Cedar - Wordcrafter: July 2016

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Not Enough and Too Much

My heart is broken

My hope is fled

The future tastes bitter, like the bad air

When did it become acceptable to stand in a public forum

And tell people their principles and choices are ridiculous?

Though I have been a Democrat for much of my life –

Unless I lived in a state where I could register as an Independent –

I will no longer call myself a Democrat.

For many years, I called myself “apolitical”

When I was disillusioned by becoming more and more clear that

I was living in a country whose members of government

Don’t respect its founding document.

In a world in which anything or anyone can be bought

In a country in which the principles of the people are dishonored

The only commodities I have an abundance of are

Doubt, Sadness, Anger, and Bitter Tears.

I will return to the home of my soul and decide if there is

Anything more I can do to change this world in which I find myself.

I will tell you this –

I will stand fast.

I will vote my conscience.

I will vote FOR SOMETHING and not AGAINST SOMETHING.

If you believe this makes me ridiculous – perhaps you are the person with the broken moral compass.

I wish you joy in the world you are choosing.

©Michelle R. Owings-Christian (Cedar Wolfsinger) 27 July 2016

You can find me on Facebook on my personal page:

https://www.facebook.com/cedarwolfsinger?fref=ts

And my company page:

https://www.facebook.com/CedarsProofreadingAndEditing/

I am also on Twitter:

@michelle owings-chri

LinkedIn profile:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-owings-christian-bbb7278

branded.me:

https://branded.me/michelleowings-christian

Friday, July 1, 2016

Hello there!! It’s July. That means it is the second session of Camp NaNoWriMo. Some of you know what that is. For those of you who don’t, let me explain. National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo) is an event that began in 1999 and happens every November – where the participants all commit to writing 50K words in that month (the length of a short-ish novel). In November, you only count new words – no research, no rewrites, no editing – just writing. There is nothing wrong with that. I have participated in NaNoWriMo seven times and I LOVE IT.

Last year I was recovering from hip replacement surgery and I decided NOT to participate in NaNoWriMo. Then I spent the first four days of November becoming progressively more depressed until I realized that I was reading all the plans of my friends to participate and I wanted to do it. So – I did it. I don’t know if the stuff I wrote is any good, it was a conglomeration of derivative stories because I hadn’t planned anything. I still wrote 50K in LESS than 30 days because I didn’t start until Day 4.

Camp NaNoWriMo has recently taken place in April and July. The rules for Camp NaNo are more flexible – you can do research, you can do edits, revisions, etc. New words are good too. You can set your own word count – if you want to write 50K, you can. If you want to write 30K – awesome. If you want to write 100K -- knock yourself out.

In April, I typed the manuscript (a true manuscript, written by hand) of my WIP, Essence of Life. As always, I did a first revision while I was typing. I found myself very pleased with the story and the characters. That lead me to more research in May and June – and the goal for this month is to FINISH the STORY (or at least, this part of the story) so I can get it out for comment in August and then have time to decide what I am going to write about in November.

So – that’s my plan for July!!! I hope yours is as exciting as I am sure mine will be.