Story Land Jamboree

 I love it when I meet someone with whom I relate.  There is a lady at the church where I attend. I don't know if she would want me to mention her publicly so I will simply call her "V." She has the sharpest wit. She is always there to help with church projects, even when she is moving slowly with her cane.  There are days when I can tell she's in pain but she just smiles and keeps on trucking with her humor intact. Recently, we had a church event and we're all rushing around and she had volunteered for a couple of duties that I knew would be taxing for her.  "How are you making it, V?" I asked her.  "Thank God for pain medicine. That's all I can say," she replied, dryly.  "Amen, Sister."  I was eating a quick breakfast and had brought my own meds to take and was spilling them onto the table before the event began.  "If your bringing drugs, you had better have brought enough to share," she joked.  I just love her. She...

Good afternoon, Members of The Tribe,  I hope you all enjoyed your Valentine's day. I enjoyed mine -- I really enjoyed walking around at work and randomly yelling, "Happy V.D., everyone!"   There were some laughs ... and some grimaces ... Hey, not everyone has a sense of humor.   My husband, who is a wonderful poet, wrote me a poem for Valentine's Day and I made a special dinner. We topped it off by watching the RUSH documentary, "Beyond the Lighted Stage." It was actually a really happy, fun little evening.  You all know I may babble about my personal life, but sooner or later, I'm going to come around and talk about something to do with creativity.  I think it is through these our art -  our creativity - that we connect with others in the human experience and we also learn about ourselves. Well, we will learn if we are Tribal, that is. (**See previous blogs to know what I mean by being "Tribal.") Do you know when I started becomin...

Hello to all fellow members of the Tribe,  I hope you all made it through another week with the daily grind and still managed to eek out some creative moments to nourish your souls.  As you all are well aware ... (or all five of you that read this blog -ha!) this blog has evolved into a weekly discussion about my creative meanderings. It is my hope that you all can relate ... that you'll see my struggles and humor and know exactly what I am talking about.  I have heard so many writers refer to the ideas that come to them as "voices" in their heads. I can really relate to that. I have always thought of it that way, too.  Here's how the process works for me: It starts with a vision - usually just a scene.  For instance, In my fantasy short story, "Viridis," I had an image of this magical place where the gods reside. A place where humans couldn't view it except through special glasses because our fragile minds could not handle what we were really ...

Good morning all members of The Tribe,  I hope your Christmas holiday (or whatever holiday you choose to celebrate this time of year) has been a good one and not the cause of too much anxiety. If you DID have some awkward moments, then utilize it as rich fodder for use in your writing endeavors. Yeah, I mean the stories about the weird, confirmed-bachelor uncle who likes to sit too close to you and talk -- in excruciating detail -- about his taxidermy hobby, his knife collection, his daily bleach bath, and his never ending hunger for Jello. Go ahead and chronicle the exact moment when you realized Uncle Weirdo fits a serial killer's profile, then ease yourself politely away from his presence and run to your notebook or computer and begin your story. I was recently asked by a new reader: "What do you mean when you call your readers 'The Tribe?'" I explain this periodically. Many years ago, I noticed a certain awareness level in people. Not everyone has it.  ...

Good Evening, Members of The Tribe,  I hope you are all living the lives of which you have always dreamed. I have been a busy little thing. I have been working on a first draft of my novel, The Gifted, and anticipate it will be completed by January 2015. Publication? Well .... (scuffs toe at the dirt) ... we'll see. I will have a LOT of polishing to do.  Since my last post oh-so-long-ago, I have moved into a new home, begun a new job with a new company, and have made some life-changing choices.  For the past few years, I was excited when I managed to create a word or two. I wrote lots of poetry because it was an easier form for me to enjoy -- creatively speaking -- than my fiction. Yeah, I know, I know ... poetry is a noble art form and all that. I won't argue. I love poetry. I love writing and reading it. Jeez! Calm down ... It's just that I have always wanted to be a fiction writer. A novelist.  For too long, I have not been living up to who I...

I LOVE making New Year's resolutions. I have oft documented how much I enjoy the idea of a fresh start. So many people I know never make a resolution because they know they never intend to keep it. In fact, I have had people actually get a little hostile toward me whenever I ask them if they are going to make a New Year's resolution. They often provide me with some snarky responses. Forget that crap! I say GO FOR IT! Let's all just take a childlike leap of faith, throw caution to the wind, and just resolve the heck out of 2014!! I saw one of my Facebook friend's posts this morning. It was a cartoon that basically stated if you are going to fail, then fail BIG!  Let's just pull out all the cliches and dust them off. Let's paint 2014 Town red, take no prisoners, let's party like it's 1999, and let's blow 2014's doors off!  I will believe I can do it! Will it last more than 24 hours? Um. Maybe, maybe not. But, until the resolution is broken, t...

With little or no preamble this evening, I thought I would just let go with a stream of consciousness rant I penned earlier today.  I have found that silence has a unique presence. We all need daily doses of it to inoculate ourselves from being afraid of it. We crave sound these days because it is a distraction. We don't want to think and feel, or act upon, all the crap we see going on around us. If we spend some time in silence each day, we just might begin to loosen the cogs in our cognitive functions -- we might start THINKING for ourselves and awaken from our mind-numbing routines of work, home, sleep, eat, gossip, passive entertainments -- usually of the frivolous sort -- and DO something important. The simple act of reading a book, or taking a walk, or visiting a friend and having a real conversation, has become overwhelming for so many of us. I think the thing that frustrates me the most about humanity these days (and I speak for myself, as well) is the spectacular was...

Greetings to The Tribe! I hope you all enjoyed your Halloween festivities and have made a smooth transition to November as we journey toward winter. Lately, I have taken up exercising on a regular basis for perhaps the first time in my life since before forced to take physical education in school. I have been told that the best way to ensure that you will adapt exercise regularly to your lifestyle is to make sure it is something you enjoy. That's funny. To me, "exercise" and "enjoyment" are mutually exclusive. Much to my surprise, I found that there is a form of exercise that I actually -- GASP -- enjoy. I have taken up swimming. I have found that, in the pool, I am graceful. In the pool, I am at least 30 years younger and the boundaries aging has forced upon me no longer exist. So, I thought ... well, now I am exercising my body - why not my mind, as well? My little sister, Betty Jo, gave me a book recently called, Do The Work by Steven Pressfield. My ...

She was a just a baby herself. In love, and looking to get away from a domineering mother, she saw her future in marriage at the age of 16. She had her first child -- a daughter (me) -- at the age of 18. Three more daughters followed later. My mother is an extraordinary woman. She is far more extraordinary than she knows. She has always had self-esteem issues. (Sometimes I see a lot of myself in her, in that regard.) She constantly underestimates her value in the eyes of those who love her. She gave up her youth for her girls. However, she did not give up her dreams. She was intelligent and had a love of medicine and science. When I was in high school, she got a grant to go to school to be a nurse. I remember when she got the news of her grant. She stood in our small kitchen area and told us the news with tears in her eyes. It was the fulfillment of a dream and the beginning of a fabulous nursing career. Even though she is now retired, I still run into people who recognize her name...

Good afternoon! I hope all members of The Tribe are enjoying their Labor Day weekend. Well, Dear Readers, I am in the middle of a HUGE lifestyle change and at times it is so hard! I have had a weight problem for a long time -- and it's been worse since I have gotten off steroids for my illness. I am 47 years old. I like to think I eat well ... but I do like too much junk. I have tried different diets. Heck, I've been on a diet most of my adult life. It never really lasts more than a couple days or so before I'm absolutely stark raving mad from hunger and deprivation and then I pretty much eat everything in sight. It is then that I give up and just eat what I want until I feel I have the emotional strength to try another diet. I had given up hope. Until now. I am proud to say that I am on Day 7 of a healthier eating plan -- a plan that is slow carb, gluten free, and a general whole foods approach -- and have begun exercising. I have an illness that is degenerative an...

So ... I've been hearing all about Stephen King's "Under the Dome." I also had read the ebook on Kindle. I'm excited about his telling of the tale, BUT his idea is not entirely new. I had a short story accepted for publication back in 2003 ... it was published online in Twilight Times. My writing has VASTLY improved (so, if you go read the story, then please accept my humble apologies for errors in grammar) ... but the story was pretty good I think. You can still find the story online (under my old name), it's called "City Limits." Check it out if you're interested: http://www.twilighttimes.com/jan03/la_StoryHoury19.html Just sayin'.  I eventually want to turn my City Limits idea into a novel ...  Have a happy Independence Day!!!  Hugs to you all,  L.A.

Well, hello again, Dear Writer,  We really have to stop meeting like this. People are going to talk. Oh, well, I'll throw caution to the wind ... We need our time together and I really, really like spending time with you. After all, we have a lot in common, don't we? Recently, I had ANOTHER vampire poem accepted for publication. The poem is called, "Lily." It's been so long since I have had so much accepted so close together that I am just about ready to turn cartwheels. (Whoa! THAT would be a sight!) This thought led me to an important question that someone once asked me regarding my writing.  "What is YOUR definition of writing success?"  This is so personal for each writer and it can change from one season of a writer's life to another. I am living proof of that. When I was in my twenties, I completely imagined myself as a female version of Stephen King. Um ... that was until I realized that I do NOT write like he does. I was in my thirtie...

Hello, Dear Reader ... (or Dear Writer -- whichever is the case),  Before I launch into my latest writing sermon, please let me make an announcement! All this preaching I have done about sitting down and WRITING has paid off! It has been YEARS since I finished such a volume of work and recently I have submitted a short story and it was accepted for publication last week!! The story is called, "The Longest Season," and you will find it this summer in Alban Lake Publishing's "Outposts of Beyond 2013." The editor, Mr. Lake, will also be publishing my poem, "Cap'n Jones," as a reprint in that same publication.  Then ... THIS week ... I had another poem accepted for publication! It was a vampire poem called, "Forever" and it will be published in "Moonshadow: A Collection of Vampire Poetry." I also submitted a second poem, but I do not know if he will accept that one yet.  Needless to say, I am more motivated than EVER to get so...

So, I struggle every single day with the strong desire to be lazy. Every. Single. Day. I have all these delusions of grandeur in which I am the star in my own Successful Author Nationally Televised Interview fantasy. (It's one of my favorites.) I am interviewed about where I get my ideas and how did I get so brilliant ... and so on. (**Pauses here to indulge in the fantasy because now it's on my mind.)  Where was I? Oh, yeah. Laziness. Okay, to be fair, I am really quite hard-working BUT my hard work is usually motivated by things such as when someone is paying me, when I am being chased by zombies (or rabid political activists - no matter whether they come running at me from the left or the right), when being forced out of guilt, OR by a deadline.  Passive activities are usually my activities of choice if left to my own devices. There are things in which I love the end results, but do not like the work involved to get there. These "things" include exercising and ...