Suzanne Strong's Blog, page 9
September 23, 2020
September 11, 2020
Charles Dickens
“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of another.”
Charles Dickens.
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Hey guys,
I love this quote. I believe to give your life to help others, is the ultimate purpose and no matter what we do in our jobs etc, wherever you find yourself, serving others is so important in this world.
Have a nice weekend. Stay safe.
Kind regards, Suz
September 4, 2020
Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young…”
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
May you stay forever young
May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the light surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
May you stay forever young
May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
And may you stay forever young
May you stay forever young
How good is this song? It was written for his children, but I think it is an excellent summary of the kind of life I would and probably most of us would like to live. 
August 30, 2020
Personal stories in your novel…
Hey guys,
I just wanted to write about my writing process at the moment. I have reached as I said a deeply personal section of my novel. I am still in two minds as to whether I will include it in the final novel. This morning I was writing about a personal experience of mine in life, and most of this novel is not directly related to my life, though it is to some degree as always.
Where I am right now – there is a dilemma, and I am faced with an experience, I can’t put my full experience in the novel as it is not appropriate and the question is, am I satisfied with that? Or do I keep that narrative as part of another novel or a non fiction work?
Today, I wrote this experience into the novel modified through the eyes of my main character, Sarah Johns. I am satisfied with it at the moment, but I will keep exploring. I could possibly change the ending slightly, if I want to remove this plot, but on the other hand it is also all the way through. I think I am slowly forming a modified version of w hat really happened.
A writer friend of mine said I was very brave to be sharing this deep experience into the world, I hadn’t really thought about it like that. Art should share the deep experiences of the human condition, I believe. Of course some art is also for entertainment, pleasure and enjoyment and I am not against that. In fact I really want to write a humourous novel next.
August 26, 2020
F. Scott Fitzgerald, criticising others…
“Whenever you feel like criticising someone…just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages you have had.”
F.Scott fitzgerald
This has always been true, and will always be true.
August 25, 2020
New edition of my novel…
Hey guys,
I was excited yesterday to receive my new edition of my novel, Where the Sun Rises, which includes a map I used to put certain points of the plot. I have also included a small glossary of terms, it is not exhaustive but I thought I should include some Kurdish language in there.
Anyway, I am excited by the results. Thanks for reading and I hope you and your family are safe! Take care, love Suz
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August 22, 2020
Life and writing…
Hey guys, this week has been tough. The whole world is in turmoil at the moment, and personally there are quite a few things that are difficult for me at the moment. Family things with siblings health and personal things in my own life as well. I find people are often harsher than I think they will be, which shocks me. I know I am not perfect either to other people but I try to be sensitive to people’s feelings. This week I was shocked by harshness and it was painful. I feel like I am more optimistic or idealistic than other people, and then the reality of this sets in for me when other people are not the same. I am shocked back into the reality that people don’t think the way I do. Some do, and some don’t.
Anyway, let’s move on to my writing, I found this week with my novel I have hit a road block. The part of my novel I thought I would find the most straight forward to write – I am finding the hardest. This part of my novel is the part that is somewhat representative of my own life and experience. I am finding it hard as I have to choose what parts of my life to include, the characters that I write about as well and what not to include.
My novel writing is the thing that makes me feel alive and doing what I am meant to, (my faith in God makes me feel hopeful,) and this week it has stalled. I need to just keep going. I need to find my way back into the novel and what is happening. I will seek to do that today. Soon, I will be teaching more and my energy will be focused on this. I wanted to have a whole draft completed before then but this does not look realistic now. It is close though.
Anyway, it is a beautiful day and there is much to be thankful about. I am thankful for family, sunshine, health, flowers, the ocean and the beach and the mountains. One day I hope to be travelling again, because that is when I feel most alive and engaged. But then again I value being in one place as well, especially as I am able to create. Life is balance.
I hope you are finding joy in the little things. Feel free to comment if you wish. Have a peaceful day. Love Suz.
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August 18, 2020
Where the Sun Rises best seller…
Hey everyone,
Where the Sun Rises was no. 17 and no. 44 on the Amazon Best Seller List today in Middle Eastern Fiction.
August 13, 2020
Creative processing… :)
Hey everyone,
It is a disturbing time in many ways right now, but also there are positives coming out of this horrendous worldwide situation. I think on the whole people are appreciating their relationships more, and, for some, they are expressing things they haven’t before. It has made me realise a lot of things. Made me see certain relationships that are important to me, that I didn’t realise the significance of until they were taken away, for a brief time.
It is interesting. I feel a lot of things will change through this pandemic. In some ways, I hope and pray that we realise the essential things in life and how this short life should be lived to the full.
My brother died at age 37 and I was very close to him. After he died I realised that I didn’t want to waste my life doing things I was meant to do, instead of things I felt called to do, or had a passion for.
I have always known I was a writer since I was a young child. I fell in love with words from the moment I learnt to read and write them. I fell in love with story as well. I wrote and drew comic books and drew pictures, wrote stories and made pop up books. So for me, I knew following the death of my brother that I needed to write every day of my life .That is my purpose, I know that for certain. I must admit it took me a couple of years to really embrace this, and I enrolled in my masters to focus on writing. I had wanted to do that since I had graduated from my first degree. Doing a masters allowed me to focus on writing, which my life had only partially allowed me to do. Since then I have written and published my first novel, Where the Sun Rises which took me 3.5 years and thousands of hours of research to write, even travelling to the Israeli and Syrian border.
That was an amazing experience and it is a novel I really believe in. Check it out if you’re interested.
