Freelance Finale II

Finally, I am finito! And the client seems pleased. That makes me happy. I always worry about that so much.

Now I can spend a little extra time editing my romance novel and outlining for NaNoWriMo. It's just around the corner. Yikes.

I need to hurry up and enter my Writer's Digest story before I miss that deadline. I am actually pretty excited about that. Of course my chances are pretty slim, but you just never know.

Little Monsters : German Schoolchildren Hand out Euros

Did you see that in the news? Apparently a group of four German school children aged 10 to 13 found a dirty brown envelope full of money - about 15, 000 Euros ($22, 000) and passed it out to all of their friends on the playground. The trick is, the envelope also contained the Visa of the man who purportedly owned the money. The little monsters knew someone was looking for that money and they took it anyway. One child told the teaching staff. At least one had some sense of right and wrong. The really sad thing is that neither the police nor the teacher's pleas could recover the entire amount from the children.

Now that's haunting.

What happened to honesty, integrity, basic tenants of right and wrong? You see things like this all the time in the news, but when our children are involved like this, it's a real shock. Are we failing to teach them properly, or is it something more insidious that is a product of society as a whole?

Haunted

This month's topic for NaBloPoMo is "Haunted". Here's a great badge they came up with to commemorate the season.

I missed yesterday's posting, but I hope that won't matter. I originally posted something controversial, then I thought better of it. That's not what my blog is about. It's about writing and writer's. So here's a tip, if you want to market your book for free, go to Pitch Rate. They match authors with reporters looking for experts or specific stories. Check it out.

Heroes: NaBloPoMo

I met a woman on a forum just now who has had a very difficult life. Her 15 year old son who had ADHD and was constantly bullied, committed suicide. She was thereafter diagnosed with carpel tunnel syndrome in both hands and had to have painful surgery. Her father and mother who she cared for in their last years, wrote her out of the will inexplicably. Now she struggles with depression. But she wins. Every day she gets up and takes everything one step at a time, looking at the positive side of whatever might be facing her. Her hands still hurt, perhaps arthritis is setting in. But she doesn't let that stop her. Her victories are small ones to be sure. Getting out of bed, getting dressed, doing housework, finding a good doctor. But in the scheme of things they are really huge. With the darkness she faces every day, to find the little lights that enable her to more than just function, but to actually live, is miraculous. And throughout it all she maintains a strong belief in a positive outcome. She believes when others would fold. This woman is a true hero. She perseveres against incredible odds and wins. Right now they may be small victories, but I believe she is going to continue to grow and to win until she's beaten back the worst of her demons. I never had a doubt when I read her post to me that she was a true hero.

You Don't Know Me

This is for all our troops abroad.


You don't know me.
You stand in line for your new clothes
a uniform you will wear with your unit

You don't know me.
What do you think as they issue your gun?
Do you think of Dying? Killing?

You don't know me.
Your family sits home and worries
tears no cloth can dry

You don't know me.
But I know who you are
I think of you every day

My heart aches and my tears flow
I know what you do is for me
You are my Hero.


©2009 TSW

National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo)

I just joined National Blog Posting Month. It's not like NaNoWriMo in that there is no specific month in which it is done. This month, the theme is hereos.

I'd like to start off with a poem based on an unfinished poem that I found in my desk recently. Of course I promptly lost it again. :-) So, I'm going to write a new one now.