Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Recurring Sounds!

A Sound from My Heart

May 30, 2006

As I write, whether it's a short story for my Pockets series, or a chapter for my current novel, Two Moon Journey, I find recurring themes weaving in and out, some big, some small. (My writing group accuses me of putting chocolate chip cookies in almost every story I write, something I need to ponder perhaps!) But I'm getting at something a bit deeper here. Like forgiveness. When all is said and done, my characters seem to struggle with this--the need to forgive or be forgiven. Whether it's 8 year old Sammy who's just shouted away her best friend Pete (whose duck Drabble has just eaten her slug collection) or 12 year old Simu-quah whose hatred for the Red-Bearded soldier holding her father prisoner propels her into a dangerous encounter by the jail wagon, my stories seem to echo and re-echo with the need for forgiveness.

And so it is in my own life--this is a sound that rings true in my heart. Every day I'm in need of forgiving or being forgiven--usually both.

Often enough, it's in my writing that I work out my own forgiveness struggles. Sometimes this takes a long time and lots of prayer.

Sometimes it's accomplished with as little a gesture as offering someone a chocolate chip cookie.

Friday, May 26, 2006

Ideas--Sounds from my Heart

May 26, 2006

As a writer of stories for children, I often have the opportunity to go into classrooms and talk to kids about writing. "Where do you get your ideas?" they all ask. From things that really happen, from my own childhood, from watching you, I tell them. But what I often think about, and usually share, is the Japanese way of saying "Idea." Two Japanese characters comprise the word, and they translate as A Sound from the Heart.
Ideas. Sounds from the Heart.
I love this!
Any worthwhile idea I share in my writing is a Sound from my Heart. I've gotten adept over the years at recognizing these when they pop into my head, like a lightbulb flashing on. But there's a difference: when the idea is a Sound from my Heart, there's something that resonates within, like a bell ringing deep inside me.
That's what I want to share in this blog---some of those sounds from my heart: ideas about writing, about grandchildren, about life. Who knows what sounds from my heart will ring out, if I take this listening-sharing time each week? Twice a week, that's my goal to start with, to share some sounds from my heart with you--and to listen to the Sounds from your heart that you share back.
Let the Heart-Sounds begin!