Two New Posts

A Catherine Noon

I’m blogging at Beyond the Veil this month on Classic Television and shows that I loved when I was younger. It was fun digging into my memory and examining what shows I used to like, because they inform what I like now.

Then, over on Samhain Publishing’s blog, I talk about “When In Doubt, Knit“. What kinds of things do you do when you are stalled for ideas, to get yourself going again?

It’s fun to write on group blogs, and I’m pleased to be part of these two. It’s a little awe-inspiring since I’m around authors with a great deal more experience than me. I’m grateful to be included with them.

A Poem for Saturday

A Catherine Noon

Have you ever experienced a moment when reading a piece, where it feels that the author somehow wrote it directly for you without even being aware of it? Some call that Kizmat, others synchronicity. Me, I find it startling. Creepy, even. Particularly if it feels like the author has a webcam into my life and writes things that will work for whatever moment I’m feeling the moment I’m reading their words. Julia Cameron does that, a lot.

Poet Sarah Fuhro did it this week. I want to share with you her lovely poem. Enjoy.

It’s Almost Time

It’s almost time,
almost time for the change in light
but almost time for the poor and weak to reach out
their trembling hands to each other and to grasp.

It’s almost time for the kind to smile
and be seen
in all their glory,
for the shift in power.

It’s almost time for the silenced to sing
and for the earth to receive the sweet rain
of justice as it falls on ploughed fields.

It’s almost time to be brave
and to go the next step without knowing how.

It’s almost time for the knowledge of the Moon
to rise in the dark sky and let us know
there is more than one way
to see the road ahead.

Staying the Course

A Catherine Noon

Today being Sunday has got me in a pensive mood. I think, as writers, we tend to think a lot about method: what is our method, what is the method of writers we admire or want to emulate, and what should our method be in order to be better – better authors, better sellers, better writers, better people.

At the end of the day, though, none of that matters. If the story we have to tell gets told, then we’ve done well. Getting to the page, or to the keyboard, is the important victory. We may cry and gnash our teeth on the way there, but if we get there, then we’ve won.

Writing can be a release from stress and it can be a stressor. It is, always, the truth of itself: it is nothing less than what we see, day in and day out, moment by moment. We may write what we see in literal terms, or we may write what we see on the screen of our minds. If we’re lucky, others will find solace in what stories we tell. But tell them, we must: our job description is “storyteller,” after all.

Someone remarked to me recently that they weren’t certain that all stories deserve to be told. I disagree. I think there is room in the Great Conversation for the inane and the mundane. I think it is true that not all stories deserve an audience, nor should all stories want one. Sometimes the painful truth is that we may, ourselves, believe that our story should have one, but the reality is there isn’t one. Does that mean we shouldn’t write it? That we should muzzle ourselves in favor of the peace of the world? Not bother the silence with our noise?

No. If we have a story, and we each of us do, then we should tell it. We should struggle with the pen or the keyboard and wrestle that minotaur. Worrying about where to send it when we’re done is not the job of the storyteller. That is a job for later, when we put on the hat of author and learn the business of publishing. But many good stories are told, every day, by people to whom publishing is anathema. And many other stories aren’t told that should be, that fester in silence because the writer forgot the one and most important rule:

If you See it, Write it.

Story is God.

Polyamory

A Catherine Noon

Fellow Beyond the Veil author Xakara wrote an excellent essay on Polyamory this week that I thought folks would find interesting. Please stop by and take a read, and be sure to comment. Xakara loves to interact with her readers. Visit her post, here.

Characters I Love

A Catherine Noon

I have great news! I am humbled and pleased and excited, all at the same time. I have been accepted into the Beyond the Veil community of authors. These are some amazingly talented paranormal and science fiction/fantasy authors. It’s an honor to be included.

Today is my inaugural post, and the theme for August is Characters You Love ~ Or Love to Hate. Here‘s my take on it.

Thursday 13: The “I’m Not In A Mood Anymore” Post

A Catherine Noon

As a follow-on to last weeks vent of spleen, this week I want to focus on 13 Things I’m Grateful For. And, for those of you who are curious if domestic mayhem was committed at the Noonypad last week, all is well. THINGS were discussed, and are on their way to being resolved.

See what a good rant can help with?

🙂

1. I’m grateful for my OCD creative husband. In the last 3 weeks, he’s sewn over 14 garments, finished building 4 pieces of furniture, and started his Victorian boudoir photography series. He’s got 3 photo shoots this Saturday with professional models! I’m so excited and proud to be married to him.

2. I’m grateful my kid is healthy, happy and safe. And drug free. And hasn’t made me a grandmother.

3. I’m grateful for my neurotic dog. I mean, what, you’d expect me to have a normal dog like everyone else? Coyote keeps me sane by comparison.

4. I’m grateful that Belii, who has feline kidney disease, is doing well on his new diet.

5. I’m grateful to Jean Marie Ward for her advice on how to accomplish #4 for the long term. Jean Marie, thanks. Truly.

6. I’m grateful The Kitten Monster of Doom is healthy and that I haven’t killed her and made a Daniel Boone hat out of her hide, complete with a calico tail.

It’d be a really cool hat.

7. I’m grateful Boria is playing with Nadya (the kitten of #6) and not sulking all over the house anymore. Besides, it’s cute, and he’s lost weight. And she wins, a large portion of the time, which is worth seeing.

8. I’m grateful to my chiropractor for figuring out what’s wrong with my back and fixing it. It’ll be a long haul, but I’m already seeing results. He rocks.

9. I’m grateful to be doing a TT on gratitude. It’s easy to forget how much better one feels when one writes a list of things for which they are grateful. Saying thank you is an underrated spiritual path.

10. I’m grateful I know how to type. (No, I’m actually serious. Watching my friends who hunt and peck is painful. I am glad I took the time to learn it.)

11. I’m grateful I have friends who can’t type. And friends who can. Y’all, I love you!

12. I’m grateful my car has air conditioning.

13. And the number one thing I’m grateful for this week? MY NEW AIR CONDITIONER ARRIVES TOMORROW! I THINK I’LL KISS THE UPS MAN. WOMAN. NON-SEXIST TERM OF ENDEARMENT FOR THE LOVELY INDIVIDUAL WHO BRINGS ME SALVATION FROM THIS SWELTERING, STICKY MESS THAT IS THE NOONYPAD.

Happy TT!

Thursday 13: The “I’m In A Mood” Post

A Catherine Noon

13 Random Things. And if you have to ask, don’t.

1. When you “do the dishes,” they’re not done until they’re put away.

2. “Doing the dishes” means all the dirty dishes get washed. Not just the ones in the sink. Or on the drain board. Or on the stove.

3. When you are doing nothing but going to school, you damn well better be getting A’s and B’s – ESPECIALLY if I had to work full time, get an MBA (and a straight-A average) AND wrote a novel in 20 months. NO SYMPATHY.

4. When you walk out of the house in 90+ degree weather with 80%+ humidity, SHUT THE FUCKING DOOR.

5. Don’t sound surprised that I have air conditioning living in Chicago. I’m not 12 anymore, and I’m not homeless.

6. Stop making fun of me, ridiculing me, or even fucking commenting that I make lists. I like lists. They keep me organized. Deal with it.

7. Your disorganization and failure to plan do not constitute a problem on my part. Especially if I ask you, several times, ahead of time, to do things that would avoid said problem.

8. You don’t get to call me “anal” if you do #7.

9. Don’t stand there, in 90+ degree weather with 80%+ humidity, with the refrigerator door wide open, trying to figure out what’s in there that you can eat. It hasn’t changed since the LAST time you were in there, you helped me shop, AND I TOLD you what I bought. Use your memory.

10. Failure to use your memory is not solved by “I’m sorry.” It’s solved by FUCKING USING YOUR MEMORY!

11. Because I’m better organized than you does not mean I should do all the organizing.

12. Because I’m better organized than you does not mean I should be the one taking all the notes.

13. Don’t fuck with me before coffee or you’ll get an entire Thursday 13 post dedicated to you in absentia.

Any questions?

I’m Guest Blogging at Delilah Devlin’s Blog!

A Catherine Noon

Pardon me, but fangrrl moment. Delilah Devlin impresses the socks outta me. Srsly.

And I nearly fainted when she kindly extended a guest blogger slot to Rachel and I: WHEN BETA RELATIONSHIPS BECOME SERIOUS; or “How To Use a Catcher’s Mitt”. I’d love it if you stopped by and checked it out, and be sure to thank Delilah for visiting. Check out her books and all the work she’s doing (she’s got two anthology calls open right now, too!).

Thanks, Delilah!

Wiley Wednesday: In Defense of the Pen

A Catherine Noon

My essay “In Defense of the Pen” is up today on the Writer’s Retreat Blog. Come on by!

If you aren’t familiar with it, the Wiley Wednesday articles are a series of essays related to the craft and business of writing. Written once a week by the authors of the Writer’s Retreat blog, you can find material on all aspects of writing.