Guest Post from Kelly Sullivan

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                                                                by Kelly Sullivan

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I Am Not Afraid

By kelly sullivan on 10/1/2012 6:19:00 PM 5 Comments

For seven years I lived in a striking landscape. Mountains shoot from the valley floor. Rivers run as clear as air. I was too afraid to stand in it alone. I was convinced that the grizzly wildlife would strike me from behind, streaking my canvas with blood and immortalizing me in all the wrong ways.
I got past that last week. I was back in Teton Valley ID for a visit. I had just launched the biggest project of my career on a crowd-funding platform and I was excited to see it succeed. I had been consumed by it. I dreamt about it for almost 20 years. I put in the hours. I focused all of my energy on it. I spent money we didn’t have. I put potential FingerSmear jobs on the back burner.  I wanted to rock the clubhouse with this philanthropic gig of a lifetime. 
I am not one to tout the pains in this world. They are there. A blind man can see them well. My life and my art are about the beauty that lives, and the world that I believe is possible. Through it, I will connect a generation of girls. I will inspire them to be stronger and more fully engaged in their future. I will tell them to forge the future THEY see – not the one that others see for them.
I have dedicated my life to art and this collaboration is possible because I’m taken by the power of it. My drive to communicate through paint is vital to everything I have to offer this world. For me, everything I do in art -  teach, collaborate, FingerSmear, or paint in the solitude of my studio – must all coexist together.  They all go hand in hand. They are more powerful together than they are alone - just like mighty fingers...
I drove out to the end of the road, to that same valley floor where I’ve seen the wild life roam many times before. I set up my easel and I painted. I ignored the phone and worried not about the bears. My mood turned from anxiety and exhaustion to peace. The shifting of colors absorbed me. The quiet covered my fearful mind, and I was gone.
I am working to raise funds for my project that I know will shift life for the girls that participate in it. My paintings will help me move Mighty Fingers Facing Change from one place to the next. My art is what makes this project possible. It’s what gives me the ability to think that I can take this canvas around the world, and the strength to make it happen.
I can stand alone in the wilderness. I am not afraid anymore. But the fact is, most of the time I prefer a bit of company.

Christmas Alone

The following is a guest post by Terry Robinson, a Coeur d'Alene writer. Thank you, Terry!

Photo courtesy of snaplaundromat.com/au

Christmas Alone
by Terry Robinson

Sitting in the small laundromat, aimlessly flipping through my copy of Business Week, the full impact of decisions I had made earlier in the year came into focus.  It was Christmas Eve and I was alone, living far away from home in a small town an hour north of Indianapolis. The door opened and a young woman walked in carrying her laundry. She had a slender build, not quite blocking the doorway as she entered. I looked past her, noticing the predicted snow had started to fall and had already begun to cover the street and the town’s single traffic light. It had grown dark and with the darkness felt colder than it was.

I was in a new job and not in a position to take the time off to travel home for Christmas. So I would be alone this year. It was a lonely feeling, but one I willingly made to advance my career. The young woman sat next to me, having completed the ritual of starting her laundry. Content in thumbing through my magazine, I ignored her, though she seemed intent on having someone to talk to. Our eyes met for just a second, long enough for me to take notice that she was quite attractive, with reddish hair and blue eyes. My glance lingered just long enough that she seized the opening and wondered aloud, "Why do you suppose two attractive people in their twenties might be alone on Christmas Eve?" Her name was Chris, and in her I saw an opportunity to escape the loneliness and be with someone for a while. Even if just for the evening. As she rambled on about growing up on a farm in northern Indiana and how she wasn’t able to make it home for the holidays, I smiled and listened quietly. I had been around long enough to recognize she was showing an interest in me and I was entertaining the notion of inviting her over to my home for a glass of wine.

By now Chris had completely engaged me in conversation and innuendo. As I watched her speak and smile and move about the room, I began to feel close to her. Her warmth began to replace the empty cold of being alone and far from home. Being with her seemed to fill a void in my soul. Could spending the evening with this young woman make it better, make me feel better, or would it be just a temporary healing? As I was about to invite her over, I felt the ache in my heart once again and came to recognize that while she might have made it better for a while, being with her would not fill the emptiness in the same lasting way that family does. In that instant I wished her a Merry Christmas, gathered my things and headed home. And, I was alone.

I made my New Year’s resolution that evening: to never be alone again on Christmas.

Author bio: Attending Washington State University in the 70s, Terry enrolled in the communications program and aspired to being a photojournalist. Somehow life got in the way and he graduated from Central Washington University with an accounting degree and has been in finance and accounting ever since.  Terry has lived throughout the country in eleven states, and has traveled through all fifty states.  He enjoys writing about events in his life with an emphasis on life in North Idaho. Terry is currently the Chief Financial Officer for Kootenai Electric Cooperative. Terry and his wife Sue currently call Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, home and  have two grown daughters in Colorado. 

New Year's Resolutions, 2013

After a beautiful Christmas, filled with the joy of family, friends and laughter, it is time to turn the corner. Sharing  my usual, tiresome list of New Year's Resolutions is a task I find a bit embarrassing.  It usually reads something like this:

1. Lose weight.
I believe I am the exact same weight I was last year and the year before.  I am active and I enjoy life.

2.Write every day.
Mission accomplished! I wrote something every day in 2012, kept up with my blog schedule and completed the second draft of my novel in progress, now entitled Four Stanley Cups and a Funeral. 

3. Be grateful for my wonderful life.
In spite of being a terrible complainer, I give thanks for my great, good fortune every day. This category needs improving and this year I will do better.

4. Read incessantly.
I cannot breathe without reading and I believe my hands shake if I am four hours into my day without absorbing something. Perhaps it is not really wise to make my New Year's Resolutions about the things I love best. It stands to reason though, that a reminder about the cherished aspects of my existence will not fall too far off the mark. I would like to get up to reading a book a week, reading more non-fiction, write more non-fiction and expand my reading list. What works best for me is setting aside certain times of the day, getting into my great chair with its comfortable ottoman, putting my feet up and taking an interesting journey, guided by a fine writer. One of the best pieces of advice and this seems to be everywhere, is to give yourself the time to do what you love best.

5. Worship.
The further I go down this list, the more I feel I should reverse it.

6. Begin the year by jumping in the lake.
Once again, I will join friends, neighbors and perfect strangers in the annual Polar Bear Plunge. If you can meet the challenge of running across the snowy sand and into the frigid waters, going under so as to come up with wet hair, and charging to shore without being trampled, means you start the new year with joy and laughter. After receiving a blessing from a tribal elder, I make this a sacred act of reverence for the people who have inhabited these shores since time immemorial. 

In the midst of pondering this annual challenge, my weekly pep talk arrived, thanks to an email list I signed up for and highly recommend you do the same. My old friend Tim Cork takes a new look at the challenge of New Year's Resolutions. This year, my list will not lie buried in a notebook. I will tape it up to something in my line of sight. It won't even be my list! This concept represents one of the greatest feelings of liberation I can possibly imagine. Tim is an expert at this game.  I begin 2013 with a professional look at what will make my year perhaps the best ever. Oh, I feel lighter already!

I will be grateful

I will listen… focus on being present
I will do my best everyday
I will share
I will collaborate
I will compliment people
I will live without regret
I will respect myself at all times
I will forgive and accept myself when I make a mistake
I will read something new every day
I will write in my journals
I will read 40 books this year
I will launch my new book … “G3”
I will speak to over 25,000 people this year
I will listen to self-help audio books in my car … your car is just a University on wheels
I will make those around me feel loved
I will forever pursue happiness regardless of what occurs
I will take responsibility for my actions
I will surround myself with people who inspire me
I will laugh at myself
I will hug my wife and children often
I will help those in need
I will use kind words in difficult situations
I will live with an attitude of gratitude
I will respect others points of view
I will pick myself up when I fall
I will work out every day
I will drink lots of water (and wine)
I will say sorry when I make a mistake and mean it
I will take a break when I need it
I will live every day as if it is the first and the last
I will not be driven by fear
I will find extraordinary in every day
I will enjoy my food
I will be patient
I will get up early
I will teach leaders and learn from leaders through my work
I will read this list every morning
I will not take myself too seriously
I will cry when my emotions tell me to
I will listen to my inner voice
I will focus on the attitude of giving
I will play hockey, golf, tennis, swim and ski regularly in season and stay very active

"Whether you think you can or can't, you are right" - Henry Ford       

I read my list every day when I wake up and it jump starts my day … positive affirmations & repetition creates excellent habits and a life of abundance and success.

Make it Straight A's Week & Year!  
Seasons Greeting and all the best for 2013!

Tim Cork
President, Straight A’s Inc.
An Insight Marketing Company
416-882-9650
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Are you getting Straight A's in life?
Find out at www.timcork.com

The Joy of Prosody: The Anapestic Foot

by Liz Mastin

I have discussed the most commonly used feet in metered poetry; the iambic and trochaic feet, in my past columns and have given examples. Both of these feet have two beats: the iamb sounding like (da DUM’) with the hard stress placed on the second syllable and the trochee, sounding like (DUM’da) with the hard stress landing on the first syllable. But another commonly used foot is the “anapest.”  The anapest is a three syllable foot sounding like this: da da DUM’.

According to Wikipedia “Because of its length and the fact that it ends with a strong syllable and so allows for strong rhythms, the anapest can produce a very rolling, galloping verse, and can allow for long lines with a great deal of internal complexity.” I think the best way to show you how the anapest works is by example.

Examples of anapestic poems:

Edgar Allen Poe’s “Annabellee”

“For the moon/   never beams/   without bring/   ing me dreams/   of the beau/   tiful Ann/  abellee’.”

Lord Bryon’s “The Destruction of Sennacherib”

“The Assy/    rian came down/     like a wolf/      on the fold”

Limericks are all anapestic, as well as most of the Dr. Suess’s children’s books.

To determine the footage of poem one looks at the predominant foot. In the poem “Slievenamon” you see other kinds of feet beside the anapestic foot, but they are substitutions in a predominantly anapestic poem

Example from “Slievenamon” by Irish poet Charles J. Kickmam

Alone, all alone,by the wave-washed strand,

And alone in the crowded hall.

The hall is gay, and the waves they are grand,

But my heart is not here at all.

“All alone, by the wave, and alone, in the crowd, and the waves, they are grand, but my heart, is not here: these are all anapestic feet sounding like da da DUM."

The other words in the lines form pure iambs.

Here is “Slievenamon” in its entirety. See if you recognise the anapests as they appear throughout the poem. This poem is an anapestic poem by any standards. You will see the substituted iambs throughout, as well.

Slievenmon

By Charles J. Kickmam

Alone, all alone, by the wave-washed strand,

And alone in the crowded hall.

The hall is gay, and the waves they are grand,

But my heart is not here at all!

It flies far away, by night and by day,

To the time and the joys that are gone!

And I never can forget the sweet maiden I met,

In the valley near Slievenamon.

It was not the grace of her queenly air,

Nor her cheek of the rose’s glow,

Nor her soft black eyes, nor her flowing hair,

Nor was it her lily-white brow.

“Twas the soul of truth and of melting truth,

And the smile like a summer dawn,

That stole my heart, one soft summer day,

In the valley near Slievenamon.

In the festive hall, by the star-watched shore,

Ever my restless spirit cries:

“My love, oh, my love, shall I ne’er see you more?

And, my land, will you never uprise?

By night and by day, I ever, ever, pray,

While lonely my life flows on,

To see our flag unrolled, and my love to enfold

In the valley near Slievenamon.

Liz Mastin is a poet who lives in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho during the summer and Bullhead City, Arizona in winter. She thrives on the study of the great poets, their biographies, the schools of poetry to which they adhered, and the poetic conventions of the times in which they lived.

While she enjoys free verse as well as metrical poetry, her main interest lies in prosody. She notices that most of the enduring poems are those we can remember and recite. Liz enjoys poetry forms such as the sonnet, the sestina, the couplet, blank verse, simple quatrains, etc. and she hopes to see modern poets regain interest in studied metrical poetry.

Liz is currently putting together her first collection of poems which should be completed this winter. The poems are a mixture of metrical and free verse poems.

Guest Post from Kelly Sullivan

What's Inside - Simple Pleasures, #23 of 30

by Kelly Sullivan on 11/2/2011 5:35:26 PMComment on this

“There must be something in there”, I thought to myself. I turned it all around and admired it. It was simple. It was beautiful. I was intrigued by the thing I could not see; that beautiful thing inside. The one that I was sure existed, but could never see without breaking it apart.

Mystery is a powerful thing. It can motivate us toward an outcome, or it can consume us, thirsty for an answer. How far we go to quench it is what separates us.

Some will bust it open demanding satisfaction. They may reach their goal of knowing, but will likely leave a lot of broken pieces.

Others may pick at it slowly, after careful deliberation and study, until a softening occurs and they can see what has been hiding. Hopefully they find sweetness; something worthy of their effort.

There are also those that would prefer to leave a beautiful thing undisturbed and just appreciate it from a comfortable distance, maintaining its beauty, keeping the mystery folded. This is the safe spot. They will never really know what’s in there, and they will never be disappointed by its content.

In the Buddhist religion, the seeds of the Chinese Lantern are used is an offering to celebrate the greatest mystery of all. This offering is made to honor our ancestors and thank them for their sacrifices. It is intended to guide them through death.

Perhaps we can use a seed or two in life. Just knowing that “there is something in there”, makes me want to see it. Will I bust it open, or pick at it slowly, or just keep it folded?

For now, I will paint.

For more information about Kelly, please visit:

http://kellysullivanfineart.com/blog 

Victoriously Persistent

Today's guest post is from Jan Cline. Jan is a freelance writer, aspiring author and speaker from Spokane. She is director of the Inland Northwest Christian Writers Conference held in March each year. She writes Inspirational Historical Romance and non-fiction. Visit her website at www.jancline.net. The conference website is www.inlandnwchristianwriters.com.

My husband and I stayed in Lewiston, Idaho, recently. We drove down the Snake River along the Washington side, heading toward Hell’s Canyon. The farther we traveled, the more interesting the terrain. I couldn’t help but notice the tenaciousness of the river--carving its way through the canyon with determination. There is something about nature that teaches us truths for our lives, our dreams and ambitions, don’t you think?

I was reminded of a quote by Oswald Chambers:

“A river is victoriously persistent, it overcomes all barriers. For a while it goes steadily on its course, then it comes to an obstacle and for a while it is baulked, but it soon makes a pathway round the obstacle. Or a river will drop out of sight for miles, and presently emerge again broader and grander than ever. Never get your eyes on the obstacle or on the difficulty. The obstacle is a matter of indifference to the river . . . .”

Isn’t this true of our writing journey? Our imagination births an idea and we write it. But the path we take after that is sometimes daunting. We flow along, winding down the canyon until we meet an obstacle. It may be a manuscript rejection or a harsh critique, or a disappointing reaction from a loved who read our latest masterpiece. That boulder of discouragement looks like it will block our path-—dam up the whole process.

Then we find a way around the obstruction by learning from the rejections, critiques and emotions. We keep going, making our way to the ocean of our dreams. Our mission is to become like the river—-undaunted by the obstacle. The twists and turns we make are part of the path we are meant to follow, even when we don’t know which direction we’ll go next.

I never could have imagined that I would detour my writing journey to become founder and director of a writers conference. It was a bend in the river that took me by surprise. But I knew it was my chance to facilitate other writers to fulfill their dreams. My personal journey has profited in the process as well.

I hope you’ll imagine yourself to be a river of words and imagination. Don’t let the obstacles become barriers. Just go around them and stay on the journey. The ocean is waiting to be fed.

Blessings,
Jan

Five Ways to Make Every Word Count: A Guest Post by Literary Agent Sammie Justesen

As a literary agent and publisher, I see mistakes from hundreds of authors. Certain basic errors mark writers as careless or unwilling to edit their work.

I hope these five tips will enhance your writing repertoire.

Avoid Vampire Verbs

Nothing sucks life from your writing like a lazy verb. The worst offenders are “to be” verbs, such as was, were, are, have been, and is. In most cases you can rescue a weak sentence by using a strong verb to eliminate passive voice. Yes, this takes time, but your writing is worth it, right?

Avoid anemic verbs that describe emotions instead of showing. Vague words like felt, feel, thought, and think inhabit weak sentences. Compare these two examples:

Weak and distant: “I felt so bad I thought I’d never get over that cold.”

Vivid: “My head throbbed, my nose turned red, and I spent three days in bed.”

Other feeble words include: went, looked, and seemed. The sentences below sound like excerpts from a primary reader:

I felt horrible. I felt like walking out.

The girl looked sad. The restaurant looked busy.

She seemed confident. The weather seemed nice.

I went down the street to Claire’s house. I went to bed early.

I thought about going down the street to Claire’s house. I thought about leaving.

You can do better than this! Show specific actions that reflect what each character is thinking, feeling, or doing. A few simple rewrites will rescue your prose from the vampire syndrome.

Adverbs are Sometimes Horribly Ineffective

An adverb changes or identifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb. Perhaps you’re tempted to let adverbs prop up wimpy verbs and adjectives. For example, in the above heading, I used the adverb “horribly” to enhance the adjective. This made things worse. Perhaps I should’ve said: “Adverbs Suck.”

In some cases, an adverb tells (instead of showing) how a character does something, as in: “The woman talked rapidly.” We might revise this to: “She spit the words rapid-fire.”

Banish the following adverbs from your vocabulary: very, really, just, totally, absolutely.

The best policy for adverbs is to sprinkle them like hot pepper. Two or three per page is enough.

Check for Overused Words

Everyone uses pet words and phrases out of habit, both in speech and writing. I recently edited a memoir wherein the author chose one single, bland adjective at the beginning of a paragraph, and then used it in every sentence. He would describe a beautiful lake, his beautiful wife, and a beautiful sunset, all in one block of text. He didn’t notice the repetition. To prevent this syndrome, identify your favorite words and use the “find” function on your computer to check for overuse.

Don’t Repeat Yourself: Cut the Clutter

Thousands of fiction and nonfiction authors, especially those with teaching backgrounds, tend to repeat information as though readers aren’t smart enough to grasp a concept the first time around. Authors find ingenious ways to repeat themselves by saying the same thing twice in different words. These writers focus on one thought and beat it to death. Like a pedantic instructor, they want to use everything they know about a topic, even if the reader already understands.

Annoying, isn’t it?

Tweet!

Twittering helps you practice using vivid words to address a topic with 140 characters. I tweet several times a day, for fun and to market one of my books (http://twitter.com/SammieJustesen). You needn’t be brilliant, or even coherent, on Twitter, because you always get a second chance.

Whether you’re writing a two-word quip, a 140 character Tweet, or a compete book -- Make every word count.

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Sammie Justesen is a founding partner of Northern Lights Literary Services LLC, a literary agency representing fiction and nonfiction authors. Prior to opening the agency, Justesen worked for many years as an independent writer/editor for publishing houses such as Mosby, Springhouse, Lippincott, and Prentice Hall. She has published a medical guide, technical articles, poetry, and short stories, and is the author of Speaking of Dialogue, a how-to book for writers. Writer's Digest (the popular magazine for writers) has twice featured Northern Lights Literary Services as one of 25 agencies open to new writers and building a client list.



Learn more about Speaking of Dialogue HERE.
Sammie's website: http://www.northernlightsls.com/