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Anita's Haven

books, thoughts, stories, poetry, interviews, writing

Getting there

I have never been much of a runner. Back in school, sprints I could stand, but any race over 400 metres was pure torture. Still is. I can do walking, long walks, slow, fast, at any pace that suits the track, company and weather.

Why, then, do I even write about running?

Today, for the who-knows-which time, I have tried to finish editing and publishing my website. I went in there all motivated, geared up for success and prepared to do the work.

Three hours later, completely dissatisfied with my colour choices, advances I’d made in uploading my books, page sections I’d split my website into, I put my laptop to sleep and went to read my daughter a bedtime story, feeling as emotionally drained as if I’d been training for a marathon.

Why on earth do I have to write in multiple genres? Why do I have over 15 books out there already? Why do I make them available on so many sites? Why do I put myself through all that? Why, oh why, oh my?

Why does a website matter so much? Or social media presence? And why is it so exhausting? (All I want to do is write, not promote, right?) To top all that, why do I whine about my problems when there are so many bigger issues in the world?

You are right – I am overthinking, and that is just a fancy excuse for procrastination.

Set your goals, choose your path and set off to realise your dream. Small steps at first. Maybe even walk, not run. We all move at our own pace, right? As long as we move in the right direction, we’re fine.

Small steps. Big dreams. Moving.

How about you?

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Unusual romance

Author Suzi Albracht sent me a little post-Valentine gift for the readers – a sneak peek into her popular paranormal romance A Love Haunting. Thank you, Suzi! Check it out, readers!

This short chapter in A Love Haunting begins Jordan’s existence as a Living Dead (LD). It appears a quarter of the way into the novel. It takes place after he feels he has lost his one true love and just before he meets Luke, a skateboarding angel, and the trio of ghosts from the 1800s who become his friend.

Love… death… forever. That’s the story of my life apparently.

So Emily had left the Banks. In my mind, I knew she had to go, but now I am lonelier than I’ve ever been in my life. Right after the accident, my world was devastated because of my loss of Emily, our baby and… my life.

And then when Emily was in the hospital, I found a way to be near to her again, if only in a small way. Now she is gone and my life is really over. Now I have no one.

Sure I could have hung around Allie, bugging her but it would not have been fair to her. Besides, she was on her way to being a nurse practitioner, and I knew she’d be a damn good one. So while Allie was in school, I was going to leave her be, but I did plan on helping her when she embarked on her new career. Besides, I wanted to convince Allie to shoot bigger and become a doctor. Being a physician was her real calling, she just didn’t know it yet.

In the meantime, I made up my mind I was going to make the best of my new dead life, and that would require some hands-on research. Research had always been one of my strong suits. That and evaluation.

And there was something else I wanted to research but didn’t dare until I figured out all the rules and restrictions of my dead existence. I didn’t want to lose my wife, so I was going to try to… do something.

So since I had loads of free time on my hands, I would start by exploring to see what was what.

What am I supposed to do about my feelings now that I’m dead? My life can’t end like this. It just can’t.

Wow, I hadn’t allowed myself to admit that I was actually dead until now. Dead and buried and the whole nine yards.

Well, it’s true. I died a few feet off a highway in North Carolina, not far from my favorite vacation paradise – the Outer Banks.

I am a ghost, and this is my love story.

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On skating and awe

Ever since my early childhood, I have always felt particularly enchanted by ice-skating.

It may well have been the only reason I liked winter, next to Christmas and winter break. As kids we would often go ice-skating. My friends and I would clean the pond behind school to skate on. My sister and I would go to the other side of town every possible moment to enjoy the music and the magical ease of movement on a proper rink.

Watching figure skating championships was one of my favourite activities and I relished when skaters would pick a tune I loved and created a magical moment such as this one. Due to some lifestyle changes and health issues, it had been a while since I skated myself, and I missed it so much. Finally, this winter, I skated with my family again. Just a tiny local skating rink, but the magic was back.

What is it that makes skating so fascinating and beautiful?

Just look at them! To achieve something that seems so utterly effortless through so much training, defying the laws of physics and sometimes sanity, and to create this ethereal feeling of unity between sports and art, sometimes conveying a feeling, sometimes even telling a story… isn’t it a phenomenal proof of our human potential? When we let body, mind & soul work together it is simply exhilarating.

I know, in light of a recent movie about a version of a true story behind the skating scenes, some of you are grinning cynically. But put that aside for a minute and watch this. Do you really think, during a special performance like this one, skaters think about points?

Incredible moments like this one need to be cherished and looked up to.

I have always been enchanted by ice-skating. Despite growing up and knowing the shady side of the competitions, I still am enchanted by it. How could you not be? Pick your favourite performers, your ideal music, and simply let yourself feel again, like a child, open-minded and open-hearted.

And then try skating for yourself. You will appreciate the magic.

#art #sports #figureskating #talent #inspiration

Real love every day

As promised, two of my favourite scenes of real, daily love between two married couples from The Forest of Trees – the Bosworths and the Stones. Both scenes take place during sleepless nights, filled with worry.

Intimacy is never (just) the physical thing. Love is in the small, everyday details which should never be taken for granted…

The Bosworths

The bed sheets were soaked in sweat and already cold, as John Bosworth kept tossing and turning, uncovering himself to cool down, then covering himself back hoping to get some sleep. He felt around the bed and realized it was empty, empty, so he opened his eyes, finally giving in to insomnia.
In a huge armchair close to the door, his wife’s face glowed in lamplight, as she sat wrapped in a fuzzy patchwork blanket.
He looked at her with worry and love.
She was deeply concentrated. Seeing her leather-bound diary in her hands, he knew she must have had a bad day at work. Although he loved to joke that their jobs were alike, she a psychologist and he a principal, he knew that the number of good days was in his favour.
“Zoe, do you want to talk?” he whispered.
She didn’t reply, and he noticed how firmly she held her pen and how she tightened her lips. For both selfish and generous reasons, he loved the fact that she had her diary ritual to blow off steam and cry or shout things into words. He wasn’t much of a talker, so he always felt inadequate offering her advice. Still, he was a great listener and that helped her get things out of her system.
Sometimes things were so difficult to bear that she would just cry, and all he could do was hold her and feel guilty for not helping. She knew this, which was why she started her diary. She hated making him worry.
“Paper can take it,” she’d often say.
He noticed she had her small yellow earphones earphones on, probably listening to classical music again. Debussy was his best guess, judging by how the sad look on her face was slowly relaxing, softening her lips into their usual lovely shape and mellowing her shoulders. He smiled.
John stepped towards the door, slowly walking past his wife. She looked up with a question mark in her eyes, but he just kissed her head gently, breathing in the smell of tangerine shampoo in her hair, and moved his hand in front of his face as if drinking something. She smiled and nodded.
He went into the kitchen to make some green tea with honey which she liked so much. He had hated that taste at first, but in time he’d gotten used to it as part of their little ritual.
Green tea and honey meant a talk, whatever time of day it was, talk without the stress of having having to provide a solution. Each of them told the other what had kept them awake, and the other one listened, understood and provided a hug in the end. The talk usually started with no talk at all, just inhaling the aroma of warm tea and enjoying each other’s comfort. Sip by sip, the conversation would begin, or wouldn’t. Sometimes just sharing the silence was enough.”

The Stones

“David blinked again, staring at the starry sky through the window. He couldn’t sleep, but he dared not move or he’d wake Emma. They were both overwhelmed with the last few days; the changes were as intense as a never-ending roller-coaster ride.
He felt her warm arm wrap around his waist, and Emma’s soft kiss land on the back of his neck. She cuddled up to him under the blanket, and he felt better in a second, with only a tiny pang of guilt for having woken her up.
“You can’t sleep either, huh?” Emma whispered through another neck kiss, her lips writing on his skin.
“Sorry I woke you up,” David said, his arm pulling her closer.
She rested her face on his shoulder and sighed, with a slight yawn.
“Not much of a sleep anyway, when you dream about real life…”
“Nightmare?” Worried, David wrapped her hair around his fingers.
“Not really, just a dream, but lots of them. Not connected, just… more worries than dreams. Whether Jeremy will be fine here, whether Dot will be happy, what if the car breaks down, any chance of some students ever being kind, if we’re going to be able to cover the bills this month, if… oh well, you know…”
She felt guilty. There he was, sleepless and anxious, and all she talked about were her own dreams and worries.
“Boy oh boy, you women just can’t stop worrying,” he mocked.
He was actually grateful for her speech. She summed up most of his own worries as well. He’d never been good with words, especially to talk about his feelings. It would probably have taken him half the night just to verbalize all the things she spat out in one sigh and a yawn. On top of all that, she managed to awake his protective side, giving him motivation not to whine, but to console.
“I’ll have to make you a dream-catcher then to help you sleep,” he teased.
“Better make yourself one while you’re at it. You’re the one lying awake here all night,” she said with a stern teacher’s look.
He loved it when her eyes got that grey shade of angry.
“I don’t need a dream-catcher, love,” he said, feeling mischievous.
“Oh no?” She teased, knowing exactly what he meant.
“I just bury my face in your hair and all my nightmares go away,” he said, cradling her face in his palms.
Their lips blended. They glued their bodies together, intertwining their feet.
“This is my favourite place in the whole world, you know? Right here,” she said as the kiss finished.
She buried her face in his shoulder. David’s hand glided down her back as he pulled her closer. He smelled her skin and inhaled her scent, meeting her lips in another kiss, savouring those precious moments when the two of them were only the two of them, no worries, or kids or the world around.
As their breaths caught the singular rhythm of passion, neither of them was aware of the trees and the wind singing their song outside.”

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Wearing our daily masks…

Today is the final day of carnival season in my country, and tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. Seems appropriate, doesn’t it, to take off all masks before admitting you love somebody? It reminded me of the part of The Forest of Trees, when a loving married couple falls into the routine of wearing a happy mask to spare each other from their own sadness. I cannot stress enough how important it is to share your pain with your loved ones, how much that honesty and trust can strengthen your relationship. I am so glad Emma and David found their way. Here is a glimpse into their daily masks…

“It got to the point when hearing the word mummy was one of the biggest horrors in her life. She loved the scent of Jeremy’s ginger hair when she held him, she adored his big eyes gazing at her with expectation, waking up early not to miss a second of their time… and it made her heart ache that it was not enough for her. She missed reading a good adult book, having some time to herself, talking to an adult person about something other than rashes, the cost of diapers, prospective kindergartens and the danger of pedophiles everywhere. She missed dressing up to go out with her husband and be a woman, not a nanny. But she felt guilty, so she kept the smile on her lips, and buried the sadness behind her eyes.
David had been working almost non-stop, stressed by trying to preserve his job at the executive level and earn even more money, so Emma could stay home with Jeremy. Emma had put on a happy front to avoid hurting him, he’d put on his to avoid seeming selfish or lazy, so they slowly drifted away into pretence and lies without even realizing it and only with the best intentions.”

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. I will be sharing two of my favourite scenes from their lives, but also another couple. Nothing sleezy. Real love.

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The Little Blue Book for Authors 101 Clues How to Get More Out of Facebook by G.Hausmann – my review

There is never anything little about Gisela’s books. I’ve read plenty, and the occasional faults in my writing career are due to not following her advice, and some others.

Writing anything is never easy and you can verify that with any high school student out there, not to mention writers. Marketing what you write can either depress you with its abundance of traps, turn you into a proper merchant who eventually disregards art in favour of money, or you can thrust yourself into the battle with a little bit of help from the able book promoters (not any, but able, pls notice the difference) and some timely tips from marketing specialists such as Gisela Hausmann. My simile to battle is inspired by the book Hausmann quotes in her first chapter – The Art of War. I have to admit I often feel like an untrained soldier in the marketing battlefield, so I consider books such as this one good training. “…ask yourself if you can even become a player?” Hausmann says. So… see what I mean?

Now I have to say I like things explained to me as if I were a six-year-old, so this piece of advice was a wake up call:

“Don’t post anything on Facebook you would not post on a billboard next to the busiest highway in your hometown.”

The Mark Cuban video was another, slightly scary one. By tip 25 I was making notes on what I had to do about my own social media presence, and fast. What further complicated things is this:

“Though it is your business if and how you use your personal profile page, you can comment in Facebook network groups only with your personal profile page.”

I had always known this book would add more work to my to-do list, but at least now I am not wandering around in fog any more. The advice about potential employers, as scary as it may seem, is truer than we’d like to think, which adds importance to this book – it is not only for authors, but all entrepreneurs who plan their media presence.

“To succeed in this cut-throat business, you need to own your writing, your research, your knowledge, your “everything”!”

I’m in for a lot of work. Better start!

Book link

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Visiting Rainne’s Ramblings with my book – The Forest of Trees by Anita Kovacevic

Incredibly thankful to the reading community for their support with my latest book The Forest of Trees. Today we are visiting Rainne’s Ramblings. Thank you immensely, Rainne, for allowing my book to enter your Bookland;).

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How do YOU pick a book?

How do YOU pick a book? What is that decisive factor which makes you pick it up? How many times have you been wrong, or, on the other hand, pleasantly surprised by your choice?

It is always a challenge for any writer to write a blurb for their novel. How DO you put something you worked on for years into several brief sentences, which manage to attract the attention of a huge majority of readers, also conveying the essence of your story and your writing style? Mission impossible for some, me included sometimes.

However, since I myself have learned that books are like people (never fully trust the cover or what they briefly tell you about themselves;), I tend to take a look at the sneak peek, check out the text in library paperbooks or glance at the preview offered in stores.

Here is the longer version of the blurb for my novel, which I know does not do justice to the book. I merely wanted to prove my point;). Btw, the video link below is an app experiment at a promo video.

When a family of four faces the brutal reality of their city life, they readily embrace a complete change. Emma and David Stone, with their kids Jeremy and Dot, move to a small town with their big hopes. However, small towns have their own secrets – from urban legends about The Forest of Trees to family skeletons in closets everyone knows about.

Gradually, Jeremy and Dot make some new and unusual friends, whereas Emma and David start working again, and things seem to be going for the better. But evil never rests. The Jacksons, a bigoted and brutal family of pig farmers, however scary, are not the only ones leaning towards malice. The more new friendships grow, the more villains will struggle to retain power. Will the arrival of the newcomers tip the scales in favour of the good or the evil? And how can The Forest of Trees play its part in the solution?

The life between the legendary Forest of Trees and the small town of Tillsworth is separated only by a road. All it takes to reconnect is to take that path.

Take A Journey – Interview with A. L. Mengel

It is wonderful to be able to interview author A. L. Mengel as he begins his 2018 book tour. I first met the incredibly talented creative genius of A. L. Mengel in the Awethors writers’ group and have since witnessed his fantastic progress in the world of fiction.

1. How long have you been a published author now? What’s your favourite moment or memory for now?

I’ve been a published author for five years now. It’s really hard to believe. I remember sitting and tweaking my first novel Ashes repeatedly, readying it for publication. I had started writing that novel in 2002. Back then, I had dreams of being an author. But I was still so caught up with my young life. With the material world. And the quest for love. And experiencing human emotion. And relationships. Little did I know then, all of my experiences would come out in my written work in the future years. So I would write the story, originally titled The Last Nail in the Coffin, which was destined to become Ashes, bit by bit, over several years, on and off.

Fast forward to 2007, I finished the story. I can still remember the day, almost 11 years ago, like it was yesterday. I could feel the tickle of a cold in my throat, and was elated to type the words ‘THE END’. The next day, I came down with the worst flu of my life. It kept me bed ridden for several days. Looking back on that, and after talking with others about The Tales of Tartarus series of books, there have been some that have thought the sickness could have been some sort of demonic influence. Ashes tells a very dark story, but it leads to the light and forgiveness. Demons don’t like that. They don’t want to lose their grip on you.

And that’s really the goal of the entire series of The Tales of Tartarus books…in The Quest for Immortality, a character is racing against a certain death to achieve the gift of eternal life; in The Blood Decanter,those who have achieved the gift are under attack by an imposter – The Hooded Man – who is destined for their destruction by promising them salvation but giving them death. The book is a cleansing of the soul – as the blood “washes their sins away”. And then there is War Angel. Where redemption is found. Where protection is a right of the living and the dead. We all need to dispel our demons to elevate ourselves to a higher level of existence. The Tales of Tartarus did that for me. It may do that for others, as well.

But my favorite moment? Memory? I would have to say the creation of #Writestorm. It was so sudden, so intense, and also so life-changing. Once I introduced the writing methodology to the Literary Community, it was quickly embraced. It’s become easily searchable on Google. The book was released and received stellar reviews. There have been others that have copied #Writestorm on Social Media. I’ve seen multiple groups pop-up since #Writestorm that discuss a similar philosophy – tweaked “just a bit”. But there’s only one true #Writestorm. And people know that, it seems. But the book wasn’t written for notoriety, money, or fame. It was simply written to help other authors get their books written and follow their dreams. And for that, I hope I will have created something that will endure.

2. What and how much has changed since you started publishing? How has your approach to writing and marketing changed?

A lot has changed in the last five years. And a lot has also remained the same. I think, what has changed the most, is my approach to publishing. When I first released Ashes, I was so excited to release the book, I released it in parts, like the serial novels of yesteryear. It worked well initially, I could call myself a published author, people were reading the story and enjoying it according to reviews. I was happy. I was able to relive the natural high of a book release three more times until the paperback released in October of 2013. I still have copies of that paperback, which are now out of print. Amazon is offering it as a Mass Market Paperback, and some copies are going for up to $150 as that version has become rare. And Ashes was my best effort at the time. When I look back on that novel, I see a good self-publishing effort. But when I compare it to my novels of today, there really is no comparison. Ashes is a good story, and it got the high-end treatment it deserved in 2015 with the Special Edition, which is now the signature version.

My approach to writing really remains the same. I follow a very specific…and rather archaic…process. When I start a novel, I start with a spiral notebook and a pen. I have to get my thoughts out on paper, and I have found it best to be away from the distractions of a computer to get that done. When writing the prose, I use regular old Microsoft Word. No fancy book writing programs for me. I write notes during the writing process on a rather large whiteboard that hangs in The Writing Studio, and I do something I call “scene mapping” on the wall on a space mural I have hanging. Usually, I divide a book up into four to eight parts, which each have their own subtitle. I’ve been doing this since Ashes. I don’t work with chapters. Each part of my novels has its own story that relates to the overall story arc. I print the part subtitles out on paper and hang them on the wall. I tend to use sticky notes, on which I will write the scene in one sentence, and move it around on the wall underneath the part where I think it best fits.

But marketing is another animal. There’s a lot of authors and authors’ service providers that claim they have the answer, but for me, I am following in my predecessors footsteps who are now Best-Selling Authors. The Indie Author has to get out from behind the computer. At least if they want some sort of a level of selling success. Persistent and repetitive social media marketing really just turns into spam, which people tune out. That online marketing needs to be specific and targeted, and linked to something that page followers connect with. The goal is to get followers and convert them into readers. Getting page followers is the easy part. Just market your page on Facebook and they will come if you have a strong brand/product mix. But connecting with them is the hard part. I always check what’s trending, and also what is going on in the world to see how it could be linked to my brand. There’s a marketing opportunity in everything. I was recently out to lunch at a sports bar. When I was being questioned about my recently released novel The Mortician, it was decided on the spot to record a video, which was shared on my Facebook page. One needs to be adept at identifying marketing opportunities which are everywhere, and in places where you least expect them. And I have found, that page followers have been connecting with me more, increasing my engagement, as I get outside with the people and make videos and go-live with people-to-people interaction.

3. Who do you think your readers are? Do you write for a target audience or just any story that comes to your mind?

My readers are a wide and varied bunch. In addition to The Tales of Tartarus, I also have The Vega Chronicles, my Science Fiction series. In addition, there is a series called The Astral Files with the release of The Mortician. The Astral Files is a spin-off from The Tales of Tartarus, and I expect it to be a long running series. Then there’s also #Writestorm. And there are thousands who are Beloved Friends of The Writing Studio on my Facebook page who have never read a word I have written outside of Facebook. My target market doesn’t really focus on an age group but rather a level of intellect. My novels are typically for a more sophisticated, thinking reader. My books usually have steady builds, and tend to get philosophical in the later acts. Some have told me they’ve read one of my books the first time to take it all in, and then a second time to figure it all out. Some readers can get frustrated with that. My books are not simple reads. Books of today spoon feed everything to the reader. My books don’t do that. The reader needs to think. To discover. And I am also getting known for ambiguous endings in some of my novels, which I write intentionally to encourage discussion and personal theories about the story.

4. What do you find interesting or challenging in using social media to interact with your readers and fellow authors?

I recently was quoted on Facebook discussing Social Media: “Social Media is a smiling demon. It gains us readers, sells our books, and also robs us of our time.” It’s really true. Facebook, and all of Social Media, is a necessary evil. But the successful author will be resistant to its many temptations. It’s easy to get drawn into chats that have nothing to do with you or your brand, and even easier for time to get swallowed into lazy marketing of just blasting a book link around writer’s groups that will be ignored and prove to be a waste of time – even if it only took a minute or two.

Because for the Indie Author, that minute or two blasting a book link to other authors who are busy trying to market their own work could have been spent seeking out true readers away from social media. People that will connect with you, face to face, and read your work because they know you in person. Getting away from the computer and away from Social Media, to connect with the people, is where the true success lies, and honestly, what the brick and mortars look for when arranging events and stocking titles. I’ve been vetted for Barnes and Noble recently, and was approved not only because of my well-established online presence, but also because of the in-person marketing efforts I have made. For the Indie Author, it all really depends on their own personal goals, but I know for mine, I look forward to my titles being stocked in brick and mortars. And that requires a lot of hard work beyond writing the stories.

5. You recently had an interesting tour with author Jeremy Croston. Can you tell us how it went? What was the most pleasant surprise about it for you?

Oh yes! The tour is actually about to start at the time of this interview. It’s called “Take A Journey” with the hashtag #TakeAJourney2018. It’s a little different from the typical Author Book Tour. For one, it’s long running. It starts in February of 2018 and runs all the way to the end of October. That gives us the freedom to schedule event dates throughout the year without the tour seeming overwhelming. I’ve studied musicians for years, and how they tour, and have tried to emulate that touring formula. I think it can work for Authors as well. I think long-term touring…to represent our entire branding…could be the future for Authors getting their work out to the public. Brick and Mortars are still fading. But the best way to connect with potential readers still remains face-to-face. But arranging events at venues that may not be a book shop “official selling stop” can still build one’s market presence. Every tour stop should be embraced, because it’s an avenue to reach readers. So an author has to think outside the box. And that’s were Jeremy and I developed the “Author Discussion Series”, which will be a series of informal tour stops on our Book Tour that are at restaurants that have a topic of discussion that’s pertinent to creatives. That series won’t be selling stops, and they are being scheduled in-between the more formal, book shop selling stops throughout the tour. The “Author Discussion Series” stops are for creatives to get together and discuss the craft.

Jeremy Croston and I happen to live near one another, and after he had read several of my novels, we agreed on a meet and greet in early 2017. Shortly after, we discussed touring together throughout 2018. I had learned about his Malice of the Cross release which seemed to pair well with my own branding, so we decided to do it. We met monthly for tour planning meetings since July of 2017, and have held almost daily conference calls in the early morning discussing the progress of venue selection and other creative things. We’ve held pretty strong to the monthly meetings and the conference calls. Planning a tour – a real tour – is an extraordinary amount of work. Getting venues will not come easily. A lot of doors will be slammed in your face. And you just pick up and move on to the next venue. What’s great is that we currently have 21 dates on the books between February and October through multiple cities. Hard work, and persistence, truly does pay off.

The most pleasant surprise surrounding the Take A Journey Book Tour was the Go-Lives that we did promoting the tour, and the tour planning appointments. Our first go-live video was of me reading from Jeremy Croston’s Malice of the Cross and introducing it to the readers on my page, which has followers of over 6.7k. In just three days, over 1.4k people viewed the go-live. We were both elated. But it wouldn’t prepare us for what happened just two weeks later at our “Gods and Monsters” book tour planning stop. We went live again with over 6.1k views in four days and knew then that we were creating a buzz about the book tour.

6. What are your goals in writing? What would you like to achieve in the years to come? What are you working on now?

Honestly, my goal is to make a decent living with my writing. Usually, with fame comes fortune, but that’s not my goal. If it happens, so be it, but I just want to do what I love, which is writing books, meeting with the people and touring, and starting the process all over again. One thing I would like is for my writing to endure for generations. I recently received, as a gift, a box of very old, quite rare books. I mean, they are from the 1800’s or older. Many of the copyright pages are written by hand. And that is what I am referring to. These are 150 year old books. I want to make sure that three generations from now, my books are still out there. That’s one of the reasons why I am gradually releasing each of my titles in hardcover. Most of my market is paperback readers. Not Kindle. But when I told my business advisor that I was releasing hardbacks, he didn’t understand why. But I’m trying to create a market for the hardback. And even if I don’t, each hardback that’s printed will most likely be around for a century or more.

I’ve been taking a several month much-needed break from writing after The Mortician. That was the most personal book that I’ve written to date. Few know that I have several personal memories inserted into the story in various scenes. As a result, it was an exhausting write. I needed a break. I have a hard time moving from one book right to the next. I know quite a few authors do that, but I believe in a creative refueling period. We all have to go out and experience life again, once the book is written. Or else, how can we accurately depict characters in our future books? I’ve had discussions several times with other authors who don’t follow my philosophy of a creative resting period between books. Unfortunately, it seems many Indie authors are turning themselves into “Book Factories” by releasing book after book after book in a single year. In my opinion, anything over two releases in a year is too much. Readers get overwhelmed, haven’t had time to digest the previous release and the next one comes out, and the stories risk being underthought and underdeveloped.

Currently, I am working on a Science Fiction epic which is planned to be released in two novel-length volumes: Part One and Part Two will released on the same day together, and they both will be novel-length books. I’m not mentioning the titles right now as they are “working titles” and could change during the creative process. I never would have been open to that wave of inspiration had I not been on a creative break and experiencing life. My aunt passed during that time, and her love of my science fiction inspired the new epic novel. Taking a break from the writing is necessary. It opens the mind, and the outside the box thinking really begins.

7. What would you say to your younger self, the aspiring writer just learning about the publishing world?

I would say do exactly what you are doing, and keep learning from those who have gone before you, because it’s going to lead to something greater. In half a decade, you’re going to be touring kid. Keep at it.

8. What’s your favourite thing about your latest published book?

The most favorite thing about my recently release novel The Mortician has to be the transitions in the story. I really loved how they came out. The Mortician takes place in two separate time periods with two protagonists and two separate and complete casts. I was challenged as a writer to link the storylines together without confusing the reader, and as I write in parts rather than chapters, I had to find a way to move back and forth smoothly. The two separate storylines and two casts of characters were running concurrently. The reader needed a smooth transition from one time period and cast to the next. And I love how it was done. I used art, photos, music and photography to transition the story from one setting to the other. For example, a piece of music might be playing that one character experiences, and then the story transitions to another character in a different time period listening to the exact same piece of music, separated in time by decades.

I also really loved the cover. Shoutlines Design did the cover, and they sent me early renderings in April of 2017. We tweaked it over the next several months, and the final version was released on Halloween 2017. As I drafted the manuscripts, I incorporated elements of the cover so the cover represented scenes from the story. I love creative collaborations like that.

9. Is there any famous person, real or fictional, dead or alive, who you would like to discuss your novel(s) with and why?

I’d really love to get both Stephen King’s and Anne Rice’s opinions on my novels. I’d like to think that I am embracing my own branding, characters and storytelling style, but following in their footsteps in some way. I read novels from both of them in my younger years, and I believe their work has influenced my own in some ways.

10. What are the most excruciating and the most exhilarating moments about writing for you?

Oh, wow. That’s a tough one. Because writing can be a very challenging experience for me. But so rewarding. I’d say the most challenging part of my process comes towards the middle. When I have quite a bit written, and I have to make sense of it all, and smooth it out to form a story. It’s a period during my creative process that I can “Story Structure”. It comes after the main scenes have been written, the story, at least for the most part, is there, but usually it’s akin to an unfinished puzzle. Pieces are spread all over the place, and each piece (scene or passage) needs to be closely examined to see where it best fits into the overall puzzle, the story in this case. It’s a point in my process where my word count will expand rapidly. During this period, as the scenes are spliced and placed where I believe they best fit in the story, I then will fill holes, bridge gaps, and write smoothing sequences to build flow in the story. While the most tedious and challenging period of my process, it’s also one of the most rewarding. For this the stage where the story really comes to life for me, where it starts to flow, and I can see a true beginning, middle, and end.

But the most excruciating? I can still remember the most painful scene I have ever written, and it was a death scene in War Angel. I was pantsing my way through a passage, and the death really caught me off guard. It was violent, sudden and intense. And it was a major character that I’d only been writing about for a short while. When I saw the visual of gigantic, blood-stained angel wings, reaching up towards the Heavens in a mark of desperation, I could feel tears start to stream down my cheeks. It was just so tragic. So unexpected. It pained me to reread what I had just written. I had to stop writing that day and called my editor. She suggested to take a break, and I didn’t sit back down with the manuscript for several more days. I had to mourn the sudden passing of that character, whom I had loved so much throughout the story up to that point.

Now the most exhilarating experience for me, and I think most authors would agree, is holding a book in my hands for the first time. That amazing feeling just doesn’t go away, even with my seventh novel recently in print. Every time I open the box of the first printed copies, I can feel the excitement build. With my science fiction novel The Europa Effect, I opened the box and examined the first proofs on video, and shared it on my Author page. I got some great comments where the viewers said they could see how my face lit up when I opened the box. I think that’s a feeling that will never go away. It’s one of the most exhilarating points in my process, also one of the most rewarding. It’s where I have created something physical, something that I can hold and touch. I can look at it , as something that I’ve created that will most likely spend more days on this planet than I will. And by holding the books in my hands, by feeling the pages, and the binding, smelling the paper, and running my hands over the covers, I know that I’m creating books that will endure.

Amazon Author Page

(all photos provided by Andy Mengel)

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Play a wordsearch race with kids?

Who can find all the words in this wordsearch faster – you or a friend? All the words are from my children’s book Winky’s Colours:).

#free #online #printable #wordsearch

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Busy doing nothing

Caressa moored at Tichmarsh

The river flowed past us, slow and gentle, cocoa-brown with silt. Over our heads arched a magnificent Constable sky, piled high with clouds and shot through with pink and coral, as the sun slipped lower towards the horizon. We were surrounded by gentle Sussex marshlands, festooned with wading birds, while swallows (or is it swifts?) darted and swooped into the water.

We were sitting aboard an elegant 1966 teak and mahogany built sloop, Caressa, property of the Classic Sailing Club (based at Suffolk Yacht Harbour on the Orwell). Mugs of tea and slices of cakes in hand, we watched the sun go down. Only one small detail marred the idyllic scene – we’d been there since 4pm, when a misunderstanding over the route led to us burying Caressa’s keel firmly in several feet of soft mud. The tide was falling, and before long the river began to dry out all around. We would be there for some time.

There’s nothing like sailing for putting you in your place. The almost-complete reliance on the winds and tides engenders a proper respect for the natural world. One minute we’d been heading up the Walton backwaters, delighting in the seals and the bird life; the next we were staring in despair at the stern, gunning the engine in reverse, with complete futility. We were stuck, good and proper. A quick glance at the tide tables confirmed that low tide was more than two hours away, and it’d be at least another three after that before we were likely to float free.

As the tide fell, our position became more obviously risible. We’d attempted to cross a massive sandbank which almost obscured the entrance to the barely-navigable creek we’d been heading for. The boat dried out all around. Fortunately, thanks to the force with which we’d thrust ourselves into the soft mud, we were held almost entirely upright. Caressa usually turns heads for her sleek beauty, but we soon became a source of amusement for passing boats, heading safely up the main channel for the Titchmarsh Marina, almost within sight around the bend of the river.

Back on the move

So, six hours to wait. We began with a cup of tea, naturally. I stretched out in the late afternoon sunshine, pillowed my head on my sailing jacket and snoozed. Phil investigated the yacht’s broken satellite navigation system, fixing it after a couple of hours’ detective work with a volt meter. Bernie, the skipper, made tea and studied the chart. We ate cake. I read a medical research paper that I’d stuffed in my bag at the last minute, not really expecting to have time to look at it. I unearthed a copy of the Big Issue, which I buy every week and usually chuck away barely scanned. We talked.

When last, I wondered idly, had I knowingly spent 6 hours doing nothing? Train journeys busily reading newspapers or checking Twitter; lunch hours rushing round the supermarket; evenings attending to paperwork, or churning up and down the swimming pool, or – on a night off – gazing at the television, trying to quieten my brain. If ever there was a corrective to incessant activity, this was it.

The hours ticked by. The sky, that big Sussex sky over a flat and quiet landscape, flared with its sunset, then settled to an indigo dusk. The midges came out. More welcome, a local yachtsman paddled over on his inflatable to ask if we were all right, and stayed to chat for an hour or two. The tide turned, swinging around the boats on their moorings, pouring in faster, covering the mudflats, displacing the birds.

Eventually, around 8.30pm, with water lapping around the boat, we gunned up the engine. Nothing. We gave it another 10 minutes. Same thing. Another 15 minutes, then. We’d called ahead to sailing instructor Richard, who lives on a houseboat in Titchmarsh Marina, and he’d spoken to the yacht club bar. They were doing meals until 10pm, and would hold on for us. We looked anxiously at our watches. We had plenty of food to get by – but the thought of a proper meal and a beer was attractive.

Finally, around 9.30pm, we heaved ourselves off the bank and slowly, carefully, turned the boat to motor up the channel. No mistakes this time, and with Richard’s help we were soon moored alongside a pontoon. A minute before 10, we piled into the yacht club. Soon we were sitting outside, enjoying roast beef and a beer. That night I turned into my bunk and slept like a baby. It takes it out of you, doing nothing.

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text:
The Line Between Going Nuts and Only Maybe Going Nuts

The older I get, the more I think I notice things out of the corner of my eye. Then I turn to look at what flickered or flashed, and nothing is moving. The longer I live, the more I enjoy people who are a bit skewed. I look for the people whose heads are at a tilt because the world doesn’t look quite right to them. I feel joy at finding someone running for County Supervisor whose name is Sharmalista Marblesto. It makes my day to find a town in Illinois name Gratiot and then find out they pronounce it “Grash it.”

Okay, so maybe some of this is fiction, but then again, maybe not. Perhaps my real name is Yanska Slabos, and I’m married to a guy named Zoltan Stepeshi. Perhaps Yanska is a middle-aged famous but ex-tightrope walker on disability because of her sciatica. Perhaps Zoltan now has to support the family. The circus can no longer afford to carry them, since Zoltan’s dancing emu act has never been all that popular.

My question for you is, how is Zoltan going to make enough money for their annual holiday trip to their cabin in Upper Sanduski, especially now that the circus has left them stranded near the Okefenokee Swamp?

35 responses to “The Line Between Going Nuts and Only Maybe Going Nuts

  1. On the Emu Trail

    Georgia State Route 15 cuts through Blackshear at US 84 in a more northerly direction, and is a road less traveled by business men in their El Dorados and families in their Country Squire wagons, rushing to and from important meetings and family summer vacation spots.

    Zoltan and his family huddle under a tarp seeking protection from the Southern heat and Georgia humidity, as their wagon creaks across the dirt, adjacent to the pavement. Cars honk and occupants point and jeer as they pass, doing fifty, maybe fifty-five. For most post-war motorists this is the first time for them to see an emu, much less a wagon being pulled by a team of four.

    Zoltan’s wife, Yanska, winces as a wheel hits a rut which send a painful jolt up her leg to her hip. She curses in a Slavik tongue and stretches her leg across the wagon’s dash. Zolton mutters a sincere apology and the wagon continues its slow pace.

    “Hold on, my Yanska,” Zolton urges as he spots a roadside fruit stand a hundred meters ahead. Yanska stifles a tear and grips her husband’s arm.

    Zolton steers his wagon to the front of the fruit stand and gives a nod to the dark man behind the tables. The fruit vendor shakes his head in disbelief about what he is seeing. Yanska stands to dismount from the wagon, and the black man rushes to her as he notes her painful discomfort.

    “Thank you so much,” she offers as her feet seek the wagon steps. “We are so tired and have such a long way to go.”

    Zolton’s children climb from the wagon and rush to the tables of peaches and melons and vegetables. Peaches are two for a nickel. The daughter looks to her father. “May we, Father? May we?” Zolton nods yes, and pulls a nickel from his pocket. Peach juice dribbles down his kid’s chins.

    Zolton leads his team of emus and his wagon to the side and tethers them to a tree. From a bucket in the back of the wagon Zolton dips a can of grain and tends to his birds.

    The fruit man looks to Zolton and remarks, “Mistah, thems the biggest chickens I’s ever seen.” Zolton smiles. He is used to such reactions, and tells the vendor about the birds.

    Zolton asks the fruit man how is business is doing.

    “Well, sir, rather poorly. Not too much traffic on this route, and most of that don’t stop.”

    Zolton and the fruit peddler turn to the sound of a braking car which pulls in front of the stand. The kids inside point with glee at the large, strange birds. “Can we see them, Daddy? Please? Pleeeeaase?

    Without waiting for an answer, they clamor out of the back seat and rush to the birds. Mom and dad emerge from their car. Mom takes a look at the fruit and vegetables and begins to shop.

    “What do they eat, mister?” the kids ask Zolton. He gives the black man a smile and a wink and replies, “Vell, they love peaches.”

    “Buy some peaches, Daddy,” they beg, and their father nods.

    Emus are not polite or dainty birds, and they snatch each peach as it is offered. Soon another passing car does a U-turn and pulls to the stand. Then another. By day’s end the fruit vendor has sold more that day than the entire previous week.

    Zolton and his family huddle under the shade as the sun begins to set. The vendor approaches Zolton with a handful of nickels, dimes and a few quarters.

    “Mistah. I want to thank you for stopping today. I want you to have this.” Zolton looks to his wife who nods her approval. Zolton pockets his day’s wages.

    Zolton and his family say goodbye to the vendor as he packs his inventory into the bed of his truck and begins his drive home.

    The next morning the vendor drives to his usual spot. To his amazement Zolton and his family are still there. A small tent sets pitched to the back of the lot, attached to Zolton’s wagon. Near the front, close to the road, four emus with golden bridles and saddles are tethered to a rope strung between two trees. Zolton and his wife, dressed in their circus attire, wave to him as he pulls in. A colorful sign painted in red and blue and gold offer emu rides for five cents.

    Zolton and his family begin unloading the fruit vendor’s truck as a new chapter in their career and lives begins.

  2. Cheryl aka Shaddy

    You sure can write and you do it so very, very well.

  3. Cheryl aka Shaddy

    A swamp is no place for any living critters other than mud turtles. Now that’s coming from a person who really isn’t familiar with swamps and their inhabitants. I can only say that I have no use for muckiness of any kind and I suspect most other people and animals feel likewise.
    Where am I going with this, you may ask? On a recent vacation with my wife, I passed Okefenokee Swamp. In a field along its western edge, we observed an unusual group loitering under a scraggly yet substantial tree. A woman with a limp was wringing her hands and shaking her head as she walked in circles, apparently unaware of her surroundings. A man, wearing an elaborately decorated cape, was trying to control a number of large squawking birds that were raising quite a fuss over, well, I don’t have a clue what had riled them.
    My wife and I are retired and have more time on our hands than we can tolerate without occasional diversions. Sticking our noses into the business of others has offered us diversions beyond our wildest dreams. My wife looked over at me and without saying a word, I knew we were both seeing a golden opportunity for action, ours for the taking.
    My wife and I pulled off the road and walked toward the activity beneath the misshapen tree. “I know you’re hungry. So am I,” the man with the cape shouted at his noisy flock.
    For fear of catching them off guard, I called out before we got too close, “May we be of assistance? We were driving by and noticed that you seemed to be in a predicament, er…or two.” Six heads snapped to stare at us.
    To make a long story short, my wife and I responded compassionately when we learned of the misfortunate that had befallen this couple and their four companions which I learned were officially emus. While my wife sat in the shade with our six new acquaintances, I drove in search of supper for all, that is, a sack of corn meal and a dozen burgers. We weren’t capable of solving their problems, but after sitting and eating with them, we stood to take leave. I reached in my billfold and pulled out ten one-hundred-dollar bills. I thrust them into the hands of new acquaintances and hurried to our car before they could object.
    We waved out the windows as we pulled back on the road. My wife was already reaching in the glovebox for a postcard and pen to send to our daughter in Phoenix, sharing our latest joy.

    (I’m naughty, writing this at work. Oh, no! I haven’t written fiction for quite some time so cut me lots of slack, please).

  4. Shaddy, this is hysterical. It makes me want to come across a similar grouping. Love the cape! I’m delighted you’re having such a good time at work! –Ann

  5. One of my refrigerator philosophy magnets: Blessed are the cracked for they shall let in the light.

  6. The day I met Zoltan Stepeshi is seared into my memory like…. like…. Well, I was going to say like the grill marks on shrimp cooked on the barbie, but you’d probably just groan and shake your head. That simile—or is it a metaphor, never could keep the darn things straight—is pretty apropos as you’ll soon find out.

    Anyway, that day I was making my oval around Uluru. It was late afternoon and there weren’t many tourists there because all the tour buses were parked on that overlook on the other side of the rock, where the tourists are served orange juice and champagne and cheese and crackers while they watch the rock change color during the sunset.

    I come around a big pile of boulders and I see this guy with a butterfly net and he’s dipping it into the little watering hole—you know the one I mean—in and out, in and out. Well, this looked interesting so I decide to watch him for a while. Eventually he looks up and says, “Oh, hello. You must be an emu.”

    I take a deep breath and let it out slowly before I move a little closer. “No, actually I’m an ostrich,” I say.

    “But this is Australia. You MUST be an emu.”

    “Nope. Ostrich.” And I stick my foot out so he can see, only all I get is this blank look. Okay. I do my patter. “Ostrich—two toes, emu—three toes.” He gets it, so I ask him what he’s doing with the butterfly net.

    “I’m trying to catch some shrimp to cook on the barbie,” he says.

    Oh, boy, another one. Ever since that movie Crocodile Dundee, everybody thinks Australia is awash in shrimp. I explain to him that there aren’t any shrimp here in the Outback and certainly not in a tiny watering hole ten feet across on the back side of Uluru. He asks me, “What’s oo-oo-oo?”

    “Uluru. Eww-lah-ROO. Name of this rock. You folks know it as Ayer’s Rock. The Aboriginals call it Uluru.” He gets it.

    “So, what’s an ostrich like you doing in a place like this?” he says.

    “I work here. I’m the local color. I wander around and the tourists think I’m an emu and they take lots of pictures.”

    “What’s a job like that pay? If you don’t mind me asking,” he says.

    Now it’s my turn to look dumb. “Pay?”

    “Yeah, like your wages. You know, money, moolah, dinero. How much they pay you to be the local color?”

    “Nothing,” I say, “I get to stay here. Plenty to eat, lots of funny tourists, nice weather.” He says his wife is climbing the rock today and I say I hope she has a good sense of balance, like, people die up there. He laughs and asks, “You ever heard of the Flying Wallendas?” Of course, I have, I say. My uncle got around a lot and told me about them.

    So Zoltan tells me his wife is the great-great-grandchild of Karl Wallenda, and that explains a lot. He says she’s terrific on the high wire in the circus they’re with, but lately she’s been having some back trouble.

    He invites me to join him and his wife in the campground, so we wander over that way and there’s this beautiful lady sitting in a camp chair outside a dome tent. I mean, hubba hubba. She’s an eyeful and I have big eyes, let me tell you.

    “Ostrich, this is my wife Yanska. Yanska, Ostrich.” She looks at me and she has this gleam in her eyes that I’ve seen before. I mean, I’m a darn good looking specimen, but that gleam means something else. I know that look. She thinks I’m an emu.

    “Well, hello there, Emu,” she says. “Sorry, I’d get up if I could but my sciatica is killing me today.”

    Uh, huh. I KNEW that look. So I say nice to meet you and all that, and then I add that I really am an ostrich and not an emu.

    She says ostriches are in Africa, not Australia, and I say my great-great-great-granddaddy was one of the first ostriches on an ostrich farm here and when he found out why they were brought here from Africa, well, a bunch of them lit out for the Outback and now we’re feral. I see that light in her eyes dim by a few lumens, but not many. I tell her I know what she’s thinking, but it isn’t true about emu oil being an anti-inflammatory agent. Just an old wives tale. Won’t help her sciatica a bit and she should stick to Advil. A few lesser lumens, but she’s still skeptical, so I hold out a foot and do the old two-toe/three-toe thing.

    Then I add, “You do know that to get emu oil, you have to render the emu, don’t you? It’s a one way street for the emu. The oil isn’t something they excrete.” The light of hope dies, and I feel kind of sorry for her. She says it didn’t bother her until the stupid clowns had her join them in the clown car to start her act one night and with her making 25 in that little car, well, her back hasn’t been right since.

    Long story short, Zoltan and Yanska talk me into going with them to the United States. I insist he buy me a business class ticket, ‘cuz there was no way my legs would fit in a coach seat.

    We make up an act where I’m a tap-dancing emu, and I can really pound the boards with the one nail on each foot I have. Works out pretty nice, as long as no one notices I have only two toes on each foot.

    Summers we spend touring with the circus and winters we spend in Gibsonton, Florida, where all the circus and carny folk hang out. This was no Flea Bay show. We are a real Sunday School Show, on the up and up, no shills, no dirty girl shows, nothing illicit. Even the carny games were legit, which is another one of the reasons disaster happened.

    The Big Top fell, figuratively speaking. Yanska’s sciatica got so bad she had trouble walking and there was no way she can get on the rope again. Attendance fell off horribly and the take was pitiful. The lady who did the Iron Jaw—hanging by her teeth—got an abscessed wisdom tooth and couldn’t work.

    The pitchman was laid off first, then two of the three Ringmasters. They sold off all but one of the elephants, the trapeze lady got pregnant and went on maternity leave. A lot of the carnies cried when they said their goodbyes, but they had to make a living, too.

    As for Zoltan and me, well, they couldn’t carry a dancing emu show anymore. The whole thing fell apart on a back road near the Okefenokee Swamp when a gator panicked the horses and they bolted for who-knows-where. Zoltan called a Boss Hostler he knew and by the next afternoon we were safe and sound in Gib-town.

    Zoltan and Yanska were heartbroken. They didn’t even have enough money to make their annual holiday trip to Upper Sanduski. They brood and mope about for a few days until I finally can’t take any more of it.

    “Zoltan, look at me. What do you see?”

    “I see my dearest friend,” he says immediately. I swallow and blink my eyes to clear the mistiness.

    “No, look at me. What do you see?”

    “I see a fine ostrich with a long neck, gorgeous feathers, and two long legs.” Yanska nodded in agreement.

    “Zoltan. Yanska. Has it never occurred to you that I have the gift of speech?” Yanska got it first. The light kindles in her eyes and it wasn’t for rending emu oil out of this ostrich body. Then Zoltan grinned. He got it, too.

    The next winter we roll into Gib-town in a brand new 44 foot long diesel pusher motorhome with three slide-outs. All our friends show up and the Boss Hostler says, “Well, lookie here. Ain’t you sitting pretty? Win a jackpot in Vegas?”

    “No,” Zoltan says. “We earned this money the hard way. We worked for it.”

    Well, they all hoot and cackle and say sure we did, and all that. Then they get serious and ask us how we really made it.

    So, Yanska steps up and reminds everyone how much Zoltan likes gambling and jokes and everyone nods and says yeah and all.

    Then she says, “A man and an ostrich go into a bar. The man says to the barkeep, ‘I’ll bet you a hundred bucks I can make this ostrich talk.’ And of course the barkeep tells them to get lost. So then Zoltan says, double-or nothing, I can make this ostrich talk….”

    And the rest is history.

    • Gullie – your stories are always a delightful romp. Jeff

    • Gully. your are so creative, so imaginative, so easy to read , so… so…so… well, enough. Beautiful and funny story.

    • to Gully and Cheryl: the only two ladies in the group that know about the convertible I bought in 2009.
      I sold it yesterday with 19700 miles on the odometer, still with the smell of a new car.
      The buyer gave me a rock bottom price for it. However, he paid very well for the Panama hat I wore when driving it, for the pipe I used to smoked and for the false mustache I put on to look like David Niven. At the end, it turned to be a good deal.

    • aWW, only from the mind of Gully….wonderful

    • So your muse came out from under the bed (or wherever you keep her) and lit a fire under your fingers. Gullie’s travels via ostrich narrator. I bet you’ve even been to all these places. Good to see your muse is in such supple shape. Quite wonderful.

  7. Ooopsies: “no Flea Bag…” and “rendering emu oil out of this ostrich body…” And a few tense changes I didn’t catch.

  8. “Yanska, what shall we do?” asked Zoltan, once Zoltan the Magnificent, now Zoltan the Downhearted. “No job, no money, after all these circus years, just emu’s, just two stinking emu’s.”

    “Let’s go to the cabin,” Yanska said just above a whisper, “Let’s get there somehow.”

    Zoltan closed his eyes, the cabin, sitting on the land his granddad’s grandpa cleared. He could hear the stream bubbling as it ran by, he could smell the clean air, no phone, no tv, no one to bother them. It would be a wonderful place for Yanska to let her sciatica mend, to let him clear his mind of these problems. “Yes, to the cabin we will go.”

    Zoltan put together a yard sale and sold all they had except for the basics and his two emu’s. After packing what was left, the saddled up the emu’s for their journey to Upper Sanduski and the cabin they loved. The trip was uneventful except for getting pulled over by a patrolman for speeding through his speed trap. Zoltan didn’t know an emu could run 35 in a 25.

    Zoltan and Yanska sat on the porch and watch the emu’s picking at the grass near the stream. Zoltan could hear Yanska’s stomach growl and knew the knot in his was also lack of eating for the last couple of days.

    Zoltan looked at the emu’s, one emu would feed them for many days if not weeks. He loved his emu’s, but he loved Yanska more and easing her discomfort was his priorty. He stood and walked to the old shed, there he found his grandpa’s corn knife, the edge still sharp as if it was sharpened just yesterday. Zoltan did what he had to do, as he brought the butchered emu to the cabin, Yanska cried, both for joy to have something to eat, and sadness for having to sacrifice the emu. As they cleaned the carcass of the feathers, they started telling stories of the past and their mood improved to where they were having a pucking good time.

  9. I loved the visual of emus in a speed trap. I am curious over the word pucking – I went to Mr. Google and came up with two definitions that cant be repeated here, regardless of how funny. Jeff

  10. I was happy to read that emus can be ridden. That is a new fact for me. There should be emu races, since watching a jockey hanging onto an emu at 35 MPH would be quite entertaining. However, I beg you to rethink that ending. Too creepy. Let them eat cake.

  11. login test

  12. A reunion! That’s something to consider. All you writers could deduct the travel expenses as a business expense, and we could take turns teaching what we’ve learned and reading our stuff. I’ll have to give this some thought. Who would actually think of coming if there were a reasonable date, place, and plan?

  13. I’d be compelled to sign up for that. I once attended a writing workshop on a cruise to Alaska.

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Salmon Can Be Fun!

I usually have my salmon either grilled or sautéed but there are many other ways that salmon can be incorporated in a meal. For instance, in curries, stews and soups. So this time I decided to try something different.

Green Thai curry with salmon is made with coconut milk and has an amazing creamy taste, a delightful treat for our tastebuds. It’s full of Omega-3 goodness (there’s 11.85 grams of omega-3 oil in 1 lb. of cooked salmon) and we can enjoy our salmon without the fishy smell. 😉

  • 1 pound chopped salmon
  • 3 tablespoons coconut oil
  • 5 green onions, finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 tablespoons Thai green curry paste
  • 1/2 cups water
  • 2 can unsweetened coconut milk
  • 1 small fresh red Thai chiles or 1 red jalapeño
  • 2 kaffir lime leaves
  • 1 teaspoon fish sauce
  • 1 large carrot, peeled, thinly sliced
  • 1 cup thinly sliced zucchini
  • 1 cup thinly sliced eggplant
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
  • 2 cups (about) short grain brown rice
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt

Green Thai Curry with Salmon

  1. Heat 2 tablespoons of the coconut oil in a large saucepan over medium heat
  2. Add green onions, 1 tablespoon cilantro, and garlic, chiles, lime leaves and sauté for a bout 2 minutes until tender
  3. Add curry paste and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute
  4. Add 1 1/4 cups of water, coconut milk, fish sauce and bring to simmer
  5. Add the carrot, zucchini, eggplant, cover and cook until the vegetables are soft
  6. Add the salmon and let is cook for about 4 or 5 minutes

Brown Rice

  1. Mix the rice with 4 cups of water in medium size pot
  2. Add 1 teaspoon sea salt and 1 tablespoon coconut oil and bring it to boil
  3. Wait until half of the water is evaporated, then cover the pot and let it cook for 30 minutes

2 thoughts on “Salmon Can Be Fun!

  1. Interesting sauce, the green curries are usually very light coloured, could be due to heavy coconut cream used instead of milk? Sounds like healthy version of a heavy meal and I like how you have used brown rice too.

  2. This was my first green curry adventure so yes, I used a modest amount of coconut milk, and…here’s my confession, it’s not my best lighting work so it turned out a little too dark. 😉

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Author Archives: Joseph L. Gardner

About Joseph L. Gardner

Hi,This is Joseph L. Gardner from.Like to travel having interested in blogging on different recent topics.

5 Proof Weight Loss Tips For Women

Weight Loss Tips For Women That Work Fast

Weight loss for women can be a depressing and long journey at that.

Many women will try all sorts of products that just aren’t for them or simply don’t work.

The answer to all your weight loss problems lay in simple weight loss remedies that really do work.

These simple tasks can be the start of your journey; once you follow these religiously you will soon begin to notice the effects can be amazing.

1. Eat 6 Meals Each Day

By eating small 6 meals a day, it keeps your metabolism at an optimal rate for maximum weight loss.

It also keeps your energy level at an ideal level so you can get the most out of each day.

This type of eating regimen is considered optimal because it will also prevent you from getting hungry and binging.

These meals obviously have to be healthy and consist of a balanced, nutritional diet.

You can also boost your metabolism even more when you combine this type of eating with a good weight loss supplement.

2. Cut Back On Trans-Fat and Dairy

By simply having less dairy fat from creamers in your tea or coffee this can go a long way.

Also, rather than cooking with butter or lard, use the healthier option like organic Olive Oil.

If you are hard set on milk or cheese, look for the low-fat products, aim for 2% or no fat at all.

3. Don’t Eat 3 Hours Before Bed

WE all know that eating gives you energy, but by eating before bed you’re giving your body unnecessary energy which will just be stored as fat.

Burdening your body at night with digestion lowers its chance to do other necessary repairs necessary during this resting period.

4. Drink 2 Litres of Water Daily

By drinking lots of water throughout the day, it keeps your body clean and flushed, able to do the necessary work for weight loss.

So rather than drinking a cola, have a large glass of water to give your body a chance to flush out your belly fat and avoid getting fat from the sugary cola.

Another thing to keep in mind is that occasionally your mind might tell you to you are hungry, but in reality you’re dehydrated, so stock up on bottles of H2O to keep your hydration under control.

5. Exercise

Exercise, Exercise! This can’t be said enough.

It might be hard to start off with so take it easy and start with 15 – 30min slow walking a day.

Once you feel you can handle more increase your pace, intensity or time.

Adding some strength training 30min at least once a week will help with muscle building and increase your chances of burning more belly fat.

Once you have the hang of it, increase the number of times a week you do it.

These are very simple yet effective tasks that can help you to succeed in your weight loss challenges.

By adding these simple tips into your daily routine, you will definitely start to lose weight faster than ever before.

Just be determined and keep at it until you succeed!

Guide To Finding The Best Weight Loss Pills For Women

Best Diet Pill For Women That Works Fast

There has been an ever increasing demand for a one size fits all guide to finding the best weight loss pill for women over the counter that work best for women who are overweight.

This has been contributed to the rise in popularity of weight loss supplements that can help women who need to lose weight achieve maximum results in as little time as possible.

But there are some obstacles in the way that make finding a supplement that actually works somewhat difficult.

The problem is that there are so many different varieties of weight loss supplements to choose from that it makes finding the right product for an individual seem nearly impossible at times.

And then combine that with the countless advertizing campaigns by supplement companies and you will soon find yourself confused and wanting to give up in this whole weight loss thing all together.

What Diet Pills Are Best For Women?

There are many different types of diet pills out there for women to use so finding the right one will depend on your goal and where you need the most help.

The first thing that you need to decide is what type of ingredients you are looking for in a supplement.

There are diet pills that contain all natural herbal ingredients and then there are those that are made from 100% synthetic compounds that are created in a laboratory.

What’s The Difference?

Well, to be totally honest you are going to get what you pay for.

Diet pills that contain synthetic ingredients are going to be a little bit more expensive than herbals but the results are going to speak for themselves.

Herbal ingredients just can’t compete with a 100% synthetic supplement.

Synthetic fat burners are appetite suppressants are created to be as close to prescription diet pills as possible and that is why they can outperform an herbal supplement any day.

So if you are looking for the most powerful weight loss pills on the market then you will surely want to choose a product that mimics a prescription.

What Are The Best Products For Women?

Products like Phentramin-D and FenFast375 are good examples of over the counter supplements that are manufactured from purely synthetic ingredients and are the closest thing that you can get to prescriptions like Adipex and Phentermine.

If you are a woman who is struggling to lose weight or stuck at a plateau and want something that is going to work fast then this is the type of supplement that you may want to try first.

The only downside is that there are some minor side effects that you may experience such as having trouble falling asleep if taken late in the day.

In this case, just make sure that you take your diet pill early enough in the day so that the effects wear off in time for you to get to sleep.

What If You Prefer An All Natural Supplement?

Now, on the other hand, if you are someone who wants to stick to an all natural product then an herbal supplement is the way to go.

Herbal supplements are a little bit weaker than synthetics but some people might prefer a more “watered down” diet pill because they are sensitive to harsher stimulants.

Supplements like green tea extract and green coffee bean extract are good examples of diet pills that a woman can take which are 100% natural and relatively safe without any types of side effects.

How To Determine If A Product Works

After you have decided what type of diet pill you are going to buy, there are a couple of other considerations that you need to keep in mind.

First off, one of the most important things that determine the quality of a product is a money back guarantee.

If the manufacturer is producing a weight loss supplement that is top of the line and actually works the way that it is claimed to, they will have absolutely no problem offering a money back guarantee.

So, when you see that you can get your money back in 30 days if you are not happy with the product then you can assume that the product works the way it is intended to.

Look For Unbiased Reviews

Then you will want to take a look at reviews of the particular product that you are interested in so you can see how it has impacted others like you.

There will definitely be reviews on the manufacturer’s website but depending on the company, they may be biased in what they post.

This is why it is a good idea to take a look at unbiased websites that do weight loss product reviews. is a good example of a website that gives you no nonsense reviews on the best fat loss products out there.

If you pay close attention then you will see that there are always supplements trends that come and go and most reviewers out there will be quick to jump on the bandwagon just to make some money.

Just take a look for yourself and see; they will promote a particular product for a couple of months and then when the next hyped up weight loss pill comes out they are promoting that.

So just make sure that you are getting your information from a reputable website.

What’s Next?

Once you have found your product, make sure that you follow the direction to ensure maximum safety.

The recommended dosage on the bottle is there for a reason.

Taking more than what the manufacturer recommends is only asking for trouble and will not guarantee that you get any faster results.

Also, if there are any questions that you have about the product, you can always write an email to the manufacturer or ask a dietitian or qualified trainer.

The only thing to do next is to put forth the effort and get the results that you are after.

Hard work and dedication will definitely pay off in the end but only of you are willing to put in the work.

Best of luck finding the best weight loss pills for your needs and hope you achieve your dream body!

5 Crucial Features Of Diet Pills That Work

Features Of Diet Supplements

If you have been paying attention, you might have realized the significant growth the weight loss industry has seen over the last couple of years.

This has been attributed to the rise in fitness related social media which has had a significant impact on the amount of individuals who want to start losing weight.

This has also led to an increase in the number of weight loss supplements that are heavily marketed online too.

Some of them are genuine and work effectively while others just don’t seem to make that much of a difference.

In order to get the best results from a supplement there are some factors that come into play, specifically what is in the diet pill.

In this article, we’ll take a look at some things that you should make sure are in the weight loss supplements you buy.

1. Contain Proven Ingredients

Using weight loss supplements that contain proven ingredients like Yohimbine HCL, L-Carnitine, Green Tea Extract and Hoodia is recommended.

Proven ingredients are the only ones that can help in the type of quick and safe weight reduction that most people are looking for.

Ingredients like those listed above will help to burn fat, increase metabolism, suppress hunger and give you the energy you need to make the most of your day.

2. Contain Metabolic Boosters

Using a fat loss supplement that contains metabolic boosters is going to make a big difference in the amount of weight that you can lose.

A metabolism booster helps to increase the rate at which belly fat in the body is oxidized is released to be used as energy.

When you increase your energy production you will also find a good boost in the way you can easily tackle your daily workouts.

One of the most popular metabolism boosters is none other than Green Tea Extract.

Green tea has a lot of research to back up its claims; just be sure you are getting a quality product that has been lab tested for potency.

3. Contain Phaseolus Vulgaris

Phaseolus Vulgaris is one of the best starch blocking ingredients that acts as an inhibitor of amylase enzyme.

There has been research on the effectiveness of this carb blocker which has shown encouraging results (1).

Phaseolus Vulgaris is important because blocking excess starches from being absorbed into the body will significantly reduce the amount of excess calories that end up getting converted to fat tissue in the body.

4. Contain Diuretics

Sometimes carrying around excess weight doesn’t always have to do with the amount of belly fat that you have.

If you are someone who tends to retain water then a diuretic supplement can be extremely beneficial to you.

Weight loss supplements that contain diuretics in their formula can really make a difference in the amount of actual weight that you drop in a given period of time.

5. Contain An Appetite Suppressant

The best weight loss supplements available online are going to have an appetite suppressing agent in them.

Lack of hunger control is the number one reason that people can’t stick to a diet long enough to get any significant results.

Herbs like Hoodia can trick the brain into thinking that the stomach is full and you can pass on the snacks that you were going to eat.

Appetite suppressants should be part of any diet supplement program and will be one of the biggest helpers in your weight loss success.


WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: application/xhtml+xml

text:
file Bin executable

Asked by ninoskiz on 2008-03-20

Bin executable files are run not! I downloaded google hearth and the executable is not launched!

Question information

English Edit question
Ubuntu Edit question
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This question was originally filed as bug #204273.

Jorge Castro (jorge) said : #1

This is expected behavior, so converting to a question. To make the file executable run "chmod +x filename.bin" and then execute it.

Jim Hutchinson (jphutch) said : #2

If you are using gutsy or hardy, a better approach to installing google earth would be to just open a terminal (apps-accessories) and typing

sudo apt-get install googleearth

You can also add the medibuntu repository and install it. I'm not sure if one or there other would result in a newer version. My guess is medibuntu might be newer but I haven't checked.

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Provide an answer of your own, or ask ninoskiz for more information if necessary.

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Software for Palm Z22

Asked by Ryan Davis on 2008-05-12

I have a Plam Z22 and i want to know if the software will work with Ububtu. or better yet what kind of software will work with Ububtu in general.

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Leo Arias (elopio) said : #1

There's a how-to at

According to it, you can work with Palm Z22 and ubuntu, but there are some issues (at the end of the page).
After doing that, you can use Evolution and gpilotd.

Andy (acreech2330) said : #2

Using the instructions on that page did not help me with doing a hotsync with my Palm Pilot Z22 and Evolution or JPilot.

Steve Lake (steffanllyn) said : #3

I worked through these pages and found it worked fine for setting up my Z22 under Ubuntu 8.04...

At present, I synchronise my calendar and my contacts with Evolution on my Ubuntu PC.

If it's of any interest, I'm currently looking at replacing Roboform for encrypting my sensitive data. I used it when I ran Windoze and it would synchronise fine, but the Wine db shows it as non-runnable (which I can readily confirm).

I'm keeping my own notes on progress (I don't get a lot of time at present, unfortunately) on my Wikidot site here...

Feel free to

Hope this helps!

Can you help with this problem?

Provide an answer of your own, or ask Ryan Davis for more information if necessary.

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text:
Spontaneous “Thanksgiving” Thoughts

Happy Black Friday to you!!  Are you having fun?

In my “Fringe”-inspired parallel universe, it’s still Thanksgiving for us since we’re cooking today.

My biggest contribution to our feast is finished.  My “Sweet Potato Pecan Cheesecake” turned out beautifully.  I can’t wait until noon to sample it.

Ray is making the pretty and very dead turkey.

Ray Turkey

With about two hours left to bake, here’s what “Tom Turkey” looks like.

Turkey Baking

And, here is the final product.

Our Turkey 2012

My sister is making the dressing, green beans with ham, and deviled eggs.  Okay, she called them “scrambled deviled eggs” because she dropped them.  I’m not sure I’ll try those. 🙂

While we’re cooking, we’re listening to the angelic voice of Faith Hill and her 2008 Christmas CD, “Joy To The World”.

Santa Ray did some shopping online for Miss Gretel and I bought the movie “Rock of Ages”, season two of “Justified”, and Blake Shelton’s “Cheers, It’s Christmas”, all on sale and for free.  I used my birthday money from my mother-and-father-in-law, Donna and Ray.

Speaking of the in-laws, we’re heading to Fort Dodge later today until Sunday for Thanksgiving.

While it’s very breezy in the Quad Cities with variable clouds, light snow is falling in Mason City, Iowa, and it’s only 18° at mid-morning.  Closer to Fort Dodge, there are some snow flurries.  “Tis the season!

My friends, have a great Thanksgiving weekend.  Worry with the weight gain Monday.  I’m not counting calories this weekend.

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