Celebrating Life

 Anna Chase   Guest Blogger           achaser.blogspot.com Living in the now and being fully present and mindful of each and every moment sounds like a great idea – it’s so Zen!   But have you ever really tried it?   How can something so basic be so hard?     I don’t dwell much on the past but I do a lot of thinking and sometimes worrying about the future.   A certain amount of planning is necessary, but worrying about something that hasn’t happened yet is a waste of time and energy. If you think about it, our feelings of love, spirituality and true joy are “in the moment” feelings.   Yet, how to achieve this state all the time seems impossible.    When I try to concentrate on the here and now, my mind always wonders.   For example, when I’m taking a walk I’m usually timing myself to be sure I do at least 30 minutes, and all the while I’m thinking about what I’m going to do next, when I...

  I’m always looking for ways to improve my writing. I try to write every day, I keep a journal. Whenever I read a particularly good book, I write a review for myself. Sometimes I’m so impressed with the author’s writing style, the seamless way in which a story is told combining all the right elements, in the right proportion, I study the author’s technique; not for the purpose of imitating his/or her style, but to understand what makes one author’s writing stand out from another’s.   In most novels the following elements are present in one form or another - protagonist, antagonist, conflict(s), setting, dialogue, exposition, theme, minor characters, storyline, plotting. But it is the way those elements are put together that distinguishes good writing from bad. I recently read a novel that contained all the above elements; however, as I read I was aware of the author’s missteps and rather than losing myself in the world the author had created, I found myself notic...