'MEET ME IN THE STAIRWELL'
You say you will never forget where you were when
you heard the news On September 11, 2001.
Neither will I.
I was on the 110th floor in a smoke filled room
with a man who called his wife to say 'Good-Bye.' I
held his fingers steady as he dialed. I gave him the
peace to say, 'Honey, I am not going to make it, but it
is OK..I am ready to go.'
I was with his wife when he called as she fed
breakfast to their children. I held her up as she
tried to understand his words and as she realized
he wasn't coming home that night.
I was in the stairwell of the 23rd floor when a
woman cried out to Me for help. 'I have been
knocking on the door of your heart for 50 years!' I said.
'Of course I will show you the way home - only
believe in Me now.'
I was at the base of the building with the Priest
ministering to the injured and devastated souls.
I took him home to tend to his Flock in Heaven. He
heard my voice and answered.
I was on all four of those planes, in every seat,
with every prayer. I was with the crew as they
were overtaken. I was in the very hearts of the
believers there, comforting and assuring them that their
faith has saved them.
I was in Texas , Virginia , California , Michigan , Afghanistan .
I was standing next to you when you heard the terrible news.
Did you sense Me?
I want you to know that I saw every face. I knew
every name - though not all knew Me. Some met Me
for the first time on the 86th floor.
Some sought Me with their last breath.
Some couldn't hear Me calling to them through the
smoke and flames; 'Come to Me... this way... take
my hand.' Some chose, for the final time, to ignore Me.
But, I was there.
I did not place you in the Tower that day. You
may not know why, but I do. However, if you were
there in that explosive moment in time, would you have
reached for Me?
Sept. 11, 2001, was not the end of the journey
for you. But someday your journey will end. And I
will be there for you as well. Seek Me now while I may
be found. Then, at any moment, you know you are
'ready to go.'
I will be in the stairwell of your final moments.God
During the next 60 seconds, stop whatever you are
doing, and take this opportunity. (Literally it
is only 1 minute.) All you have to do is the
following:
Stop and think and appreciate God's power
My, oh, my--this picture tells it all. My beloved 4 year-old grandson Josh took a pair of kid scissors to his hair this week, and now has an outstanding bald spot. Even the best efforts of Mommy's favorite hairdresser couldn't do much about this!
Sometimes it's like that with our writing too. That well-intentioned chapter just doesn't turn out the way we planned. And sometimes no matter how we try to smooth it all out, to trim around the edges, to make that bald spot blend in, it just doesn't work for the story.
Sometimes we just have to wait. There are times when we need to ponder and dream and mull it all around, while we wait for the story to "grow out" the way it's supposed to.
Just like Josh is waiting for his hair to grow out.
By:
Joe Sottile,
on 4/4/2010
Blog:
Joe Silly Sottile's Blog
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I had the pleasure of meeting author Marianne Smith on Oak Island at the Senior Recreation Center. She gave a wonderful talk about her life and the novel On the Other Side, which she wrote for her grandchildren. Marianne grew up in Germany during World War Two facing the dangers of war, bombings, hunger, and life without a father. The story is based on facts, events, and real life experiences. At the author talk Marianne Smith stated that “Everything in this book is real. I couldn’t write a book like this and imagine these things.”
Marianne admitted that it wasn’t easy putting on paper many of these painful teenage memories, but they defined the person that she became. And they show what it was like to come of age in Germany during war-torn times on the other side. Our teens need to text less and read more books like Marianne’s masterpiece.
After meeting and talking with Marianne, I felt like I made a new friend. As a poet and a essayist, I feel like I can't write about anything unless it's true. All of my poems, stories, and essays are brimming over with real life experiences. I have three books in the works, and whom did I write them for? My grandkids.
This picture was taken from my deck in NH when I lived there...hot air balloons regularly traveled over the lake. In fact, on weekends, they ofter were our alarm clock...we woke up to the swoosh of air being heated or released, and we alway got up and went out to watch them touch down and take off several times as they passed.
I hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend...doing something special, visiting friends or relatives, etc.
1. This week, we have resumed regular activities (meaning golf, mostly) now that it has dried up from Fay. We watched the path of Gustav with interest, and we were very happy that it did not come our way...our thoughts and prayers go out to those in Louisiana and anyone else in its path. Now we are focused on Hanna...she might or might not be coming our way.
2. Writing has been going well...have been going back and forth with my editor at Jason and Nordic regarding my new book, RUSSELL'S VICTORY, which is a companion book to IT'S TIME. I have also made good progress on my WIP mystery, having written a chapter a day. The first draft is over half written, and then the harder work begins. Still waiting on a couple of agents with my MG novel...not ready yet to send out more queries on it just yet.
3. Plans for the SCWG conference the fourth week in January in Cocoa Beach are coming together very nicely. Am really looking forward to meeting Cynthia Lord in person...she will be doing one of our keynotes. Am still looking for children's book editor, so if you are one or you know one who might like a trip to Florida in the middle of winter, let me know.
4. Have also had fun researching butterfly houses, which I learned about on Kate Messner's blog...it is a perfect activity for one of the main characters in my WIP mystery. Also have researched idioms...they are so much fun to write about. The good thing about all my research is that I have all these books at home so I can read them, but then my six-year-old grandson comes over and HE reads them all, too. After his reading yesterday, he said to me, "Nanny, I'm going to tell you a secret, but keep it under your hat." So that is what I am doing!
Onward and upward...have a good week.
My goal is to post more often, and I thought of posting earlier in the week, but of course, you can see how THAT went...so now that it has been a full week, I'm doing it first thing in the morning to be sure it gets done.
1. I didn't get to play, but I rode around with my husband and six-year old grandson in a Father's Day golf tournament last Saturday. O really enjoyed it and they came in third (out of four). He was the youngest kid there by four years. Now I am waiting for them to have a adult-kid tournament I can play in. O probably won't be as happy with that, though, because I won't get as many pars as his papa and he did.
2. I have decided to try a new way (for me) of revising. I have been having trouble jumping from my first draft and finding what I want, then putting it into my revision draft, so I shrunk the whole story, put it into columns, and now will cut it apart and rearrange it. I have read about this several times, but most recently on Kate Messner's blog.
3. I have been busy with marketing activities this week, too. Had good news from the local paper and a national magazine, who are going to do reviews of KNOWING JOSEPH between now and September. Also I have followed up on a few suggestions that Cynthia Lord has given me about bookstores that deal with only books about special needs, among other things. Thanks, Cindy. In addition, I have connected to Joanna Keating-Velasco and Julie Shore to discuss marketing strategies for books about autism...both of them have excellent books about autism that have come out recently.
4. There are a couple of rhyming poetry contests going on right now...one over at Dori Chaconis's blog about cheese, and another at Kay Pluta's blog about rabbits. Would LOVE the prizes of both, but first I need to write the poems.
5. Just found out that my daughter-in-law and two grandkids will be coming next Thursday for a week. They are here for the summer from Germany, but spending most of their time in Georgia...my son could not make the trip...he is in Iraq.
Hope you all have a good week.
Summer is definitely here in Florida...in the 90's daily, with little or no rain...and supposedly the 'rainy season' begins in May. Nice to be warm, though...sometimes I have to go outside to warm up, with all the air conditioning down here...don't dare to go into a store or restaurant without a sweater.
Recently I attended the WALK FOR AUTISM in Orlando as a vendor. It was fun. I enjoyed talking to all the people who stopped by, handed out a bunch of promotional materials, and even sold a few books.
I have moved forward with my writing, too...got a couple more chapters revised in my WIP, and hope to have it completed by the end of June. Other than that, and some promoting...have been working with my cousin, who is going to make a presentation on KJ to a school she used to work at as a librarian in Vermont, and doing some emailing, etc...I have been staying busy with day-to-day stuff. Am looking forward to having my grandson for five days next week, and to my other two visiting from Germany later in the summer.
I seem to have missed the Friday post I promised, but really had nothing to report. We had Thanksgiving yesterday, so Thursday we spent a leisurely day on the golf course, and then cooked steak on the grill for dinner to celebrate our 43rd anniversary that we DIDN'T get to celebrate last Wednesday. I even had one of my better rounds, breaking ninety, which is a very infrequent thing for me.
Am still working on rewrites...got stuck for a day or so this week, because I couldn't make up my mind if I want to stick with the first version, or to go in another direction completely, which will involve writing several new chapters and dumping the many of the old ones. A hard thing to do, especially when some of them are quite good--or maybe I should say I am quite attached to them, but they definitely would not fit into my 'new version.' I think I have decided to go in the new direction...it ties various parts together better, and cuts down on the great number of characters needed to send the MC from one environment to a totally different one. So progress is being made.
On Wednesday I had fun making a 'Thanksgiving craft' with my grandson, which started with going into the woods in search of brown pine cones. We found quite a few old weathered grey ones, but not too many brown ones, so it is a good thing I had some good ones from the craft store to back up our efforts. We made turkeys from pine cones and colored pipe cleaners, although O. insisted I call them by their correct name--chenille (whatever), which he read off the package. We stuck name tags on a post in each one to be used as place markers on Thanksgiving Day at his house. Today he was going to take one for show and tell at school. And now we can start on Christmas craft projects, since he likes to do a project each week.
I have just returned from our monthly Children's Writers' Club, where our presenter talked about the availability of grants for writers, and gave us several good websites for them...if anyone is interested in obtaining such a grant, let me know, and I'll send you the websites she gave us.
Have a good week, and have fun preparing for the holiday season.
Budd Par recently published his heavy vacation reading list. He confessed that his summer reading is anything but fluffy, since vacation is the only time he can dedicate to reading a big book straight through.
His dilemma will seem familiar to all writers with a day job:
"I’m auditioning some decently chunky books to read while on vacation. I guess this is what’s called summer reading, which for me is the opposite of what most think of because it’s a time when I get to do some relatively uninterrupted and in depth reading."
I heartily agree, and I've been pondering books for my own summer vacation in August. So here are my favorite 'Opposite of Summer Reading' books. Add your own favorites in the comments section...
1- William T. Vollmann's The Atlas--A book of literary, travel-themed bedtime stories from one of our best writers, blending fiction, journalism, and hallucinations in short sections you can read whiling traveling.
2- Julio Cortazar’s Hopscotch--I read this book in a dreamy haze earlier this summer. Easily the best book I've read all year, full of narrative tricks and writing stunts to keep you inspired the rest of the year. Continue reading...
How cute! I like that idea, too. Never heard of a Hope Chest before. Then again, I was born in the mid-80s :P
Boy,now that dates me Sarah! LOL I guess with women not wanting to only be a housewife kinda gave way to a girl doing a Hope Chest. Funny, when growing up, I didn't want to even get married. I just wanted to be an airline pilot and fly the world over. Go figure?!
That jacket is too cute.....& yes let's bring back the hope chest!