My Intro: Aine Butler-Smith

I'm a new contributing writer to Writer's Rising and I want to thank Katherine Jenkins for her invitation, I am quite honored to contribute here after reading the wonderful work being posted by other writers. I am a woman moving into the wise woman years of my life; my youngest, at nineteen just moved out in recent months. I am striving to move into this phase of my life gracefully and expansively, I view life as an always evolving journey, in fact my blog and my website are called The Evolving Spirit.

I have been married for nearly twenty-seven years to the same man and we have three daughters, one grandson who will be turning two in one month and another grandson whose entrance into the world is imminent. I love being a mother, I came to it naturally, I'm a very mothering type.

I've moved around alot in my interests and studies over the years, having been an artist and performer, to an astrologer and reader of the tarot, to a metaphysician and healer, a dream counselor, a lecturer, a ceremonial high priestess, a hypnotist and a published author. In my evolution I came to view the symbolism of myths, religion, and the esoteric as a road map of the evolution of consciousness for me and I learned that interpretation of symbols came quite naturally to me.

I focus mainly now on my writing and my art as I move into a more settled, focused, and quiet stage of my life and I hope that my writings inform, possible educate, and most importantly inspire. But I write for myself most of all; I never preach. I will share and let you in on what works for me and hope that it might be applicable for you; at the very least, I hope it inspires you to seek out what works for you. I also seek community and companionship in spirit with all, and I have found the internet to be a wonderful tool for the connecting of us all in our collective consciousness. I look forward to sharing and getting to know all of you.

In service, love and light,


Aine

Happy to Be Here

My thanks to Kathy for inviting me to share this beautiful space. I found Kathy and her incredible site through my friend Sharni who interviewed me for her own blog. Sharni found me while searching for blogs about New York City, a place she'd like to travel to. What a glorious, tangled web blogging weaves.

I am a product developer by day and a writer by night. I spend time writing every day, and now it has become a wonderful, happy habit, just like brushing my teeth, eating breakfast, and doing yoga. It keeps my mind fit and active, and has brought me connections with so many wonderful people whom I may have never otherwise met.

In 2009, I blogged every day about something that made me more hopeful. It was my New Year's Resolution in 2009 to be more hopeful every day and bring that hope to others. Blogging helped me accomplish both of those things. I'm turning those posts into an e-book that I hope to have done in March. This year I'm taking all of that hope and every day blogging about one little step I'm taking toward building an extraordinary life in 2010.

This month I launched my new site complete with my full blog as well as content pages that highlight some of the other projects I'm working on: my yoga teacher certification and an after-school program in East Harlem for middle school students interested in product development and entrepreneurship.

I've always wanted to join a writing group and have poked around at a few though I never found one that had the right vibe until now. Then Kathy invited me to this group and my first reaction was, "ah, yes. This is the feeling I was looking for." My unending thanks to Kathy for inspiring me with her own writing and inviting me to be here with all of you. And of course to Sharni, my blogging sister down-under. I look forward to the conversation!

The photo above is me having fun in a park near my apartment. Photo taken by my pal, Dan Fortune.

G'day from Australia

Thank you Katherine for inviting me to contribute to Writers Rising. Now for a summary of me:

I live just outside Brisbane in Queensland, Australia with my husband and our dog. I've wanted to write since I was six years old and in the last two years I've dedicated most of my time to doing just that. I'm also a gluttonous bibliophile and spend whatever spare time (and cash) collecting books on every topic you can imagine. I've published one short story and am currently writing a novel, but my pride and joy at the moment is my new online journal called Diversity Writers Network, where I will showcase writing (and writers) from across the globe in an effort to celebrate and promote human diversity and tolerance. Diversity has always been an important concept and topic in my life, but I believe that despite our differences we all have similarities that are fundamental to being human. It is to those sensitivities I hope to appeal.

I have my own blog, but I feel it is important to get involved collaboratively with other writers, so I'm pleased to be involved in Writers Rising. We can learn much from each other. I look forward to contributing to as well as reading from this blog.

Sharon Egan

http://diversitywriters.net

http:thesunlitdesk.wordpress.com