YAY I'm writing again!

My week started with the first chapter in Life's A Ball?'s taking a dramatic twist ... the male lead Adam was about to say something incredibly profound ... its such a shame I wasn't able to hear him. The muse's return was only brief and now I'm back to playing with my website.

If you haven't checked out my site recently ... and by recently I mean in the last twenty four hours... then you should because it has new dynamic features.

Email Me! The new "email me" form makes contacting me easier than ever! Just pop your message on to the email form in the Contact Erin Page and press send. Your email is sent straight to me, without being stored on any third party servers and the great thing about modern technology is that your email will be delivered direct to my mobile phone so I'll get it wherever I am ... as long as I have a signal!

Erin Cawood Direct ... Keeping up with blog posts, website updates and news is also easier than ever! Just opt in to receive the newsletter and when anything changes it will be delivered direct to your inbox. The opt in form is on my home page!

I love it when my writing touches the hearts of my readers. I've had some really wonderful comments from readers on my Facebook Fan Page (theres a link on the left hand side). Fab Feedback is great and none has made me feel more proud than that given by Lanetta J Sprott a fellow author from Texas.

Lanetta J Sprott will be at Bloomin Fest (Somewhere in Texas) on the 3rd April 2010 to promote her books. (Where Forever Begins by Lanetta is a great read if anyone likes historical romances: Definate 5/5) Where the inspirational "Only You" will be available from her stall!

And finally ...

After much coersion and arm twisting (haha!) I am currently in the process of creating a free to download collection of poetry. Inside My Writing Space should be available by the end of March ... more to come on that later this month!

Erin

Fictionworld

Everyone has somewhere ... a place where you don't have to travel far to go. A place that relaxes you.

Its a place that no matter what is happening around you, good bad or ugly, you can escape and find yourself lost in it's calming peace and serenity.

For an artist a simple brush stroke may take hours. For someone who loves to read ... you may find yourself captivated by characters with the real world all but forgotten about as you experience their epic journey because someone like me has found themselves lost in creating that story. This place ... My place... I call Fictionworld.

Erin

Read Poems written by Erin Cawood at erincawood.co.uk.

Gorgeous As Always & To Be As Big As Mama

The Unknown Ending was about how I felt during the last twelve months of my grandmother's life. She bounced back from the edge three times in that year and I never really knew whether "this was it". No one did.

When my grandmother passed away earlier this year, once again I turned to my poetry to express how I felt about losing her. I wanted to give a reading at her funeral and to read something that meant as much to me as she did.

I intended to re write The Unknown Ending now I had the answers to "unanswered questions" But at times like these, when we're walking down memory lane we end up remembering the good times. A funeral is a celebration of someone's life and To Be As Big As Mama is the result of the all the great memories I have of my grandmother.

After her funeral, I still intented to re write The Unknown Ending. But it didnt seem to matter how I tried it simply wouldn't change. As a writer, sometimes you have to accept that tweaking will only make it worse. So I gave up the re write and started something new. Something deeper that would express how much death can truly affect us.

Writing has always been a form of personal therapy for me and Gorgeous As Always is the result of truly connecting with my feelings over my Grandmother's passing.




Erin

Read the poem Gorgeous As Always and To Be As Big As Mama at erincawood.co.uk.

Maybe Fairytale Don't Come True!

Several years ago I returned to college to complete my A Levels. I work full time and I chose to study full time. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do and I looked towards my loved ones whenever I needed a confidence boost. The responses I got were not inspiring nor were they what I needed to hear. I was ready to give up and my struggle on this path came very close to throwing eighteen months of incredibly hard work down the drain when one of them said to me:

"Maybe fairytale don't come true!"

What was I to do? Was I to accept my life is not in my hands? Am I to believe what I want means nothing in the grand scheme of things? Not a chance!

 This is my life. I will do what I want with it!

There are some people in this world who do not believe that you are in control of your destiny. Where there is an element of fate, or divine intervention... or whatever it is you may believe in, there is something to be gained from "regret what you have done and not what you haven't" - For I now believe that shoulda, coulda and woulda are only excuses. 

There is something incredibly powerful from the self confidence gained by believing "You can achieve anything you put your mind to" - Life is hard. Life is a constant battle to get where you want to be. No matter who is there for you, what they can do for you, at the end of the day there will almost always be someone or something standing in your way. Your army can not do this for you and it may come down to you against the rest of the world. 

So when my older sister decided that she wanted to change her life by returning to college. I knew that at some point on this path towards her dream she would begin to feel alone, like no one else could understand and she would need some form of inspiration to continue when she wanted to give up and go back to the way things were.  

Only You is about believeing in yourself, its about believeing that whatever "it" may be... "it" is worth fighting for and Only You can fight for it.

You are in control as long as you believe in "Only You".

Erin

p.s. My sister carries this poem wherever she takes her college folder. Its stuck to the inner side.