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Showing posts from October, 2010

Celebrating Survival: Breast Cancer Awareness

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A s some of you may know, October is breast cancer awareness month. Why, one might ask, did I wait until nearly the end of the month to post on this subject? I chose the third week of the month to celebrate breast cancer survival. A kind of "I made it to the end" theme. Please take the time to learn a little about breast cancer and how we can all work together in hopes of someday alleviating this nuisance from our world. One can get started at this breast cancer awareness website. We must all remember that breast cancer can affect anyone. Even if you do not get breast cancer yourself, you could be effected by a friend or family member with breast cancer. I'm sure that many of you, at least, know someone that has or has had breast cancer. My Grandmother lost her battle with breast cancer, among other things, a few years ago. My mother-in-law is a breast cancer survivor. Many folks you might have heard of have had breast cancer, including those listed below: Kyli

Shameless Self Promotion

I just received word that the audio addition of a story I had published with Eclectic Flash literary Journal was posted today! The audio story posted is speculative flash fiction titled "The Sentient Soldier." It was narrated and produced by me. Click here for the audio story in mp3 format. The story may take a few seconds or so to buffer as the mp3 is five minutes long.

Murdering Hiccup Girl

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I just read this morning that the girl in Florida once famous for her uncontrollable hiccuping has been charged with first degree murder. This poor soul originally appeared on the RADAR a few years back about the girl who could not stop hiccuping (click for link to original story.) How does incessant hiccuping lead to murder? Well, after reading the related stories, one can understand that her issue is systemic to our entire society. Thinking about it from a psychological aspect, the story becomes clear. Her hiccups were so bad that could not attend school regularly, this led to a poor education and limited employment prospects. Her desire for a means of financial security led to an association with unsavory characters, who misguided her into a life of crime. In desperation, she became involved in a robbery gone wrong. Of course what is really typical of our society today that, instead of just being honest and saying "she messed up and must now pay the price" we look

Introductory Poem

A s many of you know from my previous posts, I've completed a project (well, the draft anyway) and am now editing and shopping for beta readers. The reasoning behind all the insecurity? This is a project far-removed from what I normally write. I will, as editing progresses, post excerpts of this work here before moving them to a permanent page in the tabs above. Meantime, a friend and fellow member of a local writer's group wrote a poem that I just love. I would like to convince her to allow me to use this poem at the beginning of my story if published because it rapidly drills into the very consciousness of my main character. The poem was written by Jennie Fiumefreddo and is posted here (as written) with her permission. Remember that name folks, as you'll likely be seeing it on store bookshelves someday. Succubus Jennie Fiumefreddo   You don't even scream as I begin, Bondage lies in the shackles of sin. The smell of my skin makes your nostrils flare,

Take Me to the River

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... Dip me in the water. A great song that many enjoyed through the stylings of The Talking Heads as recorded by them in 1979. But did you know that this song was recorded in 1976 by the band Foghat? Better still, did you know that it was originally written and recorded by Al Green in 1974? Al Green. Now there was a great Artist. I have a tendency to just dive into certain things, full force. Call it adult ADD or whatever, but I still suffer from stagnation and overplanning/overplotting when it comes to new stories. I suppose I should plow ahead in writing as I do in other areas-that's the way I've always been. Case in point. I remember when I was young, my family enjoyed camping trips. OK, my father enjoyed camping trips and, since I wanted to be the next grizzly Adams, I enjoyed them too. I'm not sure anyone else in the family liked anything about camping except maybe sitting around a campfire listening for Uncle Bob's laugh (although I think he was a second U

A Flawless Rescue

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I was going to post a personal story today of a time in my childhood when I did not listen to my parents and nearly drown in a river. Instead, I was moved by the news to post a short piece on the rescue of the thirty-three miners in Chile. A rescue that was originally supposed to happen by Christmas at the latest, and with little hope that all would survive, ended in great triumph and emotion. I must take time to applaud the Chilean President and his wife for sticking it out to the end and supporting each and every one of the miners as they emerged from the rescue shuttle. The President's wife shed honest tears of joy for every arrival right up to the last. This serves as a testament to the true good will in a position normally fraught with political maneuvering and positioning. All that seemed to be put aside while the entire Chilean country and government stood behind and pushed forward the rescue effort. I know that I normally post about writing and satire, but I thought

He Sailed the Ocean Blue

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On this day we celebrate the great discovery of Christopher Columbus - America. So, of course, I feel I must post some obscure facts about the man, his family, and his discovery. First off, I know that by all the school books you've ever read, you were led to believe that Columbus' journey was a well planned venture of discovery by the British empire to find a new world. In reality, that didn't happen until later. You see, Christopher Columbus was actually charged with finding a sea route to India. He thought it would be quicker to use the an ocean route, therefore, hastening Spain's entry into the lucrative business of spice trading. Only thing is, when he finally gained approval (and funding) from his country's leadership, he launched quickly in fear they would change their minds. He landed in the New World months later and immediately set sail back home to tell his country he had found passage to India. I'm sure that most of you know this fact. I write

Moving in Shadows

I've seen much talk on the blogs lately of how one goes about writing a story. Some folks call themselves "Pantsters" because they start with a character or premise and just start writing. The concept here is that the character and situation will take on a life of their own and tell the story. On the other side are the "Plotters" or "Liners." These folks create their characters and then outline the story they want to tell in as much detail as possible. Almost in polar opposite to a pantster, the plotter knows, right from the beginning, what will happen in the story and what the outcome will be. I suppose that I fall somewhere in between these two extremes. I like to bounce an idea around in my head for quite some time before putting anything down on paper or screen. I then make a list, by character, expressing what major events will take place, what growth my characters will experience and whether their actions are part of the main plot or a subplo