Knit? Never!

"Maybe you should take up knitting!"  An off the cuff comment meant to be funny as I bemoan the fact of the long waits common to writers.  I'm a writer not a knitter and all things considered I barely have time to vacuum.  

At the moment I'm waiting on a submission, and the waiting is painful.  It has been broken by fits and starts of revisions, encouragement, new submissions and more waiting.  I'm not naive, I know that in the publishing industry things don't move quickly, still...

I feel blocked, rather like our easements which are clogged with snow and only accessible if you have the desire to unexpectedly sink to your waist in snow. It's a roadblock to which I don't have much control.  There's one in every life path, in every dream.  So what to do now?

Well, first I stew and stall and then...

A good friend aptly named the malady to which I am now subject as "hurry up and wait."  Sometimes it's hard to hold a dream when despite the best reasons for delay weeks slip into months and still you wait.

The world of brilliant blue skies is a realty in Saskatchewan year round.  But how do you dream when everything in the blue sky just appears like a holding pattern?


Sometimes when we send our dream into the world, we forget the heart of the dream  its inception, the simplicity of that primordial moment.  In my case, the joy of just writing because of the rush of putting words on paper got forgotten for a brief impatient moment.  A short time ago I was reminded of my knack for starters, first liners that begin that fabulous journey into fiction.  I was asked to submit first lines so that readers could submit what they thought should follow.  I'd forgotten the ease and joy I got out of writing those opening lines.  And as I started the lines to stories I would never complete, I remembered the dream and how far down the path I'd already traveled.

Everything good is worth waiting for and of course everything good is also worth working for.

But in that lull between dream and reality - How do you keep your dreams alive?

Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com
Ring of Desire
From the Dust

Fear - For Better? Or Worse?

Sometimes being scared means walking just a little slower.  That's what I did today.  Of course, I didn't have much choice having to carry 40 pounds of dog with snow banks to navigate.

Yes, the burning question - why?

Well it had something to do with the Pitbull that was hot on our heels.  A walk on a quiet snow covered sidewalk was no longer so quiet.   It was like a stealth attack.  All alone on our peaceful walk and then the growling out of nowhere, and the not overly friendly Pitbull on the loose charging us with teeth flashing.

So here was the dilemma, my Irish Terrier is an extremely sociable guy but don't get in his face.  He loves a good fight as well as the next guy.  So with a snarling dog confronting us and my dog only seconds from giving the dog version of "Bring it on" there was only one thing to do.

I picked up my dog, looking ultra tough with his red boots and "You Fetch" t-shirt complete with an overgrown Benjii like look, and faced off the snarler with a snarl I only hoped was louder and and deeper than his.   And then we just started backing up which isn't easy to do on snow clogged streets with forty pounds in your arms.

No I haven't digressed.  Not really.  It's about fear.  Fear of the unexpected, the what if.  Today's incident with the Pitbull didn't give much time to think about what if.  It was just do or someone's going to get hurt. 

My current story is a different matter.   The story was at a standstill.  Was it fear?  And if so fear of what?  Nothing I did seemed right until I realized that one of my character's had to change.  And it was fear but it was the character's not mine.  Yes, they really are real people, at least to me!

Anyway, her fear had the story at a standstill.  It's a fine character that just slides through to the finale on someone else's coattails and one of my characters was doing just that.  Now she hadn't done that originally but a change or two had caused the problem.  It was time for her to face off the growlers and make it through to the end on her own two feet and carry one or two other characters if necessary.  So now things are sailing along.  We're all bite free and the story, well it has a hunk or two removed for the better.  And a heroine who can only say "bring it on."

Any fear in your life today?   And was it for the better?

Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com
Ring of Desire
From the Dust

Winner of "Cleopatra's Daughter" Contest

I was really rooting for all of you but in the end there can only be one winner.

The winner of the ancient Roman coin and a copy of "Cleopatra's Daughter" is Cheri!  Congratulations Cheri!  

Ryshia

www.ryshiakennie.com

 

You Fetch

Time really does slip away.  The contest for Cleopatra's Daughter and an ancient Roman coin has officially ended.  Thanks everyone who entered.  I kind of hate to see it all end!  I don't know about everyone else but I had a great time and enjoyed meeting you all!  I'll be making the draw for the lucky winner later in the day and notifying the winner then.  

Good luck everyone!!

As for the rest of the day.  My dog has an attitude.  Did I mention that before?  Anyway,  his winter walking shirt says what I'm pretty sure he thinks.  Today I share the sentiment.  It's one of those days when I wish I could just say:

Ever have one of those days?

Ryshia

www.ryshiakennie.com
Ring of Desire
From the Dust

A Trip With I

I travel with words all the time but I rarely traveled with I.  Of course I traveled with self but it's books that are today's topic.

Confused?

Books written in first person, I avoided them like the plague.  Interesting that I should mention plague as that is one of the key elements in the book I am reading.  A book written in first person!

There was a time when I felt first person didn't allow me to get deep into the story.  I felt like I was skimming the surface.  Yes, I know there is great literature written in first but I always thought that's what made it great, the ability to pull off a good first person read.  We won't even contemplate the fact that today's post is written in yep, you guessed it - first.

Ironically in the past two weeks I dove into two books written in first person, "Stripped' by Marcia Colette and "Heretic Queen" by Michelle Moran.  And while they are completely different books I am enjoying them both, first person and all.  Both these books take me away into another world, one into the world of urban fantasy and the other into the world of ancient Egypt as easily as third person ever did.

I'm not saying that I'll ever write in first.  As a writer I find it challenging to get deep into the worlds I create from the perspective of one character.  It's a talent that I can now say I truly admire.  What I am saying is that if there's a book written in first, by an author I've never heard of, I won't skip on by.  Not anymore, I'm a convert.

Oh and to the two authors I just mentioned above - I am also a convert, first person and all.  Wait - back up, maybe because of first person!  Fab stories.  Great job ladies!

Will you travel with I or are you strictly into she and he?

Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com
Ring of Desire
From the Dust

The contest for Michelle Moran’s, "Cleopatra's Daughter" is still running. Commenting here or anywhere on my blog counts as an entry. Post often through January 17 to up your chances to win. 
But to make things easier for me, if you’re responding to an older post, please enter the title.
Good Luck!

For Keeps

I have a sweater.  A black turtleneck, nothing special about it except that it has been washed so many times that the synthetic is as smooth as silk.  The sweater is old but it’s like a chameleon.  It fits everywhere for every occasion, under a business suit, over jeans.  Comfortable enough for long days of travel and great for lounging around in.  It’s a keeper. 

The topic of keepers has come up quite a bit this week.  First with a contest I’m holding where part of the prize package will be a few books I think of as keepers. And the term keeper came up again with Michelle Moran's "Cleopatra's Daughter" who I featured this week on my blog.  And that made me think, what makes a keeper?

Well in clothes we know it's comfort and versatility and maybe something more.  Maybe it's a memory the piece might be attached to or maybe it's survived through the majority of your adulthood and there's a certain loyalty in that.  Can one feel loyalty to clothes? 

And what about books? I love to read but truly the majority of books don’t make the keeper shelves.  I might keep them but I may never recommend them or take them out for that second read. So what makes a keeper?

The first thing about a keeper is that they stand out from the pack.  There’s something unique about every one of them.  And often there's something to be learned, a lesson to be taken away.  Many  of them cut to the heart of an emotion or force us to look clearly at issues.  They take the reader so deeply into the pages of the story that there's no doubt that this is real.  We taste, smell and feel the characters' emotions and can't help but cheer for them. There's something about the story that imprints itself so that you find yourself thinking about it long after you finish that last page.  It's the book whose end is met with that feeling of regret and the wish that you had read slower and savoured each word.  There's magic to a keeper and that's not easy to pinpoint or define.

So back to my original point - what makes a keeper?  Could it be as simple as they touch a nerve?

What books do you consider keepers?  

Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com
Ring of Desire
From the Dust

The contest for Michelle Moran’s, "Cleopatra's Daughter" is still running. Commenting here or anywhere on my blog counts as an entry. Post often through January 17 to up your chances to win. 
But to make things easier for me, if you’re responding to an older post, please enter the title.
Good Luck!