Category: Life

Miscommunication hazards

It hurts to be ignored. I was invited to help with an interesting project. I was to blog about a apocalyptic anthology. Then it was suggested that I might be able to contribute… By the editor, not the organizer. The organizer became very angry with me for contributing a poem as I was asked. So today I see her asking for female zombie writers. So I am doing the best for my mental health and walking away from the project.

I will still write (as Serena Mossgraves of course) apocalyptic fiction. My book (Rust, Gore, and the Junkyard Zombie) will be live on May first. I want the other authors in the project to do wonderfully well. I just will not be giving any more whispers of that project. I have been asked to assist with another anthology, and I will be posting more on that as it comes closer.

Please forgive my need to no longer speak of a project that I was obviously never wanted for.

Why I won’t be doing Camp nanowrimo

I surround myself with other writers. It allows me to feel understood… And it helps me to do better. The only time I regret that is during the two times that NanoWrimo is a thing.

Everyone around me suddenly expects me to join the writing push. I always do the Pad challenge, and I cannot do the pad challenge and guarantee the word count for the other challenge. And I hate setting myself up to fail.

Some of my friends get this, others however seem to feel like it is a personal affront to them that I refuse to sign up. I am a poet first, the other writing is not life or death if I never write another story. However if I cannot write poetry I am losing a part of my soul.

So dear writing friends… Though I understand why you want to join the fun, can you please not be mad about my staying out to enjoy the PAD challenge? I swear that I am not trying to tell you not to enjoy your challenge. I am merely trying to do one of my own.

Thx, bye now.

By any other name

Ok… I am in my fourties. It means that many of my friends are now grandparents, myself included. I have a wonderful little grandson and another on the way.

As a writer I understand the power of words, and also of names… But I never expected that I would be one who would panic over what my grandchildren called me. I think I didn’t even think that I would be able to be in their lives enough to be called anything. So when my son asked me what I wanted his children to call me… Well I will admit… I panicked. My own grandma’s were Grandma, but I went with Momo, after my paternal great grandmother. It took more thought than I expected it to. And I am seeing many of my friends going with Gigi. Makes me wonder why. What the history behind their choice is.

I also find myself wondering why there is so many names for the same familiar connections. Not only for grandmother, but for mother, father, and grandfather too… I understand that many are from different languages and different cultures… But I wonder about the different ones in just English.

It’s one of those weird curiosities… So for those who are grandparents… What does your babies call you?

Trying to get ahead

Ok… Let’s face it… This blog thing… I am still trying to get used to it. I have been incredibly random about when I update… I am trying to get better at that. Part of the problem is that I post all of my updates when I think of them…. Then I am sitting around scratching my head…..crap.. What do I write on here now? It really is a first world problem.

Sure I can, and often do, share poems that I write. Or update you on progress in my other writing. Rant about crap that irks me. But, in order to keep the blog active… I need to be more regular. So I think that I will start using the schedule feature. Limit myself to posting one update per day and schedule the rest for future days. This will hopefully stretch out the updates and make sure that I stay an active blog.

If there is something you would like to see me discuss… Hey let me know. New topics really can help me to do new posts.

Growth monsters

I think that I have been improving over the last few years. The first picture is the cover I did for the poetry volume I published in 2013….

the second is the cover that I did today as I am going through and cleaning up the layouts on my poetry volumes. I see a huge difference. Time and learning helps make a better and more professional image… But it is also that I am not the same person I was then. I have been reading the poems that I wrote for those original volumes…. My words then are not who I am now.
So I look forward to seeing who I become as the years ahead approach. And may it mean that I continue with verse and words to share with the world at large.

Learning more, growing some

Writing of any kind is often a growth thing. A ever expanding learning experience. With soul’s door I had better equipment and access to better ability for layout than I ever have.

So thusly, it is the poetry volume that is the best looking. I am now going back and redoing the layout for the previous volumes. Not that they looked bad… Just on the kindle the poetry tended to run together. I can fix that easily now. So for the next few days I will be releasing releasing as I finish them updates to the poetry volumes I have out.

Creative kindness

Creative folks are sensitive, and often it’s the little things that send us into waves of self doubt and wavering, crushing questions about our own worth.
Now I am not claiming that you should not be honest with those folks. Quite the opposite. Just be aware that jumping a creative soul for a miscommunication is likely to cause them to question their own worth. Their own value and whether the work that they they do is worth showing to the world.
So before jumping off the deep end when you are dealing with a creative soul, consider if they were aware of how things went on the other end? Consider asking instead of jumping on them. Because if you are wrong, you will result in them questioning their own worth. Questioning whether they have anything worth putting out into a busy world.
In all things please, be kind first. You don’t know who’s life it might save. And if you decide that you dislike what they have created? Again answer with kindness. Telling the creative to go kill themselves, well the likelihood of them taking it to heart is high. Think before you speak. Or risk the death of another creative soul.

Be kind to each other, for the human race needs one another.

That time of the year

This is the hard time for me to keep up with my blog. So I apologize. Between sick, which seems to be a yearly thing, and birthdays… February and March are busy months for me. I am also working out the details for publishing another poetry volume (Soul Door), a novel as Serena (Rust, Gore, And the Junkyard Zombie) and I have a poem that I submitted to a new E-zine (Creatives Rising)

that is releasing soon. I am also still writing more poetry and the next novel. I will be updating this blog as I can, and I promise that I will post a couple more poems here by the end of the week. Still, Please have patience with my erratic updates.

Prompts and some honest results

so Insomnia is kicking my butt. I decided to do a month of prompts in December… And the group did another for this month. Well I was feeling extra creative and decided to put the ones that I have done for January to lovely picture files. Please enjoy as I try to pretend that I am sleeping… Again.

It’s all about perspective

I’m sick. And when I get sick, I get maudlin. I got a notice that I was getting a deposit from Amazon for the books that I have available. It is the biggest deposit yet, a whole $2.77. That amazes me. It is a sign that people are buying the books that I have written… Mostly poetry, but I have some children’s books and a novella (as Serena).

When I told my mother that I was published her first question was if I had made any money. At the time I stumbled with my answer because I had only made thirty some cents. The fact that I had made anything was a miracle to me, but I knew that would not be what she wanted to hear.

For me, publishing is only a way of being heard. Still, making enough from my writing to buy a drink…. Well it humbles me. Would I like to be able to pay the bills through it? Well of course. I am not stupid. I just choose to be thankful for the small things. How often does changing the perspective change the way something feels?

Small miracles lift up the downtrodden. I choose to see this as a small miracle, so that I am uplifted. What perspective can you change to adjust your view?