Sydney Logan Week 22: Goodbye

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Sydney Logan’s Picture Choice: 1

Title: Goodbye

We can’t stop touching.

Our hands and fingers linger along each other . . . memorizing.

As if I could forget.

I’ve dreaded this day for weeks. Knowing he was leaving, and knowing there was absolutely nothing I could do to make him stay.

It’s his duty, he says. It’s his honor.

It’s my heartbreak.

His phone vibrates, telling us it’s time.

Without a word, he slips out of bed and heads to the shower. I want to join him. It will be our last chance for nearly eighteen months. But I don’t. Instead, I look around our bedroom, and I spot his uniform hanging just outside the closet.

Perfect and pressed and ready.

I’m not ready.

I sit on the edge of the bed and look at his suit. When he reaches the base, he’ll trade it for camouflage fatigues, and he’ll no longer be my fiancé.

He’ll be a Marine.

Who am I kidding? He’s always a Marine. But when he’s home, it’s so easy to forget that he has the heart of a soldier. When he’s here, he’s just my boyfriend. My future husband. The father of my unborn children.

I’m crying when he walks back into the bedroom. Slipping behind me, he envelops me in his arms, and I cling to him. He clings to me, and I close my eyes ...

. . . and wish that Afghanistan wasn’t so far away.

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Sydney Logan recently released her debut novel, Lessons Learned. She lives in Tennessee with her wonderful husband and their very spoiled cat. Please visit her website at www.sydneylogan.com.

#DailyPicspiration

Sydney Logan Week 20: Change

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Sydney Logan’s Picture Choice: 1

Title: Change

“You’re sure about this?”

I nod. “You keep telling me change is good, right?”

Leslie, my hair stylist and best friend, looks at the picture in my hand.

“Yeah, but that . . . that is drastic.”

I don’t bother telling her that a drastic change is just what I need. She’s my best friend, so she knows the absolute crap that has become my life.

After finalizing the divorce last month, I have done nothing but wallow. I’ve worked, because I have to. I’ve eaten, because if don’t, I’m sure to pass out.

I am tired of being this person. This depressed, moody, gloomy person. I didn’t used to be this way. He made me this way, and now he’s gone.

Definitely time for something new.

“Do it,” I say with an adamant nod.

Hours later, I’m finally allowed to see the finished product. It’s just like the picture, except my hair is a little shorter.

“What do you think?” Leslie asks, her voice soft and nervous.

I smile at my reflection.

“I think change is good,” I tell her.

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Sydney Logan recently released her debut novel, Lessons Learned. She lives in Tennessee with her wonderful husband and their very spoiled cat. Please visit her website at www.sydneylogan.com.

#DailyPicspiration

Sydney Logan Week 18: Inspiration

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Sydney Logan’s Picture Choice: 1

Title: Inspiration

When I saw this picture, my first thought was of the song titled “What the Water Gave Me” by Florence + the Machine.

I’ve always loved music, and because I’m a writer, I love lyrics. I love when lyrics twist and bend, and when words that have no business rhyming with each other somehow rhyme (Eminem is a master at this). I especially love word play—when lyrics say one thing but really mean something else.

That’s why I love this Florence song.

When I bought the CD, I scanned the titles. “What the Water Gave Me” caught my eye because Florence has a knack for word play, and I wondered what the title meant. So I listened to the song, searched the lyrics online, and then listened again.

“Lay me down
Let the only sound
Be the overflow
Pockets full of stones”

Pretty, right? Especially with Florence’s angelic, ethereal voice.

Because I’m a crazy person when it comes to understanding lyrics, I did some research on the true meaning of the song. According to the singer, she views water as “overwhelming” in all its forms.

It can flow peacefully. It can roar loudly.

It can give life. It can take it away.

As a writer, I love to write about water, too. My debut novel featured a waterfall, and a pond is important in my second book. I’ve always loved water . . . rivers, especially. Like the one in this picture. I live in the country, and this picture is a perfect example of the river that flows near our house.

We find inspiration in the craziest of places. People. Places. Things. Ideas. For instance, the “pocket full of stones” in the song is in reference to writer Virginia Woolf who, in 1941, filled her coat pockets with rocks before drowning herself. The title of the song is taken from Frida Kahlo’s painting of the same name which was painted in 1938. Decades later, these two seemingly unconnected women inspired Florence to write a song, which just proves that what you do today can influence the future.

Be inspiring.

Be inspired.

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Sydney Logan recently released her debut novel, Lessons Learned. She lives in Tennessee with her wonderful husband and their very spoiled cat. Please visit her website at www.sydneylogan.com.

#DailyPicspiration

Sydney Logan Week 16: Beacon

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Sydney Logan’s Picture Choice: 2

Title: Beacon

I grew up near the Outer Banks of North Carolina. My grandfather was the keeper of a tiny lighthouse on Bodie Island, and I would spend my summers there, standing along the edge and watching the waves. The lighthouse was a safe haven for travelers on the sometimes rocky waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

While I’d never been on a boat, the lighthouse served as my own personal sanctuary in the eye of many teenage storms.

My parents’ divorce.

My first heartbreak.

Even as an adult, I’d sought protection there when my own waters would become troubled. After my divorce, it had become my personal beacon of light, welcoming me home. I would stand there, letting the salt of the sea and the whisper of the breeze calm and console me.

When I was thirty years old, my grandfather passed away. After his death, I had feared I’d never again be allowed to climb the tower. Thankfully, the new keeper was a sweet man named John, who had an even sweeter son by the name of Michael. He was close to my age, and we became friends.

And then we became more.

Today, we are the keepers of the lighthouse. It continues to be a light for sailors and my pillar of strength.

And, along with my husband, the lighthouse remains my refuge through the storms of life.

Author’s Note: This picture reminds of a song called “The Lighthouse’s Tale” by Nickel Creek. The song is written from the point of view of the lighthouse. It’s a beautiful song and story. If you’re interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARIr6S_0lAQ

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Sydney Logan lives in Tennessee with her wonderful husband and their very spoiled cat. Her debut novel, Lessons Learned, will be released in September. Please visit her website at www.sydneylogan.com.

#DailyPicspiration

Sydney Logan Week 14: First Impressions

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Sydney Logan’s Picture Choice: 2

Title: First Impressions

The teacher displayed the picture for the class to see.

“What’s that?” Blake, an inquisitive blonde, asked the teacher.

“What do you think it is?”

“A road?”

The teacher nodded. “Where does the road lead?”

The students narrowed their eyes as they appraised the black and white photograph.

“We can’t tell,” Gaby, a student sitting in the front row, replied. “It’s all foggy and gloomy.”

“And the fences are weird,” Jake noted.

Creative writing was a challenge to teach, especially in high school.

How can you teach creativity?

The teacher asked some leading questions to encourage them to think. Does the picture seem old or modern? Does it appear to be taken in a particular area of the country? Does the picture make you feel happy? Sad?

“Sad,” Gaby muttered. “Definitely sad.”

“Why?” the teacher asked.

“Because it’s creepy.”

“Because it’s in black and white?”

The class nodded.

“Probably leads to a haunted house . . .” Blake said.

“Where a family of serial killers live,” Gaby concluded.

“Interesting.” The teacher walked around her desk and pointed toward the picture. “What if I told you this road leads to a beautiful southern plantation in Georgia? What if I told you at the end of the road lives a couple who have been married for more than fifty years? They have four children and six grandchildren and are blissfully happy.”

“I wouldn’t believe you,” Gaby said. “People who live at the end of that road couldn’t be happy.”

The teacher smiled.

“Your opinion . . . your perception . . . is influenced by the black and white photograph,” she explained. “I can confirm the story about the plantation and happy couple, because the happy couple is my grandparents. This picture was taken in the winter, so naturally, the trees would be bare. Georgia doesn’t get much snow, but you’ll notice the dusting on the road as it leads toward the house.”

The class murmured their fascination.

“People say first impressions are everything, and in many cases, that’s true. But often, we don’t take the time to look beyond that first glimpse. We judge people by their clothes. We judge books by their covers. We judge people who live at the end of dirt roads. Maybe if we took the time to look a little deeper, we’d learn more and be a little less judgmental. Maybe we wouldn’t be so quick to assume . . . or to think the worst.”

The teacher displayed another picture – the same picture, but in color. The trees were in full bloom and the lush green field was visible along each side of the fence.

“Wow,” Gaby breathed softly. “It really is pretty.”

The teacher nodded at the girl.

“Yes, it really is.”

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Sydney Logan lives in Tennessee with her wonderful husband and their very spoiled cat. Her debut novel, Lessons Learned, will be released in September. Please visit her website at www.sydneylogan.com.

#DailyPicspiration

Sydney Logan Week 12: The Cave

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Sydney Logan’s Picture Choice: 1

Title: The Cave

This is a picture of my cave.

To you, it’s probably just an office space with a wide assortment of books and wires. To me, it’s where I’ve spent the last year writing and editing my novel. It’s my little world of organized chaos, where I spend hour after hour, day after day, writing and editing my book.

And now it’s done.

Through this process, I’ve learned some things.

I’ve learned your words are powerful. They can make people smile, laugh, and cry. Your words can also cause people to think. To feel. To be happy. To be mad.

I’ve also learned that not everyone will love your words, and that’s a good lesson to keep in mind while you’re writing.

You will not, and cannot, please everyone.

So please yourself.

When I do emerge, I blink rapidly as my eyes adjust to the sunlight. And I breathe deeply as my lungs inhale the fresh air.

But I always go back to the cave.

Eventually.

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Sydney Logan lives in Tennessee with her wonderful husband and their very spoiled cat. Her debut novel, Lessons Learned, will be released in September. Please visit her website at www.sydneylogan.com.

#DailyPicspiration

Sydney Logan Week 10: Childhood Memories

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Sydney Logan’s Picture Choice: 1

Title: Childhood Memories

When I was a kid, my grandfather owned a country store. It was one of those old-fashioned mom-and-pop places where you could buy just about anything. As a young girl, I can remember stocking the shelves with everything from loaves of bread to quarts of oil. It was the only store for twenty miles, and my grandfather prided himself on offering our little mountain community a place to shop.

Now, it’s thirty years later. My grandfather has long since passed away. The store is still here--owned and operated by a sweet couple who’d retired to the country nearly a decade ago. Of course, the store looks a little different now, but as I step onto the wooden porch, I can’t help but smile, because I see that they’ve kept my favorite little piece of the store.

The Coke cooler.

My grandpa used to joke that I was going to fall in head-first as I struggled to reach into the freezer for a bottle, but I’d been a stubborn child and refused anyone’s help. With my legs dangling in the air, I’d grab a bottle and open it with the can opener carved into the front of the freezer.

Today, that same cooler is being used as nothing more than a prop.

But, as it sits proudly on the porch, I can’t help but be consumed with memories and thankfulness.

I learned so much in this store.

I learned to be kind.

I learned to be helpful.

I learned to enjoy the little things...like drinking an ice-cold Coke from a freezer.

And today, I’m still learning.

I’m learning that the simplest of childhood memories can still make you cry.

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Sydney Logan lives in Tennessee with her wonderful husband and their very spoiled cat. Her debut novel, Lessons Learned, will be released in September. Please visit her website at www.sydneylogan.com.

#DailyPicspiration

Sydney Logan Week 8: Waiting

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Sydney Logan’s Picture Choice: 2

Title: Waiting

Nobody tells you how hard it is to wait.

It takes patience, determination, and willingness.

Even surrounded by the beauty of the water, I can’t focus on anything but the time.

It ticks and ticks.

I wait and wait.

Patience.

The sun is blinding as it reflects against the sea. It’s beautiful and blue. The prettiest blue I’ve ever seen. Almost as pretty as his eyes.

But not quite.

I glance down at my watch.

And I wait.

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Sydney Logan lives in Tennessee with her wonderful husband and their very spoiled cat. Her debut novel, Lessons Learned, will be released in September. Please visit her website at www.sydneylogan.com.

#DailyPicspiration

Sydney Logan Week 6: Harmony

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Sydney Logan’s Picture Choice: 2

Title: Harmony

My brush swirls in the paint. The soft hues mix and merge before I ghost them across the canvas.

Greens and blues.

Pinks and whites.

All different, and all beautiful.

On my canvas, they live in harmony, and it makes me wonder.

Why can’t we?

In my painting, the sky dips to the earth. The grass greets the heavens. And it’s all a balance. A perfectly synchronized dance of respect and light and love.

Why can’t we, as people, do that? Why can’t there be a sense of respect and light and love among us? Why can’t we live in harmony? Why can’t we see that we’re all different? Whether we’re white, black, gay, straight.

We’re all different.

Unique.

And there’s beauty in our individuality.

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Sydney Logan lives in Tennessee with her wonderful husband and their very spoiled cat. Her debut novel, Lessons Learned, will be released in September. Please visit her website at www.sydneylogan.com.

#DailyPicspiration

Sydney Logan Week 4: The Woods Are Lovely

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Sydney Logan’s Picture Choice: 1

Title: The Woods Are Lovely

Leaves crunch and crackle beneath my feet as I walk along the trail. Everything is still green, but autumn is coming. I can feel it in the air.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep . . .

How many times did we read that poem? We’d been forced to memorize it in sophomore English, and you laughed at me because I just didn’t get it. Frost’s language was simple, you always said, but to me, it was poetry, and guys typically hate poetry.

My feet carry me to the clearing. Our clearing. Our tiny sanctuary in the woods where we’d hide whenever we needed time alone. Your dad was watchful--certain that I was, indeed, a typical guy. The kind that only wanted one thing from a pretty girl like you.

He’d been wrong.

That wasn’t all I’d wanted with you.

I’d loved you, and I was seventeen, so yeah . . . my hormones had ruled my emotions, but that didn’t mean I loved you any less. That didn’t mean I didn’t want you forever. That didn’t mean I didn’t want to put a ring on your finger.

I wanted so much more with you.

I stand in the clearing, and I wait.

You never keep me waiting long.

Some might call it nothing more than the sun shining through the trees. My therapist calls it a figment of my imagination.

But I know it’s you.

The light shimmers and swirls. I blink rapidly as you begin to take shape. And then you do.

You’re beautiful. While I’ve aged a hundred years since the day you died, you still look like the seventeen year old girl I fell in love with. Your blonde hair is still long and wavy, and your brown eyes still sparkle with love for me.

I step closer, wrapping you in my arms.

I shouldn’t feel you, but I do.

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep,” you whisper.

I close my eyes, letting your warmth and light and love envelop me.

You’ve always kept your promise.

You’ve always come back to me.

“And miles to go before I sleep,” I reply.


Quotes taken from “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost

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Sydney Logan lives in Tennessee with her wonderful husband and their very spoiled cat. Her debut novel, Lessons Learned, will be released in September. Please visit her website at www.sydneylogan.com.

#DailyPicspiration

Sydney Logan Week 2: Cranberry

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Sydney Logan’s Picture Choice: 2

Title: Cranberry

He knows how much I love the color of cranberry, so when the gifts arrive at my house, I’m not too surprised. He is generous, to the point of ridiculous. Along with the designer shoes and handbag came a card, inviting me to his villa tonight at seven.

For dinner.

I might be innocent, but no one gifts a $900 pair of shoes in hopes of simply having a bite to eat.

I’m a little early . . . and plenty nervous. My legs quake in my extravagant heels, prompting me to drop, right there at the entrance. I’m slim, so I’m able to fit my entire body within the frame of the door.

I sit there, in my obscenely short skirt, and I shake.

I can’t do this.

That’s what my head screams at me. What my conscience reminds me.

I’m better than this.

But there’s another part of me—that inexperienced, naïve part of my soul—that really wants to try.

Just to see if I can.

My cell phone chirps, alerting me that it’s seven o’clock. As I rise to my feet, I slide my hands along my black skirt—smoothing it, in hopes that my outward appearance is a stark contrast to my inner turmoil.

I take a long, steadying breath as the door opens, and there he stands. I’m always stunned by his height, but today, he’s not so tall, and I know it’s because of my cranberry heels.

He whispers my name, and I know I have a decision to make.

Just then, I notice his cranberry tie.

And the decision is made for me.

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Sydney Logan lives in Tennessee with her wonderful husband and their very spoiled cat. Her debut novel, Lessons Learned, will be released in September. Please visit her website at www.sydneylogan.com.

#DailyPicspiration