7 minute read
“You don’t have to be a writer to be a journaler, but journal keeping will make you a writer anyway.”
— Robert Moss
Author Archives: Deanna
I'm a creative problem solver, a student of life, and a teacher at heart. Over the years, I've come to realize that being a writer is more than what I do. It's who I am. The process of writing (which involves constant rewriting) has taught me to trust in myself, my intuition, and inner wisdom. After my son's death, writing gave me a reason to not give up but to keep going. In sharing my stories, I hope to inspire you, the reader, to find your reason to not give up but to keep going too.
from drafts to done: building a habit of finishing your writing
4 minute read
What we practice becomes permanent.
– Gabriela Pereira, author, speaker, and founder of DIYMFA.com
Ouch. That line pinched me in the arm the other day when I was listening to DIYMFA podcast, episode 470, Draft Zero.
Continue reading “from drafts to done: building a habit of finishing your writing”sidewalks (3) a theather
2 minute read
finding treasure
Continue reading “sidewalks (3) a theather”Walking, connecting with nature,
picking up something meaningful,
a reminder of us when . . .
or evidence,
a clue—the idea of it,
in the smallest of things, a feather.
Exploring, searching, moving to keep going.
This meditative practice of mine, my morning ritual,
is when I see, in my reverie, how he saw the world.
And as I’m scanning the sidewalk and its edges,
rambling, drifting, daydreaming, thinking of him,
his sweet voice, his curious nature,
I come upon treasure then, a theather.
on reinventing
2 minute read
life
Every single one of us has a completely unique and deeply personal journey that we take on this thing we call life . . . Find the courage to take the wheel and steer it wherever your heart desires.
— Mel Robbins
FOR THE LAST FEW MONTHS, I’ve been feeling like I’m floundering, languishing. Sitting in the passenger’s seat (or some days, the backseat) staring at the weeds, at life, along the soft shoulder as they pass by; instead of taking the wheel, looking forward, and navigating from the driver’s seat.
Continue reading “on reinventing”on walking
1 minute read
walking on
Continue reading “on walking”In grief, all we can do is take notes and learn as we go, keep walking through the damage—talk and share and create as we speak—and stay at it, try to make something of it, our loss, and find new meaning in that.
(excerpt from Willower: Rewriting Life After Unimaginable Loss: Chapter 9. Migrating)
without imagination…
3 minute read
a private note
WHENEVER I READ a book, I always find my very own personal takeaway, a sentence or two that stands out to me, seemingly as if the writer meant the message just for me—like a private note. The author may not have even meant for that particular line or two to be one of the story’s takeaways, and therein lies the magic (of words, and reading books).
Continue reading “without imagination…”grieving is hard work
1 minute read
a grief note
Grieving, like writing, is hard work, done mostly in solitude.
Continue reading “grieving is hard work”
sidewalks (2) luna moth
2 minute read
pieces of treasure
LAST WEEK’S POST, sidewalks (1), was the first in what I’m hoping will be a series of short posts (if I can stick to my plan). You don’t have to read sidewalks (1), or look for my upcoming sidewalk posts (each Wednesday), but . . . I really hope you do.
Continue reading “sidewalks (2) luna moth”sidewalks (1)
4 minute read
all the sidewalks
The word sidewalk appears thirty times in my book Willower.
The line I love you more than all the sidewalks in the world appears nine times.
The first time I heard this was when Sam, as a toddler, said it to me. It stayed with me. It was a funny thing to hear, an unusual measurement to use—sidewalks? But then, the sidewalk was our world; where we spent most of our time collecting acorns, bugs, sticks, stones . . .
Continue reading “sidewalks (1)”lipstick
4 minute read
graped-up
It’s the little things.
SOMETIMES, it’s the littlest, most ridiculous, almost unnoticeable things that help me to keep going:
receiving an unexpected text from an old friend;
watching a tiny lizard lapping water from a drop on the patio floor;
finding that perfect shade of lip color.
Continue reading “lipstick”
Willower.org 
You must be logged in to post a comment.