MAKING MY PEACE … with holiday travel, an open heart, and a message of hopeRainy days, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights …
What are three frustrations that affect holiday travel? American author and civil rights activist Maya Angelou said rainy days, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights in the 2014 book Rainbow in the Cloud: The Wisdom and Spirit of Maya Angelou. It’s a timely reminder as December marks the beginning of the holiday, travel, and family season for many. Maya Angelou’s full quote is encouraging – it is a message of hope. She says: “I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life. I’ve learned that making a living is not the same thing as making a life. I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw some things back. I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one. I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn. I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” More than hope for the season, Maya Angelou gives wisdom and spirit for life.
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Tuesday, 26 November 2024
MAKING MY PEACE … with holiday travel, an open heart, and a message of hope
Saturday, 23 November 2024
NEW PARIS BOOK IN PROGRESS IN 2024: GLAD, MAD AND SAD – Blog 27
Glad, mad and sad – emotions, emotions, emotions! In every novel, there are characters full of emotions. How are characters’ emotions written on the page? What emotions does an author want readers to feel – blissfully happy and excited for a character, or seething and reeling that a character is not doing what is expected, or tearful in solidarity at a character’s demise? Should a character’s emotions be in order, progressive, climactic? In my upcoming Paris book, will my main character be glad then mad then sad; or mad then sad then glad? Or maybe sad then mad then glad? Does mad mean angry, enraged, irate or does it mean depressed, crazy, off-the-wall? Are there fictional role models for my glad, mad, and sad emotional characters? Like:– Blind optimistic glad like Eleanor Porter’s Pollyanna, or cheerfully glad like Lucy Montgomery’s Ann of Green Gables, or stoically glad like Sally in Jon Brittain’s A Super Happy Story? Crazy mad like Lady Macbeth in a Shakespearean drama, or traumatized mad like Yossarian in Joseph Heller’s Catch 22, or feigning mad like Randle McMurphy in Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest? Volatile mad like Joffrey Baratheon in Game of Thrones, or villainous mad like Darth Vader in Star Wars, or boiling mad like Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter? Tormented sad like Leah Clearwater in the Twilight series, or loner sad like Lee Chandler in Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea, or profound sad like Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye? Does there need to be a character with opposing emotions to balance the novel? What is the opposite of glad? Is sad the opposite of glad, or is it melancholic, dismayed, or broken-hearted? What is the opposite of sad? Is it joyous or jubilant or jocular? What is the opposite of mad? Is it friendly, affable, easy-going or rational, sane, and reasonable? How much emotion should be conveyed to readers without a character being too emotional or over-emotional or not emotional enough or too bland? In reality, isn’t life a roller-coaster of emotions? Ups and downs, hairy and scary, bilious and bubbly, over-whelmed and under-whelmed, hey-ho and ho-hum, or as high as the Eiffel Tower and as low as the Rhone river delta. Yes, Paris is not all croissants and cassoulet. But that’s life! … c’est la vie!
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The man who pulls a train of small stories
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