I'm Writing Again...

I'm writing again, which is totally awesome and wonderful, I'll talk about that in a bit....

But first, tomorrow is Fat Tuesday, the end of Mardi-Gras in New Orleans-and GO NEW OLREANS! Six months after Katrina the party is alive and kickin' and embodying the phrase "survive." My trip to New Orleans 12 years ago (cannot believe it's been a dozen years, wow!) was one of the best of my life-it is a great place filled with culture and celebration and I highly reccomend visiting it if you ever get the chance!

However, I myself don't need Mardi-Gras or Fat Tuesday to celebrate-for I believe that each day and every single moment we are given in this life-it is all worth celebrating! I think Hurricane Katrina taught us that-at least it did for me! At any rate, congratulations New Orleans-and Happy Mardi-Gras-let's party!!! It's celebration time-come on!!!

So, kick your heels up with me and read on....

Today I'm celebrating writing, one of my favorite things in life- I'm even celebrating my own writing-or at least the incredible journey and insight(s) it brings me each day!

This tough poetry class I'm taking is bringing out the writer in me-which is fantastic!

I've written poetry off and on since I was 10 or 11-then from the ages of 14-19, I wrote A LOT of poetry. And then, when I moved to Las Vegas-I kind of just stopped. Sure, I wrote a few things here and there-like this past summer when I visited Reno-but overall, I wasn't really writing like I wanted to.

My poetry class is very hard-it's one of those things I call "one hour at a time," because if I took it "one day at at time," the class would drive me insane. But, I like challenges, do-able ones at least. I can embrace challenges and rise above them-and most of all, learn from them! And I am definitely learning from this challenge of my poetry class-I'm doing very well in it-and best of all, it has re-awakened the writer in me. She's always been there, she just took a long nap I guess. LOL!

Anyway, the last few weeks, I've been writing constantly-either in my head-or on actual paper (acutally physically writing out the poems), revising the poems and then re-working them. This poetry class has taught me that poetry does not have to make sense (heck, most of it doesn't), does not have to ryme (although I prefer my own poetry to ryme) and does not have to define itself-it just is.

However, this poetry class has made me write more purposefully-when I sit down to write now I have no idea where I'll end up-(which is more than okay), but I always end up having something (usually) profound to say. I don't write to ryme now, I just write to write-I spoke about this a few months back-about how I write in this blog without ryme or reason. But the truth is, every word that comes out of us writers is purposeful, and meaningful, even if only for us writers ourselves. Another thing this class is teaching me that it's okay to revise my poetry-to kink it and re-write it: I used to just write a poem and that was it-I'd never think to revise it or re-write it, now I do. My latest poem "Forgiveness Equals Freedom,"**** took six drafts before it was finished. Another poem, "Chasing Birthdays,"***** also took about four or five tries before I got it right-to say exactly what I wanted it to say-so very awesome when that happens-when it all just comes together-great!

The other thing this class is teaching me about my own writing of poetry is that poems can be long-there's poems in my class poetry book that are literally pages long-they're little novella poems-and that's very cool. Sometimes writing just can't be contained or condensed to fit one page-kinda like life-very interesting. I always said (and my teachers agreed) that although I am short and sweet, I rarely write that way. I CAN write that way, and I have, but most of the time, I don't choose to. I like writing longer poems because I want the reader of the poem to take the journey with me-to understand the length that I went through to write the poem-the join me on the path that I took to say what I wanted to say. I can't say most things in five lines-besides, really profound things are meant to be lengthy-and make you stop and think. If something's too short, you don't give a second glance-it becomes easy to overlook-to miss-to take advantage of*; therefore, my longer poetry has just been explained. Anyhow, I love writing, whether it's poetry or this blog or whatever-I just love to write! I used to say "I want to be a writer," but now I realize that I AM A WRITER-and a pretty good one at that**!

The great thing about personal writing is that it's never set in stone-it's never completely finished-maybe that's why writer's live so long-becuase they have so much to say-and can't leave this Earth until they've said it all-I guess that means I'll be living a long while--good news; scary, exciting thrilling-overall good!******

Anyhow, writing is a process, and it forces you to choose your words wisely, to get to the point, to be comfortable with the uncharted and the unknown. Writer's aren't afraid of either; which means that we're pretty courageous people-people who bravely share our opinions, insecurities, thoughts, memories and stories with the world--and good for us, someone has to tell the truth-whatever that truth is for them-it begs sharing, it begs realization, it begs honesty. I hope I'm making sense...

While we're on the subject of writers, I'll say that my favorite poet is William Blake my favorite poem (by another poet) is still undecided.

At this percise moment, it's time for me to catch some sleep-but I promise that in my next entry-I'll provide "definitions," for what poetry is***. I hope this entry has made some sort of sense to you, and if it hasn't, that's okay-in the true fashion of a writer-it made sense to me-and when it comes to this blog-that's all I require of it!

Many Blessings to You All!

In Light & Love,
-Sarah Liz :)

*Maybe that's why people take advantage of me in public-people I don't know, because I'm short, mm, lightbulb moment! :)
**I'm not the BEST writer, but I do have a talent for it, like anything else, I need to indulge, encourage and learn more about my craft. But I think it's okay to own your talents and be proud of them-as long as I always remember that talent (like everything in life) is ultimately another gift from God! :)
***Although poetry, like life, can never be truly defined-and isn't that what makes both so interesting and fun? I think so! :)
****"Forgiveness Equals Freedom" (C) 2006 Sarah Liz
Title cannot be re-used or copied without permision!
*****"Chasing Birthdays" (C) 2006 Sarah Liz
Title cannot be re-used or copied without permission!
******I am excited about my life-I don't know where I'll be in 10 years; and I know that the next ten will not necessarily be easy-life never is-but I am so excited when I think about all of the wonderful experiences I'll have-the fun I'll have, the people I'll meet, and the lessons I'll learn! I'm in no hurry to push time along, but I am embracing the future! I wish more people could be excited about it!