Tag: Notes

In the Waiting Room

On By dotluvs2writeIn Beauty, blogging, Health, humanity, Illness and Medical Treatments, Inspirational, Life, Musings, Past Life Activities, Personal, Religious2 Comments

While looking through one of my old spiral notebooks this afternoon, I found this little stream-of-conscience piece I had written while waiting at the children’s hospital with my family for results on my youngest son, Christoper’s MRI results on the remnants of his brain tumor. I’d forgotten I’d written this!

Since it was just a spur-of-the-moment thing, I failed to write down the date that I created it. Considering this was a time when I was still married, I’m guessing this note was sometime between 2014 and 2020.

I found this very short message somehow touching and visceral, so I decided to share it here with you all, my friends from all over the world.

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As I wait with my son and husband to be called back to one of the patient rooms, my body is a walking zombie with dopey (? can’t read) and sleeping waves rolling through me.

Christopher waits patiently to find out, as do his dad and I, what his MRI results are.

Yellows, oranges, and reds across from us with an astronaut posing with arms outstretched to take off any minute.

A blue sky with wispy clouds frame the silver suit flaming reds and blues.

Makeshift wings stand alert, unfolded and bold at his sides.

A blue screen sixty feet across sleeps, displaying no images. Is this a resting mini-theater scheduled for future shows?

Several images representing flying. Flying high, soaring, reaching, transcending illness, challenges, pain, and crossing over to healing an all-encompassing healing of soul and body.

Flying correlates with a sense of spiritual ascendency.

But truly, if I close my eyes, I could fall right to sleep.

This Valium affects me like never before, and not just takes off the anxious edge, but this time, it’s created a drowsiness where everything, including me, moves in slow motion, like those running on film that is slowed down, and the person’s arms and legs rotate like the gears of a clock running out of batteries.

Hopefully, soon, we shall be sitting in the patient room hearing something akin to no change or dissipated remnant. Only God knows.

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In 2020, my son’s brain tumor disappeared. He’d had it since he was an infant (don’t know the exact point it appeared and grew in his head, but he was diagnosed with the brain tumor attached to his brain stem in 2003 when he was 13 months old). We were so surprised when the doctor said the tumor was gone, I remember. I nearly couldn’t speak. However, it was welcome news and joy grew inside me and life changed at that moment for Christopher and the whole family. Thank you, God!

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Changing Your Writing Routine

On By dotluvs2writeIn blogging, Fiction Writing, Musings, Past Life Activities, Playwriting, Writing TechniquesLeave a comment

women's fingers on keyboard

Two years ago, I wrote a post about writing your story down on paper or via keyboard and Word document.

When I started writing again in 2014, pencil and paper were my number one tools in writing my stories, and all would start from a stream of consciousness.

Truly, that method was used to write my published short story, Summer Memories, my play, Falling Up Stairs, that was performed on a small stage in January 2018, and the starting chapters of my debut novel, Passage of Promise, released May 1 for print copy and May 4 for ebook. Although with the latter, I took extensive notes midway and throughout during many rewrites, revisions, added and deleted chapters.

Since 2018, I don’t know why, but my method of writing changed.

In creating my novella, Mourning Dove, and my novel, What She Didn’t Know, I took notes on both, most extensively on What She Didn’t Know.

Before each chapter, I’d write down my ideas about what the scenes would be, which, in turn, helped encourage me to get the words typed on the computer screen.

A few days ago, I listened to an excellent video lesson from fellow blogger and writing coach, Kate Johnston. She actually talked about the importance of at least having some notes on your plot, characters, and having a good idea of how your novel would end.

Having evolved and grown as a writer (as we do every day) since picking up this true passion of mine from my pre-teen years, I’d done exactly that without realizing it was the better approach for me!

I found this method of jotting down my main character(s) and plot made it more structured and cleared my mind of jumbled thoughts, as well as stream-of-conscious ideas that wouldn’t always get me through the entirety of my book.

The exception was the couple I mentioned earlier in this post.

So, I’ve transferred from stream-of-consciousness, pen and paper story writing to pen and paper for notes to prepare my next story and directly typing on my computer’s Word document.  Whatever would come into my head, the ideas would be centered around the guidelines regarding the character(s) and plot that I’d scribbled in my notebook.

Therefore, I’ve discovered you can change how you prepare and create your writing routine, and in my case, it was for the best.

What is your preferred way of writing? Stream-of-conscious/whatever comes to mind, write it down and go from there, or making an outline or notes on your characters and plot before starting to write your story? Have you tried to do the opposite? Did it work for you?

Happy writing!

 

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Pick up your copy of Passage of Promise  via Amazon or Barnes & Noble!

Me with PofP final print copy April 27 2020