Warm wishes for a happy Christmas!

Thoughts to brighten the holiday season ... 

"I open the door. 

The gorgeous guest from afar sweeps in. 

In her hands are her gifts -

 the gifts of hours and far-seeing moments, 

the gift of mornings and evenings, 

the gift of spring and summer, 

the gift of autumn and winter. 

She must have searched 

the heavens for boons so rare." 

- Abbie Graham, Non-fiction author - 

Note: I took Abbie Graham's quotation from one of my motivational books by Sarah Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance.



(c) December 2007. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.

The Writer's Block

So, how can a writer overcome this so-called writer's block? Although some may not believe in it, I do, and interestingly, I have read a lot from well-known authors of their own writer's block therapy.

Believe me. I'm not intimidated by those who write regularly, effortlessly. Even bestseller authors are not immune to struggling with this resistance to writing. A writer's block is often seen as a brick wall staring a writer down. It can stay for an hour or three months. 

Some writers make themselves so busy that they could 

What works incredibly with me is simply to sit down and write anything that comes to mind, and pretend writer's block doesn't exist at all. I open up my mental faculties, write down my ideas fast and never ever stopping to rephrase or rewrite.  Later, or when up to it,  I clean up my sentences for grammar, punctuation, clarity, etc. Here's my list. I simply choose a topic from the list and keep at it. Set my timer to say, 15 to 20 minutes never stopping until the time's up. 

• Day's gratitude
• Childhood joys 
• Favourite music playing in my mind now
  
• Why I'm not losing weight 
  
• Old yearnings
• Memorable moments
  
• People I miss 
• Place I want to be
  
• Music that haunts me
  

Some other times when I can't seem to grab my thoughts, I just drift - ride the bus, catch the train, have a cup of coffee - to listen to my inner thoughts. When I get back home, I'm ready to write again.

Some other things I do when so-called writer's block strikes:

• Simply switch tasks
• Free write, like I described earlier - writing without rules
• Do nothing that involves mental exercise until my 'muse' returns for that needed energy and enthusiasm

That's it!

    

(c) November 2007. Updated August 10, 2021. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.

Utopia

Did you know?

Utopia is an imaginary perfect place or state of ideal perfection as described in Sir Thomas More's book Utopia.

Earlier in his life More wrote a book describing an island where everyone and everything seemed in perfect harmony. Probably realising that no place can ever exist, he named the island "Utopis" derived from the Greek words 'ou' (not) and 'topos' (place), meaning 'nowhere'.


Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), was a lawyer who became Lord High Chancellor of England. He was arrested and beheaded because he refused to acknowledge Henry VIII as the sole head of the English church.

(c) October 2007.  Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved. 

Alice Munro's Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage

Spotlight from my bookshelf.

Something from one of my all-time favourite short story writers, Alice Munro.  I first read this book sometime December, 2001. 


Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage
by Alice Munro
(2001, A Douglas Gibson Book, M&S)

A collection of stories by Canadian short story writer Alice Munro. There are nine stories, each one being complex yet satisfying. The characters in these stories range from fourteen-year-old school girls to a retired professor in his seventies... characters are immediately recognizable in our daily lives.

The stories deal with the adult life elements: love, sex, success, failure, hope and death. So what's new?  Munro demonstrates perfect pitch when revealing inter-class tensions. Through her unique magic, these stories don't have plots; instead things simply happen, with a convincing inevitability. A truly great read for the ages. Munro just gets better and better!



(c) October 2007. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.

The Hours by Michael Cunningham

Spotlight from my bookshelf.

 

 

 

The Hours 
Michael Cunningham
(1999, 4th Estate Ltd)

Michael Cunningham takes Virginia Woolf's life as the inspiration for a meditation on artistic endeavour, failure,  love and madness.

Moving effortlessly across the decades and between England and America, Cunningham's elegant, haunting  prose explores the pain and trauma of creativity and the immutable relationship between writer and reader.  

(c) September 2007. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.

My writing life

Corner a wave. Visualise what I'm doing.

"How easy the breath that kills a flame

How hard to kindle that light again.

Cold words kill and kind words kindle,

By words withheld a dream may dwindle."

- Joan Walsh Anglund, poet & author -

In my favourite spot at home and with my writing cap, I'm busy remembering a lot of characters ... those I've met who one way or another have affected my life significantly - positively or otherwise - from my childhood to my present life. I'm at it again, seriously contemplating to write about my relationships with them, their hopes and mine, their funny ways alongside mine when I'm with them, numerous remembrances down memory lane.

This will take a lifetime of writing.  I better start now to keep the words coming... words, words, words.

A blank page. A sharp pencil. A belief in what you are doing. The discipline to keep at it. The ability to look at your own work critically. The courage to keep on when you are feeling discouraged. The patience to keep rewriting and refining, until your work has been polished into the finest piece you can create.

"When you get near people

who are pursuing their heart's desire, 

you can see the intensity in their face. 

Life is too short to live without that kind of focus."

- Barbara Sher, Author, I could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was -

A touch of talent, and a heart in it... focus, commitment, and dedication will follow. And like any artist, that's what it takes to be a writer.


(c) September 2007. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.

Controlling the power of our minds

As psychologists continuously turn focus to positive thinking, researches have been showing that positivity has significant effect, that it can support us flourish in all areas of life.

A good weekend.  And the power of the mind caught up.  Whilst adrift in one of my favourite local news agency shops, there was this interesting motivational book that caught my eye. This small but quite contained news shop often sells remainder books piled on top the other in a tiny corner of the store. Any avid reader would want to dig in when the price is right.

The back precis of a particular book caught my attention, enough to scribble down the practical way to unleash the powers of the mature mind. The book is The Forever Mind with authors, Priscilla Donovan and J. Wonder. In the end, I decided to buy the copy, and for almost 80% discount of the recommended price, why not.


What are the ways to unleash the powers of the mind?


The authors suggest 8 ways to unleash the powers of one's mature mind in easy and enjoyable ways. That is, we need to inculcate the following, at least try to.

1. Remember names, faces, places, and ideas

2. Control the details of your life

3. Learn more, and absorb it more easily

4. Make wise decisions

5. Think your way through emotionally charged situations

6. Keep your brain healthy

7. Learn to love change

8. Have more fun by pursuing your passions.

They make sense.  Hindsight, other things and abilities may change as we age, but it's up to each of us to take the proper steps to work on those that we can still harness to keep us strong, a matter of taking advantage of whatever powers are still available in our minds.

I want to age properly. With unfinished things I love to do waiting to be done, these tips comes handy in ways I can control my mind's power.    


Interesting related article:

Different Types of Mind and Their Negativity. Calm Down Mind. By Sen. Accessed July 25, 2016.

 

(c) August 2009.  July 25, 2016. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.