tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18077890990100944892024-02-06T21:26:06.284-05:00Imagine the PossibilitiesAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-85423455933829947242015-08-01T14:31:00.002-04:002015-08-01T14:39:05.871-04:00Advise garnered from a meeting with Jude Deveraux<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHHGCE-HfkAS_vA6u_xsnHch8OtHQ8mJGyTVWxXAOTtyXrWb49ZRoqGD2rsoi_r774GWVbViDeF_GavQJ9VRVenKs3XcA1unWYsCrjCEK5U40_V5ox5lWmYw-UUhxvYOoKOEmjL8pduJo/s1600/IMG_0354.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHHGCE-HfkAS_vA6u_xsnHch8OtHQ8mJGyTVWxXAOTtyXrWb49ZRoqGD2rsoi_r774GWVbViDeF_GavQJ9VRVenKs3XcA1unWYsCrjCEK5U40_V5ox5lWmYw-UUhxvYOoKOEmjL8pduJo/s400/IMG_0354.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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August has slammed into Tallahassee with record high
temperatures guaranteed to sizzle your brain. Another way to ramp up the heat,
is with a bit of romance in your novel. Jude Deveraux is an expert at writing
steamy romances. I had the opportunity to meet her at the Romance Writers
Annual Conference in New York City this past July. Talk about hot, hot, hot!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Jude Deveraux is a multi-million dollar earning author of
romances that have many folks curling their toes. In a class I attended, Ms.
Deveraux shared tips on her writing style. I thought I’d share them with you:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Get a notebook – keep everything about your novel in the
notebook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, you can do this on-line,
but do print it out and insert it in a notebook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Start with a question or statement – I want to write about
domestic violence, PTSD. . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What if -<o:p></o:p></div>
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Make a name chart of your characters in this story. Use
different sounds and letters for the names.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If you have a well-known character in another story or series, do not
use that name or one that sounds close to it. Doing so can be confusing to your
reader.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Make an age chart – where they were born, when they were
born, any pertinent data. Figure out your character’s age during the time of
your story. Ms. Deveraux also cuts out pictures of people in magazines, or
prints the pictures from her computer who look like her characters.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Set up a day-to-day calendar of what happens, who in
involved, what they are doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can
do this as you write your story.<o:p></o:p></div>
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If you don’t like your character – kill them! If you’ve
gotten tired of your character, you can bet your reader has, too.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Yes, characters take over Ms. Deveraux’s novels – you have
to follow them, trust that the habits and traits you gave these characters are
working. “I feel what my characters feel. Cry when they do, laugh when they
do.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Make floor plans of houses in your books, sometimes, you
have to plan out the street they live on, the towns they live in. Ms. Deveraux
obtains house plans from the Internet. Tips: Modern plans: <a href="http://www.eplans.com/">www.ePlans.com</a>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Historic American Building Plans: <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/">http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/</a>.
England real estate has house plans on line, including the history of these houses:
<a href="http://www.savills.com/">www.Savills.com</a>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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You have to change with the times. Ms. Deveraux said that
part of her longevity is listening to other people. You have to trust people in
the business. Your agent and publisher WANT you to make money – that’s how they
make theirs.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Finally, when asked what keeps her motivated, Ms. Deveraux
said: “I just have stories in my head, I have to get them out. I take a pen and
paper with me everywhere. I’ll stop in the middle of the grocery store to jot
down something that struck a chord. I’ll pull over and make a few notes. I
don’t go anywhere without writing implements.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I hope this helps you with your writing and inspires you to
work on your novel. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Imagining the possibilities,<o:p></o:p></div>
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Peggy<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-30634974398301515912015-01-07T19:19:00.002-05:002015-01-07T19:19:37.457-05:00“It’s Time to Kill Your Baby” – or – “It’s better to edit your own novel as much as possible before you send it to an Editor.”<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitP4s23Ko8m_fVlDy_fXx9BrYLmQPzLRaZQWQf2qzQvQMOGMAWqytMheSUNTXtynh7-IBUA7iq0qkH_HUxqtG6d6uRcWGBf0a1CYhuQRHP9GxtP_7a36md7yD2pXIP367cymHp7lT0dB8/s1600/20131128_103545.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitP4s23Ko8m_fVlDy_fXx9BrYLmQPzLRaZQWQf2qzQvQMOGMAWqytMheSUNTXtynh7-IBUA7iq0qkH_HUxqtG6d6uRcWGBf0a1CYhuQRHP9GxtP_7a36md7yD2pXIP367cymHp7lT0dB8/s1600/20131128_103545.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<o:p>Not you, Dipster Cat, you're safe. I'm talking about some of the words in my novel!</o:p></div>
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So you’ve written
the great American Novel and are ready to submit it to a publisher, an agent,
or even publish it yourself. STOP! First, YOU MUST HIRE A PROFESSIONAL EDITOR! Please
do not assume your friends, critique group, mom, dad, or even you can properly
edit your novel. They can’t. You can’t. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Most professional
editors ask for a sample of your novel before quoting their price for editing.
This is the norm. They are not out to milk you of money. What they are doing is
charging you according to how much time they will need to invest in working on
your book. You can bring this price down by editing on your own as much as
possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Below are some common things
that we can fix before we send our Magnus Opus to be edited.<o:p></o:p></div>
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-ly – Words
ending in ly should be used like pepper flakes – only in small quantities. You
are a tremendous author. Rewrite. I used ly words like sand on the beach in my
first novel. Took me forever to get those buggers out.<o:p></o:p></div>
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-ing – Same as ly
words. These things breed – I’m just saying…<o:p></o:p></div>
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Was – Nope, don’t
need it. This is passive voice. Again, rewrite. You can do better.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Pronouns – Be
careful when using pronouns. Particularly when you have two characters of the
same gender. The reader should not have to struggle to understand which
individual you are speaking of.<o:p></o:p></div>
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That – Nine times
out of ten, this word is just not necessary. Take it out!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Read your book
aloud. With feeling. Fix what doesn’t flow, or highlight the section with a
bright color so you can go back and take care of the rough spots. A novel is
like a symphony, your words should crescendo and ebb with the mood you want to
impart. I like to say read it to the cat, not the dog. Your dog will think you
are William Shakespeare, J.K. Rowling, Ilona Andrews, or Steve Berry. The cat
won’t put up with any crap – read it like a cat! If you have a Kindle, or a
Kindle app, you can send it to your Kindle and read your writing like you’d
read a published novel. Believe me when I say <s>that</s> it makes a
difference.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP8kJEbv4YtrFP-wY8KjPRdXiRvrs_0WuqFtuiI2IPjS1CAtb0E_n56KD3PhLtpNbgdiK4wjkBjS4ICfOcZ2n4F_LqkrXnC7ThQEsY-fEdG4p6Pj9p1Dh6EjyUBMTnUYXKQd9ft8MBE2A/s1600/20140510_073812.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP8kJEbv4YtrFP-wY8KjPRdXiRvrs_0WuqFtuiI2IPjS1CAtb0E_n56KD3PhLtpNbgdiK4wjkBjS4ICfOcZ2n4F_LqkrXnC7ThQEsY-fEdG4p6Pj9p1Dh6EjyUBMTnUYXKQd9ft8MBE2A/s1600/20140510_073812.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a>Do not be afraid
to cut sections out of your novel – extended backstory – too much exposition. I know you love a certain character. However, is this character forwarding the
plot? If not take the sucker out! Think of excess characters or words as
vampires – if they don’t have a stake in the plot – stake them and throw them
in a separate document of bits and pieces. Maybe you can use this character in
a different novel or short story. In other words – kill that baby!<o:p></o:p></div>
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There are many
more things you can do to improve your writing. Google writing tips – everyone
has an opinion. Find the ones that you need to use, and go for it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Do as much
editing as you can before sending to an editor. This will improve your writing
skills, and cut down on costs for the editing we all need.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Tallahassee Writers Association has a
plethora of professional editors. Check our webpage at <a href="http://www.twaonline.org/">www.twaonline.org</a>, and give them a call.
Or check your local writers association. I'm sure they want to help you become a better writer.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-32268788393992983022015-01-07T18:47:00.000-05:002015-01-07T18:51:04.373-05:00“A Writer’s Guide to Publishing & Marketing (Volume 2)” By Barbara Joe Williams<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
So you’ve written your book, and are ready to
share your writing with the world. What do you do? Who do you go to for help in
this endeavor?</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXMxljzmlrHUAeMMN5y4bqYl2Nz82s3pqNDlvJvdwdmTJi10h8qjbtFDCwUcavaCBXQILA5shOD_kQWjsHVeHagn242khHc62GvJZDMykBSMFtRIyM95hegBq3ACM64o4Yh0mANZsna1w/s1600/Unknown-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXMxljzmlrHUAeMMN5y4bqYl2Nz82s3pqNDlvJvdwdmTJi10h8qjbtFDCwUcavaCBXQILA5shOD_kQWjsHVeHagn242khHc62GvJZDMykBSMFtRIyM95hegBq3ACM64o4Yh0mANZsna1w/s1600/Unknown-1.jpeg" height="320" width="213" /></a><o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Barbara Joe Williams simplifies the process for
publishing and marketing your masterpiece. In easy to follow steps, Williams
gently holds the reader’s hand and guides the aspiring author through setting
up an office, what type of license is needed, and even provides a list of
supplies. She moves on to offer advice on how to set up your books, standard
sizes, formatting, and designing the book cover, to finally getting your book
in stores, and marketing. Each chapter follows the previous one in steps that
make total sense and lends what I’d thought an agonizing process, a feat that
feels possible and promising.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikDRhLgnEr0855lz0jWuaRzJBQV2yJJtfgxOIKQc5SOULg21bxU25tFEmyOLY6Ujuzh9YF-cn1QOrxkdgaBF42GRzx7zTXiwT06JNIaV25hfkWJB5lwi54PyHmEgV6lvzGjXfQVTZsrnQ/s1600/512P4d3xNEL._SL210_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Williams
is an Amazon bestselling author, indie publisher, and motivational speaker living
in Tallahassee, Florida. She is a Navy veteran, a graduate of Tallahassee
Community College, and Florida A & M University. Barbara is also the
founder of Amani Publishing, LLC (2004), and the co-founder of the Tallahassee
Authors Network since September 2008.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">She
has published books for over thirty authors as well as herself. Williams is
generous with her knowledge of the publishing business. Reading this updated
version, I felt as though she were sitting beside me and guiding me. Her
chapters are clear and concise. Each chapter ends with a checklist that
reiterates information learned in that chapter, and helps the reader plan the
next step in publishing their own work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Williams
states that yes, there are other thicker books with more detail, but I’m not
going there. Her compact e-book gives encouragement as well as information. She
provides links and address to publishing houses, printers, types of programs
and software you might need to handle the publishing and marketing of your
book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Williams
recommends using an editor and processing your writing so you place before the
world the best you can do. She warns that pride goes before a fall – you have
to listen to your editor. Williams follows her own advice. Her book is
error-free. She has the pages set so they are easy to read and formatted to be
pleasing to the eye.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi17hH3rFdWUfQ2HZGB8wRAlRXMJOC0zsC0EFxJJx8HOBWeEaoCuuDEgNWPHRIwsM1uxo_3XNTwFkRvmMublK5tw1qtW4e1IGXv5BDb2VEyuDxq7wp8Qoxrl6YBRTuHHOQ9jHhXHhRU9fo/s1600/williamsb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi17hH3rFdWUfQ2HZGB8wRAlRXMJOC0zsC0EFxJJx8HOBWeEaoCuuDEgNWPHRIwsM1uxo_3XNTwFkRvmMublK5tw1qtW4e1IGXv5BDb2VEyuDxq7wp8Qoxrl6YBRTuHHOQ9jHhXHhRU9fo/s1600/williamsb.jpg" height="320" width="237" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
If
you want to publish and market your own book, then download this one. You won’t
regret it. Ms. Williams says she has no plans to provide “A Writers Guide to
Publishing & Marketing” in paper – I hope she changes her mind. I’d
certainly place her book on my resource shelf, right next to my copies of Stephen
King and Ray Bradbury’s books on writing. <b>[Addendum: This book is now available in paperback!]</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: #0e0e0e; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Ray
Bradbury said, “If we listened to our intellect, we'd never have a love affair.
We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go into business, because we'd be
cynical. Well, that's nonsense. You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and
build your wings on the way down.” This is what Barbara Joe Williams does for
writers. She gives us wings to fly on our own.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-15822060718205390482014-11-12T22:27:00.000-05:002014-11-12T22:33:55.606-05:00Review of "Florida Wildflowers - A Comprehensive Guide" by Walter Kingsley Taylor Reviewed by Peggy Kassees<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br /></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidkbKTHZZvPslPJqkYcOGmivRQ5KzWKrBhrtFAKorePJECFJC33y5-IXVjeT51T-bi1Eu9bH6sMvIv33jKa9fyoFgwitDJHXq0ilrdsUBmb1F11sLqIeML8OOM1MygQjMMZYVVTNDySGs/s1600/4425.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidkbKTHZZvPslPJqkYcOGmivRQ5KzWKrBhrtFAKorePJECFJC33y5-IXVjeT51T-bi1Eu9bH6sMvIv33jKa9fyoFgwitDJHXq0ilrdsUBmb1F11sLqIeML8OOM1MygQjMMZYVVTNDySGs/s1600/4425.jpg" /></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">A book for the nature lover, researcher,
bicyclist, and hiker – anyone who traverses the Florida landscape and pauses to
say – what’s that plant?</span></span></div>
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Walter Kingsley Taylor, professor emeritus of
biology at the University of Central Florida, has traipsed all over Florida
gathering information for <i>Florida
Wildflowers. </i>Taylor is also author of <i>A
Guide to Florida Grasses.</i></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Florida
Wildflowers </i>sorts plants into regions such as hardwood-forested uplands,
pine flatwoods, wetlands, and more, covering the entire state of Florida, and
making each search to identify plants a joy. It’s easy. Plants are photographed
in their natural state. Books that have line drawings of plants tend to all
look the same to me. This is not an issue in Taylor’s book. The author does not
stop at wildflowers – but photographs and writes about trees, shrubs, and
pretty much anything that grows. If you are out on the trail biking or hiking
and spot a plant, I’m betting that it will be in Taylor’s book. Thus far, I’ve
found data on each bit of greenery that I wanted information on.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">As a writer of fiction that takes place in
Florida, I want to have the correct plant in the right place, whether it is growing
in sand, loam, red clay, rich black earth, or bogs. As Taylor demonstrates,
Florida sits at a latitude where the major deserts of our Earth occur—yet our
state is known for green luxurious growth. The humidity gifted to our state by
the Gulf Stream helps create this atmosphere and moderates temperatures that
otherwise would indeed reflect the deserts of Africa and Mexico, to name only
two. In Florida, you are no more than 100 miles from the salt water at any
point.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">With <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Florida
Wildflowers</i>, you don’t only get identification of species – both the Latin
and common names, you have the opportunity to learn more of this Sunshine
State. Did you know that Ocala limestone of the Eocene period (65 million years
ago) makes up the major formation of the entire state? Well, maybe <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you </i>knew, but I didn’t, and I find
learning about my state through Taylor’s eyes is fun as well as enlightening.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">Did you know that the hills that slope away from
Tallahassee, the Florida Capital, used to be the coastline of Florida at one
time? Anyone visiting the Capitol (if this were still the coastline) could see
water lapping away just below FAMU, (Florida Agricultural and Mechanical
University.) The soil, and therefore plant life, changes, as you travel from
North Florida on down to the coast. Are you curious to know what type of grass
is under your toes? Worried about that sticker in your ankle?<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Florida Wildflowers</i> is the book for
you.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Florida
Wildflowers</i>, you learn that some plants have “people” names, such as Joewood,
Walter’s Groundcherry, and Godfrey’s False Dragonhead. Makes me wonder what
these and other individuals did, to have plants named after them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifbh6I3LTssFgKYJ0MF-nTV5v_qqyzY4X-TM3sxea5naTW_QlD_QnbZzH7mFbvU2HnIEnRhiyMzAhvT2COTdYEs8WSu9_KhDgrPmq5tnt7kb3Gu-_XgESUD1zo5PrWERQocnj-BeyiiJY/s1600/Taylor-295x400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifbh6I3LTssFgKYJ0MF-nTV5v_qqyzY4X-TM3sxea5naTW_QlD_QnbZzH7mFbvU2HnIEnRhiyMzAhvT2COTdYEs8WSu9_KhDgrPmq5tnt7kb3Gu-_XgESUD1zo5PrWERQocnj-BeyiiJY/s200/Taylor-295x400.jpg" width="147" /></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">While Taylor does give information on whether some
plants are edible or not, I do find myself asking that question on all Florida
flora in his book. Maybe the next version will have this, because Taylor does
believe in improving his books. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Florida
Wildflowers</i> is a second edition. For those interested in knowing if certain
plants in Florida are endemic, endangered, or threatened, this is information
was added when Taylor revised and updated his glorious book on wildflowers. In
this new edition, Taylor also added hundreds of photographs, realigned his
first book to make it more user friendly, and to reflect current terrestrial
communities and the plants growing in them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">My copy of this book is not in too good a shape
– I keep it in my vehicle in case I want to look up a bit of greenery that has
garnered my attention. I use it when writing and need to know if a particular
plant is flowering or has berries. Taylor’s book should be on everyone’s
bookshelf, tucked in a backpack, or nestled in a kayak. You can’t go wrong
having <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Florida Wildflowers</i> handy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">After all, how else could you answer the
question: what’s that plant?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Florida
Wildflowers – A Comprehensive Guide</i> is available from your favorite on-line
dealer, through University Press, and in bookstores near you.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-17919354918701436822014-10-05T09:56:00.002-04:002014-10-05T09:59:12.762-04:00Book Review of "Annihilation" by Jeff Vandermeer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1807789099010094489" name="OLE_LINK2"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1807789099010094489" name="OLE_LINK1"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1807789099010094489" name="OLE_LINK4"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1807789099010094489" name="OLE_LINK3"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK4;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Annihilation” by Jeff VanderMeer<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></a></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK3;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK4;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Reviewed by Peggy Kassees<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That which we don’t acknowledge can destroy us – or remake
us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the 1960’s, I remember watching a late night black and
white re-run of a 1951 movie, “The Thing,” starring James Arness. It was about
an alien being come from space who terrorizes a military outpost. I was
terrified – the only thing stopping me from having nightmares was my dad – he
could save the world, as far as I was concerned. I remember him laughing when
the alien proved to be a plant. “Well they got that right, Peggy. It’s not
going to be something from space that gets mankind, it’ll be something small.”
Then he lowered his voice and said – “Better beware, there’s a fungus amongus.”
VanderMeer exposes the fungus amongus.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jeff VanderMeer creates a terrifying world with an economy
of language and description that paints more than speaks. I began reading
Annihilation while sitting on the front porch of my son’s house south of
Crawfordville. Sounds of insects, amphibians, and an owl or two, combined with
rustling pine needles, and a night so dark and heavy with humidity, that the
air coated my skin. Fear pulsed through my veins. The only light in sight came
from a tiny lamp clipped to my book. Was not long before I went inside. Found I
was spending more time checking what might be in the bushes and nearby swamp,
thanks to Vandermeer, than reading. That’s the kind of book the author writes.
Intense. Thoughtful. And scary as all get out!<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Start with Area X – an amorphous area of land along the
Forgotten Coast of North Florida. Add the topographical features that already
exist, then throw in Vandermeer’s imagination, and you have an exquisite tale
guaranteed to make a person think twice before entering the wilds of Saint
Marks or forests of Apalachicola. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Area X has only one entrance, which is heavily guarded by a
branch of the government called Southern Reach. The Southern Reach determines
who and when teams infiltrate the area for research. Four women, known only by
their occupation, make up the 12<sup>th </sup>team: a biologist, an
anthropologist, a surveyor, and a psychologist. The reader learns that no one
knows everything that has been found in Area X, and this is not the 12<sup>th</sup>
team. There are secrets within secrets, because no one wants to share all that
they know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We experience Area X through
the eyes of the biologist, a woman who divulges her life piecemeal through the
book, but never her name. She is, as are the other women, a tool. An implement
used by VanderMeer and the Southern Reach.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As the reader experiences the incongruences that make up
this region, we are drawn in and sucked down into VanderMeer’s world, into the
tower that is not a tower, with writing on the walls made of phosphorescent
plants, into the reeds that are now home to an indefinable monstrosity, to the
vision of a dolphin with a far too human eye, and the diminishing of the investigating
team until all we see is – well – fear, and the knowledge at the end of the
first book in the Southern Reach Trilogy, that Area X is not finished, and the
fat lady may never sing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I have started reading and listening to “Authority,” the
second book in VanderMeer’s Trilogy, and sense this is every bit as good as
“Annihilation.” Run to your local bookstore, Barnes and Noble, Books a Million,
wherever you like to pick up your books. go on Amazon.com. Listen to “Annihilation”
on Audible. This book is a Southern classic. I hope the studios that have a
movie option on VanderMeer’s books, do make a movie of it. I’ll be there,
watching through my fingers, holding my breath, and shoving back the scream
building in my throat – just like when reading the book.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">J</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">eff VanderMeer is a three-time winner,
thirteen-time finalist for the World Fantasy Award. His <i>Wonderbook: The
Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction</i>, the world's first
full-color, image-based writing guide, is now out from Abrams Image. His
Southern Reach trilogy (Annihilation, Authority, Acceptance), will be published
by FSG, HarperCollins Canada, and The Fourth Estate (UK) in 2014, as well as 12
other countries. The film rights have been optioned by Scott Rudin Productions,
and Paramount Pictures. Prior novels include the Ambergris Cycle (City of
Saints & Madmen, Shriek: An Afterword, and Finch) and Veniss Underground.
His short fiction has appeared in American Fantastic Tales (Library of
America), Conjunctions, and many others. He writes nonfiction for The
Washington Post, the LA Times, The Guardian, and many others. He has lectured
at MIT and the Library of Congress and helps run the Shared Worlds teen
SF/Fantasy writing camp out of Wofford College. With his wife Ann he has
coedited several iconic anthologies, most recently The Time Traveler's Almanac
and The Weird. You can contact him at vandermeercreative.com.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jeff VanderMeer lives in North Florida with his wife, Ann.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-49346488371130573212014-09-01T19:26:00.002-04:002014-09-01T21:30:10.115-04:00My Review of Dixie Ann Black's Book, "Just Chasing the Sun"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Review of Dixie Ann Black's book "Just Chasing the Sun"</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Reviewed by Peggy Kassees</b></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Joy, peace, and a poignancy that
almost breaks the heart fill this jewel of a book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://blogs.tallahassee.com/community/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/JCTS-Final-Cover-First-Page-Only.jpg" href="http://blogs.tallahassee.com/community/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/JCTS-Final-Cover-First-Page-Only.jpg" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: #f3f3f3; clear: left; float: left; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="Just Chasing the Sun" class="size-medium wp-image-16719" data-mce-selected="1" data-mce-src="http://blogs.tallahassee.com/community/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/JCTS-Final-Cover-First-Page-Only-200x300.jpg" src="http://blogs.tallahassee.com/community/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/JCTS-Final-Cover-First-Page-Only-200x300.jpg" data-wp-imgselect="1" height="400" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; margin: 0px; outline: rgb(119, 119, 119) solid 1px; padding: 0px; resize: none;" width="266" /></a><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Nuggets of poetry slip around short
stories like long fingers caressing a loved one. They stroke the spaces between
memories. When you read Black’s book, you know her—a happy, bright individual
who carries sunshine in her footsteps. The story of going “home” to Africa, of
being welcomed by the soil and sun, the animals, and the men and women of her
ancestry relates to all people. It is the feeling I experienced when stepping
foot in the south of France. Her words evoke the experience exquisitely.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Humor abounds – her poem “Holy
Vessels” had me laughing. Black knows the human spirit and presents it simple
words full of love and a bit of chagrin. She understands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">“Just Chasing the Sun” also delves
into darker issues with knowledge and compassion. “Through My Eyes,” one of
Black’s short stories walks the reader through a day in the life of a disabled
individual who also lacks the capacity for speech. Not on the outside as an
observer, but from the perspective of the individual. <i>Please, God, I think
as I read this, I don’t want to live this way when I’m older. </i>And yet, so
many of our elderly and disabled family and friends do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Black loves to travel, and “Just
Chasing the Sun” has stories that resonate with her wanderlust. You see the
places she journeys through her eyes with wit and self-insight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">This book is filled with real
stories; some funny, some sad, but all looking for a bit of light, a splash of
joy – just chasing the sun.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Black’s book is not lengthy, but
like gold, it is a treasure. You may want to keep an eye out for her book
signings and readings. Black’s voice and presence add piquancy to her words
that you will not want to miss.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">“Just Chasing the Sun” can be
purchased on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, in book stores around town, and at
Black’s book signings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfIXRVzRbvMF48rWf8szSuZC2L2X603BM8SRnpuK7EVO2lEYY4lsIm5-OBTNg1y1kkBXw9z7gWbqt2BAHr8ERDYCAmNgJJuMuz5Fy9mARaHQeP79ff4vlKWJGyaiOBFJSNMzLRwGHGnpw/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfIXRVzRbvMF48rWf8szSuZC2L2X603BM8SRnpuK7EVO2lEYY4lsIm5-OBTNg1y1kkBXw9z7gWbqt2BAHr8ERDYCAmNgJJuMuz5Fy9mARaHQeP79ff4vlKWJGyaiOBFJSNMzLRwGHGnpw/s1600/images.jpeg" /></a><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13pt;">Dixie Ann Black is a mother and a
daughter, a Believer and friend. She is also a teacher, healer, artist, and a
leader. She is a mother of two and an avid world traveler. She holds a black
belt in martial arts and practices tai chi, yoga, and various other fitness
oriented activities. She enjoys ballroom dancing, writing poetry, short
stories, and public speaking. Her professional life has included social work
and brokering real estate. She is passionate about health – both physical and
spiritual. Black believes in the importance of building community and taking
care of our planet. She is a seeker of truth.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Black lives in Tallahassee,
Florida, and is a member of the Tallahassee Writers Association.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-16221669847569060862014-09-01T18:49:00.000-04:002014-09-01T21:31:50.179-04:00Tales from San Antonio, Texas - The Necessities<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Tuesday, July 22, 2014<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjPBHDByC5YbBpsFtiATiS-IXn3gkypnJ53mw2JaAnqu0QsXGOo9MEOG2tNVomoK-hT5vRKyqAlPaTYVKsrCIIT2vLWaPaY4yyKblNcjImSxhh2oVbG-o7qmCQLMTsokytY_b49PKXvfg/s1600/10567495_902779429735672_1410353646_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjPBHDByC5YbBpsFtiATiS-IXn3gkypnJ53mw2JaAnqu0QsXGOo9MEOG2tNVomoK-hT5vRKyqAlPaTYVKsrCIIT2vLWaPaY4yyKblNcjImSxhh2oVbG-o7qmCQLMTsokytY_b49PKXvfg/s1600/10567495_902779429735672_1410353646_n.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is my set-up at the Courtyard Marriott. I pulled the desk out from under the
counter where it awaited my arrival, then spread out. iPad, for music and added
research. Computer, for – well – computing, new Texas coffee mug, and pocketknife.
The blade is open, not to slit my wrists, but to cut tags off items I
purchased. Prime reason for said </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/sanantonio"><span style="color: #2d4486; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">#SanAntonio</span></a><span style="color: #10131a;"> knife, though, is the swirly piece of metal that opens
wine bottles, and the little hook thingie that takes care of beer caps. One
must have one's standards.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Oh,
please ignore the crumbs on the railing of my balcony. We aren't allowed to
feed the birds. Those crumbs are for me. I'm letting them marinate in the fine
air so they'll be perfect when I return to the room. I did stand on the balcony
and announce this fact. Figure I'm covered.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Imagine there must be a statute of limitations -- right? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Peggy</span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-42907904423924214472014-09-01T18:41:00.000-04:002014-09-01T21:33:55.672-04:00Tales from San Antonio, Texas - Breakfast and the GBS Revisited (Great Bird Spirit)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>July
21, 2014, 9:30am On the River<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>The
Great Bird Spirit Revisited</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Breakfast
is on the patio by the river. Soft breezes cool my skin, and the sounds of
people laughing lift my spirits.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5E_2wVEQzFkdFPO-sX2OWtgbVqWOsYVlkn8jPhynFEuWB9h7Xx42Kcg8xRNNo0biTe5YDWKre7DwEaCpYWXHW0oEmK5KXonunUG4Xk8c1BogrKpMU9wZvtxxdAiLPu-nUhWwPvz-Mk98/s1600/20140722_095812.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5E_2wVEQzFkdFPO-sX2OWtgbVqWOsYVlkn8jPhynFEuWB9h7Xx42Kcg8xRNNo0biTe5YDWKre7DwEaCpYWXHW0oEmK5KXonunUG4Xk8c1BogrKpMU9wZvtxxdAiLPu-nUhWwPvz-Mk98/s1600/20140722_095812.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m
sitting here, minding my own business, eating a breakfast burrito filled with
eggs, black beans, corn, peppers, and onions while sipping a cup of Starbucks
finest. All good—until a chunk of burrito gets away from me, and lands on the
Spanish tile. Five sparrows demolish it before anyone can say: “Howdy, y’all!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now
I have a flock of about a gazillion or so birds watching me. Shiny black eyes
follow the movement of fork to face and back. Guilt swarms my heart. What would
the Great Bird Spirit think of me?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">A
few more bits of food accidentally hit the ground. More follow. I AM the GBS! I
feed my flock. I love their many feathered shades of brown. Feel glory in their
sharp beaks that range in color from burnished orange to palest sandstone. My
soul is full. I’ve accepted the spirit of the GBS and seek to fulfill her
mission. I will love my feathered friends. I will feed and protect them come
what may.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
sit back in my chair, replete. My plate and the tile floor are clean. The birds
are satiated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">But
wait! Why do they stare at me so? Why are they edging closer? With horror, I
realize what I’ve done – fed them eggs – fluffy, unborn, aborted, dead, baby
chicks. I’ve turned my flock cannibal. Made them eat their own kind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigi4C48wobRZgtieFd8oqhVWAd2jhJNDkjEJ-mRvJ1FzK-3g3qAKzflNp6kiBGWz5kU28g3I6_lpcbDsS90gkBQd7QWZKe4yW8Dub7O2eYQPdXEWFvN-qJMU6f6nDO3dw8oRw5RXWkvws/s1600/photo+7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigi4C48wobRZgtieFd8oqhVWAd2jhJNDkjEJ-mRvJ1FzK-3g3qAKzflNp6kiBGWz5kU28g3I6_lpcbDsS90gkBQd7QWZKe4yW8Dub7O2eYQPdXEWFvN-qJMU6f6nDO3dw8oRw5RXWkvws/s1600/photo+7.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a><span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I’m
sorry,” I whisper. The sparrows ignore my words. Edge closer. These are no
longer the feathered fluffs I was feeding. They’re freaking
dinosaurs—Velociraptors in miniature—carnivoristic, ravenous beasts. And I started
them on this path by feeding them scrambled egg burrito. The shame.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Birds
line the railing, perch on chair backs, and coat the area around my feet.
Little brains whirl. I know what they are thinking . . . <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s
too late for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
these, my last moments, I give you this warning. Dinosaurs are not extinct.
They live in your yards, masquerading as cute little birdies, and one day, they
will remember what they were, the GBS will rule, and they’ll dine on Poached
Peggy, Fricasseed Frances, David and Dumplings . . . <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Imagining the possibilities,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Peggy</span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-56096750891724521562014-09-01T18:16:00.003-04:002014-09-01T21:35:19.533-04:00Tales from San Antonio, Texas - La Villita Village<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Monday,
July 2014, afternoon, La Villita Village</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEickeysWeJAYxqck_xa4GtvkV28G-1DLLMj63K2gfUJb7nbwfvVPPFmffnuGm1Qm8s4nuBfUJIFyz-bwVsmwMWhzXMe1UQOMx21VuDJdzKoPbqG1h4MYORGhyPMnh3BflAk9ryxWG5PFBs/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEickeysWeJAYxqck_xa4GtvkV28G-1DLLMj63K2gfUJb7nbwfvVPPFmffnuGm1Qm8s4nuBfUJIFyz-bwVsmwMWhzXMe1UQOMx21VuDJdzKoPbqG1h4MYORGhyPMnh3BflAk9ryxWG5PFBs/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" height="299" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Heat
shimmers in the air, each breath ratchets my core temperature another fraction
of a degree. The sky is white – all blue coloration bleached away by the sun’s
glory. I’ve been sightseeing, and on my feet, since I’d not rented a scooter
yet. In old towns, there are places it’s difficult to maneuver if your
locomotion is wheeled rather than two-legged. La Villita is one, and I didn’t
want to miss it. Thankfully, San Antonio believes in benches at frequent
intervals. I use them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Let
me throw in a big thank you to Camelbak for the fantastic water bottle with
filter. There was not a storeowner who wouldn’t re-fill my water container.
These folks are the epitome of kindness and generosity.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTgnNNe1DQasyEFEledmdpVGp0NSTfFdMVcM_kVNt60-dKVlp0SegFyLlMWNCbSXznNvL_mu4-CYF1ibUXXak4WDXDZw0vL7qJ9G3wjL4wcdQlPYjx5Fl3CEOOjJIFSbiy3tReb2Ztcoc/s1600/photo+6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTgnNNe1DQasyEFEledmdpVGp0NSTfFdMVcM_kVNt60-dKVlp0SegFyLlMWNCbSXznNvL_mu4-CYF1ibUXXak4WDXDZw0vL7qJ9G3wjL4wcdQlPYjx5Fl3CEOOjJIFSbiy3tReb2Ztcoc/s1600/photo+6.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Remember
the Alamo? Well, La Villita is the village where Mexican soldiers lived with
their families – it is on a bluff above the San Antonio River, and therefore
did not endure infrequent flooding that the Alamo did. The houses are small,
and full of windows that let in soft breezes from the tiny river below. In the
late 1800’s, German families moved there. Today, La Villita is an art village,
and air-conditioned. Each home sells wares to capture the eye of visitors – and
yes, my vision was blurred with the beauty offered. I believe in helping the local
economies in towns I visit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">On
one shady porch, the owner had placed a bench on either side of their door. A
man slumped on the further settee, melted by the heat. His chin rested on an “I
remembered the Alamo” T-shirt, sweat coated his shaved head, made damp circles
under his arms, and across his chest. The hair on his legs lay in soggy whorls.
His lips vibrated with every breath as he slept. A large camera rested under
one protective hand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Figured
I looked much as he, as I settled on the opposite bench. Minutes went by, and I
watched as a lady strolled out of a shop a few doors down. She carried several
bags and wore a smile as she approached the house where the man and I rested.
As she neared, he shifted and sat up, some inner radar advising him of her
proximity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I’m
going to be a better man,” he called out to her. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">She
stopped. “Why?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I’ve
been reflecting, and decided I’m going to be a better man.” He stands, pulls his
shirt away from his body, picks up his camera and a walking stick, takes the
bags she was carrying and places them across his arm. “If hell is any hotter
than this, I don’t want to go there!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Imagine he's right!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Peggy</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-56703408209338071052014-09-01T18:07:00.001-04:002014-09-01T18:43:26.537-04:00Tales From San Antonio, Texas - To the Rescue<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>July
20, 2014, Sunday, Early Evening</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDbEiNFoxDVZtBn7bsMESK9M3cJeWHOEEtV7NgGugxTeRPpEoyOM1W4xR2lIF1C-_5hhvDjFgKBIWp_sK5Vh5F4aTkvFnfjPbVnp6EUtc_wGB7c1YZ06kJRaM-mNNsqyLry4bgonixHV8/s1600/10576903_902845436395738_306686077_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDbEiNFoxDVZtBn7bsMESK9M3cJeWHOEEtV7NgGugxTeRPpEoyOM1W4xR2lIF1C-_5hhvDjFgKBIWp_sK5Vh5F4aTkvFnfjPbVnp6EUtc_wGB7c1YZ06kJRaM-mNNsqyLry4bgonixHV8/s1600/10576903_902845436395738_306686077_n.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Had a fun chat with a police officer yesterday afternoon - I had
just entered the lower level of the Courtyard Marriott in San Antonio - </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/rwa14?source=feed_text&story_id=902772009736414"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"></span><span style="color: #5a6fa5; font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">#</span><span style="color: #2d4486; font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">RWA14</span></a><span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"> and he noticed I was
moving slow - asked if he could help. "No thanks you, I have asthma and
have to take it easy." He insisted on bringing me a glass of water because
I looked heated.(Well duh - 99 degrees, and I hadn't bought my cute hat yet,
either.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">The officer disappeared in a room and emerged with a glass of
ice water! Tasted heavenly. He was correct - I needed that water. So as I
sipped, we talked - told him I'm in town for the </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/romancewriters"><span style="color: #2d4486; font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Romance Writers of
America</span></a><span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">
Conference, and he told me he writes. Now you folks know I do love to meet
other writers and encourage them. He's just beginning to write, and is working
on a crime novel that has as the main protagonist a Shogun (</span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/dutch.hinkle.9"><span style="color: #2d4486; font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Dutch Hinkle</span></a><span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">, forgive me if I've said
the name wrong.) The officer has several black belts, and is taking classes to
learn Japanese - those of you in the </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tallahassee-Writers-Association/351217374932810"><span style="color: #2d4486; font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Tallahassee Writers Association</span></a><span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"> know my thoughts had to
immediately go to Dutch - and I asked if he knew of the old buzzard - Sure
enough. The officer has several of Dutch's books. How cool is that???<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">And as wicked wonderful as I thought the chance encounter - he
seemed to enjoy the conversation, too - asked me about our association - how we
promote each other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Best
dang glass of water I had all day!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Imagining he's like this all the time - what a good representative of Courtyard Marriott on the River, and the San Antonio Riverwalk!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Peggy</span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-23154366354703872572014-09-01T17:58:00.001-04:002014-09-01T18:43:00.946-04:00Tales from San Antonio,Texas - The Great Bird Spirit<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Sunday
afternoon, July 20, 2014:<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>On
the San Antonio Riverwalk</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHtVlGcLlcT0JnM2KrHejUOtB43vI8EWWx2cACMjkZ_iei6SfdAmnjAM-X-W11ICZy76hUN91ymqsqMtoBy9Sd2cpaQ4iFkyUrHStZ_pbrPR91V92bUyyZxTeSeh8-jb7HBitIyqXLMYo/s1600/photo+5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHtVlGcLlcT0JnM2KrHejUOtB43vI8EWWx2cACMjkZ_iei6SfdAmnjAM-X-W11ICZy76hUN91ymqsqMtoBy9Sd2cpaQ4iFkyUrHStZ_pbrPR91V92bUyyZxTeSeh8-jb7HBitIyqXLMYo/s1600/photo+5.JPG" height="476" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
walk, sit for a while, and enjoy the beauty that is everywhere, then repeat.
This process allows me to enjoy the heated paradise know as San Antonio’s
Riverwalk.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Quaint
footbridges arch over the stream intermixed with less picturesque spans speeding
along motorized traffic. I’ve found a shady spot under one of the latter, and
rest my lungs and knees. Interludes like this allow prime people-watching
opportunities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">A
group of teenage girls – hair swinging, giggles ringing – sway in their short-shorts
toward me. One young lady scoots ahead of the group and stomps at unwary
pigeons. The birds light upon the walkway whenever there is a break in walkers,
hoping for a quick treat. They flit away whenever a human gets too close,
however this child does not allow the bird their chance at a snack. She scares
them. The birds herky-jerk into the sky, wings flailing in a mad rush to escape
her. The critters aren’t used to this kind of treatment. The youngling laughs
with delight. I am not amused.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
flange of girls just about reach where I’m sitting, when a pigeon lands several
feet to the left of me: The teenager pulls her stunt again followed by peals of
laughter from her friends.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You
should be careful about doing that,” I say.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">She
turns wide eyes my way. The entire herd of girls stop. “Huh?” She asks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Yes,”
I say, “I wouldn’t scare the birds like that. It’s not the creatures themselves
that would concern me. It’s the Great Bird Spirit, the protector of all pigeons
and sparrows.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6fDjkaq33On7_02qkxI2x28s9HnKdmjxhcqfLyN0JPCKDO2yZxKmit3XGsgnyQ4uAcUF29az6tyqsyFqBKyXINO3zdWIpd-az-ivhs5a5yeyKyg7zpz2hl_boU86OJcSat8wNtQJ5JNw/s1600/20140720_135744+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6fDjkaq33On7_02qkxI2x28s9HnKdmjxhcqfLyN0JPCKDO2yZxKmit3XGsgnyQ4uAcUF29az6tyqsyFqBKyXINO3zdWIpd-az-ivhs5a5yeyKyg7zpz2hl_boU86OJcSat8wNtQJ5JNw/s1600/20140720_135744+2.jpg" height="241" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
girls look at each other, glance at a pigeon that has flitted down from its
roost under the bridge to perch a yard away on my right. The bird’s glossy head
tilts like he’s listening, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
continue: “The Great Bird Spirit was here long before the white man moved into
Texas – long before the first Native Americans set foot here. She watches over
her flocks.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
girls stare at me, then at the pigeon, who, as though understanding all, fluffs
his feathers, and turns to gaze at the teenagers with his other eye.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You
keep scaring the birds,” I wave my hand at my blue-green feathered friend, “and
the Great Bird Spirit will find you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">They
gasp, and step away from the pigeon and I.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
an ominous tone, I speak again. “You won’t like what she does to those who harm
her friends.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">One
of the girls asks, “What does she do?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
take a deep breath, like I really don’t want to talk about this. “It’s not for
me to say, but Ill give you one little warning: Beware the night. She sends—things—”
When I say this, the bird squeaks, lifts his iridescent wings, and soars away.
We watch him leave the security of the underpass, and head off down the river.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Beware
. . .” I begin again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Shit,”
says one of the girls. “Santa Maria. . .” begins another. They all cross
themselves and skedaddle, leaving me alone under the bridge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
could see them for about twenty-thirty yards before the curve of the river took them
from my sight. Not once did a single girl frighten another bird.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Never
mess with a critter-loving writer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Imagine they will never forget, either.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Peggy</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-27168331618397291622014-09-01T17:46:00.001-04:002014-09-01T18:54:11.542-04:00Tales from San Antonio, Texas - View<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sunday, July 20, 2014</span></div>
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<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the view from my room.</span> Please note the beautiful Cathedral of San Fernando across the river.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPS-XR6RLJAM9Cv0uqwa7SZbyg_1QLND7XeVVn-7w6qL3zq3bAkissVkJQXntfItXtPwYCHErv-Rd3HWVAX3jKVtviEt4rSuq6e9s197HlTzHPWReFwL_FnQDu-a8VbHBC_aryuYVPB9c/s1600/photo+8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPS-XR6RLJAM9Cv0uqwa7SZbyg_1QLND7XeVVn-7w6qL3zq3bAkissVkJQXntfItXtPwYCHErv-Rd3HWVAX3jKVtviEt4rSuq6e9s197HlTzHPWReFwL_FnQDu-a8VbHBC_aryuYVPB9c/s1600/photo+8.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
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<br />
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<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">This
morning, while showering, the cathedral bells went off. They were so loud, they
reverberated from the walls in my lovely room. They jarred me as I showered.
They shook my soul... And they wouldn't stop. What, I said as I dressed for the
day - am I going to have to go to church before their incessant clanging will
cease? I stepped out on the balcony to hear the gongs without the buffering
action of glass and brick, only to find that the cacophony is less obtrusive.
WTF? Then it hit me. The sucker who had the room prior to me had set a freaking
alarm.</span><br />
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Imagining the previous inhabitant is still laughing,</span><br />
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Peggy</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-34092274888392613572014-09-01T17:33:00.002-04:002014-09-01T18:44:19.620-04:00Tales from San Antonio, Texas - Arrival<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Saturday, July
19, 2014<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyulXJUqbES4LTTaZ4oonTTWk051XWv9rST2BsN0mZCB7Iz7xl3-rpDl_iVpr6qTGcL8ZTffuN7f3Hcw0Die_oJZVZauaxN2c19-tEhbBjAfu2xbNisViRB1iT-us8ADOPW0CbT9lm6pU/s1600/20140722_141900.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyulXJUqbES4LTTaZ4oonTTWk051XWv9rST2BsN0mZCB7Iz7xl3-rpDl_iVpr6qTGcL8ZTffuN7f3Hcw0Die_oJZVZauaxN2c19-tEhbBjAfu2xbNisViRB1iT-us8ADOPW0CbT9lm6pU/s1600/20140722_141900.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Arrived in San
Antonio to attend the Romance Writers Association Conference (RWA14) at 10:08am after
three hours sleep the night before, and immediately hit the Le Mans racetrack.
Some folks would have called it an expressway, but I know better. The very nice
cabby packed my bags in the trunk, opened the door for me, and then we were OFF!
Zip here. Zag there. Weave and pounce. We slashed our way through many lanes of
traffic. But wait! There’s an opening almost five feet long in front of a
fluorescent orange semi. Surely not—well, of course he goes for it. I swear we
had—oh—a good solid inch between my side of the cab and the semi’s shiny chrome
fender. I could count the dead bugs on the front of that truck as we squeezed
in front of him, and was extremely grateful that the semi’s breaks and horn
worked. Finally, we pulled up in front of the Riverwalk Marriott, where I
exited the racecar with alacrity. I did NOT fall to my knees and kiss the
ground, though I did think about it. I <i>was</i> surprised there was no checkered
flag. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Imagine how much fun that was!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Peggy</span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-25605489418196067382014-06-30T20:36:00.000-04:002014-06-30T20:38:32.951-04:00The Eyes Have It!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Before I get all wrapped up in my latest “writerly”
escapades, let me say how very proud I am of our country’s celebration of its
238<sup>th</sup> birthday!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I’ve been reading Diane Gabaldon’s numerous books of
Historical-Adventure-Scottish-American-Pirating exploits. She spent numerous
hours painstakingly researching the mid 1700’s in Scotland, France, and the
America’s before she wrote her novels. She continued the research as she wrote
her masterpieces – and, since I’m in no way affiliated with her, other than as
a fan – let me plug that Starz is making her first book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Outlander</i> into a series. Don’t we all wish that for our novels? I
can see it now <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Flocked: Birds of a
Feather</i>, a Starz series . . .<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Pardon me, I’m taking a break as I daydream . . .<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Ok, I’m back now. Not only does Gabaldon write exquisitely,
she captures the imaginations of both men and women readers with her word
craft. She is one of the examples I follow when writing. Not to say I write
like her, but she has a talent for descriptions and a way of dialog that
inspires me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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So now we are to the confession: “Her eyes, the color of
chocolate . . .” Oh, how horrible. Surely I can do better than that? How many
of you have used a phrase – a description that you know should be better? Could
be better?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk1G6qSKGxJLDXdfI9jBRd2t5iziPNC-gWpqZBEYNlZ-Hg4SBi1fqc25JwQvSp7vYoAC2_klg7hhYeShGbz37Ri6e_hgWfSK8vX5WqabLLfAGe6s_9oPyDmcCAlECkqQ8byz0nMQCgZdg/s1600/IMG_2877.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk1G6qSKGxJLDXdfI9jBRd2t5iziPNC-gWpqZBEYNlZ-Hg4SBi1fqc25JwQvSp7vYoAC2_klg7hhYeShGbz37Ri6e_hgWfSK8vX5WqabLLfAGe6s_9oPyDmcCAlECkqQ8byz0nMQCgZdg/s1600/IMG_2877.jpeg" height="182" width="400" /></a></div>
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Here’s my July goal – use other names/descriptions for the commonplace.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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Examples I’ve come up with (using eye color):<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The color of malted hops.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As bright as rain on a wren’s back.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Caviar eyes.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Eyes the color of North Atlantic storms.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Eyes as dark as his soul, tainted with rot.<o:p></o:p></div>
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His eyes were like a shark’s, cold and deadly, without
emotion.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Okay, you get the drift. I have a little notebook I’ve
started, with descriptions – different ways to say something other than the
usual. How do you keep track of your ideas? I certainly can’t remember my brain
illuminations. I have to write them down.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Go ahead and try new ways of saying something. Send me your
description of the eyes in the photograph. Have fun with it – I won’t tell my
daughter-in-law, the model. Let your imagination soar! <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Imagining the possibilities,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Peggy</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-66490886333914607822013-06-16T11:46:00.002-04:002013-06-16T17:38:26.327-04:00Review of "Grant's Little Read Book of Poetry"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwV8Eh37kY_sqLSwO1okZ1vacOQyU_l87AfyiYi_mmTKXZPoVl-rSkoE-GAZo_2Mhe8OiHEKJKcB3bwWYUVXz473hcpNJB6-gbqJwFGdRkHJVUQPANlRB73kxzEd5K3Fu1sC6u95KjW2w/s1600/GP_Little_Red_Book300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwV8Eh37kY_sqLSwO1okZ1vacOQyU_l87AfyiYi_mmTKXZPoVl-rSkoE-GAZo_2Mhe8OiHEKJKcB3bwWYUVXz473hcpNJB6-gbqJwFGdRkHJVUQPANlRB73kxzEd5K3Fu1sC6u95KjW2w/s320/GP_Little_Red_Book300.jpg" width="253" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpFirst">
Grant Peeples, songwriter, singer, and now poet,
writes in soul-blood upon the pages of <i>Grant's</i> <i>Little
Read Book of Poetry</i> with love, and anger. He does not mince words,
but throws in double handfuls “along the roadsides of convention, and medians
of mediocrity,” his disdain and hope. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
In “Mowing down the Wild Flowers,” he writes:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
In stagnant ditches or in dry and rocky washes,
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
they
may volunteer to thrive,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
to dance in the shadows of lampposts, road
signs and <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
power
wires, <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
and to wave a proud little glory that’s <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
indifferent to the insults <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
of
all that trashed contempt <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
scattered
there amongst the innocent <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
rot
of road kill<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
Gritty and raw, Grant’s poetry scrapes through
thin public veneers to eviscerate the reader and force them to take notice. In
“The New Southern Tableau,” he states:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
Beyond the town,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
where
once there was a woodland,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
now
grows in rows<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
the
slash pine fields<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
of
future 2 x 4s and toilet paper;”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_fmn4RmdP0VlEGPmzNpCB5tkqeMXP2OSmeFk034R4OfT4BWGlQTvPubWgYKuafpx-hseCBcjgG3zin91z6_8tfcKUO1YkCp2gOLhXfgVQdJeUnnqOmCop8xv6C6Z9ghGavBGAcM8toqw/s1600/IMG_0660.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_fmn4RmdP0VlEGPmzNpCB5tkqeMXP2OSmeFk034R4OfT4BWGlQTvPubWgYKuafpx-hseCBcjgG3zin91z6_8tfcKUO1YkCp2gOLhXfgVQdJeUnnqOmCop8xv6C6Z9ghGavBGAcM8toqw/s320/IMG_0660.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
Each word is this slim book counts, holds
weight, and paints pictures that fascinate. Inside the front cover of <i>Grant's</i> <i>Little Read Book of Poetry</i>, nests a
compact disk with Grant reading his own poems, so the reader has options – read
– listen – or both at the same time. I enjoyed this small book in all the above
ways, but prefer listening to Grant interpret his art. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
There is some foul language, so if it offends
you, don’t read it, but you will miss out on a true North Florida artist. Peeples’
poetry is like the sweetest water, and bitterest lemon, smooth and rough, and
filled with passion. Forty-three pages are not enough, and I sincerely hope
this is not Grant’s last book of poetry. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
You can purchase <i>Grant’s</i> <i>Little Read Book of Poetry</i> by visiting his web site: <a href="http://www.grantpeeples.com/">www.grantpeeples.com</a>, or purchasing it
directly from him at any of his concerts. Information regarding Peeples’
concerts is available at <a href="http://www.grantpeeples.com/">www.grantpeeples.com</a>,
and at <a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/grantpeeples">http://www.reverbnation.com/grantpeeples</a>.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
Having read this book several times, I feel
like the last section in his poem, “The Well.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
Then I was done.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
And
that one small sip?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
Well, I can taste it yet,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
and will<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle">
beyond.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpLast">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpLast">
<o:p>Imagining the possibilities,</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpLast">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacingCxSpLast">
<o:p>Peggy</o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment--></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-1559025801610759382013-06-11T20:12:00.000-04:002013-06-22T09:24:11.069-04:00On The Road at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">East Beach, Santa Barbara, California</td></tr>
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There are no fat people in Santa Barbara, California.
Everyone rollerblading, trotting, biking, skateboarding, pushing strollers and
walking Fido is skinny. On this first day of the Santa Barbara Writers
Conference, I wait for the opening ceremonies by watching people parade down
Cabrillo Boulevard. Gentle swells from the Pacific Ocean frame each individual
as they pass. There is no cottage cheese
on these people. It is June 8<sup>th</sup>, and the high for the day is 65
degrees. In mid-afternoon. That’s right, Tallahassee – welcome to summer in
Southern California, where writers like me spend six days learning to perfect our
craft and trim the fat off our novel until the writing is as lean, strong, and
beautiful as the folks sashaying down the Boulevard.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Begun in 1964 by Barnaby Conrad, the SBWC, Santa Barbara
Writers Conference, oozes history. You can feel the ghosts of Conrad, Ray
Bradbury, and Charles Schultz swirling around, and know they must be proud of
the extensive work done by the conference committee. “We used to sleep on the
floor back at the Cate School, when this thing first started,” Sid Stibel, a
workshop leader, said. Stibel has attended every SBWC since arriving with Ray
Bradbury at the first one. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saturday morning - June Gloom</td></tr>
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Daylight in Santa Barbara begins shortly after 5 a.m. with
the sound of finches reminding me to put out the day’s offering of crumbs on
the balcony’s rails. Salt scented breezes laugh through long palm fronds
sharing the joke with cawing Ravens that the majority of tall graceful palms
throughout California are not native, and are kept alive thanks to water which
is also imported to this semi-arid state. Morning is the most peaceful time of
day . . . until 9 a.m., and then, the race is on. Each day provides options for
illumination – there are twelve morning and afternoon workshops – twenty-four
different classes. I’ve chosen the Travel Writing and Interviewing Boot Camp,
hosted by Jerry Camarillo Dunn, Jr. for the morning sessions. Dunn writes for
National Geographic Traveler, among other publications. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRuAe7KY5T_iNst8PTgcijbd8dPFrs2OFLF_csnAIB1Ze2MYqXbh5dUKgx3ew3z0AVZwIfF4baq65snpWS2-X70Nc_IFd2prrqhmx7-163MS7e1W7xg_kJAA65Hb0Ahj0YLgWcJJHw4gI/s1600/IMG_3518.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRuAe7KY5T_iNst8PTgcijbd8dPFrs2OFLF_csnAIB1Ze2MYqXbh5dUKgx3ew3z0AVZwIfF4baq65snpWS2-X70Nc_IFd2prrqhmx7-163MS7e1W7xg_kJAA65Hb0Ahj0YLgWcJJHw4gI/s320/IMG_3518.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset</td></tr>
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In the afternoon, like many others, I switch it up among
workshops, trying to learn as much as possible in the time allotted. If you can
think of a topic or genre, the SBWC is more than likely offering a class on it.
An attendee said, “I feel like I’m in a one of a kind candy store. Every day I
have to choose which sweet to eat.” Precisely.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Four in the afternoon brings on the panels. Agent panel,
first time author panel, editor panel, muckety-muck panel . . . I can’t stay
away. Patricia Bracewell, author of “Shadow on the Crown,” and Karen Keskinen,
author of “Blood Orange,” gave encouragement to authors who waited until later
in life to write. Though different genres, a glimpse in their books has me
anticipating a glass of wine and a bit of time to spend reading them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 5 p.m. we break for supper, then drag tired feet and
minds to hear the evening speaker. Stephen Chbosky, author of “The Perks of
Being a Wallflower,” began the speaker series. Someone from the audience asked
him if he remembered the name of the first person he kissed. Chbosky answered,
“My wife’s in the audience, and she’s from New Jersey. NEW JERSEY,” he spelled
out each letter, “you know about New Jersey people. There was no one before
her. No one.” He slashes a tanned hand across his throat. “Ever.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipfF4EEUU5Bj9TasuM00Oql-QmR5ZfL6RKPBLBON2H3JfpRaO-PUSncnXgC5Kz41cP-KAY5Sindefd7CmdxHzTIaNXVgvTMm8VzzFOgfK-GRe0AloVrMySE1y9lOQkqBV6xM7QyVIPdnE/s1600/IMG_3509.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipfF4EEUU5Bj9TasuM00Oql-QmR5ZfL6RKPBLBON2H3JfpRaO-PUSncnXgC5Kz41cP-KAY5Sindefd7CmdxHzTIaNXVgvTMm8VzzFOgfK-GRe0AloVrMySE1y9lOQkqBV6xM7QyVIPdnE/s320/IMG_3509.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Note the Zoo sign points to over 200 writers.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is said that confession is good for the soul, so here
goes: My name is Peggy, and I’m a Pirate. Pirate sessions are for the
masochists, idiots who don’t know when to go to bed, or when to stop and smell
the Jacaranda trees that are blooming in mounds of purple prose. There are two
Pirate Sessions that start at nine and go until—. I made it to midnight one
night, and when I finally slogged heavy-eyed to my room, there were stalwart
individuals still reading their work and critiquing each other. Lorelai
Armstrong and John Reed lead these critique workouts. The sessions are an
addiction, and like other addictions, even though you know that the next day
you will fight to keep eyes open and brain alert, the next opportunity you have
to partake of the heady stuff, your trembling hand will reach out, and there
you’ll be, parking yourself at the table with the other addicts, hauling papers
out to read, and tuning eager ears to listen.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dusk</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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This is the halfway point of the conference. I look forward
to the rest of this feast with anticipation and dread. Anticipation because I
know I’ll learn so much that will help me with whatever I choose to put to pen,
and dread, because I’ll miss the people I met here, miss Santa Barbara, and
miss the different world that is Southern California. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Over the top of my computer, a pod of dolphins cartwheel a
few feet off shore. There must be sixty or more of the creatures, joyful in
their dance across the smooth water. The mammals are sleek and lean, like the
people of Santa Barbara. They are examples of what the conference attendees are
learning to do with our writing, use action verbs, make each word count, limit
the ‘ly’s. In other words, getting rid of the cottage cheese.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Imagining the possibilities,<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Peggy Kassees<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<!--EndFragment--></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-78540192965302582652013-05-22T19:27:00.004-04:002013-05-22T19:54:07.109-04:00Book Review of Jodie Renner's book: Style that Sizzles<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-w_kjP3G2nVYCj7WP7iyikOXrvX_8jZOYmaLjA73MLN4J0n3o44eTSCC5XFUGVot4Jx76_4uhlXSFFyVlWDKz8990yL61twxUkj_FnA07LVX2EdCU5svV365oOwhNiW0L2IFvwtyFXpM/s1600/71UHjwh89RL._SL1360_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-w_kjP3G2nVYCj7WP7iyikOXrvX_8jZOYmaLjA73MLN4J0n3o44eTSCC5XFUGVot4Jx76_4uhlXSFFyVlWDKz8990yL61twxUkj_FnA07LVX2EdCU5svV365oOwhNiW0L2IFvwtyFXpM/s320/71UHjwh89RL._SL1360_.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Imagine the possibilities of your words having power, punch,
and pizzazz! You can, you know, with the help of Jodie Renner’s book, <i>Style that Sizzles & Pacing for Power, An
Editor’s Guide to Writing Compelling Fiction</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve read many “how to write” books, and currently have four
that are my absolute favorites. The top book on this list is <i>Style that Sizzles and Pacing for Power. </i>I
feel so strongly about this book that I bought a copy for my e-reader, and six
paperback copies. I like to share. (I was going to say something smart, like:
“In case I want to read it more than once,” except Renner says in Chapter 12,
“Take out any explanations or self-indulgent ramblings.” I’m so guilty of
this.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whether you are working on your first novel, or have completed
several, this book will help. In a concise and readable format, Renner shares
with the reader tips and habits a writer needs to succeed. My first book maxed
out at 141,365 words – and that is after I took a good 30,000 words out. It was
like pulling teeth. Now, with the help of <i>Style
that Sizzles, </i>I’m scooting through Menoly and Antoine’s novel, removing the
dross and leaving the gold. Taking a scalpel to my writing is difficult for me,
but Renner makes that task easier with examples that clarify and edify.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chapter headings are informative and allow the reader to
focus on the parts they need help resolving. However, I heartily recommend the novelist
read the entire book, and then focus on specific areas. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you are serious about writing and filled with the desire
to be published, Jodie Renner’s book is the one for you.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, I probably shouldn’t say this, since she is a
world-renowned editor, but, if you implement the lessons Renner espouses, pare
your words, take away lengthy explanations and wordy phrases, when you submit
your novel to <i>your</i> editor, it won’t
cost nearly as much. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Information on Jodie:<br /><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Website: </span><a href="http://www.jodierennerediting.com/" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0068cf;">www.JodieRennerEditing.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span><br style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Jodie's blogs with tips for writers: </span><a href="http://crimefictioncollective.blogspot.com/" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0068cf;">Crime Fiction Collective</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">and </span><a href="http://jodierennerediting.blogspot.com/" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0068cf;">Jodie Renner Editing</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Facebook: </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php#%21/profile.php?id%3d100000751201995" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0068cf;">Jodie Renner Editing </span></a><br style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Twitter: @JodieRennerEd</span><br style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Member: </span><a href="http://thrillerwriters.org/" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0068cf;">International Thriller Writers </span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">(Associate), </span><a href="http://www.sistersincrime.org/" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0068cf;">Sisters in Crime </span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">(SinC)</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Hurry! Go buy the book. Pour a glass of wine or cup of coffee. Sit a spell, crank up your writing skills, and imagine the possibilities.<br />
<br />
Peggy <o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-23830769788445570682013-04-19T14:09:00.001-04:002013-04-30T19:56:26.599-04:00Appearances can be Deceiving, Or, Warning, You Could End up in My Novel!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ZqZhyqoj_REu2GtsdRXqgG7J5Z4eH9SltE80NRISc4e5ZcJRqV36yxkuNppBgk-amF2z4C75r6UxZmgL75X5M5nrB3n6yL6QpwqLF-2kp2Xdih4Tl_JyfG3OkDVXy6ffcIHsVtkI2jA/s1600/531651_10200872247713727_1294389154_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ZqZhyqoj_REu2GtsdRXqgG7J5Z4eH9SltE80NRISc4e5ZcJRqV36yxkuNppBgk-amF2z4C75r6UxZmgL75X5M5nrB3n6yL6QpwqLF-2kp2Xdih4Tl_JyfG3OkDVXy6ffcIHsVtkI2jA/s320/531651_10200872247713727_1294389154_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Writers!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
What does a writer look like? How does he or she dress? You
might say: “Go look in the mirror.” But that won’t do. Seeing my silly self
does nothing to answer the questions of what an author <i>looks</i> like. Inside. Where it really counts, or at the very least, how
the unsuspecting can have advance notice.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj7x7UAqpoCINLxHyLxpTqgC7qnhmVNngaeaQiWdirw-uXfvCIMS3ujSjzcXyy8f81cBSDISxNgMPrs4LijsryAD3snDpQ7Zarp6UFTgvR4kKwbZxVMbSDKOdgmYnJEZWwocM3_tyo39s/s1600/398225_380988541982687_2069982139_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj7x7UAqpoCINLxHyLxpTqgC7qnhmVNngaeaQiWdirw-uXfvCIMS3ujSjzcXyy8f81cBSDISxNgMPrs4LijsryAD3snDpQ7Zarp6UFTgvR4kKwbZxVMbSDKOdgmYnJEZWwocM3_tyo39s/s320/398225_380988541982687_2069982139_n.jpg" width="250" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First Flight, from the Keltoi Pages</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I like to go to writer conferences – they are excellent
places to learn more about the craft of writing, publishing, and marketing your
work. At conferences you also meet other authors. People who walk around like
normal beings, but carry worlds inside their heads of marvelous invention.
Worlds inhabited by dragons, and people who fly, and individuals who have
pointed ears, who talk to trolls, commit murders, solve murders, love, hate,
eat bugs, <i>are</i> bugs, ad infinitum. Worlds
of fuchsia mists and pink tinged lightning, with islands that float in a sea of
time instead of water. Oh, how I love the mind of a writer!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Yet, surely, there should be some kind of warning. I mean –
here I am, wandering around with other authors who can twist time, and invent beings.
I have a t-shirt that says: “Careful, you could end up in my novel.” Yeah.
That’s what I’m talking about. Everything a writer sees, thinks, feels, goes
into a big cauldron, is stirred, and then the author sticks her pen into that
pot and puts it to paper. Or they thrust their fingers in the pot and hit the
computer. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZnuV4gdfySN6o3g4TARPKeyfsaeBNb89viSRrDk_jcVpCr1Ix61NmxNZqW5C3qfXfHMrycma1E-gijn3pdEqNasGh61TgNFQ738JRwLYvWRcVTZbHVJvVDAxW-TJZqt5CKzOwz9sf24Y/s1600/1-1-20130222_132622-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZnuV4gdfySN6o3g4TARPKeyfsaeBNb89viSRrDk_jcVpCr1Ix61NmxNZqW5C3qfXfHMrycma1E-gijn3pdEqNasGh61TgNFQ738JRwLYvWRcVTZbHVJvVDAxW-TJZqt5CKzOwz9sf24Y/s320/1-1-20130222_132622-001.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sopchoppy Stone Age and Primitive Arts Festival, February 2013</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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My son and I recently went to the Stone Age and Primitive
Arts Festival held annually in Sopchoppy, Florida, at the Ochlochonee River
State Park. On this day, clouds lowered until the only thing holding them up
were white pines and cypress. A constant drizzle puddled the ground. We met many
intrepid people determined to have a good time and share their efforts to
remind modern folk that were it not for stone chisels, arrow heads, and other such
primitive tools, we wouldn’t be here. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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One individual will not leave my mind. He stands there,
bowler hat shoved down on his head above a halo of wispy white hair sagging
damply in the mist. His wide smile reveals a lone brown tooth thrust up from
his lower gum. Watery blue eyes, slightly protruding, glint, and are filled
with excitement. He has two people listening to tales of how he found the
ingredients for staffs, knives, and stone and bone tools he’s made and offers
for sale. When we reluctantly left the gentleman to go search among the other
presenters, my son looked at me and said: “Mom, he’s so got to be in a book
somewhere.” Oh yes, do be careful, you could end up in my novel.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCAD3_BQb-jak1QETY-wC3CZfLI7gyQAbQMsErXTwL1zRh3uHe71Ax4L31B33p5V2yLN0Yc9ROKA8pCadxFJ4HESDFTHMZAjzknu8uddvHGs92Ot0wsbyGGAVC7pt3rCh7inQ8awZNwII/s1600/598966_10200872248033735_702401499_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCAD3_BQb-jak1QETY-wC3CZfLI7gyQAbQMsErXTwL1zRh3uHe71Ax4L31B33p5V2yLN0Yc9ROKA8pCadxFJ4HESDFTHMZAjzknu8uddvHGs92Ot0wsbyGGAVC7pt3rCh7inQ8awZNwII/s320/598966_10200872248033735_702401499_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fiction Among Friends</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So here’s the thing – what does an author look like?
Shouldn’t there be some kind of indication that you are in the presence of a
person who at any moment could take part of your essence, and have a being
erupt from your brain like Athena from Zeus’ head? I guess having someone walk
in front of the prestigitator of words shouting, “Warning! Warning!” and waving
their arms wildly in the air won’t do. Maybe a nice blue aura circling the
author’s head with holographic images of the writer’s characters and worlds
swirling around in this nimbus for all to see. I like that. Certainly, this
would garner immediate attention and provide adequate notice. Decisions must be
made. And in the meantime, be warned: you could <i>so</i> end up in my novel!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Imagining the possibilities,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">
Peggy</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment--></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-47382597250769169472013-03-31T12:48:00.000-04:002013-03-31T12:48:22.572-04:00Writing to the Beat<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">How do
you write? Are you cozied away in a quiet room by yourself, pounding at the
keys? Many people write that way. There are all kinds of permutations in noise
level surrounding an author. I have a friend who writes in a room with the soft
sounds of Strauss tickling her imagination. Another friend can’t abide any sort
of distraction at all. Not me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Put me
in a crowd with people milling around. Give me a strong bass and a steady
rhythm. Throw me a little rock, some blues, country, or bluegrass, and a whole
lot of roll. If the band sings long, sings loud, my imagination flies. My
characters come alive. They take shape. Their bodies sway to the rhythm of the
beat. They don’t just dance. They soar. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Plots
fill the air intertwined with notes in a multitude of keys. Ideas emerge, woven
in majors, and minors; saturated in the emotions of love, hate, and everything
in between. Music drives the engines of my brain. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I also
love to write in crowds. I adore the energy folks give off. I like to hear them
laugh, sigh, giggle, cry. I hear the urgency in their voices when they whisper,
and notice the surreptitious motion of a hand, the touching of knees, lowered
lashes, and tiny smiles. I enjoy seeing people get up and dance. Sometimes the
music is so infectious that there is no way people can stay in their seats, so
the chairs erupt warm bodies onto the dance floor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">People
give so much information about themselves when they dance, it is easy to spot
the introvert’s mincing steps, arms held close. Or the extravert, with hands
high, head lifted, moving across the parquet. Then there are those who sit so
quietly at their table, they almost disappear into the fabric of the air
itself, but when music flares out of tall black speakers, these same folk no
longer sit still. Music transforms them as well as my characters, providing
ideas for stories.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-mSHlQUSa9qPeZyYte1XDtAQNSK8CT3mE9nodIpzfKmYF_yvr9VAPOfpYggbGnvXzZjOLQM2QKVY_vwtFMYsBIQhrXcEwd-UDlTYrS104LriOJJH6Pm5Qkgs-pHiCTTDiFxiF4OA4HSE/s1600/20130330_212225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-mSHlQUSa9qPeZyYte1XDtAQNSK8CT3mE9nodIpzfKmYF_yvr9VAPOfpYggbGnvXzZjOLQM2QKVY_vwtFMYsBIQhrXcEwd-UDlTYrS104LriOJJH6Pm5Qkgs-pHiCTTDiFxiF4OA4HSE/s320/20130330_212225.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Live
music venues are my favorite. I load up the computer, or paper and pen, into my
polka-dot wheelie bag and head out to listen and write. In Tallahassee, we are fortunate
to have many places that cater to local bands, and I certainly have my
favorites. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today
I’m writing at the American Legion Hall at Lake Ella, in celebration of Indie Music.
(Thanks Bert Calderon.) Most Thursdays there is music and food on Tharpe Street
between the Post Office on Martin Luther King, and Publix Shopping Center
across from Lake Ella. On any night in Tallahassee, a person can find live
music. Whether to listen, dance, or write, our town is filled with song, and so
I write and say thank you to the band, and thank you to the places that care
enough about music to hire local acts. Another hearty thanks goes out to those
places that don’t mind if someone sits at one of their tables writing away,
their mind on images no one else sees, but whose ears are ever tilting toward
the music.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
most important thing for a writer is to find what suits them. They need to find
their own rhythm. Sometimes birdsong is perfect for a phrase, a sentence, an
entire book, and sometimes, you have to rock and roll to that last page,
paragraph, sentence, and period, until you reach: The End.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">As
ever, I hope you, too, are imagining the possibilities,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Peggy<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment--></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-18318259475724627062012-10-14T18:07:00.000-04:002012-10-14T18:16:41.722-04:00On the Road in Georgia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvtblBRLghI0lqKenMfETM1Lmg5vNNTKboEylYvWlhXnQfM99JO11xK_47TW4bSwLjvwxVq9Z4uU-7nvj8dZnb04SunysDs7FhtdYWxMaMkuvQM16DmRjcofbkaJCqy1LFyVrI3NzHLJ4/s1600/IMG_3213.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvtblBRLghI0lqKenMfETM1Lmg5vNNTKboEylYvWlhXnQfM99JO11xK_47TW4bSwLjvwxVq9Z4uU-7nvj8dZnb04SunysDs7FhtdYWxMaMkuvQM16DmRjcofbkaJCqy1LFyVrI3NzHLJ4/s400/IMG_3213.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
There are several things I experienced and learned from my
weekend trip up middle Georgia. Besides the indescribable joy of reuniting with my Junior High School best-friend, Kathy, I have to mention the intense pride and gratefulness I felt seeing all
the farmland. Cotton, corn, tomatoes, Vidalia onions, legumes,
strange grasses, and what I think were sweet potatoes. Then there are the
farm-stock – donkeys, goats, horses, cattle. There was one big bruiser of a
bull who had his own pen. My red jeep was the only vehicle on the road. The
bull-to-end-all-bulls turned his great head as I slowed down to 20 mph to get a
good look at him. I did not stop. I heard somewhere that bulls don’t like
red. This one was every bit as big as the Liberty I drove.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I do wish that the farmers would label their fields in big
enough signs so motorists can read them: Tomatoes, onions, red beans, rice,
sausage – you get the point. Very helpful for the ignorant traveler, i.e.: me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Camouflage is a neutral color. I saw brown camouflage mid-calf
pants worn with an expensive looking white knit sweater-set. The top was edged
in crocheted lace. The woman was easily in her late 50s, early 60s, her long
silvery-white hair pulled back in a black barrette, makeup applied exquisitely
to her beautiful face. Another man wore his Real-tree with a red Cardinals t-shirt,
another wore green Vietnam-style camo with a Pittsburg Steelers shirt. Did you
know that Deseret storm camo goes with a pink tank top? I could go on and on,
but the consensus is that camouflage, whether worn by men or women goes with
everything.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Next observation: In Moorehaven I saw a car. One. Everyone
else had a pick-up truck, Jeep, or some sort of 4-wheel drive. Outside the
Moorehaven Country Store was a humongous deer strung up ready for butchering. A
man proudly stood next to the deer with his bow and arrows front and center, chest
pushed out, camera ready. Across the street the local feed store pronounced on
a hand-lettered sign that bags of deer corn are available. Guess it worked.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the middle of no-where, a house, front porch filled with
rocking chairs, perched amidst rolling cotton fields. A good 100 yards from the
house, five-feet from the road was a covered wood-plank stand with honey lined
up in various amber hues, a sign read: Honey, honor system. Take your honey,
leave money in box.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I passed a yard full of every imaginable kind of appliance
in various forms of rusted and broken-down manner that could be found. The
front yard was not visible. A sign painted in red with at least a four-inch
brush proudly announced “broken appliances for sale: cheap.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPmMGcy0nWjfLEJA6lrMCZfM84tqUQf-0OTgDdQg31YtbWH_xkO1NCt7BBJt2AeuwUfYxg_PRaYNdI4UBtd8mkMw_8um4OcZHKqLHtkQU5RBtTLdT-K-_NHFwAYhXI98Aa8cOee54YQ4M/s1600/IMG_3215.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPmMGcy0nWjfLEJA6lrMCZfM84tqUQf-0OTgDdQg31YtbWH_xkO1NCt7BBJt2AeuwUfYxg_PRaYNdI4UBtd8mkMw_8um4OcZHKqLHtkQU5RBtTLdT-K-_NHFwAYhXI98Aa8cOee54YQ4M/s320/IMG_3215.JPG" width="320" /></a>Some of the towns held their pride high with clean streets,
washed store fronts, and old southern houses painted and beautiful. Others
looked like they were going to erode back into the red clay and never be seen
again. I felt really sad for the last ones – they are on the way out, and
unless someone in those towns decides to take a hand and spruce them up, they’ll
be swallowed back into the antediluvian forest and forgotten.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I stayed off the major highways – rode the streets less
traveled, drumming my own way across Georgia, singing rather-off tune to
whatever song my I-pod threw at me. The air was clean – no industrialization,
no smoke from vast lines of cars. With the sun-roof back when it wasn’t
raining, I could smell fresh-turned earth, scent green-growing things breaking
free of the soil and reaching to the sky. Sometimes I knew when the cattle
areas were nearing, but it was the clean scent of critters out in the fields,
munching grass and lipping water from small ponds. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rushing to go someplace leaves out so much of the pleasure.
Getting there, to me, is at least half the fun, and hands-clenched-tight-on-Interstate-traffic-packed-roads
is not my idea of fun. It is hard to imagine that I drove twelve hours since
Friday night, and pulled into my driveway at 3:30pm on Sunday refreshed and
ready to write.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Both Baggins and I had a lovely time: going, visiting, and
coming home. Seems we also brought back a trunk full of inspiration. Thank you
to the state of Georgia, thanks Nicole for planning such a fun party, and thank
you, Kathy for being my friend and for being older than me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Imagining the possibilities,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Peggy</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-11078567984224847332012-05-19T13:40:00.001-04:002012-05-20T10:38:54.426-04:00Where is the Music?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcELr7M1PC7qsK_LONLiypOiAO7TYan0zsAKqUqP2151_Oz6STlYVjYVEUCsBMymyHBAEWGqCmjmB6kHba9-ixOiVO3DZg5pJqAMu9mqndAqmBz2edQ-Oe-PqgFEpZVHbZuX1d_W-QZGI/s1600/IMG_0005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcELr7M1PC7qsK_LONLiypOiAO7TYan0zsAKqUqP2151_Oz6STlYVjYVEUCsBMymyHBAEWGqCmjmB6kHba9-ixOiVO3DZg5pJqAMu9mqndAqmBz2edQ-Oe-PqgFEpZVHbZuX1d_W-QZGI/s320/IMG_0005.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is no music. However, I can fix this problem, and do. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I cannot <i>think</i>
without music. Cannot breathe, smell, feel, see or even write. Without tunes floating
around me, I do not exist. I need the deep, passionate pounding of a throbbing
bass drum, the light taps of the snare, the soul haunting humping of hands on
bongos and congas, and the crashing cacophony of cymbals pushing up the hairs
on my arms. It’s hard to stay away from those Zildjians, to remember to sprinkle
them throughout a song like flakes of red pepper perking up a meal, or
exclamation points spicing a story. I’d rather smack the shit out of them. Use
them like lightning during a summer heat storm until the air smells of
electricity and toes curl.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then there are notes that weave around the drums. Give me a
guitar and heart-rending riffs, the passion on the face of the artist painting
with fingers on the long necked electric guitar, pushing notes deep into wood, the
other hand plucking strings hard and hot, drawing out pieces of my soul. I’ve
seen musicians caught up in a musical moment, eyes closed, body
wrapped around their instrument or the mike while they spill out their guts to
the audience, drawing everyone in, welcoming us to their world of love,
heartache, laughter and tears. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m a bluesy girl. No doubt about it, and a belly-song is
what I love – a song so full of life that it clenches my belly and ties me in
knots. Add in a big bull or bass guitar to swing the deep dark tones that keep my
heart beating, and a sweet sax to pull it all to heaven, and, if luck holds
out, a singer who puts words to life and shares with me, the listener, a bit of
their soul. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are, of course, options available for my ever-present
music addiction, and I do use any method available to get my music fix. Everyone
has their favorite. Mine? Live music, hands down. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Get up. Get dressed. Go out. Listen. You won’t regret it.
See, no matter how loud the IPod, radio, television, stereo, it cannot have the
immediacy of live music. Try it. Pick a venue. In Tallahassee we have so many
opportunities to listen to music and watch musicians play their own songs as
well as old favorites that I cannot even begin to name them. Yes, I have my special
places I go to listen and write. If you search in your town, you will build up
a list of places to go. Most venues for live music are not expensive. Many bands
play for tips, or, as one of my favorite groups say on their tip jar: Bail
Money. Get to know your local musicians. If you have children, show them the
beauty and passion of live music. Let your kids know that music comes from the
heart, from hours of practice, sweat, fun, and real people. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Who knows? You may find the plot for a novel on one of your
musical outings. You could walk in to the bar where the NQH (not quite human) hang
out and hear the White Circle Blues Band. And when the moon is in full bloom,
and the night calls, you might want to walk in the deep southern swamps and
pine forests searching for a Critter-Splitter – or not.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But what ever you do, listen to the music.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Imagining the possibilities,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Peggy</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-65277436015072952852011-06-26T21:23:00.001-04:002011-06-26T21:25:45.685-04:00The Real, Honest to Goodness Reason Frogs and Toads Show Up After a Rain Storm<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The frogs and toads, my friends, have been in hibernation. Their entire make-up says that no handsome princes or beautiful princesses are out and about in the wicked heat. It tells them that the beautiful people only visit the out-of-doors in the summer when the rains cool down the sweltering skies. As we all, being intelligent folks, know, frogs and toads are in perpetual search for their soul mate. The person who will one day pick them up and plant a nice big smackeroo on their little froggy lips, thereby enabling them to complete their final metamorphous from amoeba-tadpole-frog/toad to prince/princess. Ergo – rain equals the arrival of a bevy of hopeful long-jumping, fly-eating caecilians. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKEhOsSIw-mgfRq10GR9-EGSEXneRO5X-l2MfVcxiezWjkVrhKeUmVWTuKPj3uQ3reBEjyh2JXPuG-a30uFIA5s5OqbVDqOFQUJ6uCU5VqMfuhqtlxGu-pThils7CLgH0AQucJfW8UqDk/s1600/Highway+267+May+29%252C+2010+221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKEhOsSIw-mgfRq10GR9-EGSEXneRO5X-l2MfVcxiezWjkVrhKeUmVWTuKPj3uQ3reBEjyh2JXPuG-a30uFIA5s5OqbVDqOFQUJ6uCU5VqMfuhqtlxGu-pThils7CLgH0AQucJfW8UqDk/s320/Highway+267+May+29%252C+2010+221.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">So, folks, you have a job before you. Have some compassion, some feeling for your fellow amphibians. Do the right thing! Pick up a greenie and lay one on it!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Imagining the possibilities,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Peggy</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-14239045364122319792011-06-12T10:42:00.001-04:002011-06-12T19:40:04.964-04:00Story, Undefeated<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Story, Undefeated<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN3RXtrye5Sfvr2tXkocKq2px7A4NeGGuhnPVqNiqvIfIp8AWzpdeyqIAiiUcm94jroCikaj8uRqNWihzuuJAMlzXc8eTUsW8jjOrpZpOV66cceQy9dB3DzKFyZ4QDT-9s_flXu7m2lUc/s1600/Mont+segur.pyrennees.paris+799.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN3RXtrye5Sfvr2tXkocKq2px7A4NeGGuhnPVqNiqvIfIp8AWzpdeyqIAiiUcm94jroCikaj8uRqNWihzuuJAMlzXc8eTUsW8jjOrpZpOV66cceQy9dB3DzKFyZ4QDT-9s_flXu7m2lUc/s320/Mont+segur.pyrennees.paris+799.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">Have you ever had an idea for a story and yet didn’t write it down? The story filled your dreams. Followed you around like a lost dog, begging you to turn around and pat its head, to pay it attention. At the oddest times, you think of that story. Shopping for groceries, it slips into the conscious. Putting clothes in washer and dryer, the story taps at your soul. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Write me, please</i>, yet the paper/computer stays blank. There is something else you must—do—see—feel. You close your eyes and turn away, shutting out the small flame of an idea that is looking for receptive tinder…. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">WHY?????</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The story is too much. Too close to home. It grabs the heart and squeezes. It holds a mirror up to the writer’s soul, then reflects like a prism to the world things we may not want anyone to see. What will people say if they read this? What will people think about me if I put this in writing? The story spark lights up places better left hidden for whatever reason. It is simply too much to bare. (I meant that word.) </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Let’s face it. As writers, we share our deepest selves to anyone who reads our work. Everything our characters do comes from our mind, heart, and soul. We feel what our characters feel. We give them life and meaning. We determine everything about the people in our stories whether truth or fiction, therefore it reflects something about the writer. What if Shakespeare had never written <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To be or not to be, that is the question</i>? Or Charles Dickens never said via David Copperfield, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I was born</i>. Or Lucas’ famous: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In a Galaxy far far away…<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I’m writing this, because I caught myself avoiding a story for the past few days, and realized that life is too short to keep things bottled up. I’m going to try to uncork the bottle of hidden ideas and let them come forth like a magical being. I hope to light the pages up with lovely black letters and let ’er rip! It won’t be easy – I do know this, but it is time. If one of my characters wants to do something, I will not hold them back because of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">my</i> fear. When the spirit strikes, even If I can’t put the whole thing in final form, I’m going to write as much as I can so the spark will not be blown out or fade into oblivion because of lack of care.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Story now completed, I am imagining the possibilities,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Peggy</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-81087550970264164152011-05-01T12:46:00.003-04:002012-05-20T10:52:58.648-04:00You Sang Me Fair<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b><br />
</b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe2kJqv8RziUXZrzn98-WP0h-9WymFG-kQcaqRIPDeeuVlhYIVgbKQzSKa_p4amDCuK49KSOuCbX2_qGRkzVVPsEc9ZXgd78q-Hhb77ceNogwPAh6B27cvuVJwKKsPHkgubF5QjiJT9LU/s1600/IMG_2421.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe2kJqv8RziUXZrzn98-WP0h-9WymFG-kQcaqRIPDeeuVlhYIVgbKQzSKa_p4amDCuK49KSOuCbX2_qGRkzVVPsEc9ZXgd78q-Hhb77ceNogwPAh6B27cvuVJwKKsPHkgubF5QjiJT9LU/s640/IMG_2421.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-size: large;"><b></b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-size: large;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;"><b>You Sang Me Fair</b></span></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b></b></span>You sang me fair my pulse did run</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-size: large;"><b></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-size: large;"><b>As liquid flames red-ripe to plumb</b></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b>From deepest depths a burning pyre</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b>That bade my heart to leap and hum</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b>Anon for furthest mount I strove</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b>To reach the peak that in me thrust</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b>And burst full blown a red-rose bower</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b>As desert sands parched throat to rust</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b>Your lips on mine assuage my thirst</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b>Two souls implode with molten fire</b></span><br />
<b style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Our hearts lay bare as fair and just</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b>Love merged and quenched with fierce desire</b></span></div>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1807789099010094489.post-45144598852284810132011-04-27T21:51:00.003-04:002011-04-27T22:16:31.013-04:00Contest<a href="http://www.upauthors.com/events">Contest</a> UpAuthors has announced the contest winners for their First Chapter contest. I am proud to say they chose my first chapter for Les Gens: Into the Night as the winner for the genre: Urban Fiction/Horror. They also chose it as the over all winner. I am honored beyond measure. <br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"></span>Thought I'd share the chapter:<br />
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<a href="http://www.upauthors.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Upauthors_award_winner-219x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.upauthors.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Upauthors_award_winner-219x300.jpg" width="145" /></a><br />
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</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Les Gens:<o:p></o:p></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 200%;">Into the Night<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">By P. E. Kassees<o:p></o:p></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">Everyone died, Clint knew this, understood it since serving two tours in ’<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Nam</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Death could come fast, or slow and agonizingly brutal. He always prayed that when his time came, it would be quick. Looked like he was going to find out; not in ’<st1:country-region w:st="on">Nam</st1:country-region>, but somewhere deep inside <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Tallahassee</st1:place></st1:city>’s blood-red earth.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">The air was freezing, so frigid, the lightening-bolts of pain which earlier had lanced through his shattered shins were now numbed to mere knife-pricks. It would help if he could see, but there was nothing except a vile, moist blackness reminding him of a gook tunnel he’d crawled through during the war; and the air—it smelled worse than a cesspool. Clint figured they’d put him here, wherever the hell here was, right after they’d murdered Mark. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">Clint remembered trying to help his buddy when one of the fiends knocked him out as cold as the hard ground he now lay on. Odd that he’d lived through the hell of Dak To in ’67, only to end up alone in the goddamn dark with his legs snapped in two. At least they didn’t do to him what they’d done to Mark. Not yet, anyway, and not if he could help it. Someone had to let the world know what was going on, and he planned to hang on as long as he could. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="line-height: 200%;"> Clint pulled his body along the floor. It was imperative to find a way out. His right palm slid into something wet and slimy. Cursing, he sprawled in filth—a sticky putridness that wriggled and clung and buzzed. He felt a hand, and relief flowed through him that someone else was there. He grasped it, and with a soft thlop, the appendage landed in the goo beside him. An epiphany soaked in horror flowed through his body, and he knew: unless someone found him, death was going to be a long time coming.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 32px;">From www.upauthors.com:</span></div><div style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"> "</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"><strong>OVERALL WINNER: </strong></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">If there is such a thing as a perfect first chapter, P.E. Kassees wrote it."</span></span></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00574432018817268240noreply@blogger.com1