Posts Tagged With: poetry

Fear Junkie – The Morning Wride

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Michael Ray King

Waterfront Park in the Intercoastal waterway in Palm Coast, Florida.

Our wride today felt great. After Ivy being gone for a week at summer camp, I found I missed her terribly. Something about our father-daughter daily bike wride fills a need within me. I took the pics for this post on the wride, yet most of my attention today was on a particular topic – fear.

Spoiler Alert! If you’re a member of the local Toastmasters Club, reading any further will give away most, if not all, of my speech on Wednesday night. Ok, so I’ll have a couple surprises I can’t put here on my blog, but I will be reciting one of my poems…

Fear. For some of us, fear is a motivating factor in our lives. Fear keeps us from apathy and complacency. For years, overcoming fear kept me moving forward. Fear often coursed through challenges set in front of me.

The question arises, at least in my mind, of what amount of fear becomes too much? How long can a person use fear as motivation before they become overwhelmed? How much joy and anticipation gets stolen by the intensity of fear?

These days, I find fear more my enemy than motivator. I feel apathy nipping at my heels and complacency a safe place to hide. Shouldn’t fifty-three years be enough time spent riding the fear wave?

Let’s get down to specifics here, because there are many types of fears, I’m writing about the internal, self-limiting fears. Fear owns a legitimate place in our lives. Finding yourself two feet away from a hungry, fourteen foot alligator SHOULD instill a bit of fear into you.

One of my most recent fears came last week when I agreed to teach and choreograph a ballroom dance routine for a charity event August 3rd in Flagler Beach. I had mentioned in a conversation that I wanted to get back to dancing. I did not realize the person I spoke with was heading up a recruiting committee for this “Dancing With the Stars” Flagler Beach gig.

I took private ballroom dance lessons for three years. That was over five years ago. Heck, more like seven years ago. I have not ballroom danced for at least three years. I have five days to come up with a routine, teach someone enough Triple Swing for us to look good, and then get up in front of 500 people and dance.

I’m telling you, this is way outside my comfort zone. Yet, in the past five years, I’ve been very involved with Toastmasters and my fear of getting in front of an audience has diminished. I do love to dance. I do know enough to at least have us looking competent.

Back to the fear and the meat of this post. At this stage of my life, I no longer have the inclination or time for all this internal fear. The questions of whether I can pull this off. The uncertainty of whether I will freeze like I did at a piano recital fifteen years ago (what a fear moment realized!).

I desire to anticipate the competition. I desire to enjoy the process of getting this routine down. I desire to look forward to the event instead of listing it up there among all the other fear driven tasks I have hanging over my head.

I wonder at how my life became this fear monster. I take on a new project and the next thing I know, I’m fearing whether I will come through or not. Even though I’ve never NOT come through on a project, fear still drives me. Somewhere along the way, I allowed joy and anticipation to be replaced by fear of not performing at someone else’s level of satisfaction.

I’m sure this is something embedded within me over decades of practice. At this stage in my life I want fear gone. I want to experience positivity. This motivation from a negative position has worn me out. I find I have little tolerance for naysayers and nit pickers and people with a general, overall critical outlook on life.

I realize you cannot throw the baby out with the bathwater. There are legitimate circumstances for fear, and critique, and detail oriented action. I want more joy in my life.

I also do not totally ascribe to constantly challenging your fears in order to overcome them. I’ve been doing this most my life and I’ve fallen into quick ‘fear’ patterns. I desire to eliminate fear before it grows and consumes me. I can see this endeavor may take time and a ton of effort.

Reciting my poem Wednesday night will be one step out of this fear-driven life of mine. I love this poem. I wrote it sitting under a tree in Raleigh, North Carolina in April of 1982 at three in the morning with a nasty storm on the way. I fear reciting my poetry. I have not been able to attempt an open mic event. The fear engulfs me.

My task these next two days, is to look forward to my speech with positive anticipation. I desire to revel in the moment, to present myself, my poetry, and my views on fear, and to do all this without fear eating at me. The same goes for the dance routine. The same goes for a presentation I must give on Friday.

The same goes for marketing and promoting my book Go Write and You Won’t Go Wrong! Write Your Book in 30 Days. The same goes for marketing the webinar I’ve set up. The same goes for just about everything I want in life.

Photo taken from the I95 bridge in Palm Coast. My house is about three blocks behind the blue water tower…

I’ve read and heard a lot about how everything you want is just outside your comfort zone. I’ve heard and understand that one of the keys to a progressively successful life is to get comfortable being uncomfortable. I heard a quote this past weekend that said, “The brave may well die, but the cautious never truly live.” That resonates with me.

I’ve come up with a little ‘internal jingle’ I’m going to repeat to myself as I work through overcoming fear and introducing anticipation and joy back into my life. It goes like this: “I can or I can’t, I will or I won’t, but I’ll have fun and get it done.” The trick will be to believe…

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Reminisces – The Morning Wride

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Michael Ray King

Good morning wriders! This morning’s wride got shortened due to my standing 8:00am leads group meeting on Fridays. I did manage to get up at 6:00am and we got rolling by 6:25am. A number of things struck my brain as Ivy (my daughter) and I rolled down the pavement.

The first observation came from how much I enjoy mornings. The sun rose soft in the eastern sky as we wrode. The chill in the air welcomed my mood as well. I loathe the Florida heat. In the coming days our heat index will be over 100, with humidity turning every human into a drip-and-dry being as soon as they stroll out the door.

As the morning light brightened, I reminisced about the handful of loves I’ve enjoyed over the course of my life. With one notable exception, I found myself fondly remembering beautiful days like this as well as the music I associated with each person.

Recently, I allowed someone to grill me about love, past loves in my life, and my views on love. I found it odd how so few loves I’ve had in my life, but my questioner made it sound like I embodied Don Juan or Casanova. Couldn’t have been further from the truth. But, let me get back on topic.

I decided on my wride to post some new poems on my poetry blog (Poetry in Black and White) as well as two songs associated with each person in my past. Hey, I’m a writer and I’m allowed to indulge in insanities by trade, ok? Therefore, for what it’s worth, I will post the poetry project later today (I hope…)

I encourage you to consider feeding your soul with something you love to do. For me, my bicycle, music, spending time with my daughter, and writing in the morning delivers my best shot at a great day. What’s yours? If you’re not taking care of your inner self, you can’t effectively help others at your maximum capacity…

 

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Introspections – The Morning Wride

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Michael Ray King

Our four day rain event – tropical storm Debby – finally left us late yesterday evening. This morning’s wride began a bit chilly. A pleasant surprise but unfortunately the cool air lasted about an hour.

On this wride, I dealt with a number of internal dialogues fighting for position of importance. Sometimes, when things like this roil inside, I get frustrated because my music no longer soothes, the exercise feels unimportant, and writing becomes of supreme importance.

Good for the writer in me, right? Well, sometimes. This morning I did not take much time to write. I peppered some notes on my iPhone’s notepad: crazy as sin (someone I met the night before described herself that way and I wanted to remember it); help people; how do you get applause and then accept it within (a live version of Elton’s Funeral For a Friend inspired that one); problems with shiny objects and positivity (I know what it means if no one else does); so many things I don’t understand; Mom alone at home; I could be better about calling.

The last three all came as one big sandwich. I just spent nearly two weeks in West Virginia with my mother and each moment I treasure. The lack of understanding comes from her ability to live on her own quite happily. I don’t know that I could live alone. She putters around and appears so content she almost makes me desire such a life.

But I know myself, and alone does not appeal on a long term basis. Short term, heck yeah! I find myself wanting quiet time a lot. But not a steady diet. I do feel I should call her more often. We never have a bad conversation.

The clear winner in my internalizations, though, is the “help people” rumination. As I continue to work in the ‘infrastructure’ of my “Go Write and You Won’t Go Wrong! Write Your Book in Thirty Days.” book and webinar, I find more and more people anxious to realize their long-standing dream of getting their book written.

I’ve already completed a dry-run webinar, so I feel quite prepared for the August 20, 2012 launch of the first “full-fledged” webinar. I’ve written and published nine books. One I wrote in twelve hours. Another, written on my trip to West Virginia, I wrote in eight days.

I know how to do this. Now I get to help others realize they too can accomplish their writing dreams/goals. Adopting purpose to into my life like this gets me pumped up. Knowing I can help people with something tangible feels great.

The introspection this morning ran along the lines of setting up marketing material to get the word out about the webinar. Tons of logistics ran through my brain: I need to make sure I mention the target word count of 30,000 for this class; I need to pick up a dozen packages of index cards; I need to get up with my graphics design guy; I need to do some rewrites and edits on the manuscript, etc.

The other big introspection for the day traveled along the current lines of positivity running through my life. As I continue to surround myself with positive, forward-thinking and moving people, I find I want to take on every project that pops up. I know better.

As it is, I am embroiled in five book projects in various stages of completion. This situation presents itself as both intimidating and exhilarating. So this day, I welcomed my session with my personal coach. I worked through some of the pressures I feel about all the GOOD going on in my life.

What a problem to need to deal with, eh? One other issue that scratched at my brain stepped into my consciousness after I put my phone back in my pocket and hopped back on the bike. My poetry blog suffers a bit from neglect. I will right that situation shortly.

Wriding my bike each morning allows many excellent things to occur. Today, while I solved none of my internalizations, I did get the opportunity to look at each of them in a positive light. What a wonderful concept!

I look forward to creating my marketing plan for “Go Write…”. I am anxious to write a poem. I get excited about helping people write. I know, with a lot of help from my friends, I will be empowered to step out and not only achieve my goals, but also help others reach theirs.

What a great day! I hope yours goes at least as well.

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Young at Heart – The Morning Wride

Posted on June 23, 2012 by Michael Ray King

I love writing. I love bicycling. I love music. I love basketball. As I’ve written this past week, my early morning (6:00am to 8:00am) wride fulfills all those ‘loves’. This is for you, yes – YOU, dear reader. Find a way to get more balance into your life. For me, I need a ton of balance. I work far too much.

My bicycle, music, writing, and basketball all team up to take me a step closer, ok, a GIANT step closer to balance. Your balance may involved completely different activities. Commit yourself to this step of balance. Here’s why:

My seventeen-year-old daughter let me know she would be interested in riding with me. I’m thinking, “6:00am? Really? No way…” What I did say was, “come on, let’s go.” This morning, she wrode the entire wride. Remember up above when I wrote, “I need a ton of balance?” Time with my children happens to entail a significant portion of that needed balance.

How cool is this? I am getting exercise which helps release positive endorphins into my system, helps me get into shape, helps me lose weight, while listening to my favorite music, getting to shoot some hoops and grabbing some writing time. And now my bed-potato (kinda like a couch potato) daughter wants to wride with me every day?

Priceless.

Want something even better? Even though she suffered a difficult, physical challenge in completing the wride, she stated she may wride her bike to college in September because by then she will be in great shape. Even though I slow my pace down quite a bit so she can wride with me, the HUGE win of spending time with her, getting her into an exercise regimen, and she gets opportunity to write and listen to music as well, I am dumbfounded.

When you step into action rather than sitting back and figuring out the perfect solution, amazing things happen. This may not come across to you, the reader as incredible as it manifests in my life. I’ve realized for a long time I desire more connection and interaction with my children, but finding that comfort zone for them and myself has not been an easy task.

Yet, contrary to that last statement, the comfort zone popped up simple as breathing. Set yourself into motion and say, “yes” when opportunities present themselves. The ramifications of my morning wride now take on exponentially loftier repercussions than what I set out to do.

This may sound selfish, but I assure you, the statement does not contain a selfish though – when you take care of yourself, you are then better able to serve others. Just like flying, if the oxygen masks drop, you’re advised to put yours on first so you then can help others.

I put myself in motion to take care of my physical and emotional needs by riding my bike, listening to music and writing each morning. Then a basketball pops up the very morning I contemplated how nice it would be to shoot hoops on my morning wride. Then shifting my writing to this blogsite rather than Poetry in Black and White revived this key blog. This writing is more appropriate to this blog as well. Then my daughter commits to wriding with me the entire summer. Then she contemplates wriding to school in the fall.

See what happens when you set yourself in positive motion? I see I still need a lot more balance in my life. I have three other children at home. I am now more comfortable with how this balance will come about. As I continue to place myself in motion, the balance will come as long as I stay open to it. Like Loral Langemeier says, “Just say Yes!” If you don’t know who Loral is, you should go check her out.

Place yourself in motion. Positive motion. Good things will happen. Be open to them. The song on my wride that struck me was a live version (above) of Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting. I took some photos of fallen trees, but those will be used on my PIBW blog.

I love positive motion!

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Storms – The Morning Wride

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Michael Ray King

Yesterday I wrode in the wrain (is that annoying? :) ). I only suffered through about five minutes in a light wrainfall, but later on my wride, I looked up at intense clouds staring me in the face (hey, I would have spelled it “phace except that would break my consistency with the “wr…” thing”…).

One of the hazards of early morning wrides will be the propensity to get caught in a little wrain. Unfortunately, those clouds did not come across as a ‘little’ wrain. I did make it home, dry and in one piece. The thrill of racing the wrain gifted me some fun,though…

Today’s wride flew by quick. On Fridays I must attend a ‘leads group’ meeting at 8:00am. Since my normal wride time happens to run from 6:00am to 8″00am, I must figure something out for next week.

This morning I learned I could wride faster than I believed possible. My pace can pick up given proper motivation. I must jealously defend my sleep time. I stayed up late watching the disgusting Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and company win the NBA Championship. What a waste of my time. Sorely disappointing, mainly because a couple egotistical thugs won it all, but isn’t that the way of the world today…

No sense going down the negativity road. In a speech I attended on Tuesday, the speaker revealed that people must come up with thirty-two positive thoughts for every negative to simply break even. We shoot ourselves not only in our feet when we buy into negativity, but also push forward our own destruction.

I’m convinced that when we strive to attain something good and positive through the use or assistance of other good and positive people, we insure our progression forward to the dreams AND goals we’ve established. Negativity should hold no sway in our lives. Challenges, hurdles, obstacles, yes, but when we invite negativity into our hearts, it sets seed quickly and grows exponentially fast.

Remaining positive in your outlook takes a lot of self-awareness, a ton of observational skills, and a surrounding group of people committed to a positive, goal oriented outlook on life. I’ve heard this for years. I find life amazing in how many times I’ve made that previous statement, “I’ve heard this for years,” and never used the information.

We are under attack. Even the television attacks us. How many of us look fit and trim like the bulk of the folk on tv? When someone gets depicted more like a cross section of our country, those people tend to be made out to be less than desirable. Nothing new under the sun there, I know, but it appears people must hear these truths over and over and over simply for the message of positivity to sink into their hearts.

I find I have little use for negativity anymore. My position is to walk away whenever things get out of hand. Easy to write and say, not always so easy to do. This picture comes from this morning’s wride. As I rode off down the wroad beginning my wride, I felt the urge to look back over my shoulder. Those clouds were so big and real I had to stop and take a pic…

I will get more rest tonight so I can write more intelligibly tomorrow. I do like the transition to this blog site vs my Poetry in Black and White site. An author should do a better job of keeping readership informed – this site is a perfect fit.

Poetry is where I dump my heart out every now and then and clean up the mess (as best I can). Stop by and check PIBW out sometime.

I desire to pass on valuable information on things I’ve learned to people every chance I get. I’ll be teaching a course through Adult Education beginning July 9th on how to write a book in thirty days. Anyone local should jump on this. My online webinar is very hot right now. My target dates for launch of the next two webinars are August 21, 2012 and August 23, 2012.

Until I wride again!

My Stable of Books…

Go Write and You Won’t Go Wrong! Write Your Book in Thirty Days! (Due Aug. 2012)
The Method Writers (2012) 
Fictitious Fiction (2012)
Rock Your Business! Your Book as YOUR Business Card (2012)
Poetry in Black and White (2012)
More Writing is Easy (2011)
Writing is Easy (2010)
Loves Lost and Found (2009)
Fatherhood 101: Bonding Tips for Building Loving Relationships (2008)

(All books available in Canaday, US, UK, European Union)

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Poetry Book Signing

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Michael Ray King

Ok, so the book signing will be for all five of my books, but Poetry in Black and White will be delivered tomorrow, so I might as well make a big deal out of Friday’s book signing at A Frame of Mind in Flagler Beach, FL as a poetry book signing, right? When you present a new book, said new book grabs the larger share of attention.

Poetry typically is not an easy sell when it comes to books. I learned this with my first book of poetry, Loves Lost and Found. From a layout and content standpoint, the book works very well. Loves Lost and Found comes loaded with colorful full-page pics of acrylic paintings by artist Tracy McDurmon. Her paintings depict her interpretation of the poems within the book.

Personally, I love the book. For twenty-eight years my dream for the poetry I wrote in the early 1980′s was to find an artist to interpret my written works through visual art. When Tracy and I teamed up on this project, we determined it would be a ‘labor of love’ in that we committed to producing the absolute best product possible. We understood making money on the book was a long shot. As a publisher, I contracted with an awesome printer in Michigan, 360 Digital, to produce a limited run of 30 softcover and 30 hardcover books, in full, vibrant color, on 100# high gloss paper, and in an 8.5×11 trim size.

Since I insisted on such high quality paper and the vibrant color on 8.5×11 sizing, the cost of these books came in a bit high. In order to simply recoup the investment in the books, we would have to sell through the first print run and order a second, sell through all of them, and finally the book would be profitable.

ClearView Press Inc. only has a few copies of the original print run left. Last year, I decided CVP would make Loves Lost and Found accessible on a lower ‘price point’ basis, so I released the book printed on regular 55# normal paper. To my surprise, the colors remain vibrant and I was able to reduce print costs enough to get the softcover price down to a more reasonable $16.95. So far, the book has not sold in the new paper format, but as I get out and participate in poetry book signings, my hope is to create an interest in the book.

The new poetry book, Poetry in Black and White, borrows the same premise of artistic interpretation of my poetry, this time through the lens of photographer Ella Forest. Originally, I intended the interior art to come from sketch artists. I desired pencil and charcoal art interpretations to adorn the new book. Also, the poetry in this book comes from more recent work.

Unfortunately, the three artists I requested to work on the project could not produce the work. Just when I thought the project would fade into a memory, my office manager came across a photographer who really wanted to take on the task. Skepticism ran high on my part. I could not connect the creative dots that would allow a photographer to interpret my poetry through black and white photos.

My gut told me to give it a whirl. The project basically lay dead on the floor at that point anyway. Ella came across enthusiastic and with a can-do attitude.  Within six weeks, I was astounded at her eye for interpretive photography. I ‘got it’. I am amazed at how she went about depicting the poetic messages through photography. Ella does masterful work, and I am now a believer.

One last snafu snarled up the Poetry in Black and White project. When we uploaded the book to the printer, we accidentally put it on cream paper instead of the more flattering white, and some of the photos were not at the proper resolution. I felt Ella’s photos deserved better, so publication of the book was delayed nearly two months. I believe the end product is well worth the wait.

One of my other books I will be signing is my book on fatherhood titled: Fatherhood 101 – Bonding Tips for Building Loving Relationships. I wrote this book because I felt I had some credentials, namely, six children. Writing this book, my first, entailed me documenting everything I did to bond with my new baby pre-birth through 18 months. We offer this book through CVP’s website $1.50 off what Amazon and Barnes and Noble charge. Plus you get it autographed…

So now, Friday March 2, 2012, I get to unveil the new poetry book at the Flagler Beach First Friday event. I must give a huge shout out to Nadine King (no relation) at Christmas Come True for sponsoring the event signing at A Frame of Mind. Nadine does awesome work for underprivileged families with her 501(c)3 – Christmas Come True. If you happen to be looking for a worthwhile charity, please check out her organization. I’ve known Nadine for a couple of years now, and I have watched her dream of getting Christmas Come True off the ground, materialize.

Anyone local to the Flagler Beach, FL area, come on out to First Friday and make sure you stop by and see me at my poetry (and other) book signing!!! First Friday lasts from like 5:00pm until 8:00pm. Come on out!

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Writing Scared

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Michael Ray King

Today the thought more than occurred to me many of us burn the candle of our lives fearing the winds of  disapproval, failure, success, and low self-esteem. Over the course of my writing career, which officially blossomed in 2008 with the publication of Fatherhood 101: Bonding Tips for Building Loving Relationships, I’ve discovered if I feel something, many others feel much the same.

I know. Alert the media. This epiphany may not be news for many people, but for many others, coming to an understanding of the reasons why you hold yourself back can be freeing. Too many years I’ve tempered my writing so as not to offend. Then I read all these writers taking a stand on political issues, religious issues, business issues, inter-personal issues. People get bold and just throw out to the world their stance and views on all these subjects and many more.

I wonder at what it would take for me to do something like that. To take my somewhat conservative, Christian right perspective and spew it about as if I knew it all. That’s the ‘nub of the gist’ as my beloved Monty Python once said. I won’t write about something unless I know what I’m talking about.

I know from what I’ve read and seen in life, that politicians at the federal level are corrupted by a corrupt system. I’ve seen it at the state level as well, of course. But I’ve also traveled to Panama and the Philippines and Mexico and a number of other places. I’ve seen the graft, the blatant hording of money by politicians and the abject poverty of their constituents. I’ve seen countries whose corruption dwarfs ours.

I know the media we suffer under is wicked on many levels with political and corporate agendas driving their productions. Again, I’ve seen much worse in other countries. I’ve also read and seen media squelched by corrupt governments that desire to not only maintain their wealth and power but their stranglehold on their oppressed populations.

But let’s be real here. The drug cartels are not going away until there is no market to sell to. Any reasonable, logical person can understand that concept. Even if all the governments made illegal drug usage and sales punishable by death, the drug industry would not go away. Humans cannot even agree on the dangers of illicit drug use. We cannot agree on religion. We cannot agree on population control. We cannot agree on morality. The list goes on and on and on.

So, for me to take a stand in any of these areas, I must examine the fact that I have no more an answer than the talking heads on television. The world-wide talking heads, whether they be politicians, rebels, heads of state, or Joe Plumber. I so know this – some of what I write resonates with a portion of the world’s population. Some of what I write might get me killed by other portions of the world population.

My passion and desire is to write about something universal – emotions. Yet, even here, the disparity of views can overwhelm a writer. Something I write about a particular emotion may prompt a reader to ‘thumbs up’ a particular piece of writing, while the next reader may mumble and call me all sorts of names.

A writer MUST select a direction for his/her writing. Some of us get down to the nitty gritty and write things in very base terms. Others prefer more of an eloquent crafting of words as their artistic contribution to humanity. When all is said and done, MY view is that each writer SHOULD write scared. Once you’ve created your written statement, cleaned it up, and poised to send it out into the world, I feel a writer should possess a level of concern. A level of fear. Not immobilizing, petrifying fear.

More a fear of challenge. If you don’t write something that challenges your own mind, your own knowledge, your own skills, you may stay mired in mediocrity for your entire writing life. In this day and age, the writers who allow themselves to step outside their personal comfort zones appear to garner the ‘following’ most writers crave. Let’s face it – if you write, you desire to be read.

Few people want to read ‘vanilla’ this day and age. I don’t know that people over the centuries ever wanted ‘vanilla’ writing. The definition of ‘vanilla’ has changed as social mores have changed. Bland articles and pedantic books do not get the attention the more passionate, in-your-face writing grabs.

All this being written, I’m challenging myself as a writer, to step out, make some bold statements, take the flack that is sure to come as well as any pats-on-the-back, and see what comes of it. Recently I was in the mode of writing highly sexually themed stories. Not graphic, mind you. Graphic does little for me as a reader and writer. I’m now trekking down ‘death’s’ writing trail. Death, love, and poetry appear to be the themes of the fiction I currently write.

I’m going to write it all a little scared from this point on. I’m going to challenge my own views. I’ve already caused some discomfort with some of my writers group readers. I count this a good thing. We’ll see how things go from here. So, all your writers out there, challenge yourself and write scared – scared enough to confront some of your fears.

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