“Dear Self” for NaPoWriMo 2021, Day 11, Plus Daily Prompts,

27 Replies

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Dear Self: The Query

I’ve written all the words. That is the easy part.
But why can I not  finish the projects that I start?
Four books that I have finished languish on the shelf.
I cannot follow through with them. I cannot help myself!
A letter to an agent, a query or request,
someone to pursue the task, perhaps, at my behest?
It just seems impossible to do what I must do.
I haven’t the ability to simply follow through.
I need a deus ex machina to simplify my task.
A simple intervention. Is it too much to ask?

 

Dear Self: The Reply

Jettison your worry. Throw away your fear.
Regain your former confidence. Shift to a higher gear.
Every rigorous journey requires a last step.
Why would you avoid it when you’ve done all the prep?
I think that fear of failure is your fatal flaw.
Those who seek lionization must face the lion’s maw.
Time’s persistent pendulum repeats its past percussions.
Those who overlook them will suffer repercussions.
“Done begins with do,” is the most memorable of morals.
You succeed by finishing, not resting on your laurels.

 

Ironically, “Done Begins with Do” was my class motto when I graduated from high school.

Prompts today are: confidence, jettison, memorable, percuss and repeat.
And also, the prompt  for NaPoWriMo today was to write a letter and a reply. for the

 

27 thoughts on ““Dear Self” for NaPoWriMo 2021, Day 11, Plus Daily Prompts,”

    1. lifelessons Post author

      I just asked my sister’s opinion about whether to change “continuing” to “finishing” in the last line and after reading the poem she said, “Did you know that ‘Done Begins with Do” was my class’s motto?” She graduated from the same school 4 years before me. Since we had most of the same teachers, not to mention the same parents, when my class chose it, one would think someone would have noticed and mentioned that it had been used before!

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      1. SAM VOELKER

        Maybe the question above is about another post~! I wish WordPress would keep replies right next to similar comments~! (or is this my problem~?). Anyway in all the years I made jewelry, I gave most of it away, mostly to “fly by night” girlfriends, and later wrote for others (mostly poetic greeting cards) but trying to market anything was just a bust. I also love to repair old musical instruments, furniture, clocks, et cetera, but never have asked for much in return. (as Dolly alludes to) I love to make things, write things, repair things, and do things, but also love to give, including bad advice. I have written a long “drawn out” historical book with a post from it only yesterday. (( https://mcouvillion.wordpress.com/2021/04/09/meriweather-lewis/ )) My aim in posting on word press is primarily to get short thoughts down in order to put them in a book about my interesting life, but comments are slow in coming and a “like” can be fickle and tells me nothing~! So that may never happen, though I have a friend trying to organize them for me right now. But if I depended on selling anything, I would be very hungry, I think that I told you this a long time back and repeated it just today in a reply. Your basket will never be empty because for everything you complete, you put two more in, as I also posted in a comment about why you can not get your basket emptied~! See: (( https://mcouvillion.wordpress.com/2020/04/10/an-ode-to-judy/ )) Like I said I am very good at giving (bad advice), just ask your sister~!

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        1. lifelessons Post author

          You gave me a link to a site where a friend lists people who sell art online. You had mentioned, I thought, a friend who had some of your work for sale and wondered if it was she.

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          1. SAM VOELKER

            Oh no those doll houses were gone long ago, This friend lives down the road from me, and they are both musicians. She signs up artist who have a lot more time to build what they sell.. Mostly very nice art and craft work. A person would have to work full time to fill their booths. Sorry that we sometime do make our selves clear.

            If you go to the site listed below, though it is difficult to point out each one I will try a few,,, but the ones in the boxes and on that white background were done by me, the silver ones on rose wood or ebony were my favorite way to work: I had a Siamese cat and made that pendent of it, I also made the bug (roach) as a reminder of the first place we lived after we got married, which backed up to the Zoo in San Antonio. We took turns staying up at night to keep the roaches off for a whole week and ate sandwiches, (because I had paid the rent for that week and due to lack of money which had been spent on our wedding trip, we could not move.) So our honeymoon was spent spraying roaches all night~!

            The nickle silver is from musical instruments that were scrap left over from repairs I made (for free) for a high school in the area, those kids were really hard on them. The roach is the finger piece from a clarinet shaped into a bug as you can see~! In addition there are several beautiful cabochons that I cut and polished, mostly picked up in Bolivia, but never got around to mounting. There are several other things there, but I would need to photograph each separate to describe them.

            I went to see my my son and grandsons today and asked about his “X” re: pendent and he said that she was having a very “bad spell”. Sad, as tomorrow the kids go back to her for a week. I hope she will be OK by then~! https://mcouvillion.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/objdart.jpg

            SAM

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    3. SAM VOELKER

      Oh wow that index finger was giving me problems~! That should read “baskeT iS empty” I am trying to time my basket just like I try to make my syrup and hot cakes both end at the same time, but I always need to add either one or the other~!

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  4. lillian

    Clever take on the prompt. Love the last two lines of the letter to yourself and this line is masterful: “Those who seek lionization must face the lion’s maw.”
    Postage saved indeed! 🙂

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  9. judyreeveswriter

    Dear You,
    As one who identifies … Let us continue. Find confidence wherever it hides: under the couch, in the “junk” drawer, at the foot of the bed. Call it out, call it to you and Do!

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