Mirror Mirror on Stillness’s wall which Sunday is the truest of them all?

Last Sunday I was swimming in the lakes of nostalgia for certain places and this Sunday the present is all I could ever hope for.

Nostalgia, I hope you like the caricature we have created of you, a doodle of escapism framed in fad.

When I am nostalgic about certain places and times, it is without longing to “go back” unless I am desirous of being imaginative and want to go “back in time” to a period in which I was never born or participated. My nostalgia is more an impromptu tribute to all things for which there are no photos or words.

I thought we decided, I tell myself—all of my selves: the one who likes lazy days of lounging in the hammock made of time, the self who stares at a wall too long after a dream doesn’t quite add up, the self who questions every single day: do we choose to become this thing, this “person”, who writes?—-that today we were going to just enjoy a very still Sunday without words. A drive to Philly was in order to see my best friend, am(Erica). But she will understand, I told myself, like all friends who have been a close part of my life the last two decades, if I changed my mind last minute to write.

There ...]]> http://annieqsyed.com/2012/03/still-sundays-74/feed/ 8 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ http://annieqsyed.com/2012/01/a-still-sunday-night/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://annieqsyed.com/2012/01/a-still-sunday-night/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:54:21 +0000 annie http://annieqsyed.com/?p=3021 January 29, 2011.

Stillness bypassed my Sunday morning like a breeze you don’t notice because you are out of breath. Except I was in deep sleep breathing. I woke up long after stillness had closed its canteen. Although I realize Stillness is everywhere and available anytime and it is up to us to reach into the hive and retrieve any amount of nectar, certain moments feel like a red carpet walk to the doorway of Stillness. Sunday mornings are such a walk. After noon the zone is narrow even if you are a devout Stillness practioner.

I gave myself permission to sleep in and allow the body to recover. Everything about the status quo seems contrary to how we ...]]> http://annieqsyed.com/2012/01/a-still-sunday-night/feed/ 6 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ http://annieqsyed.com/2011/10/the-marriage-of-storytelling-and-writing/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://annieqsyed.com/2011/10/the-marriage-of-storytelling-and-writing/#comments Thu, 13 Oct 2011 17:48:08 +0000 annie http://annieqsyed.com/?p=2505 Before social media created the forum which allowed the hijacking of the word “storyteller” as a synonym for bloggers and marketers it was indeed a prestigious art form.

What I share below is from an excerpt to a dear friend and author, over 8 months ago.

I think I am ready to discuss this as I understand it. We are all storytellers. We live our lives in and through stories. At the lowest level of consciousness this is gossip and at another form it can be “motivational speaking,” although for the intellectually evolved such speaking may not yield many new results. We tell stories when we come home to our significant other ( if we have that kind of relationship ...]]> http://annieqsyed.com/2011/10/the-marriage-of-storytelling-and-writing/feed/ 1 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ http://annieqsyed.com/2010/10/still-sundays-21/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://annieqsyed.com/2010/10/still-sundays-21/#comments Sun, 31 Oct 2010 15:19:42 +0000 annie http://annieqsyed.com/?p=1544 October 31st.

I submit “Kafka” in my defense. The Prague in us all. Art is not spelled E-G-O.

I know many are expecting this piece to be either about Budapest (where I am right now) or Prague (which calls me back) but I apologize in advance: it is not quite about either. While traveling there exists a cognitive dissonance and I am just floating in the experience instead of writing about it. I will write more about Prague, but not now.

If you would like to know what Still Sundays is about, please take a quick gander here and just read the third paragraph. Thanks.

What can I offer about Prague that ...]]> http://annieqsyed.com/2010/10/still-sundays-21/feed/ 5 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ http://annieqsyed.com/2010/10/still-sundays-19/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://annieqsyed.com/2010/10/still-sundays-19/#comments Sun, 17 Oct 2010 16:57:47 +0000 annie http://annieqsyed.com/?p=1489 Forgive and do Forget. Robert-Robert Frost: one question you should keep close.

October 17th.

If you would like to know what Still Sundays is about, please take a quick gander here and just read the third paragraph. Thanks.

There is a stillness that belongs only to the sky. It’s the stillness in between latitudes and longitudes. We can only know it from afar.

This Sunday I am sipping tea in a suburb somewhere outside Nashville, Tennessee, visiting my sister and her fiance who moved here recently for a short project. They were on a break for a week so we all flew in from the East and West coasts to visit them.

...]]> http://annieqsyed.com/2010/10/still-sundays-19/feed/ 9 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ http://annieqsyed.com/2010/05/dialogue-from-the-short-story-red-tape/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://annieqsyed.com/2010/05/dialogue-from-the-short-story-red-tape/#comments Mon, 10 May 2010 03:25:10 +0000 annie http://annieqsyed.com/?p=800 Below is an excerpt from a short fiction story titled “Red Tape” which I am working on for the collection Augury.

Sharing it here after having discovered @Story_Craft on Twitter this week. They host #storycraft which is a weekly chat on Sundays about the craft of writing fiction.  You can check them out here. Their May 9th, 2010 Flash Fiction Challenge, which I took upon myself to push “Red Tape” along, was as follows: Tell a story in 300-500 words of dialogue.  Tags and action description are okay, but no exposition! Wordcount: 300-500.

Thanks,

~a.q.s.

Note: It did not make the challenge because it has to be a stand alone ...]]> http://annieqsyed.com/2010/05/dialogue-from-the-short-story-red-tape/feed/ 5 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ http://annieqsyed.com/2010/05/prisoners-of-life/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://annieqsyed.com/2010/05/prisoners-of-life/#comments Wed, 05 May 2010 05:54:56 +0000 annie http://annieqsyed.com/?p=794 This is the 2nd in the series of Fluck Tuesdays.

Inspired by Oliver Fluck’s Prison Chess Portrait.

When I wrote this, I had not read or seen Oliver Fluck’s other photos on this subject. Worth checking out.

I am twenty-three years old and I am in prison. For life. Three strikes and you are out. Or should I say three strikes and you are “in”? I know. Not funny. I like to crack jokes even when I know they are probably not funny. In my experience there is bound to be that one person that finds humor in something not funny. I like one-in-a-given-number statistics. Isn’t that what life is? Chances. ...]]> http://annieqsyed.com/2010/05/prisoners-of-life/feed/ 6 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ http://annieqsyed.com/2010/04/a-reflection-from-the-shore/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://annieqsyed.com/2010/04/a-reflection-from-the-shore/#comments Wed, 28 Apr 2010 04:24:32 +0000 annie http://annieqsyed.com/?p=764 This is the 1st in the series of Fluck Tuesdays.

Inspired by Oliver Fluck’s photo: Salton Sea Arm Chair.

A Reflection from the Shore

Oceans are not as blue as they appear in pictures, Emilie Goldstein thought to herself, as she looked at the loud waves reflect the ashy overcast sky.

At the bony age of sixty-five Emilie Goldstein considered herself, and made an effort to be perceived as, an “attractive woman for her age.” She justified her demeanor which barely bypassed the edge of narcissism due to all that she felt proud to have endured physically and accomplished professionally. Wearing Chanel’s bright fire-engine-red lipstick shade, which appeared abnormally bright against her pale ...]]> http://annieqsyed.com/2010/04/a-reflection-from-the-shore/feed/ 5 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/