I am just ME … a soul streaming across constellations, over eons of turbulent changes and tranquil noises, perturbed by the visions that engulf me and ruffled by the oft complacence that challenges the change. Yet, I must travel further across the galaxies, in search of the ultimate metamorphosis. Until then, I sojourn in this life, engrossed in my earthly callings of a wife, mother, professional, writer, dreamer, and seeker.
On this blog you will find a spectrum of fiction, poetry, reviews, thoughts, snippets, inspiration, experiences, voices, concerns, excerpts, and everything that the soul has gathered in her fold, over years of reading, searching, finding, losing, and discovering. I regularly indulge in various creative pursuits, like crochet, experimental cooking, reading, and writing, and I hold a managerial/editorial role in a financial services organization with a global footprint.
For a long time, social media hijacked my personal writing space, as I was sharing more on Facebook and writing Tweet-sized poetry on Twitter. Social media is instant but temporary gratification. Ultimately, a writer needs their own space, and personal blogging provides that space. I had started a blog more than a decade ago but all things need to be infused with new life, emerge in a new avatar, and so it is with my new blog space.
Let your love and encouragement pour into Blue Pen Strokes.
Check out Aneesha Shewani (@felinemusings)
If I could count The delicate lines Offshoots and roots Hidden in my palms; Marking the map Of my destiny I may comprehend, The forks and breaks That twist of my fate Conspiring to create Hard wins and fails In this medley of life On a rollercoaster ride
I traced the jagged edges Their warmth tingling My ruddy fingertips They didn’t seem strange These mountains and ridges I ran along them All my rugged life The ups and downs Made up the landscape Where I survived With the wind in my hair Hope in my stride
With eyes like diamonds And a sprinkling of gold dust Adorning her eyelids A dance of jeweled splendor A tango, a salsa, not a misstep A gaze to mesmerize into The vortex of a constellation Where each star conveys Of my destiny interlocked With hers, captivated, plundered The allure of her iridescence Dense yet brittle, all at once
I tore the sky apart To capture the stars In my calloused palms They lost their shimmer Lay in silence Without a glimmer No joy, no shine, no sparks Far away from home In a place so forlorn Against their will Without a wish Even stars became stones
FromOneLine Volume 3 has been published and is now live! Here is around 220 pages of pure brilliance, emotions, words, and thoughts, compiled by Meghan Dargue for the third FromOneLine anthology, published by Kobayaashi Studios, United Kingdom. This anthology features poems and flash fiction from writers around the world.
Where can just one connecting prompt line take us? That’s what the FromOneLine community of writers have been exploring on a regular basis since 2019. I was privileged to be featured in the second volume in December 2021. I regret not being in the first Volume only because then I was not seriously following my creative writing passion. Around mid-July 2021, I was pulled into creative nourishing of the soul due to myriad reasons, and then magic happened.
I reinstated my blog, became a book reviewer for #ReedsyDiscovery Reedsy and the #HimalayanBookClub, got opportunity as a probono editor for a self-published author, and got published, as a short story writer and imagist poet. It was the inspiration and boost I needed in a time of self-doubt. It helped me make some significant decisions to embrace change.
Life changes course in more ways than one. My creative pursuits are not as intensive as they were at the close of 2021, however, I continued writing for the #FromOneLine prompt. It gave me much joy and artistic succor. It made me believe in my creative abilities. For me, being featured in the third anthology is a manifestation of my desire to be read and acknowledged, to be meaningful, and to make my words touch hearts and souls. It’s fulfilling and I only feel love and gratitude for Meg for connecting personally with selected contributors and making this gorgeous cover design and poetry collection happen.
The blurb from the Amazon site says all about the stellar writings that Meg chose for this book: “The writings to make it into this volume were chosen from a staggeringly high number of submissions. Poems and pieces of flash fiction have danced me through a rollercoaster of emotions. Words that I have returned to time and again to discover new feelings, or just to delight in connecting with familiar ones. I hope you will enjoy exploring them as much as I have, and may they inspire many more writings and adventures to come.”
FromOneLine Volume 3 (paperback) is now available on Amazon for worldwide delivery! To celebrate, there’s a time-limited cover design offer available until the end of Friday 15th July: