I’m going to be missing for a while as I take part in the April AtoZ Challenge over on the blog of my new writer’s website. http://www.annmariemiles.com/blog
Hope to see you there 🙂
ps if you sign up to receive regular updates about my writing and as a thank you for trusting me with your email address I’ll send you two brand new stories written just to celebrate launching the website 🙂
There’s a series of Christmas stories over on my fiction blog, Fictitious Amo, one each day by a different author. I’m delighted with the contributions. You should take a look… 🙂
In the meantime – my lastest musings…
I’d heard about it lots of times but I don’t remember experiencing it.
It’s quite possible that I actually experience it every day and never notice. Maybe having clean air and clean water and a roof over my head… That could well be it and I just never spotted it.
But whether I’ve experienced it before or not, I’ve only noticed it recently. For the first time I know what it’s like to receive more than I could ask or imagine.
I’ve wanted to be great at something for ages and not known if I ever would be. I’ve wanted to shine; not brighter than everyone else, but brighter than I ever had & brighter than I ever thought I could.
I spend so much time swatting the flies of guilt and failure, and it’s very tiring. But after years of being good at things but never quite cutting the mustard, I seem to have found something I’m great at. (Dare I say it…?) Something I’m really really great at.
The process of writing and publishing my first book has been a miracle really. From the financial gift handed to me by a good friend at the very beginning, that basically paid for half of it. To the surprise opportunity to do an extra term of teaching, which paid for the other half. The response of the publisher and her hard work, and now the response of the readers, especially the authors who spoke at my two launch events.
One of them said I “weave magic with words”. About me… he said that about ME!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked God to allow me to be great at something. To fill the space left by the years of longing to be a great mother. To be able to point at something and say, “I did that and it’s bloody good. I’m proud of it.”
God is my ultimate inspiration and I mean it when I say in the book. ‘Though you are not explicitly mentioned in this book, every redemptive moment every opportunity for forgiveness and every glimpse of hope is inspired by your Good News!”
Well… now I know. Now I know what it’s like to receive more than I could ask or imagine.
Nothing to do with money or success. Just something I can give that people enjoy.
Have you missed me? I’ve been buried under the craziness of NaNoWriMo AND getting my book ready to launch. NaNo story is almost there. Almost 42k as of last night, so on the home stretch now.
But the very exciting news is that ‘The Long & The Short of it’ my first collection of short stories is out and there and published and real and you know… PUBLISHED 🙂
It’s a fantastic feel to have the book out there in the world.
You many recognise a few of the stories as a number of them have been on the blog. But they’ve been polished up and some of them have a different ending… There are also some brand spanking new stories too – that never made it to the blog.
The launch was a fun night. The book was launched by novelist, story-writer and story-teller Catherine…
I’ve decided to do NaNoWriMo this year – aka National Novel Writing Month – to try to get the bones of my first novel down on the page.
So I won’t be around much in November, but… my first collection of short stories called
‘The Long and the Short of it’ is being launched this month so as soon as I have a venue confirmed I’ll be shouting. Date is November 21st. More news anon.. 🙂
If you are doing #NoNoWriMo this year and would like to buddy up, my NaNo user name is ‘auntyamo’ and my word count will be automatically updated to the little blue box on the right hand side – the minimum word count for the month is 50,000.
My NaNo novel is ‘Dear Mel…’ and here is the synopsis I’ve put up on the NaNo site..
I’m delighted to have James Prescott as a guest on the blog today. James is a fellow Tribe Writer and a great encourager. Today he’s sharing his thoughts on Insecurities
Insecurities. Those dreaded hangups, fears, doubts, voices in our heads telling us what we aren’t, who we’re not, or how awful we are. Sound familiar? I’ve talked before how there’s not one person without any insecurities.
And this should be of comfort to us.
But having acknowledged we’re all in the same boat, how do we navigate our way out of the insecurity storm?
In the film ‘A Beautiful Mind’ we see the main character, John Nash – played beautifully in an Oscar-winning performance by Russell Crowe – battling against hallucinations his mind is creating, of three specific people. To begin with, he struggles to deal with them – in fact early on he won’t believe they aren’t real.
He has a moment of clarity when he realises one of the hallucinations – a little girl – never ages, never grows up. And once he realises this, he has something to hold on to. He realises these hallucinations aren’t real.
And in time, he teaches himself to ignore them. They never disappear, but he learns to not take any notice of them. In the last scene of the film, after receiving the Nobel prize, he is helping his wife put her coat on, and turns round to see the three people standing on the stairs.
He sees them, and then turns away and walks out with his wife. They are still there, but he has learned to ignore them. They no longer have any power over him. He is not afraid of them, he can look them in the eye, but he chooses not to take any notice of them.
And I think it can be like this with our insecurities.
Often we try to deal with insecurities by fighting back against them, by turning it into a war, a conflict, and this can lead to anger and frustration. Because they usually come back sooner or later.
Maybe the secret to dealing with insecurities is to learn how to ignore them. To name them, to speak them out, acknowledge them – maybe even write them down – and then to cultivate the habit of ignoring them. Refusing to give them power over us.
Almost become friends with them. So we can feel them, see them, experience them. And just smile and walk on.
It’s not easy, and it is a process. But I like the idea of instead of waging war on my insecurities, letting them walk alongside me. Recognising in specific situations I’m probably going to feel or be challenged in a specific way, and allowing myself to experience that but choose not to react to it.
Instead of responding to the promptings of my insecurities, refusing to give them any power over me. Refusing to listen to them. Almost ignoring them.
Jesus said we should love our enemies.
Maybe we need to learn to love our insecurities too.
We don’t have to like them. We don’t have to talk to them. But we can somehow acknowledge the reality of them, and make a different choice.
Maybe then, even if they are still around, they will eventually lose their power. And when they appear to us we can simply acknowledge them and walk on.
Are you with me?
James Prescott
James Prescott is a writer, author and blogger from Sutton, near London.
Day 7 of the ’10 Day You Challenge’ Today – 4 books… 😉
1.Cujo by Stephen King This is one book that has stayed with me since the day I read it. I’ve never seen the film, but the memory of what I read plays in my head like a film reel. I can’t dwell on it too much or I’ll lose sleep. Chilling!
2. MY BOOK, MY BOOK, MY BOOK! In case you didn’t know, I’m self-publishing a collection of short stories in October. You can find out all about it over on Fictitious Amo. I’m very excited and look forward to getting it out there. It’ll be available on Kindle and other e-platforms, also in paperback.
3. Pride and Prejudice I can’t count the amount of times I’ve read this book. It is my favourite fiction book in the whole world and I can’t imagine anything topping it. Jane Austen is so clever in how she describes people and their interactions with each other. She also describes her own culture and environment with great humour and insight. She’s the man! 🙂
4. The Bible Come on you knew that was coming! 🙂 As I’ve mentioned many times before. My handbook for life; one I don’t read nearly often enough!
John 21:25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.
Photo credits: The 10 Day You image above doesn’t seem to come from any central website but can be found on many that have done the challenge. Many use it but there does not seem to be any original source info available The P&P image was taken by me.
The image of the Cujo book was taken from one of its profiles on Amazon.co.uk
Day 4 of the ’10 Day You Challenge’
I want, I want, I want… 😉 Yes I’ll enjoy this one
Today – 7 wants… 😉
This post more than all others will reveal how much like Verruca Salts I am! 😀
1. An iPad with a keyboard
There I’ve said it! I love technology and am quite irked not to have an iPad – but the writer in me needs a keyboard too. So I’ll have both pls! 😉
2. To make you laugh
I know I miss the mark sometimes but I remember being very young when I realised I could be funny. It helped me to put bullying behind me and taught me how to hide sadness. Not always a good thing – but I feel good when I’ve made you feel good
3. To sing on stage with an audience in front of me and an orchestra behind me
I’m not a good enough singer for that and my thoughts of pursuing a singing career are long gone – but just once I’d love to do it
4. To be smaller
I know, I know – this one is doable if only I’d sort myself out – but if you’ve never wrestled with weight and a passionate love for food as if every bar of chocolate is Mr Darcy himself – then you don’t understand!
And if you have well… you do 😦
5. My beloved to be fulfilled in whatever he’s doing
We’ve been in a bit of a ‘waiting room’ for the last few years. There are things that Rich feels called by God to do but those opportunities haven’t opened up yet. But whatever he is or will be doing I want him to be happy and feel a sense of purpose & achievement
6. To be a better writer
I’m a writer. I can say that now without using hushed tones or feeling embarrassed. I might even be a good one, I MAY even be a great one… but wherever I am on the scale, I want to keep getting better and better
7. To be a better Christian
I know I am loved and forgiven and treasured – just as I am; but I would love to be a more fervent prayer and a more faithful follower
Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Photo credit: The image above doesn’t seem to come from any central website but can be found on many that have done the challenge. Many use it but there does not seem to be any original source info available
Nominations are now open for Blog Awards Ireland 2013 and this isn’t only a punt for my blog. You should go nominate any Irish blog you love.
There are two new categories open this year. Best Youth Blog and Best Blog from the Irish Diaspora. So on the night we’ll probably have a live satellite-link to the winner of that one.
Very Oscar-esque 🙂
One of the categories I really enjoyed last year was ‘Best Blog Post.’ This is where one individual post is nominated and it is the only category that goes to public vote.
(After nomination, all other categories are judged.)
Maybe there is a post of mine that has stood out for you and you’d like to nominate it…
A few popular ones in the last year are
So if any of those take your fancy for ‘Best Blog Post’ or you reckon the blog itself is worthy of a nomination in ‘Best Personal’ or ‘Best Lifestyle’ maybe… please do nominate by clicking here or the big grey button up there on the right. All categories are on the same page, so you just scroll until you find the relevant ones and fill in the details. The email for this blog is amowriting [at] gmail [dot] com
Thanks a mil for reading and commenting etc – I really appreciate it folks;
and all the best to Irish bloggers everywhere 🙂 x
Here we go with this week’s Five Minute Friday… Five minutes of unedited, non stop writing on this week’s given theme ‘Rhythm’
I’m very strict when it comes to timing.
I don’t mean time keeping, I’m rubbish at that. No, I mean rhythm…
I teach singing and guitar and I’m always trying to drum it in to my pupils (pardon the pun) – the importance of keeping the beat. The whole thing falls apart if the beat isn’t right.
Rhythm… it’s all about the rhythm… No point in 12 quick beats and then nothing for a few seconds and them some more rushed timing. Steady, steady as she goes.
At the moment I’m up to my eyes in writing deadlines. Which is hugely exciting for me. I don’t get paid to write – not yet anyway 🙂 but I’m ok with that. I love it. Have found my thing. But I have come to the conclusion that I have to get in to a rhythm. I can’t do nothing for a few days and then try to cobble stuff together.
If I’m gonna take this seriously well… I have to take it seriously.
I need to heed my own words and get into some steady timing, a regular flow, then who knows what fabulous lyrics and melody will follow?
I met the 1 Hundred Works guys via the AtoZ blogging challenge, which I took part in over on my fiction blog. Akhil and Ayush are two lovely, zany guys who have a passion for blogging and developing an international community around it.
They started a blog called 1 Hundred Works and aimed to get 100 articles written by different folk, about different subjects and I was privileged to be one of the hundred. But that was only the start of it. Their next challenge was the ‘Project 100 contest’.
100 bloggers all writing on the same word prompt and that word is ‘Umwelt’. The competition will be judged but 15% of the marks are given for ‘likes’ and comments on your post. This is to raise the profile of the site but also to encourage folk to work on their marketing and promotion skills.
In the story Sebastian is a man who likes his privacy
Dictionary.com says ‘umwelt’ means “the environmental factors, collectively, that are capable of affecting the behaviour of an animal or individual; from the German Umwelt meaning environment.”
I decided to write a fictional story that was kind of inspired by my new neighbours and how their style of living (which is very different to the previous tenants’) has changed my day to day living experience.
If you have time to pop over to read my Umwelt post entitled Moving the Threshold that would be great. If the subject itself intrigues you and you have some time, have a read of a few of them. The different ‘takes’ on the word are amazing – it’ll take me a year to read them all 🙂
On the 23rd of June the counting stops and the judges’ decision will be announced on the 25th.
I haven’t had much luck with competitions but hand-on-heart, I am really enjoying them and every time I enter one I learn something. 🙂
I’m going to be missing for a while as I take part in the April AtoZ Challenge over on the blog of my new writer’s website. http://www.annmariemiles.com/blog
Just another Christian woman... 