Category: Guest posts

I’m honored to present a guest post from the Irish writer, Annmarie Miles, who’s soon moving to Wales.

I’m too busy. Way way way too busy for this. I don’t have time for writer’s block. Truth be told, I don’t believe in writer’s block. So why are both my blogs wilting like the last stick of celery on the shelf? It’s not even as though I don’t have anything to say. I’m bursting with ideas, both fiction and non-fiction; yet I remain uninspired. I’m writing long enough to know that you don’t wait for the inspiration; you sit down and do the work. Get going – the inspiration usually follows.

I’m struggling, even to write this. I am struggling to say what I really want to say.

Since I made the announcement recently that I’m relocating from Ireland to the UK, I have been surrounded by the voices. I was sure I had kicked the voices in to touch. It’s a while since I’ve had the ‘you’re no good at this’ demon on my shoulder. I am confident that I’m better than I was, and not as good as I could be. So that knowledge has rid me of such negative voices. However, the cousin of ‘you’re no good at this’ has appeared. His mantra is, ‘when you go, everyone will forget you, and when you get there, no one will notice.’ Boy-oh-boy is he loud. He’s a shouter and a roarer. He’s a laugher and a mocker, and he’s good at his job.

In this age of technology I could be anywhere and it would make little difference to what I say on Twitter and Facebook. It’s just that I feel unsettled as a writer, and being unsettled makes me doubt myself.

When I know who I am, where I am and what I’m doing – all is well with the world and I carry on. In transition though, all I want to do is write about transition. Even though I have to keep writing about the subject to get past it, I get bored with it and worry that my readers will too. So I do nothing; I stare at a page, desperately hoping that something else to write comes along. An opportunity like this to write a guest post; and what do I write about…? Transition.

arrgghhh Heaven help me.

Now… there’s a thought…

Every so often I need to remind myself that those of us taking the journey with God are in transition. We’re all moving. The stops we make in the meantime (let’s use me as an example – my few years in Wales, then back to Ireland, then back to Wales again), they are just stations and junctions on the journey home. I believe that my ultimate home is in heaven with Jesus, so I’m actually in transition all the time. I just don’t notice it when I’m feeling all safe and settled.

What I long for is that feeling of peace and safety, even though I’m on the move. It’s time for me to get back to work, to write what needs to be written; enjoying the view as I travel.

Annmarie Miles is from Dublin in Ireland. She is married to Richard from Wales in the UK. They live in Co. Kildare, but are currently packing away all their books, gadgets and musical instruments, for a move back to Richard’s homeland.
Her first collection of short stories ‘The Long & The Short of it’ was published in November 2013; a self-publishing project using the services of Emu Ink.  Annmarie is currently working on a second collection of short stories as well as a couple of novel ideas.
In March 2014 www.annmariemiles.com/blog was launched – where Annmarie posts short stories, guest posts and her thoughts on the writing process. If you’re looking for her, you’ll find her on Twitter @amowriting. She is also on Facebook.