Poem: I Watch

I Watch

I watch as two trains hurl towards each other.

Knowing neither is going to stop,

Knowing what must happen next.

I watch as trains collide and pieces go flying,

As anger rages and tears flow freely,

As bitterness and hurt are exposed.

I watch as two people who love each other – destroy each other.

I watch as accusations fly but also…

As apologies are given in shame,

As two struggle to understand.

I watch myself standing in the middle of the train tracks,

First anticipating the inevitable collision,

Then amidst the flaming aftermath.

I watch as I concentrate on all the separate pieces,

Then slowly try to rescue what I can, 

And restore some sense of cohesion.

I watch, knowing that I cannot do everything,

But knowing that I can help,

And determined to do what I can. 

I watch as pieces slowly come back together,

As compromises are reached,

And progress slowly made.

I watch knowing tonight is just the beginning,

That construction needs to be done,

And train tracks redirected.

I watch until I can let go with a measure of peace.

I watch knowing the trains, my friends, can never be the same,

Grieving for the pain and anger I’ve seen,

But hopeful and praying for the future.

Personal Entry: Following a Dream

I've dreamed for a long time about making money off of my writing skills. Now, of course, the ideal would be to get a work of fiction published, but I'm more than happy to do other writing as well. I've been thinking about doing trying to pick up some freelance work for a couple of years now, but never really had the time or the health. Well, I'm finally getting through my migraines, so I can write again! I have a lot of fiction writing I want to do, but I also really want to pursue bringing in a few dollars to the household. To that end I've signed up for www.freelancer.com and I plan on pursuing opportunities on other web-sites as well. I'm taking it one step at a time so that I don't overwhelm myself (or overwork) and I'm excited about the journey!

One of the most exciting things is that I've already had two tentative nibbles on the bids I put in yesterday, and I only bid on six jobs! Nothing concrete yet, but just getting any response is encouraging.

Next I need to focus on making sure I have good examples of my writing prepared for potential employers. Well, that's at least on the list of things I need to work on in the near future. Pretty high as well.

Now to keep from splitting myself in to many directions...

I Am Apache by Tanya Landman

"I am Apache" is the story of a young Apache girl who chooses to walk an unusual path. At only 14 years old she watches her little brother brutally murdered by Mexican raiders. It was the last straw for Siki. She had already been through the loss of both her father and mother, and now she was left alone. Well not entirely alone, she still has her tribe, but she has lost her family and that leaves her raw and angry.

Siki had never really been a normal Apache girl anyway. She wasn't very good at any of the women's chores, to her shame, but she tried. Until, that is, she decides to walk the path of the warrior. It is allowed for girls to walk the path of the warrior, although it is unusual, and she faces resentment from some for her choice. Others choose to help Siki though, and she slowly but surely proves her value as a warrior.

While Siki is busy learning the ways of the warrior, her tribe is in ever increasing danger from both the Mexicans and the White Man. Siki goes along in raids to revenge her people, learns that things aren't always as simple as they seem. She battles on valiantly though, fighting to protect her people, and preserve their honor.

I really enjoyed reading Siki's story. Watching her grow up, watching her learn, and following along with her journey. The choices she made sometimes surprised me, and by the end I found myself unable to put the book down, totally gripped in the story.

Life Get's Complicated Sometimes

So lately it seems like I'm stuck in a cycle of one bad occurrence after another, and even in-between those, I'm so busy recovering and fighting depressing that I still haven't gotten much done! Do you ever go through periods like that? The only good thing is I have some inspiration from everything I've got through recently. I've already written one poem! And there's another piece floating around my head. I don't know if it'll get written right now or   if it'll just get stored away for something later, but that's always good right?

Anyway, I'm doing better right now, at least I seem to be. I guess with my life I can never really promise that, but I've had a pretty good couple of weeks and I seem to be getting on track again. I can't promise that I'll truly be on track immediately, but I'm hoping to be able to blog regularly again, write, and work on my jewelry business again. I shall persevere!

Black Order by James Rollins

I had a conversation the other day with my Mom about books, sparked by seeing "The Da Vinci Code" in a check out line. One of the things I told her about was the "Sigma Force" novels which I described to her as similar to "The Da Vinci Code" except with out all the controversy surrounding them!

"Black Order" continues the "Sigma Force" series by James Rollins. This time we find ourselves caught up in a sweeping story that has its roots in Nazi Germany, and that extends to mountains of Nepal. There are three main story lines running through the story, and it took me quite awhile to figure out how they all connected. I appreciate that in a story, I like being stumped!

The "Black Order" is the name given to a series of horrendous experiments that the Nazi's had been conducting in an attempt to create the perfect soldier. Only the experiments didn't end when the Nazi's fell. Now the results of these experiments are leading to death and destruction, and it's up to the Sigma Force to unravel this mystery.

On a side note, I read this book as my brother was on his way home from two years in Nepal. Entirely coincidental, but a lot of fun. This story takes place up in the high mountains though, and he really didn't get up there much.

Writing ADD #24

Well, I had a another week of fighting through migraines, and again I didn't meet all my goals, but I still got lots of done so I'm happy about that! I also got a lot more blogging done than I did the week before, so over all, it's a win! I seem to be doing a little bit better physically so far this week, but who knows what that will mean for my writing :P Here's the review:


Week's Total:
Book Reviews: 4
Movie Reviews: 3
Dalia's Story: In progress
Total Words: 3219


Goals:
~ Book Reviews
~ Dalia's Story
~ Finish "A Disturbing Group"
~ Write another "Striking Thoughts" piece.

As you can see, I only got my top two goals accomplished (and the others will be moved forward to this week), but I also wrote up a couple movie reviews that were unplanned. So I guess that balance things out a bit eh? I had a movie day with my brother and so I wrote up reviews on all three movies we watched. I haven't posted any of them yet but I should get at least one, maybe two, posted up this week. 

I didn't get as much done on Dalia's Story as I would have liked, but I'm glad I at least got something done. I think this was just one of those weeks where doing original writing was a bit harder than doing things like reviews. So the result? 7 reviews of different kinds and only a few hundred words on my story. Oh well. 

I won't bother to post this week's goals, because they are exactly the same as last weeks! Well, some of that's to be expected since they are things I try to get done every week, and the other's, well, if I didn't get them done this week they get to be moved forward! 

Shine on Daizy Star by Cathy Cassidy

"Shine on Daizy Star" came across my reading list because I won it in a blog contest from one of my dear bloggy friends, Jessica, of Nayu's Reading Corner. It's a cute book with a bright color and great illustrations. I love the stars all over the cover of the book!

Daizy Star is age 10 3/4's and the book opens with her giving a pictorial introduction to the people in her life. We also learn that her Dad, who's always been pretty cool, has recently lost his mind! Or at least that's how it seems to Daizy and the rest of the family. He's taking a sabbatical from work and has decided to construct a boat that the family will then sail all over the world in. Nobody in the family really likes the idea, and Daizy is so upset by it she refuses to tell any one what's going on.

Have you ever told one little lie that grew and grew until it consumed your life? That's what happens to poor Daizy as she first tries to cover up her Dad's new obsession, and then finds herself trying to keep more and more lies straight, including the lie that she's learned to swim.