Seattle on a Hot Summer Day

Drummers – Walkers - Purveyor’s of goods

Panhandlers – Toddlers - Teens in hoods

Strummers - Sitters - Longhaired women

 Bearded men – Buskers busking

Stop & go traffic - Heavy equipment grinding, shrieking,

Gulls fly - Gulls cry - Voices sing different songs

Street people hold out their hands

Seattle on a hot summer day

People, people everywhere some look out of dead, dead eyes

Some look through eyes of lies - Artist's eyes - Dreamer’s eyes

Young eyes - Bright eyes - Hopeful eyes - Old eyes

People walk - People talk - People work - People play

Frisbees fly - Seaplanes fly - Kites fly

Buy me, Buy this, I have exotic wares to sell

Seattle on a hot summer night

 

Story Telling

While listening to Neil Diamond's newest CD, "The Road Home", I've had an epiphany of sorts. The first and I'd say the most important is that my soul is starving for music. The second is, I don't have to struggle to write while listening to music. This is something I've always known, but life often times gets in the way of what we know.

I've also had some thoughts on music, writing, and storytelling in general. In "The Road Home", on top of being great music, Neil Diamond sings about playing/writing music for the very first time or for the hundredth he realizes that is why he was created, so that he could share with the world this great gift he's been given.

I've always gotten the same feeling from putting a story down on paper for the very first time - meeting the characters and entering into that portion of their lives that they are sharing with me and eventually me with you.

Writing music or a song, if you will, is like telling a story where in addition to using words to tell your story, the musician touches us with the melodies that those words go with.

In writing a story, the writer (me) has to create those melodies and feelings with words. The success come when the writer reaches the reader and brings them into new worlds of time and space, joy and sorrow, fear and terror, hate and love. Both mediums are telling a story.

I think that we humans have inbred into our DNA a need for stories. There are stories that teach, stories that warn, stories that delight, and stories that frighten us (which is another way of warning us that there is danger all around us). Through these stories, we are able to learn where we come from and where we are going.

It's only been since the early 20th century that we've been able to add a new medium to our story telling - that of the motion picture. This is where our imaginations, technology, and great story telling can affect millions of people in almost the blink of an eye.

Pain/Rain

Can't get my section on poetry open, so here's a new poem.

Pain is never easy like the rain - it is only harsh and causes strain.
It would be nice if it were like the rain in Spain that stays mainly on the plain - but pain always fills the brain - so it never seems like rain.

A life of woes, problems, accomplishments and joys

Life as usual goes on with all the problems, woes, accomplishments and joys that we all deal with. I've spent a lot of this year dealing with complications from a serious bout of bronchitis last winter. I'm feeling a lot better now and look forward to spending more time writing instead of coughing and feeling like I'm going to cough up my lungs.

We (husband Bill and daughter Katie) went to Spokane in June to be there when my great-niece, Regan graduated from high school. Congratulations to her mom, Christi, for helping her accomplish that and to Regan for doing so while never missing one day of school from the first day of Kindergarten. Regan plans to attend Spokane Community College in just a few short weeks. We're so proud of her.

Katie & Ryan (daughter & son-in-law) just celebrated their 1st year wedding anniversary. They are doing well. Working opposing shifts in their jobs, but that happens to a lot of us.

Bayley (grandson) attended summer school for five weeks this summer (I'm so glad as he's so bored now), and really enjoyed it. He's looking forward to First grade beginning next week. His dad (my son Kenny) is looking for work - we hope he finds a job soon - he'll be so much happier.

Had a loss this summer - my dear Aunt Peggy passed away. She will be missed by so very many people - but, we'll see her again some day when it's our turn to go to heaven.

A great big CONGRATULATIONS to my friend Shari Whyte for the publication and release of her first novel "Stelladuar: Finding Tir-Na-Nog". Which happens to be the first in a series of five. Pick it up at your local book store as it is well worth reading (even though it's a Young Adult novel) whether you're old, young or any where in between.

I'm still working on my novel "Devil Wind" although most of the work lately has been lateral instead of progressive, at least the story is continuing to evolve. I've also written a couple of short stories, the latest of which my writer's group (SFWC) will critique tonight, plus a couple of poems. So, the writing does go on whether it's in journal form or in the form of a story.

That's all for now - hope to see you here again soon.

An excerpt of my novel

Hi, well the following is an excerpt from my novel in process "Devil Wind" (working title):

Opening the truck door, Shane reaches in and grabs his rifle, setting the kitten on the seat, while Henry opens the glove box and takes out the six-shooter that Shane has kept there just like his daddy used to.

"Man-oh-man. That don't sound human. I hope to God it wasn't Ralph!" Both men take off at a run, slowing down as they approach the open barn door.

Whispering to Henry, Shane tells him - "Step just inside the door and to the side - keep your eyes closed for 30 seconds then I'll come in and do the same. We'll check the right side first since that's the side with the stalls." So, suiting actions to words within a minute both men were in the barn their eyes adjusted to the stygian darkness that seems to fill the barn.

Walking carefully with rifle shouldered Shane looks in the first stall he comes to. It's empty, there's nothing in it, not even a bit of hay or manure on the floor. He motions Henry ahead to the next stall, leap-frogging each other until they come to the back of the barn.

"Nothing. Damn, now we've gotta open each of the doors on the other side or maybe not, maybe we could just go right up to the loft." Henry whispers to Shane.

"Sorry Henry, you watch my back and I'll check each of the doors on this side. Then, you can lead the way up the loft ladder." So saying, Shane cautiously tries one door after another - some padlocked - the rest had doors that opened whisper smooth onto tack room, a groom's room and the vet room - where he knew that Ned's veterinarian daughter treated their animals. "Nothing. Guess you're up, Henry." He nods toward the ladder attached to the outside wall of the vet room.

Halfway up the ladder something comes careening down out of the loft, right into Henry's right shoulder nearly knocking him off the ladder. "Sheeit. What in blazes is that?" He yells, almost tumbling off the last three rungs, trying to come down using only one hand.

Cautiously, Shane approaches the somethings that had hit Henry. He looks at it, his mind veering away from what he's seeing. Brown fur/hair is all he can see from this side, so he warily steps around - trying for a better look. All the while Henry hasn't shut-up, his voice beginning to take on the tones of hysteria.

"Henry! Will you shut up and let me figure out what this things is?" Shane yells. His mind once again almost giving him a name for what's on the ground in front of him. Using the butt of his rifle, he  pokes the object - checking to see if it's dead or unconscious. It moves, rolling just enough to give them both a clear look at the underside. Henry clutches his heart with his one good arm, unable to believe that he staring into Ralph's face, an exact replica of his own.###

Well, let me know what you think - it still needs work, but that will come when the entire story is written.

Hi - it's been a long time

It's been so long since I last visited my blog that I had to reset my password. This last year and a half has been way to long, but hopefully things are getting better.

I didn't finish the novel I started at NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) last year, but I've given the story a lot of thought and figured out a lot of the problems I was having; mainly figuring out how the magic should work and who can use it. Now that I've got that all figured out, I hope to try again this November and actually get it finished (let's keep our fingers crossed). Will try to get an excerpt included in my next blog.

My writing group, Speculative Fiction Writing Cooperative (SFWC) is still going strong - Frank and I've been working on putting together a critiquing format that not only can we all follow, but that will give each author the best help in fixing the weak points in their story. The publishing arm of the group Tuesday Night Publishing (TNP) put out another anthology "Penumbra: Speculative Fiction from the Pacific Northwest) last November and it was met with some success (still have to figure out a new marketing plan so we can get more books sold).

The story I submitted for that publication wasn't accepted - which upset me a great deal and since life at that time was so bad the rejection was almost more than I could take. But, I'm still here so I guess that I since I survived, it's time to try and get the story rewritten and see if I can get it published elsewhere - especially since everyone who read it said that it was a very good story and should have been accepted. Try, try and try again, I guess.

This past August our daughter, Katie, got married to her soul mate, Ryan. They are very happy and saving money so they can move into a bigger place (a studio apartment isn't quite big enough for two) and get their stuff out of storage. Katie was absolutely beautiful and Ryan was quite handsome although how Katie didn't melt in her wedding dress is beyond me (the temp that day was 85 degrees). They went camping at Westport for their honeymoon and hope to someday take one in Italy.

Our son, Kenny, is still living with us while he recovers and gets back on his feet. We also have his little guy, Bayley still with us also. He's a funny little boy and is finally beginning to adjust to Kindergarten - he had a real rough first two weeks. Which should be expected since he's never had to follow strict rules about being quiet and staying still and follow instructions.

Guess that's all for now - think that I'll go make another cup of tea.

Creative Writing

I just started a Creative Writing class at Olympic College - I was real worried about being 60 and going back to college, but so far it's been a good experience. The teacher is a great guy and has an incredible love of words and language. Which is a good thing in someone teaching creative writing. So far there has been lots of reading and writing which are fairly easy for me. My hardest challenge so far is keeping my word count at whatever the lesson is designated to have. As we all know, I get real wordy - when I'm talking or writing. LOL.

We just get our first assignment back today. He said that my opening sentence was very powerful. The assignment was to write a paragraph of a challenging event in our lives (real or imagined) then after that was done we were to open the page and finish the assignment. Rewrite the same paragraph using only one syllable words. Now that was challenging. But he marked on the rewrite "good job" "very powerful rewrite". That made me feel pretty good.

Maybe I'll be able to get back to writing or working on re-writes of my stories. One of my writer friends has told me that as soon as I get it re written, he has found a couple of markets I can send it to. So, I don't want to take too long to get it polished and ready to mail.

In case you're curious, the story is called "Slippage" and it's about a young woman who has finally broken up with an abusive boyfriend, but not before he sends her on a "Virtual Vacation". She enjoyed the vacation and was able to see the ocean, mountains, desert and a big city all in the hour she was hooked up to the machine. The problems begin after she throws "Edward" out of her house. She 'slips' physically, back into the virtual world where everything seems to be dead. This happens enough times that she begins to think that she is going crazy, except that her dad and brothers - even Edward when he shows up at her office - see here disappear. Anyway, each time she goes to the virtual world it is different and she finds or is given talismans of one sort or another (a feather, dust are just a couple). Each time she is back in her real world, she is a stronger person and more able to deal with Edward causing havoc in her life. I won't tell you how it turns out, because I hope to have it published and then you can read it in a book or magazine. Wouldn't that be so cool?

I'm planning to do NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) again this November - I hope to finish the novel I started last November. I'll let you know how that works out.

My tea kettle is whistling for me, so I've got to go. I'll try not to stay away so long before posting something again. Bye