April Showers: Be the Rain

Hi, folks!  Whew, it rained buckets this week. I will have to mow my yard soon. This month I've been writing about what waters my work. I've chatted about longing, forgiveness and simple moments; all water my creative ground. Now, I'm going to talk about something that waters me like nothing else, and that is mentoring.  Be the rain.

I received an email this week that just poured more buckets of water into me than any flood. It was from one of the kids I mentored in my teen writing program last year. The program is called TEENSPublish at the Ringer Library in College Station, TX. (Follow the link for the deets) She thanked me for my efforts to help her become a writer and wanted to know if mayhem was going to happen again this year. She planned to tell ALL her friends.

I said, "Of course, mayhem is happening!"

In June, I will be putting on TEENSPublish at the Ringer Library in College Station, TX.  (Cost: Free!, 2:30-5:00 on Wednesdays, skip July 6)The program is for 7th-12th graders and is all about helping young writers find their voice and share it with the world. Here is the deal, doing this will help me more.

In a rut? Surround yourself will people that beginning their journey. It will transform your life.

Sometimes we don't understand our situation. We long to grow, but instead, we are stagnating. You are no longer the ground. You have become the clouds. Stagnation is about your unwillingness to share the water within. Wring out all that water on dry ground. Let what you know flow from your heart to others.  So creative folk, if you want to water your work go out there and volunteer. Give something of yourself. Be the rain.

You are welcome.

I will be back next week with one more April Showers, and then a new series starts.  Exciting news, a guest blogger is going to usher in the month of May with Bloom!  Excellent author Alexandria La Faye will be here! If you don't know her already, please check her out!!! www.facebook.com/alafayeauthor
www.alafaye.com, a@alafaye.com

Here is a doodle for you.

Here is a quote for your pocket:

Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby. Langston Hughes

April Showers: Come Rain!

A Texas deluge is coming; that is what Wunderground says.  I sure hope a deluge is coming in my creative life.

This month I'm writing a series called April Showers.  My goal is to write about stuff that waters creative ground.  It's April and inside me, this feels like it should be my time, but so far it has not panned out that way.

What is going on? Hey, I'm not lazing around over here. I write every day, and I'm the mother of four, wife of one, dishwasher, grocery shopper, lawn mower, cat snack feeder, book fan, doodle drawer... I get up early and work hard every day. For years, I've been doing the same thing. I've seen people who have struggled to find their creative way and who, after much effort, found it. I want to throw confetti. I'm so glad when someone's dream comes true. I know what it like to ache for success and not find it. I also have a psychedelic imagination and can imagine finding success after that bad trip. Who wouldn't throw confetti? I'm ready to have my party.

So here it is, my crazy dreaming artists. I'm mundane. The big news in my humdrum days is I saw a weird bug or thought the pink in my amaryllis was sublime. I've written 30+ books and 1000+ articles. $$$ have happened, enough for stacks of blue jeans. Good stuff but I want to rise above commonplace.  I am dreaming of a burst of growth that makes the desert blooming look lame.

Come rain!

I hope rain comes to all of us. I hope rain comes to us all! Thanks for dropping by. More April Showers to come!

Here is a doodle for you;

Quote for your pocket:

The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Isaiah 58:11Follow this link to Janet Lee Carey's blog post, scroll down the page, enter your email and win some books.  

April Showers: Hacked Leaf Blades

I'm crossposting week. I am a guest at DREAMWALKS a blog by Janet Lee Carey.  We have a conversation about Art and the Crucible that may relate to you.  Please check it out and take advantage of an opportunity to win free signed books from me and Janet.

I'm continuing my series called April Showers, and my post connects with the crucible post.  Last week, I went to a writing conference, and when I got home, I found that youngest son had edged the entire yard. Good stuff, right? It wasn't until the next day that I realized that he had hacked down my almost ready to bloom Louisiana Irises in the backyard.  These flowers grow in a corner along the fence and are one of the big spring shows I look forward to each year.

A gold-green pile of hacked leaf blades and flowers stalks was all that remained. Louisiana Iris have significant meaning for me. My mother was a hybridizer and won national awards for her work.  I also had a stand of Louisiana Iris as a child and traveled yearly to Baton Rouge to international flower shows to compete with my hybrids. I won awards, and it was the corner of loveliness in my childhood.

I stared at the hacked flowers and headed to my bedroom for a good cry.

The crucible of life was heating up, and the pressure was building.  I wanted to rail at my son because he had destroyed something that meant so much to me.  My husband stepped in and let me know that the Jack had asked if he should hack down the green stuff along the fence, and Tim assumed he meant the brush on the other side of the yard.  How could these two guys be so thoughtless?  Have you ever shook inside with anger? That's what I was feeling.

I began to walk the age-old journey of forgiveness.  It works like this for me. The people are more important than all the things, no matter how much the things meant to me. The irises will come up next year. It's a setback, not an ending. Choose love, choose forgiveness, even if no one but God understands how much this hurt. Finally, remember, the stuff that hurts is the water for your work. This kind of crucible moment is the cauldron of story.

Those gold-green hacked leaf blades will inform a story I have yet to write.  I know it.

I hope that this journey helps you on yours. I hope you embrace the water that comes to your life. Let it make you grow. I will be back next week with more April Showers.

Here is a doodle for you: Louisiana Iris.

Quote for your pocket comes from Godspell, "Day by Day,' by Stephen Schwartz.

Day by day, oh, dear
Lord, three things I pray
To see thee more clearly
Love thee more dearly
Follow thee more nearly, day by day

April Showers: Water for my creative soul

Hi folks, time for a new series! It's April. Time for water. Time for spring. Time for new beginnings. I will write about the water we need to burst with new life.

This week the post is really short but I hope helpful.  What is water to my creative soul?  Here is a simple list of stuff that makes me bloom.

1. A stroll on a sunny day.

2. A heartfelt conversation with a friend.

3. Kissing my sweetheart.

4. Hugging my purring cat.

5. Listening to an upbeat song.

6. Picking a bouquet of flowers.

7. Forgiving someone.

8. Seeing a need and meeting it.

9. Napping.

10. Stretching with breathing.

Ah, the best things in life are free.  Something to remember when seeking water.  I will be back next week with more water.

Here is a doodle.

Here is a quote for your pocket:

Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love!Sitting Bull

Lucky March: Strange Luck

Hi folks, ah, the end of March. Everything is blooming here. Bluebonnets, Evening Primrose, Winecups, Paintbrush, so many flowers. So beautiful. It looks like bright paints have been spilled on the prairie.

This is the end of the Lucky March series. The universe seems so vast. It seems unlikely that anything interesting would happen on my watch, yet life is full of surprises. Sometimes luck is surprising, odd, and wonderful. I call this luck, strange luck. My favorite kind. The oddball moments that lead us to now. Life might seem dull right now, but don't worry if you are stuck in a rut in the road. A bump is up ahead and who knows what it will lead to.

I thought I'd list three moments of strange luck that have come my way. I got into a cab once in New York and the driver was a brother of a friend from high school. We laughed about the long ago days when we were much younger and not so wise. The experience made the world seem smaller and more manageable. Another time, I was walking near a place I lived near dusk. I walked there daily, but this one day, I saw what I thought was a rabbit trail. I thought I be like Alice and follow the trail. It lead to a mysterious pond that I had never seen before (though I had lived nearby for years), and the full moon was reflecting in the pond. The moment sent chills down my spine and it inspired me to write an entire book based on the "what if..." of the moment.

Now a last moment of strange luck. When Maya Angelou died, I was pretty down about that. I had never met her, but her fervent spirit and wild words had set fires burning inside me. I was flying across country right after she died, and the man next to me and I struck up a conversation. He was struggling with the loss of a dear friend. Soon I learned that he had worked with Maya for years. He told me something of his grief at her loss. His words reflected exactly what I was feeling. We had a sacred moment of tears. Yes, I felt lucky, blessed, and with the angels. I had that big sense that everything and everyone is connected.  Like Maya said, "I know for sure that love saves me and that it is here to save us all."

This is Easter weekend, for Christians, a day of great celebration. He is risen! Here is a blessing for you from me. May you remember all the people that made your life possible. May you seek to live a life worthy of what you have received.

I will be back with next week with a new series. :)

Here is a doodle:

A quote for your pocket.

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Maya Angelou