Author: jennygracespoetryandcreativewritingtechniques

I am a published poet and short story writer. I have been published in SNHU's the penmen review. https://penmenreview.com/author/jenny-andrews is the link where you can find my poetry and a short story. Currently, I am writing a collection of short stories, and a collection of poetry. I am trying my hand at writing a novel. Well, not a novel, actually. Make that two novels. My passion is writing. My inspiration is Franz Krafka because he managed to see the absurdity of life. Life is all about perspective and who is telling the story. We all see this life through the lens of our experiences. Literature should inspire us to think, to analyze, and to get lost in unfamiliar worlds in which we learn something new about this human existence. It is my hope that my writing challenges the reader to think, and to see a different perspective, as well as be entertained. My faith in Jesus strengthens me and gives me the courage to survive the twists and turns of this life. My faith influences a lot of my writing in that goodness always triumphs over evil, in that love conquers all. I hope you enjoy reading my blog.

Need Your Opinion

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Hi Everyone,

This is the cover of my poetry book I put on Amazon/Kindle almost two years ago. It has not been selling. I have tried to market it on WordPress. Other bloggers have been very kind and have promoted it, as well as reviewed it. For this support I am very thankful.

I am also very discouraged because I feel that it has just been sitting out there in the virtual world despite my best efforts. Perhaps, my best efforts aren’t enough. I am very happy for those of you who have had success in promoting your books and making sales. I am not sure how you have managed to do it; perhaps, you all are far more outgoing than I am.

I am seriously considering removing my poetry book from Kindle/Amazon and looking into reaching out to more traditional publishers or literary agents. Maybe they can help me or advise me. I am not sure what to do. All I know is that I feel very isolated in this virtual world of writing. I feel as if I am flinging my words into an abyss, a black hole in a limitless expanse of nothingness. I, in short, feel as if I have been swallowed up by an immense void of darkness and silence. It has become quite deafening, this silence.

I have always loved to write. I have been told that I am a gifted writer. I have been rejected more than I have been accepted, however. Go figure. The world is upside down, anyway. I have grown to expect very little from it, except for occasional glimmers of light in an otherwise dark tunnel.

Thank you all so much for your encouragement over the past few years that I have blogged on WordPress. I do plan to continue blogging. I do so enjoy it. I just am quite disappointed in not seeing my poetry book reach more readers. Maybe it’s just that the world is just so big and there are so many writers and that time just marches on and that we just cannot control for destiny or the lack thereof.

2020 Copyright Jenny W. Andrews

 

 

 

Festival of Lights

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Chag urim sameach!

Happy Festival of Lights.

Hanukkah begins at sundown December 22nd and is celebrated until nightfall December 30th, this year.

It is a celebration of family, freedom and light.  Hanukkah means “dedication.” Historically, the origin of Hanukkah began in the year 168 BCE when Antiochus Epiphanes IV attempted to squash Judaism. The Maccabean Revolt ensued in which the Jewish rebel Judas Maccabeus defeated Antiochus Epiphanes IV. The Jews rededicated the Temple after the Greek occupation of that holy place. A small quantity of oil miraculously kept the Temple menorah lit for eight days.

Hanukkah is primarily celebrated on the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev (late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar). It is entirely coincidental that it falls near Christmas.

For Hanukkah, families gather to light the menorah, pray and sing hymns, exchange gifts, and enjoy latkes and jam-filled donuts, just to name a few activities.

Tomorrow night, on the river front in my town a menorah will be lit a few feet from the Christmas tree. As a community, we will all gather to offer our prayers for peace. In this late December, it will promise to be a cold, dark winter night; however, the lights from the menorah will shine forth and unite with the glow from the Christmas tree lights just a few feet from it. As God’s people, we will join our voices together to ask for peace, to ask for justice, and to ask God to protect us as we turn our faces toward the future.

This can be a cold, dark world, filled with cruelty and hatred. It can also be a beautiful world filled with light. It is up to us all to be that light, to shine bright like the candles in the darkness.

May our hearts be filled with the light of God’s love.

May God’s peace be with us all.

Amen.

Copyright 2019 Jenny W. Andrews

 

Research sources:

reformjudaism.org/hanukkah-history

myjewishlearning.com/article-the-macabean-revolt

 

 

 

Go Ahead and Sing!

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“I want to sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think.”-Rumi (beliefnet,com)

I love this quote because it reminds me of the importance of just being oneself. We waste way too many years of our lives worrying about other people’s opinions of us. Truth is that we are all different in our own special ways; we all have been blessed with a variety of talents. Nobody is exactly the same. Imagine how absolutely drab and boring this life would be if everyone were exactly the same.

Everyone has differing opinions. This fact should validate our own right to be different. We should follow our own hearts with the secure acceptance that not everyone is going to approve of us. We don’t need everyone’s approval. We just need to be the best possible version of ourselves. The litmus test is if we can look in the mirror and feel proud of the reflection looking back at us. We should enjoy the freedom to live our fullest life according to our own hopes and dreams, not other’s approval or disapproval.

At the end of the day, it is your own reflection that you have to deal with.

We should strive to “sing” our own songs with joy without worrying about “who hears us or what they think,” to paraphrase Rumi.

 

Copyright 2019 Jenny W. Andrews

There is Always a Sunrise

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2019 is quickly coming to an end. Soon enough it will be history. Endings can be sad; in fact, depression increases this time of year. We tend to dwell on those goals we failed to accomplish; we tend to dwell on what could have been and what should have been. We tally up our losses and oftentimes neglect to consider our gains. The truth is that we cannot undo what has been done; we cannot go back and do what we should have done. We have to reconcile ourselves to our choices. It is too easy to search for someone or something to blame for our failures. Of course, we are influenced by conditions beyond our control, such as downward turns in the economy and illness.

We can, however, control whether to watch a movie on Netflix or write a chapter of our novel. We can control whether to spend money on buying shoes we don’t really need or donating money to a reputable charity. Our time is precious and once spent it is irretrievably gone forever.

We must reconcile ourselves to the consequences of our choices. If we waste our precious time dedicated to actions that do not move us towards our definition of prosperity (spiritual, physical, emotional, mental) then we have to reconcile ourselves to those consequences.

It takes courage to accept consequences for our own actions.

In 2020, define what your purpose is in your own life. What matters the most to you? How are you planning to achieve your purpose? What will this time next year look like to you?

Jeremiah 29:11 states: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Clearly, you do not have to go it alone. God is ever-present and is supportive of you. Lean on His support. He wants you to prosper and he offers you hope and a future.

A quote of which I have not been able to attribute to an author is:

“God has a purpose for your pain, a reason for your struggles, and a reward for your faithfulness. Don’t give up.”-unknown author (spiritualcleansing.org)

Don’t give up. Just don’t give up. God has a purpose for your life. Find that purpose. You have a purpose. Ask God for guidance to find that purpose. Lean on Him.

Unfortunately, in our world people tend to define success in monetary terms; in truth, success has a far greater definition than just money. When I think of a successful life, I remember my mother and how she shared love and joy. She genuinely loved from her heart and soul. She was never monetarily rich, but her spirit was rich beyond measure.

Define what success is to you. How will you achieve your definition of success?

Zig Ziglar wrote: “You are a success when you have made friends with your past, are focused on the present, and are optimistic about the future.” (Ziglar.com)

2020 is a new year. It is a new decade. This life’s journey only goes forward; there is no turning back on this road.

There is, however, always a sunrise.

With each new sunrise, how are you going to spend your precious time?

Copyright 2019 Jenny W. Andrews

Giving Up Christmas, 2010

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GIVING UP CHRISTMAS, 2010

Left over poinsettias fade to pink,

crumpled brown leaves scatter on the stained black and white linoleum.

Plastic Christmas tree sticks out of the half-closed brown cardboard box.

Broken red ornament shatters in fragments on the brown carpet.

It’s all just an illusion,

this thing.

 

Copyright 2010 Jenny W. Andrews

 

Excuses

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Excuses

Words cannot express the possibility, the probability.

Also,

there is no sound, not even in the silence.

End of the dictionary: Z.

I have reached the end.

Night fell; broke into pieces.

Flute lovingly caresses the night, displaced melody of butterflies racing across Spring valleys filled with sheep, green meadows, stones ancient and crumbling.

What whispers ceased to fall silently into the snow drifts?

Lights against the city-scape,  a world doused with apple red wine, igniting nonsense.

Merry-go-round,

too many horses with too many marmosets in hot pursuit.

Can I ever exit the ride?

This fracture is blood and bone deep.

Great grandpa Anastacio abandoned Great grandma Francisca at the old train station on the Chilean border in a place ironically called Paso Los Libertadores.

I occupy this empty chair.

Jenny W. Andrews Copyright 2019

Unexpected Encounter

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Terminal A West, Philadelphia Airport,

I lumber along the concourse laden with heavy bags,

faces blur around me like kaleidoscope renderings.

From out of the crowd, his face jars me, transports me back to another time.

I am immobilized by turquoise shadows falling from his familiar eyes.

“I know you,” his voice calls across the trajectory of four decades and reverberates and reawakens someone I used to be.

I call his name; I drop my bags. Awkwardly we share a brief embrace. Strangers push past us.

Tossed backward into time, memory of us, of a night long, long ago on a moonlit stretch of beach.

Over Starbucks coffee, he tells me of his father’s dying in Albuquerque, of his third ex-wife. I tell him of my failed attempts at publishing my great American novel, my inability to find true and lasting love.

He sips his coffee, glances at his watch, fails to speak.

I struggle to find the words to replace those spoken forty years ago. He  stands in my memory at the edge of the sidewalk in that old apartment complex with moonlight shining against his handsome face, rain slowly tapping against my windowpane.

He looks up from his coffee, speaks. “I think you should have stayed. I really loved you. I really did. We were young back then. I guess we had to go and conquer our dreams.”

I nod, gather my bags. Sorrow drowns me. The past cannot be undone. Words cannot be unspoken.

He stands; we quickly embrace. We fail to exchange numbers.  So accustomed to failure, I resign myself to the loss of him. I let him go. I let him go.

So damned long ago, I let him go.

 

Copyright 2019 Jenny W. Andrews

 

 

Rescued

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Rescued

BoBo nestles beside me wrapped in his pink blanket,

Australian Shepard/Beagle/ Dachshund, my little rescuer,

having rescued me from the sadness, from the darkness,

he my shadow, my faithful little friend.

Cold black nose, his lips turning upward as if smiling in his sleep.

His chin resting on his big paws,

my perfect friend,

in his silent sleep, his presence comforts me,

nestled next to me.

 

Jenny Andrews Copyright 2019

 

It has been three years since I adopted BoBo from a pet rescue in my community. He was one of a litter; his mother had been rescued as had his father. Dogs (and cats) can bring such joy to someone’s life. Consider adopting from an animal shelter or a reputable animal rescue if you are considering getting a pet. Pets take a lot of care and attention, but they are such a blessing, as well. BoBo has been a blessing to me.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2020!