Observing a busy day in Florida

This morning I begrudgingly woke up to my blaring alarm clock before hitting the snooze button again. I got dressed and skipped breakfast as I waited for my dad to greet me at the car door. We had a lot to do today and he didn't want to miss a moment of it. 

Little did I know that dad would challenge me to write my observations for the day. He praises me for being a great writer in his eyes and encourages me to write every moment that I get.

Well, as we sped down the road to stop at the pharmacy to get my medication, dad began to tell me many anecdotes about life. One of them being about a sermon he professes usually reminding us of the Lord's suffering and his return. As I sit in the car listening to dad, I think about how my own life's suffering has brought me to where I am in life and where I want to be in eternity. I want to be ready for the Lord's return and yet I still have so much to learn; I'm not a perfect Christian. 

After we picked up my anxiety and depression medication, we stopped at the bank. This was when dad told me of a surprise trip he wants to take for ten days this summer if we don't get to go to Costa Rica. I sat imagining what his friends' beach houses are like in comparison to my aunt's old beach house. I love the little crags in the rocks that are carved away leading a way down into the ocean. The water is my favorite place to be.

From the bank, we went to the church temple to pick up a block of cheese. On Wednesdays dad feeds the homeless, prays with them and gives a sermon at the park that he broadcasts live on Facebook. He was telling me about the meal he was going to prepare for tomorrow so we had to stop by. As dad cut the block of cheese, i stayed staring at the cross propped up in the garage with a crown of thorns and whip at the table. I imagined what it would have been like to visit Jesus the day of calvary on a hike with my dad. I imagined dad with a cloak taking me under his arm staring up at our Lord and I felt sorry in my heart for my sins and wondered about mom but kept it to myself as I time traveled for thirty seconds to that day of calvary. Dad was busy getting the preparations and I redirected my attention to helping dad put some glass coke bottles in the refrigerator. 

After dad cut the block of cheese, we went back home real quick to make a quick stop and sped off to Walmart. Surprisingly there were a lot of people there and they were wearing their masks. I weaved through the crowd to go to the counter to cash my check then met up with dad again in the grocery section. We stocked up on food and other essentials before making it back to the line. 

After looking at a magazine of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the counter dad asked me if I saw the interview with Oprah. It's the latest interview everyone's been talking about and it seems like the prince and his family are in a lot of drama at the moment due to their small family. 

After I helped dad pay at the counter, we went through the parking lot to go home. Before we made it back we stopped at the computer store to pick up my laptop. It needed a fine tuning and it's running faster than ever before. The people at the computer repair shop are very nice people because the treat us fairly and always give us a fair price on our computer repairs. 

Finally we made it back home and I got to work on my blog. I still need microsoft powerpoint for a few things but I made do with Canva for the moment. I'm fixing up my blog to build traffic and build up my email list in the future. That's a work in progress but hopefully my writing proposals on Medium come through.

I skipped breakfast and lunch for the day so I had a late lunch of ramen noodles. They weren't the best tasting maybe because I under seasoned them but I think I will be sticking with Maruchan from now on because it is fairly seasoned.

Finally, my day was over after I ate a late dinner of Macaroni and cheese with a side of vegetables and fish. I lay here in my little corner of the world-- in a cozy nook where my bed is hidden from the world and write many articles from the day. 

This was my writing challenge for the day. I mostly did it for dad since he is the one who mostly encourages me to keep on writing. It was a very busy day but full of family warmth and anecdotes. I hope you enjoyed reading it if you have gotten this far. And if you have gotten this far you should sign up for my newsletter for more anecdotes and updates about this blog. 

I hope you have a good day.

Best,

Candidly Rose 🌹

My writing experience

Sometimes i have posts upon posts written in my queue waiting to be published. I will write them one or two weeks in advance as ideas just come to me out of no where.

When I'm sleeping.

.... When I'm eating

...........when I'm out for a walk 

.................when I'm writing 

Sometimes i fear that I'll run out of ideas for writing. And I do sometimes. I'll go months without a word in my mind. 

Then all of a sudden a spark happens!

I've gotten more ideas as the new year rolled around and I strive to write 1000 words at least. It's good for SEO.

This post is shorter though. I'm just writing because I don't want you to think that I'm posting things willy nilly. I just have so many ideas lines up and i want the meaningful audience to know about what I've written. 

It's good for the soul.

.... And my portfolio. 

When do you get writing inspiration? What are some ideas that come to mind at random? Maybe we can chat about some topics that interest you. Let me know in the comments. 

Leave me a message in my Facebook inbox so we can know each other better, here. 

Would I ever consider study abroad?

For the past eight years, I traveled abroad on mission trips to Central America. During these experiences, I met new types of people in a different culture with the objective of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ to native churches in Central America. A lot of these people are poor, with family units of three or four living in very small homes. They only make enough to pay the rent and buy the necessities for groceries. Children are encouraged to go to school as a way to escape poverty and become professional bankers, lawyers or engineers for example. However, a great part of the population doesn't like to read so many children drop out of high school at the age of 16 and unfortunately have to go to work and do very poor jobs to support a family. After seeing what life is like in these places, I realized my own need to study. I realized the value of education and why it is so important to slow down sometimes and think about the privilege of living in the United States. Beforehand, I never knew how well we have it even in America. We have a lot of amenities that other countries do not have and yet it is easy to forget how other countries would only dream about owning the latest smartphone, a car or even named brands. It is important to think about how other people go without eating for days sometimes as they study hard for their next meal. I wish we weren't so insulated.

As I think about other places and how I can use my interests to help in the Kingdom of God, I want to do something that will allow me to write. Whether I become an English teacher, a history major, or a nail technician I have to write. I want to write about stories that are important to others. If I observe other people's past experiences as a journalist or history major and write a plot based on the failures and successes of each protagonist who can identify with a community of thinkers and dreamers than I would feel like I left an imprint in the world. I really do not want to stay in the same place at one time but I would want t career that lets me explore other places in the world while I learn about its past and its future. Therefore, I love the idea of exploring Washington D.C., New York, France; Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands for example. All of these places are full of rich history and stories that I could take with me into a historical novel. I would be able to explore the culture of these places and write about important people who helped make a difference in the world; in the kingdom of God.

Tell me more about your story. Leave your comments below if you have any suggestions about story ideas or places of interest that mean the most to you. What events helped change or inspire your outlook in life? Who were the people behind that inspiration?

Why I would comit to the fine arts

The times are changing, and leaves fall in autumn. I have decisions to make and I need a quiet place to think. Away from the noise, away from stress, away from bossy family. I might need to find an artist's residency while I grow out of this nest. My parents were mostly strict growing up and I felt sheltered most of my life. I still feel the affects of PTSD from my past but I am learning to put things behind me. Moreover, now I am older but I am still young at heart. Life has taught me to value education above everything else but I feel the pressure is on for me to read, read, read. I have actually learned to love to read but sometimes I feel the sharp shooting pains that do not permit me to read any more than I can concentrate for long periods of time. I hope this isn't something so serious and I just pray and work through these headaches the best that I can.

Morever, as times are changing my brother just left. Our dad did everything to get my brother in vocational school upstate and now it is just me and dad. He is old and cranky. I do not want to bother him so I need to find a place to stay but I have two criteria: I must stay close to school and I must stay close to the embassy. I say this because school is more important than anything. As long as I have a degree I can bounce back and be someone in this world. However, as I am overcoming feelings of being sheltered I am thinking about how I can find a mental break, finish my masters and live somewehre that will allow me to grow as a person.

Art school might be a good place for me to be myself. I would have a quiet place to rest and work while I pursue freelance writing. I will make art that is important to me and indulge myself in art history. There are a few projects that I have in mind for my family but should I consider leaving this for a later time? I have to think about the possibilities.

Why I enjoy and dislike journalism writing

Journalism is so strict but in a good way. Journalism gives writers the structure they need to write in uniformity with other writers. I can understand how uniformity helps journalists create an effective copy but whoever really checks their AP style all day every day? 

However, I can't tell you how much journalism writing and editing gave me the discipline to wring out the adjective vomit from my over-wordy writing style. I am thankful for it because now that I am finishing up my BA program I feel like I can fully understand creative writing and how other authors use their adjectives and adverbs to sprinkle flavor into their prompts without creating a tomato word sauce that no one will later understand.

Therefore, I figured that if I went into a newsroom and wrote something for work I could go back later on my time and write fiction. My mind could not disagree more. As I was filling out my resume and thinking about actually writing journalism, my mind froze up and got that same sharp shooting pain. What do you think? Do I need a doctor?

I never feel this way, only when I read for long periods of time. This never happens when I write. 

BA in journalism now what?

As a budding writer, I found the need for structure to help me understand other writing techniques. So I did my BA in Journalism and Mass communications online. The courses superseded my expectations. I got to learn how to write and build a portfolio of magazine articles, blogs and two team publication websites that would make me look really good in front of employers. However, I do not think that journalism is the way for me to go for various reasons that I will talk about in another post. Essentially, I feel that my health and other aspects of my personal life do not make feel like I am the right fit for news writing right now. I want to become an author, so I did brief research in creative writing. I have not found any programs to my liking. I also considered committing to a history major and . as a way to research facts for my own personal projects for historical fiction novels but I think that might be a little excessive. If I do not do that I would like to pursue teaching English because it would be a great way of maintaining my proofreading skills.

I also love art. I considered culinary school, art school, and nail tech. These are all different things avenues I could take with me into my writing career down the road but I will have to take the plunge. On one hand, I like culinary school because I feel close to my dad and younger sibling. However, we aren't so close so I don't feel as motivated to commit. I also love painting but I just do not see how I will ever pay the bills by painting canvases. However, I asked myself how I could ever become a nail tech and put food on the table. I never thought it was possible until I did a quick research on technical schools in my area. In fact, many technical schools offer cosmetology programs at affordable prices. Nail tech school would be something that I would commit to part-time because it would be a fun outlet to express myself and build a client-based relationship with other females who like to express themselves through their nail designs.

I even considered a career in law: in law enforcement, the military, and security guard. I consider this in part for my own personal experience to exercise my interest for the public service. My parents were strict growing up, so I feel flashbacks sometimes when I consider going into the military. I am a reserved, petite 5' 0" young twenty-something. I know everyone is different and I might not be the strongest, fastest, or the quickest but if I ever do go into the military, I will have to conquer my fears and just go.

In the meantime, I am praying, waiting and listening to how my heart inclines towards my needs and desires.