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Deaconess Dresses Sister Writers with Care

Inspiration Moves Deaconess Beyond Definition

Mapping motherhood is a key to balancing life's creations.
Creative work from Suzi Banks Baum’s workshop on Mapping Motherhood. From it, flow is restored.

Today’s word-of-the-day selection is deaconess – (noun): (In certain Protestant churches) 1. a woman belonging to an order or sisterhood dedicated to the sick or poor or who is engaging in other social service duties as teaching or missionary work. 2 a woman elected by a church to assist the clergy. Nuns or sisters fill this role in the Catholic church. While many use the terms interchangeably, there are differences. First, nuns typically stay in cloistered environs while sisters can live in the community they serve. Next, nuns dress in habits, but sisters dress as widows do in the area they serve. Finally, nuns work for the betterment of the world within their convent and sisters work throughout a diocese in such roles as teachers or social activists.

Protestant deaconesses resonate more with Catholic sisters. The Sisters of St. Joseph and the Sisters of Mercy ran the schools that my daughters attended. As a writer and former poet laureate, I met and performed a reading with Sr. Joan Chittister. Many of the Benedictine Sisters, including Sister Joan, are authors and artists.  To learn more about the prolific work of Sister Joan, look here: http://www.joanchittister.org/

The Message Deaconess Holds for All

The message from deaconess is one of care: Encourage everyone – especially women – to find and use her authentic voice. In writing and speaking alike. In doing so, you become a light bearer allowing others to find their way. Dressing people with encouragement is one of the holiest things a person can do. Think of the women who have  moved you from a place of resistance to a place of flow? Maybe she was a teacher, a workshop leader, or a mentor. Maybe she was an author you never knew, but whose work inspired you to write more and deeper. Many women come to mind who bear the qualities of a deaconess, including:

  • Anne Frank
  • Eleanor Roosevelt
  • Mary Cassatt
  • Marie Curie
  • Dian Fossey
  • Mother Teresa
  • Diana, Princess of Wales
  • Oprah Winfrey
  • and countless others
Mapping motherhood work inspires wriring.
Creative work with mixed media helps to restore balance and increase flow.

My gifted friend, Suzi Banks Baum, is an artist, writer, social advocate, and educator who embodies the connotation of deaconess. She creates engaging workshops to move women along their own paths to wholeness through art, poetry, and bookmaking. I’ve taken many of her workshops, including The Map to Motherhood, which nurtured my creativity and helped it bloom. Currently, she is offering a Black Advent course through the year-end season. Want to learn more? See http://www.suzibanksbaum.com/offerings/

Your Turn

On this Giving Tuesday 2018, there are many wonderful ways to give to organizations that support women writers. One close to my heart is the International Women’s Writing Guild. If you are so inclined you can become a member and/or gift another woman with membership. See more here: https://www.iwwg.org/join/

Here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa

 

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Complain: Take Sad Song, Make It Better

Flip Complain to Access Flow

Today’s word-of-the-day selection is complain (v): 1. to express grief, pain, uneasiness, censure, resentment, or dissatisfaction. He complained constantly about the noise in the corridor. 2. to tell of one’s pains, ailments, ect. to complain about a pain in one’s back. 3. to make a formal accusation. The ambassador complained about the student demonstrations. People complain in a lot of ways, but for the same reason. They repeat voiced negativity for emphasis. The scale of the message gets amplified when a concern is not being heard. That is why it is so important to flip an expression of pain or resentment before it gets turned into rage.

Journal to take a sad song and make it better.
Daily journaling helps you to get out of your own way to allow more creative flow into your writing.

Consider the lyrics of the Beatles’ song, Hey Jude, which advises Jude to take a sad song and make it better. The entire song gives a blueprint on how to heal. The song was composed by Paul McCartney to comfort Julian Lennon as his parents divorced. The expressed grief is cured through taking self-care steps to feel the pain of a family breakup. Flipping grief helps writers, too, to make it better. Especially after one too many rejections pop up in Submitable or in SNAIL mail.

Show Me What It Looks Like

Consciousness cures chronic complaining. My father, who passed away 22 years today, taught his children to switch up negative situations. He was a big believer in Wayne Dyer, Zig Ziglar, and Denis Waitley, who exuded positive mindset long before it became trendy. If any of us kids misplaced a shoe or a library book – or anything, really – Dad would inevitably say: Show me what it looks like and I’ll tell you where it is. Of course, this phrase sent the recipient back to the self-reliant task of finding the lost object. He  probably had never heard of the metaphysical healer, Louise Hay, yet one of her mantras fit his situation re-framing thinking well: Out of this situation only good will come.

The Message of Complain

The message of this word is a cry for help: Will someone listen to me? I need attention. I need help with follow-through. I need to be recognized. There is a great meme that pops up frequently on my social media sites. It says Be the person you needed when you were a child. Each one of us has the intestinal fortitude to indeed take a sad song and make it better. The key is taking time to listen to our own thoughts. How? We can write stream-of-conscious journal entries, take a walk, or simply quietly sit with eyes shut. Then, listen to what comes up.

Your Turn

Take out your journal. Write about anything that annoys, enrages, or exhausts you. Then, flip the situation. Create ownership for creating the change needed. Finally, take a single action to move forward in a different direction.

Here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa Moks-Unger

 

 

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Ethyl’s High Test Message from Ethel

My husband's grandmother holds messages within her dictionary.
George and Ethel Blatchley celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary

Husband’s Grandmother Sends Message Via Dictionary

Today’s word-of-the-day is ethyl, noun: 2 a type of anti-knock fluid, containing tetraethyllead and other ingredients for a more even combustion. 3 gasoline to which this fluid has been added. The term also has a first definition, which is a chemical adjective, complete with chemical compound listing, but didn’t seem to fit the discussion. To say the happenstance of this word choice is explosive is overkill. There is, however, a sense of spiritual play at work as this word was plucked from the page.

Today I learned that the dictionary I am using for this month’s exercise belonged to my mother-in-law’s late mother, Ethel Smock Blatchley. The dictionary rests on the stand that has held it for decades – previously in my mother-in-law’s home in Central Florida. And, prior to that, the farmhouse where my mother-in-law, Carol, was raised in New Jersey. Ethel gave her six children a strong legacy of reading. In turn, Carol passed it on to my husband. And, then, we have given the love of words to our children, too.

Former Educator’s Legacy of Literacy

Ethel was an educator in the local school district where she lived. In her later years, she frequently substituted. She knew what every reader knows: that a good companion to literacy is an unabridged dictionary. The Random House Dictionary of English Language is used in our home’s library. It happens to be a third printing from 1966. It has a magical quality about it, probably from its age.

Messages come from all sources - even dictionary entries.
When your mother-in-law’s mother comes calling.

Yes, yes, I know. It is dated. Doesn’t even include most technology terms that are commonplace today. And, yes, I know, language evolves. We supplement with other contemporary dictionaries used in our home office. Yet the lovely tome still has a job to do. Even with rival automation. I admit that I frequently look up words online at sites like Merriam-Webster. See more here: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethyl

Ethyl’s Message from Ethel

Messages from family text
The Random House Dictionary of English Language owned by Ethel Smock Blatchley passed on to her daughter, Carolyn.

The connotation of the word ethyl clearly brings to mind my husband’s grandmother, Ethel. My husband remembers that she had a one grandchild at a time rule for week-long summer visits. And in that vein, I am finding Ethel’s message: Concentrate your reading or writing on one book or article at a time. Focus carefully and fully and you will quickly motor your way through a project!

(I must note here that I never had the privilege of meeting Ethel, but did meet her husband, George, when I was engaged to marry my husband. I am indebted to her for the use of her Random House Dictionary of English Language. And I promise my readers to post any other messages I get from Ethel. She probably would enjoy it if this project went on for a year or more, but lets focus on getting to November 30th!)

Your Turn

Open your journal. Take 15 minutes and free-write about what projects you are writing that have stalled. Then, choose one project and set a timeline and focus your energies on completing the task at hand.

Until tomorrow, here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa Moks-Unger

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Moat Insulates Writing Time & Projects

Guard Your Creativity with a Moat

Moats ensure a writer's work hours and projects.
Keeping a creative moat around a project enables it to come to form.

Today’s word-of-the-day selection is moat: noun – a deep, wide trench, usually filled with water, surrounding a fortified place, such as a town or a castle. verb to surround with or as with a moat. Perhaps I love this word, because it rhymes with wrote and note. Also, it fuels images of fairytale lands where the kingdom is protected by an aquic shield.

Moats are all about boundaries. And, its use in writing has the same associations of protection through distancing the craft from invaders. Writers who protect their writing space, time, and projects are more likely to succeed. The marauders may not be invading troops, but can take on the form of small children, an army of well-intended friends, or even complete strangers who want  to help without an invitation for such need from the writer herself.

Moat’s Message of Exclusion

The message of moat is one of self-care: Carve out your writing schedule and defend it. And, with even greater concern, protect the piece you are writing from the politically correct eye. Last night, my husband and I saw Bohemian Rhapsody. The Freddie Mercury fueled bio-pic of the British rock band, Queen. Their six-minute rock opera had to be actively shopped after wide rejections. They finally found a disc jockey willing to play the song, which ran twice as long as the then accepted three-minute cutoff. While Queen’s bandmates received intense criticism, they guarded the song and its album’s integrity until it found a home. It is hard to believe that such a masterpiece  would have gone to ground without its due. If you have never heard the song, listen to it here: https://www.google.com/searchauthuser=0&source=hp&ei=9KrpW5nYKdPojgSO947gCA&q=bohemian+rhapsody+song&oq=boh&gs_l=psy-ab.1.6.0i131l8j0j0i131.4309.5265..10935…0.0..0.135.450.2j3……0….1..gws-wiz…..0.u1GAIXhq-sI

Your Turn

Open your journal. Take 15 minutes and free-write about ways to gain a a regular, uninterrupted writing schedule. Also, consider ways to protect your writing from being invaded by unsolicited comments. Decide to take one new action this week to defend your writing.

Here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa

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Cycling Spins Way to Flow

Cycling Eases Writers Project to Project

Today’s word-a-day selection is late coming, but we are rolling right along with cycling: noun 1. the act or sport of riding or traveling by bicycle, tricycle, ect. 2. also called bicycle race, bicycle racing sports. a race on lightweight bicycles with low handle bars, conducted for specified distances or against time on a dirt or board track or over public roads between cities. Maybe it is Queen’s new biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, which was recently released. Maybe it has me belting out Bicycle Race with abandon. But cycling brings such joy. Not familiar with the song or lyrics? See here: https://www.bing.com/search?q=youtube+queen+bicycle&form=EDNTHT&mkt=en-us&httpsmsn=1&refig=8437e9d114a24868c066bc28889ce7ed&PC=HCTS&sp=2&ghc=1&qs=AS&pq=youtube+queen+b&sk=LS1&sc=8-15&cvid=8437e9d114a24868c066bc28889ce7ed&cc=US&setlang=en-US

Pedaling Forward One Word at a Time

The great thing about cycling as in a reference to the creative process is that it holds a golden key. Unlock writer’s block easily with cycling. It keeps projects moving forward with ease. Here is my version of it. I typically keep three, six, or nine projects moving at the same time. Let’s start with the three project cycling method that works wonders for me. I work on sending something out the door daily, or with large projects weekly or monthly depending upon its length. To quickly find something to send out the door, look into a rejection pile. Pick it out, apply the changes needed to fit a new publication, and then get it out the door. Work on a longer piece-in-progress while this is happening daily. And, finally, develop an idea or free-write to brainstorm a new piece.  One out, one in progress, and one in development keeps me busy. If the pieces are shorter, I can multiply the work and do two or three projects in each rotation.

The Message of Cycling

The message this spinning word gives is all about sustaining flow: Just keep moving. Sometimes you will pedal fast and get a lot of work done. Other times you will feel like you are spinning your wheels. Get off that vehicle and get on another. Keep moving, writing, and sending out work. I think it is important to remember that flow happens. Sometimes slowly and sometimes fast. It continues when the work is easy enough to coast and when we are straining to go all uphill on a government grant. The message is clear: Keep going!

Your Turn

Try your hand by working on a three-project cycle. Free-write in your journal about a topic of choice. Then, if you have a current project, keep working on it. And, finally, if you have any rejections, rework one and send it out right away. Just keep cycling those project. Keep writing!

Here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa