Heavenly percussion
is punctuating
piano melodies
rising up stairs to
the rhythm of rain.
Confucius says… June 25, 2011
Let a man be stimulated by poetry, established by the rules of propriety, and perfected by music. – Confucius
It makes you wonder if Confucius knew Ben, doesn’t it?
choice limerick
He’s clueless why he always loses.
He shouts as he makes more excuses.
While he shrieks about fairness,
there’s no self-awareness,
That life comes from just what he chooses.
choosing a future June 23, 2011
Stuff happens in life.
Sometimes the ramifications of some of our choices are not quite what we hoped. New choices are needed. Difficult choices.
So it is for the many teens who become parents. Choosing to work through the challenges brings many options. Some are easy. Some are hard. Usually the hardest ones are the the ones that bring the most reward.
We have to applaud those kids who take their responsibilities very seriously. There are some very special kids who take on parenthood. They may not have intended to become parents so early, but they accept the job knowing that it is a life work that requires diligence, sacrifice and difficult choices. They adore their children and do what needs to be done to craft a future that will be good for both of them. Balancing school and parenthood is not a road we would wish on any of our students, but those kids who do it well deserve some applause. We are glad there are supports in the community to assist them to be the great parents and the strong students that they need to be.
So, congratulations (to my former student) Catherine on your graduation, and on the greater accomplishment of being such a great mom to Damien. I am looking forward to watching you choosing your future, step by step.
flaming bridges June 22, 2011
March on
there is no going back
to the poverty of that place
the weakness of spirit
the negative helplessness
that grabs and pulls at rescuers
like a frantic drowning man.
March on
to the sunrise over the hill
to the success that awaits
to the skilled craftsmen
No more wasted hours while poor work unfolded
and you bought things you didn’t need in kind charity.
No more frustration at the
self-imposed and self-declared uselessness.
March on
and shake the dust off the sandals.
♪ There will be poor always,
pathetically struggling ♪
You have done what you could
and now you are free
to stomp over the bridge
march on.
Amanda Hocking June 21, 2011
How do I know that I am Canadian? Every time I go to write the name of young e-book millionaire Amanda Hocking, I start by writing “Hockey.” Yeah.
.
Amanda Hocking is a success story. She wasn’t being picked up by traditional publishers. She believed she had a good product in her urban fantasy novels about trolls, and so she uploaded her first books onto smashword.com, an e-book store. They started selling. Obviously she had found a niche that appreciated her story telling ability and the fictional worlds she created. She treats writing as a full time job. She crafts her stories and writes with focus. She writes fast as well, completing a book a month. It’s prolific to have 10 books out in a year! Since she uploaded her first urban fantasy novel spring of 2010, Amanda has received a million dollars in royalties on e-books that sell for 99c and $2.99. The fact is, she gets to keep so much higher percentage, she has made more than she could using a traditional publisher.
So why use one?
Amanda is an example of how the publishing industry is changing. Once upon time, traditional publishers were the only way to access the market, but now authors can upload their books to Amazon or other ebook purveyors, and they are instantly available to readers around the world.
Once upon a time, traditional publishers were the key way to promote and market your book, but now authors maintain their own websites, Twitter accounts and communicate directly with their readers.
In my contract with my traditional publisher, I was required to keep a website and arrange speaking dates. When all was said and done, I was likely to see about $1 per book in royalties. I will do all the same things dealing directly with my readers through my inde pub house, and I’ll be earning double that. Hmm. I think we’re onto something here.
♫ The times ♪ they are ♫ a-changing. ♪
the gentle art of the critique June 20, 2011
Or it my case, the brutal crush of the criticism.
I live in a world that requires critical evaluation. Every year I have my students complete a questionnaire about their year so I can use their feedback to become a better teacher the next year. I submit my literary babies to be studied by editors whose job is finding things I did badly. When I have a harp lesson, the teacher’s job is to tell me what are the weak areas in my playing. When I am taking a dance class, the teacher’s job is to point me out in the middle of class and say, “You’re not doing that move correctly”
In every aspect of my life, I expect to be offered helpful advice. In many cases I am paying good money to be told that I stink at something. What would be the point of doing any of these things if I didn’t want to get better at them? How could I get better at them without someone showing me exactly what I’m doing wrong?
This is why I don’t understand the people who ask for advice, but spend all their time arguing or denying when the suggestions are given.
I’ve been to Author Blue Pencils where the author critiquing my work spends more time telling me that I’m free to take or leave her suggestions than actually giving me practical advice. Now I tell them straight out that I’m there to listen. Most recently, I tell them exactly what I want them to help me with. e.g. “I think this area is weak, what suggestions can you make?” or “Is this exposition clear enough?” They are always so relieved that I really want honesty and that I can ask intelligent questions to clarify what they’re telling me that I get great feedback. Even if I disagree with them, when I’ve heard their advice, I go home and look at the work and ponder. I almost always edit later taking their suggestions into account. People who are successful in your field will give you invaluable information, what kind of fool are you when you discount it?
I am okay with separating an action from my personal value. Because I don’t do a ‘half Amaya hip slide’ correctly, does not mean I’m stupid, incompetent, or bad. It means I need to spend some time working on that skill. That’s all.
Because I expect feedback and critiques in all areas of my life, I have trouble with people who get all defensive and argumentative when they are given advice. I tend to lay things out plainly and expect rational consideration. I recognise that I have all the finesse of a blunt stick at times. I don’t want to hear whining. I give my opinion. I just want them to consider what I am saying and how following my advice might improve their writing, business, or whatever.
So here is some advice for you: If someone offers you suggestions meant to help you, quit wasting your time complaining about the injustice of the comments or how the advisor is so mean to you and put your energy into thinking about the information they’ve given you. It doesn’t matter if you agree right away, but you have to start by accepting that there are other perspectives than your own and you have something to learn in studying other perspectives. If it is a professional comment, be professional in how your receive it. Thank the client for telling you. Many clients will simply smile, tell you things are great, but then they don’t return and they tell their friends what they didn’t like about your business. Be very thankful for a client who helps you improve and grow.
No one who is successful in life runs from criticism. It is the manna the feeds the improvements that they must build on.
Choose to be successful.
choices June 19, 2011
Everyday we make choices.
Some choices improve our lives and the lives of others’ we touch.
Some choices mire us down.
Dwelling on the negative things means that all we see is the negative.
I realised a few years ago that I was actually creating my own misery, by focusing on complaints about my world .
I made a conscious choice to find the good things in my life. I chose to look at all the things that I am thankful for, and to concentrate on celebrating new things to be appreciative of each day. It made a huge difference.
I meet more and more people who come to the place where they make the decision to stop making excuses for their unhappiness and take control of the only thing they can- their response to their situation.
- To find joy.
- To welcome the positive things that improve all aspects of their lives.
- To refuse to be a victim of their circumstances.
When I meet someone, I would like to hear a voice celebrating the good things in life with a joyful confidence, and I would like to hear a creation of joyful things from their life just as it is. Today.
Negative people are hard to be around. Their energy sucks happiness from the others around them. It is as if the dark cloud of their world view puts a shadow all around them. Who wants to be the cloud that people try to avoid? I briefly went to a salon where a hairdresser complained about her life with the other stylists the whole time she was cutting hair. After three visits that were the same, I stopped going to that salon. She wasn’t even my stylist, but she destroyed the atmosphere. You want to feel pampered and uplifted for your money when you’re in a salon. You don’t want to be bummed out, particularly when what you hear suggests that the whiner really doesn’t have much cause to be complaining.
So when faced with a life situation that seems terrible, consider your choices. Where is the blessing that you are meant to find in this experience? What can you learn that will turn this negative into a positive?
No one else is your living your life, but your life touches others. How do you want to influence them? Will they think of you with a fond smile, or with a sad shake of the head?
Mrs. D was a patient I worked with when I candystriped in Extended Care as a teen. I don’t know for sure, but I suspect she had ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, because she had progressively less movement over the years. All the candystripers wanted to visit with her and to feed her. She was so nice, friendly and interested in others. She was unable to move her legs or life her arms. She controlled her wheelchair with a hand wrapped onto a giant toggle at the beginning. Four years later she had to blow through a tube to control it. She had some difficulty swallowing. She needed assistance in every aspect of her life, but she had joy and she shared it with others. Mrs. P was a patient we all tried to avoid. She spit out her food declaring, “Don’t like that!” She shrieked at us. She had much more movement, but she was much more unhappy. She was unpleasant to be around. When we went first to feed Mrs. D, she would send us to help ,Mrs P first. She was a blessing to the others around her, even when she was in the worst possible situation herself.
If Mrs. D could be kind, happy and caring, what is our excuse?
Choose joy.
tweet tweet June 18, 2011
I didn’t get the whole Twitter thing. I still don’t. When I first met with Crystal of Gumboot Books, she told me it would be good for me to get onto Twitter, but I couldn’t understand why I’d want to, so I just left it, and concentrated on Facebook and this blog. Today I heard the term “micro-blogging” and something clicked. So now I’m on Twitter.
I picked out some people to follow, and I am desperately hoping that none of them post pointless minutia of their days. I would like to receive interesting or amusing posts. In return, I thought I would post updates on the publishing of Grace Awakening and little poems every day or two.
If you’d like to follow my little offerings, please click the link down there at the bottom of the right column. I’d be happy to have you.
Follow me @ShawnLBird
Shawn L. Bird 
HA! June 24, 2011
Tags: boys, mudpies, postaday2011
I love this kid’s delivery.
Can’t say I’m really fond of Walmart and the local attempt to develop land on a sensitve flood plain, but I love this ad. This kid is fantastic.
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