Author: Josh Robert Nay

Cat Links Articles Poetry Writing

Bibliotherapy and the Healing Properties of Poetry

Josh Robert Nay

The following article was previously published on Suite101 Poetry can heal in ways no other form of art can – Big Mind Zen Center Poetry can be used to focus on healing through various ways in everyday life. More people should take advantage of this simple but effective healing tool. It’s no secret that poetry has its own ability to mend broken hearts, make memorable occasions even more special, or make a final good-bye more meaningful. Poetry can help us bridge the gap from one feeling to another. Romantic poetry in particular can change a person’s entire relationship. Historical poetry

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Cat Links Writing

Up Late and Still Working

Josh Robert Nay

June 16th has been a very busy day for me. Aside from publishing a poem with Yahoo and then later publishing a new article with Suite101, I have also done some work on the war-themed short story I have planned, which will also find its way to Yahoo. In fact, I plan on having it published by the end of June. So why am I up late and abusing coffee more than I should in order to stay awake? Well, simply put, once a writer truly gets into “the zone” of writing, he or she often finds it annoying to

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Cat Links Writing

Independence Day Poem Submitted to Yahoo

Josh Robert Nay

I completed and submitted my Independence Day-themed poem to Yahoo this afternoon. This particular assignment didn’t take me long to finish, but went through a few revisions before being finalized. The biggest problem I had was deciding what the poem should be about. The poem itself was only supposed to be themed for Independence Day, but I thought a poem about fireworks and barbeques just wouldn’t cut it. Instead, I decided to focus on the reason why we celebrate Independence Day in the first place. To do so, I at first focused on John Trumbull’s well known painting Declaration of

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A Mixture of Tears and Coffee

Josh Robert Nay

Okay, so maybe just coffee. I’ve found myself drawn to that drink like a moth drawn to a bug zapper recently. My Internet connection died yesterday. It was down all night. Ironically, this took place right after watching the South Park episode where the Internet dies across the world and Kyle has to unplug it in order to reboot and save it. Then, my own internet died an hour later. Irony. Luckily, though, I was able to get it working this morning without calling my ISP technical support. Victory! It was only a temporary setback, but it did prevent me

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Cat Links Writing

Running With the Wild Horses

Josh Robert Nay

Recently, I had someone ask why I’m planning to move to the United Kingdom. Their sheer, morbid curiosity was very clear. It was also obvious that they would never dare such a venture, content to cower behind walls of comfort they built for themselves all their lives. My answer? I’m a wall-climber. I chip away at sections until I get fruitful results. I tear them down brick by brick. To assume I have no comfort zone is silly. I just have a strange drive to test that comfort zone and see how far I can go. Reckless? No, not really.

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Cat Links Writing

A Final Good-bye and A Greater Resolve

Josh Robert Nay

There are situations in life that inspire you to do more than the norm. To push yourself beyond the boundaries you have set for yourself over years and decades of plain and simple living. For me, today was one of those times. Today, we said our final good-byes to my wonderful grandma Evelyn Patterson Morrow, who died on June 1, 2011 (which I also mentioned in the post for that day). It’s always hard to lose a family member, but for me the grandparents are the hardest of all. I guess you get used to having them in the world.

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Cat Links Writing

Our Immortal Gleam

Josh Robert Nay

This day has been tainted with the loss of a very special and important person in my life, my grandma Evelyn Morrow. It was something that took a long moment to sink in. She passed away at two o’clock this morning. It wasn’t until about 11 am though that the realization finally took hold. After it did, though, I was surprised to find myself smiling. It struck me as very odd, especially in a time of tragedy such as this. But then I realized why I was smiling. I guess I was smiling because I still felt a connection to

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The New Layout is Online

Josh Robert Nay

Okay I know I said it would take up to June 3 to get the new layout online, but plans have a habit of not going how we planned them to go. In this case, that’s a good thing. With the new layout containing 20% more information consuming 60% less bandwidth, it’s been an amazing few months. Now that the site design is out there, I can concentrate on more pressing tasks, such as my writing. I have resumed work on my “High School Cast” project (the official name is under wraps until release) and I plan to have a

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Cat Links Writing

Welcome to The Purple Dragon….

Josh Robert Nay

To go with a shiny, new layout comes a shiny new blog (that, and the old blog has long over lived its usefulness to me and my writing career). This, like most blogs, is the home of my rants, raves and other random (bodacious) posts. Here’s the lowdown: I’m fun. I enjoy my work (thoroughly). I enjoy everything about everything I do. It doesn’t matter what I write about, writing is my passion If that means sometimes I am a little strange, I welcome it. In fact, I’ll share a little fact about me right now: I’m strange. Anyway, as

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