Lorena Bathey's Blog, page 6

Words, glorious words!

When I was young I read...a lot. I used to go to the library and search through the books looking at the covers and waiting to see which one would draw me in.

After picking a book, I would turn to the first page and begin reading. I would wait to see if the magic happened. I usually knew by the end of the first paragraph, but I always gave it to the end of the page.

Those that intrigued me were brought home and were read quickly. I would usually leave the library with a stack about six books high so I had to really get going once I got home to get them all read by the due date.

And then the magic happened. Words worked together to create characters I fell in love with, cried over, worried about, and often never wanted to leave.

Those words still entangle me now. I find myself pausing on a perfectly structured sentence with a word I remember from my vocabulary list. I pause, say the word, smile, and then continue on with the story.

Words can be passionate, hurtful, poignant, worrisome, scary, and humerous. Thank goodness for the beauty of the written word.

The Life of an Indie Author

It is a bold endeavor to choose to write, and I'm sure not the first person to say something like that. It's my belief there is a group of individuals who are taking the job of writing to new heights.

Indie authors are those who write and publish their own works. It's an oftentimes lonely existence spent in a powerful relationships with your computer, coffee houses, and social networking websites. Being all things to your book can be challenging...and rewarding.

It takes talent, hopefully, but it also takes fortitude to go out and meet people who can help promote your work, to create the best work you can complete with professional editing, and to create a product that will be professionally pleasing to the public (wow, thats a lot of "p" words.

Of course, this group of individuals are strong, supportive of each other, and deserving of great praise. It is gutsy to balk the system and like a rebel the Indie author steps out in their leather coats, gelled back hair, and rev their literary engine to bring their work to the world.

Why I write...

It's a question I ask myself and get asked by others. Why do I write instead of work at Peets making coffee or sell insurance?

Because I have to write. When someone once asked me what it is I would do if I could do anything I immediately and without hesitation said, "write."

So during this sluggish economy and the worries of financial woes abounding throughout the world I do what most people say "you can't make a living" at.
I am making a life if not necessarily a living yet.....yet being the operative word.

When I get an idea, inspiration, or the muse hits me squarely in the face I must write. If I don't I just keep getting pings of sentences and words bouncing around my brain.

So why do I write? Because that is who I am and what I do. And because I am in love with words!

Lorena Bathey
www.LorenaBBooks.com

Read the novel, Beatrice Munson. Reviewers say that the character of "Beatrice is like the Mary Poppins of over forty year olds."

Is it apathy or strategy?

The last few weeks I have been in a weird place.  Weird for me because instead of going gung-ho and creating things right and left I have been in a strange place of non-movement.

You know those pictures that you see of tsunamis before they arrive on shore?  There is this weird shot of the ocean that is gone and beach that extends WAY beyond where it should.  People are walking about kinda scratching their head because they know it isn’t right and they aren’t sure what it is going on, simply that something is going on.

That’s how I feel right now.  I feel like an overly outstretched beach that can feel something happening somewhere but not sure what it is or when to expect it.

It’s an odd condition for me.  I am usually a whirling dervish of movement, action, and creation.  I don’t get tired very often, need little sleep, and when I do sleep I have countless ideas bubbling in my brain.

But recently all that has stilled.  It’s not that I don’t have ideas, I do.  But they come one at a time and with great deliberation.  Add to that a knowing that this all seems right even if it seems apathetic and you got a weird recipe.

I decided a month ago to focus on my writing.  Not only the writing of my novels but also the creation of a place where people can see about my characters…really a place where all my writings will be seen.  But mostly I decided to focus.  To quiet the Tasmanian devil that is my mind and focus on one output, writing.

Perhaps that short circuited my usual way of being because things slowed after that.  It wasn’t entirely noticable at first.  It took a week or so to see that my mind was working in a slower more regimented way.  And I wasn’t freaking out as much.  It was almost as if my emotional output was like the beach before tsunami and not doing much.

But I felt alright, felt good.  So today talking to a friend I asked her if she thought that apathy could be a strategy.

You know for me it just might be.  It’s not that I’m not committed, I absolutely am.  It’s that this calming of thoughts, actions, and emotions has given me the insight to focus.  Has allowed my being to know that it isn’t just about what I do but incredibly it is about timing and the Universe’s knowing when to make action occur.

I took this new behavior and trimmed it down to the concept of “one day at a time“.  Like an addict, in this case addiction to action, I was slowing down my way of being.  This slowing down took some time to take affect and drawing the analogy to addiction, I was feeling the withdrawal of my usual behavior.  But it seems to have taken hold the concept of ”one day at a time” and this allowance of apathy as a strategy is working in my favor.

I decided to not make a list as long as my arm and instead to make a list of three things I could actually accomplish in a day.  Once I did accomplish those items I found that not only did I feel better but I was actually much closer to what I truly want.  It is appears to be a far stronger method than simply making a list I will never finish and beating myself about not doing it.

Who would think that a feeling so closely akin to apathy would seem to become my strategy and a seemingly good one at that.  Now I follow my path, let things work as they should, and get my three things a day done. 

Sometimes the way of the world and the paths we take to get to our dreams/goals are oddly shaped and seemingly not thought out, but I swear there is a method to the world’s/Universe/God’s madness and to walk along is sometimes the best course to take.

Woo hoo….I’m not alone!

Have you ever prayed…asked for a sign that what you are doing is right?  Have you then waited and watched every aspect of your day waiting for that sign to appear not sure what it will be?   You spend the day seeing things and say to yourself, “Was that it?  Was that the sign?”

Did you ever play the….”If I see 4 blue cars by the time I get to my driveway then I will get what I want?”….game?

I have been doing that a lot recently.  And those who know me would find that surprising.  But it seems that no matter how tuned in you are there are times when the human part of you worries and needs validation or at least some sort of sign that it’s right…..the way your moving and the path you are taking…it’s right.

So yesterday I was perusing a new writing site that I have found and I had posted something similar to my “woe is me” blog and I received a reply.  And this reply was so dead on to following bliss and being what you love that I had to read it three times.  She had decided and then did the thing she loved.  She changed where she lived and learned to live on less so that she could follow her bliss.  And even better the Universe worked with her to give her what she needed. 

There it was….my sign!

Of course, I wrote the person and said THANK YOU for that validation.  I don’t know the lady who wrote back but it was blaringly obvious to me that the  Universe was saying, “See, someone is doing what you want to do and they’re not only happy, they’re ecstatic.” 

So, gone are the worries and doubts (at least for today).  In fact, right now I am waiting for a friend that wants me to write a book based on their life.  We start the research today.  Even more, little jobs and trickles of money keep coming in my door.  Not a lottery check of millions but enough to pay the bills that I need to pay.

Everyone wants to be happy.  Everyone wants to do things that make them happy.  My advice to you is to take a page from Nike and “Just do it”!

Who knows if we come back again and again to live different lives or if this is our one shot of enjoying this thing called life, what I do know is that I never want to be the one who plays it safe. 

I want to make the mistakes, fall on my knees, get cut and scraped and end up at the finish line bruised, battered, beaten, smeared with dirt, hair a mess and the biggest smile on my face. 

So today and everyday I will choose the bliss.  What about you?