How I intend to help the Refugees.

Local Stroud Refugee Cafe - Rasmachaz

I am serious about re-orienting my life towards helping others, and I am not alone. I have met so many amazing people trying to do 'something' to make a difference. I left my job to do this. 

There are so many other people doing everything they can to help those in need, particularly refugees fleeing war and persecution. 'Rasmachaz' is a local cafe in Stroud High Street which sells  clothes and other things to support the refugees in the local area. GARAS ('Gloucestershire Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers) is a similar venture. 

I aim to raise funds for both of these organisations as well as for international charities such as UNICEF.

I will do this by selling e-books and other things. I aim to use a 'Pay what the reader considers the book is worth' basis and will donate at least 20% of whatever profits I make from each of the books. I need to take some very basic living expenses out but if I make more money then I will donate a higher percentage. 

My first e-book (A science fiction novella called 'The Ascension of Saints') is out in the new year.

This image shows the sort of things that your donations will buy. I am sure the other charities have similar lists. It does make a real difference to peoples lives. I love writing and I am good at it, but really this is about helping people in dire need. It is not about me. I hope you can support me, and more importantly support the refugees.

Being mindful of life

It is time to write.

I have a complex life in which it has been increasingly hard for me to make the statement I have typed above. My job in IT is demanding and my family demand my attention. I struggle to make space for creative writing. It makes me feel sad to say it but more often than not it just doesn't happen. Stress from work and my home life tear me away from my stories.

Stress is a killer. it poisons our bodies and its toxic touch extends into our thoughts and feelings. If left unchecked it destroys well being. It is the modern 'plague'. It effects me on a fundamental level and it is stopping me enjoying my life on far too many occasions.

It stops me writing.

But it is the process of putting words together to describe the imagery of my stories that first gave me the answer to this challenge.

Writers must live in the present moment. We need to feel our fictional worlds with all five senses. We need to live the lives of our characters and see through their eyes. We need to be mindful of them and their worlds.

We need to be mindful of ourselves.

Mindfulness is the process of living in the moment. The past is gone. It cannot reach us if we do not let it. The future hasn't happened. It is not determined. Our own story is not yet written. And therein is the fulcrum upon which I (and others) can use against Anxiety and Stress. If the past is gone, regrets and fears lose their grip. If the future is an open book then it too can not reach me so long as I concentrate on what is happening right now.

Much is written about this. I believe that being mindful is a great way of improving the quality of creative writing but more importantly it gives us the keys to our lives. It sets us free.

Amen to that.