I am working on my next full-length book, Gifts of the Spirit: Stories & Poems from now till the end of 2021.
The new book is a companion of my book Walking by Inner Vision: Stories & Poems, published in 2017. See it here.
~ My Writing Process ~
I began writing stories and poems for the new book a couple of years ago.
I always like to start with a plan that gives an order in which to work out the process. I laid out a skeleton or structure for it several times over the past couple of years. I gathered lots of ideas, writings. I divided the book into categories or topics – several times. I try to put everything into a cohesive whole, bring order to the myriad of concepts.
Each new version of my draft eventually is altered.
But, not all of it is erased, discarded or moved. No, it is more like a palimpsest manuscript. Layers of words remain as other coatings vanish. Spaces appear, created, holes filled. When one works in layers, some fragments remain, some punctuation altered or deleted, meanings changed, paragraphs removed, and some words, sentences or paragraphs are shifted to new locations. I use the Socratic method as I continually ask questions in the working process. I search under, around, and through the rugged terrain of my verbal landscape.
Over my years of writing, I’ve come to an understanding of how I work. I have a process, and it’s messy!
It’s war.
I am going to war, and I know it before I write that first sentence.
I step into chaos. I always begin with the disorder in just about everything I do in my creative life.
Nothing magically happens when I am creating – no magic bullets and no writings that plop down on my pages. Writing, for me, is more like an excavation site. I have to dig through layers upon layers to sort, sift, discard, build, destroy, explore, and patch.
My process is physical, a painful boxing match. I am a warrior woman going into battle.
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Lynda McKinney Lambert – Author/Artist
Your comments and questions are most welcome.
Most of all, I need your prayers over the next year.
When you think of me please stop for a moment to whisper my name in a prayer to our lord, Jesus.
Thank you for your interest in what I do.
Please contact me at any time if you need to speak with me or need to ask me to pray for you. I am a Prayer Warrior.
Monday Morning Marketing – Pennsylvania Author and Artist, Lynda McKinney Lambert recommends The Alchemist’s Studio – that I believe is a National Treasure in Nova Scotia, Canada.
If you love handcrafted pottery and works of art that are created with
patience, passion
and purpose
You will FALL in love
with
RAKU POTTERY.
Be sure to sign up for the newsletter. Right now, the studio is taking subscriptions and when they reach 500 they will be giving away some NICE PRIZES.
Click on their site and SEE the STUDIO and POTTERY –
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine
Tell her to make me a cambric shirt (in the deep forest green)
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme
(Tracing of sparrow on snow-crested ground)
Without no seams nor needle work
(Bedclothes the child of the mountain)
Then she’ll be a true love of mine
(Sleeps unaware of the clarion call)
Tell her to find me an acre of land
(A sprinkling of leaves)
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
(Washes the grave with silvery tears)
Between the salt water and the sea strands
(And polishes a gun)
Then she’ll be a true love of mine
Tell her to reap it with a sickle of leather
(Blazing in scarlet battalions)…
The contemporary fair event takes place in SEPTEMBER – each year. It is not the original Scarborough Fair that was initiated by King Henry III of England on 22 January 1253.
The traditional “Scarborough Fair” no longer exists, unfortunately. But we can get an idea of what it might have been like by reading the song lyrics.
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Courtesy of Lynda McKinney Lambert. Copyright September 5, 2020. All rights reserved.
My first chapbook is published by Finishing Line Press.
I’ve put together a collection of 30 wintry-theme poems.
It is available in paperback, or Hard Back copies directly from the publisher at Finishing Line Press. I am so thrilled to have my chapbook available as a hardbound book and a print edition.
I am working on writing a chapbook for each season.
I love chapbooks and have a little collection of special ones in my personal library. They are like a work of art, to me. They have a feeling of preciousness, which I like so much.
A chapbook is shorter than a full-length book, and it has a focus on one theme.
Since I’ve always found winter to be a beautiful time of year in my area of Western Pennsylvania, this is my way of celebrating the season.
With this new publication, I am thinking about creating a chapbook for each of the 4 seasons. I like to work in a series, and I think this would be an excellent way to do that in the future.
My poems are spare – uncluttered by unnecessary words or punctuation. I like to keep them pure and without distractions. Readers tell me how enjoyable it is to read my seasonal poems. Here is a quote by a reader,
The crisp quality of the words and vision… is made poignant by the author’s personal history and victory with physical sight. Her heart comes through her hands and pen. Her words are fresh, yet rooted and ancient. The Natural realms intersecting with the Spiritual realms plus the Human daily-realm creates a deeply pleasing flavor of poetry. Accessible. Thoughtful. Power
_Elizabeth Enright Phillips, owner of Running Creek Co Limited, ardent minimalist, author
Lynda Lambert covers a vast terrain of subjects and topics in this new book, from lights to legends to seasons, treating us to images and metaphors about plants, people, and weather. She opens this extensive collection with the title poem, Star Signs, which walks us through the alphabet. It digs through thoughts, emotions, and observations, “Using star signs to map out new terrain.”
Throughout this book of poems, these gems of poetic creation shimmer like beads on her fabric art, like bold brushstrokes of color on her paintings, and reflect light like the gemstones on her prize-winning piece of mixed–media fiber artwork. It seems this entire collection is like a multifaceted mural.
Her attentiveness to nature and strong reflections from memory have woven from a collage of remnants a beautiful tapestry for us. It offers a beautiful feast for the eyes and the mind.
—Wesley D. Sims, Author of Taste of Change
This is the author’s third book of poetry. Cover photo by James Wheeler from Pexels Cover design, editing, layout, and e-book conversion by DLD Books
Description of the cover image of Star Signs:
The late evening photo shows several delicate, bare trees in silhouette, leaning slightly to the right, against a violet-colored sky. There is a faint streak of pinkish light to the right of the trees, low on the horizon. Thousands of stars are visible in the sky. The solid black landscape below the trees appears to be the shore of a darkened lake, which is in the foreground. A few stars are reflected in the water. The overall impression is one of stillness and beauty. The predominant colors are black and violet, along with white pinpoints of starlight. The title and subtitle are in white at the top of the cover, and the author’s name is in white at the bottom.
Photo description by Leonore Dvorkin, Editor
OTHER WORK BY LYNDA…
Walking by Inner Vision: Stories & Poems (2017)
By Lynda McKinney Lambert
NOW AVAILABLE ON AUDIBLE
Read by Lillian Yves, actor.
Listen to a FREE SAMPLE from the “Prologue” – Read it now!
NEWS: This book is now available to the National Library Services BARD program. You can order the book, read by Polly Slavet by asking BARD for DBC 11608. You will LOVE Polly’s elegant presentation of Lynda’s book!
Take a journey through the seasons of a year from January through December. With award-winning Pennsylvania Author and Artist Lynda McKinney Lambert
In 2019 Lynda received the prestigious
Albert Nelson Marquis Award for Lifetime Achievement in the fields of Artist & Author
This award is given by the Marquis Who’s Who Publications Board, to honor Biographees who have achieved career longevity.
Lynda is a retired Professor of Fine Arts & Humanities, Geneva College, Beaver Falls, PA
Lynda’s first published book was created over a period of her years of travels each summer when she taught a course in Austria.
Her first book is-
Concerti: Psalms for the Pilgrimage
Kota Press, 2002
She wrote the book from her travel journal entries, as she taught a course in Europe each summer. From this first published book, the theme of “life as a sacred pilgrimage,” This theme endures in all of her subsequent writings.
In her 2nd book, Lynda continues to take readers on the road with her as she travels through a life pilgrimage from her earliest memories to her present septuagenarian years as a well-known artist, author, educator.
Lynda retired in 2008, after sudden sight loss due to Ischemic Optic Neuropathy. During her recovery and rehabilitation process, she began to write stories & poems for her new blog, Walking by Inner Vision.
In the beginning, her blog was her way of communicating with the world again after sight loss.
Lynda became aware that she was now living in a world of inner vision.
She did not realize at the time that this blog was the beginning step towards the book now available on Audible.
Walking by Inner Vision: Stories & Poems
A personal, private, and spiritual walk through the seasons
I’ll celebrate my 77th birthday this year. Birthday months seem to be a time of reflection. It is kind of like New Years Day when you look ack on the past year, and at the same time, you are looking forward to stepping into the next year of your journey in life.
Officially, August is still “summertime,” but we get a sense of the shifting that is happening this month, too.
I realize that daylight comes a little later as I move through the month. I’m aware of how the mornings are getting cooler because I walk my dogs outside in the early morning.
It feels good and I begin to think about the queen Anne’s Lace and Chicory that we will see along the rural roads and in the meadows. I love this time of year when gardens are flourishing with delicate blossoms and colors.
As a contrast, I have to say that our personal gardens may not be flourishing by the end of August. I’ve been feeling like I am in a bit of a slump lately. I spent so much time in June and July, working outside for hours at a time in my gardens.
In August, I am feeling tired of those chores and I’m thinking of adjusting to other things on my agenda such as completing work on writing projects and beginning a new series of artworks that have been brewing in my mind for months.
Lately, I’ve really slipped in my exercise and dietary goals, too. Yesterday, I signed up -AGAIN – for a weight loss program on-line.
I really need to shed 20-30 pounds – extra weight slows down our body and our brain. Extra pounds on our body makes us sluggish. This is not acceptable to me and I’m going to begin changing that today. Our body reflects our mindset. Our body is a visual image that tells the world many things about us without saying a word. I’ve always embraced a healthy vegetarian lifestyle, exercise regularly, and believe in mindfulness of the gift of each day.
I will re-set my thinking and my actions.
August will be the first month in my intention of making improvements in my personal life. I need to make changes and I am gong to do it.
This morning, I read a fantastic blog post that has turned me around.
Maybe you will also get some insight into how you can turn around yourself this month.
You can visit this post today, and then think about what you can do differently in August.
I’m game. I WILL GET BACK ON TRACK, beginning TODAY.
Lynda Lambert is smiling as visitors come to see her books on display at a book signing event. Lynda stands at her table, and is wearing a black top with a red scarf she knitted. Lynda loves to knit, read, and work in her summer gardens.
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Did YOU notice that I have changed the name of this blog?
Yes! I have. I wanted this blog to FOCUS on the VALUE OF GIFTS.
This blog is now GIFTS of the SPIRIT, and my focus is on sharing my gifts with readers who drop by for a few minutes. The GIFTS I will share are GIFTS of the SPIRIT to encourage and uplift others.
Why?
I love to give GIFTS and I love to receive gifts as well.
It’s important to know how to GIVE. I’ve always been a GIVER.
Since 2014, I FOCUS all my attention on only ONE WORD for the entire year.
For 2020, my ONE WORD is
GIFTS
It is just as important to know how to RECIEVE GIFTS, too.
This might mean that you have to change how you value yourself.
My value is not what I DO but it is WHO I AM. Our value is in being a creation of God, not in our achievements, education, job, or knowledge.
It takes a life-time to really know who we are sometimes. We grow over the years if we continue to seek wisdom and direction from God. I find that wisdom in reading his WORD in the Bible – and there is so much there to help us find direction for our life.
We also grow by reading books that are inspiriting and encouraging. Forty years ago I started reading just 15 minutes a day, every day. I kept my book in the bathroom for I had a large family and that was one of the times in the day when I could just close the door and read something positive and put that information into my spirit. We grow by the things we put into our minds, body, and spirit.
Our personal value is not in the JOB we do or in our EDUCATION or ACHIEVEMENTS.
Where do you place your value? Do you know WHO you are?
This year, my intention is to make GIFTS FOR THE KING –
I am a Judeo-Christian and want to honor GOD through the TIME I have been given every day. We all have been given the GIFT of TIME. It is the same for every person.
What will you do TODAY with your GIFT of TIME?
Time is your most precious gift, because
you only have a set amount of it.
Rick Warren
Each year, I decide to choose only
ONE WORD
for the entire year. This will be the word that I focus on for an entire year.
2020 is my 6th year to do this.
–
Copyright 2020. Lynda McKinney Lambert. All rights reserved.
Order NOW. Your chapbook will be shipped on January 3, 2020.
Just in time for a Beginning-of-the-New-Year gift for loved ones.
Think about gifting first snow for a Valentine’s Day gift, too. Perfect gift of LOVE. Only 13.99 plus shipping – available ONLY through Finishing Line Press –
After January 3, this chapbook will be available through Amazon – but don’t wait.
Order NOW and save on shipping. Your chapbook will be shipped on January 3, 2020.
Just in time for a Beginning-of-the-New-Year gift for loved ones.
And, think about gifting first snow for a Valentine’s Day gift, too. Perfect gift of LOVE. Only 13.99 plus shipping – available ONLY through Finishing Line Press –
After January 3, this chapbook will be available through Amazon – but don’t wait. You will save on shipping by ordering during the pre-publication opportunity.
STAR SIGNS: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS (2019)
