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Showing posts with label effective writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label effective writing. Show all posts

04 December 2009

Life is About Everything - Libations Friday! 4 Dec 2009



I Am a Joyful Thought Photo by alicepopkorn @ flickr


*** The life incidents that tickle our minds to write, record and remember…

From Denny: While compiling the most popular posts this year on this blog, I was blown away by just how much writing I did this year, covering a wide range of thought wanderings and wonderings. So... I had another one of those famous RDTs (Random Denny Thoughts), and decided to compile most of my writes into one poem just to see the themes of the year.

You might enjoy this as a writing exercise too as it sure does surprise you to review the year like this. And, for conceptual and abstract thinkers like me, you will find this a neat and tidy way to condense your writes all into one place! :) I just know there was a good reason I've had ultra left-brain friends over the years who were such a help. Trust me; there is nothing like having a Virgo come into your clothes - or mental - closet and properly get you focused for a project. You will be eternally grateful. The rest of the time they are eternally grateful you tell them to "take a chill pill because Life will turn out well anyway; quit fretting."

We creative types tend to roll our eyes and snooze when it comes to filing, naming, and other busy office work and end up "organizationally challenged" if we aren't careful. My friends did teach me that organization is the key to yet more creativity unleashed. This year of writing proves them right! Oh, how they will live on that comment for years... :)



Dance of Love Photo by Kjunstorms @ flickr

Life is About Everything

Review

When I began this year’s journey I didn’t know where I was going.

I didn’t much care nor worry – only living in the moment of awe.

Life has so much to experience: ugly and beautiful, joyful and sad.

I chose to witness with my heart, my eyes and my listening soul.

Chronicling Life seen, felt and heard with a flowing pen, tapping keyboard,

Life unfolded its meaning, its depths, its teachings, revealing its purpose: discovery.

Love

Relationships were talked about from love to war and terrible loss.

A Man in Love retold a soldier’s 60 year old story of yearning to reunite with his wife.

Loving You recounted marriage love, roles unexpectedly changing over time.

Opposites in Love: Night and Day revealed how we opposites learn to live together.

Loss

Personal loss spoke in Rock, My Children, compounding when others are too cruel.

A rock legend’s legacy lives on in Michael Jackson: Talk About My Life.

Musings of understanding spoke in A Spiritual Perspective: Michael Jackson.

Abuse

Social issues like abuse wondered aloud in Flinging Dirt from a telling dream.

You Are Worthy Every Day! honored an abused poetess gone uncelebrated too long.

I defiantly declared to only speak, honor and fight for the Truth in Why I Write.

Defining myself in It Isnt In Me because Love is, in the end, how we all win.

They Pull at Your Heartstrings explored how tough news stories affect us deeply.

Thinking of my mother’s birthday and the Chinese custom of celebrating birthdays so different from our America came my cultural shock of A Chinese Birthday Favor.



Writing Ideas

The hilarity of finding out how we find our inspiration in the middle of the night through our insistent nagging muses of Dreaming Words.

Writing exercises explored, thinking outside the box and beyond the tried and true.

Thinking the “how-to” write on many levels was the fun of discovering What Do You Like to Write? Talk to We! and Eye I.

Writing fun acrostic poems in POETRY and for the rigors of gestating a write was Eyeing Think Time.

Life of Words went on a journey to decide how words affect and influence our lives.

Encouraging writers and poets to quit worrying and focus upon their one reader came An Audience of One as you never know the true impact of your words: Believe!

Discovering a weird words site I was amusingly inspired to write 22 Weird Words Story: Oyez, calling attention to odd words rarely used that tickle our minds.

Curious about those odd phrases we speak every day I wrote the entertaining Word Smithing: Those Funny Sayings We Hear Every Day to delight and amuse.

Fantasy

Soon I turned to the fun of writing fantasy thoughts about dragons in Primordial Dragon and a world only imagined.

Writing outrageous fantasy to blow off tension using a writing exercise of run-on sentences that built emotional tension just to break it was Totally Ridiculous Comedy: Jacks Nightclub.

And an amusing excuse for Haiku as Dennys Not Haiku But Short Enough On the Whim of a Grin winked playfully.



Humor

Writing love poetry from the point of view of a romantic cheeky greyhound dog came the amusing romp of The Interesting Man.

Humor tickled my writing pen one day as my husband surprised me with a slight-of-hand slip in The Husband Who Cleans.

I laughed on after a bad experience with summer poison ivy in Bitter Romance in the Garden.

Then thoughts danced on the idea of a paradox: Do we own our homes or do they own us? Chasing down home photos around the globe came into my mind the poem, Hunting Our Home.

Fun

I sauntered on into exploring my fellow humanity and food whims in Foods We Love to Hate: Knowing Why.

While cruising through the Flickr photo database I happened upon more than 50 fun Santa Claus photos. I was inspired to write an article just for the goodwill believers all around the globe in We Believe In Santa.

On Christmas Eve of 2008 my husband and I started laughing about our childhoods and the crazy things our parents told us in Funny Christmas Conversations: Parents to Their Children was so inspired it was written on Christmas Eve night.



Photo by subflux @ flickr

Balance

Thinking often of the spiritual condition of humanity there came Poetry of Life, to lift up others struggling with the deepening economic recession and job losses by changing our focus.

Thinking aloud about how to gain our balance in life in the most precarious places, I watched Nature in the form of a Blue Heron one late summer day endeavoring to find his balance on the tiniest piece of branch high up in a tall tree in Parable: Blue Heron Balancing the Wind.

As the summer was disappearing into fall with the hint of change in the air was written Louisiana Summer Sigh, alluding to our inner selves changing with the seasons too.

Weeping Freedom">Weeping Freedom came from preparing for Hurricane Gustav and its 100 mph whistling winds by pruning back an overgrown top-heavy jasmine vine so it would live through the storm and thrive again one day. The vine reminded me of people not prepared for Life’s storms because they won’t prune what’s dead inside to create new space to breathe and grow.

The Art of Waiting took you inside my world of perception and patience as my damaged brain went through the healing process from a car accident, nine months to fully awaken.

The Long Road talked about how friendships improve our lives, then maybe its time to slow down and help others who are in the distance straggling behind us, trying to catch up.

Nature and Spirit

Looking to Nature again as many poets have through the ages, I noticed how Rain Blessings can prove destructive if too fierce or constructive to growth if soft and gentle. Yet both of Life’s storms can bring balance into our world.

When researching beautiful landscape photos one day I found a cache of awesome tree photos and how it struck me that people are so like these trees in People Trees.

I reflected upon how patient our soul is with our ego on our Life journey of growing spiritual awareness in Soul Journey.



Photo by D.SharonPruitt @ flickr

Angels

When The Angels Cry For Us pondered how we may look to outside witnesses as we live a life of trying to force a situation to work when it never will and how important it is to grow and change from our experiences.

Angels Bridge recounted an example of many teaching experiences from encountering strangers - as my motto has always been to remain teachable in Life from every person and situation I encounter.

Angel Diaries: Samuel is the true story of some of what I experienced in early childhood from growing up in the dangerous vile world of the CIA.



Photo by Temari09 @flickr

Courageous Men

When the Lion of the Senate died this year, American women and children, the poor and the disenfranchised lost a champion, a man who was not a perfect man and yet chose to set right his life after many serious mistakes. As he changed his focus he changed his life. I reflected upon his body of work in How Senator Ted Kennedy Affected Your Life in America.

On Father’s Day I chose to think about the three kinds of men who mentored and influenced my own life when my father fell down on the job miserably in 3 Kinds of Men to Honor: the courageous, the compassionate and the nurturing.

Reflections of That Moment was a remembrance of those for whom we grieve in death and how important it is to take the journey of inner discovery to the unknown positive new awareness, waiting on the other side of that moment.

Millennium Blessing

And I wrote in Keeping The Peace the only true way to bring Peace into the world.

To commemorate the year 2000, the new millennium, I wrote Ode to People of the New Millennium: A Blessing, thinking a blessing was the most positive thing to do for the future. In the light of the 2012 prophecies for which many are afraid, this poem takes on a new and stirring promise. How strange what you wrote almost ten years ago speaks loudly into the present…



Denny Lyon
Copyright 4 December 2009
All Rights Reserved

*** This was not the full year of writings, about 7 months worth of just the poetry and a few articles. There are still those crazy Cheeky Quotes posts which I guess will have to go into a book of their own... :)

*** Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend!

18 September 2009

Libations Friday! 18 September 2009

*** Have you ever thought about how your words affect others - even when no one says anything to you? Writers and poets often wonder if anyone is listening or reading. Think about this.





From Denny: This poem sure came out differently than when I sat down to finally write it last night. The main theme expressed is to never underestimate the power of your words, not even when spoken to only one person.

While many of us may never know the impact a poem or another writing has upon a person, don't discount it as unimportant if you do not experience commercial success. As a poet or a writer you can choose to enrich the life of one person or many.

Just don't keep your words all to yourself, hidden away, to fall asleep and die for no one to love them! For the words to live they must go out into the universe to sing to those who have the hearts to listen. Let them decide how to enjoy your song.

Words spoken, words written and words sung are meant to travel eternity carrying your message! One day they will come back home to validate you, surprise and delight too with news of their travels. It is the best any poet or writer can hope...







An Audience of One






One day a musical poet traveled into my world
He moaned about the commercialization of love
He wrote by day for work but by night for himself







He read one of my poems about two lovers loving life
Love stoked his mind, his imagination to reach for more
Private poems he hides from the unknowing public







Poets and writers blur their penned lines for pleasure
Often hiding little gems and large treasures to heart
Worrying for poetic serious writes lacking mass appeal







Poets write to help us see the world through new eyes
Writers write to inform and pack us with knowledge
All the while unconsciously driven to write for us more







Poets pen what they feel, riveted powerfully upon the moment
Writers script what they see, transforming us through words
Readers choose words to cherish or discard, our hearts skip a beat







There are poets and writers who chase after glory and fame
Left disappointed and denied, even when success fans bright
Leaving behind their audience of one, gem of great price







Write again for the audience of one, a life now enriched
Write again to see the tears, the sighs, the laugh of just one
The whole world is circled in the eternal audience of one







An audience of one, loving you, the gem of great price








Denny Lyon
Copyright 17 September 2009
All Rights Reserved


To see the love poem where the musical poet commented, Opposites in Love: Night and Day, go here.

Thanks for visiting, everyone! Have a great weekend! XXXOO


***

Photo Credits

Photo of sitting contemplation by evildude1a @ flickr

Photo of jamming piano by gj_thewhite @ flickr

Photo of loving couple with heart hands by FotoRita [Allstar maniac] @ flickr

Photo of inner temple by AinisR @ flickr

Photo of sunflowers and 2 windows by erix! @ flickr

Photo of woman and sky by Chovee @ flickr

Photo of one foot by Zach Suggs @ flickr

Photo of we are one by kalandrakas @ flickr

Photo of water heart by evildude1a @ flickr

Photo of flying high 360 by Chovee @ flickr

22 May 2009

Libations Friday! 22 May 2009

Welcome to Libations Friday!


An unusual hot chocolate recipe and an original poem about how to write on the deepest levels of understanding...


Who doesn’t love coffee? How about hot chocolate? How about the adult version of a hot chocolate? While I was searching for some great chocolate recipes to put on my chocolate blog, Romancing The Chocolate, this one popped up and caught my fancy!

Never in a million years would I have thought to put tequila in my Mexican hot chocolate! Hey, there’s a first time for everything… so my adventurous self decided to give it a whirl. What is life if you don’t try new things?

From: Atlanta Journal-Constitution



Cocoa Caliente

“To heck with kiddie cocoa. These chilly winter nights may cause you to need a little chutzpah in your hot chocolate. So whip up a virgin batch for the kids, then give yourself a treat by spiking your (and your honey pie's) cup.”

Hands on time: 5 minutes
Total time: 5 minutes
Serves: 1

Ingredients:

2 cups whole milk

1 disc of Ibarra chocolate (see note)

Tequila blanco

Whipped cream

Instructions:

Warm the milk and chocolate in a saucepan, whisking with a molinillo or whisk until the chocolate is melted and the mixture begins to boil. Remove from the heat and continue whisking until frothy. Serve immediately in demitasse glass: 5 parts hot chocolate to 1 part tequila blanco. Finish with a dollop of whipped cream.

Note: Ibarra chocolate is a Mexican chocolate laced with cinnamon. Go to www.gourmetsleuth.com to order, or substitute 3 3/4 ounces dark chocolate and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. A molinillo is a Mexican chocolate whisk.





From Denny: On to the poetry segment of Libations Friday… It seems the past couple of weeks since jury duty (yes, I'm still going to write up that review with the porn queen) I’ve been on blog maintenance duty and one of those tasks has been to go through the hundreds of talented people on my various friends lists on equally various social sites. I’ve been combing through the lists to provide links at my blogs that are a good fit for their writings.

Yes, most writers waste a lot of time being jealous of one another. Yet another reason I'm endeavoring to connect people so they don't feel lost in the stormy seas.

I’m also a firm believer that you can’t get the writing right until you get the writer right. Writing is a tough task master and requires so much of a person that it can be emotionally draining to the point of an emotional hangover or complete burnout. Steps need to be taken for personal development as well as soul refreshment. That is another reason I started this blog for others to acquire some of what they need to stay creative, think deep and build their energy.

As I visited various poetry blogs in particular I was struck by how varied everyone’s writing is and the different angles of life they expressed. I’m not looking for perfect. I’m not looking for who has arrived as God’s Gift to Poetry and Writing - soon to be listed on the cheeky site of GodChecker.com maybe - I am looking for people in the throes of personal development at different stages of life. It’s good to watch people grow. It’s also good to help a soul along their way in life.

Writing really is good for personal development. It’s healthy for the brain according to current studies like what I’ve written over at my science blog, The Soul Calendar. We don’t even have to be good at writing or poetry for our brains to receive great benefit. Most of all, writing chronicles our life journey.

With so many people in mind, their personal styles and approaches to writing and life itself, the following poem came to be. One of those things that has always defined “me” is the ability to synthesize disparate elements, be they people, animals, objects or situations. Somehow, my mind appears to find the pattern in the seeming chaos.

Enjoy the poem because it really is about all of you, me and we!


What Do You Like to Write? Talk to We!




Photo by Daniel E Bruce&Carla aka (Falling Leaf production) @ flickr


Do you desire the quiet feathering touch of a loved one’s moving kiss?

The zooming glide, hand stroking, smoothing a child’s hair?

The sensual body feel, swimming unison gently rocking, playfully slapping water?

Do you like to write about the physical touch of life? Talk to me!






Photo by BjǿrnGiesenbauer @ flickr


Do you see eyes closed tight joyfully viewing, beginning of a brightly lit summer morning?

The noisy busy insects chattering outside your window, the pets nosing and jumping for affection peering into your sleepy weekend face?

The demanding overstuffed work shelves of your mind crowding, bullying, pushing boundaries to worry and annoy?

Do you like to write about the emotional expression of life? Talk to you and me!





Photo by kostaki @ flickr from NASA image


Do you wonder about the wandering cosmos, origins of everything, infinity yet unkissed?

The exploding, unruly nature of humanity, destined to one day transform a wise divinity?

The beauty explored, the beauty within, the beauty uncovered, untwisted, made right, revealed, relaxed into acceptance, loved by All?




Photo by alan(ator) @ flickr


Do you like to write about the spiritual knowing of life? Talk to you and me and we!


Denny Lyon
Copyright 18 May 2009
All Rights Reserved

Feel free to leave comments. Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend!




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