BOOKS BY AUDREY AUSTIN: The theme of this blog is creative writing. Any writing on this blog by authors other than myself is by permission of the author. I've written many poems, short stories, novellas, novels, and more. I've recently entered the exciting world of books for children. I hope you will want to get to know me and, of course, I hope you will want to buy a book or two.
Of my 28 paperbacks available on all Amazon sites, five of them are also available at Audibles, Itunes, and Amazon as audio books. Thanks for checking them out.
I spent most of this day pounding the keys on my laptop. So far, I have 16,418 words written in my current work in progress titled Almost Time to Leave.
This past year my creative writing achievements were two books for children: one titled "One Day With Misty" and the other, "Elephant and the Bumbly Bee".
These children's books indicate that I am not ignoring creative writing which has always been my passion, but I confess to being and feeling more scattered this year. I've been finding it difficult to dedicate myself to heads down and typing. It has been much easier to pick up the brush and paint or to fill my hands with clay wondering what I can possibly create.
I am very aware of my scattering. This morning I made a decision, one that I hope I will keep, and that is to return my focus to creative writing. I really do want to get "Almost Time to Leave" completed. I have been, off and on, working on it for about one year now and its current 16,418 words mean that I am very far from completion.
I began seriously writing creatively eighteen years ago and I now have 28 published paperbacks, 5 audio books, and many more kindle offerings. I have always been grateful to my home town supporters who buy and read my books, and I'm also grateful to those who buy my books online from Amazon.
Many years ago a friend talked to me about the importance of being one-eyed. In other words to be focused. I have been much too scattered this year; attempting to do too many things, going in too many directions. In the process, I have been ignoring many aspects of my life that have always been meaningful and important.
In order to be a writer, I need to spend time alone at home.
I have decided that once this weekend is over, I will do just that. Some activities will need to be put on hold. So, if I should tell you that I will no longer be doing this, or doing that, thank you for understanding. It's not that I haven't been enjoying all the this and that. It's that there are just too many of them.
November is a new month. NaNoWriMo takes place in November.
I plan to take my 16,418 words into this NaNo event with the aim of bringing the total up to at least 50,000 words.
This writer needs to be one-eyed and focused. Wish me good luck.
Thanks for checking out my books at https://amazon.com/author/audreyaustin
UPDATE: After writing this blog article, I attempted to go to NaNoWriMo to get myself registered for the 2025 event. No one is more shocked and surprised to learn that, apparently due to some scandal in 2025, NaNoWriMo is no more. Hmm! So much for my plan but this is actually very interesting because it is a reminder to me that life is and always will be unpredictable. Now that NaNoWriMo is out of the picture for me, I need to be able to find myself another more predictable and reliable method to fulfill my goal of completing the manuscript. Again, wish me luck! Thank you.
I wasn't thinking of Canadian citizens living in Toronto or Thunder Bay or Elliot Lake.
I'm a proud Canadian living in Canada, and I am thankful that I, and also my family members, are doing okay. That is not to say we don't sometimes have our struggles, our limitations, our problems to solve. But we all have a roof over our heads, food on the table, clothes to wear, and love to share.
Very recently, in fact just yesterday, I was introduced to chrismustlist through his many videos about homelessness and drug addiction in our beautiful province and throughout the country.
I am aware, with the outrageous cost of housing, the increasing number of souls becoming addicted to life-crushing drugs, that homelessness is on the rise. At least, I thought I was aware, but watching the videos last evening about Sudbury, London, Thunder Bay, and Toronto shocked me.
I've often asked how are people, especially young families, managing to live. How tough it must be to try to get ahead when the outrageous costs of housing and groceries are so very challenging and, for too many, simply out of reach.
I've often asked how is a senior trying to live on OAS and maybe some CPP able to pay for an apartment when rent is equal to income, especially in Canada's larger centres.
Yes, my painting is about refugees. Imagine being a Canadian citizen living in this rich country of Canada with a lifestyle no easier than that of a refugee. Imagine a man or a woman who have worked hard their entire lives and struggled to raise a family. Imagine these people, now in their 'golden years', being forced to sleep in a shop's doorway or in a tent throughout cold Canadian winters. They never claimed large incomes. They, like so many, lived pay cheque to pay cheque, never earning enough to buy a home or to accumulate any savings. Yet, somehow they managed to get by. And now, with the outrageous rental rates, these Canadian seniors find themselves living on the street.
Watching chrismustlist videos about the homelessness in our Canadian cities made me feel ashamed; ashamed that this has been allowed to happen.
This is Thanksgiving weekend. I have much reason to feel gratitude.
I have a thousand questions. But I don't have a single answer.
In this year of 2025, have we learned nothing about empathy, caring, compassion? Even in our small town of Elliot Lake, I'm told there are those who are homeless. I do know that there are many seniors who struggle and who, each month, have little food on the table once they have paid their rent.
How very sad that in this 21st century, there is still no room at the inn.
I hope, for you, that it is a very happy Thanksgiving. There is always something to be grateful for.
As tough as it is for many in this country, I believe we are more fortunate than most countries in our broken world. But what is this saying about our world?
No, this is not the first or only time citizens have been tested. Yes, during the Great Depression, people suffered greatly. There was no health care, no benefits, no welfare, no help.
Today we have health care, we have child care benefits, we have dental care, we have ODSP, we have some geared-to-income housing, and other benefits to assist families.
All these government programmes are, I hope, helping the situation but when a soul is homeless, with no address, how can he have access to these benefits? And even those who receive benefits are receiving a bandaid when surgery is needed.
I've heard it said that those receiving benefits are not encouraged to work, to earn, because any dollars they may be able to bring in are deducted from their benefits. How can anyone get ahead if this is the way things are?
The working poor usually manage somehow to get through life. It's never easy, but it's proven that it can be done. But when the working poor reach retirement age with no bank account, no property, they are expected to live on the small amount of OAS and CPP; expected to survive when their basic living expenses exceed their income. These people worked hard all their lives. How sad if their reward for their labour is walking cold city streets, living in a car or a tent, or finding a shop's doorway to catch some sleep.
I don't have an answer. But, surely, we can do better.
"There, but for the grace of God, go I."