November 18, 2015

Gathering Stones - by Gloria Guest


My first venture into the writers world was at the ripe age of seven when I wrote my father a poem for father’s day. I recall it going something like,

Kisses, love and hugs

Two for you and two for me

And are lovely things to see

Complete with artistic drawing of course.

I took a bigger leap in grade three with a free verse poem called My Mother the House Wife. This one extoled my mother as a ‘pleasant young lady who always had a smile on her face.’

Obviously with talent like that, anything to do with creative writing continued to be my spot to shine in school ;) I do recall getting A’s and positive comments on stories that I turned in. However it was a grade 12 teacher who hounded me relentlessly until I agreed to enter an essay I ‘d written into a National Writing Contest that gave me my first real inclination that I was indeed a writer. I actually owe a lot to Mrs. Coy since it was with the money I won from that contest that I later attended college where I met my future husband. It does go to show how much we can affect one another’s lives with our encouragement (and relentless hounding!).

Sadly, I didn’t have the inner confidence to pursue my writing any further. I did take a couple of online writing courses and did well but I never carried through with submitting any pieces for publication.

It wasn’t until I started work as a reporter that my desire to write was actually ignited. Here I learned to step out of my comfort zone and write for deadlines.  Here I learned to love seeing my words in print. I eventually branched out into writing weekly columns for two different papers which gave me more confidence in my ability to share my inner thoughts with others.

I believe all of the above experiences are stones of remembrance along my rather rocky and winding path of writing. At times I have felt very lost in the writing world. It can be lonely and for me there has been a real battle with dealing with rejection, which is probably why I have not put my writing out there in the publishing world. But still I want to write.

Presently I blog at gloriaguest@wordpress.com and here on Inscribe. I have definitely found my involvement with Inscribe to be an important part of my journey as a writer.  I am also slowly but surely working on a memoir and have recently started taking a Creative Writing class through the University of Toronto.

 I still have no idea if I will ever see any of my writing in print but I all I can do is take it one step at a time, gathering stones of remembrance along the way and hopefully one day….

8 comments:

  1. One step at a time... that's the best way to walk, write or do anything in this life! Blessings

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  2. I am with you when it comes to one step at a time! And believe in God nudges too. He will let us know when that step is become a leap. Best wishes with the U of T course!

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  3. Gloria, you definitely have a way with words. I was smiling, imagining that little girl with her poetry and essay about Mom! But this line got me: "stones of remembrance along my rather rocky and winding path..." Yes, that is what the Lord calls us to - remembering who he is and what he does. May he bless your memoir and strengthen you daily as you work at it in HIS time. He will bring it to fruition at just the right moment. Yours is but to obey. I do look forward to the day I can read it though!

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  4. Gloria,
    I too savoured that phrase, "stones of remembrance along my rather rocky and winding path." We all have stones of remembrance and we all experience rocky and winding paths. I'm glad you're continuing to take one step at a time and I'm grateful we can all cheer each other on in our journeys. Go, Gloria!

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  5. You've been writing a weekly column? and still say you haven't "put your writing out there in the publishing world"? That's a pretty big collection of stones in the writing path. I connect with your comment about feeling lost in the writing world. All the best with the memoir. I'm cheering with Ruth--Go, Gloria!

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  6. Gloria--I like your attitude. One step at a time. Yes. Gathering stones of remembrance. Yes. Thanks.

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  7. Hi Gloria! I resonate with your journey as a writer especially the "lost" and "lonely" terminology. We are in some ways on this journey together and it seems one step at a time will get us there someday!

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  8. Thanks for sharing this blog, Gloria. Like Jocelyn in her comment above, I too think of you as being more of a published writer than you are acknowledging in this piece. Your writing for a newspaper, writing two columns, your blog writing. . . You do have a fair amount of material out there. I enjoyed reading your blog about considering life as a metaphorical river. I too have moved several times. In a way, the stream of life just keeps flowing even when our geographical place changes. I appreciate the wonderful and loving words you've written about your mom and grandmother.

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