Howdy Howdy folks! Welcome to another Mashup on the OG's blog. Now mind you theres a lot in today's post so if I happen to jump around a bit understand that's because I try to accomplish a lot in a Mashup & IWSG day. But I'll be short on the Mashup and long on the IWSG part.On Letters of Note they post a letter from Kurt Vonnegut which is truly the real thing in: "I am very real."
Robinson Wells, an up and coming Utah writer (yes, I have all sorts of love for Utah Writers) shares with us some concerns in: "Ranty Ranty Rant-Face."
Susan Donaldson James shares with us one family's agony in dealing with legislation concerning Abortion in: "Danielle Deaver denied Abortion Even as Uterus Crushed Fetus." (More on this on Friday.)
Robyn Oyeniyi shares a touch of her memories in: "So it is Easter and school holidays."
Carol C. Rzadkiewicz shows us an awesome technique to use to make our writing better in: "Improve Writing Skills by Using Sentence Parallelism."
Susan Donaldson James shares with us one family's agony in dealing with legislation concerning Abortion in: "Danielle Deaver denied Abortion Even as Uterus Crushed Fetus." (More on this on Friday.)
Robyn Oyeniyi shares a touch of her memories in: "So it is Easter and school holidays."
Carol C. Rzadkiewicz shows us an awesome technique to use to make our writing better in: "Improve Writing Skills by Using Sentence Parallelism."
The Wordslinger tells us what not to do in naming children in: "Stop in the Name of... Terrible Baby Names." (Obviously this woman is doing something right, study her to build a better blog.)
Jael McHenry turns oft heard advice on its head in: "Flip the Script: Write What You Don't Know."
Natalie Hartford shares a concept I'm too familiar with: "Urban Word Wednesday: Vacationitis."
Rainy Kaye shares a breath of fresh air with me in: "The Hunger Games, Rue, and a Meme in the Making."
Rainy Kaye shares a breath of fresh air with me in: "The Hunger Games, Rue, and a Meme in the Making."
As stated a short Mashup. So you can watch this Ted Presentation.
Note: I'm not an Introvert, but I recognize this as a problem in our society also.
This weekend I'll be rewriting an older story and reading Pride and Prejudice. It should be an interesting weekend. But I got a query letter to also get done this weekend. I'm stacking it high so I can get it all in by the end of the term. I need to pass this class.
4. Get myself some stories ready to get published somewhere.
The story I'm rewriting is one I plan on submitting to a few contests this year as well as sending it to the Writers of the Future Contest. We'll see exactly how it goes when I do it. I'm pretty excited.
So we are through with my goals and I can get to what I want to really talk about. An insecurity. This past weekend I had a really long talk with some of my family (the folks in Utah who are family are those I've adopted, because I didn't have one of my own) about my identity. For the longest time I've always tried to hide by being extra religious a part of me that scared me.
I went through a lot of emotional abuse growing up, and while I don't sit here and blame my Mom for it. I don't have much of a relationship with her either because there is a great deal of toxicity there that I'm not able to deal with well. Between the darkness that I think was always mine and the darkness etched upon my soul through the abuse I find myself wondering who I am frequently.
And as I read I am not a Serial Killer and A Game of Thrones I've begun to think who I am is much more complex than I thought before. That like the color of my skin the darkness that is within me isn't a bad thing, but instead a misunderstood thing. Darkness isn't evil, because I can use my fingers to feel what it is, and my feelings don't tell me its bad, instead they tell me that its important. This isn't to say that I plan on going out and killing anybody or using the F-bomb at every opportunity, but instead to come to grips with the fact that who I am, is much larger than who I've allowed myself to be.
An example of this can be seen in how I approach schoolwork. I don't set aside time for schoolwork. Instead I do it when I feel like doing it. Sometimes that is right after I get it. Other times it is right before the assignment is due. As a whole it usually is done in such a way that I can fit whatever else is going on in my life around school. And at one time I thought that it made me less of a person to be all about getting the work done one day and the next laissezfaire about when it got done. (Did I mention I'm an A to B student most of the time?)
I'm the same way with pretty much how I approach life as a whole. I'm either one extreme or the other. I'm either full of energy or nearly falling asleep. I'm either completely prepared or completely unprepared. Super loud or completely quiet. Terribly busy or crazy bored. And I thought something was wrong with me because I was always like that. Until one day someone said to me, "I think you are the most balanced person I've ever met."
That blew me away. But it made sense. Because while my personality is made up of extremes my views of the world are not. I tend to have liberal values, but I temper them with a sense of what is right and wrong. And while I might not agree with others I have been successful in sharing my thoughts in the manner of a philosopher that rather than wanting you to agree with him, wants you just to think a little deeper about the problem at hand.
I tend to think I'm a little like Mulan, who in order to find herself had to become someone that nobody, including herself, believed that she could become. I'm Jayrod the writer, but there is something more that I don't think I'm really aware of yet. But only as I continue writing, will I get there. And that journey both thrills and scares me.
Well, I realize all the bits of the post today were short, but it has been a crazy week for me. I will be back on Friday to discuss with you a subject that is near and dear to my heart: Abortion. Yeah, I wasn't going to talk about it now, but I figure after seeing that video earlier that I should share my opinions and perhaps open up some minds by the sharing. Until then I'm Jayrod Garrett, the First OG.
4. Get myself some stories ready to get published somewhere.
The story I'm rewriting is one I plan on submitting to a few contests this year as well as sending it to the Writers of the Future Contest. We'll see exactly how it goes when I do it. I'm pretty excited.
I went through a lot of emotional abuse growing up, and while I don't sit here and blame my Mom for it. I don't have much of a relationship with her either because there is a great deal of toxicity there that I'm not able to deal with well. Between the darkness that I think was always mine and the darkness etched upon my soul through the abuse I find myself wondering who I am frequently.
And as I read I am not a Serial Killer and A Game of Thrones I've begun to think who I am is much more complex than I thought before. That like the color of my skin the darkness that is within me isn't a bad thing, but instead a misunderstood thing. Darkness isn't evil, because I can use my fingers to feel what it is, and my feelings don't tell me its bad, instead they tell me that its important. This isn't to say that I plan on going out and killing anybody or using the F-bomb at every opportunity, but instead to come to grips with the fact that who I am, is much larger than who I've allowed myself to be.
An example of this can be seen in how I approach schoolwork. I don't set aside time for schoolwork. Instead I do it when I feel like doing it. Sometimes that is right after I get it. Other times it is right before the assignment is due. As a whole it usually is done in such a way that I can fit whatever else is going on in my life around school. And at one time I thought that it made me less of a person to be all about getting the work done one day and the next laissezfaire about when it got done. (Did I mention I'm an A to B student most of the time?)
I'm the same way with pretty much how I approach life as a whole. I'm either one extreme or the other. I'm either full of energy or nearly falling asleep. I'm either completely prepared or completely unprepared. Super loud or completely quiet. Terribly busy or crazy bored. And I thought something was wrong with me because I was always like that. Until one day someone said to me, "I think you are the most balanced person I've ever met."
That blew me away. But it made sense. Because while my personality is made up of extremes my views of the world are not. I tend to have liberal values, but I temper them with a sense of what is right and wrong. And while I might not agree with others I have been successful in sharing my thoughts in the manner of a philosopher that rather than wanting you to agree with him, wants you just to think a little deeper about the problem at hand.
I tend to think I'm a little like Mulan, who in order to find herself had to become someone that nobody, including herself, believed that she could become. I'm Jayrod the writer, but there is something more that I don't think I'm really aware of yet. But only as I continue writing, will I get there. And that journey both thrills and scares me.
Well, I realize all the bits of the post today were short, but it has been a crazy week for me. I will be back on Friday to discuss with you a subject that is near and dear to my heart: Abortion. Yeah, I wasn't going to talk about it now, but I figure after seeing that video earlier that I should share my opinions and perhaps open up some minds by the sharing. Until then I'm Jayrod Garrett, the First OG.
Do you ever get afraid that who you are is going to get in the way of who you want to be?
I always get worried about whether who I am is compatible with who I hope to be. So, I would have to answer, "Yes!"
ReplyDeleteThanks for the honesty. :D
DeleteSorry I didn't get back to your blog sooner; been out on the desert the past two days. You are a true renaissance man and a unique personality. Of course you are human, and I can't say that you have ever been "too" religious. All of us swim in the same sea, like when Bryan said that I just COULDN'T become inactive in the church, and I thought but didn't say: "Wanna bet." Fanaticism is universally fatal, and few return from it's place. Drifting too far off course can be bad, and consumes many. President Uctdorf uses many analogies to aviation in his talks, I suppose because they are so appropriate. My dad told me once that a pilot NEVER trusts the "seat of his pants" over his instruments. I asked, "Can't instruments be wrong?" Dad replied that they could, but the possibilities were so slim that the pilot who wants to live charts his course by his instruments. It is like that in the Gospel. Yes, some of our General Authorities have said foolish things, but the number of souls who have crashed on the shoals of apostasy or even mere skeptcism are many, many more. Hope to visit with you more when things slow down. Love, Dad.
DeleteDad, I might be a good person, but I'm no Renaissance Man. Until I've read all of Shakespeare, can jump six feet into the air without a run, and have managed to earn an award saying that I can write, I won't be. But I'm glad to know in your eyes that I'm greater than I'll ever be in my own. :D
DeleteI think if you decide that while you might be happier with yourself as different than you are, you 'can' be happy with you as you are, it takes a lot of pressure off. Now this is assuming what you are now is not harming yourself or others, but is good enough for now. Not that we need to settle for the status quo either - it's always good to keep up a continual nudge toward the edge of our comfort zone.
ReplyDeleteMy philosophy is that we are here to enjoy life, to learn and develop from it, and to leave a positive impact on those around us.
I agree with you, Ravens. I don't think I would have a few years ago though.
DeleteThank you for sharing my link here. :)
ReplyDelete