I see your smile in the summer sun,
I hear your laugh in the gentle breeze.
I feel your love encasing my heart
as your life lives on in me.
They took the sparkle from your eyes
and scattered it amongst the stars,
the tears we cried have gathered
in the long and winding streams.
But the fog has cleared and so behold
the truth in all its beauty:
You did not leave us, not at all,
if only we had known,
though your body may be gone,
it is us who kept the man.
arts
All posts tagged arts
My heart still echoes with the footsteps,
a misfired love trapped within the void.
They say that blood is thicker than water
but what of a blood that is laced with poison?
You hollowed my soul; I severed the ties.
I bid you farewell and beg you bid me to be free.
Like black ink seeping through crystal waters
in search of untainted innocence,
lurching roots in the core of the earth
that refuse to relent their hold,
hands that squeeze the air from lungs
and toy with frivolous emotions.
I’m drowning in an ocean of you,
this death a state of bliss,
the sweetest of corruptions.
Spreading word bombs wherever you go,
sowing those seeds to give life to their woe.
Dancing in the ashes you leave in your wake,
gifting nothing but sorrow for all that you take.
Smiling as lives go tumbling down,
but burn too many bridges and you just might drown.
It’s time that I went hunting,
to see what lies within
this murky inner cavern
I’ve spent so long avoiding.
Weapons they are futile,
a shield of little use,
the place that I must venture in
hosts Pain and Fear like friends.
So take my hand and hold it,
only I can break the lock.
I dread what I must do
if I don’t like what I find.
For there is no turning back,
just searching for acceptance.
A thousand reasons not to,
a million wasted tears,
craving new beginnings.
A never ending corridor,
a state of constant darkness,
asking fruitless questions.
A hit of harsh reality,
a truth we must embrace;
we only get one shot at this.
Where did I go wrong?
I love the community spirit of WordPress
One of the things I have come to love most about WordPress is the meeting of minds, even if only in a virtual setting. I initially set up my blog because I love writing in all its capacities and thought it was an apt way to further my creative output, plus I had only recently published my first book and knew blogging was a good way to meet other people interested in reading and writing. Meet people I most certainly did and I continue to be amazed by how many exciting projects, generous spectators and likeminded writers there are out there willing to support others. There are people whose work I now admire and advice I value.
Take for example, Mel; a fellow writer and blogger whom I found out about here on good old WordPress, who continues to support my writing endeavours. There is also Morgan, a poet and writer whose work I stumbled upon here and have followed ever since, with her debut novel having recently been released. Then there is Mishka, another highly involved member of the blogging community who today has released three books that I can’t wait to read.
I could go on, but at the risk of being here all day naming great bloggers, I will simply close by saying that I truly appreciate the support of people, however small a gesture may seem and hope I can return the favour by continuing to follow your posts and discover your work. It’s a great feeling knowing we are all in this together.
Open up,
peel back the layers,
expose the fragile, beating heart.
Pulsing veins,
a stolen breath,
that shield, once strong, unravelling.
Feel the words
flow past your lips,
and carve in me a memory.
Close it up,
shut out the world,
pretend I feel no influence.
Casual smiles,
they mask the truth;
a tainted core will never heal.
Can you strike the right balance?
Sitting in a quiet, secluded cabin surrounded by trees, marvelling at the lake beyond the window as we spend our days writing, releasing a book every year or so and grinning as the royalties come rolling in; it’s a dream that many writers have but a reality for so very few.
The truth is that most writers, be they budding, self-published, traditionally published or otherwise, will be able to relate to the ongoing struggle of maintaining both their beloved writing adventures and a day job that helps pay the bills. Maintaining a steady income from selling books is not easy after all and the road to that lifestyle is a long and difficult one.
My work/writing balance is somewhat unorthodox however, as my day job is also as a writer. I do freelance work for blogs, websites and local magazines. I love it – and feel hugely lucky to be earning money for producing the written word – but it’s the more creative and open world of prose and poetry that rules my heart. As side jobs go for authors, it’s fantastic, as it means in all aspects of my work life, I can call myself a writer, plus it means I get to flex my writing muscles and try out a broad variety of different styles and topics.
It can be frustrating sometimes though. If you write in any capacity, hopefully you will agree that while not physical at all, it can be very tiring for the brain. This means that on days when I have several freelance assignments to meet, my mind has turned to something of a pile of mush by the time I am done, meaning little or no creative work is possible. Having just emerged from a couple of busy weeks work-wise, I can now appreciate how much it affected my work in progress, which sits feeling sadly neglected of late. Don’t get me wrong, I do really enjoy my freelance work, as being a writer in any shape or form is a dream come true but must admit I do sometimes crave extra time to write the stories forced for now to live inside my head.
I imagine no matter your area of work, it plays a role in your ability to write creatively and so would love to hear about other people’s experiences in balancing the different aspects of their lives.
Are you lucky enough to write fiction full-time? Does your extra job take up a lot of time and energy? How do you divide your time to manage both?
Do you stick to one book?
For so long I could only ever be reading one book at a time. I had tried in the past to be working on several at once but found that one would always draw me in more and I would continually gravitate towards it when I set aside some time to read, leaving the others to fall by the wayside.
The feeling of immersing myself in one world and familiarising myself with one set of characters definitely appealed to me too much but with my ‘to read’ pile growing ever larger, I decided it was finally time to see if I could overcome it. After all, I can be watching several TV shows or listening to several albums during the same period of time; why should reading be any different?
I feel like I’m getting there gradually and for a while now I’ve always had two books in progress at any given time – usually one physical book and one on my kindle – but I must admit that one still often takes priority making me wonder if it may just be how my brain works best and so this got me thinking, do you prefer to focus your attention wholeheartedly on one specific story at a time or can you chop-and-change between several?
