For the New Year and Beyond

photo taken on walk, December 2020

Hear this blessing in song featuring Kids from Different Nations. Beautiful.

With wishes for a blessed and healthy new year to all who stop by here at Words and Such. This post marks the completion of eleven years of blogging. What a rich and blessed ride it has been. Thanks to all whom I've met on the journey and any who randomly drop by. May all your (writing and otherwise) dreams come true.

Happy New Year!

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On Kind Words: a Japanese Proverb

one day at the end of November 2020

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End-of-October Reflection

October 2020

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And Above All According to Dahl

late September colors 2020

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What We Write: Richard Peck Quote

August 2020

😊

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Poesy vs. Posy

dayflower July 2020

Poesy (n)--poetical works, poetry, the work or the art of poetic composition (archaic); from Latin poesis, to create

Posy (n)--a flower or a bunch of flowers, a bouquet or nosegay

Poesy vs. posy. The words are similar in pronunciation. The values assigned to each have similar characteristics--beauty, wonder, creativity. I discovered this little marvel of a posy along the roadside on a recent walk, the dayflower. So named because it blooms for only one day. How timely I came along just on that day. As Keats says, poesy should be a friend to soothe the cares and lift thoughts. Stumbling on a chance wildflower is like a friend as well. This posy in particular makes me think of a skier with her legs extended out of the ski lift high above the mountain!

Random and serendipitous flowers and sometimes poetry, too. Have you stumbled unexpectedly upon either one that has lifted your thoughts lately?

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One Word at a Time

on June walk 2020

I found myself drawn to the latest revelation of roadside weeds, this specimen now proliferating up the hill where I walk. A bold plant, tall and strong and with wooly leaves, I wondered what it could be. Turns out it is mullein, a giant spike of a plant that comes from the snapdragon family and sports bright, compact yellow flowers. Throughout history the plant has gone by various names, including candlewick plant since it was used in Roman times as a torch, as well as Jacob's staff and Aaron's rod. But is it only a weed, or does it have any value?

Well, who knew? Although considered bothersome and weedy by some, others claim it has benefits for respiratory health. I don't know how true this is, but one can find a mullein tea on the market. What I do know is that the plant caught my attention when I chose to really  look. The flowers are beautiful and the plant's presence is certainly dramatic up and down the landscape.

Staying observant, being attentive, fostering curiosity--all can play into creativity and imaginative directions in our lives. So why not stay curious and tune in, one marvel at a time? And if we take it one word (especially a kind word, a caring, encouraging, appreciative, valuing word) at a time, maybe Stephen King's writing advice can be adapted to life itself, transforming what might seem like weeds in our relationships into beneficial flowers. Yes, one (healing) word at a time...

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What Writing Is...Described 22 Different Ways

KT Photo: May 2020

I continue to be drawn to writing, even if it's only scribbling in a journal, making sense of the notes I jot down and stuff in a pocket, revisiting and revising an old project, or starting a new one. Like James Michener (above), I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle. I also love quotes. Through the years I've collected quite a few--on a variety of subjects and from all kinds of sources.

So, while recently gleaning through my collection (and trying to pare it down!), I found--not surprisingly--numerous quotes on writing. Some speak of the process of writing. Others of the joy of writing. Some share writing advice on while others inspire, stir, and admonish. But the ones that jumped out at me on this run-through were the ones that started out with "Writing is..." 

Writing is...what? How to describe? Well, taking from my collection, here are 22 quotes that attempt to do just that:

 1. "Writing is thinking on paper." --William Zinsser

 2. "Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go." --E.L. Doctorow

 3. "Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers." --Isaac Asimov

 4. "The act of writing is the act of discovering what you believe." --Gustave Flaubert

 5. "Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don't feel I should be doing something else." --Gloria Steinem

 6. "Writing is not like painting where you add. It is not what you put on the canvas that the reader sees. Writing is more like a sculpture where you remove, you eliminate in order to make the work visible. Even those pages you remove somehow remain." --Elie Wiesel

 7. "Writing is like a bird-watcher watching for birds: The stories are there; you just have to train yourself to look for them." --Barbara Micheals, author of The Wizard's Daughter

 8. "Writing is an extreme privilege but it's also a gift. It's a gift to yourself and it's a gift of giving a story to someone." --Amy Tan

 9. "Good writing is like a windowpane." --George Orwell

10. "Writing is like jazz. It can be learned, but it can't be taught." --Paul Desmond

11. "Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words." --Mark Twain

12. "Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead." --Gene Fowler

13. "Writing is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent elimination." --Louise Brooks

14. "Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay." --Flannery O'Connor

15. The act of writing is an act of optimism. You would not take the trouble to do it if you felt it didn't matter." --Edward Albee

16. "It's the sheer act of writing, more than anything else, that makes a writer." --John Gardner

17. "The act of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair." --Mary Heaton Vorse

18. "Writing is making sense of life. You work your whole life and perhaps you've made sense of one small area." --Nadine Gordimar

19. "Putting pen to paper encourages pause for thought making us think more deeply even if our writing is thrown away." --Norbet Platt

20. "Writing is a struggle against silence." --Carlos Fuentes

21. "Writing is both mask and unveiling." --E.B. White

22. "Planning to write is not writing. Outlining...researching...talking to people about what you're doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing." --E.L. Doctorow

Which quote speaks to you the most? How would you describe writing? What do you collect?

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Haiku in Yellow

on the day of the goldfinch sighting April 2020

goldfinch buoyant on

waves of wind, yellow bobber

up down up down up

                                                                                              --Kenda Turner

...and she smiles remembering the moment...

Haiku, walks, wordplay, sunshine, children's laughter (even if only on video chats)--and the goldfinch--are some of the bright spots that bring smiles my way while traveling this difficult path of the coronavirus. And the poem by Emily Dickinson, familiar to many, comes to mind:

HOPE IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS

by Emily Dickinson

"Hope" is the thing with feathers,

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all.

Wishing you bright spots, smiles, health and hope as you travel through these days, too.

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Poems for the Times

Photos: March 2020
Template: Canva.com

Hoping this finds everyone safe and well in these times of uncertainty. In my little corner of the world, spring is displaying her beauty and each time I went out for a walk in recent days (thankfully, I can do that in my neighborhood), I found myself snapping pictures along the way. Sharing a collage of the beauty here along with a haiku I penned in response to troubling times.

And speaking of poems in response to the times, have you seen the poem Lockdown, penned by Brother Richard Hendrick, a priest in Ireland? I found it here at Irish Central but understand that it was first posted on facebook March 13, and has since been viewed tens of thousands of times. Resonating words for many...

Lockdown

by Richard Hendrick

Yes there is fear.
Yes there is isolation.
Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.
But,
They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighbourhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.

March 13th 2020

Heart-touching and truth-telling...

Do you read poetry? What poets/poetry books particularly speak to you, both in good times and bad?

Wishing all the very best in the days to come. Stay well. Love. Sing.

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Value of a Walk, by Thoreau

Background photo February 2020

Grateful for morning walks still--I come back with so much more than when I went out. Perspective, inspiration, writing ideas, insight, renewed hope, sorting through the muddles, prayer--so many benefits. Yes, I vote with Thoreau--moving the legs makes the thoughts flow, and in a good way. How about you, does walking/being outside help open the spigot of helpful insights for you? 

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New Year, New Projects

"Trust that still, small voice that says, 'This might work, and I'll try it.'" --Diane Mariechild

Looking ahead to new writing projects, continued exploration of storytelling and poetry, and trying my hand at importing text to images--thanks to canva.com, a new playground for me.

What will be your creativity playground of choice this year?

background, canva.com

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Post-From-the-Past, December Archives

December 2019

Wow, closing out another year, closing out a decade and, for me, closing out ten years of blogging. And it's been fun looking back on the projects, writing and otherwise, that have filled some of my time in those years--one being the photo-a-day exercise I undertook back in 2012. So I have chosen my "Photo-A-Day: December" post to complete my post-from-the-past series. Hope you enjoy as you anticipate all those projects begging for your attention in the new year ahead!
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Monday, December 31, 2012

Photo-A-Day: December

"How did it get so late so soon? It's night before it's afternoon. December is here before it's June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?" --Dr. Seuss

Not only did December seemingly get here before June this year, so did the new year the way the last twelve months flew by. Was it the same for you?

Yet as this year closes and another begins, milestones are noted and memories are catalogued. And in particular, my photo-a-day challenge comes to an end. Wow. So hard to believe it really got done. I surprised myself, really. Didn't have much confidence going in, I guess. But, the results?

366 days (Leap year, remember?) minus 4 equals 362 pictures. Well, many more than that actually since some days I took multiple pictures and chose one from the lot, but I did it. I only missed those four days total. Two because (ahem) I forgot. And two because I misplaced my camera. It had fallen out of my purse into the backseat of the car, and we couldn't locate it for awhile. Good intentions are good but life happens! Other than that, I looked forward to the moment each day that I picked up the camera. Some days I pocketed it as I went for my walk. Some days I was in the right place at the right time and had it handy. Some days--particularly on our fantastic November trip--I couldn't stop snapping photos. And then there were the late nights, just before going to bed, that I realized I had *almost* forgotten and so hit the deadline just before the night turned to the next day.

I found I loved the challenge. It was a great deal of fun. And as I snapped today's photo, the last of the last, I found myself feeling a bit  nostalgic. "You mean it's over already?"

Well, not really. I have all these things to carry with me from the experience like inspiration on:

Detail. Patterns. Texture. Contrast. Serendipity. Surprise. Ideas. Visualization. 

Light and Shadow. Wonder. Nuance. The Unexpected. Focal Point. 

Particularization. Emotion. A Character's World. Insight. Tributes. Whimsy. 

Potpourri. Travel and Story. Fairy Tales.

Along the way I learned about nurturing the creative side, waking up to beauty in the simple things, the value of trying something new, perseverance. All lessons that will carry over into a new year's writing projects, too.

I'm still contemplating what might be my challenge for the new year. It will involve writing, of course, and reading. It should incorporate stretching--as in reaching for a new level--and passion. We'll see what ideas gel in the next few days.

In the meantime, here is the final photo-a-day gallery. You'll see that there was much to celebrate this month, including the birth of our second granddaughter, born 12/12/12, and special family time. Hope you enjoy. And thanks for stopping in with wishes to each and everyone for a wonderful, creative, and happy new year!

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Rewinding back to the present: Wishing all a happy new year :-) And if you'd like to review all the months of my photo-a-day project, check out the photo-a-day challenge link under the Words and Such banner above. (Oh, and the granddaughter mentioned above in the photos? She's now seven years old. Double wow!)

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Post-From-the Past, November Archives

November 2019

Sharing my post-from-the past for this month with wishes to all for a happy Thanksgiving. It's been six years since I first posted this, and I enjoyed reviewing it. Hope you enjoy it, too!

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Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Thanksgiving Eve Thoughts

November 2013

"On the banks of the James River, a husband erected a tombstone in memory of his wife, one of those 100 maidens who had come to Virginia in 1619 to marry the lonely settlers. The stone bore this legend: 'She touched the soil of Virginia with her little foot and the wilderness became a home.'"
                            --Eudora Ramsey Richardson

The power of a tiny step...
The power of a kind word, of an outreached hand...
The power of a grateful heart, of enduring hope...
The power of love.

Maybe it all starts so small.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Post-From-the-Past, October Archives

October 2019

One of my granddaughters recently said that I have so many books, my house is like a library. I like the sounds of that, especially as the year begins to tip into the colder months and I relish the idea of cozying up to read on a chilly day. And so, in the spirit of those of us who love books and can't seem to not be able to collect more, I offer this month's post-from-the past, October 2014 archives:

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

A Love Affair: 14 Quotes on Books and Reading

photo courtesy of pixabay.com

Oh, this love affair with books. It will endure for some of us for a long, long time. Never-ending TBR piles, recommendations, classics, favorites. Why are they so special to us?

I decided to explore what others say about books and reading. Some of my discoveries:

1. "If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking." --Haruki Murakami

2. "There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all." --Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

3. "The books you don't read won't help." --Jim Rohn

4. "There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read." --Gilbert K. Chesterton

5. "It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it." --Oscar Wilde

6. "Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?"-- Henry Ward Beecher

7. "I divide all readers into two classes; those who read to remember and those who read to forget." --William Lyon Phelps

8. "You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend." --Paul Sweeney

9. "A book is a device to ignite the imagination." --Alan Bennett

10. "A good book has no ending." --R.D. Cumming

11. "Books have that strange quality, that being of the frailest and tenderest matter, they outlast brass, iron, and marble." --William Drummond, Bibliotheca Edinburgena Lectori

12. "Modern writers are the moons of literature; they shine with reflected light, with light borrowed from the ancients." --Samuel Johnson

13. "I would rather be a poor man in a garret with plenty of books than a man who did not love reading." --Thomas Babington Macaulay

14. "Novels are sweets." --William Makepeace Thackeray, Roundabout Papers: On a Lazy Idle Boy

And we thought sugar was addictive? Ha!

Have a great rest of the week, everyone.

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Post-From-the-Past, September Archives

Of all the quotes on writing I've collected (many of them posted one time or another here at Words and Such over the past nine-plus years), the following is my all-time favorite. It's recorded on a small slip of paper and sits on my desk as a daily reminder. I run this post once again as my post-from-the-past choice for September in the hopes it inspires others, too:

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Inclination and Connecting the Dots

courtesy google images

"No pen, no ink, no table, no room, no time, no quiet, no inclination." --James Joyce

"The fourth quarter of the year is upon us (fourth? what happened to the other three??) and I'm determined to read this quote every day for the next three months. Simple words but very motivating. For the inclination (n: disposition or bent; something to which one is inclined) to write truly starts with something as basic as a pen. Add to that then a place, time, quiet...

And the dots begin to be connected, the story picture we have in our heads begins to be drawn. Inclination is fostered, not squelched. Nothing new here, but reminders are always good."

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Post-From-the-Past, August Archives

Down memory lane...

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

"Today Was Good"

Summer fun 2010

Today was good.

Today was fun.

Tomorrow is another one.

--Dr. Seuss

"...Playing while Mommy is out of town. Just had to share. Hope you had a fun day, too. Writing will be the better for it after we stop swinging."

There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million. --Walt Streightiff

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summer fun, August 2019

Fast-Forward to present, 9 years later: The little one above is now 11 and oldest of six grandkids. All were together this month as the family made a trip to the Smokies. This time, with her siblings and cousins around, she led them in hikes, movie making on the cellphone, and being a look out for all the bears we saw.

Once again we say, "Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one!"

Hope your summer has been a good one--with any bear sightings kept to a safe distance!

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Post-From-the-Past, July Archives

summer 2019

"Question on the run: What's unusual about (the word) unquestionably?" --James J. Kilpatrick

That was the question of this month's post-from-the-past for July, "Weekend Trivia." Scroll down to get the answer.

Speaking of on the run, our yard has been overrun with rabbits this year. Do you have lots of the cute little critters around, too?

Hope you enjoy the re-post. It might be a little like running down another rabbit hole, but it was a fun one to write, and one of my favorites.

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Friday, July 20, 2012

Weekend Trivia

"A question on the run: What's unusual about unquestionably? Answer: It contains all five vowels and the letter y. I leave it to you to discover why facetious, abstemious and abstentious are collector's items." --James J. Kilpatrick

I've added this bit of trivia to my collection of English language absurdities and unusual facts. Find any word-loving tidbits for your collection lately?

p.s. Facetious (adj. "having the habit of joking") I sorta' knew. But abstemious and abstentious? Well, abstentious, it turns out, means the same as...abstemious. And abstemious? It means "sparing in eating and drinking; moderate." Confused yet?

So, are you going to be abstemious and abstentious this weekend? (She asks facetiously.) Hope your weekend is unquestionably super.

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(And back to present now--as I reread this post, I'm struck by the mystery that I missed the first time around. Just what is Mr. Kilpatrick's tease all about, that it's left up to us to discover why facetious, abstemious and abstentious are collector's items? Hmmm, wonder what he's alluding to? Must be more to this than meets the eye. Here we go, down another rabbit hole! If you are able to solve the mystery, let me know!)

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Post-From-the-Past, June Archives

courtesy Google images

"In reading...stories, you can be many different people in many different places, doing things you would never have a chance to do in ordinary life. It's amazing that those twenty-six little marks of the alphabet can arrange themselves on the pages of a book and accomplish all that. Readers are lucky--they will never be bored or lonely." --Natalie Babbitt

Are you still amazed at what those twenty-six little marks of the alphabet can do? I am. It's an ongoing fascination, I think, no matter how old we writers--and readers--get. As Natalie Babbitt (award-winning author of the modern classic Tuck Everlasting) so aptly reminds us, those 26 little scratchings take us places we'd never have a chance of visiting in ordinary life and give opportunity for so many amazing encounters along the way. Boredom is not a word in our vocabulary!

Babbitt's quote is also an apt lead-in to the next repost in my post-from-the-past series, this one from June 2015: One Writer's Alphabet to Writing a Novel. Enjoy the travel back in time...

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Saturday, June 6, 2015

One Writer's Alphabet Soup To Writing a Novel

by Kenda Turner

photo courtesy google.com/images

"When I was having that alphabet soup, I never thought that it would pay off." --Vanna White

A writer subconsciously develops her own alphabet soup when it comes to writing a novel--those key elements, basic rules, discoveries, weaknesses to watch for, areas to develop, exploratory tangents, and microscopic and telescopic revisions that take her to the finished product. I discovered this when I reviewed journal entries I recorded during the time I wrote my first book. I recently reviewed those notes while my current WIP simmered on the back burner for a few days. What an education--there was something for each letter of the alphabet!

One Writer's Alphabet Soup to Writing a Novel

A...active voice...action...action words...atmosphere

B...backstory (enough but not too much)...beginning (jump in)

C...causality...character development...clarity...clichés...complications...conflict...connections
...consistency...craft

D...description...detail...development...dialect...dialogue...discovery

E...edit...emotion...end linked to beginning...ending (satisfying)...energy...essence

F...flexibility...focus...foreshadowing...frame

G...genre...goals...grammar...growth (character and author!)

H...heart...historical accuracy...hook...human dignity

I...imagery...inciting incident...infinite-verb phrase openings (“Looking up slowly, she…”)

J...jell...journal...journey...joys

K...kaleidoscope...kernel...knead...knit

L...landscape...language..listen...location...loose ends (tied up)

M...magical...main character as problem solver (not bystander)...malleable...metaphor...middle slump...motivation...mystery

N...names...narration...narrative arc...narrator

O...obstacles...opening...overthinking (as in, don't!)

P...pace...page turners...patterns...pauses...place...placing character (where doesn’t want to be)...plot...plot holes...plot lines...plot points...plot twists...point of view...punch...punctuation

Q...quest...questions (and answers)...quotes

R...reading level...redundancy (check by using document's 'Find' feature)...resolution...revision

S...satisfying...scene...sensory details...sentences ending with prepositional phrase...sentence variety...serendipity...setting...show (don't tell)...sparkle...spelling...stakes...story structure... storytelling...style...subplot ...supporting characters...surprise...symbolism

T...tenses...tension...theme...threads...tightened form...title...timeline...tone...transitions...triggers

U...understandable...unexpected...unique

V...values...verb tense...viewpoint...vocabulary...voice

W...weak words (weed out)...wonder...word choice...word count...world building

X...(e)xact...(e)xtraordinary...X out the unnecessary

Y...yarn of a story...yawn (avoid)...yearnings...yes (or no)...yet (as in, doors haven’t opened yet)

Z...zenith...zest...zip

This is just a sample of one writer's alphabet soup--a savory mix to keep me going. Any ingredient you'd like to add? What does your writer's alphabet look like?

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And upon coming back to present time, want to read interesting facts about the English alphabet? Check out this link: Interesting Facts About the English Alphabet, by Richard Nordquist.

And this fun quote by Douglas Adams: " 'Why' is the only question that bothers people enough to have an entire letter of the alphabet named after it. The alphabet does not go 'A B C D What? When? How?' but it does go 'V W X Why? Z'." 

Creative, yes? Have a great week!

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