Today's Visions

Entangled Update March 31st, 2012

Entangled Update

So, some of you may have noticed me messing around with different donate buttons and different ways to get you to consider donating.  Finally, tonight, I have decided that the best thing to do is to write out my vision.  If you choose to help me get there, great!  If not, Great!

Of course, the blog is a means to several ends:

1. Learning my writing skills
2. Sharing what I am learning
3. Putting Entangled into as many homeless shelters as possible
4. Marketing new projects

I am sure you have noticed the Current Projects.

1. I am a Yahoo Contributor
2. I write reviews
3. Today’s Visions as a whole is a project
4. Entangled
5. Arizona’s Hope

You will get regular updates on each of these projects as time passes.

I have always been the type person who needs to feel a sense of accomplishment.  The little blog articles, reviews, and such give me that quick fix I need.  The two larger projects are helping me build the strength of my discipline.  That said, I know myself well enough that I need to be able to bounce between projects.  One project will percolate in my head while I am actively working on another.  I have been this weird for as long as I can remember and if I limited myself to one long project, it would never get completed.

Okay, so back to Entangled …

I did not realize till I arrived in Pagosa that give or take a year or two, I was Sherril in my twenties, Sheri in my thirties and Arizona for most of my forties.  This realization has me taking an entirely different approach to this project than I originally planned (there was a reason I turned down the first contract I had offered to me on this project!).

Here is the proposed layout of the Entangled …

1. Introduction
2. Introduction to Sherril – My Twenties
3. The poems.  One rose picture with each poem.
4. Introduction to Sheri – My Thirties
5. The poems and pics.
6. Introduction to Arizona – my forties
7. The poems and pics

The poems themselves have all been written.  There will be fifteen poems for each decade for a total of forty-five.  I have taken over a thousand pictures of roses this past year at the Balboa State park in San Diego, CA.    They are mostly sorted at this point.  I think.

Here is what I still need to complete:

1. Write the section intros
2. Finalize the design
3. Prepare the selected images for each poem

The goal of this book is not to get rich.  We all know that most poetry books do not sell.  That is a fact.  My goal with this book is to have it reach as many people who have been affected by domestic violence as possible.  I feel that I am proof that you can go through incredibly difficult times and survive.  Not only survive.  Thrive.  Not only thrive.  Grow.

For the last few years, the first thing people notice about me is my smile.  There is a huge difference between Sherril and Arizona.  Just look at these pictures.

Today I love myself.  I am working through the mistakes I have made.  And there have been many, as you will read – I hope (plug, plug).  I have accepted my faults and am working at correcting the ones that really upset me.  I’ll get to the minor ones if I ever finish the list of major ones, lol.  I have forgiven myself, forgiven others and today I truly love people.  I am really happy when you see my big smile.  I love life as I have never loved it before; even through all the stressful times.

That is why I want these books in shelters.  So many women and children have taken refuge in one shelter or another.  These are great places for helping an abused woman get back on her feet; find a job, get a house, and get a protection order.  I am very grateful that there was a shelter available when I needed one (along with the three children I had at the time).  But their job is not to totally heal but to help you start.  My failure to take the time to really understand what I had been through and what I was doing to myself with the choices I was making hurt my children, new relationships and most of all me.  If this little book of prose and poetry can help one woman who is struggling to reclaim herself after experiencing domestic abuse, then all the long hours will be worth it.  I would wish the pain I have been through on nobody!

So, all the donate buttons were an attempt try to get you to help me with this dream.

I have decided that this is the only section of my blog that will have a donate button.  I truly hope that you will consider helping me reach my dream.  It’s not tax deductible but you will receive a gift for donating.  Mostly, I hope that your heart will lead you to helping the 1.3 million women affected by domestic violence every year.  [1]

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