Oct
31

The Country, Movies, Daddy and Me

I hardly remember
what the houses looked like
in Greensburg, Louisiana
where my daddy was raised.

In our brief visits
when my brothers and I
were children,
I got to experience
life very different
with cousins I didn’t know
who became friends fast,
as we usually only had the day.

They showed me where
to tiptoe close in
to yellow jacket nests
in the tall grass
just so we could run
when they swarmed.
I passed time
checking out the cows and bulls,
wondering how an old rickety fence
was actually enough
to corral the beasts.

I remember running backwards
with my daddy and his cousins
across a front yard
maybe belonging my great-grandparents’.
It seemed to last forever,
extending further
the harder I wished
to finally reach the porch.
Once I got there
no strength left
I sat waiting for lemonade
all out of breath
and still rooting for my daddy
who raced his cousins again.

Coming from the city
everything
seemed old and rustic out there.
It was thrilling!
I was inside one of those
cowboy movies
I used to watch
back at home in New Orleans.

No particular movies
come to mind
only the sense that I loved
watching them
and eating salted tomatoes,
just my daddy and me.

©2009 by Shari Lynne Smothers

Oct
31

Bad Timing

An idea came.
It stepped on my head
as I lay in bed
chanting my mantra
with the last of my strength
to call peaceful sleep
to be with me.

It was a good one
I could tell
and I would have preferred
to wake and capture it.
But that was only
a fleeting thought.

Since, so successful was
my final call out to rest
that I had not enough steam
to stave off
say nothing of pushing up
the eyes slamming shut
conscious thought
relieved of duty,
dexterity, fine motor skills
released for the night.

My final thought:
I hope it’s good enough
to return in the morning.

©2009 by Shari Lynne Smothers

Oct
29

More Tools to Track Your Writing Progress

In good time for next month’s activities, Jennifer Mattern has released two excellent and versatile progress trackers.

If you need to track words, pages, poems (my other endeavor in November), these are customizable enough to let you post the color and the titles you wish to use.

The other meters I found are over at The Word ‘Mage Blog, my work blog site. Check them all out and see which works best for you. Novel writing word count and the poem count, my giant emoticon counting character; what more could I want?

Whether you call them progress meters or word count trackers,  take advantage of these tools and you’ll covered for November and beyond. Have fun getting ready!

Oct
28

What’s Up for November 2009

I was all set to tell you about my new adventure when something happened! While surfing and tweeting, I came across some great tweets from someone I just started following, @inkyelbows. And I found a new adventure.

What I was going to tell you before my distraction was that I’m going to try NaNoWriMo again this year. Last year I signed up and didn’t get much further than that. Last year, I signed up on November 1, and fell apart shortly thereafter.

This year I gave myself a little more warning, little more time for self-talk, tools and ideas. Time to play around with the endeavor and sort of slide into next month like it was any other November.

Read more…

Oct
27

NaNoWriMo 2009

Hi! I’m participating in NaNoWriMo 2009, that’s National Novel Writing Month. And here is where I’m laying out my plan and logging my journal for the month’s activities. If you want to see how it’s going for me, check back here from time to time.

NaNoWriMo Progress Meter

This meter comes from Writertopia.com, where writers can find useful stuff to distract and entertain themselves, keeping the writing fires burning.

To get to the finish line successfully, I need to write 1666.67 words daily. This is not so difficult in an of itself. But, when you add on the need for ideas of what to write, the daily goal gets a little sketchy. To give you the fuller picture of my situation: I thought of characters. I basically interviewed them to learn about their lives. It got pretty detailed and the characters were quite round.

Then after a couple of days, and no solid story line the question came up: Who are these characters and why are they present in my notes? Not at all a good sign 5 days before lift-off, right? That’s what I thought.

But, no matter. I’m committed and ready to get to it. I’ve decided to record my adventures through this giant group writing project. The first entry is posted already because I shocked myself and had to write it up. Let’s see if I can keep this going throughout the month. I’m guessing the posts won’t be long, maybe just letting you know I’m screaming and freaking and panicking, or thrilled by my progress.

If you’re participating in NaNoWriMo too, you can connect with me on that site. My buddy information is connected in the sidebar.

Check out my log posts and tell me what’s up with you, or give me tips about different things I might attempt.

  1. My Pre-NaNoWriMo Activities, 10.27.9 – Get ready! Posted over at The Word ‘Mage Blog
  2. What’s Up for November, 10.28.9 – Get ready!
  3. More Tools to Track Your Writing Progress,10.29.9 – Get ready!
  4. NaNoWriMo: My First Day,11.1.2009 – And, we’re off!!
  5. NaNoWriMo: Day 3, 11.3.2009
  6. Listen to The Rhythm, 11.4.2009
  7. Benefits of Brainstorming, 11.13.2009
  8. Facing November Week Four, 11.23.2009
  9. November Activity Results, 12.2.2009
Oct
02

Oaks of Dillard University

Oaks of Dillard University


Oaks of Dillard University
Originally uploaded by ShariLS

Photograph taken at the 2008, 50 year reunion-graduation ceremony for my mom and dad. My dad passed away the year before.

Happily Distracted

I’ve been really busy and got pulled away from blogging, poetry and the Flickr work I’d planned. What pulled me away? I’ve been tied up building websites from scratch. I know, that’s crazy right? Not really.

Read more…

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