Tag: poem

More!

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

I’ve got a poem called Take a Moment and it is about rushing around dealing with the chaos of daily life but remembering to stop and take a moment to enjoy what is and what you have.  I’ve been feeling very unproductive when it comes to my writing.  I know I’ve been writing up a storm but for some reason I’m not feeling like I’m accomplishing all that I should. 

It sounds silly, even as I write this I feel a bit foolish for feeling this way.  However, I have been feeling like I’m not getting myself out there enough.  I’ve not been submitting articles, stories, or poetry as much as I would like.  I’m also not marketing my work as much as I would like. 

I work my day job and come home to spend a little time with Ken before he goes to bed.  I spend the rest of my evenings working on writing of some sort.  I’m just not getting the things I mentioned done.  I’ve been writing and editing like mad. 

A couple days ago, I was feeling pretty negative about my writing and my accomplishments.  I had to “take a moment” because I have been so busy dealing with the chaos of my life, I’ve forgotten to look at all that I have accomplished. 

Here is my poem and my reminder to be gentle with  yourself and take a moment to realize how much you do… I think we all need a reminder of that – I know I do.

Take A Moment
Alarm rings, crawl out of bed,
Rush through a shower, breakfast, last minute chores
Scurry out the door, dropping kids at school or work
Charge through the day, watching the clock wish it to be
Break time, lunch time, quitting time
Hurry home to make dinner
Mother and wife the family,
Dishes, bills, homework, college info, counsel kids
Be everything to everyone.
STOP!
Take a moment to watch
The squirrels scamper and chase
Across the yard
Take a moment to hear
The birds singing with joy
For the new day
Take a moment to smell
The soothing scents of flowers
Blooming in season
Take a moment to feel the breeze
Toying gently with your hair
Twisting and tangling it
Take a moment to taste
A crisp green apple picked
Fresh from the tree
Take a moment…

Distracted

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing
My goal today – work on my office.  I need to finish organizing my stuff in the office so I can move forward with my writing goals.  I got up this morning fully intending to start the day early and attack the piles of paperwork in my office.  I sat down to my computer at 8 figuring it will only take me a couple of minutes to look over my emails and then move on to the next task at hand. 
That was my mistake.  I started reading my emails, one of which was a newsletter with writing leads in it.  I discovered a place I wanted to submit to and here I am two hours later finally done with my emails.  However, I did submit ten poems and two short stories to a place that pays.  Now I just have to wait to hear from them. 
Next I am going to start on organizing and shifting things in my office to get it to a point where I can just come in and write or work on submissions and have things right at hand without having to shift or struggle with trying to find what I need. 

The distraction this morning though, reminded me how much I have missed having an organized space to be able to create and submit my work.  It has reaffirmed the need to finish the project of organizing my office and getting it into working shape again.

Good News

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

My romance novel made it to the second round of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards Contest!  In the first round they read my pitch and liked it so now I’m advancing with 399 others to the second round.

The second round reviewers will read my excerpt (and the other 399 excerpts) and the top 100 will be moved to the next round.  I’ll know more on March 12.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed.  I think my romance novel is really good. 

The GRAND prize is $50,000 plus a publishing contract.  Some other finalists may receive publishing contracts too.  First Prize winners get a publishing contract and $15,000.  There are a whole bunch of other prizes too.  I’d love to get either the grand prize or a first prize.  The money would be awesome to say the least but the exposure would also be incredible. 

Realistically, I’m not holding my breath but I am hopeful.

I finish writing my grant proposal and submitted that.  Now it is a wait and see as I don’t believe they notify until the end of the year. 

The new editor from a publication contacted me and asked for articles.  It is nice to have this happen as it shows an appreciation for my writing even though they don’t pay.  I sent her a few articles. 

In the mail yesterday I got my copy of the calendar from lulu.com (Scars Publishing) that has one of my poems in it.  Every time I see my poetry published somewhere it surprises me – in a great way.

Now I just wait for the rejection letters… “If you aren’t being rejected regularly, maybe you’re not trying hard enough.” Kathy Ireland.