The Measure of Success – Fun!

August 4, 2014August 4, 2014 / still a dreamer / 4 Comments

We have often heard when the student is ready the teacher arrives. Sometimes that teacher arrives in person, at other times, in the form of an author and her book. Recently a friend bestowed a lovely gift on me, a book by a metaphysical author of whom I’ve been unaware, Gabrielle Bernstein.

In her book, Miracles Now, Gabrielle, (she feels like a friend already), gives us 108 simple tools that we can all apply right now to help ease our stress, feel happier, and find our path in life. These may be in the form of affirmations, meditations, (both short and long), quick ways to change our thoughts, etc. Today – and yesterday – I”m reading the same one – #46. Measure Your Success with How Much Fun You’re Having.

Uh-oh. I suddenly felt I must be failing miserably! Not that I don’t have fun, I do, but as a measure of my success? Hmmm … Methinks I need to up my success rate!

I can’t imagine that this doesn’t strike a chord with anyone reading this post. We are often told by our spiritual teachers and guides that we need to find the joy in the moment – to not worry about the past, because it’s gone, nor the future, because it hasn’t arrived, but to cherish and enjoy the present moment, the never-again-to-be-repeated-NOW. We all know that this is not always that simple … we’re human and live in a challenging world. But I don’t think there’s a one of us that couldn’t bear being happier; however, that means taking responsibility for it, too.

So while success is often measured in what we have or what we do, Gabrielle Bernstein affirms what I think most of us really know to be true; “happiness is an inside job.” Our job is to stay in the flow with joy and let pass all the things in life which we cannot control. Her Miracle Message is “I measure my success by how much fun I’m having.”

Here’s a toast to all of us being enormously successful!

Restore Your Faith in Humanity

August 1, 2014 / still a dreamer

In the humane field, we see a great deal of cruelty and insensitivity to animals. It can be frustrating. It can be heartbreaking. It can be soul-wrenching.

But we can never forget that there are also many, many kind people in the world as well. Below is a video of a few of those kind, everyday people who know that a life is worth saving. And which, as the caption says, can restore your faith in humanity in 4 minutes flat. Enjoy.

Following Our Path

July 24, 2014 / still a dreamer / 4 Comments

This morning I felt called to look into my little metaphysical perpetual calendar, and as always, what I found was perfect for my day.

“For me there is only the traveling on paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length. And there I travel looking, looking, breathlessly.”
~ Carlos Castaneda

There are times in our lives when our path seems to disappear from view. We’ve been drawn down paths to the side that beckon and call, needing or demanding our attention – finances, relationship conflicts, illness, the illness or death of others, job worries, and other challenges and distractions. These paths can lead deeper and deeper into a woods of fading light until we feel quite lost. And then we remember, we have a thread — a simple, single luminous thread to follow. That thread glows more brightly with each step we take out of the darkness to find again the glowing path that is uniquely ours.

May you walk your path — find or refind it — happily and bravely today. May your path be illuminated by the shimmering white light that is you and the Universe, one and the same. May it leave you breathless.

~ stilladreamer

Writing What We Know

July 15, 2014 / still a dreamer / 17 Comments

This started out to be about three aspects of writing what we know, but I see that it would be a ridiculously long post. So I’ll divvy it up and start with a fairly recent example. I received a lovely personal response from an editor at one of the publishing houses represented at an NJ SCBWI event. I am very appreciative to receive such a thoughtful and detailed reply, although, of course, I wish it were better news. She complimented me on tackling a difficult subject, but found it a bit melancholy and added that quiet stories were not selling much in the picture book market these days. Happily, she was also very encouraging about my writing and my pursuing it.

This is where writing what we know comes in. What I know – one of the things, anyway – is about animals and their ability to affect us profoundly, both personally and through literature and imagery. This particular picture book story has a wonderful magical element to it and healing on several levels. While I don’t see it as melancholy, it still behooves me to pay attention to the perception and opinion of one who lives and breathes children’s books. But what stops me is the “quiet story” part.

I like quiet stories. I like funny stories, too, but I also like something that touches the heart and soul in some way, something that’s real, that’s a reflection of what children go through in their young lives. I get that kids like funny and action-filled, but what about the other aspects of a child? Are we no longer looking to feed that as well? Are our increasingly fast-paced and digital lives crushing the inner lives of picture-book age kids? (OK, maybe that’s extreme, but then again …)

As writers, we certainly need to be aware of the trends in the industry and what the market is looking for, otherwise we can be twirling about in our own stew of ideas that will never get published. At the same time, we need to consider what “writing what we know,” (the advice we are always given by editors and agents), actually means and where it fits in what’s being published. It’s a challenge to all of us. So I look at the body of work I have to date. Maybe it’s time to let some of my stories go; maybe I haven’t sent them out often enough and/or to the right publisher/agent who will appreciate a particular “quiet story.”

So where does the rubber hit the road? Where do writing what we know and what’s being published intersect?

Learning from Others’ Writing

May 29, 2014 / still a dreamer / 3 Comments

I hate giving up on a book. When I’ve chosen one to read, I really want it to be terrific, so when it continues to disappoint, well, even I give up the ghost. But I realized, much as we can learn from fabulous writers, we can also learn from those who still have more to learn, (myself certainly included.)

A book I picked up recently at the library sale lured me in – great title, fabulous cover art, subject matter strongly appealing to me, and what seemed like an intriguing storyline. But each time I picked it up, I just couldn’t get into it. I finally gave up about 1/5 through. I wondered, what wasn’t working and how could it help me be a better writer?

First, voice. The novel was supposedly told by a 12 year old girl, but the voice was clearly that of an adult woman saying she was a 12 year old girl. Never once did I feel like I was reading a story written by a 12 year-old, so it just didn’t ring true. As children’s book writers, we know how tricky voice can be and the importance of feeling that we’re reading the age group targeted.

Next, character development – I wanted to like this kid, but I just couldn’t really connect with her emotionally. The same went for the other characters; they weren’t able to pull me into their worlds. The characters seemed flat, and sometimes stereotypical, whether adults or tweens. Is it possible that the author wasn’t able to deeply feel her own characters? Or just had difficulty expressing what they felt? She was very capable of describing emotions quite well. This is a huge challenge in writing – to have our readers feel what our characters feel, but when it’s not there, we just feel left out.

Focus – I think there were too many characters and story lines and not enough space to write in depth why things were happening with them, the reasons that would make me care. I felt a little pulled all over the place. As we know, a really good author can juggle multiple story lines and then weave them all together for an astounding ending – we’ve all read these books – but I didn’t see that happening here.

So I write this post certainly not to bash another author, who I leave nameless, but to share the difficulties in making our writing ring true and in writing the stories that have readers coming back for more, looking forward to the moment when we can get back to our book. I want to be aware when I write, not only what I need to do, but of the pitfalls I want to avoid.

So then I picked up The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. One might say there is far too much detail to remember, family names to keep track of, and yet … I can’t put it down. How did Stieg Larsson do it? I’m keeping my eye on that, too!