My first book wen't live today on Amazon.com - mixed emotions but there is power in sharing one's journey. The book itself really is captured in the artwork that my brother put together. The words themselves reflect the different topics that are covered in the pages that have been compiled over the past few weeks.
You will get a glimpse into my most vulnerable feelings. What many don't know that I am willing to go into further detail on is that moving to Oklahoma proved to be the most difficult thing I have done in my life. The year I spent there so much happened - new area, new friends, new job, new options, unfamiliarity across the board; the gambit of emotions struck and it was like climbing an uphill battle not knowing what was on the other side yet the goal was to overcome - and I did.
More than that I turned to writing to try and share with others what I was going through. I posted information about the teacher training in New York, the students I was teaching and how challenging it proved to be. I then turned to taking pictures, but that was already discussed in a previous blog (Teaching was the Spark).
I couldn't sleep most nights once we returned back to Tulsa. I invested in a small red notebook and began journaling at odd hours. It helped to get my thoughts down on paper but that wasn't enough because some of the things I wanted to get off of my chest I wanted some people to read - so I started online blogging. Without exposing my true identity I blogged under the name "SevenExpressions" and for months I wrote poetry and narrative that were the driver behind "loamexpressions" itself.
At some point I was tired of expressing myself. It felt as though no one was really listening and my feelings were unappreciated. In fact, I was putting myself out there so much so that I kept comparing myself to Vincent Van Gogh, a man who was never understood until after his lifetime ended. I erased the blog. Saved and timestamped each of them. For over a year I didn't look at them.
I had started several projects since but the memories over the past few years seemed to keep coming up. The "SevenExpressions" work spoke of my trials with relationships both local and distant, bouts with the human condition that followed me during my trips back to Colorado and allowed me to speak out even though no one was listening.
loamexpressions is a story that is still being written. This is a book plastered with testimony. A book that scares me. A book that I hesitated to publish.
I am thankful for the stories and am ever so delighted to release them into the world for many to read. If you get hold of a copy, please share with me your thoughts. I expect questions to be raised and a conversation to begin. Maybe our stories are similar.
You will get a glimpse into my most vulnerable feelings. What many don't know that I am willing to go into further detail on is that moving to Oklahoma proved to be the most difficult thing I have done in my life. The year I spent there so much happened - new area, new friends, new job, new options, unfamiliarity across the board; the gambit of emotions struck and it was like climbing an uphill battle not knowing what was on the other side yet the goal was to overcome - and I did.
More than that I turned to writing to try and share with others what I was going through. I posted information about the teacher training in New York, the students I was teaching and how challenging it proved to be. I then turned to taking pictures, but that was already discussed in a previous blog (Teaching was the Spark).
I couldn't sleep most nights once we returned back to Tulsa. I invested in a small red notebook and began journaling at odd hours. It helped to get my thoughts down on paper but that wasn't enough because some of the things I wanted to get off of my chest I wanted some people to read - so I started online blogging. Without exposing my true identity I blogged under the name "SevenExpressions" and for months I wrote poetry and narrative that were the driver behind "loamexpressions" itself.
At some point I was tired of expressing myself. It felt as though no one was really listening and my feelings were unappreciated. In fact, I was putting myself out there so much so that I kept comparing myself to Vincent Van Gogh, a man who was never understood until after his lifetime ended. I erased the blog. Saved and timestamped each of them. For over a year I didn't look at them.
I had started several projects since but the memories over the past few years seemed to keep coming up. The "SevenExpressions" work spoke of my trials with relationships both local and distant, bouts with the human condition that followed me during my trips back to Colorado and allowed me to speak out even though no one was listening.
loamexpressions is a story that is still being written. This is a book plastered with testimony. A book that scares me. A book that I hesitated to publish.
I am thankful for the stories and am ever so delighted to release them into the world for many to read. If you get hold of a copy, please share with me your thoughts. I expect questions to be raised and a conversation to begin. Maybe our stories are similar.