Charlie Brown, Summer's End, and Slowing Down Time

August 2017

"Sigh...there goes another summer, Snoopy!" --Charlie Brown

Seems like our family's littlest one might have been thinking the same thing at the playground the other day...

And so, with the thought of how fast the calendar year is speeding by, I was especially interested in an article posted by Elizabeth Spann Craig, Bestselling Cozy Mystery Author titled, "How to Slow Time for More Relaxed Creative Writing Sessions" by Colleen M. Story, author of Overwhelmed Writer Rescue. In the article, Story gives tips to "help you slow your perception of time so that when you do get a moment to write, you can approach it with a calm, relaxed state of mind."

Good stuff here. I appreciated her suggestions, especially "slow down your movements." Story continues, "When you purposely slow your physical motions down, you signal your brain that you have plenty of time, which helps you to feel more relaxed." Other tips are equally valuable. If you find yourself feeling stressed over not having enough time to write, you might check out this post. Conceivably the advice could help in other areas of life's time management challenges as well.

Except maybe the speed of passing summer days. Increasingly, they seem to be on speed dial :-)

Any advice on how to get a handle on time--in writing or otherwise?

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A Poetry Day, In Pictures

What a day made for poetry! An historic solar eclipse first of all--itself an amazing phenomenon. Though only a partial in our neck of the woods, we still felt its impact. But prior to that was a morning walk in which roadside flowers put on their own stylish display, albeit less dramatic. It's as if I'd been invited to one of Nature's poetry readings, filled with resonance, heart-lifts, smiles...

Although I have no personal snapshots of the eclipse, here are samples from my 'poetry' walk among the flowers (with quotes): 

"The poet doesn't invent. He listens." 

--Jean Cocteau, French writer (1889-1963)

"The poetry of earth is never dead." 

--John Keats, English poet (1795-1821)

"Poetry is the language of surprises." 

--Steven Taylor Goldsberry, The Writer's Book of Wisdom

"It is the job of poetry to clean up our world-clogged reality by creating silences around things." 

--Steven Mallarme, French poet (1842-1898)

"Poetry is not always words." 

--Terri Guillemets, quotations collector and founder of The Quote Garden

"Poetry begins in delight and ends in wisdom." 

--Robert Frost, American poet (1874-1963)

Poetry: a moment, a tug, an echo, an awakening. An experience, a discovery, a dance, a flight. A glimpse, a hint, a mystery, hope. 

poetry speaks in

heartprints but like fingerprints

no two are alike

                                    --Kenda Turner

Have any poetic moments spoken to you lately?

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