Shelby Londyn-Heath's Blog: http://www.surfsupbookshelves.com
June 29, 2018
The Ecstasy
Ah, the joy of writing. It's when I find my writing flowing on a day when words pour through me, creating a world that didn't exist before, and finding safe harbor in my creativity. What power!
But what I have recently found makes me the happiest in my writing endeavors is caring for the stories of others. My writing has become a vehicle that brings me to other writers, where new worlds have emerged for me.
I have lived through brutal immigration, western travels on a stagecoach, private detective adventures in France, time travels to warlords and witches, and those darker places, where I experienced the physical and mental suffering of others. As a result, I have deepened my compassion for those living in trying conditions.
What I have learned is that my world is not the most important one there is. I know now, that I am happiest when I not only listen- but when I open my heart and truly let myself feel the stories of others.
I realize what extraordinary riches writers bring to this world. Every story told is a new dimension, a new strand of gold woven through dreams, visions, hurts, and healings created by storytellers.
This to me, has become the ecstasy of writing, to cultivate relationships with other writers who were born to give form to the formless. To be a writer is to free the truth squeezed under a tight lid of status quo. And to be writers together is to be a powerhouse of joy in a tide of evolving humanity.
But what I have recently found makes me the happiest in my writing endeavors is caring for the stories of others. My writing has become a vehicle that brings me to other writers, where new worlds have emerged for me.
I have lived through brutal immigration, western travels on a stagecoach, private detective adventures in France, time travels to warlords and witches, and those darker places, where I experienced the physical and mental suffering of others. As a result, I have deepened my compassion for those living in trying conditions.
What I have learned is that my world is not the most important one there is. I know now, that I am happiest when I not only listen- but when I open my heart and truly let myself feel the stories of others.
I realize what extraordinary riches writers bring to this world. Every story told is a new dimension, a new strand of gold woven through dreams, visions, hurts, and healings created by storytellers.
This to me, has become the ecstasy of writing, to cultivate relationships with other writers who were born to give form to the formless. To be a writer is to free the truth squeezed under a tight lid of status quo. And to be writers together is to be a powerhouse of joy in a tide of evolving humanity.
September 24, 2016
The Agony and Ecstasy of Writing by Shelby Londyn-Heath
Yep, you started with an idea. Where it came from, you're not certain, but it bubbled to the surface at the strangest times - while you were putting on your slippers and getting ready to tune out the day - or while you opened your eyes the next morning to check out the weather.
You planned to have a barbecue and it was pouring rain. Then your idea flashed across your mind's screen again. Since your barbecue was cancelled, you thought about that idea more, took your time, and built on it. You had time to write an outline about your new story, perhaps your future best-selling novel.
Okay, you thought, what would happen if you wrote a story about that homeless person who strolled the streets trying to find someone to help every day, and some well-meaning passer-by handed that homeless person a cheap lottery ticket? And you guessed it, the homeless person won thirty trillion dollars. What would he do with that money? How would he change the world? Would he give it away and become homeless again, or buy himself an island and send for the world's homeless people to live there with him?
This, my friends, is the ecstasy of writing, when an idea turns into a magic story filled with twists and turns, sparkling visions, and boundless possibilities. Enjoy that first step of your story. It is exciting. It pushes you forward, fills you with anticipation, suspense, and inner power. Revel in it my friends, because agony is next.
You planned to have a barbecue and it was pouring rain. Then your idea flashed across your mind's screen again. Since your barbecue was cancelled, you thought about that idea more, took your time, and built on it. You had time to write an outline about your new story, perhaps your future best-selling novel.
Okay, you thought, what would happen if you wrote a story about that homeless person who strolled the streets trying to find someone to help every day, and some well-meaning passer-by handed that homeless person a cheap lottery ticket? And you guessed it, the homeless person won thirty trillion dollars. What would he do with that money? How would he change the world? Would he give it away and become homeless again, or buy himself an island and send for the world's homeless people to live there with him?
This, my friends, is the ecstasy of writing, when an idea turns into a magic story filled with twists and turns, sparkling visions, and boundless possibilities. Enjoy that first step of your story. It is exciting. It pushes you forward, fills you with anticipation, suspense, and inner power. Revel in it my friends, because agony is next.
