Passion’s Gift . . .

Theresa Sonoda is one of my blogging buddies.

She wrote a post recently that blew me away!

She gave me permission to reproduce it here :-)

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It Took Me 57 Years

Artistic expressionism.  Drive.  Passion.  I get it.  I finally get it after 57 years and 9 months.  And I’m one of the lucky ones.  Many people go their whole lives without getting it.   Many people go through their entire lives in robotic motion, sans emotion, taking up space…wasting precious time.  I don’t want that to be me.  That will not be me!

I saw a beautiful human being rendered a crying, hopeless, helpless mess on a reality show this week.  The show was called, “So You Think You Can Dance”.  The man was so engulfed in his dancing that he failed to connect with his audience and, unfortunately, came to this realization mid-performance.   The poor soul ended up in a pitiful crying-heap, mid-stage, with not one understanding or compassionate comment offered to soothe his pain.   He simply gave too much of himself and we, the viewing audience, were ill-equipped to accept this raw and disturbing emotion, and consequently did not know how to respond.   What a shame!

This set me to wondering how often this behavior triggers negative/confused/hurtful response from people in everyday life…to those just trying to share their passion, to express their feelings in the one way they’ve discovered does it for them, whether it be dancing, writing, acting, art, poetry, sculpting, singing, mothering, loving or speaking…by those who want to open their minds but haven’t quite grasped the means by which to do so.   How do we all come together?   How do we all understand one another?   I just wish I had the answer.  I can only ask the questions, and hope I open some minds and lubricate the thought-processing mechanisms that are our brains.

Fifty Seven years is a long time to walk this earth and not have a passion, not have a voice, but somehow I managed it.  Fifty Seven will forever be my very favorite age because at 57, I discovered writing.  I discovered my voice.   For those of you who do not have a passion, you will not comprehend my journey, and I would strongly and desperately advise you to find that passion.   For those of you who know how it feels to write something that moves you to tears…those of you who know how a poem represents your sadness, in a way nothing else can….those of you who know how drawing a picture of the clouds viewed from your bedroom window completes you and helps you sleep at night…don’t waste your discovery, your passion!  Use it to fulfill you.  Use it to make your life sweeter.  You’ll never use it up, as long as you keep using it.   It dries up when you quit.  Funny how that works.

Tonight I write from my heart, and to my friends with love.  Don’t worry about me because I’ve found my voice, my passion, and my life is so much sweeter because of it.  If you haven’t found that passion, look for it.  Find it and embrace it.  You won’t believe how much fuller your life will be when you find your voice.

Much love from a happy 57 year old writer/mother/grandmother/sketcher/humorist/lover/friend/daughter/human.
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Who Should Deal With All The Crap ?

Our last post looked into the claim that self-publishing produces crap. I urge you to scroll down and read it…

There were a good number of comments and one of them said that another of them should be boosted up to a post.

Here’s that comment :-)

“Crap is everywhere. Always has been; always will be. Sorting threw the crap is what takes me so long in the bookstore, the clothing store and the grocery store. To me, Mickey-D is crap, yet the business thrives. Nine-hundred-ninety-nine men out of a thousand should be thrown back into the lake, yet most of them eventually find a wife. Nearly 100 percent of all children are brats, yet their parents love them.

“On the weekends, my husband will rent several movies. It’s not unusual for use to watch each one for 15 minutes, before rejecting them all, yet some of them are blockbusters. That can add up to a whole hour of crap. Go figure.

“Recently, I told my TV company to go take a hike. Ninety bucks a month for a load of crap. I don’t think so. Here’s my reality: shove it.

“Why do some people settle for crappy food, crappy clothes, crappy husbands, crappy kids, crappy programming and crappy books? I don’t know, I really don’t know. Why do some people, who haven’t studied, bother to write down a load of crap, when some part of them has to know that it’s crap? I don’t know. It’s a lot of work for a load of BS.

“Why do we keep our mouths shut when be stumble across crap? It’s easier, I guess. We want someone else to take out the crap.”
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Is Self-Publishing Prone To Producing Crap ?

 Since I’m self-published, you might think my answer to the title question is a big, “No!”.

Actually, I think self-publishing can produce some fine books right along with all the crap :-)

One thing I feel is desperately needed, now that self-publishing is becoming so popular, is a better way for readers to judge the quality of self-pubbed books. Reviews can help, a little, but are too easy to abuse. We need some new method of reader appraisal—any ideas??

I read an article a while back by an author associated with Writer’s Digest: The “Self-Pub Is Crap” Debate. They begin by stating two common viewpoints:

Most self-published work is crap. Anyone can “publish” their e-book and call themselves an author. None of these “books” are edited. It’s a huge pile of crap that’s just getting harder and harder to sift through. (God save us from the crap!)

Traditional publishing produces a lot of crap. Their standards are declining, and they don’t even know what readers want. They are “out of touch” and unneeded gatekeepers.

I recommend reading the full article. They reach a fairly solid conclusion :-)
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Kids, Libraries, and Book Reviews…

If you’re a writer, do you plan to still be writing in ten years?

If you haven’t yet published, do you think you will within ten years?

If you’re published, do you think your books will still be read in ten years?

I ask because I watched a video with young people giving book reviews and it taught me, as a writer, quite a bit about who might be reading my work in ten (or fewer) years…

A woman named Debbie Norton from Texarkana, Texas wrote a grant proposal and won $200 to make a video in her classroom to support collaboration with her library.

Her grant was sponsored by Follett Software Company and she put her proposal on the We Are Teachers site.

As you watch her video, The Living Library, ask yourself when these kids will be reading something you’ve written…

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Looking Past Limits . . .

Whether you’re reading, writing, or publishing, the worst thing that can happen is to believe in a “limit”…

Limits on your reading will make you miss meanings.

Limits on your writing will hobble the story.

Limits on publishing will kill a book.

I found a wonderful video by an amazing woman. A woman who soared past a potentially grave limitation.

Watch and soar with her :-)

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