Avoidance

Valerie Bertinelli is engaged and Kate Gosselin has a new hairstyle.  Okay, I rather like Valerie as an actress so I'm happy for her.  But why do I care?  Why did I click on those links to read further?  I don't buy People magazine and I'm not much of a celeb follower.  So what was going on?

Avoidance.

It felt too early to walk this morning, and truly I had no desire to get presentable and get going, so I avoided and had another cup of coffee even thought the clouds were gathering.  And that's when I hit the first link and read the story about Valerie for which I will probably have little memory later.  Now it's raining and the dog is sulking.

Avoidance.

I'm beginning a new book and while I used to love beginnings and still do, sometimes there's something intimidating about those first few words.  It's the dreaded blank page - a feeling I never thought to have and now occasionally do.  I suppose it's another evolution of this writing career but one I don't much like.  So that's when I discovered the Kate Gosselin new hairstyle.  I can only say that avoidance had reached an all time high at this point.

Much of my avoidance this morning, missed walk aside, is where I'm at in the writing process.  A story is one-half complete and off to critique and my head is still there but until the story comes back I don't want to go forward.  But to jump from one world to another is a leap I'm avoiding.  So combined with the blank page issue I'm pretty much stalled out.  I've done much cruising of the net this morning avoiding that blank page.  Finally, when even the synopsis, my Achille's Heel, was looking more enticing, I dove in.  And then the magic began.  Once that first sentence is there, the rest just happens.  It comes from some place I can't identify and it just falls onto the page.  Whether it is final copy at this point is irrelevant.  What's important is that the characters are coming forward to introduce themselves.

I imagine that one day, one character will chastise me for the delay and that in itself will be a story.  In the meantime, there's one cure for a new book - ignore the celeb gossip - e-mails and blog follows - and start with a letter.  Any letter.  Can't think of one?  I've always liked t.  It gives you a the or a they or a that or a then or a there or...    Great words for something interesting to follow.

Avoidance.  

Start with a task - any task, preferably something small.  

How's avoidance working in your life?

Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com
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Border Crossings - Beneath the Law

Borders are tight in most parts of the world.  They've been tight for awhile and only today are they, well - tighter.  Actually, I've entered few countries in my travels where forms weren't required and passports not expected to be at ready.  There's always the stern looking officials.  But it's all in the presentation, some checkpoints are just a little more intimating than others and on the northern border of Thailand - the Burmese checkpoint was one of them.

Or so I thought.  But in that little village in Northern Thailand that butted up against Burma, borders took on a completely different meaning.  While officials manned an immigration point on a bridge that marked the border between Thailand and Burma, commerce thrived on both sides of the border.

Mae Sai, Thailand was bustling with people wanting to sell everything from cigarettes to t-shirts.  And on the other side of the bridge, for those a little more adventurous - Burma.  But no one was going there without filling out the forms, answering the questions and facing men dressed in military fatigues holding automatic rifles. 

No one that is except for one man who was desperately trying to sell us a t-shirt on the Thai side of the border.  When he had none in the size we wanted, he held up his hand.  Told us to wait in that universal sign language and bolted toward the bridge.  While people lined up or even debated whether crossing into Burma was a wise thing, our t-shirt salesman ran under the bridge, right underneath the immigration stop, crossed the border into Burma and within minutes returned back into Thailand with the correct size t-shirt in hand.

Daring to us.  Just another day at the office for him.  Anything daring in your day?


Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com
Ryshia On Twitter

Blown Away

"I'm blown away," my boss said after reading my e-mail.

My announcement was a change I'd been planning for years but it's refreshing to know that I haven't become predictable. Still, I was leaving a familiar world in favour of another. It's an ending of sorts - a time to take this life of mine on another road, another journey. The way I see it, my announcement was unexpected because it didn’t fit the parameters of the box that they had drawn around me. We all have that box, the judgment box of how others perceive us and sometimes it feels good to blow the doors off that box – and on a good day take the walls with us.

The unexpected works well in fiction too. I hate to read a story where I am not surprised by anything. The best stories lull us into a false sense of security. We know how this will end but do we? It’s up to the author to blow the box apart at hopefully the most unexpected moment. Sometimes it’s just small explosions along the way to the big bang. But it’s all about the characters being real people. Real people are not completely predictable.  So like the other day when my actions did not fit what some people had come to expect, characters must also do the unexpected now and then or they will never really live.

Has some one been “blown away” by something you’ve done lately? And if not – is it time to shake things up?

Ryshia Kennie
www.ryshiakennie.com
Ryshia on Twitter

Summer Solstice

   

Summer is only a heartbeat away.  To celebrate those long and lazy days of summer, I'm holding the Summer Solstice Contest.  The prize package includes both the movie Titanic and PS I Love You, as well as a few books to tide you through summer. 

Enter any time up to and including Monday, June 21, 2010. 

Want to take a chance?  Head on over and click here to enter the Summer Solstice.

Good Luck!

Ryshia

www.ryshiakennie.com

Ryshia on Twitter

Clouds Hurt - Seize the Moment Anyway

Oh My God I Can Fly - Conclusion

by June Botkin

Farmer is standing outside the plane on a ledge waiting for Wyatt and me, so he can get the pictures of me exiting the plane.  I duck, walk to the door with Wyatt attached to my back and look down at nothing but clouds and the next thing I know I am falling.  14,000 feet and 120 miles per hour.  My heart is in my shoes.  The wind is screaming by me.  The thoughts going through my head are "what the hell were you thinking?"  Wyatt taps me on the shoulder and tells me to spread my arms.

I AM FLYING!!!!!

We fall forever; turning summersaults above the clouds, when I look down I see a white fluffy blanket, what a rush.  Farmer is with us the whole time capturing on film this experience.  Every expression all the way down is captured for me to relive again and again. 
Soon we hit the clouds and let me tell you they hurt.  The temperature drops and we begin to be pelted by ice pellets.  All around is whiteness.  Once we break the clouds the Noth Shore comes into view, the mountains, the ocean with whitecaps and the airfield where we will be landing.  Farmer waves goodbye as Wyatt opens our parachute and up we go.  Another change, this time to peace and calm.  I look straight down my body at the ground below.  It is like standing on a piece of glass and looking at the land far below your feet, that is when I realized that the only thing holding me in place is the harness I am wearing and being strapped to Wyatt.

I tease Wyatt about going right then left as he deftly steers the glider in circles.  He whispers in my ear that I am being cheeky and so that I should take over the controls and so I do.  I turn the glider in circles heading ever closer to the ground.  About 200 feet off the deck Wyatt takes over and we land on the button.  The landing is softer than jumping off a bar stool.  There are two guys there to grab the chute and unhitch me from Wyatt.  My feet are back on the ground and I am forever changed.  I did it, I actually did it.  I jumped out of an airplane!

Now weeks have passed since this experience.  I pull out the photos and go through the slideshow reliving every moment, still in awe that I actually accomplished this and yes it was really me parachuting out of an airplane.  I am not sure what my next personal challenge will be, but this will be hard to top.

I will end this by saying go out there and take the risk.  Do whatever it is that you have dreamed of doing, seize the moment and go for it and yes I would do it all over again.



Thanks so much June for an awesome story!  Seize the moment - what an inspiring thought to be left with.  What inspires you? 
Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com

Six Thousand Feet and Climbing

Oh My God I Can Fly - Part Two

by June Botkin

Saturday morning comes early, 5:30 a.m. and another overcast day.  I am leaving tomorrow and this has become an obsession.  Another small coffee and a bagel and we head off with my Last Will and Testament and code status in my backpack and my determination growing.  This time there are no driving mistakes and we make good time and arrive at the airfield at 7:30.  There are a few clouds, but it looks like it is going to be a very nice day.  My friend turns to me and says that I don't have to do this that I can walk away any time, but in my heart I know I have to do this and it will be a life changing experience.

Parked beside us is a van of young Chinese tourists from yesterday who have the same idea as me.  Three boys and a girl and they are all trying to bolster each others courage. We all head into the clubhouse to wait.  Soon the master divers begin to arrive and more people wanting to try this skydiving thing.  The energy is infectious and soon I am visiting with the pros who keep saying once you do this you will be back for more.

A dive schedule for the first jump is posted on the office window and I casually walk over to see who I am jumping with and who will be my photographer.  The Chinese group is now getting suited up with their harnesses and heading to a truck to take them to the plane.  I am still waiting wondering when my turn will coome.  I find out I am in the second load with the pros who are going to be doing a hot hop and some who are going to be doing some aerobatics.  We will jump last after they exit the plane.

Soon my dive master arrives and drops a harness in my hands and says jokingly, put that on and I will be right back.  Little did he know that I have worn a climbing harness for years as a scaffolder.  He and the other pros are surprised that I know how to put it on and the next thing you know I am one step closer to my jump.  Just then the loud speaker crackles to life - jumpers in 5 - and everyone looks to the heavens.  This is the Chinese group but they are no where in sight.  Soon some of the colourful chutes break through the clouds.  They did it!  I watch them land and see the smiles on their faces just as Wyatt nudges me and says its time to go.

Wyatt is going to be my tandem partner, the person who I have to trust to get us safely back to the ground.  I walk through the fence into the restricted area as my friend waves goodbye and readies her camera.  The plane is waiting at the end of the runway and there is a small set of steps.  The pros are clamoring to get into the plane and off the ground; they can't wait to get airborne!  I am straddling a bench right beside the door that soon will prove to be an amazing view of the ground.  Once everyone is inside, the pilot revs up the engines and speeds down the taxiway headed for the end of the runway.  A quick turn onto the runway and the next thing I know we are airborne and the thought of what the hell am I doing starts to race through my head.  There is also a tangible excitement coursing through my body.

One pro jumps at a low elevation, about 6,000 feet, this is the hot hop.  We circle and watch him fall and the guys start to say why is he not opening his chute?  Finally his parachute opens and we begin to climb again.  This time it will be to 14,000 feet which is the height I will be jumping from.  We climb through the clouds and all landmasses disappear.  All that remains is a white fluffy blanket of clouds below us.  The pilot informs us that there will be only one pass and everyone must get out of the plane.  The pros first, then Wyatt, Farmer, the camera man and of course me.  The pros line up on the door ledge, four people holding onto each other then they just fall and are gone from my view.  Before I have time to think three more people run through the plane and dive out the door and are gone. 

Now it is my turn!

I don't know about you but right now I'd be feeling more impending doom than excitement.  I admire someone that could jump - me I'd be welded to that plane.  Part three tomorrow...      Ryshia   www.ryshiakennie.com