Been a slow month for me for blogging, and for that I apologize. While I thought that being temporarily unemployed would mean more time for writing, it hasn't quite done that. Instead, the stress of the job search and preparing to move and so on have done quite the opposite.
That said, I'm pleased as heck to present you with an interview I just did for Paige's (ElectivelyPaige) blog. No, I won't reproduce it here; there's no point having the exact same bits in the exact same order in two spots of the blogosphere.
I will, however, be happy to linky:
http://electivelypaige.blogspot.com/2014/06/interview-stephen-h-king.html
Please, go read. It's one of my better interviews, I think. Paige asked some good, fun questions.
- TOSK
Showing posts with label Interview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Interview. Show all posts
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Featured at Fire & Ice Today
So today I'm over with the great folks at Fire & Ice. I have an interview posted on their "Fantastic Indie Authors" page, with some all-new answers to first-time questions, and Prophecy: Elf Queen of Kiirajanna is also featured on their book tour page.
Here's the interview: http://fantasticindieauthors.wordpress.com/2014/05/22/interview-with-author-stephen-h-king-prophecy-fantasy/
In your own words, please describe your book.
One of my reviewers said the book is like Princess Diaries meets Elfquest, and I like that description, but there’s one additional piece that that description is missing. I grew up in the Southern United States, see, and I have always cherished the spunk and little bits of attitude displayed by folks from there, and so I wrote that into the main character. So I’ll just append a little: it’s like Princess Diaries meets Elfquest meets Dukes of Hazzard.
Woo hoo! Who wouldn't want to read Princess Diaries meets Elfquest meets Dukes of Hazzard, right?
Featured book post: http://fireandicebooktours.wordpress.com/2014/05/22/featured-fantasy-book-prophecy-by-stephen-h-king-elf-queen-of-kiirajanna/
So please, go and enjoy. I'll return in the next few days for my regularly-scheduled stuff.
- TOSK
Here's the interview: http://fantasticindieauthors.wordpress.com/2014/05/22/interview-with-author-stephen-h-king-prophecy-fantasy/
In your own words, please describe your book.
One of my reviewers said the book is like Princess Diaries meets Elfquest, and I like that description, but there’s one additional piece that that description is missing. I grew up in the Southern United States, see, and I have always cherished the spunk and little bits of attitude displayed by folks from there, and so I wrote that into the main character. So I’ll just append a little: it’s like Princess Diaries meets Elfquest meets Dukes of Hazzard.
Woo hoo! Who wouldn't want to read Princess Diaries meets Elfquest meets Dukes of Hazzard, right?
Featured book post: http://fireandicebooktours.wordpress.com/2014/05/22/featured-fantasy-book-prophecy-by-stephen-h-king-elf-queen-of-kiirajanna/
So please, go and enjoy. I'll return in the next few days for my regularly-scheduled stuff.
- TOSK
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Interview With A.B. Westrick
Boy, do I have a treat for everybody today! I know, I know, I've missed a few days of blogging recently, but that's only because I was saving up for something really, really cool.
Today: an interview! And not just any interview, either. It's an interview with A.B. Westrick--Anne, to everybody in the James River Writers. Way back in October of 2011, a fledgling-author TOSK attended my first writing conference, the JRW Conference at the Library of Virginia in Richmond. A terrible newbie, I wasn't sure which sessions to attend, but it turned out that the ones I selected were just about perfect for where I was in my writing life at the time.
One session I attended was "One Novel's Journey," a panel discussion featuring a moderator, an author, and the author's faculty advisor for her MFA program. Anne was the author, and I found her story both fascinating and compelling. You can read my session notes here: http://theotherstephenkingonwriting.blogspot.com/2011/10/one-novels-journey-session.html
Next week, the novel the session was about will finally hit the shelves, and I'm incredibly excited to be able to talk to Anne about it just prior to the novel's release, now at the other end of the publishing journey from the October morning.
Without further discussion, here goes:
INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR A.B. Westrick
Today I’m interviewing A.B. Westrick. Her debut novel, Brotherhood, is historical fiction and will be released on Sept. 12, 2013, by Viking (Penguin Books for Young Readers).
Please tell us a little bit about your book.
Brotherhood is the story of a fourteen year-old boy, Shadrach, who joins the Ku Klux Klan when it forms as a brotherhood just after the Civil War. By day, he apprentices with a tailor and sneaks off for reading lessons with Rachel, a freed slave, at her school for African-American children. By night he runs with the Klan. When his two worlds collide, he finds himself trapped between his pledge to the Klan and what he knows is right.
What is the book’s genre?
Historical fiction for young readers (middle school and up).
Is this the only genre in which you write?
I only write for young readers, but I don’t write historical fiction exclusively. The period of Reconstruction is the setting for Brotherhood, and in the book I’m now drafting, the time period is contemporary.
What is it about this genre that interests you?
I love writing for young readers! I like to remember what it felt like to be thirteen or fourteen or fifteen—a time when you’re making sense of the world and finding your place in it. I choose issues that interest me as an adult, and write about them from the point of view of a teenager. I love the passion teens bring to the world, and their sometimes irreverent view of the status quo. I especially love the way they question authority. Writing for young readers makes me a better adult.
How did you come up with this latest plot?
The plot in Brotherhood grew organically from my characters. I started writing scenes from the point of view of a boy who was stuck in some pretty tough circumstances (an impoverished family, the defeated South, widowed mother, bully of an older brother). Once I had a complete first draft, I restructured the novel so that a late-occurring scene (the arrest of his brother) would appear first, providing a motivation for Shad to head out into the world (he sets off on a mission to get his brother released from jail). Once I had this clear desire-line in place, I wove in the backstory, revealing Shad’s complicity in his brother’s arrest, and the many ways that this boy who had been such a good boy got caught up in some very bad things.
I need to give a shout-out to author Kathi Appelt, http://kathiappelt.com/, for the suggestion that I restructure the novel in the way that I did. Kathi was my faculty advisor in the MFA program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. When I eventually got a contract on Brotherhood, my editor at Viking also offered suggestions, which I used to make further improvements. But I don’t think my editor would have acquired the manuscript in the first place, had she seen the less-compelling pre-Kathi version in which the story was laid out chronologically.
What is your writing routine like?
I write fiction six days a week, from about 6 AM until early afternoon, eating breakfast and lunch at my desk. Late afternoons, evenings and Sundays, I write everything other than fiction: blog posts, email, etc. On some days, circumstances force me to change this routine, but I stick with it, as best I can.
What is the most rewarding thing about having finished this latest book?
I’m thrilled that I finally have a novel coming into the world! I’ve been writing fiction for so long that friends and neighbors have stopped asking when I’d have a book coming out. It took years to hone the craft and get my writing ready for publication. The learning curve is steep, the rejection letters plentiful, and when you finally get a book contract (in my case, from a traditional publisher, which was my goal), the feeling is very, very sweet.
What’s next in the writing queue?
I’m working on another novel—this one with a fifteen year-old violinist at a summer music camp. So far I’ve written about twenty-five chapters, but only two or three of these will make it into the finished novel. I write scenes to get to know my characters, but until a character does something to set another character off, I don’t have a plot. Right now I have the beginning of a new plot, and I’ll keep writing scenes to see what these characters do. The story arc that emerges with the fastest pace, I’ll keep, and the rest I’ll throw out.
BOOK BLURB
Newbery Award-winning author Richard Peck describes Brotherhood this way: “A boy struggling to come of age in a ruined world reaches in all the wrong directions for being and belonging in this story that uncovers a trove of hidden history.”
AUTHOR BIO
A. B. (Anne Bryan) Westrick grew up in Pennsylvania and later moved with her husband to Virginia where she spent hours walking Richmond’s brick streets, wondering how her Southern ancestors had fared during and after the Civil War. Her first novel, Brotherhood (Viking 2013), a Junior Library Guild selection, grew from those wonderings. She has been a teacher, paralegal, literacy volunteer, administrator, and coach for teams from Odyssey of the Mind to the Reading Olympics. A graduate of Stanford University and Yale Divinity School, she received an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2011. She and her family live near Richmond, VA.
Book Trailer!
View the wonderfully-done book trailer (53 seconds long) here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9stIGHhh3C8
How can we buy your book?
Before Sept. 12, it’s available for pre-order, and you can choose from many booksellers listed on my website here: http://abwestrick.com/order-brotherhood-online. From September 12 forward, it’s available wherever books are sold.
And now, some fun questions:
1) Favorite author? So many! When I was younger, I’d have said John Fowles or Ken Follett; nowadays I’d have to say John Green.
2) Favorite character in a book you’ve read? Ahhh… again, there are so many! I just finished a book with a character I loved: the protagonist (Ari) in Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
3) Favorite vacation? Asheville, North Carolina
4) Coffee or tea? Coffee (with a splash of half & half, and a sprinkle of cinnamon)
5) Favorite color? Green
6) Favorite dessert? Cheesecake
Today: an interview! And not just any interview, either. It's an interview with A.B. Westrick--Anne, to everybody in the James River Writers. Way back in October of 2011, a fledgling-author TOSK attended my first writing conference, the JRW Conference at the Library of Virginia in Richmond. A terrible newbie, I wasn't sure which sessions to attend, but it turned out that the ones I selected were just about perfect for where I was in my writing life at the time.
One session I attended was "One Novel's Journey," a panel discussion featuring a moderator, an author, and the author's faculty advisor for her MFA program. Anne was the author, and I found her story both fascinating and compelling. You can read my session notes here: http://theotherstephenkingonwriting.blogspot.com/2011/10/one-novels-journey-session.html
Next week, the novel the session was about will finally hit the shelves, and I'm incredibly excited to be able to talk to Anne about it just prior to the novel's release, now at the other end of the publishing journey from the October morning.
Without further discussion, here goes:
INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR A.B. Westrick
Today I’m interviewing A.B. Westrick. Her debut novel, Brotherhood, is historical fiction and will be released on Sept. 12, 2013, by Viking (Penguin Books for Young Readers).
Please tell us a little bit about your book.
Brotherhood is the story of a fourteen year-old boy, Shadrach, who joins the Ku Klux Klan when it forms as a brotherhood just after the Civil War. By day, he apprentices with a tailor and sneaks off for reading lessons with Rachel, a freed slave, at her school for African-American children. By night he runs with the Klan. When his two worlds collide, he finds himself trapped between his pledge to the Klan and what he knows is right.
What is the book’s genre?
Historical fiction for young readers (middle school and up).
Is this the only genre in which you write?
I only write for young readers, but I don’t write historical fiction exclusively. The period of Reconstruction is the setting for Brotherhood, and in the book I’m now drafting, the time period is contemporary.
What is it about this genre that interests you?
I love writing for young readers! I like to remember what it felt like to be thirteen or fourteen or fifteen—a time when you’re making sense of the world and finding your place in it. I choose issues that interest me as an adult, and write about them from the point of view of a teenager. I love the passion teens bring to the world, and their sometimes irreverent view of the status quo. I especially love the way they question authority. Writing for young readers makes me a better adult.
How did you come up with this latest plot?
The plot in Brotherhood grew organically from my characters. I started writing scenes from the point of view of a boy who was stuck in some pretty tough circumstances (an impoverished family, the defeated South, widowed mother, bully of an older brother). Once I had a complete first draft, I restructured the novel so that a late-occurring scene (the arrest of his brother) would appear first, providing a motivation for Shad to head out into the world (he sets off on a mission to get his brother released from jail). Once I had this clear desire-line in place, I wove in the backstory, revealing Shad’s complicity in his brother’s arrest, and the many ways that this boy who had been such a good boy got caught up in some very bad things.
I need to give a shout-out to author Kathi Appelt, http://kathiappelt.com/, for the suggestion that I restructure the novel in the way that I did. Kathi was my faculty advisor in the MFA program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. When I eventually got a contract on Brotherhood, my editor at Viking also offered suggestions, which I used to make further improvements. But I don’t think my editor would have acquired the manuscript in the first place, had she seen the less-compelling pre-Kathi version in which the story was laid out chronologically.
What is your writing routine like?
I write fiction six days a week, from about 6 AM until early afternoon, eating breakfast and lunch at my desk. Late afternoons, evenings and Sundays, I write everything other than fiction: blog posts, email, etc. On some days, circumstances force me to change this routine, but I stick with it, as best I can.
What is the most rewarding thing about having finished this latest book?
I’m thrilled that I finally have a novel coming into the world! I’ve been writing fiction for so long that friends and neighbors have stopped asking when I’d have a book coming out. It took years to hone the craft and get my writing ready for publication. The learning curve is steep, the rejection letters plentiful, and when you finally get a book contract (in my case, from a traditional publisher, which was my goal), the feeling is very, very sweet.
What’s next in the writing queue?
I’m working on another novel—this one with a fifteen year-old violinist at a summer music camp. So far I’ve written about twenty-five chapters, but only two or three of these will make it into the finished novel. I write scenes to get to know my characters, but until a character does something to set another character off, I don’t have a plot. Right now I have the beginning of a new plot, and I’ll keep writing scenes to see what these characters do. The story arc that emerges with the fastest pace, I’ll keep, and the rest I’ll throw out.
Newbery Award-winning author Richard Peck describes Brotherhood this way: “A boy struggling to come of age in a ruined world reaches in all the wrong directions for being and belonging in this story that uncovers a trove of hidden history.”
AUTHOR BIO
A. B. (Anne Bryan) Westrick grew up in Pennsylvania and later moved with her husband to Virginia where she spent hours walking Richmond’s brick streets, wondering how her Southern ancestors had fared during and after the Civil War. Her first novel, Brotherhood (Viking 2013), a Junior Library Guild selection, grew from those wonderings. She has been a teacher, paralegal, literacy volunteer, administrator, and coach for teams from Odyssey of the Mind to the Reading Olympics. A graduate of Stanford University and Yale Divinity School, she received an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2011. She and her family live near Richmond, VA.
Book Trailer!
View the wonderfully-done book trailer (53 seconds long) here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9stIGHhh3C8
How can we buy your book?
Before Sept. 12, it’s available for pre-order, and you can choose from many booksellers listed on my website here: http://abwestrick.com/order-brotherhood-online. From September 12 forward, it’s available wherever books are sold.
And now, some fun questions:
1) Favorite author? So many! When I was younger, I’d have said John Fowles or Ken Follett; nowadays I’d have to say John Green.
2) Favorite character in a book you’ve read? Ahhh… again, there are so many! I just finished a book with a character I loved: the protagonist (Ari) in Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
3) Favorite vacation? Asheville, North Carolina
4) Coffee or tea? Coffee (with a splash of half & half, and a sprinkle of cinnamon)
5) Favorite color? Green
6) Favorite dessert? Cheesecake
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Interview with Sean E. Thomas
INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR Sean E.
Thomas
Today
I’m interviewing Sean E. Thomas, a long-time friend of mine from Alaska. He and I met through his son, Bob, who was one of my I.T. students. At Bob's graduation, SE and I became good friends. Sean's
latest work, Deadly Rites, is a Mystery and was released in on November 1, 2012.
Please tell us a little bit about
your book. Deadly
Rites is the ninth novel in the Alaska State Trooper Robert Sable Mysteries. In
DR, Priests are being crucified on inverted crosses in Alaskan churches. On the surface, it appears priests are
killing priests. As Sergeant Robert
Sable starts his investigation, he finds a similar trend across the lower 48
states. It seems that Alaska
now has another serial killer. Sable
must sort out the suspects and clues to find the killer.
What is the book’s genre? Mystery.
Is this the only genre in which you
write? Now, yes. In the past, I have written articles on
Copy Machine Management, published in Association of Records Managers and
Administrators International Quarterly circa 1992.
What is it about this genre that
interests you? It
holds many avenues for new plots and ideas.
It allows me to use my extensive background in the military, chemistry,
analysis and deductive reasoning.
How did you come up with this latest
plot? From the front
pages of newspapers. Some like Lost
Legion and Dark Shaman came from my nightmares/myths and legends. Roman Legions made it as far as China (Qin)—Why not Alaska? Dark
Shaman came from the myth that one could gain a shaman’s power by drinking
from his skull. Dark Gold came from the myth that an Army Quarter Master aircraft carrying
tons of gold crashed on an Alaskan glacier. Stalker and Silent Killer
covered factious serial killers (similar to Ted Bundy and Robert Hansen). And Alaska
Dutchman is a story of a mine of myth and legend. In June 2013, Frozen Treasure merges fiction with history on the Spanish
exploration of Alaska.
What is your writing routine like? Usually, I write every
day, sometimes all day.
What is the most rewarding thing
about having finished this latest book? It
feels great. Yet, I can’t get really
excited because the work isn’t over. Then
novel has to be edited, reworked and after it’s sent to the publisher, they
make changes. Then the galleys need to
be edited. But when the novel is in hard
copy and in my hands, I feel pride. I
love to feel the cover, the paper and enjoy leafing through the pages. That
pride is short lived. The work has only
begun—promoting the novel and working on the next one.
What’s next in the writing queue? Blood
on the Moon (tentative title/my eleventh novel). It’s about murder/money and the Iditarod sled
dog race. Next, Priestess will be Wicca and murder.
Recently, I have had to set them aside. I needed to revise/edit my first four novels
for conversion to e-formats. My current
publisher is picking them up. When I
first started I had new author-itis—lots of descriptive prose and long
dialog. I’ve punched up the dialog and
made the prose concise. So far Dark Shaman and Dark Gold have been accepted.
Dark Project and Dark Project have been revised and are
awaiting a final edit before going to my publisher.
BOOK BLURB
Deadly Rites
(November 2012). Priests are being
crucified on inverted crosses in Alaskan churches. On the surface, it appears priests are
killing priests. As Sergeant Robert
Sable starts his investigation, he finds a similar trend across the lower 48
states. It seems that Alaska
now has another serial killer. Sable
must sort out the suspects and clues to find the killer.
Alaskan
Dutchman (September
2012). A prospector’s body is found near the railroad tracks south of Fairbanks. At the miner’s cabin, Alaska State Trooper
Sergeant Robert Sable finds two bodies slumped over a table in pools of
blood. While investigating the crime
scene, he finds several hundred thousand dollars in gold nuggets hidden under
the base of the prospector’s fireplace.
Rumors fly that the prospector had found the Dutchman, a mine of myth,
legend and a curse. Over the last
hundred years, many men had died trying to find the mine. Those who did find it ended up dead, and the
mine would be lost again. The killers
close in on the mine’s location, and as Sable follows the clues, they lead him
closer to the killers and mortal danger.
Stalker
(May 2012). More dangerous than Theodore
Bundy and Robert Hansen combined, a serial killer calling himself Anubis stalks
the cities and highways of Alaska.
This killer leaves no fingerprints, fibers or DNA. He hides behind numerous stolen
identities. Now, the stalker has
murdered a Seattle
police detective. Alaska State Trooper
Robert Sable and his team must find the killer before he strikes again.
Silent Killer
(October 2011). Alaska State Trooper
Robert Sable investigates a serial killer who uses stealth and carbon monoxide
to kill alumni from the Chugach
High School class of 2000
and their families. So far, all the
deaths have been ruled accidental. It
appears the killer is exacting revenge for bullying and abuse in high
school. The killer leaves minimal
evidence, only a tiny smiley face with the number 2000. Since Sable’s wife is a 2000 graduate, she may
be next on the killer’s list. Sable and
his team must catch the killer before he strikes again.
Lost Legion-
(August 2011). Pulled from his
honeymoon, Alaska State Trooper Robert Sable investigates the murders of the
governor’s brother and the brother’s friends.
Clutched in the dead men’s hands are gold coins imprinted with the
likeness of Augustus Caesar. As Sable
follows the clues, he realizes a myth that Roman soldiers settled in Alaska more than 2,000
years ago may be true. Closing in, he
comes face to face with the architect of the murders, a village chieftain who
is a descendent of the Romans. The
descendents have set into motion a plot to take over the halls of power in Washington, D.C. Even the current Alaskan governor unknowingly
is being used as a pawn to achieve this aim.
It is up to Sable to foil the plot and put the chief and his fellow
conspirators behind bars.
AUTHOR BIO
A
longtime Alaska resident with a Native
American-Finnish heritage, Sean E. Thomas graduated in 1970 from Alaska Methodist
University with a
bachelor of arts in chemistry. He
attended graduate school at the University
of Idaho for two years
studying organic chemistry, then served eight years as an Army officer, working
with missiles and laser weapon systems.
He later went into federal service, working in different endeavors, and
retired in 2006. He is married to his
college sweetheart Doris and has one son Robert. He published four novels between 2002 and
2003. They are now being converted to
electronic formats. He had a five year
break in writing because of congestive heart failure and ablation therapy to
correct some of it. After recovering, he
started writing again. His five newest
novels were published fall 2011 through fall 2012. A sixth new novel, Frozen Treasure, will be out in June 2013. Other novels are in the works. An avid boater, he has been a Coast Guard
Auxiliary volunteer for more than 36 years, teaching boating safety and
supporting search and rescue programs. Member: Sisters in Crime (SinC), Pacific Northwest
Writers Assoc., Alaska Professional Communicators, National Federation of Press
Women (NFPW), Alaska 49 Writers, Association of Alaskan Writers and Alaska
Writers Guild.
How can we buy your book? All my novels are available on Amazon,
Barnes and Noble and Whiskey Creek Press.
Amazon Authors Central: http://www.amazon.com/Sean-E.-Thomas/e/B0055FFD3E/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1342324133&sr=1-2-ent
Robert Sable Mystery Novels with WCP:
Lost
Legion Aug 2011 E-ISBN:
978-1-61160-038-4
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-61160-271-5
Silent
Killer Oct 2011 E-ISBN: 978-1-61160-044-5
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-61160-292-0
Stalker May 2012 E-ISBN: 978-1-61160-242-5
Paperback ISBN:978-1-61160-358-3
Alaskan
Dutchman Sept 2012 E-ISBN: 978-1-61160-318-7
Paperback ISBN:
978-1-61160-532-7
Deadly
Rites Nov 2012 E-ISBN: 978-1-61160-330-9
Paperback
ISBN:ISBN-13: 978-1611605440
Frozen Treasure June, 2013 E-ISBN: 978-1-61160-603-4
Paperback ISBN:
Dark
Project 2002 ISBN-13: 978-0741410825
Dark
Soul 2002 ISBN-13: 978-0741410078
Dark Shaman 2004 ISBN-13: 978-1553957874 (WCP Spring 2014)
Dark
Gold 2003 ISBN-13: 978-0741409119 (WCP Dec 2013)
And
now, some fun questions:
1)
Favorite author? Robert Parker. His
novels are straight forward and no nonsense--noir. I used to like Dean R. Koontz—his earlier
works but then he started using lots of prose with little substance—he became
too wordy. Stephen King has a similar
problem.
2)
Favorite character in a book you’ve
read? Spenser and Jessie Stone. These
characters are thinking men. They plan
their traps and they use teams to back them up.
Yjey neve walk in to traps alone.
3)
Favorite vacation? Hawaii. When the temperatures are at 30 below zero is
always great to get away from cabin fever, thaw out and enjoy the warm
weather. Also it means not wearing lots
of clothes.
4)
Coffee or tea? Coffee. I love coffee in all its forms. I like to have a pot or two of coffee while I
write. I also like flavored
creamers—coconut, cinnamon, and pumpkin spice.
5)
Favorite color? Blue.
Though I like wearing all black like my son and Johnny Cash.
6)
Favorite dessert? Bread Pudding. My mother and grandmother made it and I guess
I haven’t outgrown it. Every time I go
to Golden Corral after dinner, I head to the desert table for bread pudding. There’s just something about the creamy
vanilla and raisins.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Interview with Author Karen A. Chase
INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR Karen A. Chase Today I’m interviewing an amazing fellow James River Writer Karen A. Chase. Her latest work (one that makes me jealous both for the writing skill and for the adventure within), Bonjour 40: A Paris Travel Log (40 years. 40 days. 40 seconds.) is a travel essay and memoir. The e-book was released in October of 2011, and the photographic special edition print version was just released this past December.
Please tell us a little bit about your book.
Bonjour 40 recounts my month-long excursion to Paris for my fortieth birthday. It’s a mix of journal-like entries with longer essays on turning 40, Paris and her people, writing, photography, travel and more. The latest special edition print version also includes over 100 full-color images I took while on the trip (I took over 2000).
What is the book’s genre?
It’s part travel essay, part memoir. Unlike travel guide books that help you choose when and where to go, this book was more about my impressions of Paris, on turning 40 in a fabulous city, and the joys of traveling alone or with a partner. There are, as one reader put it, some “mushy parts,” but mostly I hope readers will find it inspiring and a bit funny. I guess it’s more anecdotal like Peter Mayle’s, A Year in Provence, and not as weepy as Eat, Pray, Love.
Is this the only genre in which you write?
I like the challenge associated with writing different genres. Or to put it another way, I’m far too easily bored by monotony. So, in addition to my travel essay, I’ve written very technical bits like websites and brochures for freelance writing projects, and I’m currently working on a historical novel about the Declaration of Independence. I hope readers who will follow my work are interested mainly in good stories versus a specific genre. Ultimately, I hope that’s what I’ll give them.
What is it about this or these genre(s) that interests you?
Travel essays have a big draw, because I adore the idea of hitting the road and essentially being paid to do it. One cannot complain about a late flight, or a missed exit because it’s part of the thankless job of being on vacation (she said with tongue in cheek). Historical fiction is the same way. In fact, I’m such a believer in touring the historic places I feature in stories, that Shelf Pleasure, a website for women who like to read, finally gave me a column called Will Travel for Words. I also have my own blog, Compositions, about writing.
How did you come up with this latest book?
With Bonjour 40, if I had to turn 40, I decided to do it gracefully in Paris. So I saved for a year, planned where to stay, took French lessons, etc. Then I set up a blog as a way to communicate about the trip with family and friends back home. It grew, an editor friend mentioned I might be able to do more with it, and so when I got home, I developed longer sections to reflect on bigger aspects of the trip. Et voila! Bonjour 40 the blog became Bonjour 40 the book.
What is your writing routine like?
I do much better with deadlines and structure. I set timeframes in which to finish sections or chapters, and I set aside my mornings (9-1ish) to write. I’m religious about it until a morning comes along when I slip and get into Facebook or Twitter first. Then my whole plan goes in the toilet. Then two days later I berate myself, I get up and ignore emails and social media until one or two o’clock. I do that for a couple weeks, feel great about the writing, and then social media sucks me back in to its evil vortex and I have to go through the same routine. I like chatting with readers, but I wish the social media world were only awake from 2–4 p.m. two days a week.
What is the most rewarding thing about having finished this latest book?
When the e-book came out, it took off slowly, but then it started selling well and climbing the charts at Amazon. I thought, “Hey, I’m a writer. People are reading my words. YAY!” But it wasn’t until a year later when the print version came out and readers held it in their hands that they made comments to me like, “Look! You’re a writer, you have a book!” Same words, same book, but when they held that printed copy then I became an author. I’m both relieved and a little perplexed.
What’s next in the writing queue?
My novel about the Declaration has the majority of my focus. Almost three hundred pages of it are with my freelance editor in New York right now, and I’ll finish writing the rest of it while she’s pouring over what’s been written. I’ve been working on this book and the research for it for nearly five years (gasp), and writing steadily on it for the last six months. That’s a long commitment considering you aren’t allowed to find a publisher to pay you for fiction until the book is done. After it’s done and hopefully being published, I have a biography I’ve been asked to write, and I’ll be working on a novel I’ve already outlined about Woodstock. I need to feel groovy after being in 1776 for so long.
BOOK BLURB
If Karen A. Chase absolutely had to turn forty, she decided she could do it gracefully in Paris… for nearly forty days. This stunning paperback version contains over 100 photographs, plus quotes and thoughts not found in the streamlined e-book version. What began as a blog to communicate with friends and family, became a travel journal filled with over a months’ worth of humorous and insightful glimpses into her Paris adventures, each of which could be read in about forty seconds. Journal entries are interspersed with Chase's own inspiring photography. Additional, longer stories richly fill in details allowing readers to reflect upon her experiences with food, travel, photography, Parisians, writing, and love in the City of Lights.
AUTHOR BIO
Karen A. Chase is a writer, designer, photographer, and traveler. Bonjour 40 is her first book, and she is currently working on an historical novel about the Declaration of Independence. She is also a freelance writer of historical fiction, poetry, and non-fiction.
Born in Canada, Karen has lived in the United States since 1990. As a professional graphic designer and copywriter, she has owned her own branding and design studio since 2004. An offshoot of that studio, called 224Pages, specializes in design for authors and publishers. Karen and her partner, Ted, live in Virginia with their two cats, Linus and Olive.
How can we buy your book?
Amazon.com, i-Tunes and BarnesNoble.com for the e-book, and Amazon.com for the printed version. I might start selling the print version out of the back of my car here in Richmond. I heard that’s how John Grisham got a publishing deal, so if you see me in Carytown next to the guy selling patchouli, stop by.
And now, some fun questions:
1) Favorite author? Wilbur Smith
2) Favorite character in a book you’ve read? I loved Stuart Little and Jane Austen’s Emma. Both such hopeful, romantic optimists.
3) Favorite vacation? I ache to visit the pyramids and the Sphinx, but I worry I’ll never get to see them. Egypt is the caretaker of some of the world’s greatest historical treasures, and they have a responsibility to everyone to create a thoughtful and peaceful environment so their culture can continue to thrive. Their leaders continually choose self-absorbed power over nourishing their own people and our collective human history. It’s shameful, really.
4) Coffee or tea? Coffee for mornings. Tea for evenings.
5) Favorite color? Green.
6) Favorite dessert? Pie. No, chocolate. Chocolate pie.
Links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Bonjour-40-travel-years-seconds/dp/0615738141
Will Travel For Words Column: http://www.shelfpleasure.com/read-will-travel-for-words-up-the-road-back-in-time/
Author Website/Blog: http://www.karenachase.com/category/blog/
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR jonny Lupsha
INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR jonny LupshaToday you're in for a treat. While I've never met a writer who wasn't interesting, some are incredibly so. Today I’m interviewing jonny Lupsha, a member of the second group and fellow James River Writer. His work, The Broken Paragon, is an essay anthology and is released quarterly. The last issue was released on December 12, and the next issue will be released on March 5, with a release party at Capital Ale House, Downtown, the beer lover's beer hall.
Please tell us a little bit about your anthology.
The Broken Paragon is a collection of scholarly essays published digitally, and quarterly, by my publishing company, A Carrier of Fire. It focuses mainly on video games. It includes essays written by myself for now, though I’m poaching some other contributors for future issues. The essays are usually between 1,500 and 5,000 words apiece.
What is the book’s genre? The Broken Paragon is a series of academic essays. As such, The Broken Paragon contains four to six analytical essays per issue. These essays discuss in detail – and analyze with great scrutiny – the most influential and groundbreaking artistry in the medium.
Is this the only genre in which you write?
I only write non-fiction, which would certainly encompass academia, but I usually write narrative or creative non-fiction, which is more akin to anecdotes or short stories than articles with full bibliographies etc. I admire and revere fiction, but it seems like such a big blank canvas that it terrifies me. With non-fiction I have enough in my head to start with that it seems more digestable.
What is it about these genres that interests you?
Gaming now rivals American film in terms of the industry’s size, titles are being released that are based on Pulitzer-winning novels and three of the last seven Academy Awards for Best Original Score were granted to composers who have also written music for games. Games and gamers have grown up; The Broken Paragon is just an extension of that. Every new media without exception is run through the wringer by critics who pan it as “low-brow entertainment.” From opera to photography, from film to recorded music, all have been hazed thoroughly before gaining any widespread respect. We just want to help gaming along its way, where it deserves it. In terms of what interests me about non-fiction in general, there’s this line in the David Lynch movie Lost Highway where the main character, played by Bill Pullman, says he doesn’t like video cameras. “I like to remember things my own way – not necessarily how they happened.” That line has haunted me for 15 years, and inspired me to put my perspective into everything in life.
How did you come up with this latest plot?
My second novel, Penny Cavalier, is a year-long research project into “Real-Life Superheroes” – people in real life who, in their spare time, form alter egos and go out to high-crime areas of their towns and patrol, looking for muggers and rapists and drug dealers to stop by any means necessary, or looking for the homeless and those in need to help supply them with the things we take for granted. It’s as likely that one of these folks will carry a baton and smoke bombs as it is that they’ll carry dry blankets and canned goods. After writing Penny Cavalier, I started to get involved with James River Writers and found myself really wanting to give these working-class heroes the benefit of the doubt when explaining it to other writers. That led to me asking myself what other things I know pretty well that are more worth intelligent discussion than their mass exposure may indicate. I toyed with heavy metal but eventually settled on video games. Given that I had a lot of practice writing essays in college, the rest just fell into place.
What is your writing routine like?
For my other work, I’ll generally think of a five- to ten-minute story from my life that I’d like to tell at a party and I’ll sit down with it for a few thousand words, pulling details and events from memory to help round out the overall story. For The Broken Paragon, I try to think of a tidbit of information or trivia about a game that I could’ve used to impress my wife if we’d just met and follow a similar process. I grab some back issues of gaming magazines from around the house, open Word in one window on my laptop, Google Chrome in the other, put on headphones with a couple hours of music on a playlist and get to researching. I don’t outline as much as I should; I’m usually a few pages into an essay before I start copy-pasting sentences and paragraphs into a cohesive, flowing sequence. Eventually, from chaos comes order and it gets into a working progression I can send in for peer review. When those come back, I touch up the things I may have missed the first time and save them in a folder for publication. Of course I’m also a stay-at-home father, so my typical night of writing starts at 10 p.m. after our daughter’s in bed, and ending around 2 a.m. so I can get up with her at 7:30 or 8 the next morning.
What is the most rewarding thing about having finished this latest book?
When I was finishing my first novel, 100,000 Years in Detention, I heard a lot of people say “Anyone can write one book; the trick is getting another out,” and as hard as it is to get that first book finished, that’s still true. I was incredibly relieved when the ball was rolling on Penny Cavalier, and when I got its paperback proof in the mail I was ecstatic. To anyone who likes my reading, I was no longer a “one-hit wonder,” and since they were very different projects, I was also not a “one-trick pony.” On a smaller scale, the same is true for The Broken Paragon. I had close to 20 essays planned for it before starting on the debut issue, and picked four that were easy to read. When that was done, it was exciting to get it out, but since it was the only material I’d finished, I didn’t have any proof beyond promises to show that it was an ongoing series. Now that I have the sophomore release finalized and ready for layout and publication, it’s a different story. Issue #2 is bigger and more in-depth than the first, with a different focus and the confidence from Issue #1’s positive feedback fueling its fire.
What’s next in the writing queue?
Issue 3, of course! I’m looking at starting it right on March 5 when Issue 2 launches. Ideally I’d like to have the time to fit in some other work between now and then, but I’m not chomping at the bit with any non-gaming ideas at the moment so I’ll have to see if and how I can punch something up.
BOOK BLURB
The Broken Paragon is an anthology of essays on gaming. This exploration and critique of the innovations and the industry itself is a quarterly, digital production from A Carrier of Fire. The debut issue looked at artistic liberties in the adaptation of Dante’s Inferno, featured composer Chris Vrenna’s 3-D soundscapes in Doom 3 and more. Issue 2, which is due March 5, focuses on the Silent Hill franchise. Silent Hill is a global phenomenon using horror as a vehicle for sociopolitical commentary, 1930s French theater revival, innovative sound design using industrial foley effects and more. Whether you’re a gamer or not, the fascinating and intriguing discussions in The Broken Paragon have something to offer any avid reader interested in pop culture and its roots in classic art and world history. A Carrier of Fire is hosting a launch party for Issue 2 at the Capital Ale House Downtown at 6th and Main St. in Richmond on March 5 at 6 p.m.
AUTHOR BIO
jonny Lupsha was born and raised outside of Chicago, and has lived in Hawaii and Georgia. jonny earned his BA in journalism from Valdosta State University in Valdosta, GA, and moved to Virginia shortly thereafter. The owner of the independent publishing company A Carrier of Fire, jonny lives with his wife and daughter in the Richmond area.
How can we buy your book?
Paperback and Kindle versions of my novels are available by searching my name at Amazon.com; the digital versions of The Broken Paragon and my previous project, DisasterLand: Centralia are available at A Carrier of Fire’s website, ACarrierofFire.com – which also includes links to blogs and free samples of my material. The Broken Paragon is a digital publication, and comes in a packet with DRM-free copies formatted for Word, PDF and Kindle. Each issue is $1; an annual subscription is $4.
And now, some fun questions:
- Favorite author? Tie between Cormac McCarthy and David Sedaris.
- Favorite character in a book you’ve read? Tie between Tyler Durden and Arthur Dimmesdale.
- Favorite vacation? Centralia, Pennsylvania. A coal fire has been burning under it for 50 years and it’s mostly been evacuated by the government. My first digital project, DisasterLand: Centralia, is a part-history, part-personal, part-scientific look at Centralia’s story.
- Coffee or tea? Tea. Green tea. Stirred, not shaken.
- Favorite color? Black.
- Favorite dessert? Fortune cookies. Fortune cookies are the great equalizer between excellent Asian restaurants and terrible ones. Even if it’s the worst, most MSG-loaded meal you’ve ever eaten, hey – at least you got that fortune cookie coming! It’s like the crappy restaurants are saying “See, we’re a little like Peter Chang’s up at Short Pump! We too have fortune cookies!” Fortune cookies also try to teach you Chinese one word at a time, which is funny beyond words to me. “Oh, if I ever get drugged and kidnapped and dropped off in an alley in Beijing, at least I know how to say ‘ice skate!’” Or, “Man, I have this trip to China coming up next year and can’t afford an English-Chinese / Chinese-English dictionary. Quick! Let’s go to Hunan Garden three meals a day for the next 14 months and we’ll probably get enough words that I can get by!” Oh, I also like Vanilla-and-Oreo milkshakes with Kahlua. Try it; your taste buds will thank you.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Interview with Denise Golinowski
Today I’m interviewing a good friend and fellow James River Writer. A brief history: Denise is one of the first James River Writers I came to know several years ago. I remember it well; a fresh-faced (well, I wish) young (not so much anymore) writer who was still trying to finish his first novel wandered into the Writers Wednesday event here in Midlothian’s Capital Alehouse. I was a bit nervous; sometimes I’m the most introverted extrovert (or is it the other way around?) that I know of. Besides, I really wasn’t an author yet, and I didn’t expect the august company into which I was innocently gallumping to react all that well to a guy who didn’t have his own ISBN. They did, though; not only was I eagerly welcomed by Katharine Herndon, but I also then ended up spending much of the night enjoying conversation with Denise and some of her friends. Since then I’ve bumped into Denise many times, nearly always at events that provide writers an opportunity to improve their knowledge of the craft.
Shorter version: I’m really glad to be able to interview Denise Golinowski today. So, on to the good stuff.
Denise's latest work, COLLECTOR'S ITEM, is a paranormal romance and is currently available for Kindle at Amazon.com.
Please tell us a little bit about your book.
What is the book’s genre?
Sorry to be repeating myself here, but it's a paranormal romance.
Is this the only genre in which you write?
No. I also write fantasy. My other enovella, also published by The Wild Rose Press is entitled: The Festival of The Flowers: The Courtesan and the Scholar. However, Romance always seems to sneak into my writing. I believe my professional tagline: "Fantasy With A Kiss of Romance" says it all.
What is it about these genres that interests you?
I enjoy writing fantasy because it gives me the freedom to mix and mingle components of cultures and worlds. From being able to have shapeshifters working to become accepted in public in an alternate contemporary world to having a siren/courtesan push the limitations of an impoverished scholar in a Rennaissance-type world.
How did you come up with this latest plot?
Collector's Item was a definite "what if" plot. What if Shapeshifters came out of the closet. Now this has been an integral part of Urban Fantasy for a while, but I wanted to write a story closer to the original emergence. Attemptng to show a bit of how challenging such an earth-shaking shift (no pun intended) of world paradigm might feel or look.
What is your writing routine like?
I try to write every night. I'm definitely a night owl. I have a group of writing friends who are always willing to join me in writing sprints on AIM. Writing sprints are timed writing periods. We get into a chat room, chat for a little bit and then buckle down off-line to write for a designated period of time. When the time is up, we come back to the chat room, report on our results, what went well, what didn't, and also share information about the profession of writing as well as our friendships.
What is the most rewarding thing about having finished this latest book?
For me, the most rewarding thing was that I had completed that crucial SECOND book. Getting the first book written and sold is a milestone, don't get me wrong. I'm eternally grateful to The Wild Rose Press for giving The Festival a home. But the next hurdle for a writer trying to make a career out of their craft is to prove you can follow up. While I chose to move to a different genre, I think that selling the Second Book helps to solidify my dedication and professionalism.
What’s next in the writing queue?
I have another contemporary paranormal, ACES DOWN, set in the same world as COLLECTOR'S ITEM and also a second untitled book involving the Marant Clan—this one based around KT Marant's older brother.
BOOK BLURB
Alpha were-jaguar, Katarina "KT" Marant is trained to protect the pride so when her aunt disappears, KT naturally takes up the hunt. Her suspicion settles on the Collectors, humans who view shapeshifters as the ultimate big game.
Peyton Massey can't believe he's got to blow his cover to rescue a shapeshifter "princess." Even harder to believe is that she wants to stage her own kidnapping in order to catch the leader of the Collectors and find her aunt.
Everything goes sideways when KT is kidnapped for real and by someone she never suspected. Will Peyton find her before time runs out? Or will she become a true Collector's Item?
AUTHOR BIO
Denise Golinowski has always been a writer. A hopeful romantic, she gravitated to fantasy and romance. Collector's Item is her second enovella with The Wild Rose Press. Her first enovella, The Festival of the Flowers: The Courtesan and The Scholar, was published by The Wild Rose Press in September, 2010. She has also had a number of short stories published, both in the Chesterfield Writers Anthologies and in several online publications. Denise is a member of the Romance Writers of America, Virginia Romance Writers, and James River Writers. Through these organizations and the support of two fantastic critique groups, RichWriters and Writers Endeavor, she continues to hone her craft.
Denise lives with her uber-supportive husband and one devoted lap-kitty. She is currently working on more contemporary paranormal and fantasy stories. You can find her on Facebook at Denise Golinowski/Author.
How can we buy your book?
COLLECTOR'S ITEM book is currently available only on the Kindle – www.collectorsitembook.com. My publisher, The Wild Rose Press, is actively involved in the Kindle KDP program. My book will become available EVERYWHERE on May 17th.
And now, some fun questions:
- Favorite author? Just ONE! If you insist, I would say Marion Zimmer Bradley. THE MISTS OF AVALON was a revelation for me and I dreamed of writing something suitable for her Sword & Sorceress Anthology series. Sadly, she passed before I could even try. (And TOSK adds: a great choice, of course. MZB is also one of my all-time favorites)
- Favorite character in a book you’ve read? Jumping genres, I find myself thinking of Honor Harrington, the main character in David Weber's series of the same name. In an epic space opera, Honor is a woman proving herself more than equal to the task of leadership in the space military.
- Favorite vacation? Anywhere I don't have to lift a finger other than to turn the page of my book.
- Coffee or tea? Coffee, hands down, bottoms up.
- Favorite color? Fluctuates depending on mood, but most often red.
- Favorite dessert? Most anything chocolate, though I'm more a chips kinda gal. Salty and savory as opposed to sweet.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Decisions, Not Experiences, Make Us Who We Are
Reprinted with permission from Steve Schlicht, a law enforcement professional and author:
-------------------------
When I was trying to save some cash for college by working the nightshift at the Majik Market on Big Ridge and Gorenflo Road back in the early eighties, a masked gunman entered the store at 0130 hours and demanded the money.
I fully complied, giving him the 18 dollars from the cash register till, the marked money in case of robbery, and three whole dollars from my very own wallet.
He took it all and then walked around the counter and pointed the silver revolver directly at my face, while staring me down for what seemed like an eternity.
We both were there, looking into each other’s eyes, while lightning lit up the parking lot, and a torrential rain began pouring down.
He pressed the barrel of the gun to my forehead and said to me - “Do…NOT…call the police.“
Then, as suddenly as he entered the store, he left it - the door bell ringing behind him as he ran off into the storm south bound to an awaiting car which fled west past Taranto’s Grocery.
Back then, there was no in store video surveillance recording or even an office phone, so I had to lock the door and then call from the beat up payphone next to the cooler.
About 45 minutes later, a uniformed Jackson County Deputy and an on-call detective arrived to investigate the armed robbery, only to end the “investigation” by accusing me of stealing the money myself, a whopping 18 dollars, and filing a false police report to cover it up.
The Deputy and the older, gray haired and tired detective, talked to my boss about their hypothesis - based upon no empirical evidence at all - and their conclusions, and then left the store to return to the comfort of their homes.
I looked at my manager and wholeheartedly denied the totally bullshit allegations.
To her credit, she listened to my story (aka “the truth”) and then told me I was fired for suspicion of internal theft.
So, I drove my 1972 VW Sunbug home that night in the violent thunderstorm, back to my last paid up month at the Lighthouse Apartments on Porter Avenue, with no job and no more money to my name, at 20 years of age.
I tossed my keys on the table, and I left my apartment, and walked straight down to the beach, and into the water during the full fury of the storm as I considered all of the facts that brought me to that point in time.
I had my life, to be sure, the masked gunman never pulled the trigger.
That was a good thing.
The men in uniform, the detective wearing the badge sworn to uphold the truth, destroyed my old life, and there I remained in the stormy night looking around at all that was present around me.
For hours.
I have and will never forget that moment. It all remains as real to me as this very moment y’all are reading right now.
And within that spell, the then and there a time ago, I honestly found the answer to the greatest mystery of all and chose that I would battle evil from that point on.
Forever.
---------------------------
I met Steve online when I lived briefly in the Biloxi area. He's a law enforcement officer with a long-term and wide range of experiences in that field, and the fact that he puts his life on the line every day for the safety of people like me commands my respect. We've held many discussions, usually checking in on the same side of the issues at hand, in both Facebook and forum posts.
This particular post of his struck me to my core. I've talked over and over again about how we don't have to be slaves to our life experiences, and that sometimes that which doesn't kill us really does make us stronger. Steve's story is a stark example of that. Here we have someone who encountered our criminal justice system in a horrible manner yet who went on to not only become a member of it, but even flourished in it.
Bottom line--this story reinforces the idea that you're not just the sum total of your experiences. Sometimes adversity brings us down, and we have to acknowledge that. But sometimes adversity becomes the sand inside the oyster's shell that creates a beautiful pearl.
It's all in how we react to those experiences, isn't it?
Thoughts?
- TOSK
-------------------------
When I was trying to save some cash for college by working the nightshift at the Majik Market on Big Ridge and Gorenflo Road back in the early eighties, a masked gunman entered the store at 0130 hours and demanded the money.
I fully complied, giving him the 18 dollars from the cash register till, the marked money in case of robbery, and three whole dollars from my very own wallet.
He took it all and then walked around the counter and pointed the silver revolver directly at my face, while staring me down for what seemed like an eternity.
We both were there, looking into each other’s eyes, while lightning lit up the parking lot, and a torrential rain began pouring down.
He pressed the barrel of the gun to my forehead and said to me - “Do…NOT…call the police.“
Then, as suddenly as he entered the store, he left it - the door bell ringing behind him as he ran off into the storm south bound to an awaiting car which fled west past Taranto’s Grocery.
Back then, there was no in store video surveillance recording or even an office phone, so I had to lock the door and then call from the beat up payphone next to the cooler.
About 45 minutes later, a uniformed Jackson County Deputy and an on-call detective arrived to investigate the armed robbery, only to end the “investigation” by accusing me of stealing the money myself, a whopping 18 dollars, and filing a false police report to cover it up.
The Deputy and the older, gray haired and tired detective, talked to my boss about their hypothesis - based upon no empirical evidence at all - and their conclusions, and then left the store to return to the comfort of their homes.
I looked at my manager and wholeheartedly denied the totally bullshit allegations.
To her credit, she listened to my story (aka “the truth”) and then told me I was fired for suspicion of internal theft.
So, I drove my 1972 VW Sunbug home that night in the violent thunderstorm, back to my last paid up month at the Lighthouse Apartments on Porter Avenue, with no job and no more money to my name, at 20 years of age.
I tossed my keys on the table, and I left my apartment, and walked straight down to the beach, and into the water during the full fury of the storm as I considered all of the facts that brought me to that point in time.
I had my life, to be sure, the masked gunman never pulled the trigger.
That was a good thing.
The men in uniform, the detective wearing the badge sworn to uphold the truth, destroyed my old life, and there I remained in the stormy night looking around at all that was present around me.
For hours.
I have and will never forget that moment. It all remains as real to me as this very moment y’all are reading right now.
And within that spell, the then and there a time ago, I honestly found the answer to the greatest mystery of all and chose that I would battle evil from that point on.
Forever.
---------------------------
I met Steve online when I lived briefly in the Biloxi area. He's a law enforcement officer with a long-term and wide range of experiences in that field, and the fact that he puts his life on the line every day for the safety of people like me commands my respect. We've held many discussions, usually checking in on the same side of the issues at hand, in both Facebook and forum posts.
This particular post of his struck me to my core. I've talked over and over again about how we don't have to be slaves to our life experiences, and that sometimes that which doesn't kill us really does make us stronger. Steve's story is a stark example of that. Here we have someone who encountered our criminal justice system in a horrible manner yet who went on to not only become a member of it, but even flourished in it.
Bottom line--this story reinforces the idea that you're not just the sum total of your experiences. Sometimes adversity brings us down, and we have to acknowledge that. But sometimes adversity becomes the sand inside the oyster's shell that creates a beautiful pearl.
It's all in how we react to those experiences, isn't it?
Thoughts?
- TOSK
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