WRITING VERSUS LIFE
by Karen E. Rigley
Writing and life clash. They each steal time and attention from the other, so a writer exists in a constant battle zone. We want to write. We need to write. Does life allow us to write?
Not without a battle. Whenever I hear the expression the writing life, I laugh. No such thing. You are either dealing with life or writing. Whichever creates the loudest demand at that moment determines which you are doing.
Juggling families, jobs, deadlines, and inevitable life crisis shoots holes through the best planned schedules, so writers constantly adapt often writing at weird times, odd places and occasionally awkward moments.
It’s agonizing to be struck by muse or impending deadlines right when life bombards you. So a writer charges forward plunging through the war zone attempting to successfully conquer both life and writing.
At this moment writing is winning – an hour from now? Oncoming fire.
TELL ME A STORY
Fly me away on the wings of dreams
Weave me sounds of laughter or screams
Scorch me with fire of dragon breath
Haunt me with tales of impending death
Introduce me to people I’ll never meet
Transport me to a distant or imaginary street
Thrill me with legends of brave young souls
Frighten me by evil spells, witches and ghouls
Entice me with magic of a lover’s kiss
Excite me with blaze from a laser gun miss
Enchant me with myths of lost jewels, genies and gold
Challenge me by ancient mysteries; puzzles of old
Tease me with shadows flickering in candleglow
Intoxicate me with joy, passion or woe
Whirl me toward heaven in a tornado high
Blow me like stardust across violet sky
Whisk me away to worlds, future or past
‘til my eyelids drift closed and I sleep at last.
DOUBLETIME
Blending two careers is my aim.
It’s all in organizing they claim,
yet, all the books and articles I read
fail to explain how to achieve
the unattainablse quest,
how to get enough rest.