Thank You for Stopping by

If you have read any of my month-long blog posts in November, thank you for stopping by. I will confess I did a lot of the work in October simply to save time for me to participate in NaNoWriMo. I know my offerings wouldn’t be considered great works of literature, but I did have fun stretching myself with this project.

Major life change

I found the month of November to be a challenge for me in many ways. The month will see the completion of my working life. I will spend the last days spent in the traditional workforce during this brief period of time. Then, I can call myself a full-time writer. I may never get paid for my efforts, but I plan to spend the remainder of my life obsessed with my new occupation. I’m taking my new job seriously. COVID-19 gave me a gift. I now have the freedom to live my life in wonder and expectation.  I will be living the dream.

NaNoWriMo 2020

I should be typing furiously to get my final words to submit for The White Gate, this year’s NaNoWriMo project. I wasn’t excited about starting it, but the words started falling like autumn leaves to the ground once I put my fingers to the keyboard. Thank you for stopping by to see my NaNoWriMo updates. The question has always been will my 50,000 words turn into a disaster like everything else in 2020. Update: I was able to finish the 2020 NaNoWriMo challenge. The White Gate is finished and tucked away on a flash drive.

Pleiades

I hope you enjoyed my month-long adventure into writing my Pleiades. I started with an experiment with letter A in September. These short poems for every letter of the alphabet were the perfect choice for my 30 posts in 30 days challenge. The object of the game is to have fun with words. The letters b through Z the willing victums. I had a lot of fun with the adventure. I probably won’t write another Pleiades as long as I live.

In my life, I can only write poetry when I’m experiencing emotional conflict. I used it as a kid as a vehicle to carry me past difficult times when it was better not to mention how I was feeling. Fortunately for me, September and October provided enough drama to provide the edge I needed. Thank you for stopping by and listening to my wordplay with the alphebete of rhyme.

The month of November provoked me to rediscover my first love. My first writing endeavors were creating poems. Thanks to the combination of NaNoWriMo, my 30 post in 30 day challenge, and COVID-19 I have rediscovered the poet hiding in my soul again.

Final thoughts

I came to realize not long ago that I have entered the autumn of my life. I greet this season with open arms and a sense of expectation. Fall can be one of the most beautiful seasons of the year, complete with nature’s fireworks of reds, yellows, and golds. A certain freedom comes with realizing your mortality. It leaves you free to take risks knowing you won’t live forever. I have always played it safe, but now I plan to take the road less traveled. I hear it makes all the difference. Wish me luck.

Thank you for stopping by

To listen to this old woman complain

About her station in life

Ramblings filled with anxiety and pain

Concerning this world filled with strife

Shaken but not stirred

Like the leaves on the trees

In a bitter fall wind

Thank you for stopping by

I would like to, for a moment, defend

I didn’t once mention the state of my creaky knees

Who is Molly Shea?

Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh.  To read more of her short stories and adventures, click here.

Be sure to follow Molly on Twitter!