neXtDRAFT 25. Whose Hands Do You Hold?

Published: Wed, 05/23/18

Hello and welcome to neXtDRAFT 25. Whose Hands Do You Hold?

This week's neXtDRAFT is inspired by a pair of hands who followed me about the Jaro Cathedral tapping at my shoulder, hassling Jerry, and demanding money for 'medical expenses'.

Those hands take me back to when I first arrived in the Philippines and trusted absolutely everybody. In some ways I'm longing for those days again, as I've been finding it really hard now to trust anyone at all.

But I"m not blaming those hands (or anyone else's) because real trust comes with trusting yourself and living with faith.

If you have real faith and believe in yourself, you are able to calmly say no to anyone trying to push you into a direction that is not your truth. And you don't get angry at all.

Because when you are a naturally giving person it's often very difficult to say no to people. And it's terribly upsetting when you end up getting angry because you've been unable to stand your ground without getting confrontational.

This is the lesson I'm working on in my life right now. Learning to speak my truth, say no when needed in a state of love, joy and faith (without surrendering myself to anger).

Whose hands do you hold?

This week I've formally enrolled Jerry into his school, recovered from the flu, had Jerry in hospital after a severe allergy outbreak a few nights ago, as well as begun working with some new writing clients.

Mercifully there is less than 2 weeks now until class resumes (Jerry has been off school now since 23 March) and as much as I love him, I'm counting the days until I have 8 uninterrupted work hours Monday - Friday. The first time in 2.5 years.

Again thanks for being here, it means a lot.

Till next week.

Mel xx

Sincerely,

Melinda J. Irvine

[email protected]

Mother Mary and Baby Jesus statue at Jaro Cathedral

His hands opened

Her’s holding onto love

mine filled with photographs

another’s rasping my shoulder for money

Stamp News (with Uncle Richard)

Chinese Stamps with Surcharges

Chinese National Currency (CNC) surcharges make for an interesting collection. A number of these sets from 1945-1949 are listed on eBay right now. During these years inflation was a huge problem and previous stamps were overprinted with higher values. In 1948 the Gold Yuan standard was introduced and stamps were overprinted with lower values. The Silver Yuan standard was introduced in 1949 and further overprinting was done.

Complete set of Pig Breeding Stamps

I found this complete set of Pig Breeding stamps from 1960 in an album recently. It certainly would have appealed to my brother Lincoln as he was a farmer (amongst other occupations). And our father was actually pig farmer! These stamps are CTO (cancelled to order) and have their original gum.

They are very collectable and in the eBay store for sale now!

PS: Stamps for the Visayans is a project of my Uncle Richard. In 2014 he inherited the family stamp collection which dates back 3 generations. He sells the stamps individually on eBay and sends the proceeds to help me live in the Philippines with Jerry (as well as run small projects for other disadvantaged children). It's incredible how these $5, $10 and $20 stamp sales (plus the odd big one) add up and make our life here possible.

complete set of Pig Breeding stamps from 1960

A Poem in the Morning

I woke this morning

to the sound of a poem.

It rained in

through the night

words and images. And

yet even my first

response was not

to scramble for a pen,

but merely smile and seep

into a new voice, and

allow the poem

in her own time.

Book Review: The Sun and Her Flowers

As a writer and poet I felt compelled to read a recent New York Times Bestseller poetry collection. Especially when ‘The Sun and Her Flowers‘ was voted # 1 in the 2017 poetry genre by almost 36,000 Goodreads followers. And though I really don’t like writing less-than favourable reviews about other writers (after all it’s a community here) truthfully I found the poems and subject matter a bit flimsy.

I’m a professional writer making my way in the world of business. The WritingBiz section is for anyone wanting to make writing a career (or at the very least make some money writing). Each week I share a few ideas on how to find writing jobs, self-publish your own eBooks, as well as how to setup your writing business and run it profitably.

5 bestselling authors who teach writing

This post honours 5 bestselling authors who’ve taken the time to give back to the writing community by putting clear, useful and free advice about writing and publishing on their websites.

#amwriting #creativity

Copywriting and Snake Oil

A little article I wrote last year on some of the dodgy things we copywriters get asked to do. Respectable copywriters research your industry, products and services and then write your sales material based on the facts. We want you to sound amazing but we aren't going to write copy that promises your customer thin thighs in 30 days, how to beat the pokies, or a cure for cancer.

#factsnotfiction #copywriting

From the Vault: May 2015