Category: struggle

Tuesday Tunes

A day for me to discuss music

Miley Cyrus: The Climb

Lyrics – I can almost see it
That dream I’m dreaming but
There’s a voice inside my head saying
You’ll never reach it,
Every step I’m taking,
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking but I
Gotta keep trying
Gotta keep my head held high
There’s always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose
Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb
The struggles I’m facing
The chances I’m taking
Sometimes might knock me down but
No I’m not breaking
I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I’m going to remember most yeah
Just got to keep going
And I
I gotta be strong
Just keep pushing on, ’cause
There’s always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose
Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb (yeah)
There’s always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes you gonna have to lose
Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb (yeah yeah ea ea)
Keep on moving
Keep climbing
Keep the faith baby
It’s all about
It’s all about
The climb
Keep the faith
Keep your faith
Whoa oh oh

My 2 cents…

The world is hurting… And the majority of us are caught up in the back and forth, and finding it to be too much. I stepped away from Facebook yesterday… Because I found that I was crying everytime I opened it up. I have been torn between wanting knowledge of current events/ family and the need to be sane (or as close as I get). I am going to choose my own sanity here. But with any mountain blocking my path… I will rest but I will not give up. I can’t be there to join the fight. But I will say that Black Lives Matter. I will say that the cop deserves a murder charge. And that my heart hurts for the fact that either of those statements are not immediately apparent.

Maybe Monday

Ok… I didn’t sleep well… And I have been so busy lately that I literally do not have any poetry to share… (I will be sharing a link to coffee house writers later)…

So, I was debating what to do on Mondays that are not good for poetry… Or when I don’t feel up to fighting with it… And I could not think of a exact topic or specific interest to delve into… I think that I will do a few different things. One is echoes from the void… That is where I will be letting the more philosophical content take over. Another is going to be Monday Money. It will be where I discuss both the costs and income of writing/art.

It feels like having 2 or 3 possible topics per day give me a good chance of keeping the blog active.

Tuesday Tunes

Bebe Rexha – I’m a Mess

Lyrics –

Everything’s been so messed up here lately
Pretty sure he don’t wanna be my baby
Oh, he don’t love me, he don’t love me
He don’t love me, he don’t love me
But that’s okay
‘Cause I love me, yeah, I love me
Yeah, I love me
Yeah, I love myself anyway
Hey Everything’s gonna be alright
Everything’s gonna be okay
It’s gonna be a good, good, life
That’s what my therapist say
Everything’s gonna be alright
Everything’s gonna be just fine
It’s gonna be a good, good life I’m a mess, I’m a loser
I’m a hater, I’m a user
I’m a mess for your love, it ain’t new
I’m obsessed, I’m embarrassed
I don’t trust no one around us
I’m a mess for your love, it ain’t new Nobody shows up unless I’m paying
Have a drink on me cheers to the failing
Oh, he don’t love me, he don’t love me
He don’t love me, he don’t love me
But that’s okay
‘Cause I love me, yeah, I love me
Yeah, I love me
Yeah, I love myself anyway
Hey Everything’s gonna be alright
Everything’s gonna be okay
It’s gonna be a good, good life
That’s what my therapist say
Everything’s gonna be alright
Everything’s gonna be just fine
It’s gonna be a good, good life I’m a mess, I’m a loser
I’m a hater, I’m a user
I’m a mess for your love, it ain’t new
I’m obsessed, I’m embarrassed
I don’t trust no one around us
I’m a mess for your love, it ain’t new Everything’s gonna be alright, alright
Everything’s gonna be just fine, just fine
It’s gonna be a good, good life I’m a mess, I’m a loser
I’m a hater, I’m a user
I’m a mess for your love, it ain’t new
I’m obsessed, I’m embarrassed
I don’t trust no one around us
I’m a mess for your love, it ain’t new

My 2 cents – I feel like this song is so relatable. everyone feels like a mess on occasion. Some of us feel like more mess than right. So if today you are a mess…just turn the music up and let Bebe Sing your feelings for you.

Thursday Tea Party

Hello lovelies! Today is a coffee with lots of cinnamon creamer kinda day.

April has been exhausting. I tried to do the daily post thing, I really did. However things in the world at large have made life a bit harder on me then I expected it to. I am often a shut in. I only really go out to the grocery store. So initially I didn’t expect the stay at home order to really change things for me.

Then social distancing started making it to where stores were closing and the ones staying open were limiting hours. I usually go at night to avoid crowds. I don’t do well around mass amounts of people. People have noise and odors. They like to touch other people…all things that can cause me issues. So I have had to adjust. And it is exhausting.

I am not one that wants things to go back to where they were…not while the threat of pandemic lingers. I also however am not one who is comfortable with all of the liberties that the government is taking during this fear. I am just someone who is dealing with the changes, and the anxiety it is causing and saying that this is how it is affecting me.

Upcoming , on a better note, Fae Corps anthology Through the Sunshine should be available for preorder in two weeks. If you look over on the blog I have been posting the blurb promos that the authors have been making. We still have a couple of authors who have not done an image yet. We will post them as they are made. Coffee House Writer’s anthology is in the editing stage. I will let you know when I know more on it.

Did y’all catch Serena’s Interview on Chat and Spin Radio? It was last Saturday’s Episode part 3 (3B). I feel like it went really well. You can’t hear how nervous I was. Or at least I didn’t. lol. Anyway, the station is a decent internet radio station out of the UK. They do a lot of author interviews, and are quite fun. Go check them out.

I got the good news that Creatives Rising may be back up soon. The editors paused their magazine due to major life changes (Like a move) and posted that they are just about to start up again. I look forward to being a part of that again in the future.

With all that is going on in the world, I feel like I maybe should hold off on publishing new poetry volumes. I have been writing, but slowly. I normally do around three volumes a year…but I am thinking that I may only get one this year. We will have to see. I am also super busy with Fae corps this year as well. It makes a difference in the time I have to write. Also I have added Coffee House Writers. With all of the additional responsibilities, I think that promising more than I will publish when I have enough poems to fill a volume.

I am hoping to release Serena’s Kingdoms of Sin this year. I will release another Dylan story (Dylan and Zombie Hotel) this year. I am waiting for the Illustrator to be available. I do not know if Dylan will have any other books. He might. I like the character. \

I do not know how the world situation will affect my blogging, as my mental state affects how structured I can be, however I am going to try to keep my normal routine here.

Words are hard

Yesterday I was wanting to do a post about Japanese poetry forms. Japan is a place with a very rich culture and their literature shows it. Their mythology and history is such a diverse and interesting set of topics that the average person might be confused by it.

So I was wanting to be sure that I had the spelling and such right. When I don’t know the proper way to spell… I Google. Google led me to an article that I was blown away by. The writer is far more eloquent on the topic than I feel capable of. So, I admit I felt discouraged.

One of the problems that many authors face is the issue of comparison… Not by others but the comparison we do ourselves. It is so hard to see our own writing and feel accomplished. It is so hard not to hate on our own way of speaking. Dude, words are hard. Especially when you read someone else has written it in a way that just makes sense.

So, I have shared the link above to the article on Japanese poetry. I ask you… What forms do you like and where does it orignate from? Do you find articles that hit home and feel seen or discouraged? And why?

Inspirational images

First, an explanation. I have been having tech difficulties for the last couple of days, which are making it more problematic to get the normal posts up. I am still not able to upload pictures properly.

Now… There are a couple of types of prompts… Text like the prompts that I often share… And images. I follow a couple of poetry twitter accounts and occasionally they post pictures to inspire. It is something that you look at the picture and write everything it makes you feel / that you see. Then you turn it into poetry.

This is a good writing exercise to get yourself writing over a block. Any image will work, but if you do not get it from a free source then make sure that you credit the artist/photographer. (I’m not sure who did mine… I got it from twitter poetry)

Why I have to play catch up here

I missed two days. I was supposed to be posting something poetry related and then Saturday was also supposed to see the link post. My boyfriend was called to assist with a friends hot water tank. I went with. We spent two days fixing the tank (see here replacing). Her home is sweet and inherited…. Including the fact that it was built by her grandfather. A lot of slapped together with duct tape, hope, and just prayer. So replacing the tank took a lot of cuss words and more than a little sweat.

That being said, I don’t want to do three more posts… I will make sure that the link post goes up. I may do a couple of exra posts through the week to make up to y’all

I have been struggling this year to keep up. I know that many of you are as well. Thank you for your patience.

Oh and before you yell at me for going to her house… We practiced social distance. It is definitely a dark time…. But I don’t see myself or my boyfriend turning our back on a friend in need. We were not going to party. We were not “visiting”…we were lending a hand to good friends.

Tuesday Tunes

Rihanna – Stay

Lyrics – All along it was a fever
A cold sweat hot-headed believer
I threw my hands in the air, said, “Show me something”
He said, “If you dare, come a little closer”
Round and around and around and around we go
Oh now, tell me now, tell me now, tell me now you know
Not really sure how to feel about it
Something in the way you move
Makes me feel like I can’t live without you
It takes me all the way
I want you to stay
It’s not much of a life you’re living
It’s not just something you take it’s given
Round and around and around and around we go
Oh now, tell me now, tell me now, tell me now you know
Not really sure how to feel about it
Something in the way you move
Makes me feel like I can’t live without you
It takes me all the way
I want you to stay
Ooh, ooh, ooh, the reason I hold on
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ’cause I need this hole gone
Well, funny you’re the broken one
But I’m the only one who needed saving
‘Cause when you never see the light
It’s hard to know which one of us is caving
Not really sure how to feel about it
Something in the way you move
Makes me feel like I can’t live without you
It takes me all the way
I want you to stay, stay
I want you to stay, hooh

My 2 cents – this song speaks of longing for company, of loneliness. Right now I feel like this is a relevant and relatable feeling. It is a scary time for all of us, globally. Pandemic and isolation…it’s just a level of panic and uncertainty that has a lot of us disabled.

Please, even if you are having issues, try to stay in until this is under control. Isolation is the world’s best shot right now. Stay home and stay safe.

Seasonal crud

This week, and the Last two days of last week, may be a little bit of nothing posted. I have the allergies that always hit me at the end of March. My head is so full of cotton and crud that I can’t think. I even begged off of my post for Coffee house writers. So next week when it should be posted It will not be going up. I will be back to writing and posting, hopefully by the end of the week. Until then I thank you for your patience.

Also a bonus to make up for it… April will be extra posts for National Poetry Month.

Tuesday Tunes

Kenny Rogers – Buy Me A Rose

Lyrics – “Buy Me A Rose”

He works hard to give her all he thinks she wants
A three car garage, her own credit cards
He pulls in late to wake her up with a kiss good night
If he could only read her mind, she’d say:

Buy me a rose, call me from work
Open a door for me, what would it hurt
Show me you love me by the look in your eyes
These are the little things I need the most in my life

Now the days have grown to years of feeling all alone
And she can’t help but wonder what she’s doing wrong
Cause lately she’d try anything to turn his head
Would it make a difference if she said:

Buy me a rose, call me from work
Open a door for me, what would it hurt
Show me you love me by the look in your eyes
These are the little things I need the most in my life

And the more that he lives the less that he tries
To show her the love that he holds inside
And the more that she gives the more that he sees
This is a story of you and me

So I bought you a rose on the way home from work
To open the door to a heart that I hurt
And I hope you notice this look in my eyes
Cause I’m gonna make things right
For the rest of your life
I’m gonna hold you tonight
Do all those little things
For the rest of your life.

My 2 cents – The death of Kenny Rogers has hit me hard. Music when I was a child was not as much of a variety. Daddy enjoyed rock(like the Stray Cats and such) but Mama was more stubborn when it came to music. When she was around… It was only country music. I see music as another expression of art. I always have. So I have been more attracted to the way the song made me feel than the genre that the song is in.

Kenny Rogers songs always made me feel. Even more so as I aged… Because I gained wisdom.

In many ways, this has always been my favorite of his songs. Followed closely by Coward of the county. I came from a broken home. My parents loved each other once. In the way you love the image of someone. Both were not seeing the other. And neither were willing to fight for the other. They were children having children and it really wasn’t long before they drove each other away.

I’m not telling you that to condemn them or upset you. I’m telling you that because it is truth and it goes along with the chosen song. Romance is not what the books say… There is no immediate knowing how to make it work. I have been with the same guy for 24 years come May. Some days I am the asshole. Some days he is. We hurt each other. We heal each other. We communicate. We are still together, not because of what we can get each other, but because we are willing to do the effort. I am a firm believer in the idea that romance is based upon the effort you put into it.

So, with this I say goodbye to Kenny. Hopefully his memory will always comfort a word brighter for having known him. And may the game of the afterlife come up nothing but Aces for him.