Cynthia A. Morgan's Blog, page 239

My Prayer (#guestblogger)

I bowed my head and heard His voice

“My son, it’s time to make your choice.

Will you follow this world and it’s ways

Or follow me all of your days?”

I said “Dear Lord, I follow you

In everything I say and do.

I want your love to flow through me

For this entire world to see”

He then spoke in his loving way

“My Son, your life is now in sway

The world still has it’s hold on you

It’s time you showed your love is true”

I said “Dear Lord, what must I do

To prove that I would follow you”

He came real close to me and said

“My child, your self needs to be dead.

No more can sin be part of you

No more will lies and cheating do

No more can pride lift up your head

No more can selfish ways be bred

No more can words be harsh and cruel

No more can anger be the rule

No more can sin be part of you

If to me you’ll dare be true”

I bowed my head and closed my eyes

And said a prayer that reached the skies

I asked him to forgive my ways

Vowed that I would change this day

I’ll put aside those things I did

That aren’t spawned from your love within

And men will see the light shine through

In everything I say and do.

I felt His loving hands touch mine

And felt His holy love divine

He said “My child, that’s all I ask

I knew that you could do the task”

So from now on, please let me know

If you His love I do not show

Let mercy reign and grace abound

To everyone who comes around

For my desire is plain to see

That my Lord is pleased with me

For that is what my life is for

To bring much pleasure to my Lord

 

Please visit my regular poetry blog  I try to post daily.

I also am in the middle of a study through the Psalms on THIS BLOG

 

Filed under: Guest Bloggers on BnV, Poetry Tagged: Guest Bloggers, poems

The Childing Year – #Poetry

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New Years Eve comes Once a Year,

Offering Laughter, Renewal, Good Cheer;

Filled with Hope, the Childing Year Smiles,

Presenting Perspective o’re the Past Year’s Trials,

Sifting New Joys with Goals Freshly Made,

Waving Goodbye to the Old, Grudges Fade;

Lifting our Eyes with Expectation,

New Challenges Faced without Trepidation.

Shine, Then, Under the Year End’s Jamboree,

And Walk towards the New with Resolution’s Guarantee.

Many Blessings, Peace, Hope, and Joy Be Yours this New Bright Shining Year!

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~Morgan~

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Beautiful Original Artwork by: Frances Brundage

Filed under: Poetry Tagged: BnV, BooknVolume, Goals, Good Cheer, Holidays, Hope, New Year, Poem, poetry, Poetry Blog, Resolutions, spirituality, ~Morgan~

Children of the Clouds (#guestblogger)

The children are made from the clouds.

As they fall, they drag the storm with them— black hair like crisscrosses amid the grey clouds— faces warped from the wind like a rope tied too tightly around a twig of a pole.

Typhoons dance and twirl from their eyeballs, and their voices crackle and sputter when they laugh. They fall gracefully, if not abruptly. They shoot through the air like locusts in search for ground. Upon impact, they stop, shudder and vaporize.

They stay there, at last, hovering above the barren hills of sand like a mist of ground insects.

[image error] A. R. Frederiksen is a recurring guest blogger here at BnV, and her own writing blog can be found here, where she dabbles in flashfiction and reflects over the, much elusive, ABCs of writing.

Filed under: Guest Bloggers on BnV Tagged: BnV, BooknVolume, drabble, Flash fiction, Inspiration, poetry, Writing

Blanket – #DailyHaikuChallenge

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Frosty winter morn

Embrace of shimmering Hush

Blanket of Whispers

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To take part in the Daily Haiku Challenge see The Original Post from Day One

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Day 72 / 365

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~Morgan~

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Beautiful Photograph found on Pinterest.  Credit Gratefully Acknowledged to the original photographer.  Thank You~

Filed under: Daily Haiku Challenge Tagged: Beautiful Photographs, BnV, BooknVolume, daily Haiku, Nature, Poem, poetry, Poetry Blog, Poetry Challenge, Quiet, relationships, Winter, ~Morgan~

Wondrous Grace (#guestblogger)

Your grace amazes me

It’s all I think about

For when I was a sinner

You turned my life around

I was lost and hopeless

My days filled with despair

But then your grace came flooding in

Forgiveness found me there

I knelt down at the altar

And asked you to come in

Your grace was there to meet me

And take away my sin

Oh, the wondrous grace of Jesus

More than I could ever dream

Just keeps giving me His blessings

Undeserved He gives to me

Every time I fail Him

I come to Him in tears

His grace is there to meet me

And take away my fears

And when I’m having troubles

And can’t find the way out

His grace comes in and rescues me

And takes away all doubt

Oh, the wondrous grace of Jesus

More than I could ever dream

Just keeps giving me His blessings

Undeserved He gives to me

I will lift my voice in praise

To His glorious name

Worship Him with all I am

For His wondrous grace

Filed under: Guest Bloggers on BnV Tagged: christianity, Grace, Guest Blogger, Poem, poetry, spirituality

Know Thyself: How to Write Authentic Characters

If you’re a writer, chances are that you have come across an instructional course or book encouraging you to write deep characters. By deep, I mean the ones that are beyond one-dimension, those with layers of complex emotion, desires, and personal history.

But just how do you go about doing that?

That question plagued me in many of my projects during the early years of my writing. Time and time again, I would find myself resorting to the same stereotypes of villains and heroes, with the former being motivated by evil while the latter were nothing but good. Such constructs made me feel empty, as my writing never seemed complete. I knew that just adding twists and ramping up their backstories wasn’t enough. Such enhancements merely masked the shallow characters I had created.

Then one day, when contemplating a battle scene, I found myself asking what I would do if I were a soldier. The soldier in question was a good guy, so my initial response was simple: I would do the right thing.

I followed up my first question with another: What would I really do?

I considered the possibilities. If I were a novice, the prospect of fighting would terrify me. My palms would become clammy. Sweat would dot my brow. My ears would perk at every sound.

I asked myself a third question: What would I do that I would want no one to know about?

I might allow the braver men in my company to rush ahead. I might turn coward and run once the opportunity arose. I might defecate myself in the process.

The idea that my hero was less than chivalrous challenged me. The idea that if I were in his shoes and acted in such a manner left me . . . well, quite frankly, embarrassed.

It was my first lesson in self-identity as a writer that stuck with me from draft to draft. For too long, I had been instructed and coached that my writing had to be perfected in order to garner serious attention. That sensibility had permeated my approach to creating characters over the years, with those I imagined being perfect in every way – in their motivation, actions, and overall existence.

However, that embarrassing AHA moment of mine had turned all those tendencies on their heads. From then on, I began to tweak my characters, building them to reflect not the constructed realities I had conjured up from nothing, but rather to display the reality I lived with every day.

In reading this post, such a realization may sound simple, perhaps even latent for an aspiring writer. I assure you, though, it is not. In all the writing groups I have been a part of, wooden dialogue and stale characters persist, both from the pens of new authors and seasoned veterans. When creating characters, so many of my writer friends get caught up in what their characters ought to be, thereby ignoring their true essence. Writing – or reading – a well-crafted character should come off less like a work of fiction and more like a biography. Or dare I say, an autobiography. That’s right, a work of non-fiction that is gritty and brutally honest. One that makes you want to cringe and yet keeps you turning the pages.

How is such a feat accomplished? A professor once told me that writers imprint a piece of themselves in all their characters, be it protagonists or antagonists, allies or enemies. If that holds true for your own writing, then it begs the question: How well do you know yourself? And that begs so many other questions: What would you do in a battle? On a first date? On a job interview? Before a king? With a stolen treasure?

And with those questions, I would add another to follow all of them: What would you really do?

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Author Joshua Rutherford has wanted to be a writer all his life. Through college and the more than dozen jobs that he has had, his passion for the written word has never ceased. After crafting several feature film screenplays and television pilots that were never produced, Joshua tried his hand at writing a novel. Sons of Chenia is the product of that effort. When Joshua is not writing – which isn’t often – he is spending quality time with his young family, who currently reside in San Diego, CA.

You can connect with Joshua Rutherford at:

Twitter

Facebook

Amazon Author Page

Filed under: Guest Bloggers on BnV Tagged: BnV, BooknVolume, Indie Authors, Readers, Supporting Indie Authors, Writing

Avenue – #DailyHaikuChallenge

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Silent Avenue

Echoes of Hushed Memories

Past softly Reborn

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To take part in the Daily Haiku Challenge see The Original Post from Day One

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Day 71 / 365

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~Morgan~

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Beautiful Photograph found on Pinterest.  Credit Gratefully Acknowledged to the original photographer.  Thank You~

Filed under: Daily Haiku Challenge Tagged: Beautiful Photographs, BnV, BooknVolume, Haiku, Harmony, Memory, Nature, Poem, poetry, Poetry Blog, time, Winter, ~Morgan~

Vivid – #DailyHaikuChallenge

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Vivid sheen of colour

Kissing the ‘scapes frozen cheek

Love’s Blossoming warmth

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To take part in the Daily Haiku Challenge see The Original Post from Day One

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Day 70 / 365

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~Morgan~

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Beautiful Photograph found on Pinterest.  Credit Gratefully Acknowledged to the original photographer.  Thank You~

Filed under: Daily Haiku Challenge Tagged: Beautiful Photographs, BnV, BooknVolume, Haiku, Love, Nature, Poem, poetry, Poetry Blog, Poetry Challenge, relationships, Romance, Winter, ~Morgan~

Holidays are the Best

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Holidays are definitely marvelous and vacations are wonderful and time away to reboot, re-energize and recharge is stupendous, but nothing…nothing I tell you…absolutely nothing, beats the soul-warming embrace of friends.  Friends like YOU, who continue to visit even while I am not; Friends who brings smiles to my heart even if they have no idea they are doing it.  Friends Like YOU!

I simply had to pop by and tell you how much it means to me to see your comments and know that you are enjoying what I set up to be shared while I was/am away, so you know I am thinking about you and hoping you had and are still having a Beautiful holiday season, and most Importantly to tell you how much I appreciate YOU.

 

Blessings and Happiness my Dear Friends

Kissed – #DailyHaikuChallenge

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Serenade of Light

Soft Radiant Symphony

Kisses to my Soul

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To take part in the Daily Haiku Challenge see The Original Post from Day One

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Day 69 / 365

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~Morgan~

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Beautiful Photograph found on Pinterest.  Credit Gratefully Acknowledged to the original photographer.  Thank You~

Filed under: Daily Haiku Challenge Tagged: amazing Photographers, Beautiful Photographs, BnV, BooknVolume, Light, Morning, Nature, Poem, poetry, Poetry Blog, Poetry Challenge, Seasons, Winter, ~Morgan~