Elsewhere

The novel I should be writing, because I have many pages, is titled Otherwise Entertained. Should you have an interest, you can visit, Chronicles, and find most of it. I do not recall the exact locations at this moment, but I think it is mostly in 2012’s NaNoWriMo month, and then scattered about a bit. I was doing my first Creativity Project around then, a whole year and a half.

My novel presents a scene that is elsewhere, and yet, a part of that story at the same time. It is a problem. I know what to write, I just know it will stretch beyond plausibility, and I know the story cannot move without it. Plus, I procrastinate, I am the best at it.

Elsewhere

It is where I go
When the world becomes too hard
For my tired desire,
I wrap myself in mysteries,
Fancy creativity;
Search within for love
Enough to carry me on
Into cruel hard times,
When my mind becomes a pool
All dangerous, dark, obscure.
Impossible now,
Escape an imaginative
Dream, when I am lost
To whoever I may be,
But I come winning again.
Steal me sweet Elsewhere,
Take me wherever then set
Me firm so I can succeed
In this, every reality,
Let Love minister to me,
Healing this wounded soul as
Freedom becomes, Elsewhere, mine.

By the way, these entries, unless denoted differently, are being written in real-time on the date of appearance. The goal of the Creativity Project is to make things each day, not present pre-created works. Some of the photos are, however, from other times.

As a prompt: What is your elsewhere, where do you find strength? Create something that shows it or what it does.

I am grateful to be done proofing, although I could use more funds. I think tomorrow I may take some time away from here.

All you be careful, create, love, celebrate the pure joy of life. Thank you for visiting Haphazard Creative. I hope you found something that inspired you. Follow the site or come back when you can. God Bless and Keep You, Always, and Forever.

Reading List, So Far, 2020

I am doing this because I do not do on-site reviews for retailers or GoodReads anymore, well, almost exclusively. I will note how I read each, the media, at the beginning. I am including Amazon links. I do not long retain enough because I ingest so much print, to give you more than a brief overview. If I have that much memory, I am lucky. Something in my disease affects all that, but it is to your advantage, I cannot go on forever about books I loved.

Kindle – The Powers by Mark W. Erwin, 204 pages – 5 stars: Reminded me of The Secret, but had a more God-centered focus. It should be said that those who are non-Christians should find no offense, and the advice appears sound.

Kindle – Somewhere In Time by Richard Matheson, 321 pages – 5 stars: I am a time-travel buff, love to read about it, write about it, look at the science, so I loved this book. It is flawlessly written, it contains mystery, and though I avoid romance, it has a love story. You cannot go wrong with this one. It is a timeless classic.

Kindle – The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie, 465 pages – 5stars: First, I will tell you I got 25 pages in and was so disgusted, I quit. I dislike doing that, but the book was primarily written in the second person, and I abhorred reading it. Give me a few days with my conscience, and well, I went back. I am a sucker for stories with gods, goddesses, and mankind all meddling in one another’s affairs. So I read, read, and read until I finished. Mythology and Egyptology were some of my favorite subjects back in the day. It is not so strange that I still enjoy such entertainments.

Kindle – Tell The Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt, 367 pages – 5 stars: This book could wrench the gut and bring on tears in ways that run deep. There is art, family dynamics, misunderstood relationships, blame, and AIDS, plus two pre-teens to teens growing up. I think you should read it, but hey, I could be wrong.

Kindle Unlimited – Why Poetry by Matthew Zapruder, 256 pages – 5stars, but truthfully, 10 stars: I read a lot of writing craft books. I try to learn all I can. What was unusual about this book was just a few words, maybe a page could set my mind off to the point I had to write. I am not sure I learned a lot, it was just motivating. The author is so gifted and writes so well. If you create poetry, do not miss this one.

I have several books underway, and if there is interest, I can make a list from 2019. I am reading things I own now. 2019 was primarily library books.

I hope you found something to spark your interest.

Creative Variety

Day Seven – 2020 Creativity Project

Wookie watching Wick

Wookie raptly watching a movie. Edited version.

I have been on the internet since 1991. Creatives are among my favorite people. A baseline normal between creatives, we are all original individuals. Our personalities, gifts, characteristics, styles, spirituality, beliefs, all those, and more make us unusual, and yet we are alike. There is a spark in the room when creatives meet. We chatter, and we immediately find something which we can relate to within one another.

Many of us are introverts, we will find ways to sequester ourselves in privacy. Though we can lay that aside long enough to perform something we believe in. Sometimes, this is almost too hard. What should we write, draw, paint, photograph, what tools use? Is art worthwhile? Is the meaning and connotation of a word correct? Is it perfect, or close enough, no one can see the seams, the erasures? The picture, should it have been edited, or was the original better? Will anyone read, will they care, will someone?

Uncertainty seems to come with the territory, but we can stand loud and proud when we feel we must. Our hearts are open, our minds malleable, our work forever with us. Dreams are waking us to grab tools of record in the dire hours of the night. We study, then find it not enough, and explore more.

When the curtain draws down, we will be begging long enough to get the current work complete. Dame Death can wait…

Maybe I exaggerate, I am a poet who writes stories, essays, and attempts books. I do these Creativity Projects that tax me beyond belief. I believe in making myself work because if I do not commit, I might crawl into a cavern and secret myself away. Figuratively speaking darlings, if I had a cavern, we would have sleepovers on crisp nights.

I did poems today, but I am not satisfied with any of them, then when am I confident of the writing I do? I think it is why I read so much. I can twine my mind in someone else’s creation. Anyway, you are warned.

Down, Upsideways

Touched by the feather
Of a snowy dove named love
My soul reaches up
Toward Heaven way above
Then stretches out and abroad.

I inhale the breeze
Breathing out weighty worry;
Then again process,
Exhaling stores of kindness and joy
Praying health, happiness, prosperity to all.

I hope good fortune
Will find ample opportunity in many lives;
People who shall discover
Grace as comfort always
And fullness of faith as a living fire.

SWAP

Can I be you now?
I know I should not ask,
But you seem self-assured,
Only for today, until
The time day goes undercover
Where we can dream mysteries
We might never encounter if
Our lives did not intersect,
Combine, entwine, meld,
Like no one knows but we
In on the secrets only we two may
Comprehend, understand;
How will our hearts ever beat
Quite the same as prior, after
Sharing who we really are?
Do you realize how precious,
Surpassing grand are the gifts
You within yourself do own?
We might be explorers, ah, home.

Perpetually

Let us live forever
Remembered by generations
Whose opportunity to know
Us is only in the creations
We leave behind in time.
What we share with others
What we release from within,
Those bits and pieces of thought
Captured in any set form
Can transmit over eras
Perhaps helping someone grow
Into a person better suited
To survive whatever may
Become their experience
In living a maximum life.

I hope you found something of worth, I have not felt like I could do this today. The Quits have set in. You know that saying, “You should not be doing this. It is not any good. Give up.” Yeah, my brain has not yet learned, “Never Give Up!” is stronger. Anyway, thank you for visiting. If you wish there is a follow button, or come back when you like.

All the best to you, and keep reaching for your goals, I believe in you. I thank God this marvelous tool brings us together. I hope I did not go over long today. Sometimes, if you knew, I have lots to share.

Wookie watching television, movie. Less edited version.

Resistance Overcome

Day Six – 2020 Creativity Project

I do not believe in the concept of creative block, which includes Writer’s Block. I think we are capable of constant creative output, not, however, that all of it is fit for public consumption.

I keep a planner with brief notes most days, a gratitude journal frequently, a brain dump journal much of the time, and I write more creatively a lot. Today is day six, the resistance has unearthed itself and come to stand like a Spartan, with shield ready to repel me. “You SHALL NOT pass!” Yeah, um, that will not work. I, tentatively, committed to be here and do this, so it is happening.

Thing is I do not often know what to write. I could call it a block, but really it is not. It is usually that I have enough ideas flying around like kamikazes; eventually, I will find one to rescue. Ever tried to talk a suicidal idea into allowing you to work with it? It can be a bit of a challenge. A tribe of screaming banshees jump up, down, yelling, “Why in tarnation are you doing this, it is too much. Quit, quit, quit already. Why torture yourself.” Take a chill pill and climb aboard cause this train is gaining momentum, and negative hoodlums are not in the engine compartment.

If I hit a boulder too large to push out of the way, there are means. I am not afraid to employ dynamite, but it requires strategic planning. I will take note of the obstacle, then I will step away and make preparations. I may read, especially creativity, writing, or art instruction books. I am also apt to write sheer junk, where I give license to my critic and all its cronies in negativity, to spew. I write the crap down to clear my head. Afterward, I say, “Enough, shut TF up!” I pulverize the boulder, and I do what I do, which is create.

I am guessing most creatives face similar challenges, you may not use the same images to objectify what goes on, but you probably have your things. I am well acquainted with resistance. Creativity is not effortless, or everyone would be writing bestsellers, painting art to rival the Sistine Chapel, making blockbuster movies to vie with Star Wars, or creating software to supplant Windows and Apple OS. Though some of us are achieving, many never get out of the gate.

Kudos to you when you keep on long enough to make something out of thin air. The world needs your ideas, creations, methods, support, determination. People need to know that giving up, cashing out, leaving the stage is not an option. Life is difficult, but when we open our imaginative minds, we bring new concepts, stories, creations to life. We find the hope we and others need and the love to survive in the desolation.

Be well, create, love like it is your only chance, dream, and make dreams real. Make resistance reach for the sky and cartwheel by it, leaving it to wonder who you are and where you are bound. You are chosen for this time, place, position, do what you are meant for, and do it with passion. The more love you expend, the more you will have to give, and the more will come to you. Be a creator and make 2020 your year, if you do not believe in you, someone else will go in your place doing it half as well.

What Reading Held Out

I guess God has been trying to show me something for a bit. I read a lot, and almost all the books lately have sent the same message. Let me give you a list:

The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman
Wanderers by Chuck Wendig
A Column of Fire by Ken Follet
The Cave and The Light by Arthur Herman
A Fair Maiden by Joyce Carol Oates
The Sisters of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner
The Templars by Dan Jones (my current read)

The message is we human beings do a lot of damage to one another in our disrespect for the freedom to have our own opinions, beliefs, and bodies. I do not go looking for messages when I pick reads. I read for enjoyment and to learn.

Some of the things these books have shown me, I did not realize. If you want to delve into it, grab any one of them. All are excellent.

We have been systemically eliminating people and demeaning them for the longest time. Maybe not you and I, but the race of human beings. I feel each one of us should make an effort to lift others up and ennoble them at every opportunity. The world is hard, and it tears at us. Even when we are not subjected to persecution or denigration, our selves can turn against us and bring pain.

Sometimes I feel I should not write or that I write poorly, but I love people, and I needed to say something. Differences make us gloriously unique and beautiful, it would be so wonderful if all of us began to celebrate the varieties of people we are. When we hurt someone else, we hurt ourselves, that should stop. Kindness, it brings smiles, and we are so precious, sharing smiles will increase our happiness quotient.

I am only me
You are steadfastly you, too,
But what together
We may become, can changing
History be much greater
Than we individuals
Can in imagination
See, for creativity
Prospers in community,
Love then guides humanity.

We are, this present,
Past hopes, prayer, bright future dreams,
The promise love brings.

This day like others
I have loved, slips smooth away
Like water over
Rocks which cannot capture it
Even for a brief moment.

As a prompt, create something, in whatever form that helps your awareness of how you can befriend and uplift someone else.

Three things for which I am thankful today: Food that nourishes me, Family and Friends who love me, and All the beautiful things with which I have been blessed.

I thank you for your visit, you may follow Haphazard Creative should you wish, or I hope you will return.

May love and smiles soften your journey,
Jo Ann