Over the weekend I found myself inspired in various different aspects and modes.
My aunt passed away last week and so we attended the funeral in South Carolina, having to drive down for the Saturday viewing and service. We left on Thursday and tried to find ways to occupy ourselves in the car during the 12 hour ride. One way that I always find enjoyment in long drives is via satellite radio and NPR - any show will do.
One show that was airing while on the way was Diane Rehm who very often interviews authors. This is how I frequently come up with my book list and my large "TO READ" pile on my bedside table. One author that was interviewed, I'm not so much interested in her book, but she did intrigue me with a thought that flexed her creative talents. I was inspired and I decided to copy her idea but kind of in my own respects.
I've been itching for about the past 2 months to really delve more into the writing that I've always wanted to do. Ok, I admit, I can see myself quitting my job and sitting at a desk for hours a day, tapping away on the keyboard of my Mac.... And then I come back to reality and realize that: 1. I don't even write anymore except in my blog - doesn't count. 2. Because I don't write that often anymore I'm not that good. 3. The chances of me being published in the attempts to support myself outside of my current profession are dim and very near non-existent.
But, being a little on the hard-headed stubborn side, I decided to maybe make myself dip my big toe of writing into the pool of wordsmithing. This scares me. Anything that I do, once I start putting it out there for people to see I'm terrified of failure and, I'll admit it, imperfection. Things that sound amazing in my head, all of a sudden look juvenile in print.
My solution to this problem is to give myself small achievable goals based on something that sparks my mind. One link that I have with writing, thanks to my college Creative Writing teacher, Mrs Yvonne Rumsey, are pictures. We had several assignments in school where we were given pictures and had to create a story off of the picture. I loved that! Some pictures just make your mind whirl because you see so many little hints and innuendos of what might be that you start questioning everything that you do see.
My new brainchild to keep those creative cogs whirring is something I like to call: Stories From A Snapshot.
Every Monday evening, I plan on publishing a small story based on a photo that I've caught someplace. Most of the time, I have no clue who is in the photo or what is going on around them, sometimes I do. Either way, you mind can come up with so many different options for what might be. And oftentimes, what might be is better than what actually is.
The final piece of my Snapshots is that, these stories will all be ten sentence-short. I love the idea of compacting a story into such a short snippet that you can read it within a few moments. And then your mind can twist and turn through all the places that that springboard of a story can take you.
I've opened another blog on Wordpress and I'll give you the new address at the end of this post. I'll also create a link on my post for you to go to the new blog. I'll also remind you with a link every Monday.
For my first post, I was inspired by my Aunt June. I was contemplating on her life and who she is and who she was to me and the times we've shared together and I come back, quite often, to one of our last trips to the UK. I know that that trip was pretty special to her as she has a huge collage of photos she put together on her kitchen wall showcasing different places we visited while on our "grand tour".
I started browsing through our photos from England and there's one photo that struck me and unfolded itself in front of my eyes.
We were coming down from Scotland to England, headed to see Terence Askew, a cousin, in Grandpa's home of Bolton-On-Dearne. I had been wanting to see Hadrian's Wall and so I convinced everyone that we should go a little off track and stop along the way. Since the wall runs between the border of England and Scotland and is very expansive, just about any place will do. We ended up stopping in a field where little white puffs of sheep were grazing. We crossed a little brook and then Aunt June and I decided to go a little farther in the field. I can still hear her little cries of "Bah!" with that little scream she did as she dodged around the little gifts left by the sheep. We stayed for a while and poked around and then headed on to our evening hotel in Bolton On Dearne and a nice warm pub dinner.
This very first post, the opening to StoriesFromASnapshot, is dedicated to my Aunt June and the amazing and beautiful person that she was and, through God, is! I know that she left an amazing (but highly flawed) family and life but is in an even more amazing place with the MOST amazing God ever!
http://storiesfromasnapshot.wordpress.com/?p=6&preview=true
Please join my new venture and check where my mind is every week on StoriesFromASnapshot. Give me your comments and critiques. Enjoy where my imagination can go and let your imagination start its own journey as well.
With all my love to Dawn, Tammy, Shelley and Lisa -- and many thanks to Aunt June for inspiring me in so many different ways! I love you ASKEWS!
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