WORDS on WORDS by, Author Ellie Pulikonda.

 

Today’s Word: Letting Go

 

I’d be the first to admit that I’m a worrier who anguishes over small things to the point that it interferes with my sleep and my health.  Again and again, I remind myself that “this” is what it is, I can’t change it, and I need to quit reframing it and endlessly trying to get to a different outcome.

Alas, I’m preaching to the ‘choir’ when I do this.  I know that I can’t make a dent in the problem but I can seldom segue from acknowledging that reality to being able to actually let it go.  Whether the question is enormous, like what is this world coming to, or simply looms large on my personal radar screen, like why do I have to watch out for all those careless drivers every time I go to the grocery store, I obsess.  ‘It’s not fair!’  or some permutation of that thought is my usual mental response and I chew on it endlessly.

 

 

As an antidote to all this obsessing, I’ve decided to learn to take deep breaths, focus on improving my own thoughts and actions to the extent I can, and letting the rest go.  Well, I’ve decided that.  Now I only have to put it into practice and hold onto the practice until it becomes second nature.  We’ll see how well it works.

Until Next Time!

Ellie Pulikonda, Writer/Author

 

New WORDS on WORDS by Ellie.

Today’s word:  Do it!

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For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to write.  I loved books and reading as a child and felt the compulsion to write my own stories.  So I did.  I wrote short tales of fantastic proportions that almost always ended with “..and they lived happily ever after.”  I wrote diaries that contrasted sharply with my own reality and became my comfort zone.

I also read everything I could get in my eager little hands.  And from those stories. I morphed the plot into an exposition of my own fantasy life.  Diaries, notebooks, scraps of paper, almost anything that could serve to hold the tales I held in my mind was put to use and became my very own library.

Then I grew up and marriage, children, an adult career, and life itself crowded out the time for writing.

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Now here I am at the other side of life with the time to do whatever I desire. And I desired to learning to write again.  What an amazing transformation that has been for me. I’m feeling emotions I haven’t felt in decades: the pure joy of indulging my love of writing.

Quality doesn’t come into it at this late stage, just as it didn’t matter when I was a child.  The pure joy of creating people, situations, events, joy, sorrow, awakenings, failures and so many, many possibilities is just that:  pure joy!

How often do we deny ourselves the great pleasure of doing something we’ve always wanted to do because we think it’s too late?

It truly is never too late!  If you have something you’ve always wanted to do?  Do it!  You’ll be so glad you did.

Writer and Author, Ellie Pulikonda

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About The Author:

Author, Ellie Pulikonda’s shocking debut novel, “Split Second” had readers and Amazon reviewers asking for more novels by this prolific writer of psychological thriller mystery. She listened and has now released her second novel titled; “Finding Faith.”

Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Ellie attended several colleges after high school to obtain her BA in Education, MA in Library Science, and her MS in Adult Education. She is or has been a daughter, wife, mother, widow, partner, single mom, grandmother, and great-grandmother.

She has worked various jobs and in different fields such as a law office, a librarian, newspaper article writing, a welfare office, and finally as the director of a public library in Tipton, IN.

“I write for the pure joy of writing” . . .

“At first, it was diaries, journals, and musings; then I graduated to short newspaper articles, some unpublished but staged mystery/comedy plays, scripts for amateur musical productions and now books. My hope is that my readers will enjoy my books and also be prodded to think about the actions and motives of my characters, to question their choices and why they made them, and to see the characters with greater insight.”

You can see all her published books including her new release; “Finding Faith” on Amazon  and she is a blogger @ Grants Pass Writers.com …..

WORDS On WORDS … By, Ellie Pulikonda

Today’s word:  READING

When you read, you are listening in on someone else’s thoughts.  This is especially true of non-fiction, where the author’s reason for writing is to impart some ‘truth.’  But it is also true of most fiction and especially true of great fiction.  The author’s ultimate aim is to share a belief with you, the reader.

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The author presents his own take on ‘truth’ through the unique and clever use of words, and you, the reader, are free to agree or take exception to it.  Still, just presenting that truth, those new slants, some differing ideology, or certain closely held beliefs may be the genius that gives the finished work its influence.  That could lead to the author’s desired outcome of convincing readers of a given position.  At the very least it likely makes them stop and think.

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This is, I believe, the reason we are drawn to books and short stories, works of fiction.  They impart the author’s ‘truth’ in an entertaining way and we derive pleasure in exploring that truth.  Even if, in the end, we do not fully agree with the premise, I suspect it serves to make us ponder and, perhaps, even alter our own closely held ideas, however slightly.

Literature is almost always presented as entertainment and we are free to agree or disagree with any ‘message’ it contains.  But even if we disagree,  the work itself still challenges us to examine our own cherished beliefs and that challenge may result in either altering the belief or in holding to it more tightly.

The choice is always the readers.

READ ON!

~ Ellie Pulikonda, Author/Writer  ~

(My Books are available on  Amazon.com ) Come visit me at  Grants Pass Writers Blog

WORDS ON WORDS ~By Author, Ellie Pulikonda

TODAYS WORD:  NO

A magazine recently had on its cover “Say yes to saying no.    It’s a clever way to make you think about how often we say “yes” when our gut is shouting at us to say “no.”

Why is it so hard to say no?  “Oh, would you be a dear and chair the next meeting?”  Everything in you is shouting “no” but some twist of our thinking has us saying “oh, sure, I’d be glad to do that.

 

Is it because we really do want to be considered a dear or a lifesaver or a go-to person that someone can use that to flip our switch?  Think about it.  By hooking the “Be a dear” up with the request, your refusal amounts so announcing to that person that you are not “dear.”

There have been campaigns in recent years to embed in our minds the phrase “Just say no” to problems like drugs and alcohol abuse. Most of us have no trouble saying no to such things but still cave in when asked to be on a board or chair a committee even when we feel it’s not a good fit for us.

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And sometimes when we dare to say ‘no’, we are met with latent hostility that shakes our sense of self-worth. Cajoling, pleading, harassing, anger, and many other reactions to our ‘no’ are quite simply another form of manipulating us into saying yes.

It takes determination to over-rule the guilt trip and just say no, but unless we do say it and make it stick, we become easy targets to future requests.  Then we can be eased into situations that take up more time than we care to spend and bring us no return, not even the thought that we did the right thing. Things that we agree to under stress often bring us only frustration and anger.

 

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So prepare for the next time. Practice saying “no” without adding an apology, any excuse or even an explanation.

“Learn to say yes to saying no.”

Ellie Pulikonda, Author/Writer

 

Words On Words

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TODAYS WORD:  TECHNOLOGY 

I think I hate technology.  I just get comfortable with the status quo and wham: someone sets about to change it.  They don’t even have the patience to give us the time to finish reading the directions on the current iteration before they’re declaring it obsolete, out of date,  old school, yesterday’s news.  They just push us on to new apps and back to square one.

Now I realize that all these agents of change are decades younger than I am. But I’m convinced they are just youngsters whose brain cells haven’t even had a chance to settle in firmly, let alone coalesce to some kind of seasoned reasoning.

You see, while they were attending nursery school and learning to tie their shoes, we were doing quite well coping with life as we knew it. We adjusted to telephones, then television, and finally portable radios. We were doing all right. Now the applecart has been firmly upset and I feel as if I’m under the rubble.

They’ve suddenly mastered shoe strings and have  taken over everything from that on , making life difficult for those of us who can’t seem to work our way through computers, I-phones, E Tablets, and various other technical gadgets, and we’re not even talking about drones and computers that can build bridges.

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When I was young I couldn’t understand how my grandparents could be such old fogies.  I certainly understand that now. Now I long for the days when the latest technology was a phone you could dial the number you wanted on your own.

Until Next Time Writers!

Ellie Pulikonda, Author/Writer/Blogger

(My E-books make great holiday gifts from Amazon Kindle Store for Just $2.99!)

 

 

Words on Words. I’m Back ~ So Write On Writers!

Words on Words  ~  Today’s word:  Challenge

When I finish writing a book, I question myself. Do I really want to start working on the next plot that I have in mind?  Writing is such hard work. Finding just the right word at any given sentence is nearly impossible. Carrying the thread of the story carefully through each paragraph, page and chapter is so frustrating. Shepherding the process through editing, publishing, and promoting produces so much anxiety and takes way too much time ….  Why would anyone willingly subject themselves to this misery?

I can only speak for myself, of course, but the simple answer is that I can’t stop myself.  The ideas, sentences, even paragraphs just pop into my brain and until I set them down on paper, they will not let me be. When I’m reading someone else’s book, so engrossed in the story line and eager to see how the situation is resolved, suddenly there is a burst of inspiration on the book I’m currently writing and it will not let me go.

Sometimes when I’m talking with someone about a book they’re reading and they say something that triggers a direct zing to the sentence I got hung up on in my own novel, I ignore that at my peril.  Often when I’m watching a beautiful sunset or a particularly enchanting scene, I suddenly am overwhelmed with descriptive phrases that I must write down to be used in a future novel.

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Add to that the ever-present idea that maybe this isn’t the great American novel, after all, and maybe not many copies will sell or be read, and maybe I’m only a leaf falling in the forest that makes no  impression anyone. How in the world does anyone ever sit in front of a computer and write?  It makes no sense whatsoever.

So, of course, I’m working on my next book, even as I pass through all this angst.  I sleep, wake, eat, dream, pace, contemplate, write, re-write, delete words, delete phrases and sentences and  paragraphs and even whole chapters,  It will not let me go.

So, I’ve come to the conclusion that writing is cheaper than psychiatric appointments, more fulfilling that  banging my head against the wall, easier on my health than binge drinking or eating, and relatively harmless for those around me. I am a writer and nothing, not even frustration, mediocre sales, and a critic panning my work can NOT change that.

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And every now and then I get a favorable response to my book.  One reader told me she couldn’t put it down, another that she was moved to tears over the plight of the characters, another that she looked forward to getting back to the story each time.
Aaah!!

Just Write on Writers!

 

Ellie Pulikonda, Author/Writer

( Grab a copy of both my books now available here on AMAZON! )

Ellie’s WORDS on WORDS. My Guest Today is Lori Rogers ~ My Daughter.

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TODAY’S WORD:  READING

(Note: This week’s blog was written by my daughter, Lori Rogers, who shares my love of books and reading.)

Books have always been a part of my life. I almost always have at least one book with me everywhere I go and now, thanks to the e-readers, I can take a whole library with me. I may be alone but I never feel lonely when I am reading. I love stories, being caught up within them, wondering if I can guess how they will end or even what happens next, and even rewriting my favorite parts in my head to see if that changes the experience.

If I am somewhere that I can’t read (for safety or PC reasons) I ‘write’ my own stories or revisit in memory books I’ve already read. Books make up some of my earliest and longest friendships. I don’t mind reading a favorite book two, three, or even four times. Perhaps the friendship is actually with the author; I eagerly jump into a new book by a favorite author.

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The book is new but the author’s thoughts and take on life are familiar. Like my mother’s new book titled; “Finding Faith”  In this sense reading is actually sharing someone else’s thoughts and ideas, traveling with them to a new dimension and a deeper friendship. I don’t mind traveling back from that dimension because I can always slip back into it just by picking up the book again. Really!

Now excuse me, I hear her book calling ME.

Thanks All!  ~ Lori Rogers

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About Ellie Pulikonda, Author/Writer

Author, Ellie Pulikonda’s shocking debut novel, “Split Second” had readers and Amazon reviewers asking for more novels by this prolific writer of psychological thriller mystery. She listened and has now released her second novel titled; “Finding Faith.”

Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Ellie attended several colleges after high school to obtain her BA in Education, MA in Library Science, and her MS in Adult Education. She is or has been a daughter, wife, mother, widow, partner, single mom, grandmother, and great-grandmother.

She has worked various jobs and in different fields such as a law office, a librarian, newspaper article writing, a welfare office, and finally as the director of a public library in Tipton, IN.

“I write for the pure joy of writing” 

WORDS on WORDS By Ellie – Awe, The Golden Years.

TODAY’S WORD: AGING

“I’m not sure when it happened but when I was distracted and not paying attention, someone else moved in and started running my body. And I can’t say for sure but I’m thinking that she’s about three years old.”

So, here’s what’s happening. The first thing I noticed is that she must have found my boxes of Crayola crayons for she began to color brown splotches all over my arms and legs and neck. Once in a while, she seems to choose a purple crayon for the splotches but mostly they’re a drab and ugly brown. I’ve just about used up my flesh-colored crayon trying to color over the brown splotches so they won’t show.

Then she began to play Charley Horse with my leg muscles. She mostly loves to do this in the wee small hours of the morning and generally interrupts a fabulous dream in which I’m decades younger. Lately, she’s begun to bend my toes under at the same time so I don’t know where to massage first. That doubles the fun. For her!

I gather she loves to twirl around and around inside me the way three-year-olds do because I’m the one who gets dizzy all the time. She just bounces off to another activity, like putting small objects in front of me that I trip over when I walk.

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Now she’s begun playing peek-a-boo with my eyes. When her little hands cover my face, everything grows blurry and indistinct. I’m pretty sure she’s also the one who puts her fingers in my ears on occasion causing me to miss parts of conversations.

But the naughtiest thing she does is re-arrange my memory. Things from my childhood come readily to mind. Childish memories are front and center where they simply crowd out current activities of the brain, like where I laid down my glasses, did I or did I not pay the gas bill, have I taken my medications this morning.

She doesn’t show any signs of moving out soon and there’s been no evidence that she’ll grow out of this mischievousness. So I guess I’ll have to learn how to live with my new, young roommate and hope she moves out before she becomes a teenager!

AWE, The Golden Years .  .  .  .  .

Ellie Pulikonda, Author/Writer

Grab a copy of my New Book before I forget It just released! LOL.

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( Finding Faith ~ Ebook Now 2.99 )

WORDS On WORDS ~ By Ellie

Words on Words  ~  TODAY’S WORD:  ‘WRITING’

“Writing is a messy business.”

Each page of the handwritten manuscript is blotted with cross-outs, strike-overs, arrows pointing to a bit of re-write, underlines indicating a section that resonates with the author. And more.

I’ve tried composing strictly on the computer but frequently find I’ve deleted something that didn’t seem quite right only to discover that I could have used it further down the page or in the next chapter. If I still had a written copy of the now deleted text, it could easily have been typed into the space appropriate to it. But it didn’t stay in my brain long enough to retrieve it from there.

The next problem is, of course, knowing how much of the early writing truly is worth saving. These words are your own children, after all, and each has a special place in your mind, if not in your heart, so the tendency would be to save every single syllable. Trying to save all the pretty words is fairly unworkable. There are just too many of them, each saying approximately the same thing but with small nuances and minor corrections.

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It is not unusual, I believe, for an author to re-write any given paragraph eight or ten times, much of the time reworking the piece directly on the computer by deleting the unwanted material in favor of the newer edition. In this case, the earlier copy almost certainly has been erased in favor of what has just been written. And by the time you realize that some of it could have been incorporated into the new bit very compatible, you can’t remember what it was, exactly.

So, the answer, I’m thinking is having more than one computer and switching back and forth between them, incorporating any great bits as you move from one to the other. Very cumbersome, to be sure, but breathless bits of prose are worth the effort. So, one problem figuratively solved.

Next, comes the bigger problem: How to recognize those ‘breathless bits of prose’ as actually worth saving. Hard to separate vanity over one’s own words from the reality that perhaps they really should have been deleted permanently. Writers are not often the best critics where their own words are in the balance. So, what to do?

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Oh, wait a minute! Isn’t that what beta reader and editors are for?
Problem solved!

KEEP WRITING AUTHORS!  ~ Ellie Pulikonda, Author

(“Finding Faith” is now Released on Amazon Kindle Store for Just $2.99! )

New Words on Words by Ellie . . .

WORDS on WORDS

Today’s words: Success and Failure

As an elementary school student (and if truth be told, as a high school student) I measured myself by my successes and failures. I loved the ‘soft’ subjects: reading, writing, and later English, social studies, and history. I aced them. The so-called ‘solid’ subjects were my downfall. I failed chemistry, twice, in high school, barely made it through algebra (math was always a struggle) and would have had to repeat geometry except the class was full. One presumes it was full of students who could actually understand it.

I am just now coming to the realization that ‘success’ and ‘failure’ are not absolutes and certainly that any one person is either/or. One is not either a success or a failure. There is an enormous amount of middle ground between those two opposites that we need to lay claim to. As an author, you can appreciate that your book is a success even if it does not meet with overwhelming acclaim. It’s not likely that my work will ever be on the New York Times bestseller list, and even less likely that it will be a Pulitzer Prize winner.

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At the same time, I have stories to tell, stories that I hope will entertain and enlighten those who pick up my books and read them. The whole process of taking a book through the writing, editing, and publishing process is a new kind of learning experience and one that is frustrating, difficult, painstaking, and exhilarating.

And I am grateful for the readers that I do have, those who ask me “When is your next book coming out?” And especially those who say they can’t wait to read it.

So my audience may be small, my fame may be non-existent, my income from writing may be minuscule, but my gratification is enormous. And so I’ll keep on keeping on. And I encourage every ‘would-be’ writer out there to do the same. Success and failure are, after all, just words.

Until Next Time Writers!

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Ellie Pulikonda, Author/Writer

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