Laura Smith Writer

This Camel's Cooked

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The semester is underway and I find myself being overwhelmed with too much work and not enough time to accomplish this work. Life details are beginning to seem like immense hurdles to leap over. The sink full of dishes becomes a mountain, the trip to the bank to get a money order for rent seems like a four hour trip. Life starts to spin out of control. Well, it seems to become out of control. I had tickets for a lecture this past Wednesday. When I got to the lecture hall, the tickets weren’t in my purse where I placed them. This was the proverbial straw. The camel was out of commission and life turned catastrophic. Well, it seemed catastrophic. What I realize today, after time has passed, is that the problem isn’t the chaos. The problem is my attitude and my choices. I chose to take on five classes against better judgment. I also chose to “figure it out” without the guidance of my Creator. I turn the big stuff over on a daily basis, those things which I cannot control, death, divorce, fire, and illness. I forget that God is not going to laugh at me or ignore my request for help with time management skills, or a little inspiration for a short story, or even help with the dishes (I do have a teen living with me.) Today I will ask my God for a little assistance with my homework, with my attitude and with the sink full of dishes that awaits me at home.

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● About Me

I wrote and published my first blog post on May 26, 2009. I was about to turn 36 and had been accepted to Mount Holyoke College as a non-traditional student, on my way to completing a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in Medieval Studies. I had managed, finally, to know what general direction I was traveling. As a self proclaimed voracious reader I knew that I needed a vocation that would allow me to engage daily with words: reading words, writing words, and hearing words. I also needed to eat, so I navigated my way to a teaching position and I began to fine tune my craft. I love to teach and I love my students, but I also needed to continue to hone my own literary technique, voice, and style. I continued my education in order to delve deeper into literature, making connections, and most definitely, writing. I gained more confidence as a reader as well as a writer of both creative and analytical text. That first blog post in 2009 is short, the writing average, and the topic mundane, but as I continued to learn from other writers I began to understand that to become a better writer I needed to write more. Each time I write and release a poem, a post, or a story, I hone my skills. I invite you along for the ride, for this journey of mine as I attempt to wrangle a wealth of ideas and competing directions into an organized freshly paved path to publication. I might get distracted along the way, but sometimes those detours lead us to amazing views and new friends. 

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