Thanking Life of Brian

Yesterday I was given the opportunity to go to an event in honor of the dog shown above. Brian was obviously abused and neglected to a point that no one expected him to survive. Celebrating one year of rescue yesterday I saw a happy healthy dog that while still shy in a few ways and hesitant to be left alone, is completely reformed from a year ago.

I drove the 5 hours to Sherman Oaks California from my home in Las Vegas for the sake of meeting Brian and even more importantly his owner Dana. She has been a tremendous supporter of my charity book Rescue Me in which Brian appears as well as his rescue organization Leave No Paws Behind. I was shown love and support for coming and she made sure to tell people about my project as well as was happy to share more stories for upcoming editions of my series.

I had so much fun helping out with the party and cannot begin to describe the inspiration of seeing an animal so loved that his entire life and outlook upon it was transformed. I did the return drive last night as well reaching home about 1:30am. It was exhausting but entirely worth it and as someone involved in he creation of my rescue me book it was an honor to be included. It reminded me of how important as well as rewarding it is to be involved actively with those that help in my writing.

I want to thank Dana for allowing me to share this story and being so involved and welcoming to me and my writing and I am looking forward soon to trying to be more involved with additional groups and people that have been a part of my books.

Writing As A Sole Career

I was having a conversation earlier about what I would do if I ever stopped my current day job. Right now I am a part time table games dealer at one of the large casinos along the Las Vegas Strip. It is tremendous fun and something I find exciting as well as intellectually challenging in several ways. It affords me the opportunity to be a performer, challenge my mind with various games and to meet new people every day.

I also have a degree in marketing. I have long considered that I would focus either on promotional marketing campaigns, perhaps in the advertising realm but more likely in an area such as promotional events. I also had a minor in my degree of marketing research. I think it could be very interesting to delve further into research and development for new as well as existing products. It is interesting to me to discover what makes people respond to a particular product or service and to find creative ways to reach new audiences.

I use some of this same interest in my writing as I learn how to reach new readers as well as develop my craft in a way that lets me tell the stories I have burning inside me while at the same time creating worlds that others would want to share. The one thing I thought about the most during my conversation though was that I do not think it would benefit me to leave my job for the pursuit of being a full time writer. I know to many that is absolute insanity but the truth is that I feel devoting myself to it full time would actually cause a decline in my ability to even do it.

I get so many of my ideas from the people I meet and the places I go that it would be detrimental to cut myself off and stay home or in a coffeehouse to focus solely on the task of writing. While yes I could still talk to people, do things like go to the gym and of course attend writing events and groups I think for me personally it is imperative that I have a scheduled set of breaks that pull me out of my own head and force me to concentrate on other topics.

If I was to make it financially to a point that I could stop working at a punch the clock kind of job then it would also have to me substantial enough of an income in order to allow for international travel and the ability to do dedicated volunteer work both domestically and oversees. My opportunities to travel the world as well as the wonderful people that have come into my life in all of the incredible location I have explored have helped shape me and therefore they also have a dramatic effect on my resource well for inspiration.

I feel that if I was to focus only on writing and attending writing related events I would end up creating events just to get me out and meeting new people. Eventually the events would probably not even have to do with the books themselves. In fact if writing were my only job it would probably begin to feel like pressure and cause it to become a burden which would make me pull away from it entirely. It was a shock to realize that the one job I want more than anything could, for me, be a problem if I was to actually achieve me desire.

Has anyone else ever stopped to think about this? What do you think now? Would writing as a sole occupation be a good thing so that I could pour all of myself into my creations and have the dedicated time to attend events and work diligently on new books or should I maintain a second position for the ability to keep the pressure off of my writing and keep me in the flow of the rest of the world for future inspiration?

A Look At Survivor

Domestic violence is such a big topic right now. It has been discussed everywhere from the Grammy awards to the Superbowl and of course has numerous PSAs dedicated to it. It is a topic I am personally connected to being a survivor of an abusive relationship. Below is a short excerpt from Survivor - Jasmine's story which is also the background of a character in Sharing Strength. It is also a look at just a tiny part of the relationship I took years to escape from but helped make me the person I am today.

She stopped as soon as she looked up and saw her man striding toward her. All of the girls outside had paused to take notice of him but it was clear he was on a mission for one girl. Without a word he reached her and grabbed her arm yanking her to the side. It hurt tremendously but she didn’t want to make him feel bad so she bit back the pain.

“I come all the way across town to see you at school and you insult me by flirting with another guy?” He practically hissed the words at her. 

“I wasn’t flirting Tyler, that is my lab partner from chemistry we were just talking about our project. He likes Kelly.” She finally managed to pull her arm free. It was bruised already. 

            

He lightened up when she mentioned that the other boy was into Kelly. The look on his face changed, softened. She backed away unsure of what happened. She covered the bruise pulling down the sleeve of her shirt. He pulled her in for a hug, she hugged back but hesitantly. He leaned down and kissed her making almost every girl standing in the yard jealous to their very core. 

            

She could hear the whispers around her. He pulled her even closer and she melted into him. She forgot about the handprint on her arm for the time being. He bent and told her sweetly to wait right there. He sprinted to his car retrieving an origami rose he had brought for her.

            

When he gave it to her she could smell a sweet smell coming from it. She looked back up at him. He told her it was a perfume that he thought would be nice for her. She didn’t actually like it but she couldn’t disappoint him. She smiled and thanked him holding the rose close to her heart. 

            

The bell rang signaling the end of lunch. Jasmine turned back toward the front doors. She was hungry since she hadn’t gotten the chance to eat with Tyler there. He saw the look on her face and asked what was wrong.

            

“Oh, it’s nothing,” she smiled waving off the concern. “I am just hungry and didn’t get a chance to eat that’s all.”

            

“So you are saying I shouldn’t have come?” He looked hurt. More than that though, he looked pissed. “So it was a waste of time for me to come here and see you? I shouldn’t bother caring? Or maybe you don’t care about me as much as you do stuffing your face!”

            

“I never said anything like that,” Jasmine recoiled from the angry burst. “It was just an observation, nothing important.”

            

Tyler put his hand on her stomach. She looked down and then back at him. “It isn’t like missing a meal or two hurts anyway right? I mean I am in great shape and so I eat to maintain that but some people are happy looking mediocre.”

Dream Love - Example of my older poetry

My heart beats, my breath shudders

At this expressive moment’s pass

My body tingles, my eye lids flutter

I know this dream will never last

As down I lay, and dreams may come

To fill my sleeping mind

Alone I drift, through the unconscious sea

Until home again I find

My moment is now, as it always is

To prove my life so true

For tomorrow may never come

And this my last moment with you

Then let us lay arm in arm

And hold each other tight

Letting passion over take us

We shall make love all through the night

I feel your tender touch

Your lips upon mine

We shall live forever in this moment

We will exist only in this time

Whispered words, a gentle caress

And impassioned thoughts abound

Raising us up in this mystical world

We are soaring high above the ground

But suddenly our moment is over

I feel myself slip away

Morning has come and again I awake

To the light of a new dawning day

But my body does remember

It’s a feeling I cannot deny

Remember me for now my love

Soon again we will try

I will return to bed and dream of you

Again in the fading light

May this new dream last forever

And we stay together always in the night

Kid's Books

For the past few years I have been working diligently on my novels and have learned a great deal from the indie publishing world. I have a number of projects that I am currently writing and if all goes well I will have drafted, edited and submitted eight full length novels by the end of 2015. I of course also have my charity books that mean the world to me and could never begin to express my gratitude for those that support this project.

However there are two more writing related focuses I have that at times fall by the wayside. One I have been involved with since I was in second grade is poetry. It began as just a single four line stanza making sure the last words in lines two and four rhymed. It rarely made sense, it was extremely juvenile but it was mine and and I was proud of it. My poetry has since evolved to contain messages, tell stories and paint emotional pictures from my heart. I share pieces from time to time as I write occasionally with the honest hope that I will gather it all into one collection for possible publication some day.

While I am dabbling in poetry and creating my novels I also have one more passion that I keep somewhat hidden as I research and explore, I write children's books. I have been writing a series that I am hoping to find a publishing company that I can interest in the project. It is for a niche market but I feel with my marketing campaign it could actually reach a rather wide audience. By the end of 2016 I am hoping to have the manuscripts for the entire series ready to present and the full campaign created for presentation.

While speaking with a few members of a writing group recently I had mentioned that I am interested in creating this new market for children's books and it was suggested that I write a kid's storybook about animal rescue that could promote the importance of volunteering, fostering and adopting. Even with all of the projects I have on my to do list I couldn't resist the chance to reach children while at the same time supporting animals.

it got me wondering what types of projects would you not be able to resist adding to your to do list?

Why I Read

When I was a kid I remember how much I loved to curl up with my books getting lost for hours in the carefully woven tales of the master storytellers I collected. Nights when I went to bed, summers, even family gatherings and vacations were all perfect excuses to to hide away in some small cubby and pull out my latest literary adventure.

It shocked me when I would talk to my friends about it and they would look at me like I was crazy. Some of them had parents that knew the importance of reading and they would enforce a one hour per night three times per week schedule of reading (sounds like the forced workout schedule I put on myself now as an adult). They could flip through magazines, skim operator manuals or if so inclined, reach for an actual book. To them the activity I looked forward to was a punishment.

Just recently I was sitting in a  coffee shop a few miles from my house. I go there occasionally to write when the home office is feeling claustrophobic. I had been working for over an hour when I decided to take a break and pulled out the book I was reading. Sipping my cafe mocha sifting through the satirical comedy of Terry Pratchett, a noticed a man walk in and look with disgust at my book. I figured he either wasn't a fan of the author or perhaps genre but after ordering he planted himself directly next to me and began making unhappy noises until I looked up.

Before I could even think of what his concern might be he asked why I was wasting my time reading a book. I answered simply that I enjoyed reading and while I am aware that I could get ebooks now I have always preferred the real thing. He snorted and informed me that in his opinion reading period was a pointless and time consuming activity. Then he opened his computer bag, produced his laptop and set to work on something he appeared extremely dedicated to finishing.

I went back to my book for a while sipping my drink again. When I finishing my coffee I decided I would still be there for another few hours so I got a refill and when I returned to my chair I happened to see he was writing what looked like an essay or blog post. I tapped him on the shoulder startling him so much that his flailing arms nearly cost me my new cup of coffee. He glared at me snapping what could I possibly want. I told him I was just curious what he was working on. His answer blew my mind, he was writing a novel.

I was baffled. I man that just sniped at me for reading was creating a book. I tried to ask what it was about but he refused to answer. I inquired if he had ever published anything and mentioned that I myself am an author. He laughed and said that I was clearly one of "those kinds of authors" motioning to my book once again. He had apparently had enough of my questions though because he packed up and left. I still don't know what "those kinds of authors" meant but I am even more lost about a person that would want to be a writer but now read.

Reading helped me develop a vocabulary, expanded my understanding of various cultures and locations, and has introduced me to countless new friends. I have taken adventures with these characters. I have laughed and cried at their side. Most significantly though is the fact that reading books has inspired me to create my own work that I can now share with the world and perhaps someday something I write will be a spark for an up and coming writer like I was and still continue to be.

Plot Bunnies

I was talking to a fellow writer online the other day about plot bunnies. It occurred to me through the conversation that while it is a commonly used phrase not everyone knows what exactly a plot bunny is. Wikiwriso defines plot bunnies as story ideas that pop up and refuse to go away until they are written.

Recently I was taken hostage by just such an innocent looking creature. While I am already in the midst of an epic battle with four different works I happened across a post from the nanowrimo group on Facebook. A strange occurrence happened to another writer that she found disconcerting and there was a comment looking that it would be a great plot bunny. Normally I sill stop and pet the bunny, offer a carrot or two and be on my way however lurking within the gentle fur of this particular rabbit was a story so insistent that it took control.

I tried to write my current book Sharing Strength but the characters were drown out by a constant nattering for my attention. I went to work at my day job but there were reminds of the plot all around. I began work on the revision of Breathe yet the changes I made weren't flowing with the rest of the story. I opened a new document to take some notes on things to research for editing and revision on Welcome to Syn but my hands were hijacked and I was forced to create an opening scene and outline for a thriller.

I have always enjoyed reading suspense and thriller books but it is not a genre I have ever written because I do not feel comfortable doing so. I am more of a drama and romance kind of girl with a definite flair for the YA style books. Now however I am constantly being hunted through the forest of my mind by a character shooting plot points at me like a barrage of bullets. She even went so far as to wake me up from a dead sleep last night in order to continue adding details to my outline.

I am beginning to understand why some writers have been known to drink. It quiets the voices briefly and allows the writer time to organize the existing thoughts. I found today that a difficult exercise regiment can give the same relief pushing your body's needs and focus in front of your brain. It is a very strong push to maintain my fitness goals, not just for my health but also for some peace of mind.

Since I have resigned to see where this story goes, though i the order it was conceptualized, the characters seem to have calmed down for now and the deceivingly innocent little plot bunny has hopped back to its hole in the ground to wait for another time when I feel I am caught up. If I am able to complete all current works by the end of the year, including the ones with waiting files, I shall have produced eight novels and four charity books in 2015. They may not all be edited, revised and submitted but I have faith they can at least be drafted and ready for the next stages. This will be a great year if from now on the bunnies staying their cages.