Seven Funerals and a Wedding
No Comments »14th June, 2006; Category: General
I realised a startling truth recently.
I’m getting older.
Big deal – so is everyone.
How do I know? Over the last twelve months I’ve attended seven funerals and a wedding. When you are young, the reverse might be true. But as you age, one tends to be called upon or feel duty bound to attend a growing number of funerals, and less weddings. That’s a fact of life.
Traditional Wedding
What struck me last week when I attended a wedding on the Saturday and a funeral on the Monday was the power of words. That’s why I am a writer, and have a passion for writing. The wedding was the traditionally worded “until death us do part” type. Beautiful words of commitment, familiar to many and very powerful as this middle aged couple pledged their life-long allegiance to each other. The ceremony was very traditional but the reception after was far from traditional. Again, words played an important part as various family members spoke of the two being married.
Moving Funeral
The funeral was quite different. This time family members paid tribute to the mother and grandmother they had so dearly loved. The words were simple, heart-felt and very powerfully conveyed the deep love for the deceased. Sense of family was strong. Love and loyalty was expressed and a deep loss felt. The minister leading the service skillfully relaxed the congregation in their time of deep grief. Deeply meaningful words of comfort from the Bible were read, words I’d heard or read perhaps dozens of times but now were dripping with poignancy.
The Power of Words
The well worn cliche about the pen and the sword have been proven down through the millenia. The power of words is unchallenged and can be used for good or evil, for persuasion or rejection, for love or hatred, for passion or indifference. They can be used to cheer on a winning team or ridicule a child. They can soothe and comfort, inspire to action or devastate in a sharp retort.
Readers and Writers
No Comments »13th June, 2006; Category: General
A hungry lion was roaming through the jungle looking for something to eat. He came across two men. One was sitting under a tree and reading a book. The other was writing a letter.
The lion quickly pounced on the man reading the book and devoured him but let the other man go free.
Even the king of the jungle knows that readers digest and writers cramp.
Do you understand your Blog’s statistics?
Michael Rock in his article “How to analyse your visitors to improve your web site” has a very easy to use list of what the different aspects of your stats mean, and why they are important.
You could gain a lot of traffic to your web site by simply looking at the number of visitors per month, but what do they do when they reach your site? Do they visit the pages you want? Do they leave shortly after arriving? What pages are they interested in? Etc. Armed with this important information you can tweak your web site to help achieve your goals. What good is it to have hundreds of visitors go to your site if all they do is leave right away or look at pages that are not important?
I found the article easy to read and understand.
Coming up with writing ideas
I generally do not have trouble coming up with writing ideas. Over recent years I have usually been in the happy situation of having far too many ideas for writing. Far too many for me to use. In fact I don’t think I will run our of ideas for several decades. Even blogging every day on three blogs hasn’t emptied the tank. On my blog on birding I’ve been going strong since early September 2005, while this writing blog and my travel blog have been in existence since the beginning of March this year.
A Common Problem
Coming up with new ideas for writing is a common problem amongst writers, especially bloggers, where the pressure is on to keep posting regularly, whether you choose to do it daily, weekly or less frequently. For non-bloggers there is often the pressure of publishers’ deadlines; to remain credible one has to write, one has to produce. Keeping fresh is the challenge. A dull mind results in dull writing. Coming up with fresh ideas is not easy when one is tired, under pressure or feeling that the tank is running on empty.
What can one do about keeping the ideas factory churning out material that is fresh, interesting, new or different?
Steve on his blog “Why My Blog Stinks” has come up with an amazing list of ideas that work – most of the time – in helping him keep fresh. He uses these ideas to keep the creative juices flowing.
In the past I have sat on tops of mountains and overlooked valleys. Some of my best poetry have come from doing this. Sitting on top of a mountain usually comes after vigorous activity, which is scientifically proven to stimulate the creative juices in your brain.
Other ideas he has listed are as simple as taking a brisk walk, having a long bath or reading an inspiring book. One of my favourites also gets a mention:
…traveling to new places can really help generate some ideas. I think change of scenery is sometimes a great idea to help look at what you are doing from a different angle.
Travel gives a different perspective to the daily grind.
Another one that I use effectively from time to time is not mentioned by Steve. In our cold winter months I love to go to my favourite comfortable chair, curl up with a good book and a cup of tea or hot chocolate in front of a warming fire. Nothing better when the winds outside are howling and the rain is pelting down on the roof.