This End UP, I Think?

Thoughts from the desk of Christina M. Ward. Don't miss it!

This End Up, says the box, hastily scribbled with my permanent marker, navy blue. I can hear the sounds of tape, ripping, one long slice with one blade of an opened pair of scissors. I have unpacked each and every box. In 4 days. I am settled. And now — I am working, hard.

This past week, I moved to a new state. Sure, I loved my apartment in Asheboro, but man, there are a few things I left behind and I am so grateful those things are GONE.

• People getting shot. Yeah, I don’t want to be around that any more. At all.

• People cursing, swearing, fighting, playing roaring loud music at all times day or night — yeah, I needed some peace and quiet. Some PEACE and a whole lot of quiet.

• The scent of weed wafting through my apartment all hours of the day and night (from the neighbors on all sides of me.) I was getting a little sick of everything I owned reeking of stale weed smoke.

• The sad, sad state of stray animals in the parking lot. The day before I moved, one of those stray cats who always looked hungry, disheveled, lost…wandered by my building dragging a broken leg behind him. I called everyone I knew trying to find help for the poor thing. Then, he was gone. Didn’t see him again. It still breaks my heart.

So, in contrast, I am writing this morning from the 3rd floor apartment where I moved, overlooking a prime area of Rock Hill, SC. I am just a short walk to a beautiful river. The people here are really nice and it appears that many of them work, have nice cars, and have booming social lives. My doggie and cat are loving the extra square-footage we now live in, and I am LOVING the peace and quiet here.

I am subletting half of my brother’s apartment and we still both have lots of room to move around and enjoy the space. I have a wide set of windows around my office desk so I can see the skyline of Rock Hill all day while I work. It’s a HUGE change from where I was living. There’s trash valet here, a dog-washing station on site, plenty of storage, a movie theater on site, a pool table room, a gym, and entry water feature with fountains in it and a HUGE swimming pool with fountains in it.

Now, I must write. And write a whole lot. Because I will be here for 11 months and in that time I must prepare to buy a house. So, I write. And write. And write.

Which brings me to you — my loyal readers and fans. I cannot thank you all enough for helping me get to this place. Helping me have faith in my work and in my career. Helping me by reading, commenting, sharing, and in some cases JOINING.

I have always dreamt of living a writer’s life. And here I am, doing it. The view from my office window looks like success to me.

It looks like hope.

So, for those of you who are curious or interested or simply wondering how I’m doing since the move:

GOODBYE to this place:

And hello to the new place!!

That’s all for today…I just wanted to share that my life is moving in a positive direction and I am happy! Aside from one challenge, everything is going great. That challenge involves a surgery for my little Josie dog. She needs some tooth extractions and the quote I received was astronomical. I’m looking now for a second opinion and quote and meanwhile have started her on CBD oil for the pain. So far, she SEEMS to be feeling fine, but I’ve known for some time there’s something going on with her teeth. (Prayers would be appreciated for my baby girl if you are so inclined.)

Otherwise, we are all well.

For those of you who may want to catch up on what I’ve been up to lately with writing, here are the recent highlights:

1. cbdMD continues to be my best client! Here’s my latest for them. It’s a fun Valentine’s Day blog I did for them this past week. So far this week I’ve written 4 professional blogs for clients—I’ve been BUSY!

2. I thought this article turned out pretty good, but Medium reading audiences have not been generous with me for quite some time. So much so that I may not stay on the platform much longer: Stop Reading Writing Advice and Do This Instead. And another writing one: 5 Writing Strategies that Help You Get Paid to Write. Here’s how to up your writing game and make bank in 2022 (Yes, the irony!)
   
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3. I entered a Vocal writing contest and my entry (out of the total of 13,000 entries) made the top 1025 chosen as a short-list!! They’ll choose the top 25 winners from this list and winners receive 5K. Wouldn’t that help me get my downpayment ready for buying a home??? Here’s my entry. It’s a dystopian piece and I am not sure I have really written much of that genre. I’d love to know if you like it and want to see more of this style of writing from me.

4. I wrote a second entry for another contest and I am rather proud of this little short story. The assignment was to write a piece of fiction with a barn owl in it. My first line is this: “I am a barn without an owl.” It was meant to be a fiction piece that showed what it is like to live with anxiety— and it must be pretty awful, because Vocal marked the entry as “horror.” Just between you and me, the small details of “The Mice Inside Me” are a hodge-podge of my actual experiences and memories of living with anxiety. This one has a grand prize of $20,000. That would be SUPER. What do you think of my story? Does the “horror” genre really fit? I’d love to have your thoughts.
   
   

   

5. The Poet’s Lair is going really well. I have a few new patrons and I am really enjoying all of the poetic learning. I am reading more poetry, teaching others about poetic device and the history of poets we all love. It’s the passion project I really needed. I hope it continues to GROW! My goal is for this community to replace my Medium income. So far, it’s at about half.

Talk soon….leave me a note and let me know what’s up with you lately!

Love, Christina M. Ward
Fiddleheads & Floss Writing Services