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Grace

Posted in Blogging, Non-Fiction, Uncategorized, Writers, Writing, tagged , on November 5, 2014| 6 Comments »

“I was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see.”

 

That is due to the grace of a perception that, cruelly, only becomes 20/20 in hindsight. It’s easy, when we feel we don’t understand enough, or maybe anything at all, to run with the guidance of people we deem worldlier than us.

 

And for someone like me, that’s a lot of running.

 

But it’s okay because a long day lets us appreciate the silence at its end. Blunders allow us to feel we’re getting somewhere. Change lulls us into the comfort of progress. Learning makes us excited that there always seems to be a way to improve.

 

I’ve taken risks this past little while and in the process, have clearly figured out a few things–one of them being, that I am very at home here, tucked inside my little piece of this World Wide Web and more importantly, so are you. I enjoy the content I produce for this place and can only surmise that you do as well, seeing as you’ve gone to the trouble of following me. You need a sturdy place to hang your hat. And only you get to decide where that will be.

 

I came close to forgetting this.

 

I am so happy to have all of you here that it makes that really hard to comprehend.

 

Thank you for staying around while I find my way. It’s a small world and technology can make it even smaller, but without the human connection we’re all still miles from home.

***

If you wish, please feel free to also follow me on hazyshadesofme.org.

 

 

 

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Help Me Nail It

Posted in Beauty, Blogging, Creative Writing, Inspiration, Life, Non-Fiction, Thoughts, Uncategorized, Writers, Writing, tagged , , on October 23, 2014| 10 Comments »

I was born without fingernails. Eh, not really, but I bet I nabbed your attention and at least a split second of your sympathy. Admit it. You were picturing me thumping away at this keyboard with my nubby little fingers and their fleshy raw tips. Truth be told, I did come with fingernails. They were just nothing to speak of…or to show anyone for that matter. Ridged and wavy, they were thinner than paper and peeled easier than the fine layer of skin that flakes off after a blistery sunburn.

 

I was forever ashamed of them. Always finding reasons to have the tips of my fingers curled into the shelter of my palms or my hands hidden deep inside my pockets. Yes, there are worse things. Much worse things and we all know shoddy fingernails aren’t among them, but hey, they’re good blog material. (We won’t mention that that is probably a matter of opinion)

 

After trying vitamins, supplements and various potions over the years, I’d given up on my nails. They were what they were and when that wasn’t appropriate, at times like holidays or Christmas parties, I learned to cover them with esthetically pleasing plastic.

 

Alas, I’m veering off the path of this posting.

 

As you know, I managed to transfer 798 of you over to my new .org site and I’d really like to know how you feel about that. I need to know because maybe that will help me figure out how I feel. Right now, I’m not too sure. I was really looking forward to seeing you use the new plug-in “Comment Luv” (not allowed on .com) and to just having more freedom for things like that in general, but I’m second-guessing myself. Help me out. Let me know.

 

When I asked my “Wordpress Happy Engineer” Sam (we’ll call him Sam because well, that’s actually his name) if transferring you back is an option, he said that can be confusing for you guys and that multiple transfers lead to unhappy followers. I should mention that he also said that if I came to the conclusion that that’s what’s best for all of us, he’d do it in a heartbeat.

 

As for my nails, I decided that giving up wasn’t an option. That they still mattered. So I chose to try one last thing. And guess what? It worked. My nails became, by some miracle, long and strong. I’ve even had to cut them back or file them down a few times. I seriously can’t believe it.

 

I take it as proof that we need to keep trying new things. There’s something out there that will work for everyone. We just can’t give up.

 

MY nails!

MY nails!

 

 

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Crappy and You Know It

Posted in Blogging, Creative Writing, Inspiration, Non-Fiction, Thoughts, Uncategorized, Writers, Writing, tagged , , , on September 16, 2014| 8 Comments »

Well, as often happens, I’m writing a post I didn’t plan on today. All right, if we’re splitting hairs, I don’t really plan any of them. However, I do dream of each one and fantasize about what I’m going to write before I write it, so that’s something, isn’t it?

I thought today I’d be penning some kind of sassy short⎯punchy and poignant, complete with a catchy, soul-shaking moral. Ideas came to me all week. Tricky ideas fooling me into thinking I’d remember them without jotting them down. Slippery ideas that slurped their tendrils back in as quickly as they’d appeared, stirring my creative juices.

Nope. No stories today.

Today, I am being inspired by crappy content. Yup. The crappier the better.

If you’re an aspiring writer, you may already know what I’m hinting at. You may know, without me having to explain, because you’ve been here. You are here. You live here.

Have you ever watched a movie or read a book and thought, how on God’s green earth is this out there for all to see? Who thought this was a good idea? and then, been shocked when you came up with the answer…two people. At least two people on the ground floor had to think this was a good idea⎯the creator and the buyer.

Good grief, Charlie Brown.

I know you’ve had these very thoughts. And not only have you marveled (and lamented) at the acceptance of these at best questionable works, but you have sworn that even your most embarrassing first drafts are better than them.

And I’m sure they are.

You can see where I’m going here. The very thing that deters our belief in the system can also be an open door. It may not be well-marked or easy to find, but there is clearly a way in.

No, the published crap might not seem fair, but we can certainly use it to fortify our faith.

9781601062598

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