing environment.

This week I am out of my routine and out of my environment. I am with my parents, offering support as my dad undergoes a procedure. I have the technology to complete my writing assignments and stay on schedule, what I lack is the focus. Not because of my dad’s procedure or my mom’s worry but because of… noise, distractions.

To write about serious topics, I need silence. I’m not the ‘go to a coffee house and bang out a few articles’ kind of writer. I like to write in silence.

Sure, I’ve spent time in airports and coffee shops penning silly poems and jingles--but not the serious stuff. Not the real writing.

I was all geared up to sit in the hospital and catch up on my writing assignments, blog posts and maybe indulge in some fiction writing. Nope. Instead I surfed the internet, read trashy magazines and talked it up with the nurses and docs. No writing.

It’s late at night. We are back at my parent’s house and everybody is in bed. Dad is fine. It’s quiet. Now I can write.

What about you? Are you a crank-up-the-music and go kind of writer? Can you write in a bustling crowd or with kids running around the house? Can you write and watch TV at the same time?

Or do you need control over your writing environment?    
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This post is in participation with the Group Blogging Experience, and this week’s topic is control. If you want to blog with us, go to the GBE2 Facebook page and request to join the group. Everyone is welcome.

The Real Meaning of Success

Success

The Encarta Dictionary defines success as:

1.      achievement of intention

the achievement of something planned or attempted

2.      attainment of fame, wealth or power

impressive achievement, especially the attainment of fame, wealth or power

I lived the first half of my life chasing #2, and–at the expense of everything else in my life–I got there. I was successful; successful by corporate standards.   

The real part of the above sentence is found between the em dashes, however. There's the heart of the story. I’ve grown to understand that there is no such thing as success at the expense of everything else in life.

Because when I was successful, I was a mess. I traded my life for the pursuit of success and all its trappings. And success didn’t feel very successful.

So I gave it up. I radically changed everything. Now I am truly successful, as defined by the achievement of intention; #1 above.

I intended to change and I did.

• I intended to become a writer and I am.
• I intended to spend more time with my parents as they transition into older age and I do.
• I intended to find someone to walk the path of life with and I have.
• I intended to be a better woman, daughter, wife, aunt, sister, niece, mentor and friend–and I am.

See, now I am successful and happy. Ever learning and ever growing. Living with intention. For me, that's the real meaning of success.

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This post is in participation with the Group Blogging Experience, and this week’s topic is success. If you want to blog with us, go to the GBE2 Facebook page and request to join the group. Everyone is welcome.

WordPress vs. Blogger: the Conclusion

I started a WordPress blog and a Blogger blog at approximately the same time. (Here is the link to my first post about this experiment, if you care to follow the plot). Along with plenty of other errors and bad judgment calls, I named both blogs the same thing. *facepalm*

Then I joined a daily blogging challenge, which seriously tested my blogging skills but also forced me to go deeper on both platforms. Yes, not one to dip my toe in the water, I plunged right in. I over-enthusiastically signed up both (same named) blogs for the A to Z Blogging Challenge. As I hacked and miss-stepped and clumsily pushed forward, I learned a lot.

Before I give my final conclusion, I’d like to make a few things clear: I am technologically challenged, I gravitate towards the intuitive and easy, I want my blog to be easy (to read and to navigate), I don’t like to read instructions, I want my blog to look good, I want to know what people find interesting,

As I said before and still believe, there are pros and cons to each. If I was king of the world, I’d combine the best of both and have a goldmine perfect blogging platform. Still, after 30+ posts on both WordPress and Blogger, I favor Blogger overall.

What about you?

New Pets Blog

Glutton for punishment or blogging addict? You decide *but don't tell me what you think*! Ha. Anyway, yes, I started a new blog. I have loads to learn about blogging. And since I'm a 'learn by doing' kind of gal, I'm doing.

I write about pets for the Yahoo! Contributor Network, Demand Studios and Examiner. Animals are one of my favorite subjects to write about. Though the blogosphere is over-saturated with pets blogs, I'm jumping in anyway. We totally have the cutest pets in the universe, so yes, they are worthy of a blog all by themselves.

Besides, I just can't help myself (see above).







Oh, the link? Here you go: Hearts in Fur Coats
I'd love to know what you think.

The Yahoo! Contributor Network Article Writing Challenge

Crazy, right?! Yep, I signed up for another challenge. This is an article writing challenge on the Yahoo! Contributor Network, as opposed to the A-Z Blogging Challenge we just finished up. 

It's simple - write one article on YCN per week starting with the letter A. You can either publish the articles display only to ensure they publish in the proper week or submit them for upfront payment, which means they'll be reviewed and published when an editor gets to it.    

Even though I'm commitment phobic and avoid rules whenever possible, this article writing challenge appeals to me because it's a once-a-week deal (see how I used the word deal instead of commitment) and the rules are loose. Really, there are no rules, more like guidelines.

So I'm in, kind of. My A article is languishing in the queue. I'm waiting to see if it flies before I write B because I'm going to write on a theme. It's taking longer than usual to process, maybe because I rarely write on this subject so the editor doesn't know me. We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, I'm a week behind on the challenge and we just started one week ago. 

What? Did you say you want to know what my never-before-written-about theme is? I'll let you know after editorial review.

Blog Design Update

Hi friends. I have not posted lately because, well, the A-Z Blogging Challenge took it out of me. You may remember that I was new to blogging when the challenge began and I jumped in with both feet. All I had time to do - regarding writing - was push out some client articles and blog. No time whatsoever for blog design.

There's so much to learn about blog design, and so many fun things to do. I've changed templates here and added a signature (see below). Not sure if I'm completely happy with it, yet. Apparently this blog will be yet another WIP. That's okay, it's fun to learn new stuff.

Tell me what you think of the new blog template and the signature. What else should I do? Seriously. I'm a baby here and could use the feedback.

That's it for now, I'm off to learn how to change up the post dividers...

A-Z Blogging Challenge: Top 10 List

The A-Z Blogging Challenge. Over 1,200 bloggers. One post per day per letter of the alphabet. Whew. I had no idea what I was getting into. And now, it's over. I did it! Every.Single.Day. (except Sundays).

As a new blogger, I really didn't know what I was getting into, but this was baptism by fire. The challenge was probably the best way to learn how to blog and get into a routine. Special thanks to Lee and the other hosts at Tossing it Out There. The challenge helped me in so many ways.

Today is the first day of the end of the challenge. I feel a bit out of sync, like I have to blog today. So I'll write my recap..

Here are the Top 10 things the A-Z Blogging Challenge taught me:

1. Bloggers are good people
2. I write better with prompts
3. Goals are necessary for me to be productive
4. Peer support is more important than I anticipated
5. I have tons to learn about the technical aspects of blogging
6. Challenges are motivational
7. Blogging is more intimate than article writing/sharing
8. The blogging community is sincerely supportive
9. Colorful, shiny badges look cool on a blog
10. Camaraderie fuels my enthusiasm

Thanks to all of you who supported this journey and cheered me on. I look forward to more interaction with you. It was a pleasure and a delight.