 The Write Reason for Research |
Gary Eby
A Writer’s Secret Place
On the first morning of our vacation to Yachats around 6:45 A.M., I am still drowsy while I curl over in bed taking dim note of our surroundings. Our bedroom faces East with a wall to wall picture window protected by a panel of hanging canvas-like shades. The rising sun is streaming through those vertical panels, illuminating a picture of Martha’s Vineyards on the opposite wall, and an adjacent beach painting called “By the Sea.”
I hear my wife Susan in the kitchen probably making coffee. Every so often there is a cracking boom from the surf outside, crashing against our rugged, rocky Oregon coastline.
I am more awake now, but I close my eyes to move myself deeper into the spirit of relaxation. However, I do commence to stroke Silas, our twelve pound poodle and Pomeranian mix, who is snuggled besides me. Slowly, I become aware of and more sensitive to the outside chatter of birds commingled with the cackling songs of some crows.
Woven within the cacophony is the mysterious and melodic flute-like song of an unknown avian creature. Whatever the nature of this species, I am convinced it is a virtuoso. Such sweet, soothing refrains, flash me back to the Native American music, Susan and I became so exquisitely familiar with when we lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico in the 90’s.
The flute notes continue with a slightly reedy resonance, accompanied by three staccato whistles at the end of the bird song. I know in my heart, as a few tears of joy land on my face, that I must have arrived in heaven.
As I record these precious moments in my journal, I would like to say a few words of encouragement to aspiring writers. First and foremost, start writing your own journal. There is something healing, therapeutic, and thought provoking about the whole journaling process.
Next, while you journal, pause to slow the pace down. Review the written passages and look for word gems or thought jewels to further refine and appreciate. This form of writing then becomes a kind of cognitive meditation, which facilitates peace of mind and limitless creativity.
For example, I am sitting now in a comfortable lounge chair located in our beach home living room. I have rewritten my entry at least 10 times or more, which is the third thing I want to suggest to all those who want to get published: keep polishing your work.
The more I focused on describing my immediate environment, the more receptive I became to free flowing, relaxing thoughts. I noticed the whole West wall of our living room consists of four, tempered glass windows, about five-by-five square feet each, and a matching pair attached to both side walls. The observation area presents a panoramic view that is unbelievable, humbling, and awe inspiring.
Our rental home actually rests on a grassy cliff overlooking and facing the Pacific Ocean. The spectacular water images hypnotize by the undulating motion of the waves, caressing the huge, oddly shaped, black, barnacle covered, volcanic rock slabs, jutting out in the shoreline.
As I write about the power of journaling, the surf roars with breaking whitecaps, spiraling around and splashing between the rock formation fingers. Sea gulls fly low over the waters, sometimes diving in to feast on sea bounty.
Write about what you hear, feel, and think. Know that there is a creative force within all of us. Practice accessing this inner Light that overcomes all dark secrets, which mysteriously threaten to hold us back from the good we deserve. Let your writing take you to the place of silence deep within our subconscious mind some appropriately call, “The Secret Place of the most High.”
Furthermore, listen to the spirit music of your surroundings and observations. Allow your mind, body, and soul to dance to the rhythmic pulse of inspiration and bliss. Give yourself permission to free associate with your creative strengths, talents, and abilities.
So, let’s take a deep breath together and revisit one last time the sparkling, gleaming, life images that stand before me today. I look out at a mauve sky on the ocean horizon. At times, the sun turns the sea into millions of glistening diamond lights. A partial cloud-drape extends over the bluish-green waters as far as the eye can see. Gulls and water foul are bobbing in clumps, speckling the ocean with white feather squares like enormous nature-made patch quilts. The fishy, salty, seaweed smells permeate the air.
I turn to focus once again on the infinite, majestic waves. Their surf-music play notes of rushing, slashing, percussive melodies, which mesmerize, hypnotize, and soothes the soul. To be writing on a day like this is a blessing beyond imagination, with memories to treasure and keep alive in the secret place within.
"Do you need help, support, or free marketing exposure for your work? Just click on Gary Eby's squidoo lense. Check out the helpful information. Leave samples of your work or questions and concerns in the blurb box at the bottom of his page. Or, click his bio for direct contact with him and his fan club. Better yet, click on the red button on his page, start your own free lense, and connect with an online community of more than 500,000 members." Publishing Club
The Power of Word Pictures
It is the last full day of our vacation in Yachats, pronounced "ya-hahts".
This amazing place was named after the Yachats Native Americans who were hunters and gathers in the 1500's. There are several translations of the word, but the one I appreciate the most truly characterizes the environment here: "as far as you can go along the beach."
I am in our living room nestled up in the lounge chair, looking at the omnipresent ocean through our panoramic view windows. The sky is cloudy with streaks of power blue on the horizon, hinting to a possible clearing.
Ocean waters appear foamy, grayish-white, but they play surf music with wave cymbals and splash drums. Sometimes they erupt into blow-hole spectaculars; actually shooting spray twenty or more feet into the air between the volcanic rock fingers.
I think that writers should capture images that inspire and connect emotionally with the reader. For example, the last two sunsets here were an almost out-of-body experience for me. We can all relate to sunsets, right?
Along these lines, I recall that the sun sphere presented its magical illusion of disappearing into the ocean horizon. The sky became a radiant portrait of pastel colored ribbons, gleaming with flame red, tangerine, soft pink and every shade in between.
Such a vision was accompanied by a sea chorus, singing to all of us about the mystery and wonder of life.
I suggest writers read their material out loud. The sound of words casts a rhythm of sentences, which comfort, inspire and reveal pathways to better stories. They can even point the way to emotional healing.
To illustrate this, I remember the hike I took yesterday with our son Jason and our 14-year-old granddaughter, Kaidyn. I experienced considerable comfort and pleasure from reading out loud the following passages:
We started at a place called Cape Perpetua, high in the mountains off the Highway 101 South, heading out of Yachats towards the quaint town of Florence. The ocean view from the roadside observation station was enough to take our breath away.
In the distance was the pine tree covered peninsula that formed one arm of the U-shaped bay. Pulsating, whitecap waves in parallel lines rolled endlessly up and over the volcanic rock slabs below. The rocks appeared to look like gigantic, distorted, black and white checkerboard squares.
This scene compelled us to move down the hilly hiking trail, which descended through ferns and Queen Anne’s Lace fauna to explore the rock formations at the oceans' edge. These ancient protrusions, we soon discovered, kept hidden wondrous tide pools, stocked with fishy sea smells of anemones, multicolored star fish and purple and pink sea urchins.
We laughed and shouted to each other when making new discoveries, played out against a background of surf timpani and blow-hole eruptions. The water spray, sea energy and excitement underscored the incalculable value of family love, and the awesome glory of life itself.
My last idea for writers is to slow down and breathe. I cannot emphasize how important it is to do this. When you live in the moment, your positive inner voice will guide you and achieve whatever you seek, whether it is a published book or a healthier life.
I believe we move too fast in American culture. We numb ourselves out with mind- altering behaviors, distractions and electronic devices. Let me share with you how I slowed down on my vacation.
Now the clouds have moved out; the sun is gloriously back, framing the sky with a collage of deep blue, power blue and pale pinks on the ocean horizon. I walk outside to the grassy cliff behind our rental home and simply pause to listen.
I become more aware of the sea concert carried on a salty, windy breeze that embraced all of my senses. I assume the crouching Tai Chi position, taking a deep breath for three seconds, exhaling slowly for six, and float my arms up like the extended wings of a great swan.
As I went through my healing ritual of breathing, stretching, dancing and affirmations, I noticed my son and granddaughter observing me through the windows. They were laughing and copying my various closed-hand prayer positions. I smiled back, gave them a thumbs up, and finished the process of standing still in the blessed moment of the now.
The message my inner voice told me was about the acceptance of humility and gratitude that comes from writing about these precious moments, and the joy of sharing them with all who find comfort from a writer's word pictures.
"Do you need help, support, or free marketing exposure for your work? Just click on Gary Eby's squidoo lense. Check out the helpful information. Leave samples of your work or questions and concerns in the blurb box at the bottom of his page. Or, click his bio for direct contact with him and his fan club. Better yet, click on the red button on his page, start your own free lense, and connect with an online community of more than 500,000 members."
Overcoming a Writer’s Fear
I am sitting outside today on my porch in Grants Pass, Oregon. The sky is partly cloudy with enough holes in the white puffy stuff to allow the sun to warm my face. I guess you could say I am getting my so called “vitamin D shot.”
I understand vitamin D is supposed to be good for you. Doctors claim it fights cancer and other scary diseases. Despite the benefits, I know I shouldn’t stay too long in the sun, because we are told by experts to fear the beast that is melanoma.
The good news is that my wife and I will be heading to the Oregon coast soon for hopefully five glorious days in a rented beach home in the town of Yachats. I am appreciating the slight breeze which touches my face as I look out into the distance, past the huge 100-foot Ponderosa Pines, quaking Aspens and the purple looming mountains on the horizon.
My eyes drift upward to take a scan of the grand, blue heavens poking through thosepartially white and gray clouds. As I start to lose myself in the sky, my breath is almost taken away from the sight of the biggest hawk I have ever seen in my life.
At second glance, I realize it may not be a hawk. The wing span is so large, I am reminded of a one-man glider kites. I think that awesome, floating bird could be a turkey vulture or maybe even a golden eagle. Whatever avian creature circles above me, the message that startles my consciousness in its presence is the importance of rising above all that we fear.
Fear is one of those dark secrets that hold writers, both young and old, captive from all we deserve to become. As a matter of fact, fear can be a force of self-destruction and negativity no matter what hopes and dreams we want to pursue. Let me present a more personal example of my struggle with the darkness that I call “writers fear.”
Almost a year ago in July of 2007, I was reading The Secret by Rhonda Burns. She makes the wonderful point about the “Law of Attraction,” claiming that what we project out from our minds and into the universe we will surely receive; send out the positive and receive the positive; embrace negativity and remain imprisoned by the negative.
The idea came to me as I pondered her formula of asking, believing and receiving. I asked myself: What was holding me back from sending that dusty, 20 year-old manuscript out into the universe?
I experienced an unpleasant twinge in my stomach: I was afraid that what I wrote wasn’t good enough. In a sudden splash of insight, honesty and openness, I told myself to use the skills and principles that help my clients overcome despair, mental illness, addictions, homelessness, poverty and incarceration. I wanted to finish the manuscript I started so long ago. Despite the burst of creative excitement I was experiencing, the inner dark side reminded me that I was a social worker, not a writer.
I took a deep breath for three seconds and slowly let the air out of my lower lungs for six or more. I went through my yoga, tai-chi and meditation routine. I used the “ask, believe and receive” process. I even added my own prayer of going into the Light within, praying, “Thank you God for all that I have and for all that I receive.”
I completed my book about hope and healing just one month later in August of 2007. In December of 2007, I pursued self-publishing. I sold some copies, but knew that what I really longed for was a legitimate publisher. Again, the hydra-head of fear reminded me that the likelihood of a publisher picking up my book is about as good as winning the jack-pot in one of the Oregon Native American Casinos.
For a while longer I danced with the fear monger and did nothing about it. This changed three months ago. After completing my relaxation and meditation routine, I visualized sending my book out to a publisher who would appreciate its value and potential.
I also prayed to my sense of Higher Power called the Love-Light. I actually felt warmth, comfort and the unconditional love of being in the Light. The thought came to me that I needed to send out query letters to established agents and publishers.
I found a service on the internet that would blast out my query letters to 500 agents and publishers. Over the last three months I received 498 rejection notices, and two positive responses. One was from a publisher in New Mexico, and the other was from SterlingHouse Publisher in Pittsburgh.
On June 18 2008, I signed a contract with SterlingHouse. I have no idea where this new journey will take me. I don’t even know what the title of my book will be or how many changes the editor will make. I surely don’t have a clue how to do book signings or how to begin the enigma of the marketing process.
I do know the sky is azure today; the sun is still warm on my face; the mountains always lift my spirit, and the eagle rises above the forces of fear and all dark secrets. Wherever you are, whatever you do, refuse to dance with the negative side that holds you back. Learn the skills to face your stressful feelings honestly and openly.
Find a way to enter the Light within. Then your writing will no longer require tedious work or even esoteric craftsmanship. You will find your inspirational voice and rise above like eagles.
