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Zoe Younger

~ Life Changing Journeys, Life changing Love

Zoe Younger

Tag Archives: LIFE

Apologies for going Missing in Action…

05 Thursday May 2016

Posted by Zoetic Words in LIFE, LOVE, MY BOOKS, SHATTERED, THE WRITERS' LIFE, TORN

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"North and South", books, courage, Elizabeth Gaskell, friends, goals, Irish Australians, John Thornton, LIFE, loss, LOVE, Margaret Hale., Relationships, Richard Armitage, sailing, Survivors, thriver, victim, writing

Retirement crisis concept as a couple of adirondack chairs sinking in the ocean during a thunder storm as a metaphor for financial investment problems for retiring seniors who lost their savings or broken dreams symbol.

My humble apologies for neglecting you, my friends. Life has been all go and not much stop recently. Now, though, it’s time to get back into routine.

My work on “Shattered” has slowed to a crawl. This is Rosaleen’s story, a redemption story. She and Mary from “Torn” were childhood friends and I’m sorry to say that the Rosaleen of “Torn” was not the friend Mary knew back when. She had always wanted more… more money, more things, a higher position in social circles and she thought she had it all, until “Torn”. Now she must start again, from the bottom; and when I say from the bottom I mean much further and she’d have to dig!

I’m sorry to say that Rosaleen died in the first iteration of “Torn”. She died in childbirth. She was swept off the ship en route to Australia. She was left behind in Africa. What I didn’t do to try to kill her off is hardly worth mentioning but – she survived. She always was a survivor. If there is one thing that stands out from counselling, it is that the victims are dead. The fact that one is a live makes one a Survivor. But, don’t be content to merely survive, make sure you go on to thrive.

Survivors are the backbone of my writing. I admire and look up to people who have not just survived but who go on to thrive. Those who pick themselves up by their own bootlaces and head onward and upward.

Who are your inspirational literary thrivers? One who was in part the inspiration for “Torn” was Elizabeth Gaskell’s John Thornton from “North and South”. For those of you who have not read this book or seen the miniseries where Richard Armitage does a very memorable job of playing “Go where you will… the name of John Thornton of Milton is know and respected amongst all men of business…”. From childhood poverty after his father’s suicide he paid his father’s debts AND raised himself and his family to fame not “in England only, but in Europe…” as his mother proudly declares. To be bankrupted himself, lose everything and yet not afraid to begin again.

Of course, beside him he had the resilient Margaret Hale, survivor of much family heartache and tragedy. Surviving and Thriving are always so much better when  you are not alone.

So, I’ve told you mine, now please, tell me about one of your inspirational literary heroes?

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From the archives

24 Tuesday Nov 2015

Posted by Zoetic Words in LIFE, LOVE, POETRY, THE WRITERS' LIFE

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imponderables, LIFE, loss, LOVE, Memory, Relationships

san Valentino sul portatileTrue love

True love what are you? Where are you?
You haunt each day, each think I do
But you’re elusive, out of reach
Beyond a wall I cannot breach
Just when I think that I’ll give up
You slip a sip from your sweet cup
You keep me running, drive me mad
For you’re the love I never had
I catch a glimpse and then you’re gone
But it’s enough to drive me on
You drive me mad what can I do?
I’ve no defences left ‘gainst you.

© Zoe Younger

Another from the depths of the archives

 

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If all the sea ran dry…

10 Tuesday Nov 2015

Posted by Zoetic Words in LIFE, LOVE, POETRY, THE WRITERS' LIFE

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imponderables, LIFE, loss, LOVE, Love and Friendship, regret, Relationships

Wooded bridge in the port between sunrise.

If all the sea ran dry

Would I still love to go

out to sit upon the beach

near rocks that I love so?

do you believe I

ever would

regret?

(C) Zoe Younger

 

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Get back in the saddle

11 Sunday Oct 2015

Posted by Zoetic Words in LIFE, MY BOOKS, TORN

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courage, fear, get back in the saddle, horse riding, LIFE, live life

When Mary falls from her horse, this is Liam’s pep talk to her:

Liam in Torn

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What I’m Reading: The Productive Writer by Sage Cohen

09 Saturday May 2015

Posted by Zoetic Words in LIFE, MY BOOKS, THE WRITERS' LIFE

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LIFE, Sage Cohen, schedule, the writing life

“Writers make time for writing. And everyone does it her own way. Your job is to find your way.” Sage Cohen

Aint that the truth! I’m still finding my way. Last night I sat down to write my blog post and promptly fell asleep over the screen. Please forgive me. I didn’t get a post up. Obviously I have not yet found my “way”.

How does one find their way? By trial and error, suck it and see? Or, as my dear brother said, “If at first you don’t succeed, get a bigger hammer!” I need a bigger hammer!

How is it that just when we think we know ourselves, we fall off the edge and realise there is so much more we need to learn. So, where to from here? Back to the drawing board and try another way.

You guessed it, this weekend my task is to reset my schedule, reprioritize my goals and jump back on that horse. That’s my job.

Blue alarmer with a hammer on the white background.

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Green

06 Wednesday May 2015

Posted by Zoetic Words in LIFE, LOVE

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green, imponderables, LIFE

IMG_1959I love green as all my friends and many acquaintances know. So much so that this picture shows part of a ‘basket of green’ wedding present!

How about you? What do you think of when someone says green? Glittering emeralds, lush foliage, butter soft moss, deep seas, cute frogs, velvet soft grass, crème de menthe, malachite, limes, asparagus, clover, the 40 shades of Ireland? So many greens, so little time.

What’s not to like about green? As always, there’s another side to the story. Envy, verdigris, naivety, green-around-the-gills nausea, often the colour of poison, that ‘science experiment’ in the fridge, green-eyed aliens…

So what’s the consensus? As with so much in life there are the good, the bad and indifferent. Few things are all good or all bad. It’s a matter of perspective, seeing things through the eyes of your past, your experiences.

Wow! Who knew there was so much to say about Green! And yet, I’m sure there is a lot more.

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Just Do the Best You Can

01 Friday May 2015

Posted by Zoetic Words in LIFE, LOVE, POETRY

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family, friends, LIFE, Love and Friendship

Listening to the words you speak, hearing the break of your heart
Feeling so helpless and useless to fix anything for my part
I sit down to see if a new day can show me one thing I can do
To help you, to ease that there burden and show you how much I love you

But all I can do now is listen, the most I can do now is care
And let you know for now, as ever, for my friend I’ll always be there
I made up my mind many years ago, a decision that gives my heart rest
Whatever the worst situation, the most I can do is my best

I’ll research the best information, take as much time as I really can
Ask whomever I think just might help me, not rest until I understand
Take a deep breath and make my decision, plan and work then to make it succeed
Then at night when I sleep I’ll feel easy, know I did my best, word and deed.

Some days my best isn’t good enough, sometimes there is naught I can do
Some problems don’t have a solution and at times I do things that I rue
I’m human and that means imperfect and I make mistakes like the rest
Some days I’m down and need help too, those days I can just do my best

I trust though that you will forgive me on days when I let you down
Because you too are always forgiven when you are the one who’s the clown
For your problems I can’t know the answers I can listen and show how I care
You can count on my understanding – when you need I can hug like a bear

I can offer my ears and my heart and if there’s anything else I can do
You can count on me – I’m here to help you, to see that you always pull through
Some problems, alas, are your own though and some I must carry myself
We can listen and help one another but our best we must do by our self

No matter how much I would wish it I can’t make your cares go away
Your load you must bear for yourself dear, just do your best for today.

© Zoe Younger 2007

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Inside

30 Thursday Apr 2015

Posted by Zoetic Words in LIFE, POETRY

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Autstralina bush, gum tree, imponderables, LIFE, Memory, Relationships

What do you see when you sit down beside the woman who’s there next to you?
Do you see the clothing that’s tired and old, the hair that is grey, white or blue?
Look deeper, look down to the inside, past the layers she puts on each day
Look deep in her eyes ‘til you see to her soul, on the inside where she hides away

Stripped down to the bare essentials, to the person who lives in her heart
She is fragile she’s soft and she’s gentle, a lover of music and art
She’s a shy little girl from the country, plain and simple yet unashamed
She loves flowers and birds and bees, her animals free and untamed

She’s a poet, a greenie, a mother – she’s never been scared of hard work
She’ll get down and dirty like you do – the toughest of tasks she’ll not shirk
She’s gen’rous when anyone needs her, with her wisdom, her time or her ear
She’ll listen to you when you need to talk, she’ll tell you what you need to hear

She’s a lover of truth and of goodness, a champion of those down and out
She’s compassionate, kind, empathetic – a hero of mine there’s no doubt
‘Neath the costumes she wears on the outside, the faces she’d rather show you
She’s vulnerable unprotected, so sometimes she’s sad and she’s blue

She’s defenceless ‘gainst cunning and guile, innocent, naïve as a child
Too trusting and meek to be left alone in the city so evil and wild
When she sees all the fighting and warring that goes on around all the world
She longs for the peace and the quiet she knew back when she was a girl

For the long sunny days in the country, the creek where the wind used to blow
Thru her curls as she sat or she swung on a vine, time passed by her going slow
The clean fresh dry air of the outback, bearing wattle and gum blossom smells
When safety was walking in bushland, kicking dust up – the tales she tells

Of the pranks that they pulled, the wood that they chopped, the fire they set for the night
Of the tales, tall and true, the words that they knew of the songs and the poems learned just right
Of laughter that rang in the night time, the giggles she heard in return
For the simpler days of her childhood, for her family her heart it does burn

She’s naked under her clothes, you know, bare as the day she was born
But her skin’s not so soft or so clear now, in fact it is wrinkled and worn
 Don’t forget in the worry and haste of this world we now live in – she’s tried and she’s rue
The unvarnished truth, do you dare to admit she’s your mother, she’s me – is she you?

Zoe Younger © 2007

 

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What Mighta Been

28 Tuesday Apr 2015

Posted by Zoetic Words in LIFE, POETRY

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imponderables, LIFE

What Mighta been

Yes, I shoulda, and I woulda if I coulda
But I didn’t. It’s forever more fool me
Don’tcha wonder some? What mighta maybe hap’nd
If we’da chose our pathways diff’rently

Yes, I mighta ended up a diff’rent person|
I’m a New York Times Bestseller mighta been
With an Oscar, or a medal at tha ’lympics
So much more I mighta done, I mighta seen

I mighta gone to uni, been a teacha
Or a astra-naught who travels time and space
Would ya miss me if I wasn’t standing ’ere now
Guess ya’d have anuva body in ma place!

I mighta travelled all around them forren countries
Mighta sailed alone across the seven seas
Mighta packed it in and been a long haired hippie
Or a greenie chainin’ arms and legs to trees

If I’da chance to learn ta play the fiddle
Insteada learnin’ like I did to play the fool
You might be listenin’ now instead to lovely music
If I ‘da a bow insteada pen for tool

Can you see me with a dozen hungry chil’ren?
No? ’ow bouta hundred hungry hairy goats?
Or a zoo that’s full o’ scary lookin’ critters?
In a castle wearin’ fancy clo’es and coats?

Or I mighta married one of them there fellas
With money comin’ out ’is hairy ears
I coulda helped the basket spend his dollars
On a truck with fifty wheels ‘n a ’undred gears

I might not’a lost me teef or broke ma snoz hey
If I’da went ta school with scary nuns
But even then I think I wouldn’ learn much
Caus’ scary nuns, they gives to me tha runs

But the choices I ’as made has led me ’ere
On a different path we mighta never met
And we never woulda known what we was missin’
Guess its good ’cause that’s just one I don’t regret

Zoe Younger © June 2011

(Tongue firmly in cheek!)

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FREDERICK MCCUBBIN

22 Wednesday Apr 2015

Posted by Elsa Holland in LIFE

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Tags

Art, Frederick McCubbin, LIFE, LOVE, Zoe Younger

 

FREDERICK MCCUBBIN: one of my favorites. I love how he captures the unique colours of the Australian bush

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