Whispers of Youth

             



             Sweet Whispers of Youth

 

Hi everyone. Happy New Week!

 

It seems Blogger is having some problems with Peggy's Ponderings and I can't post anything right now. That's why you haven't seen anything new for a few days. I have informed them of the problems, though, and hopefully, they'll get them taken care of in a day or two.

 

I've been busy for the past week.

 
I've been putting together another e-Book. This one is a little different. It's poetry. Really old poetry! I wrote most of it when I was in my teens and early twenties. A few were written later, but not many.
 
While you're reading, try to remember that teenagers are full of hormones and emotion. Most of them think the world revolves around them. They love, hate, laugh and cry with more gusto than adults do. And then one day, it's over - around eighteen or nineteen years old and, hopefully, life gets a little more normal.
 
It was during that period in my life that I wrote most of these poems. I hope you enjoy at least a few of them.
 
Peggy~

~~~

 

I Thought it Was a Good Deed

When my Aunt Betty and I were just little girls, we often vowed that someday we’d write a book together. It would be a story about our lives and the lives of those we loved – of all the fun we had growing up in the coal camp where she lived and in the small town where I lived with my parents beside the Kanawha River.

It took a lifetime, but we finally did it!

The book is called Unseen Angels. And it’s on sale at Amazon.com. 

My Aunt Betty is not very well. She can’t eat and is living on Protein drinks. She stays in bed most of the time. She’s been this way for a few months and since I was worried that she may never see our book, I rushed it up and published it via Kindle Direct Publishing, which is the fastest way I know to get a book published.

But, guess what? It’s been on Amazon for almost a month and Betty hasn’t even been on her computer to look at it. You see, Betty doesn’t understand electronics very well. When she asked me if she’d be able to hold our book in her hands and I said, “No,” her excitement for our lifelong dream just flew right out the window!

She said, “I don’t have a Kindle.” I explained that it isn’t necessary to have a Kindle. "Amazon makes it easy to read Kindle books on any device with a free App. that you download here," I told her... http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=sa_menu_karl/189-3902047-9204758?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771

But she wasn’t moved – and still hasn’t looked at the book.

Ah, what a letdown!

I thought I was doing a good deed. Thought she’d be happy. Now, it doesn’t matter much.  As the old song goes, The Thrill is Gone!

If you’d like to take a look at Unseen Angels and read the sample pages, please do so.

Perhaps if her friends start showing an interest in the book, Betty will, too.

~~~

 

Building a Book

 

 

Honestly, I’m so amazed by the things we can do these days!

I’ve had a story I wanted to tell  – a true story – floating around in my head for years, but haven’t done so because I knew it would take forever to go through the traditional process of finding an agent and then waiting until he or she found a publisher who might want to have a look at my book. I knew there would be rejections. Many. And I knew I’d get discouraged. I’ve been told the whole procedure can take years and that a good number of people get frustrated and give up somewhere along the way. 

This is the way the publishing business has been for many years. Only a select few are good enough or have the stamina to stay with it until his/her book is published. Who knows how many good books have fallen by the wayside?

Enter Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing: The greatest thing since sliced bread!

When I decided to check it out, I ordered a couple of books – one was free and the other was ninety-nine cents – that led me, step by step, through the process of preparing my manuscript for publication and then adding a cover. It was easy, fun and some claim it has been lucrative for them. I guess I won’t know that for a while, but I can attest to the fact that it was simple to do and enjoyable.

And if you think this is not for you because you don’t have a Kindle, scratch that idea, too. With a free download, Amazon has made it possible to read Kindle books on almost any device. Here’s where you can check that out for yourself: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=sa_menu_karl/189-3902047-9204758?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771

If you’d like to have a look at my new Kindle eBook, you can do that here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DA1I2P6

And then you might want to start on one of your own!  Good luck!

~~~

 

Someday

Don't you love it when you start with a piece of writing so rough you don't think it has a chance of ever making sense, but you change a word here, remove a word there, add a  phrase or two – and suddenly, right before your eyes, it begins to morph into something worthwhile – and your spirits soar!

That's what keeps me writing, I think – the possibility of a beautiful surprise today or tomorrow or somewhere down the road. I’m always waiting, expecting great words to flow effortlessly from my mind and live forever.

When I was just a child, I spent a lot of time lying on my bed writing poems and stories. I still have some of them. When I got married, my mother gave me two large boxes full of my early writings. My puffed up ego says, "Keep them. Someday you'll be glad you did." But the invisible sprite that sits on my shoulder trying to discourage me, says, "Throw them away. They're worthless!"

I've already reworked some of them and had them published, but many still linger in their original storage boxes, the paper growing brown and crisp with age – waiting, knowing that somewhere among them lives that one story, poem, or turn of phrase that will become immortal. Someday.

Ah... how sweet the hopes and dreams of a writer!

How inflated the ego!

The Benefits of Writing

Nothing excites me as much as writing. When I was a young child, I’d lie on my bed and dream up poems relevant to what was going on in my life at the time. Sometimes my writing was happy, and other times, it was incredibly sad. If my dog died, the poetry echoed the despair I felt, and as I became older, it was more about friendships – and then, first love, happiness and heartbreak.

It’s still that way today. Whatever is going on is what motivates me.

Isn’t it like that for all writers? Our writing reflects our moods. And that’s not a bad thing. Perhaps it’s a way to avoid a lot of problems. It’s a well-known fact that artistic people are more emotional than others. So, instead of allowing our emotions to turn inward causing ulcers, high blood pressure and other health issues, we pour them into our stories and poems for others to enjoy. Or not.

At any rate, we get rid of them. If we’re lucky, we manage to put something worthwhile on paper. And if we’re very fortunate, others will get some benefit from what we write. I’ve been told many times that my writings “made someone’s day,” or “made him laugh – changing the direction of his day.” 

When I'm tempted to give up because my book isn’t selling well, or when I get a rejection from an editor of a magazine, I think about those dear people who actually feel something when they read my words!

And I go back to my computer.

A Dream Come True

All of my life I dreamed of writing a book someday. I must admit, I only half believed it would happen. But circumstances sometimes lead us right where we want to go – and that was the case for me. I had been publishing stories and essays in the Charleston Gazette for several years when one day, it occurred to me that there were enough of them to make a nice collection. All I had to do was put them in the order I wanted them, do a bit of tweaking, add pictures, a nice cover and give it a title.

And Voila! A book was born!

It took a while to come up with a title. Family and friends helped, but nothing satisfied me. Having read somewhere that the title should actually appear inside the book, I perused the pages carefully, writing down every word and phrase that was a possibility. One of my favorite stories ended with the words; Somewhere in Heaven my mother is smiling. That became my title.

My mother had passed away seven years earlier. I included a story in the book about her death and how it affected me. There were other stories about her, as well. Somehow, it seemed right to honor her with the title of my book. 

I’ve wondered many times since if I made the right decision. I think it’s a little long. But what’s done is done. One learns as he/she goes along and if there is a second book, I’m hoping to correct some of the mistakes I made with the first one.

Others don't believe me when I say I wasn’t expecting to make a lot of money with the book, but it's true. I told my husband from the get-go that I just wanted to leave something to my children and grandchildren. I thought this was a good way to do it because there’s a lot about my early life in it, as well as stories about my children and a few about the grandchildren. I felt they’d be able to relate to it. And I hoped they'd cherish a book written by their mother – or grandmother.

No, I didn’t get any big surprises. I haven’t become rich or famous, but I have made a lot of friends that I may never have known otherwise and I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. I’ve continued to write for the Gazette and have amassed even more stories than I had before – enough to put together another collection much larger than the first.

I may do it. Numerous ideas are swimming around in my head. Better ones, perhaps. The publishing industry is changing daily. It should be easier to publish the next one. I may even try publishing via Amazon Kindle. Some claim great success in that market. Many doors are open. I simply have to choose one.

How exciting!