Update: February 2006
Hello friends,
Here we are, another month speeding by. Can you believe March is already here? Unfortunately my day job has been keeping me pretty busy. As many of you know I teach a couple of AP courses and we are getting down to crunch time. So for the last few weeks writing as a whole has not been a priority. I do have a couple of new items though.
This month I remembered to do a Literary website piece. This time I’ve highlighted one of my favorite poets, Pablo Neruda. I would be a complete idiot if I didn’t thank the man that introduced me to Neruda back in college, Dr. Marambio, of the University of San Diego. I took a few courses from him and learned a great deal of Latin American Literature. (He might disagree about the learning part.) In that piece you’ll find links to Neruda’s poetry both in the original Spanish and translations into English. I hope you take the time to take a look at it.
I’ve always said that when inspiration strikes, I never know where it’s coming from or where its going to lead me. For me, most of the time the muse comes and it speaks to me in English. This month was a bit different, maybe it was all that Neruda I was looking at, but the new poem this month is called Recuerdos, and it is one of my very few Spanish pieces. Since most of you who are victims of my monthly updates aren’t Spanish speakers, I’ve included an English translation. But I have to tell you, the Spanish sounds better to my ear.
A third item this month is an essay titled The Power of Belief. It’s been a couple of months since I wrote one. Actually, this one has been brewing in my head since January, but I finally got it finished. It deals with beliefs and how our beliefs influence our lives most of the time without us even knowing. I would really enjoy any feedback you might have on this piece. I tried to keep it to a manageable size, but I could have written much more. Perhaps I’ll revisit the topic in the future.
Just in terms of an update, Three Bucket Money Management is moving along. I just got the edits for Chapter 7 from my friend and trusted reader/editor and overall encourager, Jaime Jeffries. Chapter 8 is about half written. The whole thing was supposed to be done by the end of this month, I’m now a couple of weeks off, but it’s not too bad. I look forward to sharing some excerpts with you once I know if this is going to be published in the traditional way or if it will end up being a self-published book.
Finally, I’m happy to announce that I have found a permanent home for my blog. The new address is very simple http://roberto-rodriguez.com. I know, its a bit egocentric but what the heck. Blogger.com is a great free service and I would highly recommend it to anybody that wants to keep a blog. Yet, having my own domain gives me the freedom to post what I want….Nah…it’s all about the ego and the cool factor. For now though, some of the links are still pointing to the blogger website, which is still up, at least until I can get all the links to work properly.
Enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think.
Roberto
Technorati Tags: essay, life, poem, poetry, writing
Update: January 2006
Hello again and Happy New Year!
Well, here we are, one month into the new year. According to most polls, this is about the time that most people abandon their New Year’s resolutions. My goals for this year are simple yet challenging and I’m determined to make them a reality. The first is to finally publish my book on personal finance Three Bucket Money Management. As a matter of fact, the weeks since the last update have been all about finishing up this manuscript. It’s been very productive as far as that goes. I’m hoping to be completely done with the manuscript, including re-writes and edits by the end of February. Then it’s a matter of finding an agent interested in representing the book and selling it to publishers. Wish me luck.
The second writing goal is to finish my first novel. To be honest it has taken a backseat to Three Bucket Money Management these last few weeks. But as soon as the manuscript is done, the novel moves into first place on my list. Along with this goal comes improving my writing. So I have a few writing classes coming up.
Unfortunately, all this work on the manuscript means that there aren’t very many new items on my blog. So what’s new this month? There are three poems that have been up since the last update. Cry for joy, a piece inspired on a trip I took to Santa Barbara right before Christmas. I came upon some street musicians and a little boy dancing his heart out. It made me think of how complicated life gets as we grow older. The two newest poems are The Fortress and The Final Words. I hope you enjoy them.
By the way, don’t be shy, if you visit the blog, click on comments and leave your thoughts.
I deeply appreciate your support,
Technorati Tags: poem, writing
Update: December 2005
Hello friends,
It’s been scarcely three weeks since I sent you an update, but with the holidays nipping at our ankles like a rabid Chihuahua, I thought I would send it a bit early this month. I really haven’t added that much since last month, I’ve spent a lot of the last few weeks grading papers and trying to finish up the semester for my students. Yet, I did manage to add a couple of items.
There is only one new poem this month, Pain Affirming Life. It’s a short poem that came about around the time of my birthday. With that fateful day being in December I sort of get ambushed by the trio of the impending end of the calendar year, the end of a semester at work, and the end of another year of life. Endings usually make me reflect, needless to say, I was in a reflective mood a couple of weeks ago when the muse struck.
A new addition to the Writing Life blog is a short story page. Between grading essays on the US involvement on World War I and preparing final exams, I found time and inspiration to write Hello won’t kill you. It’s my first attempt at short fiction. Please read it and let me know what you think.
I was pretty excited about writing the short story, and was even more pumped when I found a new friend on the internet. We met while admiring each other’s poetry on Myspace.com. Jaime Jeffries is an outstanding poet and writer. I urge you to take a look at Jaime's blog, she writes with a depth of emotion and honesty that I admire. She’s never met me, yet she took the time to act as editor and help me put the story in readable form. I told her that so long as she’s willing, she’s my official editor. Her help was invaluable and any shortcomings that remain are all mine.
Remember, I always appreciate comments, so don’t hesitate to tell me what you like or what you don’t like. Just click on “comments” at the bottom of every item on the blog. I've added a few of the comments I've received at The Poets Workshop, perhaps you might be inspired to leave a few comments yourselves. So, take a break from holiday shopping and bring a cup of coffee and read a bit.
Enjoy the holidays...stay sane.
Technorati Tags: age, friendship, love, poem, writing
The Poet Laureate
The main reason I started this blog was to share my writing. And part of my writing is my reading and authors that inspire me or that I aspire to. So, I've decided to share a bit here. I had never heard of Ted Kooser before. But as I was driving home from work on Friday I heard an interview with him on NPR's All Things Considered. Who is Ted Kooser you might ask? Well, he's the current Poet Laureate of the United States.
The Poet Laureate is appointed by the United States Library of Congress. I found information on the position on Wikipedia. The library of Congress has a fantastic website highlighting poetry in general and Kooser in particular. You can access this information on The Library of Congress Poetry Home page.
Take a listen to theKooser interview and read a few of his poems. There are links to more information on him there. I like him because his poetry is simple, direct yet heartfelt and sometimes funny. Check it out.
Technorati Tags: poem, poetry, Poet Laureate, writing
What if?
What if we can’t be together?
What would we do?
What of commitment?
What of lives together?
Who would take my place?
Who would take yours?
What if we are together?
How will we live?
Where will we live?
What if I’m not the one?
What if you're not?
What if it doesn’t work?
What if we’re not compatible?
What if you’re sun and I’m moon?
What if I need care?
What if you need space?
What if we have nothing to give?
What if love isn’t enough?
What if I close down again?
What if I forget to speak?
What if my fears become true?
What if we miss our chance?
What if we don’t?
What if it’s destiny?
What if we are soul mates?
What if this is our chance?
What if happiness depends on it?
What if I’m for you and you’re for me?
What if destiny has brought us together?
What if our past led us here, to this place?
What if we don’t follow our path?
What if we take a chance?
© 1997 Roberto Rodriguez
1997
