Christmas Poem 2010

I hope this day is full of grace for you.

Thoughts at Midnight...

A cold winter morn.
Nothing has turned out
the way I hoped it would.
And yet the sun shines, the world spins,
new wonders are around the corner, ready to be found.

This Christmas I'm glad for breath,
a place to sleep at night, I'm glad for friends and family.
I'm glad for a creative spirit. Joy, come in! Peace, flood my soul.
Let the fire within me burn brighter from this day on, let it roar like a bonfire.

My one gift -- imagination, given to stir up souls,
Imagine no debts, imagine every thing that's owed is paid,
imagine no more sickness,imagine no more tears, imagine no more hurting,
imagine no more war, imagine no more death, imagine God is with us. I am no dreamer.

We are more.

See you next year!

Here is a doodle I thought I lost, but found it in the move. I call it, "Praise Him from the Heights."


My quote for the day:

~ Love until it hurts. Real love is always painful and hurts; then it is real and pure. Mother Teresa

Simple Things

Hi folks, we are all generally busy right now so I will keep this week's post short. I want you to hold to the simple things. Appreciate your sky. Take time to see the patterns in the grasses, the leaves, the trees. Take a peek at the stars. Feel the wind, the rain, the sunshine.

Expand out your imagination and feel the movement. Inside, you are a mass of bumping around atoms; you are a lump of busy cells. You are part of a community and a bit of an ecosystem. You are whirling around on a blue ball that is whirling around a burning sun, that is whirling around a spinning galaxy, that was flung away from spot in space called the big bang. Feel that. Feel yourself slipping into the future.

Be aware. Be grateful for your days. Be kind to yourself and others.

Here is a doodle I call, "Snowman."



Quote for the day:

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain'd,
To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right.

Simple Gifts by Elder Joseph Brackett.

Slice of Craziness

Hi folks, this is a busy time of year. I'm busy too, but not for the same reasons. While so many are caught in a whirlwind of activity, I'm sneaking away any chance I get to work on a manuscript. It's a little surreal to hang out with folks who are bustling around thinking about presents, football games, and food. These activities hold little meaning for me.

My head is stuck on writing scenes and chapters. I'm following my heart. I'm trusting the inner me, guiding me to a the place of creativity and wonder. I'm taking time to form my own deeply considered opinions. I ask myself the question, "What do I have to say?" And then I spend hours trying to capture my elusive thoughts on the page.

I know that this urge to write seems crazy to some, but if they could hear the words whispering within them that I hear, I believe the would begin to forgo sleep and tinsel to capture the stories hovering. If you have this sort of passion of expression within you, don't bottle it up. Give it a place. Nothing great comes into this world without a decent slice of craziness.

Seize the day. I will be back next week.

This week's doodle is called: "Roses."



Passion, it lies in all of us, sleeping... waiting... and though unwanted... unbidden... it will stir... open its jaws and howl. It speaks to us... guides us... passion rules us all, and we obey. What other choice do we have? Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love... the clarity of hatred... and the ecstasy of grief. It hurts sometimes more than we can bear. If we could live without passion maybe we'd know some kind of peace... but we would be hollow... Empty rooms shuttered and dank. Without passion we'd be truly dead. Joss Whedon

Quietly Listen

Hello, folks. Back with the weekly posts. November is a marathon of creativity for many of us. We end it worn, ready to rest until spring.

I pull back in December and slow down. I feel the rhythms of the Earth deeply. Winter has crept over the world. Grasses have turned a warm honey. The sky is often blinding blue. I even grab a jacket in the evenings when I go for a walk. The world sleeps, and I listen for the whispers in my soul of the new stories that are to come.

I hope you take time to be quiet, to wait, and to listen as we in the Northern climes march toward the winter solstice. Here's a little thought I jotted down earlier --

Quietly Listening

My life stands still
I breathe slowly
And enjoy the amber sunlight
Slanting through Chinaberry branches.
Golden leaves form a messy ring
around a slender white trunk.
I’m not in a perfect place,
but I quietly listen.

I hope you hear the first whispers of some epic work today. Seize the day. See you next week.

Doodles are back. I call this one "Hug a Lion."



A friend is one before whom I may think aloud. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Winners of the 2010 Golden Coffee Cup.

We were a small band this year by dedicated. Thank you for hanging out! Really we are all winners.:) Thanks to my son Jesse Blaisdell for creating our nifty award.



Feel free to save this to your desktop for year round encouragement. Now for the winners of real live coffee and The Golden Coffee Cup pic suitable for tacking on the fridge, the car visor, or near your computer for year long encouragement. Remember we are about quality, not quantity! The winners are:

Sumel said: So...I had three goals...
Morning pages most days? Yeppers got that one!
Complete the NaNoWriMo challenge? Not so much. Seems I kinda fell in love with the characters, decided they deserved my full attention, so I have mapped out more of a trilogy. Blogging? Eh, not so much. Oh well.

Trudi said: For GCC, let the confetti fly. I'm just a few pages away from finishing the first draft of my tween novel for girls! I usually write for middle grade readers, so this is a new twist for me. I'm so glad that I dared to stretch my wings a bit.

Holly said: Just the words I needed to hear! I'm constantly amazed and inspired by Janet's groundedness amidst a whirlwind career. I've been a bit down about not making more progress on book manuscript this month, but then I've been tremendously productive in general and also filling up the cup in other ways. Thanks for the perspective, Janet and Molly.

and

Vijaya said: I worked a few days on my novel revisions.
I wrote six short articles and got paid for them.
I am working on a short story.
Made a re-commitment to work on novel daily, at least for 30 min.

If you are one of the winners, send me an email (molly@mollyblaisdell.com), and I will pop your coffee and pic in the mail! Yay!

Again, thanks to everyone who participated this year. I send special thanks to Janet Lee Carey (you really encouraged me!). We had so many wonderful folks drop by and take part in this journey. Thanks to you all!

We return to my weekly blog. Seize the day! Here is a last quote to warm you up.

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children...to leave the world a better place...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. Ralph Waldo Emerson