Nova Walsh | Story is Everything

Irish Blessings

March 17, 2017 by novawalsh Leave a Comment

Fifteen years ago I lived in Ireland for a year. I was newly married and very young. I’d never set foot outside the U.S before that. It was a shock, to say the least. In the early days and weeks I had a hard time adjusting. It was all so different, so unknown and unpredictable. Even things that had been simple back home, things like going to the grocery store, were extremely difficult for me.

Every weekend my husband and I would travel around. We were determined to see as much of the country as possible while we were there. And we just about did – luckily nothing in Ireland is more than a three or four hour drive away.

As we branched out more, my fear started to go away and I found after a while that I was really enjoying myself! Smelling the syrupy malt in the air near the Guiness factory, getting stuck on a road between two herds of bleating sheep who’s time was their own, exploring castle after crumbling castle with my new husband… the differentness that had terrified me in the beginning became intoxicating. It forever changed who I am and what I care about.

It was a special time for me, of opening up, learning more about the world and myself, getting to know another culture. And although most days I don’t think about Ireland anymore, St. Patrick’s Day is always a good reminder for me of that time, how young I was and how scared. How much I’ve grown since then. How much I’ve experienced.

This day reminds me of the Irish blessing that I received – the gift of having my eyes opened to how other people live, my heart opened to a beautiful place and people, and my mind opened ot the limitless experiences waiting for me out in this wide and incredible world.

And although I’m not religious, I’ll share one of my favorite Irish blessings with you. The takeaway is the same, I think, regardless of beliefs.

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

And now, since that was a little heavy, I give you a scene from one of my favorite movies set in Ireland. I absolutely love this scene – it reminds me of driving in the Irish countryside with my husband. I hope you enjoy! And Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Morning Revival

July 27, 2016 by novawalsh Leave a Comment

I grew up in a very religious household. For the most part we bounced from church to church, changing denominations as often as we changed addresses.

One of these organizations had tracts it would hand out so people could study and contemplate the bible on their own in the morning. They had different names for these things, but one I remember clearly is “Morning Revival.” They were little booklets that discussed some aspect of the bible and then I think too a sort of assignment, something to think about throughout the day or a prayer…

I’m not religious any longer, unless you consider living in awe a religion. But I realized something as I was re-reading one of my favorite books on writing, The Right to Write by Julia Cameron. I realized that I could easily put that practice to good use. The book is full of quick sections along with a little exercise – just enough for a bite of writing to get me going in the morning, the perfect “Morning Revival.” And the sections give me something to think about throughout the day – topics such as Valuing Our Experience, Sketching, Place, and Form Versus Formula.

It’s a good way to crack through a writer’s block. I don’t think of it as serious work, it’s just meant to revive me, get all those nuts and bolts turning a little smoother. And who knows? Maybe it’ll lead to something spectacular, this little morning thing, this little revival.

Here are a few of my favorite writing books that would work well for this small morning digestible if you want to do the same.

If you have any recommendations for books or exercises that would work well as a “Morning Revival”, please let me know in the comments below. I’m always looking for new ones!

Rusty

July 21, 2016 by novawalsh Leave a Comment

Has it really been five months since my last post?

It’s strange how time both speeds up and slows way way down once you have a child.

The afternoons when Connor is screaming and wants to pull everything from every cupboard and not eat his snack and torture the dogs feel absolutely endless. Every minute feels like an eternity. But then I take a moment to catch my breath when he finally goes down for a nap and I see that the tiny baby that couldn’t hold his own head up a few short months ago is now running around the house, speaking a language I can’t understand and biting me with real teeth.

It’s all a blur of milk and diapers and yelling and kisses and stories and cuddling. I wouldn’t change it for the world. But it’s definitely made it near impossible to do any quality writing. And that makes me really sad.

For a while I had grand plans to write and publish a novel this year. Then I just wanted to blog once a week. That turned into hoping I’d get on Twitter now and then. And suddenly here I am more than halfway through 2016 and not a thing to show for it.

I’m rusty. My thoughts are stale. My fingers peck at the keyboard where once they flew.

But I’m determined to get back in the game. And with time maybe it’ll all come back to me. I can only hope.

Tidying Up

February 26, 2016 by novawalsh Leave a Comment

This week’s library stop brought me to an incredible little book – The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo – and really did lead me to have a little life-changing magic. The basic idea is to get rid of anything you own that doesn’t give you joy. It sounds simple, but it’s a pretty profound experience if you really commit to it.

As I filled bags and boxes of things I no longer needed or wanted, I found my thoughts turning more and more to my online life and my professional life. For those of you who don’t know, not only do I try to keep up with this blog, I’ve spent the last several years writing romance under pen names. I create websites and social media accounts and write books and self-publish and I’ve had no less than four pen names all told. This is exhausting. It’s depressing. And it’s getting me nowhere. My mind is cluttered. My online presence is cluttered. And I think it’s time to apply the same life-changing magic to my professional pursuits.

At one time my pen names brought me joy. It was fun to write, fun to watch books come to life with the help of editors and cover designers. It was fun to market, to network in the romance world, to sell books.

Increasingly though, and especially since I had my son, I’ve felt itchy and empty and confused about what I really want. Writing genre fiction no longer brings me joy. More and more it’s a source of pain and confusion. What should I do with my life? What should I write now? Can I let go of these things I’ve worked so hard on?

Thanks to Marie Kondo I realized that the answer to that question is yes. If it doesn’t bring me joy it has to go.

What I really want is to see my own real name on the cover of a book. I want to write things that I’m proud of, that I want to tell the world about. Not things that have to hide under fake names. I’m not sure yet what I’ll write next. I may do fiction or I may branch out and try my hand at nonfiction. What I do know is that I’ll start writing here again on a more regular basis. I’ll start using social media simply as myself. And I’ll try to be a little more at peace now that I’ve cleaned out the mental and physical clutter.

Shotgun Shells, Oh Hell!

February 5, 2016 by novawalsh 4 Comments

I guess I could make a long meaningless excuse for why I haven’t blogged in six months. But I don’t want to, and I don’t think you want me to either. Instead, I’m just going to say that shit got real for a while, and I’m presently working my way out of an extended period of sloth-like mediocrity and toward something new, as evidenced by such things as the complete redesign of this blog and the (hopefully) different slant my writing takes henceforth.

So why not get right to it? I’m going to do a series of posts about our recent experience with corporate housing. Forgive me if you’ve already heard these stories. I’ll shamelessly complain about The Apartment to anyone who will listen.

This week, we’ll begin with my personal favorite of all time, wherein I am nearly shot… [Read more…] about Shotgun Shells, Oh Hell!