Under Lavender Skies

   I finished up this piece with the color in the background along with inking in the quote.  As I wrote it all I knew was that I wanted there to be an element of "movement," though the poses, the flow of the letters, and the content of the words.  I think I captured that.    Combining art and writing is one of my favorite things.  I know in terms of writing here there isn't much but I think the words, along with the color, are what takes this a notch past a simple sketch.       Thoughts?  Thanks for reading!

Honestly I hate how the phrase "you might have noticed that I missed and didn't post last week," is becoming more and more frequent but it is. I want to like what I post and sometimes I'm busy and don't have the drive to create for this space along with everything thing else. Saying that, I'm making and have ideas for some pretty cool things right now.  Please enjoy this short comic illustrating some of my recent thoughts.  Here are the words just incase it's too small to read on the page:  Chasing sunsets.. like chasing beauty in life. Living moment to moment waiting for the next thing to live for, the next thing that's really worth it. But what happens in the moments in-between? What happens when the fire dies when the coffees cold, after the sun set but before the stars come out.  How do we learn that it all has value? that there really is a point to it all the mundane in-betweens, that is not just waiting for the next good thing?    How...

 A Poem About Clouds  Today, I point out, the clouds Are wispy and quick across the sky. I know it's been said before, And that many think the same, But I adore clouds. The way they are never the same At times, Hardly touching the corners of the sky At others, Taking it over completely. This is a mostly pointless poem about The sky — but also I often wish I could pull myself up, On one of those days when the clouds cover the sky, And walk around up there for a little bit, In a completely new world Just for a little bit. My life seems to be changing fast, And flitting across the sky like the Clouds today. I have decisions to make and things to do And I'm not sure why it's so difficult to get myself to do them, but it is, And instead I write this poem. I want the clouds to be still And slow. Maybe tomorrow, Maybe then it'll be easier to handle. Or a tomorrow soon after that. It has to be. abby m.

 As the year comes to an end there are thoughts and hopes of new beginnings. . .  I have a google document titled, "Beginnings." It's filled with story fragments, and beyond that, the title is pretty self-explanatory.  Any story that I started and only have a paragraph or two written gets popped in there, some are longer than others but none are more than a page, and when I get the desire to finish it and pull it out, I can do so.  The titles are often the characters' names or something to keep them separate. I thought it apropos that, at the beginning of the year, I would share a couple of fictional characters' beginnings that have been sitting in that document for far too long.   #1, Taxi Driver, Cleopatra (based off the song, "Cleopatra," by the Lumineers) The girl whose eyeliner ran over her face dash around the corner.  She hadn’t talked much and now she was gone, she watched her messy hair until someone else was knocking on the window...

At the beginning of this year, I made a New Year's Resolution for myself as well as one large, and far-fetched goal, that I thought was achievable if I worked hard enough.  I have come to find out that it was a terrible goal.  My goal was this: to get some piece of my writing published.  It could be anything, a short poem or a story.  That probably sounds crazy but I have entered many contests, and there are a lot more of them out there than you would think.   Over the past couple of weeks, I have noticed that writing became more of a chore than something I jump to in the morning.  It’s really a terrible feeling, wanting to write and to be happy and excited about it, but just not.  I wasn’t writing to get better or to just write, I was writing to get something published.  Unintentionally, I was putting pressure on myself to write really well so that it would be something I would be proud to enter in a contest and in turn to achieve my goal....

Do you know what is everywhere?  What litters the streets, lingers on sidewalks, and a lot of the time is delivered to people who didn't ask?  You probably read the title, the answer is advice.  Unsolicited advice is given everywhere but that is not what I am going to talk about today.  Instead, I will share my thoughts and explain pieces of advice that I may not listen to all the time, but I did, technically, ask for.  And that is writing  advice.    Most of the pieces of advice I have found are valuable and in general good tips, so I will explain each piece of advice in the best way I can and give examples.  Even if you are not a writer and reading this now I hope you can still find something interesting.   No. 1: Show Don't Tell  If you have explored any amount of writing tips or advice on Pinterest or Instagram then you know this is one of the most common sentences thrown around.  Maybe it made sense to you the first t...

I think annotating literature is a really fun way to deeply explore the ideas in books further by making notes or writing something of your own to take the idea and elaborate on it.  Marking passages and words is a good way to appreciate the book even more.   Now, I personally really enjoy the idea of annotating a book or even getting a used book and being able to see what others thought of the ideas.  However, when I was younger I hated it and I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to write in a book and ruin it for the other people who would read it.  If you don't like the idea of annotating books, that's okay but just hear me out.   Earlier this year, I believe it was this June, I took an online class using the book The Lord of the Flies.  Essentially, for the class, I had to answer and write a section, (one to three paragraphs) answering different questions and turn them in before Wednesday each week.  Lots of the time the questions wer...

Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month and is an organization that promotes writing in the month of November.  The idea is for writers to write the first draft of their book in one month so they get it out and ready to be revised.  The hardest part is just to get it out and into the world and so Nanowrimo gives writers a place as well an incentive to do that.  It happens every November and this year I decided to do it.  The goal is 50,000 words in one month.  As you can imagine, that is a lot of writing per day and my life has almost been revolving around it.   I am writing a historical fiction novel so I am going to tell some stories and facts for this month's history week.  The story has to do with two children (Russell and Clara) who ride on the boxcars in 1930.  There wasn't much easily found information so I have done lots of digging.   One of the best websites I found is one telling stories that were passed down ge...

The hardest part of writing my blog posts is coming up with the ideas.  I have slowly started working earlier instead of the day before.  Somehow, even when I write it the day of, I still write something to post.  To be completely honest there is not much of a process for my blog posts.  I just have an idea and write about it.  I constantly have a mental file tucked into my head that is always running and looking for post ideas.  In that way, the process is constant and continual.   Blog posts  It seems I always stare at a blank document for a few moments before I can collect my words.  if I am writing about something sequential or where I am talking about a list of things for example my post about books or art, I always start by making that list.  Then I write a bit about each thing if I am having a hard time finding what to write I will just write something short because I know I am going to come back to it anyways.   Sh...

Today I wanted to talk about writing, each component of writing, and how I have been working and improving on my own.   When writing, three different components come to mind.  Researching, also called outlining or preparing, writing, and editing or revising.   R e s e a r c h Non-writers don't realize how much of writing is not really writing but instead researching.  Even for fiction writers,  research is important.  A few weeks ago I researched types of doors and the layout of a mansion in the span of two minutes.  This part of writing is especially true, though, when writing historical fiction.  I haven't shared any of my historical fiction short stories because I am quite nervous about just missing the mark and getting the history wrong.       W r i t e Just write!  Sometimes I find that I have more motivation to research and edit then to actually write.  I love learning about certain historical events a...

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about different journals that I have used and enjoyed.  Today I want to talk about bullet journaling.  Bullet journaling has gotten quite big over the years and almost everyone knows something about bullet journaling these days.  One of my favorite parts about bullet journaling is how personable it can be.  You can make it as complicated or as simple as you like.  If you look up bullet journaling you will get lots of videos of extremely artistic journals.  I think that is wonderful because that is what those people like, however, if art is not your thing or even mixing art with your planning is not your thing then there are so many other ways to do it.  I have gone through lots of trial and error with my bullet journaling to find what I enjoy seeing when I open my journal.  Three words I would use to describe my journal are: simple, pretty, and usable.   If you were to look at how bullet journaling began you...

Most of you know I love writing short stories and I have posted three on here over the past couple of weeks.  I have also written a handful of poems in the past.  I posted some of my favorite poems, poets, and one of my own but today I would like to share more original poems with you all.   My Original Poems: Peace Peace is the quiet drumming of rain In the early morning dawn Peace is feeling no pain Or the dew on the soft green lawn Peace is none but all to gain So, for now, all I feel is peace What is peace to me? A book open on my lap A nice hot cup of tea A sweet warm furry cat A soft blanket, too, you see Peace for some is falling asleep at night And waking up early for others Some its getting the day just right Or when your finally under the covers And peace is getting bad things far far out of sight Peace is the feeling of hope Everyone knows it is great So don't just sit around and mope  There is no time left to waste Peace may not be  The same for ...

If you are anything like me you probably have a couple of empty notebooks or journals lying around. There are lots of wonderful ways to fill empty journals that you will love and get hooked on right away.  There are so many different ways to use your empty books and today I will be giving you my top four.   No. 1,  Morning Pages or Stream of Conscious Pages If you have had a journal for a while that has never really worked or if you have just never found motivation for journaling but still want to use your journal, then you should try morning pages or stream of conscious pages.  The idea of stream of conscious pages is simple: write two full pages of your thoughts down in your journal without thinking too much of it.  I like journaling in the morning to get everything on my mind down on paper so I don't have to be mulling over it all day.  It helps. When you start journaling these pages, I promise you will be at a loss for words, y...

What Inspires You?  These days people find inspiration anywhere.  There are many ways that someone would put their work out into the world and I find it wonderful how many people put their work out there to inspire someone else.  I work in several different arts so I am always looking for many different types of inspiration. Art  We live in such an inspirational world, some days it gives me goosebumps!  Right now, outside my window the sky is enveloped in clouds.  They are littered across the sky in the most amazing way, and filled with color and texture, perfect for painting.  As an artist, clouds come naturally to me.  I love the texture of clouds and I love all the beautiful Oklahoma skies.  I am able to see inspiration every day right out my window.  Using assets like Pinterest and looking at images that inspire me is also something I do daily.  Photography Many sources inspire more than one thing for me. ...