My Calling

I don't remember exactly when I realized it, but for a really long time now I have realized that my calling in this life is writing. I really hit the nail on the head this morning when talking to my mom. I really love all forms of art, but the one that I feel I really have a grasp of is writing and story telling. I see pictures like this:

- and I want to be able to paint that in someone's mind. I want to be able to write in such detail as to create this in someone's head. I know the joy of reading a really good book and getting so immersed in the story I don't even see the book anymore, it becomes like a movie playing in my head. Writing is my art form and I have so many ideas and stories that I know this is what I am meant to do. 

As I think I have said before, my long term plan is to write (hopefully) successful books and also own my own business which would be a store/cafe. Although I love writing and have every faith that I will become an accomplished author, I also recognize the need for a steady income.

On that note, I also need a steady income right now, and as I am currently staying with my mother while she recovers from surgery, that has become next to impossible. Lately I have been looking for online jobs which is a challenge because I have never had an online job so I am unfamiliar with how it works. It's hard trying to find something that I even qualify for and then I have to try and make my application stand out from the others and I am not sure how you do that online. In person, I can smile and have a friendly chat with my prospective employers but online I'm just a resume. Anyway, I am sure I will figure it out. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am never short of entrepreneurial ideas.

Getting back to my books, that is going very well so far. I just finished a story called Grandfather Eagle about a little girl who finds and raises a baby eagle. One day he is taken away and released into a nature preserve. He is happy there but misses the girl so he finds his way back to her. - The only thing I need now is an illustrator to do the drawings for my book. Until I find my artist though, I will get back to writing my other on the go books. There's The Ripple Effect which I think is going to be my big one. I also have the first of a series I am working on called the Adventure Girl series, based on stories my mom use to tell me when I was little. I have a lot of ideas with my books, like trying to make them all connected somehow. 

Okay I am kind of excited so I want to talk about some of my other story ideas, here's two:

1. Working title: Journey, about a young woman who either has amnesia and doesn't remember who she is OR she is a runaway from a foster home. But either way she is on the road following clues to who she really is and where she is from. She works odd jobs to get from place to place and also solves mysteries and helps the people that she meets. I want this to be a series, and I might work in some kind of supernatural element to the story but I'm not sure yet. 

2. No working title yet, but I am thinking a future almost post-apocalyptic but not quite. The earth is dying and people are either living in anarchy or they are following crazed, warped, and extreme religions. Somehow, I haven't worked it out yet, but some select people end up being blasted into space as a last attempt to find habitable planets for mankind to move to. The main character is one of these people but I'm not sure which direction I am going to take it from there. Will she find a planet? Will some freak accident happen leaving her with powers? Will it be more of a spiritual book? Will she enter a different dimension? 

Best way to figure it out is to write it out so that's what I am going to do!

Until later,
Oriona

Picture Credit: http://pichost.me/1560923/

Welcome Back :)

My Dear Reader, 

I want to wish you a good afternoon and apologize for not writing for a while. I have been trying to think of a good subject for my next post and to be honest, I just have too many things to write about and I am having trouble pinning one thing down! First I guess lets talk about summer! It's finally here, shining bright and beautiful! The warm weather always makes me think of travel, I just want to get in a car and drive. The warm weather also makes me feel reconnected with the Earth and my spirituality. Watching as the trees go from barren to leaves almost overnight is always so magical.

One of my other posts was going to be about Earth Day. I think I am still going to write it because the environment is a really big important thing that we, as a society, should really focus more on. I know a lot of us are 'aware' of what is happening with the environment, but not nearly enough of us - myself included - are active enough with doing something about it.  I think every day should be Earth Day and I am going to stop myself there before I start ranting, and will talk more about that in my Earth Day post.

Mother's Day is another post I have been working on, as I have said in previous entries, my mother is the top dog of my important people list. I mean, she gave me life so...that's kind of a big deal. I mean really her and my dad are hand in hand for that position, but for different reasons. So much of me came from what I learned from them, I have been told by a few people that I look exactly like both of my parents and on the inside I definitely feel both of my parents' influence on me as a person. But for my Mother's Day post I really wanted to celebrate and honour my mom because aside from the regular 'she's my mom and I love her' stuff, she is actually a really amazing person who has done a lot in her life that I feel needs to me given more credit. 

I also have another post that I am trying to solidify the idea, it has to do with the people I see every day. I want to talk about people, some days it feels like I hate everyone because of stress and crowds (especially when I am in a hurry) but when I take a second to calm down and let the world flow, I look around and see people as individuals, not just a faceless crowd of people. When I let myself see individual people, I feel love for them, I try to imagine the kind of people they are, where they are going, what their families are like. It strikes me that probably a good chunk of people on the train with me watch the same TV shows that I do, or listen to the same music, have read the same books. We aren't so different from each other, and everyone has a story.

Let me know if you have any other ideas for me to talk about, and let me know if you have a preference to a post you would like to see out first :)

AMR

~ Oriona

Introduction - The Starchild Diaries

This is an old picture from my trip to NYC ;)

So, being a writer, I have decided to start a blog. I am constantly filling notebook after notebook with pages of ideas, stories, and realized life-lessons. Now I guess I just want to share them with whomever might benefit from them. Now, you'll have to bear with me as I imagine that this blog will probably jump around subjects like I do in real life. I have a variety of interests, activities, and passions so I never stay on one thing for very long - but I do always come back.

So a bit more about me as a person, I am a girl...woman? Young woman, at the age of 22 when I am starting this blog. I grew up traveling around North America with my family. I was born in Ontario, Canada, but for a large portion of my childhood, we lived in Erie, PA. I was raised in Native American spiritual traditions, and we attended various ceremonies on a regular basis. I am over 25% Native, though you wouldn't know it by looking at me. 

When my father passed away in 2007, my mother decided to bring herself, my little brother, and I back up to Canada. (this is a very short version of all that actually happened, I may write up a more detailed description later) At the time, it seemed like our lives were over, but here I am seven years later, and I feel so very blessed. I now reside in the amazing city of Toronto with my boyfriend and I am very happy.

I am going to school to study Social Service Work, which will be my first career. Like I said before, I have a lot of interests and passions including but not exclusive to dancing, singing, cooking, writing, splash painting, outdoor activities, writing(obvi.), etc. With all these different things, I always thought, "how can I use this to help people?" So when I realized that above all, my passion is helping people, social work seemed to be the best way that I could do that. Now on top of that, like I have said before, I would like to be an accomplished writer, hopefully get some(all) of my things published. At some point I would also like to own my own cafe and overall work from home or own my own business. 

Now don't worry, I know that I am thinking WAY into the future, and it is going to take a lot of work and determination to achieve even half of what I want to accomplish. However, I am a strong believer in that if someone really wants something and he or she is willing to work for it, they can achieve it. Like right now, I am going to wrap up this short introductory blog entry and get to working on one of my books. Before I go though, I want to just share a few of my life lessons that I have learned and try to apply to my life every day. They aren't in any specific order and don't worry if the list seems short - these are all I can think of off the top of my head.

- Never be conceited, but always have a healthy love and respect for yourself. No matter what size, shape, colour, age, or whatever you are, love yourself. You are not better or worse than anyone else, but you are the very best YOU there is.

- Always be kind, even when others are not kind to you. Just because the world might seem like it is trying to bring you down, don't let the negative actions of others cause you to bring yourself down to that level.

- Never settle for anything less than what will make you happy. This is valid for all aspects of your life, if you are in a situation that is bringing you down and you are feeling negative all the time, it''s time for a change. This applies to people, work, your home, your body, whatever. Do what it takes to make yourself happy.

- You are never stuck. There is always a way out of a situation and there is always a way to accomplish your goals, you just have to find it.

-Don't be afraid to admit your faults, in fact, embrace your faults because they are a part of who you are. When you accept your faults, you control them and no one can use them against you. Furthermore, once you know your faults, you can go about changing or fixing them if you want to.

- Be healthy, laugh, sleep, be active, eat. Above all, bask in the joy of simple pleasures.

That's all for now, I will try to be semi-regular with my posts, my goal is at least 1 entry a month but I'm hoping for more. Anyway, have a good night, or day - depending on when you read this. I hope you enjoyed this first entry of The Starchild Diaries. :)

~ Oriona

 Photo credit - James M.