Tag: Writer’s Life

My Healing Heart – Breaking the Chains

My Healing Heart – Breaking the Chains

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My Pain, My Story, My Badass Art

Breaking the Chains

For whoever needs this:
USAF – 11 yrs 2 M 5 days
Holding the Crap That Happened to Me Inside – 37 yrs 9 M 2 days

The Pain

When I entered the military, one month after high school graduation, I was running, seeking, and hoping…I was also naive and ill-prepared both mentally and emotionally for what I was about to encounter.

The Cause

 
Many things happened within that fierce brotherhood where women were tolerated but not welcomed. For the longest time, I blamed myself for not only what happened but my reaction to what happened. Thirty-seven years later, I was sitting in the VA, waiting to begin Counseling. I had just renewed an acquaintance with my first love, art, and had my notebook with me.

Healing Begins

 
Like many, many times during my lifetime, whether it be writing or art, my creativity helped to unleash and unravel what was holding me emotionally captive. Many times I have said my writing keeps me sane…apparently, so does art.
 

My History

I began writing for emotional release when I was seventeen. I was in a bad situation at home and had fallen in love with reading many years before. Somehow, for me, writing was a natural reaction. From there I began writing for fun.
 
Three months later, to placate my abuser, I gave it up and aside from emotional release, it would be decades before I would write again. Why am I sharing this? To be honest, it’s not easy. But if my story will help others to express what’s chewing them up on the inside, then sharing my story is worth it.

Let it Out!

 
Write, draw, talk to someone you trust, go into a private room and scream if you have to, but get that shit out. It’s eating you up and no amount of medicine is going to give you the emotional release that expressing what you’re feeling can give you.
Hey, if it helped/helps an awkward farm girl from Pennsylvania, it might help you. 
The Challenge of Writing a Book – NaNoWriMo

The Challenge of Writing a Book – NaNoWriMo

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The Challenge of Writing a Book

The idea of writing a book in a month, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November is a good one. However, life doesn’t stop just because you’re writing a book.

Every day writers the world over will say finding the time to write, like all major creative endeavors, is a challenge. And then, in November alone, you’ve got Thanksgiving and shopping for Christmas, who has time to write a book?!

The Commitment

For me, personally, a woman living with disabilities and caretaking a husband with a chronic and often life-threatening illness and now, a new dog, I couldn’t have picked a worse time for NaNoWriMo. Yet, still, I go on. Why?

This month of writing pushes me to make a daily commitment to me. I may not make that overall goal of 50,000 words. Who cares, what matters is that I am writing and like most writers, I need this outlet.

The Creativity

I am happiest when I’m writing and even happier when I’m writing my stories. They allow me to leave the stresses of everyday life behind. They allow me to stretch my creative muscles beyond real life and entertain the “what ifs.”

For instance, in my current NaNoWriMo novel-in-progress, so far I’ve released a hoard of “living” ghosts (one of which is a determined granny eager to get back to her mine.) I discovered two restaurant-owning dragons. I killed a major character in my series and uncovered the murder-plot that ties all these things together. And, the fun is just beginning!

Your Dream of Writing a Book

It’s so easy for us to get so caught in the day-to-day needs and wants that we put off something we’ve been wanting to do, for me, months, for others, years, and for many, decades. Yes, it’s November 11th, and you’re thinking, it’s too late, November is almost half over.

Nah. It’s never too late to follow your dreams! So sign up, join me in NaNoWriMo and just start writing. No matter how much or how little you get done, all that matters is that you’re on your way to fulfilling a dream!

For more about me and my stories – please make yourself at home and stay awhile…

Shirley Burly by Scott Pixello

Shirley Burly by Scott Pixello

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Author Scott Pixello

One of the joys of writing is the constant opportunity to play with words, Scott Pixello uses this fascination to entertain himself…and us…

Shirley Burly and other Stories

For those who enjoy history and a clever play on words, Scott Pixello‘s Shirley Burly and other books looks quite entertaining…

 

Meet Shirley Burly:

Thirteen, half-Turkish, a little overweight and obsessed with Sherlock Holmes. Oh yes, and she’s just been told she’s ‘on the spectrum.’ Together with sidekicks Monty, Napoleon and Jasper, she starts a crime-fighting blog, aimed at her obsessive online fans, called ‘Dear Stalker…’ She’s a different kind of detective with a different skill set. She’s about to surprise lots of people, including herself. And still be home in time for tea.

– Copyright, Scott Pixello

 

You, Me, and a Spider-Cat

You, Me, and a Spider-Cat

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It’s not polished, but it’s a fun impromptu poem I wrote this morning for an upcoming event…

Those who read my stories will know what a Spider-Cat is. 🙂


You, Me, and a Spider-Cat

My dear, wonderful readers,
I’ve written my stories with my ideals
Refusing to yield to market feel-ers
Added the nuances in my mind,
Twists and turns and unexpected hills
All things a money-hungry Publisher
Would derail, shortchange, and kill,
For this writer to write her best
It MUST be on my terms, unfurling
My wings, pushing myself to the
Literary edge, Going where

You, me and a Spider-Cat want to go!

 

Copyright Ingrid Foster

 

In Remembrance of a Beloved Friend

In Remembrance of a Beloved Friend

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Jimmy 2003 – 2018

Isn’t it strange how the loss of a furry family member hurts as much, if not more, than the passing of a human loved one? But these animals are often such an important part of our lives, it’s no wonder we mourn their loss.

When I think of our dog, Jimmy, as the one-week anniversary of his passing approaches, I remember the constant vigil he always kept between my husband and me.  And, how he would  strategically place himself so he could see or hear us both of us at the same time.

I remember long walks in desert, his playfulness, even at 15. Jimmy was such a loving, happy dog. Yet he was also a fierce protector at our gate, refusing to let anyone pass unless we gave the go ahead.

Yes, we miss you, Jimmy, and feel your loss deeply. We miss our playmate, companion, protector, confidant and beloved friend. Rest in peace, Jim…

 

Jimmy’s Favorite Game

 


Rest in Peace, Sweet Boy, You will Forever be in our Hearts

Jimmy

December 2003 – December 2018

 

 

 

A New Adult Novel?? – My Life

A New Adult Novel?? – My Life

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Life in the Air Force

New Adult VS Young Adult, Yep, That’s My Life –

This morning while dressing, it occurred to me that since young adult novels seem to be “it” right now in regards to book sales, maybe I should be working on that “great” young adult novel I still have inside my head. But, of course, being ADHD, my brain went in a multitude of directions from there. When I finally sat down to write what came out was more “new adult” than “young adult.”

One of the adages that writing teachers readily preach is “write what you know or know what you write.” So, with that in mind and being that my “new adult” experiences began when I left home and enlisted in the Air Force, this is what came forth from my cranium this morning….

The Plan?

In June of that year, I graduated high school, less than two weeks later, I turned nineteen and more than a month after I graduated, my new life began, or at least that was the plan. In retrospect, I probably never should have enlisted. I should have figured out a way to go to college and become this great, amazing writer, the one who lays dormant inside me.

But that wasn’t my life; mine was about surviving and getting away from the hell that was “home.” It wasn’t always that way, one upon a time I was surrounded by people who loved me and wanted me, but then not all fairy tales have happy endings and when my “wicked” stepmother married my father, she truly was not a very nice person. So like all fairy princesses, I needed to escape and my escape was the United States Air Force. Who knew the proverbial jumping from the frying pan into the fire actually existed? I soon found out.

The Great Escape

I was a farm girl in rural Pennsylvania, my graduating class was 265, actually I don’t think every one of them graduated. We were poor, no way around it. My father’s get-rich-at-farming attempts just never panned out, so if I stayed in PA (my favorite abbreviation for Pennsylvania) it was either flip burgers or marry a farmer. Somehow neither was very appealing. I wanted to travel, to see the world, so for someone like me, the best option was the Air Force.”

In truth, not a bad start. BUT, I write fiction, not creative nonfiction and isn’t my reality incredibly boring? So, here are my thoughts…perhaps, as I siphon through my memories of what my life had been like back then, maybe I can come up a few kernels of research to use in a fictional novel. With that goal in mind, I’ll keep writing and share whatever remotely clever bits I come up with here, on this blog… Or, at least, that’s the plan today. Of course, being ADHD, I could have a new plan tomorrow… 😉

Where’s Your Box?

Where’s Your Box?

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Is This Your Box?

 

Talking to my husband the other day, I told him I envision a room full of tables and around each table women and girls, mothers and daughters, aunts and nieces, grandmothers and granddaughter. And I am presenting on stage.

Your Power

“Do you remember a time?” I ask. “When you felt powerful? When you felt like you could do anything, be anything and no one could stop you?”

“Do you know, you still can?”

“Sure, we’ve gotten older, our skin is not so pliable, our bodies not as flexible, but our minds, our minds are still young and that power within us is still there. We just have to find new ways to work with these bodies that have aged or changed in some capacity.

Your Box

“So, this is what I want you to do. I want you to sit up straight in your chairs, look straight ahead and close your eyes. Now imagine a box, just an ordinary box, it can big, really big, or as small as you are. But every box has two things in common, they are square like a cube and they close at the top.

“Now you can decorate your box anyway you’d like inside your mind, but what I want you to do is imagine that that box is your life and you are living inside that box. Everything you do, every thought you have and every dream you dream for your life must fit inside that box.

Your Life

“No. No. No. These aren’t my rules. They’re yours. Unless you’re living a life where dreams can and do come true, you are currently living inside a box. And you’re life will never change.

“Do you know why? Because you don’t want your life to change.  You like your box, you like your walls and how familiar they feel. And that’s fine, if you’re happy and content and you never want your life to change. But, if you’re not happy and you’re living to please someone else. It’s up to you to change.

“I won’t lie to you, going outside your box is scary and unfamiliar. It takes courage to move outside what’s familiar. It also takes faith.

Your Choice

“Sure, faith in God, faith in your higher power, but also faith in yourself. You have to believe you can do it, and you have to believe you deserve it. Once you get past that voice inside you that says, “You can’t do this. You’re too dumb. or you’re too weak, or dreams, especially yours, will never come true. Or, maybe, it’s just because you’re too busy taking care of everyone else and it’s selfish for you to think about what you want.

“But, I have to tell you. You deserve to be happy as much as everyone else. Now mommas and grandmothers and aunts and sisters and daughters and everyone else look across the table at the person you came here with tonight. I want you to say, “You’re allowed to take care of yourself. You’re allowed to be good to yourself. Your allowed to love yourself. And then, I want you to tell the other person, you don’t have to live in a box. Together we can tear down those walls.

“Well done, Ladies. So, now I want you to take that piece of paper on the table in front of you and I want you to write a number one. Beside that number one I want you to write something you can do today to start breaking free of your box.

Taking That First Step

It can be as simple or as complex as you want. But, if you are really serious about getting out of that box, I want you to start off with something you can do, really do, today. Because if you can accomplish one goal today, tomorrow you work on number two.

“Baby steps, Ladies. Mothers, do you remember when your child was a baby. Do he or she start walking overnight? Probably not, can they walk now? Do you get what I’m saying?

“Every goal starts with a dream and every dream is accomplish by you taking that first step and then your second step and your third and so on. So, Ladies, let’s start getting you out of that box!”

 

An Ode to That First Cup

An Ode to That First Cup

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(with tongue in cheek)

On the horizon, the sun breaks

Chasing the darkness of the night,

With sleepy minds and slow bodies

We stumble from our bed, hopeful

Yet searching,

 WHERE IS IT?

Where is that savoir to the sleep-starved,

Where is that first cup, that first sip

Where is that glorious elixir

we call…

 COFFEE

With each sip energy flows through

Our bodies, invigorating

our muddled minds, restoring

thought, inspiring synapsis

and we become

ALIVE

We are ready to face that

Which mere moments before

was

UN-FACE-ABLE

Get out of my way, World,

With this life-giving potion,

I can do ANYTHING

I AM INVINCIBLE!

Thank you, Coffee

 

Copyright 2017