Category: Life

Life

The World is Full of Wonders

Mark Wayne

Three Chords and the Truth – the new album from Van Morrison

#JustBelieve #HopeLives #LoveChangesPeople

Often it is in the simple things and tonight I am taking my daughter on a date.

We are doubling with friends on a daddy/daughter date. It is the time we spend together with those we love, the experiences and the memories that linger, not the things we accumulate.

So what wonders are right before your eyes?

Grief, Life, Writing

She Comes Out of the Sun – "Hello"

Mark Wayne

“Hello” it was that simple little word that started it all in the fall of 1984. I remember the girl with long brown hair, tanned skin wearing a summer dress and espadrille sandals approaching the art table where I sat as the lyrics to the Al Stewart song The Year of the Cat rang through my mind.

She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
Like a watercolor in the rain
Don’t bother asking for explanations
She’ll just tell you that she came
In the year of the cat

She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running – Like a watercolor in the rain https://youtu.be/tqW4xIr7nj0 Al Stewart “The Year of the Cat”

My voice trembled and I heard myself say with great effort, “I only want her to not be in pain.”

“That is all I am focused on.” He stated his voice low and measured. He gazed at me with a look of both sadness and resignation before turning and walking away.

Memory flooded back as I stood in the hospital corridor, the lyrics to “Peaceful Easy Feeling” by the Eagles chorusing through my mind.

I like the way your sparkling earrings lay
Against your skin so brown
And I want to sleep with you in the desert night
With a billion stars all around…

I get this feelin’ I may know you
As a lover and a friend
This voice keeps whisperin’ in my other ear
Tells me I may never see you again

I like the way your sparkling earrings lay – Against your skin so brown – And I want to sleep with you in the desert night – With a billion stars all around… https://youtu.be/NjofshOBV5s Eagles “Peaceful Easy Feeling”

This post is excerpted from my upcoming memoir, tentatively titled – There is Always Hope.

My first wife died of breast cancer at the age of 26 after battling over the last three years of our short five year marriage and yes, cancer sucks.

Over twenty-five years have come and gone and still there is not a day that something does not remind me of her. The twinges of memory flit across my mind as a butterfly haunts a flower.

Be sure to click the follow button and subscribe and be one of the first to receive email updates about the forthcoming book and other happenings. I would also love to hear your thoughts so leave me a comment. You can connect with me on Twitter @mwschutter, Instagram @mwschutter or Facebook @mwschutter

#JustBelieve #HopeLives #LoveChangesPeople #YouMatter #BeAWarrior

Life, Writing

Going a Walkabout – Drifting Away and Coming Back

Mark Wayne
It is easier…

It is easier to walk away than to pretend everything is okay. #Quote #LoveChangesPeople

It’s day five of 2020 and to me it already it feels like … well take your pick.

  • After a night of little sleep, it’s still dark outside and the fog is so thick.
  • Stuck in the middle of a long dark tunnel unsure towards which dim light to turn.
  • A moonless night where the dark surrounds you and the trees sway in the breeze like ghosts.

As I reread the bullet points above the theme is the dark.

Hello, darkness my old friend.

So as I (we) stare into the darkness of the world, others and our own hearts what can we do?

  • Get up off your ass, figuratively or literally if you are just laying on the couch.
  • Create gratitude, look around and acknowledge things you are grateful for.
  • Accept the dark moments as only temporary and endeavor to persevere.
  • Cast aside your fears and doubts, even if just for the next moment.
  • Remember and believe that there are better things ahead.

There are better things ahead than any we leave behind. ~C. S. Lewis #Quote #JustBelieve #HopeLives

And so I will forge ahead and I encourage you to do the same. Whether the new year has started out well for you with clarity and intention or like me you are somewhat in a fog. I will continue to pursue my dreams, love my family and friends, believing that hope lives.

Watch for my memoir tentatively titled ‘There is Always Hope‘ which I hope to self-publish later this year. I will continue to edit my trilogy novel series ‘The Chronicles of Faith‘ as well as write poetry for my own anthology collection. I also plan to enjoy the moments, each and every one!

And never, ever forget…

Life, Poetry, Writing

Echoing the Backdrop

Mark Wayne

#JustBelieve #HopeLives #LoveChangesPeople

The rain has definitely arrived here in the Pacific Northwest and just in time some might say. Looks like another wet and green Christmas but that’s okay.

I love laying in bed listening to the raindrops hitting our metal porch roof right outside the bedroom window. Which we keep open all year long.

The sound of the rain mixes with the soft melody of the wind chimes that gently lull me to sleep. Dreams and memories travel through my mind as I rest in the moments of tranquility.

These restful moments spur ideas for my writings. What moments, sounds or experiences bring you peace and inspire your creativity?

Life, Poetry, Writing

Change this Way Comes!

Mark Wayne

Change is upon you whether you would risk it or not!

Welcome to my newly redesigned and updated author website. Thanks for visiting as I continue to actively write poetry, novels, short stories and my upcoming memoir for release and I would love to share it all with you.

I recently had several poems published in the anthology Broken Hearts — Healing Words by A.B. Baird Publishing. I am blessed to be a part of this great work that is dedicated to those who have loved and lost, and those who are hiding and healing.

“Broken Hearts — Healing Words” A Collection of Poetry edited Austie M. Baird and published by A.B. Baird Publishing. Get your copy today on Amazon > https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Hearts-Healing-Austie-Baird/dp/1949321096!

My memoir chronicles my experiences as a young man whose young wife battled cancer and eventually died after less than five years of marriage. I was totally unprepared for that and did what the world told me do, get on with life. Well grief is not so easily put off as I have discovered over twenty-five years later. My hope is the book will help others, especially men, young men who have experienced loss when the world tells us to be a man and that boys don’t cry.

My novel trilogy is a three book series set in the present day that combines the battle between supernatural forces of good and evil with highly advanced drone technology. The ensuing circumstances force the characters to question their faith in both a higher cause and in each other as they battle for their very lives and the fate of humanity.

“Judgement finds us all, the question is only where and when.” ~Mark Wayne (From the upcoming novel trilogy The Chronicles of Faith)

Thanks again for visiting! Please drop me a note here or connect with me on social media.