My How Things Change

It's weird what can happen to a person over a year. Heck over a few months. 

All my life I have been a very passionate person. At times I felt like I had all of this passion inside of me waiting to be used and I had no idea how to direct it.

At times it has gotten me into trouble, other times I got into huge arguments.

I was/am passionate about a lot of things: my country, the military, my family, my faith, my friends, etc.  I love learning, reading, writing, the arts, music, politics, etc. What I believe in, what I love is what I am passionate about.

I realize though you can't live 24/7 with this passion going on. This may sound strange to some of you, but imagine if you are the Energizer Bunny with a Solar Battery that is constantly being charged and going on and on and on...

You get the idea.

You can't live life like it is a constant battle. Like you are taking on the next challenge. Many will probably disagree with me and that's fine with me. I understand, I used to be that passionate. But eventually you have to realize that if you keep going down that route, you will burn out.

I realized it these past few months. I am full of life and love to live life, but I know people who always seem to be "on."  It seems they never take time to relax or sit back and enjoy life.  No, to them life is a constant battle and one must always live with Passion 24/7, night and day, awake or asleep. That's exhausting.

Why?

What is wrong with taking time with life? What is wrong with having free time? These people seem to need to feel every waking minute of there day learning something, doing something, etc.  Don't they want to have time to relax, to be at peace, to think about the fun stuff of life, etc...

Why must it be this constant battle where everything must always get fixed, where we must always focus on an injustice or something that is terrible and evil and wrong? Why do we constantly have to fill every moment of our lives to the point where we are exhausted?

Is it bad to look at the fun little silly things that are going on in life? Why is it considered "degrading oneself" to  love fashion or sport for example? Why must we be wary of those that are different in thought than us?

I finally got an answer after 2 months.

They don't want to face themselves.  It sounds crazy, but it's true.  When we fill up our lives with constant activity, we don't take time for ourselves and we don't take time to examine ourselves. We need that time for ourselves to not only take care of our physical health, but our mental health especially. Sometimes people use all that activity and all that passion for fixing/changing problems they see in the world as a way to distract themselves from their own problems, their own issues. Hate to break it to you, that won't help you with yourself at the end of the day.

This semester although I have had a filled schedule, I forced myself to take some time for myself because of my health. I think it helped a lot too. I learned a lot about myself too and not only did I face the baggage I had, I faced my nasty, not so good side.

I'm not perfect. : /

After facing the the rest of the baggae (there was a little left) and coming to terms that at times I can be nasty and judgemental. It's hard facing tha truth.

Through discovering this, I dscovered some friends of mine were staying active, leanring, working, and fixing everything else but themselves. Some of them seem to live with this chip on their shoulder and they can't let it go because they don't know how to.

I know it's not easy, but it is very liberating and it helps a lot. Because of this discovery I feel a lot morrelaxed and at ease. It's a shame that those that I know are still trapped in the world were they have to escape from their problems.

Having passion is wonderful, more people need to have passion in their life. But to have it 24/7, although it sounds wonderful it is also time consuming and becomes very exhausting. Being able to relax and enjoy oneself is also a wonderful thing. 

Who Doesn’t Want to be Famous?

My first book review for this year!

Title: How to become a Famous Writer before you're Dead

Author: Ariel Gore

Number of Pages: 288

Publisher: Three Rivers Press

Genre: Writing Reference

Rating:

I remember this when I picked it up from McKay's (an amazing used books, music, movies and more store that exists in Tennessee). The title is what caught my eye. After all I want to become famous for something before I die, not after. I want to reap some of the benefits from my hard work.

It is an enjoyable book, with exercises and interviews from authors. Granted I have not heard of most of these authors, but I think that was her point, to expose us to authors that we have never heard of and to give the authors more publicity.

Before I found this book while wondering through McKay's I had never heard of Ariel Gore. My first thought that occurred when I came across this book was, 'What right does this person have to write a book about becoming famous writer when I have never heard of them?'

I have been proven wrong, somewhat. No, she is not famous like J.K. Rowling or Stephenie Meyer. But she gives great advice that is very beneficial that does not give way to the old idea that it takes luck and chance to become famous.

Her whole idea is that if you want to become a famous writer, you have to work and work hard. Work your butt off. Writing, like everything is a job she said throughout the book and you have to spend a great amount of time dedicating to doing your job. Yes,the benefits are not as quick as with other tasks and other jobs but nevertheless it is necessary.

In the book she discusses everything for those that are beginners, tips on how not to procrastinate, self-publishing (yes such a thing exists), to everything else in between. The most important thing is this, write and get your name out there. And no, I am not talking about taking the Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton way. It involves sending in comments to newspapers, magazines, etc. Writing for school newspapers, literary magazines, etc.

I had no problems with this book. My only hope is that she comes out with a book of writing prompts and exercises.

This is a definite read for anyone who wants to become a famous writer.

I'm thankful I'm a Writer because....

I’m thankful I’m a writer because it helps me to talk with people and deal with my emotions. I have a hard time in the past expressing my emotions because I have always felt and have been taught that a person should not wear their emotions on their sleeve. So I have only had a few outlets in life to help express myself emotionally. First it was dance, then music, and now for quite some time writing. I started dancing when I was 5 years old and have loved it ever since. With music, either through playing my flute or singing, I still have a love hate relationship with flute and singing, well I have been told that I can sing well, but I still feel self conscious. With writing though, it is a whole other story.

With writing I have always loved the thought of writing books and having other people read them and love them as I have when I pick up a book. I have so many ideas that I simply want to share with the world. I don’t want to just write fantasy, I want to write sc-fi, historical fiction, nonfiction, romance, biographies, self-help, religious, poetry, short stories, essays, etc. I want to write in ever field of writing that exists, why because I have so many amazing ideas and I know I can blow the world away with my writing.

I am really good; when I actually apply myself; when I do, I feel like I have really accomplished something amazing and spectacular. In my mind I hear a voice say, ‘yes there is something that I am good at that I know I can make a profit off for the rest of my life’. Is that the reason I write, because I want to make a profit and become famous, YES! If any writer says that it is not for the fame or profit, or both, I would say they are lying or they have been writing for many years in the business and don’t care about all that anymore. I could be wrong though.

There is another reason why I love writing and therefore I am thankful. I am great at writing, I really am. To be honest I want to be great at everything I do whether it involves music, art, athletics, etc. It is that same with writing. It does come naturally to me and whenever a person is naturally gifted at something, it should be cultivated and shared with the world; take advantage of this wonderful opportunity.

Most of all, I am thankful for being a great writer because the best part is that you can talk about everything. That is a very good thing because I find everything interesting and fascinating. Few things in life bore me and this is a perfect outlet for me to be able to explore the world and express myself as well; all for the sake of my next book. I am truly thankful.