Why I Use the Title of Writer with Pride

Lately I have been reading several articles on being a writer and the embarrassed feeling people get when they own the title of “Writer”. I have never paid much attention to the public perception of a writer and truly find it strange that someone with such a creative mind can be dismissed as easily as a musician. I mean people like that are usually called flakes because we as a society have made it so very difficult to have jobs in the field of being creative. We gravitate towards work in construction, business or education as the paying jobs. Why are artists not as gainfully employed? Maybe it is just that where talents lie I always see direction when it comes to artistic people like myself.

 

I mean here I sit now with my day totally organized, my new career path as a personal trainer mapping out a little more every day, dinner cooking, dance gear organized, laundry done and in comfy clothes to sit and writer for a few minutes. It is almost a guilty pleasure to be able to spill out the words onto the screen and let it a fall where it may. And I suppose for most artists it is that way as art can never be called work. It is just not able to qualify. It is fun to create art, it is fun to be and artist and draw characters and then write about them. As a musician telling a story set to music and using poetry to balance the two that marry so well together is just not work.

 

Please understand I am not putting down artists I just think they have the best job in the world and feel very fortunate to be part of the creative and artistically strange and misunderstood segment of the population. I guess at this point I could bring up compensation for the jobs of being an artist. For the most part it is little to nothing. I know nothing as I have never been paid for writing and for my other artistic skills I have received very little in the way of finances. That goes for most of us. There is a passion that drives artists and it is not money. Some of the richest artists in the world are not great artists what they are, are masters at hiring the right person to mass market them and hitting a niche market that spends money on the fame. Not always the best, and sometimes the best are hidden away and never seen by the public. Can you imagine if the world was full of artists only? How dull it would become to be a human being on this planet.

Diversity speaks loudly when it comes to artists. The genre is diverse and within each genre is more and more to focus on. Sometimes as an artist it is difficult to find what it is you with to focus on and you want to do everything as most artists are very talented in many ways and can touch on several genres at a time. Be careful not spread yourself too thin. But to call myself a writer I do not feel like a flake. I happen to like flakes, especially snowflakes. And I do not feel that we should shy away from calling ourselves what we are. We are writers and we should be proud. Yes it is a comfy job when it pays and we get to live in our pj’s if we choose. So why are we frowned upon? Using the mind to help create play for others is not wrong, but glorious and entertaining.

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Children are Our Children, Not Kids

I often discuss respect and maybe today is no different but this one drives me crazy!!! Kids….kids….kids. No not my children, they are not driving me crazy, although sometimes other people who do not parent their children and their children are out of control drive me crazy, but not this time. It is the word "kids" and its constant use to refer to a human child.

 

Children in society have very few rights, have little say is the world and are one of our most vulnerable of populations. We often ignore them and disregard what they say as unimportant. So that with standing why is it that we continue to insult them further and not only insult but patronize and demean our most precious asset in the world, our children, by calling them kids?

 

It was my understanding that a kid was a baby goat, not a human child. When I gave birth to my children I do not recall giving birth to goats. I do not recall the sound of Nanny goats is the delivery room and I do not recall the smell of hay, nor do I recall any one calling my new born infant anything but a child, with respect.

 

We deliver such little respect to children in a general sense that calling them something they are not just seems to pile on the ignorance by the adults. My children are accustom to being called a child or the children. We have never addressed them any other way since they were born. It just seemed the right thing to do. After all they are not goats they are humans.

 

After some general research on the web I was unable to find any information as to why we call our children this sad and insulting name. Some of you may find goats cute and baby ones at that might be cute. My best guess as to why, is it came from the days when we were farmers and hunters and food was more scarce and some poor soul went and had some milk right from the goat like the baby did and maybe that stuck who knows? It is only a guess and a thought.

I never liked being called a kid when I was a child and remember fighting over that with people usually my older brothers even at times my parents. I just found it to be something that lowers a human being to the ground. And when we look back at the movies from the past and you can see the older man waving some change at young boy to get him to run an errand and shouts out to him “Hey kid.” That image of the elder taking respect but not giving it to the child runs in my mind and draws me to the present day and hearing people talk and how casually they will use the slang "kids" to describe their children.

 

 

I suppose I am never going to change the world but I hope my little corner has some understanding in this idea of respect to our children. Those who know me know that I stand with integrity and do my very best to be respectful to others. This includes the little ones around me and I call them all children with respect.

 

Give respect to our children by calling them children they deserve that.

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Islands of Plastic

 

It is amazing to me that I do not have anything to complain about and no curmudgeon to report. It actually is a very good feeling to not have a beef and an axe to grind for once. But now that I think of it that is sooooo not ture. I was speaking with a friend last night about the garbage dumps in our oceans. You know the ones we ignore and do not even realize are there!!!!!!

That is right human race we have created islands of garbage that float around in our oceans. There are about 5.2 trillion pieces of garbage mostly plastic according to The Nation Geographic magazine. That is astounding when I was a child the oceans were clean and we as people could enjoy the waters and see aquatic life on TV. Now it is just a dumping ground. So what gives us the right to turn our planet into this dumping ground?

 

Well nothing does, nothing gives us the right to raid the planet and leave it raped of its resources. That reminds me of the movie Independence Day in which the aliens that come to invade earth are really here to take the resources of the planet and use them for their own needs. That is what we are doing here. If you dig into some article you will find that we have out grown the planet as a population and the planet can no longer recover and regrow from what we take from it every day. Tis to me is very distressing. What do we need so much plastic for anyways?

 

I have yet to see the value of a plastic mayonnaise container and plastic pop bottle or even plastic anything for that matter. When the stuff burns it is toxic, it is toxic to produce (go ahead I dare you to do the research into that statement), it is non compostable, meaning it lasts for a multitude of years before it breaks down….well we could say the same thing about glass but at least glass is a natural product made from sand and it 100% recyclable. Oh there is the next rant ready and primed.

 

 

So recycling is it a myth or magic? Personally I believe that it is myth. Why you ask? Well considering I have seen our local refuse collector dump both boxes being grey and blue into the same compartment of his truck it leads me to wonder what happens next. Now I have never followed the garbage truck to personally see this but what really is the truth behind the recycling game? It has been reported by news magazine TV shows that it is not managed the way we believe it is and that it goes into the landfill, which I am inclined to believe as I do not see many products on the market claiming o be 100% recycled material. I am going to encourage you to look that one up too.

 

I guess I am just sick and tired of the human race being so destructive and so ugly over it all. I cannot stand the Kurig cups, plastic water bottles, sandwich bags, individual pudding cups or yogurt, even coffee cup lids and plastic cutlery, the list goes on. We abuse our planet by creating single use items and being lazy over convenience. And this pollution has all taken place over the last 100 years give or take a decade. What is so wrong with doing things far more green? Using a cloth sandwich bag and washing those bags. My family does that, we send real metal cutlery to school and have taught our children to bring home these items. I guess I have an expectation on the human race to be clean and neat and to stop being such complete assholes to this beautiful planet we have. Well maybe, just maybe my expectations are too high. I never though cleaning up after yourself was an issue.

 

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A Name, Is a Name, Is a Name or is It?

Have you ever wondered what’s in a name? Or do names just pass you by as if they are part of the wallpaper? I am the wall paper type …well up until just a few minutes ago when the thought about names came to me. I was just looking about the room and it dawned on me that everything in the room, outside the windows and into the world has a name. And that brought back the memory of my husband (at the time boyfriend) commenting why I gave everything he gave me a name.

Well I did not have an answer for him and I may not have an answer for you either as to why but the most sense it makes is so that we as humans can distinguish between things, people and places. All nouns have names. What brought about the smile to my face was the thought of Dr. Seuss’s Thing 1 and Thing 2 from The Cat in the Hat. The name of no name, the name that just came the name that was just given to a pair just like that. Sorry I can get carried away. But to understand a name is to understand its origin and the meaning behind it.

If we look at a baby name book we can find all the meanings of the most commons names. Elizabeth - next to God, Michael – who is like God etc. You get the idea. These being of course Christian examples. If we investigate other cultures and names we may find people have given a name not for what it means but given a name to match the spirit of the child, to match the personality. This is how many from our native North American culture have been named or have given names. I so love the idea of being named after truly who I am. Funny though, I may have gone my whole life without as I still feeling I am not fully there yet.

But we subdivide into multiple levels of names. Roses are all roses but then there are many different varieties such as tea roses and climbing roses and long stem and then in that we even give names to the more divided grouping to become the individual such as Woman, Martha Washington, Empress of the Garden and so on and so forth. But still what is in that name? Why do we name everything?

Can you imagine if we did not? What would our communication look like? It might be just a jumble of gestures, or a fragment of speech, even a disconnected gathering of both but would we be able to communicate our wants need and desires (that are even labeled and named), would we be like we are now? We freely communicate using words and body language and in those communications we use names to label what we are describing or what we have done or where we have been and who we have been with. Now back to Thing 1 and Thing 2, what if they have been given different names? What if they were the same but not called who they are? Would the story still be the same for us? I would think not for me any ways as I have an expectation from Seuss that leads me to believe I am going to hear crazy names and tongue twisting poetry that will make all ages giggle. So let’s look at something a little more complex. Toes…..that’s right our toes. They are named a simple and easily said word. It is not a proper noun so it get no special attention like capitalization in a sentence it is just toes. A word we have come to accept as the name for this body part. We all have them in some form or the other to some degree so we just accept that a toe is a toe is a foot with toes. But here is the twist, what if our toes, were in fact, not named toes but the name kumquats was given to them instead? Would we be laughing at such a great name for a body part or would we just accept the name for what it is….the name of a body part and give it respect?

As my children giggle behind me reading over my shoulder, giggling at my rhyming Seuss and me renaming toes to a fruit I come to the conclusion that names matter. They matter as a simple word that delineates a part of something to a name that is given to the grandest thing on the planet…a baby….life….the world…so the next time you use words please choose them wisely and give a small thought to the origin and to why something was named that name.  

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Autumn and the Glory of Just Outside Your Window

 

Well after ignoring the fact that I am a writer for almost four months I can say I am back. I have had the worst case of writer’s block you could imagine. But not only that I have had nothing to rant about. After we left our former dance studio and made the move to a more positive and honest studio atmosphere the desire to be negative and rant left me. I felt as if the clouds of doom had been lifted and we were free. So that left a void of the rant…it was gone but not forgotten. So today I thought I would bring some positive thoughts and images to your mind.

 

I rarely describe where I write as I like to be very private but the scene outside my window today is stunning. I write on the upper floor of our home and can see most of our back yard. The edges of the yard are lined with trees each one different. A red maple in the back far corner as the fence becomes irregular and juts into the neighbouring yard. We are flanked by six other properties as the shape of the yard is odd and long but wide in some places and then folds it’s way to the back where it become bent into a smaller version of itself. The Harlequin maple has dropped all of its leaves and sits waiting for winter to blast its way through and line the branches with snow. This is a majestic tree in the spring and summer. The leaves are a soft green in the centre and then a gentle green yellow towards the outside and the branches are overly full of leaves by the late spring. This tree fill up with so many leaves it looks as if it might topple over from the weight above, but it never has and it stands beautiful every year.

Between these two maple trees is a sugar maple. It has died but not quite. There is a very small amount of green leaves still clinging to it last branches. Sadly, it will need to be removed soon. The beech tree and the other tree that will remain unnamed, as I have no idea what variety it is, are still covered in leaves. The beech tree has not even turned yellow yet. The leaves still cling a brilliant green and rustle in the wind attached as if they will remain for the winter. The unknown tree has turned yellow. A bright and glowing colour that covers the branches with a silhouette of fall and the beauty I see from my window.

The grass remains green and scattered with fallen leaves of many colours and crinkled shapes. The vegetable garden is empty but for the last few pepper plants gaining the last rays of sunshine from the days ahead. Their green presence a reminder of the summer just past. The perennial spices remain too. Sage, thyme, mint, chocolate mint, lovage and rosemary all linger in the cooling weather and ready themselves for the long sleep ahead. I will see you all in the spring as you poke your heads up from your sleep. Thank you for your harvest gifts this year, we are grateful. I could almost smell each one of them in turn as I wrote their names.

 

The glow of the late morning sun sitting low on the horizon brings thoughts of the cold winter days ahead that will set before they awake. The short days that bring the sleep to the world and the refreshing of the land and lakes to come as they sleep alongside and protect the animals that rest over the cold months. But just before that the few days of glory, the days of the bright colours that decorate our landscape just outside our windows.

 

The dance of the leaves as they fall and swirl in the air plucked by the wind and laid down to rest of the soft grass. These leaves coloured so bright in the sun and the dull grey of a cloudy day bring beauty to a time before the cycle of the night. Before me through my window is a large maple coloured in orange as intense as the sun itself giving off the allure of heat it almost tricks the mind into believing there could be warmth there near it. White clouds in the distance give a definition to the depth of the colour and make seem as if it is brighter, more brilliant, more striking. All the while knowing the chill in the air is there and the smell of autumn has arrived as I look out my window to write.

 

All Photos By: Lisa Anne

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Are Our Ideas Are Own?

 

 

 

I often feel that my writing come out as I start the piece itself. A moment ago I had absolutely no idea of what topic I wanted to discuss today. I still have no idea. So I guess I will talk about ideas.

I have always been curious how the human mind works, curious to the point of taking human phycology 101. It was never explained to me where our ideas come from or how we come up with them. I know it is said that need it the cause of invention so I have always believed to a point that we developed things (for lack of a better word) to help us work more efficiently. But that still does not tell me where ideas come from.

The other day I had a knitting project idea, but it was not really my idea. It was someone else’s but I could modify it for my own purposes. So that leads me to think that we often get ideas from other. Is that stealing? Yes, I think it is if no credit is given to the owner of the original idea. Now that brings me to original. Do we have any more original ideas?

Let’s look at the love song. It has been said thousands of different ways in music from a soft ballad to the raunchiest of lyrics and yet we still write more and more and more songs about love and of course heart break. The ideas for musical compositions are original for the most part and are from the creative mind of the artist. So that leaves me thinking about other types of creativity such as knitting, sewing, and other forms of crafts Are the3wse really that creative and are the ideas original and who thought of them first.

 

We have all been to the craft shows with booth upon booth of baby bibs and cute dresses in pastel colours with the next booth being the candles in a glass and it looks like beer or the beaded jewelry and so on. These folks have put some time in their craft and I take nothing away from that. I just want to know who had the original idea because if we have multiple people with similar crafts at every booth we know the ideas are not their own even though they may have a slight twist or have a modified variation to the booth beside them. So do we pass on ideas to each other and do we have the right to own them?

Of course we pass on ideas to each other we would be a stagnant world if we did not communicate our ideas through our thoughts and voice. But do we have a right to own those ideas if they are not our original ideas, ideas that belong strictly to oneself? I would say no we do not have that right. We need to give credit. Just as I gave credit to the woman whom I got the knitting idea from she must give credit to where she got the idea. If it is hers then please take the credit. But all that being said do we really want to give up that ego trip when some says” Aren’t you creative.” No we do not. So I sit in my dilemma and hold my question out there for feedback…Where do ideas come from in our minds are they ours or have we gathered them from somewhere or someone else???

Leave your thoughts on my FB page. Thanks. The Lisa Anne Files

 

 

 

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Thinking and Acting in the Positive

 

I have often written about complaints, complaints from other people, about other people, about the human race and just the general idea of complaint. I have tried to end my blogs with positive notes that do not drag down the post so much that no one wants to read my work. I am not the great marketer of myself and rely on the graces of other to share and repost my work. Thank you to those who have done so. As one of my readers I am sure you are asking “where is she going today with this opening?” Well I thought I would talk about the positive of life and count some blessings.

Thinking of positive things in life can be fleeting as we are compounded by the negative so often. So in writing this particular article my goal is to up lift and motive people into the positive. Showing a side of humanity that is often missed or disregarded and even expected but not acknowledged.

We miss the positive things in life from the constant bombardment of negative energy. The kind stranger at the grocery store that holds the door open for you, the nurse that bandages a scrape on your child’s knee at the beach. And just because she is a prepared Mom that way she is doing it and it is in her nature to care. The true kindness and not the fake covered up people that cheat behind the back of the honest. I am talking about the true positive, those with integrity, respect and dignity. That is what we as humans should strive for. Not the wolf in sheep’s clothing but the true and the real.

I know most of you are thinking we must have the ying with the yang and of course we do otherwise we would not be human. Not everyone of us can be in a good mood and not all of us can be positive people. That is the nature of humans. Some of us are just crusty and that is that. But there are many of us who can be the positive and bring the light to the dismal and dismayed. Sometimes it is a simple smile or the larger ability to forgive an act from the past, even just the offer of your seat on the subway. These simple acts of kindness of positive will come back to you three times more when delivered with a light heart and joy. Or for that matter delivered at all. What does it take to smile at a stranger, nothing really even if they do not smile back you may have given that person the up lift that they needed for the rest of the day. We really never know what is going on in the lives of others and gracing our humanity with simple acts of kindness, dignity, respect and compassion can make a world of difference that you or we for that matter may never know.

It is difficult as humans to remain positive and forgive yourself for the bad days, but remember there is always sunshine and there are always brighter days ahead. Things happen in life for reasons that we cannot always explain, but one thing I do know is that keeping a positive outlook is healthy and less stressful. Take that moment to hold the door for a stranger you never know who that person might be and how positively you may be paid back.

Photo courtesy of Google Images

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Summer Heat Wave vs. Winter Cold Blast

 

I have come the conclusion that the heat, although welcome, is actually worse than the cold for the human personality. With no escape from it’s powerful grip we bear what we can. At least in the winter we can put on a sweater!!!

It has been almost a week that our great province has been under a heat advisory and the temperatures have climbed steadily into the thirties. It is without relief that many of us sit like panting dogs suffering and wishing for January???? Well… maybe not January but certainly the cooler weeks of September would be a welcome treat right now.

 

I must be clear that after the winter we had I will not complain about the heat. My thought is though that we cannot escape the heat the way we can escape the cold. Let’s face it in the months we refer to as winter, being December through mid-March or so we can dress for the weather and participate in activities indoors and outdoors. We can enjoy the days that are short by making a special effort to be with family and friends and plan activities that engage us through the cool and cold months. Even the spring rains are fun to play in. But when it come to a heat wave…..what is one to do?

Trapped inside where the cold air blows, most of us give into the AC quickly. I am one of those people who cannot stand the heat and gives in as soon as the temperatures are above twenty-two. I mean really why should we suffer? I have often been accused of being a creature of comfort and I suppose to some degree I am just that. But does that make me mad? No just the opposite, I enjoy the finer things in life and AC is one on the top of my list.

So to compare the summer’s heat and the winter’s cold and the effect on personality is actually quite fair. I have been yelled at, although why someone would spend that energy in this weather to me is torture to one’s self, bumped into, disregarded, cut off in my vehicle, grumbled at and have seen the general disregard for humanity that comes along with the long cold and deep winter months. I thought that summer was the season of joy for us Canadians, maybe I stand corrected and that is not the case but when I see what the heat does to us and in a shorter period of time I question how we managed in the past to survive without eliminating ourselves through one barbaric way or another.

So what to do about the heat??? We, as I have said earlier in this article, in winter we can put on a sweater. “So” you say, “but what do we do when we are already down to our skivvies and there is nothing left to remove?” Good question and one I wished I had the answer for, but I do not. I have seen many crazy ways to cool down and I am sure social media and the video sites are full of crazy ways to build that homemade AC unit (do not do that at home). Try a local pool or the lake if you are near one. Seek out a cooling centre. Visit friends or family with a cool place to be. Do not let the heat get to you even if your truly are a winter person. I think I am a fall kind of lady…looking forward to harvest season.

 

Stay cool!!!

 

Photos courtesy of Google Images.

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Short and Sweet, Blocked by Nothing

 

I do not know if it is summer or just a good case of writer’s block but I have had blanks in my overly creative mind for the last couple of weeks. The exercising went downhill with the rise in temperatures and out the window flew the words that usually end up on a page. Frustration for someone who never stops thinking.

I have often wondered how other writers deal with writer’s block, but have never asked or even really thought about asking another writer. I suppose it is just something we deal with and try as hard as we can to move on. I force myself to write this blog right now. I think it maybe loosening but there is still that feeling of pressure in the back of my mind.  

 

Writing is such a self-motivated career especially if you are a fiction writer and rely on your own thoughts to produce the work. Now if you work for a company in which you write technical manuals I suppose the writing never stops as it is fairly cut and dried what one puts down on the page. But those of us who adore the fiction, the creation of the story, the settings, the development of characters and the journey the mind takes as the story unfolds we have a tendency to get lost in the creative abbyss of nothingness. Sad really when you think of it because I know when I am driving and cannot write anything down I have great lines or story possibilities. Another bummer of a place is the shower when everything is wet including paper and pen and jotting down the next best seller is out of the question.

Another killer of the inspirational mind is the having he children home from school. Do not get me wrong I love my children deeply, but, as most and all parents can attest children sap your mind of all things and distract you to a point to where all the good ideas just disappear. Now that being said the opposite can take place too. If you write children’s stories you can spend the summer with your note book and jot down all kinds of great story ideas and listen to them talk to catch great lines. We all know that children can say some of the most amazing things at times.

So I must say there is an A side and a B side to all of this writer’s block and the mind drain of summer. I must just walk about with my note book and write it all down. I am sure my children will fill the creative gaps if I listen and they will help refuel the empty tank.

See I am writing better already!!! Now go ahead and try it, you may find that master piece is just in front of you!!!

 

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