What is the fortune cookie saying to my heart? Many years ago, I felt I had a book assignment, stitching together random bits and pieces of words written on notebook paper, scribbled on backs of envelopes, and some even typed!
How am I going to construct this puzzle into an organized whole? I ask for help! Help is here. My friend Kay suggested I would place the random stories into categories or sections in an orderly fashion based on themes in the stories. Then "sew" them together with threads of transitions.
I sat down to write the first draft and panicked! In desperation I called my friend, Joanna, "You have gone too far to turn back!"
Poised to type I asked myself, "How am I going to do this?"
"You will write this book, one word at a time," Sharon my angel advised. "The more you relax, the easier it is!"
Writing the first draft of Silver Butterfly, Create A Vision became a lesson in advanced intuition and trust. I cut and pasted real paper drafts with scissors and tape, like a child in art class! Sometimes I tore out words or phrases I liked and taped them into another story....and so I wrote out the first draft, a joyous collage. One day, I stood in silent wonder after Tai Chi practice at home, "Now what? Where do I go from here?"
The phone rang. It was an author friend of mine. I had given him a copy of the poem Saturday Colors. "I want to read your book draft!"
He gave me some simple suggestions. Read your book as the reader. Strive for clarity and focus. "I know what you are saying. You know what you are saying, but your audience is not going to know where you are unless you clearly place them in a time frame with phrases like, 'I reflected back several years,' 'recently I felt', 'today I experienced' to set their stage."
Later one of my daughters helped me shape the second draft into computer form and connect the sections in a flowing manner. Tai Chi helps me to organize and balance my right and left brain functions for more written coherence. Daily practice of Tai Chi followed by short editing sessions helped bring vision to achievement. And so, Silver Butterfly began to emerge from the cocoon of lifetimes of learning.
I became impatient! Fortunately my husband helped me with formatting and details, and I added more pictures to make the book an artistic whole. I am flustered. "When will this be completed? How come I am so slow! "
"Your book will be finished in cosmic 'time' and not a moment sooner!"
Angel Sharon reminds me, "Don't force the flower. The buds open only when ready."
Joanna, my friend, recalls, "Let you life unfold like the petals of a rose opening, one at a time and each in perfect order."
Yesterday, I opened another fortune cookie. A unique message appeared:
"Proceed as if limits to our ability do not exist."
"Trust the Growing Tree," Lao Tzu, Tao te Ching
Submit to daily practice.
Your loyalty to that
is a ring on the door.
Keep knocking, and the joy inside
will eventually open a window
and look out to see who's there. Rumi
The Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks
http://www.innerpathtaichi.com/ Tai Chi as Spiritual Practice by Caroline Demoise, a Master Trainer in Dr. Paul Lam's International Tai Chi for Health Teaching team. caroline@innerpathtaichi.com
Julia Cameron, author of The Artist's Way and The Writing Life
dahlis.roy@gmail.com Inquiries or request PDF free E-book Silver Butterfly Create A Vision, Awaken Your Creative Spirit. Enhance your creative path.
www.scs-matters.com/Dahlis-Roy.shtml biography and paintings
Trust the Growing Tree, photo by Rob
