Memories of Snow

NaNoWriMo Day15: Reviewing Two Articles (WC:2035)

Fiḍál (Grace), 13 Qudrat (Power), 173 BE - Monday, November 14, 2016 AD about 6:12 PM Pacific Standard Time

NaNoWriMo Plans for the Next Few Days

There are seventeen days left in November. I have seventeen days to complete the 50,000 words I'm supposed to write this month. So far, I've written 26,541 words which is approximately 53% of the total. Up to this point I've written on various personal subjects, some of the entries I feel are rants, some about writing my NaNoWriMo goals, and some about spirituality. On November 13 and 14, I wrote mostly about spiritual subjects. I planned to write some ideas I gleaned from a Christian journaling sight, but after looking at those ideas I decided to focus more on Baha'is subjects. I just checked BahaiTeachings.org to see what articles are on that website. I'm going to read and write about some of those articles over the next seventeen days. I want to see what I can find to enhance my spiritual growth as a Baha'I1.

Since I sometimes think of myself as a mystic or spiritual poet, I've decided to begin with four articles on poetry titled "The Passing Poetry of Life"2 by Christopher Buck. These articles are Part 1: Thoughts as Deeds3, Part 2: Poems as Treasures, Poems as Deeds4, Part 3: Poetic License and Mystical Wonderment5, and Part 4: War and the Social Commentary of Poetry6.

Now the question is how many words can I write reviewing these articles. I can also write poems that the articles inspire. I know I shouldn't worry about the word count until the end of the day, but I do. In fact, I think I worry too much about word count in November. I have a couple of other things I need to focus on before the end of the year, which have went on the backburner while I've been working on NaNoWriMo. I'm feeling guilty about putting those things on the backburner. Perhaps I should focus less on the surveys and more on writing. That way I could finish the things I've committed to do in 2016.

Fiḍál (Grace), 13 Qudrat (Power), 173 BE - Tuesday, November 15, 2016 AD about 7:49 AM Pacific Standard Time

Dear Baha'u'llah,

I had an interesting dream. In the dream I was with a bunch of people at some sort of dinner or lunch gathering. Mom, along with several Baha'I woman from Las Vegas were there. One of the other Baha'I women was Judy Holley's mother and I think another was Marion West. In addition, I think my sister was there. We were sitting at a wooden picnic table eating milk and Oreo cookies. When dunked my cookie in the milk, I spilled the milk, Mom and the Baha'I ladies helped me clean it up. Someone ask Faye if she was going to help and she refused.

Before I went to sleep last night, I said the Long Healing prayer. I think that has something to do with the dream. I also believe the dream was telling me I can't depend on any more financial help from my sister, which I already suspected. I don't know if Faye's going to send the money for December's rent or not. I'm afraid she won't, which will mean I have to find it somewhere else. I don't know where it will come from, but I have to figure it out. I'll keep this issues in my prayers. I'm sure the money will come from someplace.

Yours Always,
N.F.Darbe AKA Prosperous Snow

Take a Break Tuesday

It's Tuesday, November 15, we are half-way through Novel Writing Month with fifteen days left for me to complete writing at least 50,000 words. I passed the half-way mark yesterday with slightly over 26,000 words written. I have a little over 23,000 words left to write. Today I'm taking a break from responding to blog prompt from any of the blogging groups I's a member of and concentrate on writing entries in my NaNoWriMo book. Since I'm a rebel this year, I'm composing this in that book and plan to copy it into my blog. The reason for this is that I probably won't be home for half of the day on Saturday and Sunday so I want to get at least 2,000 words ahead on the word count before then.

I'm also not sure how many words I will be able to writing on Thanksgiving, which is nine days away, or on the anniversary of my mother's death (fourteen days away). On November 29, I will compose a tribute to my mother, but I'm not sure right now if it will be a poem or prose. I still have a few days to decide which.

Thoughts as Deeds Reviewed
With Comments about My Understanding

In the article "Thought as Deed", post on the website BahaiTeachings.org, Mr. Buck quotes 'Abdu'l-Baha from Some Answered Questions page 277. In this passage, 'Abdu'l-Baha answer a question about how the soul of an individual progresses after death. According to 'Abdu'l-Baha there are three ways for a person's soul to progress in the next world. The first concerns God's bounty and grace. The second, is through prayers for the departed by those still left on Earth. The third, is through good deeds and contributions given or performed in the name of the deceased.

This quote from Some Answered Questions is a good introduction to this article because it sets the stage for the explanation of how thoughts are deeds. The remainder of the article answers the question of how thoughts can be actions and help the progress of the soul in the next world. One intriguing thing I found about this article was how a person's consciousness can survive death and ascend into the world beyond.

The consciousness of the human being is different from that of the lower animals because the human is self aware. Since consciousness is a form of energy, it can't be destroyed. Energy can be transformed into other energy forms, but, as Albert Einstein revealed, it can't be destroy. Since the human consciousness is a self-aware energy form it doesn't dissipate when the body dies, but passes into the bounty and grace of the Divine Creator. At least this is the way I understand the subject of consciousness as energy.

Thoughts on my NaNoWriMo Day 15 Progress

I still have three articles to read and review. I planned to do all four today, but that may be biting off more than I can chew. I still have to review four or five items on writing.com. I'm going to take a break from reading the articles and writing reviews on them so that I can do a couple of newbie reviews on writing.com. If I finish all four articles today, that's good, but if I can complete only two reviews than that's all right as well. I have a tendency to over extend myself when it comes to any of my projects whether writing or something else.

About 2:06 PM Pacific Standard Time

Poems as Treasures, Poems as Deeds Reviewed
With Comments About My Understanding

This article opens with a quote by The Bab, which was in the Dawn Breakers pages 258-259. The quote is about poetry being an influence from the Holy Spirit upon the poet's mind. This is an appropriate quote because it sets the stage for the coming discussion concerning poem being deeds or thoughts carried into actions. This quote is followed by a quote from Baha'u'llah taken from Tablets of Baha'u'llah page 175-176. The quote from Baha'u'llah likens poetry as a mirror reflecting the poet's love and devotion to God.

Mr. Buck makes his point about poetry being both deeds and thoughts by giving an example of a poem, by a deceased poet, that demonstrates how a poem, even covering the most mundane subject, can move the reader. Each time we have a good thought about someone who has passed beyond the veil of death we have an affect on the person we are thinking about. The more good thoughts, deeds, and prayers we have about our loved ones who have passed into the next world the better off they are.

Thoughts on the Way I'm doing NaNoWriMo This Year

The interesting thing about the way I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year is my method of writing. I usually don't have any problems writing straight through a day's chapter when I'm writing fiction. This year I'm writing nonfiction about my life and spiritual beliefs. I can't seem to write more than two or three hundred words about myself or any personal subject at a time. I'm not sure what about the reason. I hope to figure that out before the end of November.

One of the advantages of writing this way is that I can leave comments in the document about the process of writing 50,000 words. It isn't easy to write that many words in a single month because I normally write less than 1,000 words a day, but this month I'm writing at least 2,000 words each day. True there were two days when I didn't get that many words on paper, but that (I hope) is the exception.

One of the disadvantages is that I'm not working on other things. I have a novel to edit, but it seems that NaNoWriMo is taking up all my time. True I do tend to procrastinate, but still I need to work on the editing. Another problem are the surveys. I make money from some of them, which I need. However, the surveys take so long, take so much time, that it cuts into the time I need to edit and to write. I know I should set the writing and editing as a priority, but for some reason I don't. I almost said I can't, but that isn't true. I can set priorities and obviously I have set priorities without thinking about what more important.

Thoughts on My Inner Critic
And Second Guessing Myself

I can’t review anymore articles. I've decided to leave the other two in Mr. Buck's four article series until Wednesday. Right now I'm going to work on the novel I'm supposed to be editing. Despite the fact that I don't think I like it. It just doesn't feel right. At least that what my inner critic is saying. The problem may be my inner critic which is causing me to procrastinate in the editing process. I have to get it edited, so I can't put it off anymore. I've let other stuff interfere because of my inner critic. At least I think it's my inner critic, but it could also be my... what word do I want here. Do I have an opposite of an inner critic that tells me the story or rather the novel might not be one that a Baha'I should write because of some of the characters.

Am I second guessing myself. I made some changes which, I thought at the time were better but, now I'm not sure. I don't know if the changes made the novel worse or better. Indeed I don't know anymore what I thought I was writing when I begin the novel because it changed as I wrote it.d It's too late now for any of that anyway. I've committed to rewrite the novel and submit it so I better get off my procrastinating bottom and get the job done. I'm tired of putting things off because my inner critic cause me to second guess myself.

There's a lot of things I'm tired of. I'm tired of depending on my sister to pay my rent. I'm tired of worrying if she will send the money this month because of her being pissed off at me when she was drunk. I'm tired of coughing at night and in the morning (I've made an appointment with my doctor about that). I'm just tired of a lot of things. I'm going to post this and hope that it takes me over today's 2,000 word goal. After I post it and the word count I'm going to take short prayer break before I start editing the next two chapters of the novel

Footnotes
1  http://bahaiteachings.org/
2  http://bahaiteachings.org/series/the-passing-poetry-of-life
3  http://bahaiteachings.org/thoughts-as-deeds
4  http://bahaiteachings.org/poems-as-treasures-poems-as-deeds
5  http://bahaiteachings.org/poetic-license-and-mystical-wonderment
6  http://bahaiteachings.org/war-and-the-social-commentary-of-poetry