Friday, April 30, 2010

KITTY - I STILL LOVE OPRAH!

Just read Kitty Kelley's book on Oprah. I'm still shaking my head, trying to understand the purpose of this book. I suppose anyone who has had a taste of fame, knows the down-side, that eventually someone somewhere is going to chip away at their character and analyze all their flaws since birth. There are people out there who make big bucks making those in the limelight appear deceitful and greedy. Truth has many sides. And one side of truth is this: you can take anyone on the planet, look into their past, and devour every particle of a person's life, and turn a story for the jackals to jump on and tear to pieces. This is the part where I really and truly feel sorry for "O", because I consider myself to be a pretty nice, ordinary person, but there are some days when I don't want to smile and make nice faces to the outside world. Even if you're worth ten bucks or a billion bucks, the weight of fame has to be pretty darn heavy at times. I feel sad that Oprah's many good works are criticized by those who feel she exploits her public image and uses it to sell her goodie-two-shoes image to the world at large. So what! Reality check: Oprah has changed the world for many women. AND, the woman is a pretty darn good businesswoman. She's smart, savvy, and she identifies with ordinary women of all ages, races, economic levels, and religions. All women, everywhere, need a little pat on the back every once in a while, rather it be in person or through television. Sometimes those little pats on the back are just the thing needed for someone to believe that the world can be a kinder and more gentle place with them in it. Oprah inspires me, makes me want to be a better person. I'm proud to be living in an age where a woman can be anything she wants to be. And if she doesn't feel like smiling all the time, or people want to berate her for being human, that's okay. That only makes me love her even more. You go Oprah!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

THE OVER-REVVED ENGINE

Ahhh, another day on crutches. This is so totally not me. Doc informed me another four to five weeks before I can put my weight back on my foot. Okay, so I've become lazy with all this hobbling around in the last month. Sometimes, you just gotta do what you gotta do, and let source take over and do the mending, both in body and mind. Let the soul be the coolant for the over-revved human engine of delimma, namely, overthinking everything! There are times when you just need to sit back, clear your mind and reconnect with the beauty of being an eternal soul in a human body.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

GOOD FRIENDS, GOOD FOOD, GOOD GOD, LET'S EAT!

Yesterday was a wonderful day. Debbie, my friend and fellow blogger (Life is a Stitch and other thoughts that make you smile), brought lunch and a bottle of wine. We sat on my back porch and talked for several hours, just enjoying the woods and conversations about writing, quilting, a little of this - a little of that. The lunch of chicken salad, cucumber salad, a grain bread and fresh strawberries and grapes was absolutely delictible. In this fast-paced world, it's easy, and sometimes more convenient, to make do with fast-food friends, the friends that come and go in our lives, and in the end, we don't really know much about them. Like fast food containers, we end up throwing them away with little thought or concern. Me? I'd rather have the five-course friends, the friends where easy conversations and laughter come naturally, the friends I keep and treasure like my best china. Today, choose a friend and give them a call, just to let them know how much you value their love and support. Life is not about consuming the over-salted and pre-packaged convenient stuff. Indeed not. Life is about the preparation, sharing and savoring each bite.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

SPACE, STAINLESS STEEL APPLIANCES, GRANITE COUNTERTOPS AND THE MAN CAVE

On HGTV they're always talking about "space." On House Hunters, the realtor and clients enter a house and undoubtedly someone says, "Oh, golly gee, this is a nice space. I love this space." Or, "This space is great for the man cave." I love all these little words that become overnight successes. For instance, a few years back, everyone needed "closure." Or, this one: "Are we on the same page?" Little words or phrases that catch on like a virus and invade our vocabulary. But space, yep, I like this one. Everyone needs space, especially writers.

Writers need lots of space. We do well in open desk areas with very sharp pencils, plenty of paperclips and lots of blank paper. Our space includes a computer and printer. We sit at our space in a comfortable chair. We sometimes light a fragrant candle to make our space more inviting, more conducive to writing a love scene or some poetic narrative. Writers find mood in space - the more space, the better the mood.

My morning space begins with coffee to my left, computer face-on, desk cleared of everything I don't need to get the morning started. I get on my blog-space and write something that is hopefully inspiring. I then get into my business-space where I knock out a few confirmations for the cabin rentals and do my batches for credit cards. By this time in the morning, I usually have to clear my space of debris; i.e. wadded up papers, a spray of paperclips, a few phone messages that came in while I was on the computer. After clearing my space, I go into my writer-space, or, my pretend space. Here, I make things up, lots of things that hopefully will go permanently into a story. After a few hours of writing, I have to come back to my reality-space. That means housework, cabin cleaning, cooking - all the stuff it takes to keep my outer-space clean and functional. Oh yes, you didn't know that, did you? You have both an inner-space and outer-space. Inner-space is personal, very private, like what psychologists talk about being an arm's length around your body. When people invade your inner space (standing too close) you get uncomfortable and intuitively back away from the intruder. The outer-space thing is everything else that is yours, but you have to maintain - including everything from your 12 speed blender to relationships you have with friends and family.

All this space talk is making me a bit dizzy. But I still like the word. It makes good sense. Even saying the word makes me want to stretch out and get comfortable. As they say on HGTV, "This is a good thing." Nah, that's Martha, isn't it? I'll try again. As they say on HGTV, "This is a good space. I love this space. What a wonderful space." Yep, this word will definitely stick around for a while, unlike granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and people who are being interviewed about their new home while slicing carrots and celery. Oh yeah, like, after the interview they won't just order a pizza and pig out in front of their big-screen TV in the man-cave. That's called pizza-space.

Monday, April 19, 2010

THE DELICATE BALANCE OF EGO AND SOUL

I'm back in the saddle - or at least riding side-saddle. Ankle is healing, and now hobbling along with great gusto, instead of pity-padding along, feeling sorry for myself.

In terms of writing, oftentimes, I get to this point - stumped on a sentence, paragraph or scene. It is then that I pull out the mental crutches and sink creative shoulders into them for support. Self-pity can be a mighty comfortable cushion when all else fails. BUT staying immobile for too long, can cause atrophy to the muscles of the body AND to the brain as well.

Story writing is not for the meek and humble. It's a fine line writers walk between ego and soul. We become the devil's advocate when it comes to picking and choosing through human emotions and spiritual awareness, all for the purpose of adding depth and personality to our characters. Just as a physical injury can bring a person to dead halt in activities, so does our creativity when we come to a scene that fails to work. Or, perhaps we become truly exhausted from constantly dipping into that sticky ego for emotional growth of characters, and then find it equally difficult to lean to the other side and pick our souls for the right paths our characters must choose to follow to get to the end of the book. As writers we constantly question motive and direction of our characters from ALL angles, just to make everything fit succinctly into the story we are creating.

Truly, as writers we must be aware that our minds dealve into areas that often make us question all five senses and even our mortality. All this questioning can be very tiring. When we tire, we tend to put down our tools and threaten to give up. But like muscle and bone healing after an injury, we must forge ahead and not become immersed in self-pity or self-criticism. Recognize these emotions for what they are: temporary and sometimes NECESSARY.

The next time when a scene, chapter, paragraph, or whatever stumps you, just think about this inconvenient dry spell as being a lull in activity that eventually gives new direction to your writing. Understand that all things are connected in life, and the stories we create become stronger only when we take time out to use the crutches to maintain balance in order to regain our stength. Just be aware that at some point in time, you must gather the courage to throw the crutches aside and walk on your own again.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

THE ILLUSION OF TIME

Wow! My last blog was March 28th! Much has happened in that time, and then again, not much has happened. My ankle ended up being broken in two places, had surgery and now healing. The first two weeks I spent in complete denial, thinking my body would heal on its own. Wrong. Now, the surgery is over and I'm on my way to being back on my feet again.

There's much to be said for having nothing to do but think. I've spent the last few weeks thinking about who I am and where I am in my life. I've decided that always pushing to get ahead can get you into a lot of trouble, especially when you push when there is no resistance to push against. The result: falling flat on your face. There's much to be said for taking a time out from life, sitting back and realizing that life pretty much takes care of itself, IF you allow it to do so. Time is only an illusion. So, condense that busy schedule and sit down, give a big yawn and realize there is no such thing as time. Life does go on without you. So enjoy!