I'm Grateful for ==> Laurita Miller

Lovely Laurita.

When I think of Laurita, I think of sunshine. Of grace and generosity. At least that's her internet 'personality', though I hear first-hand that Laurita's the real deal. I'll have to head north someday to find out for myself.

Laurita weaves words from air, makes the prosaic into poetry. If you doubt me, please check out ESCAPE INTO LIFE, featuring 4 of her micro-stories, each an elegant literary truffle. Whenever I pop by her blog I never know what to expect -- a poem, a horror story, a love story, a description of her day -- but know it will be time best spent.

During the 30 Days of Gratitude Challenge, Laurita expressed the most heartfelt gratitudes. On the first day, she left a gorgeous gratitude: I am grateful for those people who take just one quick moment to point out the good in someone else. That one moment can make a world of difference.

I've thought often about this particular gratitude -- it's like a mantra of sorts when someone angers or disappoints me. It reminds me to make change through kindness rather than force of personality or power or strength.

Laurita had a few more things to say about the power of thanks. Here, in her own words...

What three things are you most grateful for TODAY?

Today, I am grateful that I live where I do. Clean air, clean water, and an abundance of beauty. I truly believe I live in the best place in the world.

Today I am also grateful for sunshine. And for my family. Always for family.

What brings you the most joy?

The easy thing is to say my family, but that’s true. I have a large extended family and we’re all close. They’re a bunch of silly loons and I love them all. Throw an hour or two of writing time into the mix and I am one happy woman.

If there was a general happiness scale ranging from 1-10, where 1 is absolutely-the-most-miserable-a-body-can-be and 10 is blissed out to the max, where would you fall?

On average, I’d be about an 8. I’m pretty happy most of the time. Disgustingly so really.

What are your greatest obstacles to achieving happiness, however you define it?

Worry. I try not to, but it’s hard when you’re a mother. Worry about the kids is the biggest obstacle to happiness, for me. Most of it is unfounded, and worry is a useless thing anyway, but it’s tough when little pieces of your heart are running around out in the big world.


Thank you Laurita for gracing my blog and gracing our world.

Peace, Linda

A Month's Worth of Gratitude

A month ago, I was feeling low. Most everything sucked -- work, writing, petty colleagues and acquaintances, whiny, needy others. I wallowed in an existential pity-party, well-deserved I thought; I'd had a rotten two years. Then, I felt guilty because my life was pretty damn good. But I couldn't see the goodness, and that bothered me.

I read once in some self-help book or another that if you want to feel better, laugh. Happy people laugh a lot (though I'm not sure what comes first -- the laughter or the happiness). I figured -- maybe if I one thing to be grateful for every day, maybe my glass would feel less empty.

What a hard exercise! But, in the end, practicing gratitude on a daily basis has made me thankful for the richness of my life. I hope all of you who played along found benefit as well -- I profited from your honest, generous expressions of thanks.

But enough mushiness already -- on to the important stuff -- the WINNERS!

We're all winners, and my two charities -- hospice and the local crisis center -- raked up good. Between new followers and expressed gratitudes, we raised $133, which I'll round to make an even $150. THANK YOU everyone for taking time to drop a comment.

And what great gratitudes you left for me to ponder -- flip-out footrests in new love seats, tea in the morning, breathing, kids who let you write, colleagues, friends, and family, decent shower pressure, the wonderful cyber community of writers, and woodpeckers with attitude. It was difficult to choose only three winners, but here they are...

The Most Heartfelt Gratitude: Written by a writer with a romantic and compassionate soul ==> LAURITA MILLER

Day 1: I am grateful for those people who take just one quick moment to point out the good in someone else. That one moment can make a world of difference.
--A random act of kindness can make a broken day better.

Day 9:

This morning I'm grateful for coffee
It's all that keeps me awake
I drink cup after cup
as soon as I'm up
It's all for my sanity's sake
---Without coffee, I'm an unhinged woman with a throbbing head.


The Quirkiest Gratitude: Should come to no surprise to those who know her ==> CATHY OLLIFFE

Day 9: I am grateful that it's Sunday morning and I don't even have to have a bath today if I don't want to.
---Yes ma'am, love those mornings when PJs rule. This made me grin.

Lady Luck winner: Also no surprise, as this woman left more gratitudes than any other individual ==> UMBRELLALADY

Day 17: I am grateful for technology as well, except when it rings in the middle of the store.
---Or when it chirps in the middle of my husband's sermon!

On Day 23: I am grateful for all the wonderful crabapples that make such great juice.
---I asked for the 'how-to' and you delivered on your blog -- thank you!


CONGRATULATIONS to all three winners!!!! Please, shoot me an email with your snail mail addie and your favorite color, number, and word, I'll gather up your goodies and ship them to you.

And it occurs to me now as I consider shipping those goodie baskets -- every single one of you lives in Canada! How cool is that?

Peace, Linda

Daisy Chain Poetry Gang --> Focus on Laurita Miller

Lovely Laurita. An unassuming writer whose words pack a quiet punch. Laurita is new to poetry -- or so she says -- but the daily poems she dropped this past April during National Poetry Month bespoke someone wih a natural ease around meter, rhythm, rhyme, and song. Her daisy chain poem IMPETUS is no exception.

I traveled North to Newfoundland to visit Laurita. We walked along the coast, kicking at ocean foam, then went inside for tea and scones, chatting all the time of words, wonderful words...

You write poetry and prose - which calls to you more, and why? I’m not sure if either calls to me more. I write what inspires me at the moment. Sometimes that’s poetry, sometimes prose. I never really thought about my poetry writing until this past April when I wrote one poem a day that month. I really enjoyed experimenting.

How would you characterize your poetry voice? your prose voice? I’ve been accused, for lack of a better word, of being poetic even in my prose. Mark said something in his post about my short fiction being unassuming. I think he was exactly right. Most of my fiction, perhaps excluding some of the horror pieces, are rather quiet little things. I tend to write about things under the surface.

Wooden floor

Cool against my skin

There is no motivation

To move from this place

What inspired these first few lines? Honestly, I was a little intimidated when starting my poem. I had already received several beginnings and additions and I felt they were way beyond my capabilities. I wanted something that had a distinct feel, yet could go in several directions. I was kind of afraid to start, yet I knew that I had to get going. These lines just came to me one night just before bed. They described how I felt about starting my poem, and I liked the literal thought of lying on a cool floor, knowing Ihad to get up but wanting to just stay there.

When you wrote the first line(s), did you have a preconceived idea of how your poem would shape and form? If yes, what was that vision? I didn’t have any visions of the end result. I was just happy to have something to send along. My whole focus was creating a few lines that could be taken in any direction.

What surprised you about the final version? What surprised me most about the final version was how well I related to most of it. It became a poem about a woman, a mother, needing to find her place. Robin’s verse was really the turning point there and one word brought it into focus for me – guilt.

What are you working on now? I’m trying to get back into my writing groove after a couple of weeks spent volunteering with the Show Choir. I have a long list of fiction pieces that I’m hoping to work my way through in the next little while. I’ll be jetting off again soon so there will probably be a couple of travel pieces in my future.

Bio: Laurita Miller lives and loves in Newfoundland. Her writings range from horror to literary to slice of life to poetry to... name it, she writes it. She blogs at Brain Droppings.


Peace, Linda

Love in the Sand --> Over at BRAINDROPPINGS

Laurita Miller held a flash contest on all things ocean. LOVE IN THE SAND garnered an honorable mention. While you're there, check out grand winner Lily Mulholland's story, along with those by Michael Solender, Cathy Ouliffe, Lou Freshwater, Jodi MacArthur, Alan Davidson, and Barry Northern. An eclectic take on the seaside.

Peace, Linda