ME NO NANO

Well here we at the end of October 2012 and writers all over the world are getting ready to participate in NaNoWriMo, but not me. I’m a little bummed. I had such a great time last year that I thought nothing could stop me from participating again this year, but alas I am not prepared.

OK, I admit it, I’m a wuss. I let life kick me to the curb in 2011. A nasty health issue and life in general. Sometimes, I think maybe I feel things too deeply. Maybe I lack something essential to ‘take it on the chin’ and keep on going. I don’t know, but I do know that I’m vertical now and gonna try to stay that way.

For a minute I thought maybe I can come up with a small nugget of an idea and apply some pressure, you know, write to a prompt. Writing 50,000 big ones to a single prompt with no outline… probably not. Still hopeful, I asked a friend for ideas and although I did get a pretty good one, my friend also asked if I was a writer or a wanna be; and if I thought of myself as a writer, why didn’t I spend November getting last year’s project up and running and out the door, instead of hiding behind a new project. I got the message. I didn’t particularly like it, but it was true, I was hiding out.

So, I dug out my note from another blogger who is brave enough to think they might want to be my CP. Of course, when I started to send them a note, I remembered that they live on the Jersey Shore (are you kidding me?), so we probably aren’t going to connect for awhile, but I sent that email anyway.

I have a few pages of critiques from various contests that I won, so I have a place to start. Wish me luck. I’m gonna see this through to publication.

Also, I want to wish a whopping GOOD LUCK to all of you who are prepared enough and participating in NaNo, this year. I sincerely hope it’s as good for you as it was for me in 2011. Hang in there. You can do it!

Measuring Goodness

We can’t measure our goodness by what we don’t do; by

what we deny ourselves, what we resist, and who we exclude.

We should measure goodness by what we embrace, what we create,

and who we include.

Pere Henri…CHOCOLAT

As I find myself struggling with various ideologies, looking for answers and trying to find the truth; as often as not, those truths are spoken by a fictional character in a book, play or movie.

Resistance, denial, and exclusion certainly don’t seem the way to a happy life. I do believe that man is that he might find and have joy and yet the world would have us believe differently. I found this the other day, can’t say that I disagree:

Currently I'm guilty of two and seriously guilty of a third. Probably not what you're thinking. I admit to having a problem with RAMBLING CONVERSATIONS. I love em. I love it when someone is willing to talk to me about anything and everything. Honestly, I'm good a rambling.

INSECURE WRITERS SUPPORT GROUP

Here we are at another first Wednesday of a new month and it’s INSECURE WRITERS SUPPORT GROUP. What am I insecure about today? It might be easier to ask; what am I NOT insecure about today? But, that’s another post entirely.

I live on an island in the Caribbean. Like a lot of islands we have no water source. No rivers streams or lakes (it’s also a very small island). We depend on rain to sustain us. All structures are built with water collection in mind. Each is equipped with a cistern to hold the reserves. Some cisterns are as primitive as a barrel at the corner points of a roof line and others, like the one in the house where I live, are intricate, and empty into a concrete vault below the house designed to hold thousands of gallons.

Normally, during the ‘rainy season’ the cisterns fill and we draw on them throughout the drier winters, when the skies reign crystal clear blue with nary a cloud in sight. This year, like so many places around the globe, we are experiencing a drought. Not that anyone is complaining that the large storms (hurricanes) have all been ‘fish storms’ (they are doing their climatic job of cooling things off, while not coming in contact with land masses), but a few days of rain would be appreciated. The cisterns are dropping and many have already run dry. Of course you can buy water, but it comes at a price that most cannot afford

I’ve heard it said that weather, especially dramatic weather is the great equalizer. No matter how rich you are you cannot change what God has decreed. Of course, the rich can purchase their water, but they cannot bring the rains. The rest of us, wait and pray. We wait on God’s mercy learning patience and humility at the Master’s plan. As we pray we develop a more profound relationship with our Father in Heaven. As our prayers are answered we learn to look toward the ‘living water’ of his mercy, love and grace. It’s amazing what a little humility can do for you.

To God our insecurities are like those weights we lift to build our muscles. They truly do serve the purpose to make us stronger, better and ultimately draw us closer to Him. I have found the best way to become more secure is not necessarily to plow through my insecurities but to lay them down before my Lord and Savior, Jesus  Christ and let him shine his light on the path I should take to leave them fully behind.

Probably not what you might have expected from me today, but as I find myself on a journey that I know not where it will lead, I find the only way through this maze of life is to trust the light that shines forth from Christ. For each of you today who might read this, I pray that you will find God’s love and peace and the ability to lay down your insecurities before his son. If it is that you don’t believe that God does live, no matter, He loves you anyway and always.

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