Friday, May 29, 2009

Extraordinary from the Ordinary

I blogged back in April about Susan Boyle and her amazing singing voice - ordinary woman, extraordinary talent. I watched her semi-final performance on You Tube this morning and she once again did a fantastic job and her dress was beautiful. Anyway I noticed the comments that were written underneath, and one person commented that they thought it was unfair that ordinary people sometimes do extraordinary things. I wonder if she really meant that. To me that is the ultimate in fair. Those who may not be beautiful, or are what some might consider ordinary - should get blessed in other ways. That is what fair is, in my opinion anyway. Unfortunately many of "ordinary" people's "extraordinary" talents usually get overlooked because they are not showy enough. Like being a good friend for example. When Sue Son auditioned for the Britain's Got Talent show she auditioned with her friend. Sue played the electric violin and her friend was on keyboard. The judges did not like the two girls together at all, but recognizing Sue's incredible talent they let her audition again. Sue was forced to make a very difficult decision. She had to decide if she should leave her friend behind and find out how far she might be able to go with her talent. Sue chose to audition without her friend and she faced a lot of public back lash for her choice. I think that the girls friendship has suffered. She ended up not winning in the semi-finals and I wonder if it had to do with people not liking that she left her friend behind.
Which of the girl's is not the true friend though? In my opinion the girl who was not chosen should have been happy for her friend that was. She should have been yelling her support to her friend. Sue truly did have the greater music talent. Was it worth sacrificing her friendship to pursue it? Was it worth her friend sacrificing their friendship by not supporting her? If a friend got a book deal and we didn't or vice versa - do we not support each other?
I watched the other acts for the semi-finals and Susan Boyle was one of them chosen for the finals and Sue was not, but I think she should have been. What do you think?
Here's her semi-final performance.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

We Meet Again

The last Wednesday in April (yes I am a little behind in posting) our writing group had it's second meeting. Only 4 out of the seven we're able to come. It was still a nice evening though. Our oldest member was able to come this time and shared with us a recent essay that she called "Why I write." She bestowed her wisdom on us with humor and charm. Sadly this will be the only meeting that she will ever attend - due to health problems this beautiful woman will not be able to continue.
Tawnni shared a scary short story with us before she rushed off to her job and Jenny expanded on her cute children's story. I'm impressed with the writing of all those who contributed this week.

This past month I worked on developing a character for my book. His name is Rainier Abelard, but everyone calls him Rain. I love that name and I think it is so awesome that I came up with it. Creating a world is so hard, but it is also very fun. The character can be anything that I want them to be. Everything that I imagine a perfect romantic hero to be is just at my fingertips.

For those who didn't make it this week or for anyone else who may want an idea to write about - this months theme is "A Place I Know Well." The place can be real or fictional. Try to use all of your senses as you try to describe the place. Think of sounds and smells as well as how it looks.

I'm finding it difficult to find time to write lately. My baby changed his nap time to when my four year old is home from preschool so I feel guilty about not spending time with the 4 year old. It's so easy to let a day go by and then a whole week with very little writing happening, so my goal this week is at least 1000 words a day. Wish me Luck!