Article #294

February 8, 2020

 

What do YOU bring to the table?

Who is seated at your dinner table

and what is the conversation about?

Let’s be honest about what we write.

 

 

Photo: Lynda McKinney Lambert’s writing studio.

When I write something and it is published, it is like I have been invited to someone’s home and I am seated at their dinner table. What will we talk about? I want to spend my time in conversations about what we have a passion for – what makes us human and brings us to LIFE?

 What are my THEMES in writing and art?

I’ve certainly changed in my thinking over the past 12 years –

At first, when I began writing my blog, Walking by Inner Vision, I felt that it was important for me to write about sight loss. Now, twelve years later it is not a topic I spend much time thinking about and really would like to talk about the things that inspire me and the people around me at the dinner table.   Let’s talk about and celebrate the world around us.

This is how I started – back in December 2009 with my first posts. Read it here!  But, I soon tired of it.

I felt like there was more to talk about that would benefit many other people than focussing on sight loss and the challenges  of it. I wanted to have more of a connection with an audience where I could share a variety of topics and themes that were more natural for me. After all, my academic background is in the Fine Arts and Literature. My passion was in working across those disciplines for my entire professional life. Nothing I encounter will change that – for this is my calling in life.

 

My inner dialogue

brought me to the realization, that I needed to be writing about topics in the arts and humanities for that was what I did in my life before I ever heard of Ischemic Optic Neuropathy in 2007 when I was diagnosed with this condition.

 

I think we all need to discuss the things that we have a passion for – the things we love and what we want to celebrate. I chose to begin celebrating instead of complaining or trying to force others to look at or react to a disability.

 

Maybe, someone you know is writing as a form of therapy or a way of trying to heal from a sickness or a physical challenge?

Some writers might choose to spend their creative life trying to expose injustices or force changes.

I think we all have to figure out exactly what we want to do to find our main focus.

 

I considered what could be for me.

What exactly do I want people to take away from my writing?

What do I want to give to others that is important or relevant for me as well as for them?

What purpose does my writing serve?

 

When I honestly asked such questions, I figured it out.

Because of my visual arts and English literature background, I am a keeper of images, or memories –

In my work, I bring the images back and share them.

I help people remember or discover memories, and I help them look into the future.

My readers can discover those memories they may have lost or buried.

Often, people are not aware of their own beginnings or the possibilities in the future.

And, in the discoveries of this search, we may find beauty and joy. We can begin to believe in our own life purpose.

 

We limit our readership if we focus primarily on any disability. Life is about what we CAN DO, and not what we cannot do.

While I don’t keep sight loss a secret, or pretend I do not have profound vision loss, I don’t blame my problems or negative encounters on others. We have those things no matter what at times – but I think that constantly talking about them really turns people off and that would be the opposite of what I’d want to happen when anyone reads my work.

I plan to keep my attention focused on my purpose and calling – Art – and when I am writing I am making art –it is always about the pictures.

Writing (for me) is a visual art form – it sets on a page and it is an object that inhabits a place – the Page!

I am visualizing objects on the page – making decisions as I would when creating a piece of sculpture or a painting. The writing occupies a physical space.

I am making strokes of colour, layer upon layer. One gesture after another until the picture is complete.

My scope is narrow and deep – ART. I am hard-core, Fine Art.

I create mixed-media fiber art – Talismans and Wall Pieces.

My years of teaching in an academic environment are behind me as far as working in a classroom – but now, I am free to work with no restrictions and to an audience I could never have imagined during those years. I’ve always known, I am an Art missionary and my mission field has expanded exponentially over the years.

 

I am satisfied today – free and untethered. My flights are joyous.

Each day I soar because it is my last day here. I never wish for “one more day,” for this is the day God has given me and It “is Good.”

Below, you can listen to a poem that opens the book, Walking by Inner Vision: Stories and Poems, DLD Books, 2017.

I  make PICTURES that bring healing and joy

I  bring BEAUTY to the table.

I bring a celebration of place and time.

 

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This article is shared by Pennsylvania Author, Lynda McKinney Lambert.

Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved.

MFA – West Virginia University

BFA, MA – Slippery Rock U. of PA

Lynda’s Authors Page- Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/author/lyndalambert

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You can now buy Lynda’s new chapbook_first snow_ by going to her Amazon Author’s Page.

Star Signs: New & Selected poems, KDP, 2019.

 

Listen to Free Sample on Audible: :  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07S45ZY39/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vamf_taft_p1_i1

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 SMASHWORDS:  Buy it NOW!

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Lynda’s Official Authors Page: http://www.dldbooks.com/lyndalambert/

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Lynda’s  2 Blogs:

Website & Blog:  Walking by Inner Vision – personal blog

Scan-A-Blog – A quiet Place of Inspiration, Art, Nature, Literature

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