By D. Avery

If you haven’t stopped by the Annecdotist’s blog lately you should. In addition to thoughtfully thorough book reviews, Anne Goodwin will also treat you to her thinking on matters related to writing, recently on how to deal with “writerly disappointments”, to, as she says, “feel the disappointment without wallowing in despair”. Anne notes in this post that the cure for disappointment is success and says that, “alongside mourning lost dreams, a writer must work to celebrate any success, however small”. She has promised a post on celebrating success and I am looking forward to it; the discussion has already begun in her comments. Initially I’m thinking it might be a greater challenge for most to celebrate our own successes than to admit our failures even. Writers have to balance the seesaw of setbacks and successes, walk the beam between self-indulgence and self-promotion, all the while wondering where to set the ego down or how to carry it unobtrusively. At least with this blogging thing we have each other through it all. Charli Mills of Carrot Ranch says, “As for success, it’s great to receive recognition from peers. I think success is the result of a willingness to be vulnerable, to put yourself out there, to show up to a group and participate.” Hmm.

A Floating Life; the Adventures of Li Po, by Simon Elegant, a fictionalized telling of the 8^th century Chinese poet’s life, had me thinking about this. Li Po lived at a time when poets traveled far and wide not just for an audience but also for mentors and competitors. Now with the Internet we are able to find writing groups to participate in and fellow poets and writers to learn from without limitations of time and distance. We might even find an audience. While not the Emperor’s court, we might find some small successes in the blogosphere, and might even celebrate them here. Maybe Anne is right and celebrating small successes will help one through the rough patches of self-doubt and other discouragements. But maybe it will seem like shameless self-promotion, that other writerly scourge. I did have a gratifying week recently, receiving some writerly recognitions. These acknowledgements felt good but who really cares? How does one quietly shout from one’s rooftop? Should one shout? How does one speak of one’s small forward steps without sounding like a braggart? I don’t know. I will wait on wise Anne to unravel these conundrums.

In the meantime I want to recognize the many blogs that encourage and support fellow readers and writers of poetry and prose, to celebrate all who host and manage these sites, as well as all who contribute and participate. I thank you all for these promptings and opportunities to practice and hone my craft and to learn and grow with you.

This is not an exhaustive list of sites offering prompts and challenges, but are ones that I have participated in. I hope I have left no one out and apologize if I mess up or confuse names.

Anne Goodwin           Carrot Ranch           Coleen Chesebro       chevrefeuillescarpediem    Sammi Cox     dVerse Poets’ Pub     https://dailyjewelsbyjules.wordpress.com               Freya Pickard @ Pure Haiku                Haiku Horizons       Irene Waters          Kat Myrman                                          Kiwinana https://ramblingsofawriter2016.com               Mindlovesmiserymangerie            Norah Colvin             Ronovan Writes        Sally Cronin          Six Sentence Stories               Sue Vincent                                   https://amaviedecoeurentier.wordpress.com              http://withrealtoads.blogspot.com        Drabble      SeriousFlashFiction        The WriteStuff

Thank you all for your support!

balance, keep going

rushing stream bridged with each stone

reach out, step across

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Currents of life have kept me away from Marcia’s resplendent lagoon lately, but I have drifted back today. I had resolved in the beginning of the year to get out a bit more than I am used to, so here I am and it is here that I will share some of my outings.

I was recently featured at Pure Haiku, one of my haiku being chosen to represent Freya’s theme of Ocean. That new association got me an invitation to participate in Freya’s Escape Pod Emulation. While I am not much for science fiction, the idea of being left alone in an escape pod was kind of appealing. (You’ll have to read her post in April to see what five items I take with me.) But in thinking about that escape pod I was led back to this post.

Don’t we all dream of alone time to read and write in, of having no interruptions? Yes, that e-pod does sound good, doesn’t it?

The metaphor commonly used isn’t e-pod, but island. I can tell you from personal experience that in filling out your wish fulfillment form, be clear that it be a deserted island, for an island is, somewhat ironically, more of a fishbowl. But if we were truly interested in being on a deserted island, we wouldn’t be reading and writing in the blogosphere, would we? If we are all islands, then the blogosphere is a series of bridges, or boats. No matter what we tell ourselves, we instinctively reach out to others, to give and to get help. Freya mentions that the E-Pod Emulations, a fun interview format, is a way to give back to the writing community.

Sound familiar? I am here at Marcia’s blog where her tag line is “writers helping writers”. Marcia has graciously featured me here at the Write Stuff and encourages my poetic leanings. I have been dabbling more with that genre lately, responding to various prompts from different blogs. Each place has its group of respondents who write and also read and reply to one another; I have yet to stumble upon an unfriendly place and am grateful to the individuals that host these groups of writers and provide the prompts that inspire me to lift a pencil.

So while alone time in an e-pod or a deserted island is attractive, and even necessary at times, we do all benefit from the support and camaraderie of one another.

Meanwhile… You may have seen festive balloons dancing in the blue skies over Carrot Ranch. They are celebrating more than the publication of the Volume 1 Anthology; Charli and her buckaroos are celebrating four years of what is a ballooning literary community that welcomes readers, writers and those interested in the discourse. This community dispels the myth of the insular lone wolf writer; they provide a pack, a tribe of like-minded people who want to try their hand at flash fiction. In the year since I stepped into the blogosphere via the Ranch I have learned and grown so much because of that community. I wouldn’t be much of anywhere without them and am proud to join in the celebration.

I am sure that we all celebrate the groups that we are a part of and the individuals that keep things going. We know that a comment is worth a hundred balloons. These celebratory balloons are markers, beacons for those who might want to reach out from the shores of their own island and share with others their writing, their thoughts, and their encouragement.

Thank you Marcia!

Charli Mills of Carrot Ranch has an approach to writing and revising she calls TUFF; the ultimate flash fiction (challenge). I recently experimented and reflected on the process. What do you think?

Tuff Love