The Last Sunday in August

Labor Day is tomorrow,
on the first Monday in September
American workers celebrate
their achievements.

On the first Monday in September,
government offices,
banks,
and schools
will be closed to celebrate
the economic
and the social achievement
of the American worker.

I remember Labor Days
from my childhood,
it was a family day
of hot dogs and soda pop,
of picnics and laughter,
a day when my grandfather
did not have to go to work.

I seem to be doing all right with the Labor Day poems this year, even without s specific form. I wrote another Labor Day poem yesterday called The Last Saturday in August and posted it in another blog. I still like the idea of writing a Labor Day poem using a specific form. Perhaps an acrostic, that type of poem is good to use for holidays because the first letter in each line spells out a word.

Writing Poems according to Form

Labor Day is Monday, September 1, 2008 and I have not written a Labor Day poem in a couple of years. I am writing one this year using a specific poetry form. I like working with poetry forms because it helps me focus on the subject and the theme of the poem.

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Internet sites dealing with poetry forms. All you do is put "poetry forms" in the search box and click Go. Your reward is page after page of sites that either discuss specific forms or give general information on forms of poetry.

I like working with new poetry forms because it stretches my skills. Writing in a new form gets me outside my comfort zone. New poetry forms exercise my muse and get me to look beyond the obvious. When I first started writing poetry, I used specific forms all the time. After I gained confidence in writing poetry, I moved beyond the form.

I am not sure just yet which form I am going to use when writing the Labor Day poem. There are so many forms to pick from; it is as much fun to choose the form as it is to write in it.

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A Writer's dream: Friday and a three-day weekend

Friday at last and followed by a three-day weekend: what more could a writer want? How about a 10-cup coffee maker, a box of 40 new coffee filters and a peanut butter sandwich, everything to keep me happy until I go back to work at my "other job" on Tuesday morning.

I would, also, like an Internet connection that holds and does not disconnect when I am in the middle of a blog entry. All right, considering that my connection to the Internet is through a phone line, maybe I am asking too much. The advantage to having a telephone line hook-up, is that no one can get me when I am online. The disadvantage is that the connection periodically tiptoes into cyberspace.

All right, I admit that part of the problem is my use of tabbed browsing. I like to tab brows; it is helpful when doing research and writing poetry. I can have a rhyming dictionary on one tab and a regular dictionary or thesaurus on other tabs. I do not use more then three tabs at a time. Normally I only use two, but there are times when I need three tabs each with a different websites.

I definitely need DSL; there is no way around it. As much as I like the one main advantage of having a phone line connection, i.e. the phone is busy when I am online. That advantage does not compensate for the disadvantage of periodic disconnection at the most critical time, specifically, when I am in the middle of a thought and composing a sentence or line. My train of thought gets derailed and I forget what I was going to write.

Evening Writing

I know some authors have a specific time of day to write, I don't. Perhaps I should put aside a specific time of day to write. Decide on a time to write and work the rest of my day around that. The only problem with that is that it doesn't work. I used to write in the morning and then I got morning job. Now I write in the afternoon and evening, which works all right. The problem is that I have to conduct business during the day.

Maybe I need to take a different approach to writing. Lately the only writing I have gotten done is blog, journal entries and poems. I need to take a different approach to writing time. I'm still worrying too much. I've found myself worrying about almost everything lately. I think one of my problems is that I'm way too stressed.

Nobody wants to hear about my problems. Actually, I really should be using them in a short story or piece of flash fiction. Maybe that would help or maybe it wouldn't. I know this entry doesn't make a lot of sense. I seem to be rambling all over the place and not saying anything. It's been a long day and I'm tired. I also seem to be distracted this afternoon and unable to focus.

I'm writing my poems of a morning about the time I sit aside for prayer and meditation. I pray meditate and then write the poems. I have no problems writing then, I just don't get online because I have to go to work. I wait until after I get off work to get online, the problem with that is that after I get off work, I have other business to conduct.

I'm too stressed lately, this is usually an indication that I need to change something in my life. Now all I have to do is figure out what I have to change. Maybe working on my personal mission statement will help me figure that out. I think I'll end this entry before it gets any longer.

My personal mission statement

I wrote a personal mission statement early in 2007 and then my world fell apart. At least that is the way it appeared to me at the time, any way I am still recovering from the 2007 experience. Earlier this year I made two entries about a personal mission statement. They are Writing a personal mission statement and Time to recharge my spiritual batteries.

I wrote the personal mission state and recently reviewed that statement. After reviewing the statement, I realized that it does not inspire me; therefore, I am rewriting that statement. I am going to start at the beginning and rewrite the entire mission statement from scratch. I think that is the only way I am going to write something that will inspire me.

I have figured out what I did wrong in the first mission statement. I know I did not identify three core values in my life. In addition, I did not identify who I wanted to be and what I wanted to do. There were other mistakes in that mission statement. As I write this, I am starting to suspect that the events of 2007 changed me; change me so much that the mission statement I wrote before "my life fell apart" is no longer inspiring.

It does not matter at present whether the original mission statement was inspiring or whether it no long inspires me because I have change. It is time I wrote a new mission statement that inspires me and reflects both "who I want to be" and "what I want to do".

I am giving myself until Labor Day to complete this new statement. Between now and then, I am going to pray and meditate concerning each ingredient in the mission statement. Once I have completed the questions concerning what I want in the statement, then I will write the statement.

NOTE: I know I was supposed to rewrite the mission statement before March 21, 2008. I can only find the original mission statement, which means either I did not rewrite it or I rewrote it, but did not save it. The third possibility is that I need to reorganize my hard drive and clean it up.

Monday, September 1, 2008 is Labor Day

Monday, September 1, 2008 is Labor Day, which means the schools and banks are closed. In addition, there will be no postal deliveries. However, United Blood Services are open; you can donate blood on Labor Day. This is precisely what I am going to attempt to do.

I have changed this appointment several times, so this time I am going to go to the donation site. There are several United Blood Services in Las Vegas; I am going to the one on East Charleston. I have donated blood for several years, which is surprising since I used to be afraid of needles. Obviously, I do not have that problem any more.

Donating blood is easy, all though not quick. I am usually at the donation site about two hours. I give the blood and then I wait for about fifteen to thirty minutes before leaving. I eat and drink some of their refreshments, while reading a book. All though, I think on September 1, I will work on a poem about donating blood.

I have wanted to write a poem about this subject for some time now. The problem is I cannot seem to find an approach. This time I am going to use a form poem and write about donating blood. I am not sure which form I am using, but I will know before I go on Monday. I will research poetry forms and see if I can find a form I have never used before.

I find that using a specific poetry form helps focus my thoughts when I want to write a poem, but cannot find an approach. There are many forms to choose from and poets are creating new forms all the time, so it should not be difficult to find an appropriate form.

I just got home from work and I'm a bit tired

I went back to work today for the first time in about two or three weeks. I just got home and I am a bit tired. However, if I lay down for a nap now, I will not get any of my writing goals achieved. One of the reasons I am tired is that I am used to taking an afternoon nap. I will take a nap today, but only if I have accomplished my word count goal for today.

I did accomplish one bit of writing before I left for work this morning. I wrote today's poem, the poem and its rewrite are finished. The only thing I have to do is put it in the document title "The Year of the Poem". I begin writing a poem everyday on March 21,2008 and I will finish The Year of the Poem on March 20, 2009.

I got up at 2:00 AM this morning; however, instead of getting on line I said prayers. This semester I am going to eat breakfast before I leave the house. So instead of getting online when I get up, I am going to have a prayer and meditation hour. After that I will do the other morning stuff I need to do to get ready for work. The last thing I am going to do before leaving the house is eat breakfast.

Since I am not going to get much writing done before work, then I will do it after work. At least, as much of it done as I can. I suspect there will be days it is going to be difficult to write because of business I have to drive all over town to transact, but I will deal with that when the time comes.

Evening Clouds in Las Vegas

Clouds litter the sky
whisper promises of rain
the drought continues.

Setting sun reflects
highlights white clouds and blue sky
we pray for rainbows.

August without storms
without flashes of lightning
to cool Las Vegas.

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I Go back to work Tomorrow

I go back to work on Monday, August 25, 2008. I will be making my blog entries in the afternoons rather then mornings, unless I wake up at midnight and cannot get back to sleep. If I do then I will get online and make a blog entry.

When my grandmother could not sleep, she got up in the middle of the night and cleaned house. If I have problems sleeping, I get on line. I am not sure what my mother does if she cannot sleep. I suppose I should ask her. I do not think she gets up and cleans house. To begin with, we have the low wattage light bulbs and they do not give enough light to sweep or mop floors.

I think I just came up with a subject for a poem, a poem about my grandmother doing housework in the middle of the night. Grandma would get up and do housework. Grandpa would just lay there sleeping and snoring. He was a sound sleeper; it took a lot to wake him up. Grandma running a vacuum in the middle of the night never woke him up.

It is interesting my grandmother had trouble sleeping and all she drank was a little hot tea during the day. Grandpa had no trouble sleeping and he drank "cowboy coffee" from sunrise to sunset. There is another good subject for a poem as well.

1. Grandma did housework in the middle of the night
2. Coffee never kept Grandpa awake
3. My first day back to work

Those should keep me busy if I have trouble sleeping. I always anticipate having problems sleeping because two or three days out of the week I do have problems getting to sleep. I think my biggest problem is I am a night person working in a day person's world.

A Ten day Week Would be Too Long

We owe the Babylonians a great big thank you that we have a seven-day week rather then a ten-day week. The Babylonians were enthusiastic astronomers, who based the majority of their mathematical systems on the movement of the stars and other heavenly bodies. The first division of time was the day followed by the month.

The reason the month, and not the week, came next was because of the moon. A month can be tracked by the cycle of the moon, which is twenty-nine and a half days. This creates a problem because there is no even division of days into a twenty-nine and one-half day month. Four comes closest to an even division, however the Babylonians decided on seven and the number of days in a week.

Other cultures came up with other number for the division of a week, but seven and ten were the most popular. Because of various other factors the seven-day week became the most popular and is the one used today. At present, people normally work either five or six days a week and take one or two day off, usually on the weekends. We set our weekly schedule and goals to a seven-day week and most of our activities revolve around a seven-day week.

Can you imagine, what it would be like if a ten-day week had become popular? We would work eight or nine days and get only one or two days off. We would plan our schedules and weekly goals on ten days instead of seven; talk about a long week. By the time the weekend or our days off came around, we would not want to go back to work on Monday and the weekend would really be too short.

For more information on this subject see Why Are There Seven Days in a Week?.

You picked up a hitchhiker

Daily Writing Practice Prompt for Friday, August 22, 2008 is "You picked up a hitchhiker."

Working Title: Halloween on the Extraterrestrial Highway

It is October 31, 2008, and you are driving along State Route 375 in Nevada. You have just passed Area 51 and are headed toward the Little A'Le'Inn. It is about midnight and this two lane highway is unusually dark. The only lights you see are the reflection of you headlight illuminating the road ahead and part of the shoulder. You are getting sleepy, but the Inn is only about two or three miles ahead, so you decided to continue driving rather then pulling off to the side of the road and taking a short nap.

As you speed down the highway, your headlights reveal a woman standing on the shoulder of the road. She is wearing a dress from the early 1800s and is standing beside a late model convertible. You stop your car, back up so that she is standing next to the door on the passenger and roll down the window.

"Did you run out of gas or break down, Miss?"

"I... I am not sure," her brow wrinkles and she is trembling. "Where am I?"

"Your in Nevada, about three miles for the Little A'Le'Inn," you give her a reassuring smile.

"Nevada," she begins to cry.

"Get in," you say as you unlock the door."

"How?"

Your brow wrinkles, but instead of driving off, you get out of the car and walk around to the passenger side. You open the door and once she is in the car, you help her fasten her seat belt.

"Going to a Halloween party, Miss," you say as you close the driver's side door and buckle your own seat belt.

"Halloween party?"

"Yes, you know, a costume party!"

Write about an overheard remark

Daily Writing Practice Prompt for Thursday, August 21, 2008 is "Write about an overheard remark."

This is an interesting prompt because it brings to mind a journal exercise I read about once. The idea of the exercise is to help the writer in writing dialog. Anyway, the exercise calls for the writer to go into a public place with a journal or notebook and write down any conversation he or she hears. I have not tried the exercise myself as yet. Mainly because this specific exercise works better in food courts, buffets or bars. I do not go to bars and I seldom go to buffets or food court anymore.

Now to respond to the prompt

An off hand remark
spoken just loud enough to hear
over the noise of the air conditioner.

Although, he said it to her in a stage whisper,
he didn't think anyone else in the house could hear
(and besides he was the guest in her home)
so, of course, we pretended not to hear
until after he had left
and one of us could speak to her privately.

It wasn't that he was a danger to her
or anyone gather there,
it was just that the remark was careless,
thoughtless,
especially after all the work she had went to
to make his stay pleasant,
to make him feel welcome
in a strange city.

That is my response for now, the poem feels like it is finished. I am going to let it lie for a little while before I decide. Sometimes if I let a poem rest, more stanzas come to mind or I find another approach. In this case, the only thing that is not in the poem is the overheard remark and I am not sure that the remark is necessary to the poem.

How to achieve a daily word count goal

‘Idál (Justice), 1 Asma (Names), 165 B.E. – Wednesday, August 20, 2008 about 4:29 AM Pacific Daylight Time

Question: How do I achieve my daily word count goal?

Answer: I write!
I put one letter after another to form a word.
I put one word after another for form a phrase.
I put one phrase after another to form a sentence.
I put one sentence after another to form a paragraph.
I put one paragraph after another for form a story.

My daily word count goal is 2,500 to 5,000 words. I set my goal period to nineteen days, which is a little over two week. At the end of those nineteen days, I reevaluate the goal. If I did not achieved the goal, I look at the reasons. If I achieved the goal, I consider raising it by 19% or more.

I do not reevaluate the goal before the end of the period. Then I evaluate my success or failure concerning the goal. I ask myself three questions:

1. Is there a valid reason I did not achieve the goal? This concerns technical difficulties such as power outs. There are other valid reason and these concern physical problems.
2. Was the goal too ambitious or not ambitious enough? A goal should be high enough to push my abilities, but not so high that achievement is impossible.
3. Do I need to break the goal into smaller portions to achieve? Instead of writing the entire 2,500 or 5,000 words, I break it down by dividing it between projects that I have to work on each day.

I ask those questions of myself right now, all though they may change. Once I have achieved the goal every day for a specified time, then I increase the goal. Sometimes achieving this is difficult, but it is not impossible. I just have to work around my weakness. I have overcome perceived limitations.

A New set of 19-day writing goals.

I begin a new set of 19-day writing goals this evening after sunset. I actually start working on the goals tomorrow morning. This evening I am going to attend the Feast of Asma (Names) at the home of a friend. The feast starts at 7:30 PM, so I may arrive back home at about 10:00 PM.

I may or may not get online when I arrive home tonight. So far, today I have changed my mind on that subject twice. If I do get on line, the only thing I will do is check my writing.com e-mail. Then logout, turn the computer off and go to bed. I have a dial up connection to the Internet and it a while to get anything done online. So I could just as easily wait until morning to login and check my e-mail.

One of my goals is to get DSL; I am not expecting to get it within the next nineteen day, but before December 24, 2008. DSL would make online writing so much easier, not to mention increase the upload and download time. In the mean time, I will achieve my online writing goals using a dial-up connection. I achieve 79% of the writing goals this nineteen-day period. Therefore, I am going to attempt to increase that by approximately 5%.

I do not expect to get 100% achievement of my goals right away. When I do get 100% achievement for two or three nineteen day periods, then I will raise the goals. I figure if I achieve 100% of the goal during a single nineteen-day period it is a fluke and will not last. However, if I achieve it several times in a row then the goals have become too easy.

Fighting Blogger's Block

I am fighting blogger's block
one prompt at a time
I free write my response
to a randomly generated prompt.

I did an internet search yesterday for blog writing prompts and found several sites. However, one website caught my eye immediately because of its intriguing and creative name. That website is mindbump: Where Great Minds Collide, which has a random prompt generator. The prompts generated are submitted by other bloggers.

Mindpump's random prompt generator gives you a prompt, with the code so that the blogger can copy and past the prompt into the post. This is wonderful because you do not have to worry about typos or keys sticking if you typed the prompt. Once the prompt is in your post, then you respond to it. After writing your response, you link back to the site of the blogger who suggested the prompt.

You can respond to the prompt by writing a story, poem, or slice of life piece. The prompts are creative and cause you to think. They wake both your muse and your brain up. The prompts make good warm up exercises for those of us who are pressed for time and have to make the blog entry and writing warm-up a single post.

In addition, the prompts make good focused free writing exercise. Yes, I sometimes post focused free writes directly into my blog. I time the free write to ten minutes, when the time is up, I do a spell check to make sure my typos and creative spell is fixed; after the spell check, I post the entry.

One prompt at a time
I am fighting blogger's block
writing words and phrases
as they step into my mind.

Using Prompts to Battle Blog Block

Call it what you will a brain-fart, blog block, or my muse has taken a vacation. It does not matter what you call it, you cannot write anything when it occurs. You sit in front of the computer staring at the screen and nothing comes to mind. You get up, go into the kitchen, pour yourself a cup of coffee, stare out the kitchen window hoping the neighbor’s cat will walk across your yard, and do something interesting.

One way to battle blog block, besides waiting for the neighbor's cat to give you an idea, is to respond to a prompt. Prompts give you a starting point; they suggest themes and subjects that you can personalize. They wake your muse up or call her back from vacation. Prompts, like a strong cup of coffee in the morning, wakes you up and gets your creative juices flowing.

A blogger can find writing prompts on the Internet. Just type in the words "blog writing prompts" into the search window, click go, and your search engine will return several websites that post writing prompts. You can also subscribe to free newsletters or join prompt groups and receive daily or weekly writing prompts.

Once you have decided which prompt to use. At the top of your entry put where you found the prompt and the prompt itself. After that, you proceed to respond to the prompt by writing a poem, story or personal essay. After you have finished your response to the prompt, you type the key words into that window and then publish the post.

One more piece of information about responding to prompts. Under no circumstances, tell yourself you do not know what to write. Instead, just start writing.

Coffee and German Chocolate Brownies

It does not take a lot to make me happy. Right now I have a container of breakfast blend coffee on the kitchen counter and German chocolate brownies in the fridge. What more could a writer want. The coffee is a more expensive brand then I normally buy. The container I have now was given to me, so I may not be able to afford to buy that brand myself. However, while I have it I will enjoy sipping the coffee and eating the brownies.

Breakfast blend coffee
hot, smooth and strong
a little piece of paradise.

That little poem needs some rewriting, but it is a good start. Perhaps I need to get all my coffee poems together and put them in a chapbook. I love coffee, which means I have a great many coffee poems. I have not used coffee much in some of my stories though; maybe I will use the breakfast blend coffee as a prompt for a story, perhaps a fantasy or science fiction story. I wonder what an elf would think of coffee.

Blog Action Day is Coming in October

I just received the e-mail today about Blog Action Day 2008, the e-mail actually came yesterday, but I just download the messages in that box today. The theme this year is poverty and on October 15, 2008 thousands of bloggers across the world will write about this subject. Any bloggers reading this join us on October 15 and write about poverty.

I am not sure what approach I will take on this subject. Poverty is something I have some personal experience with, so I may write about it from that perspective. However, this is a mixed genre writing blog therefore I could as easily write a poem or a short story. I do not want to pin my approach down yet because, personal experience tells me I will probably change my approach when the day come.

I can decided on an approach to a subject and then when the time comes to write about it I find myself taking a completely different approach. That is because personal and world events affect my approach to any theme or subject. I must admit though, writing an entry on the way poverty effect an individual and a family is most attractive. I have a little time to do some research on the subject and find a few website to include in the entry.

In the meant time, please check out Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty and join us in blogging about this subject, not only blog about it, but check out what other bloggers are writing about poverty.

Blog Action Day

October 15, 2008

Over 1,292 blogs will participate and more then 2,703,934 people will read about poverty.

One Writer's Thankful Thursday List

On Thankful Thursday, August 14, 2008 this writer has ten things to be thankful for.

1. Rich and strong black coffee sipped for a white coffee cup before dawn
2. A telephone hook-up to the internet that holds long enough, especially when tab browsing, to get work done online
3. Her computer located in the living room next to the picture window, so that she can look up periodically from her work and watch the morning sky turn from ebony to pale pre-dawn white to silk blue
4. A Long lasting light bulb illuminating the hall leading to the bathroom
5. A radio alarm clock that goes off at 4:00 AM, which is one hour after she gets up, playing pleasant music early in the morning
6. Money deposited into her PayPal account so that she does not have to wait for a snail mail check to take to the bank
7. Surveys that pay in gift points so that she can order things like portable memory cards once she builds up enough points
8. A blog in which to make a pre-dawn entry, so that she can wake up her muse
9. Exceeding her minimum word count goal nine days in a row
10. Frozen veggies, that she can eat right out of the package, after she defrosts them, with either a little salt or salad dressing

Gratitude expressed
in the early morning
gently awakes the soul
and the day.

I Achieved Yesterday's Minimum word count goal

I achieved yesterday's minimum word count goal. This is a milestone for me because this is the first time since I began working as a clerk in the Primary Election, that I have achieved my minimum word count goal. I set my daily goal to write between 2,500 and 5,000 words in a 24-hour period. The 24 hours begin at sunset on one day and end at sunset the next day, which is a solar day.

On Primary Election day, I have to be at my station by 6:00 AM and I cannot leave the election site until after 7:00 PM. During the time there I have no access to a computer or word-processor; this means I have to write by hand in a pen and paper journal. All thought, this year I took a looseleaf notebook with me.

The evening before, Monday, August 11, after sunset I made blog entries, started the entry in my Gratitude Journal and in Writing My Spiritual Journey. The total word count was slightly over 1,500 words. This left me about 1.500 words to write by hand on Tuesday, August 12.

I arrived at my station a bit before 6:00 AM. I set up and prepared for 7:00 AM, when the polls opened. During the rest of the day, I managed, between serving voters, to complete the daily poem, work on "At God's Disposal" (a long poem I am writing), complete the entries in my gratitude journal and in Writing my Spiritual Journey. The total word count, after I transcribed everything into those documents this morning, was 2,569. I exceeded my minimum writing goal.

I am happy this morning. I am still a bit weary from sitting all day at the Primary Election site, but that is all right, I will recover.

Letter Writing as a Journaling Technique

Another journaling technique I use is letter writing. I have two off line journals (1) Writing My Spiritual Journal and (2) a Gratitude Journal. I have given the gratitude journal a name. I call that journal Glory and whenever I make a gratitude entry I write a letter. When I write the letter I address the journal by "Dear Glory". I also use this technique in Writing My Spiritual Journey. In this case I address the letter to the Glory of God.

Letter writing frees my mind to address subjects that I normally would not consider. I can deal with issues that I could not face otherwise. I am writing the letters to a friend and confident, therefore I can write with confidence. At some later date I may also address other people in my journal. I would like to write a letter to my father and my grandparents. In fact, there are a number of people I who have passed into the next world, that I would like to address a letter to. I can do this in Writing My Spiritual Journey.

Letter writing is a wonderful technique that can be used with any type of writing. For instance, a letter can be address to a character in a short story or novel. In addition, the characters in a story can write a letter to the author. This is a way to help over come writers' block or to become unstuck when working on a novel.

A writer can use this technique in many ways. A writer can address letters in a journal to anyone including his or he muses. I have never tried this myself, as yet, but I have heard of writers doing with success.

Free Writing

Free writing is a journaling method in which a person writes anything and everything that comes to mind. The writer decides on a time-period, anywhere from five to thirty minutes. Then the person begins writing nonstop until the chosen time has elapsed. During the writing period, the person does not correct misspelled words or worry about syntax errors. The idea is just to keep writing.

There are two ways to approach free writing. Using the first approach, the writer does not pick a subject, but writes whatever comes to mind. With the second approach, the writer decides on a subject and writes on that subject. The person still writes everything that comes to mind, even if the writing does not appear to relate to the subject.

Free writing is a wonderful tool, especially if a person is dealing with writers' block. This words well, at least I think it does, with writers' block because one does not have to worry about what one writing. This method is also good when beginning an assignment because it helps find a personal approach to the assignment. The third way to use free write is to learn about one self and put the writing in a personal journal.

Free writing allowd a writer to use either a computer or a pen and paper journal. Either one works equally well with free writing, all though if you have difficulty reading your own handwriting, then a computer journal is probably best. I have used free writing in both a computer generated and a pen and paper journal with success.

Free writing is not the only journaling method I have used successfully to discover personal approaches to subject or break writers' block. I will discuss some of the others in later entries.

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I Didn’t wake up Grouchy this morning

I didn't wake up Grouchy this morning, she is still a sleep; however I did wake up depressed. I am not sure why I have the blues today. It could be a bad dream, but the only thing I remember from the dream was my mother washing dishes; at least I think that was what she was doing in the dream. I do know Mom was in the dream and she was happy.

My mood is beginning to change. I have said several prayers, taken my meds and have a cup of strong coffee beside me while I make this entry. Of course, I should know why I woke up depressed this morning. I do have a lot to be depressed about, but everyone does. The depressing stuff I have is normal; the same stuff most everyone has.

It could be one of my descriptions need changing. I have an appointment for a blood test tomorrow. So I should know in a week or so whether my meds need changing or not.

As I said, my mood is changing. Already this morning I have written two short poems. One of the poems is free verse and the other is haiku. Now I am making the entry in this blog and I still have two more blog entries to make. In addition, I have housework to do; I will not stay depressed very long. I never stay depressed for long, it just that it is unusual for me to wake up that way.

True sometimes I wake up Grouchy, but I seldom wake up depressed. When I do then prayer, coffee and writing helps change my mood.

Too Much E-Mail

Get ready for another junk e-mail rant.

I am attempting to unclutter my e-mail boxes and my life. The problem is that it is easier to unclutter my life and my office area then it is my e-mail boxes. The truth is it is easier to unclutter my garage then it is my e-mail boxes. Right now I am down loading e-mail to my in box, I have down loaded 277 messages and only 60 of those went into my inbox the rest went into the junk mail box.

Some of the stuff I get, I do remember requesting. Other pieces of e-mail I know I did not request. I unsubscribe and it only makes things worse. I would swear that my e-mail address goes out, with the message "She just unsubscribe, punish her by sending a hundred other pieces of unwanted mail." All right maybe I am over reacting, but that is how it seems to me.

I delete, delete and delete. I unsubscribe, unsubscribe and unsubscribe; my e-mail message increase 100 fold. I do not have time to read the junk; I do scan the subject lines occasionally especially if I am looking for a story or poem idea. However, lately I have been mass deleting the junk mail box and hoping nothing important got in their by accident.

I feel better now that I have gotten that off my chest.

The Sound of Thunder

Saturday morning
I hear the sound of thunder
rolling through my neighborhood.

Saturday is trash pick-up
from street to street garbage truck move
obediently stopping at each house.

Saturday morning
a partly cloudy sky echoes
with the sound of thunder.

Saturday is trash pick-up
the thundering sound that echoes
come from the garbage trucks.

Sweltering in Las Vegas, Nevada

Eight days into August, with cloudy skies almost every day and only two small showers, however, we have had flood watches and warnings. We have also had wind, but not as bad in February when the wind took out the elm tree.

I am sweltering in Nevada. The high humidity reminds me of my Oklahoma childhood. The clouds in the sky above Las Vegas remind me of Oklahoma. The heat rash I have reminds me of growing up in Oklahoma. The only time I ever get a heat rash is when the humidity is up.

I did not move to Las Vegas to get away from the humidity. I did not move to the desert or Nevada to get away from anything. I found out a long time ago, I cannot run away from my past and from my memories. I carry my past; I carry my memories both good and bad with me wherever I go.

I am not sure why I moved from Blackwell, Oklahoma to Las Vegas, Nevada. The obvious answer is that my mother and siblings moved here. The problem, as any writer can tell you, is that obvious reasons are not always, why a person or a character in a story or novel does something. I am still trying to figure out the reason I moved from Oklahoma to Nevada. The only explanation I can come up with, that makes any sense is "God's will". For some reason, not yet clear to me, the Creator wanted me to live in Las Vegas, Nevada, rather then Blackwell, Oklahoma.

August clouds play tag
across the blue desert sky
the drought continues.

It’s Like Pulling Teeth

I don't understand the old saying "It's like pulling teeth." I was under the impression it mean a job was painful and difficult. However, I just had two teeth pulled, which brings the total teeth in my mouth down to 13 and 1/2. The process was neither painful nor apparently difficult. Those teeth came out without any problem.

I have another appointment on August 29 to have more teeth extracted. I'm looking forward to going to the dentist and the process of having my teeth pulled. Eventually the dentist will pull all my teeth, which is what happens when one doesn't take care of their teeth in their youth. I'm also looking forward to getting several poems out of this experience. I may also put the experience in a story.

The doctor give me a prescription for pain medication, I took one last night before going to bed. So if there was pain, the pill worked and I slept well. This morning there isn't any pain in the part of my mouth he pulled the teeth. There is a slight pain in another tooth, which may come out next time, especially if it keeps bugging me.

I'm 61 years old and I don't remember every looking forward to a dental appointment or having teeth pulled. That in itself, should be an intriguing subject for a poem. I tried wrote a poem yesterday about having the teeth pulled, but it didn't turn out the way I expected. I'm going to have to write another poem, maybe try comparing having teeth pulled to something else besides a lost love.

I'm going to have all my teeth pulled, dentures put in and I'm looking forward to the dental appointments. I can't get over the fact that I'm not stressing out over the process, this is probably something I should explore in my off line journal.

My Self-Talk as a Writer

I read a very interesting article by Beth Erickson of Filbert Publishing in the newsletter Writing Etc. The article title is What Does Your Self Talk Reveal About Your Writing Career? It started me thinking about my own self-talk, which under ordinary conditions is negative and it gets more so when I am depressed.

The gist of the article is that self-talk becomes self-fulfilling prophecy. The negative talk attracts negative results, which explains many of my problems in the last year. The thing about self-talk is that words become action and the actions can either advance or curtail a writer's career. The words a writer uses in a story or poem is extremely important, but often a writer does not consider the words used in self-talk.

There was a time, when I thought that negative self-talk had to do with modesty; with not putting myself above others or making myself appear better then others. However, that opinion has changed. Negative self-talk has nothing to do with me considering myself better then the rest of human race. Negative self-talk means I feel as if I am less then everyone else.

God created humans equal, with no individual better or worse then the rest of the species, while each individual has different talents that the individual is responsible for developing. All humanity is equal. Negative self-talk makes the individual feel unequal with the rest of humanity.

I am going to take Beth Erickson's advice and monitor my self-talk for the next week. I may have to rewrite the phrases I use about my writing and myself, in order to change the way I talk and think. However, it will mean that I change the talk and become a more positive, successful and happier person. After all positive self-talk will attract positive results and opportunities into my life.

Why do I continue to struggle to write?

What is it about human being that causes us to continue to struggle when all appears hopeless? Why do I contiue to write when all around me is darkness? I am not talking about night or being without electricity. I am writing about something else entirely.

Why do I put characters on paper, one character right after another forming words, when all I can see is the hopelessness of the situation? What is it about me that will not allow me to give up and just stop writing? Sometimes I think I know the answer to those questions and at other times my reasons are not clear.

I know for sure that there is something within me that will not let me give up. I have to write. I have to write poetry. I have to write short stories. I have to write flash fiction. I have to write blog entries. I have to write about my 61 almost 62 years of experience.

There was a time when I did not write. However, once I start writing poems, journal entries, blog entries, etc. I could not stop. There is something within forcing me to write. Some people have the desire to talk and they cannot stop talking. Some people have the desire to run for a political office and the keep going until they have achieved the office. I have the desire to write and I cannot stop writing.

This morning is difficult, difficult in several ways, but I have to write. I have to write everyday. I have to write in a blog or a pen and paper journal. I have the talent. I have the will power to write when all around me appears to be falling apart. I have to put my thoughts down, without fail. I have to improve my writing skills. I have to use my creativity. It is a God given talent; I have to used and developed.

A Cup of Joe

I love coffee. I knew at about two or three that coffee was my drink of choice. How did I know this, I was sitting on my father's lap. He was drinking coffee and reading the comics to me. I reached up and pulled his cup of hot coffee into my lap. I burnt myself. My parents rushed me to the hospital to have a doctor take care of the burn.

Burning myself at such a young age did not stop me from learning to drink coffee. However, it was not from my father that I learned to drink coffee. I learned how to drink coffee from my grandfather. Grandpa Newland, my mother's father, drink cowboy coffee. That is he drank it strong and black. Grandpa drank his coffee strong enough to walk under its own power.

I was doing research for nicknames of coffee, so that I could use them in some of my stories and write a few poems about my favorite hot drink. I came across two website. The first is Slang Terms and Nicknames for Coffee and the second is I Need Coffee, which has a page containing Cowboy Coffee: Arbuckles by CB Miller. This page actually includes a recipe for Cowboy Coffee.

Now I have something else to work toward; that is getting my stove top fixed so I can brew some real Cowboy Coffee. Sometimes it does not take a lot to make me happy. Sometimes just the thought of having a cup of coffee is all I need to make me smile and get me out of bed in the morning. The only drink I need to make me happy and give my muse an idea for either a story or poem is a cup of Joe (or perhaps I should spell it Jo).

Sunday Morning Silence

In the early morning silence
prayers rises
through the sultry August air.

This is silence of my spirit
not my physical surroundings
because I can hear the hymn
of the central air unit
and the distant echoes
of sleepless city.

Sunday morning silence
surrounds my spirit
with the tranquility
only the Glory of God can bestow.

Prayers intoned
before dawn awakens
Sunday drivers,
who this one day of the week
ignore the price of gas
and the traffic on the express way
on their journey to church.

Prayers intoned
in the darkness of a new week
refresh my soul
and begin my week on
a joyous note.

In the Sunday morning silence
my soul looks forward
to a week
of prayer and work;
both necessary elements
in a successful relationship
with God and humanity.

NOTE: This is a rough drafts of Sunday Morning Silence. It is always good to begin the week praying and writing poetry. The rest of the week goes better and seems less stressful.

Men's Night an Annual Poetry Event in Las Vegas

The 10th Annual Men's Night Poetry Reading is coming in August. This year's event, titled Muscular Metaphors, will occur on Tuesday, August 19 at 7:00 PM. The location is reJAVAnate on the corner of Flamingo and Pecos. Ten local poets will read that night.

The poets reading at Muscular Metaphors are Tony Abreu, Gary Ashman, Bruce Isaacson, Jorge Lara, Nick Marco, Hyatt McKenna, Robert Meyer, Cary Nordin, Mike Ryan, and Mark Snyder; all talented poets in the Las Vegas area. Men's Night is always an enjoyable event.

The gentlemen poets of Las Vegas

read Muscular Metaphors

on a hot August night.

Don't go out during the heat of the day

It's summer and August in Las Vegas, with humidity and triple digit temperatures. This is the best time of year to stay home and write. The day light hours is a good time to write, especially if you are inside with air conditioning. All thought, if you keep the temperature too low in summer you can't afford the electric bill.

There are two times of year in Las Vegas, when the electric bill is out of reason. Those season are summer and winter. Despite what people tell you about Las Vegas in the wintertime it gets cold here. This is the high desert and it gets cold. It doesn't get cold enough to snow in the Las Vegas valley, but it does get cold.

I learned something about the Las Vegas valley Thursday or Friday. The weather person explained that this isn't really a valley. It's a bowl instead. A valley has mountains on two side of it, but mountains surround Las Vegas. That makes Las Vegas a bowl rather then a valley. Well, whatever it is, it gets hot in the summer and cold in the winter, which give us high power bills.

Time to begin new writing goals

Istiqlál (Independence), 1 Kamal (Perfection), 165 B.E. – Friday, August 1, 2008 about 7:31 AM PDT

A new month has begun and it is time to set new writing goals. Perhaps I should say a new nineteen-day focus, instead of new goals. For the next nineteen days ,I will focus on perfecting specific aspects of my writing. Perfection is the ultimate goal of every soul.

The intriguing thing about perfection is that it comes by degrees. An individual soul can achieve specific degrees of perfection, but not complete perfection. That is a person can only achieve perfection in a limited area. For instance, a writer can write the perfect novel or the perfect poem. Both of these achievements take work.

So for the next nineteen days my focus on achieving perfection in a specific area, in this case, I will focus on rewriting a novel. By sunset August 19 I will complete the rewriting and then I will attempt to get the novel published. That is I will submit it to several different publishers. Another way I can focus on perfection is finding the perfect word in any poem I am writing.