Category: #Reflections / Мисли

NaNoWriMo Starts Today: Setting the Goals!

#ThesisThursday

Participant in NaNoWriMo 2012

NaNoWriMo starts today!

Am I in? Yes, I am. I participated twice in a row, so I was just looking for a good reason to log in again this year. Of course, I found one. How else could it be, when I am part of a strong writing community – the Wordsmith Studio, which started from the April Platform-building Challenge at MNINB. Initially, we started as NotBobbers, but soon we took a name of our own. Apart from FB group and regular Twitter chats, we have two blog-sites, forum, group membership and even Founding Member’s badges J. Well, such a tightly-knit and closely-communicating group wouldn’t have let me pass through the net of NaNoWriMo, especially when I signaled so definitely that I wanted to participate.

Setting the goals

That was the tough part. To sum up, I had to choose between regular NaNo-er and a NaNo Rebel. A rebel would be a more suitable profile for me, as I didn’t actually plan to start a new project before I manage to end the existing ones. I still need to finish Orange’s story, which I started writing with so much love, and I still have to do some heavy editing of Lily’s story which I finished with so much love and support. Alongside with those thoughts, I still do my courses at University and have six exams ahead, for which I have to complete six written assignments. Still.

So, I needed to think. I must confide in you, that communities do wonders in such dilemmas. One rarely needs a full-bodied and argument-supported opinion, since “one” has already decided, so the said “one” tends to hear just what is consonant with “one’s” intentions. In addition to this, I must admit that all opinions were consonant. Everybody said, “Go for it.” So I did.

—

My Goal for NaNoWriMo this year is to prepare the Theoretical Chapters of my Master thesis for graduation. I have no doubt it will be less than 50k, because that’s the volume of the entire work, yet writing under the pressure of deadlines and impending word count will be a great help, as always.

—

Happy Halloween, Happy Educators’ Day in Bulgaria and Happy start of NaNoWriMo to all!

© 2012 Mariya Koleva

Future Fridays – Why Tweet?

THE FUTURE OF TWITTER

#futurefriday #blogpost #blogging

Image credit: Monster.com

Twitter has turned to a self-sufficient tool for mad link-share w/ no one actually clicking on them, & no one actually replying your tweets. It’s just an automatic “share” we click after we post on our #blogs in hope someone would care.

Does anyone care? Have you checked how many times your “followers” have “followed” and/or commented on your blog?

Have you “replied” to someone in order to start a small conversation, maybe only to “Good-day” one another? How many times you got a reply?

Some people sharing, re-tweeting and writing small thoughts in perfect isolation under the public uninterested gaze… is that twitter?

What’s in store for Twitter, then? Facebook takes over, with numerous possibilities of the group-life, where “closed” groups could remain isolated by the rest and discuss in threads. Sure enough, Twitter has the feature called “hashtag” which serves as a key word, a thread name of sorts.

When I joined I would look for my closest tweeps and @ them to talk to them. Not a very private thing, but still people used to “reply”, and back, and back. Nowadays, it has got somewhat lonely there. Here is an example: someone logs in to Twitter in the morning and tweets something like: Up w/ a headache. Need #coffee. Badly. Now. Any1 up 4 it? #morning

This person may get a couple of replies by followers, in the vein of: #morning back 2 U. Weather fine here. Wh bt U? #coffee is good.

Or, he/she may not get a single reply. Maybe no followers online. Hardly. Maybe followers online are too busy working. Possible. Or, maybe followers online are busy sharing their links to madly beg for attention and traffic to their own sites and care little for our coffee-drinking headaching tweep. Most probably.

OK, let’s go further and say that you decided to not leave this tweep an orphan and hit “reply”. Chances are you won’t hear from the person again, or if you do, that will be very brief “Thanks, you too”. Is the other tweep perhaps having coffee to relieve his/her headache. Could be. Is he/she busy arranging his/her work station for the day? Possible. Is he/she simply indifferent to his/her “followers”? Most probably.

Then why follow?

 

© 2012 Mariya Koleva

6WS

A very short thingie: six-word-saturday (although it’s way past Sat. today)

Noises above the ceiling – no sleep

Posted at the Show My Face regular Six-Word-Saturday round of Sept. 01

Accepting the Award

Following this pretty month of April, during which I celebrated poetry and web-friendship to the full, I happened to receive the Liebster Award! I hardly knew what it was and how I have come to deserve it, yet – here it is!

It came my way by way of Misky’s Alphabet Soup de Jour poetic blog: http://miskmask.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/april-showers-bring-may-liebster-awards/

Misky is a blogging and poetry friend whom I met through Poetic Asides (Robert’s) November Poem-A-Day Chapbook Challenge 2010 – the first one I ever did and in fact, the one that hooked me to web-poetry forums and prompts. Since that November, Misky and me have been frequent visitors of each other’s blogs and have communicated through several social media 😀 Oh, I almost forgot, Misky not only writes amazing poetry, she also cooks and attends a magnificent garden! Those arts are far beyond me, so I’m pretty humbled.

As a way of recognition, I should myself nominate five other bloggers for the Liebster Award. You have no idea how hard it is. I picked around 10… OK, here are the final cast:

Viv Blake – beautiful poety, reflective pieces, amazing style (and she lives in France): http://vivinfrance.wordpress.com/

Magical Mystical Teacher -great haiku, always accompanied by appropriate photos (and she is a teacher, indeed) http://magicalmysticalteacher.wordpress.com/

Grace – she writes poetry which is really full of grace; whenever I try to write a meaningful comment to her verse, I come up with the same old, same old “oh, Grace, it’s so graceful” http://everydayamazin.blogspot.com/

Becca Givens – she amazes me with powerful and peaceful poetry combined with smashing photos. How do these girls have the patience to load all that… http://beccagivens.wordpress.com/

Diana Teneva – well, how wonderful is that I should meet another Bulgarian, also living in Bulgaria, through the web-forum, especially through one that is hosted by poets residing in India… I consider meeting Diana one of the best things that happened to me during this April. She writes in three languages, her haiku are tender and thought-provoking, and she has great taste for fine arts. Oh, and she is a teacher, too. http://www.dianart-dten.blogspot.com/

My dear friends, here are the rules of the Liebster Blog Award:

1. Thank the person that gave you the award in a post on your own site 
2. Nominate up to five blogs with less than 200 followers 
3. Let the nominees know they’ve won by leaving a comment on one of their posts 
4. Add the Liebster image above so all your readers know that you are a recipient.

 

Some words

For the past couple of weeks I have been able to keep up with the Poem-A-Day challenge, yet not really been able to enjoy as much reading as I would have liked. For the past few days, none.

Although I have been writing/poeming happily away, I find reading other’s poems very refreshing, encouraging and a proper form of celebration. After all, what is the Poetry month, if not a celebration of poetry?

Well, I have made up a certain schedule how I will cover all blogs I would like to read, but I am not sure yet, if I would be able to follow it.

Another thing I have been doing is the April Platform challenge with My Name Is Not Bob, aka Robert from Poetic Asides. Tasks are manageable, just as he said. I even set up a Google+ account, which was easy, of course. There are a couple of things I can’t really do, because I lack the tech savvy. I will need to “outsource” for those 😉

That’s about it. So far, the month of April has been going fairly well.

Fear Off

My dear poetic friend, Salvatore Buttaci whom I met through Poetic Asides, as many other fine poets, posted the following Biblical verse just a couple of minutes ago, thus reminding me how long a time has passed since I last leafed through the Bible, and which came as a sudden and almost portentous inspiration in a particularly gloomy minute. Thank you, dear friend!

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

– 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

***
Eternal good hope
Encouraged to reach far beyond
The fear of today.

© 2012 Mariya Koleva


Sombre Chapbook live on Amazon!

Here is my Sombre Chapbook already live on Amazon.co.uk: 

or, you may see it on Amazon.com: HERE

It is available for lending, buying and looking inside. I hope you enjoy it at least as much as I enjoyed making it.

Big shoes

The staff at We Write Poems came up with a glorious prompt: Civil Rights. I remembered what I saw at the Airport in Helsinki just over a fortnight ago. Well, of course, I remember the same thing happening to me just over fifteen years ago, at the Airport in Amsterdam. Utter humiliation is the expression coming to my mind. Enjoy the poem:

Who will wear those big shoes?

We are all lined up

In front of the check-in

So early one morning

All freezing and dumb

–

Hand luggage is packed,

So neatly and

All bags are arranged in decorum,

Waiting

–

Almost there

Just a family before me

Just a step from the free zone

With heating, coffee and soft seats.

–

I see a mother transfer diapers

from suitcase

on the verge of breaking open

to a bunch they surely

call “hand luggage”;

baby’s milk dripping from a bottle on the floor,

little boy clinging to dad

Dad running fingers through

thinning coal-black hair

speaking curtly in a

language I do not recognize

No doubt urging mommy

to hurry

–

Next at check-in desk,

They are ready –

All piles piled in order

So to speak, acceptable

Until the officer spots

their passports.

–

Half an hour later

everybody is still there

except for the check-in officer

who comes and goes away,

“To make some checks,” she says,

“Because there might be problems

With your visas.”

She’s eyeing them from top to toe.

And asking them if they’d come back

And when, and how

And why.

–

Oh, most important, why?

–

The father speaks but little English

The mother is so dumb and numb

The boy spills from his bottle

Then sits over it

And she pretends she

Doesn’t notice

That lump in her throat is

the one of despair

and humiliation

she’s not wanted there,

she’s a wrong nation.

–

And no one needs English to guess

that a passport defines you as human

or else.

 

© 2012 Mariya Koleva

small stone #30

By God, the month is almost over and still no #amwriting done in any serious way. That is how you may know that I had a lot of work to do and that I executed numerous responsible and serious business things on my agenda. For instance, I flew to Finland and back, went to a job interview and a written test, sat for three exams from my regular exam session, and handed in three of the five assignments due for this semester. Around all that, there was a lot of travelling done, where I did not lose touch with home thanks to the wonderful B-day present I got from my baby and his family. Apart from travelling, I visited a couple of universities, ex-employers and such, I renewed old friendships and heard from ex-fellow-students and colleauges. I rummaged in a black plastic bag, containing all I had received from my parents’ place after it was sold. That brought me a nice afternoon of sweet and bitter memories. Unfortunately, I did not find there what I needed. Moreover, I found that it contained only about one third of what was mine in that place. That place is the one which appears in my dreams, when I dream, of “home”.

The small stone for the River of Stones of today is:

“Snow and frost, still sunny. The way I wanted it. Now I reconsider, but there is no taking back the weather.”

© 2012 Mariya Koleva

small stone #22

Snow falling and melting right away. That is the curse of temperate climate. Home is dry and warm, so nice a place to stay. Sunday is my fav ritual.

© 2012 Mariya Koleva

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