Viewpoint: Ignited by a Headline in The New York Daily News

It is amazing! Every time there is a desecration of life by violence we scream out God isn’t fixing this.  But, why should He when we ignore Him? 

We believe and lean on every kind of ideology created by man. Yet, in times like these we shout, God isn’t fixing this.

I am confused. I do not understand why God should fix our situation since we do not believe in Him and take Him seriously anyway.

Is it not better to bow down and ask those ideologies that we worship on a daily basis to fix the discordance and hatred that has taken over in our world?

God Isn’t Fixing This was the headline in The New York Daily News.  This headline is correct.

But, why should God fix something He did not start?

Shalom,

Pat Garcia

It's December #IWSG Article

Hello Everyone,

It’s the first Wednesday in the month and IWSG Time has come around again. 

IWSG is a big help to many of us who don’t mind sharing our insecurities, our successes or giving encouragement to others. 

So, if you are interested and would like to join, please go to the IWSG Website at 

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html.

Oh, by the way, my article is posted below.

It's December

It's  December. NaNo has passed, and I am looking forward to December 21, when I will drop out of the hustle and bustle and read and relax until January 7, 2016.

There is a pang of insecurity in me that's growing. My first novel will be finished, and it will be time to submit, time to see if my novel will find a home in one of the agencies I have chosen.  Sure, I could self-publish but I want representation. That is important to me.

So, the closer I get to completion, the more nervous I get.  My fixed goal month is September,  and so far I am on time with my schedule.   I will pass it on to my chosen agents in September 2016 and see who bites.  I know I have plenty of time before that happens, but just knowing that next year is The Year to pass my baby on is scary.

Nevertheless, I'll let her go by sending her out, because if I do not, I’ll regret it.

Shalom,

Pat Garcia

Viewpoint: Friday, Thirteen November 2015

A Civil War founded upon religious beliefs and how people should live has spread itself to the European Continent. What happened in Paris, France, was a battle, and an act of war carried out by the Islamic State. That we refused to take the declaration of war seriously in 2014 has resulted in the mass, willful, killing of innocent people, which took place on Friday, the thirteenth of November.

Religion, which oppresses, is like a dictatorship suppressing the inalienable rights of each individual who lives under its umbrella.  Unfortunately, these inalienable rights, known as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are also echoed by these totalitarian societies, but they are interpreted differently, and the cultural upbringing displays a life we people in the West are not accustomed to––freedom and individual development find itself caught on the blind side of life. 

Hopefully, revelation has broken through the thick skull of false reality we have let descend upon us, and our eyes have been opened to see that not everyone think as we think, act as we act, and desire to live as we live. If this were true, the Islamic State would not exist.  

            Unfortunately, this clarity is too late for those people who lost their lives in Paris, France on that dreadful evening.

Viva la France!

 Shalom,

Pat Garcia

One Word At A Time

Hello Everyone,

It’s the first Wednesday in the month and IWSG Time has come around again.

IWSG is a big help to many of us who don’t mind sharing our insecurities, our successes or giving encouragement to others.

So, if you are interested and would like to join, please go to the IWSG Website at

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html.

Oh, by the way, my article is posted below.

 One Word At A Time

It is one of those weeks.  I started NaNoWriMo on Sunday, November 1.  I had my day planned. Went to church on Saturday evening and came home thinking, on Sunday, I would write my first 2000 words after I had fulfilled a promise I had given to my husband and had driven him to a city that he loves. 

Well, it did not happen that way. My plans were thrown out the window Sunday morning, and I find myself at this particular moment under pressure to catch up.  I am stressing, and I know it.  I have to keep telling myself, “Pat, one word at a time. You can do it.”

Do I feel like I can do it?  To be honest, I am ignoring my feelings.   What counts is my willingness to stay focus on my writing no matter what. 

So right now, amidst all the stress that I am experiencing during this first week of NaNo, I find myself talking to me, saying, “Pat, you can do it. One word at a time.”

Shalom,

Pat Garcia

The Seventy-Nine-Words Story Challenge

Hello Everyone,

I don’t know when it happen, but I remember reading the MONDAY FUNNIES, one morning and bursting out with laughter.  I was hooked on the funnies. Laughter is not typical for me before eleven a.m. If you ask the people very close to me, they will tell you, Pat is usually unapproachable before eleven. 

Honestly, as a writer, I find myself experiencing highs and lows.   It’s a writer madness that takes hold and motivates me to write what I see as I write about the world I live in during the early morning hours.

Thus, Chris Graham’s, CHRIS THE STORY READING APE’S BLOG has become a necessity in my life. It touches the humor within me, and laughter comes bubbling out.

Recently, Andrew Joyce, an author, sent out a dare, a seventy-nine-words dare to writers and it has been running on Chris’s blog as the Seventy-Nine-Words Story Challenge.  Each week, stories are chosen as the best submitted. This week, one of my stories from The Child and The Prophet (a W.I.P.) was among the ones chosen and to be very honest with you that makes me happy. 

To read my story and the stories of the other participants, please go to the link below. It’s only 79 words, and drop a line on Chris’s blog and let him know you were there and me too, of course.

 http://thestoryreadingapeblog.com/2015/10/18/more-new-79-words-story-challenge-entrants/

Shalom,

Pat Garcia

Women's Fiction Festival, Matera, Italy

Been facing my insecurities and moving ahead at a turtle's pace, this month, taking one step at a time.  I attended the Women's Fiction Writing Festival in Matera, Italy.  The workshop, held in Matera, gave me a chance to practice what I preach. Driving down challenged me because it gave me insight on the refugee situation in Germany, Austria, and Italy.

Scared? Of course, I was. Any time you move beyond what you know into the unknown, you will be emotionally challenged. Fear arises and you yearn for what is behind you, but once you start out conquering those fears by moving forward, the fear dispels.

I met many people and now  have the opportunity to build a network with outstanding writers  on one of the Social Media Network platforms.

 

V

Very much impressed with the panel speakers and their professionalism, I enjoyed listening to their lectures and participated in workshop discussions with people who were from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zeland, South Africa, and Italy. The translators were magnificent and were  able to switch from English to Italian or from Italian to English within a heartbeat, and I had the opportunity to practice my Italian.

However, for me the biggest highlight was Matera and its inhabitants. The  Italian people in Southern Italy captured my heart.  As I departed Matera on Monday morning, I was singing, I left my heart in Matera, instead of San Francisco.  

Shalom,

Pat Garcia