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In Support of Raif Badawi

On Friday, Jan 09, 2015, French police raided two sites – killing suspected terrorists, black ice-covered some roads in Eastern North Carolina resulting in multiple traffic accidents and Raif Badawi, a blogger from Saudi Arabia was flogged.

Flog – to beat with a whip or cane

Freedom of speech and thought matters,To be specific, Badawi was found  guilty of insulting Islam (on his blog) and was sentenced to ten years  in prison, a monetary fine and 1,000 lashes. Once a week, for twenty weeks, Badawi will receive 50 lashes.  His first flogging was yesterday and lasted approximately fifteen minutes. He only has 19 more sessions to go.

I don’t pretend to be an expert on the political/religious workings of Saudi Arabia.  BUT – I recognize wrong when I see it.  The freedom to think and to express those thoughts are inalienable rights.  Thoughts and ideas can lead to change only if they aren’t stifled and repressed.  We don’t have to agree with another person’s views but we should afford them the same respect we would expect.  Furthermore, no government and/or religious leader has the right to curtail honest, peaceful discussion.

I live half a world away from Raif Badawi.  Since I can’t take to the streets of Jeddah to protest his punishment, I will use the next best option I have – my blog.

Raif Badawi – my prayers are with you.  May you be strong in withstanding your persecution and may the hearts of your accusers be softened.

To read more about this incident, click here and here.

 

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Life Is For Living

Life is for living…

                       Not just existing…

                                                  I knew this – but somehow, I’d fallen into a rut.

Remember that saying –

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

bike ridingThere’s a lot of truth in that old adage.

I’m not saying that work isn’t important.   On the contrary, work is meaningful and significant.   BUT – if we’re not careful, we can be bogged down by all those responsibilities.

Play on the other hand, tends to get overlooked.  It’s the first thing we cut from our schedules because we’re grown-ups and we do grown-up things and grown-ups tend to sacrifice the fun things…  And we pay the price:

Stress

Fatigue

Unhappiness

I understood the principle of play as a kid.  I worked (chores).  I played and if I could, I played as I worked. My days were filled with laughter and adventures.  Life was good.

Then – something awful happened.  I grew up.  I forgot the secrets of my youth  – when anything and everything was possible.  Play became a nice-ity not a necessity.   STRESS became my constant companion and the truth of the matter is this – it was no one’s fault but my own.

I’ve learned that I have to take care of me.  

I write.

I get off the highways and drive the back roads.

I plan day trips and/or weekend excursions.  (They don’t have to be expensive – but it is amazing how having something to look forward to can improve your outlook.)

Saturday cleaning?  Gone the way of the do-do bird.  Thursday nights work just as good and my weekends are free!

In short, I’m learning (it’s a daily thing) that kids have it right.  Playtime may be the most important time of the day!  

So what about you?  What do you do to let go of the stress and reclaim the joy in your life?

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Chatting It Up With Author Carol Ann Ross

WP_20141213_009Not only is Carol Ann Ross the author of the Topsail Island Saga, a historical romance trilogy set in coastal North Carolina, she’s the focus of today’s author interview.

My questions will be in bold.  Carol’s responses will be in regular print.

 

 

When it comes to a new novel, what/who usually shows up first? The idea for the story or the characters?

My character shows up first – but that character is usually the embodiment or contains the axis on which my story has been spun. Make sense?

How important are names to you in your books? Do you choose the names based on their meaning or because you like how it sounds? What other things do you consider when naming your characters?

Some of the names are very important – others don’t mean a thing. If a name has importance it is because it is the name of a dear friend, a dear loved one, relative, significant a-hole in my life, etc.

Sometimes, there are people in our lives that we just don’t like. Have any of those people shown up in your stories?

In the present novel I am working on they are ending up either dead or obvious idiots – though, they may not have the same name as the actual person I am thinking of.

Your current work in progress -­ Care to share a couple of sentences?

“I never really did like you very much. You’re pretentious, obnoxious and a complete phony – I just needed you around to do the dirty work.”

When it comes to your writing career, where do you see yourself in ten years?

In ten years, I see myself having shared my wealth with the needy and sick and living in my own ocean front home with my Yorkies – also spending winters in Florida.

At the end of your life, when it is all said and done, what would you want your tombstone to say?

Good mom, good friend.

Click here, to check out Carol’s blog.

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Help! Which Way Do I Go?

Fork in the roadI’ve come to that proverbial fork in the road and I don’t know which way to go.

When Of Dreams and Shadow: Forget Me Not (Book 1) was published in September 2013,  I immediately started work on the sequel.  But by January, 2014, Britney and Michael had popped in my head.  Their story took over and in July, 2014, The Reason’s Why (e-book) was published.   The paperback followed in September.   The Wretched Life of Maxine J Mattocks, a novelette, is being published in episodes on Wattpad and my blog.

My dilemma:

  • It is now December – 15 months since the first book was published.
  • I’ve written about 12,000 words of sequel.
  • Writing the sequel feels like a chore.
  • Part of me wants to stop working on it and maybe get a new cover for Dreams (taking off the Forget Me Not: Book 1)
  • The first book could have been a stand alone story.  At this point, I wish I had decided to do just that…

It’s frustrating. 

In the past, I’ve been a “pantzer”.   I like the spontaneity and the creative flow that happens between the characters and myself.   With the sequel, I decided to be a “planner” – to use an outline.  Is it possible that’s the problem? It didn’t seem so at the time.  In fact, I thought it was helping.   Maybe my problem has less to do with my writing process and more to do with my emotional connection to the story.  It’s not that I don’t love the characters.  It feels more like I’ve outgrown them – if that makes any sense at all.

Is it possible to rekindle the flame for Book 2?

writer's blockI know the importance of having sequels follow as quickly as possible especially with the whole marketing thing.  I get that I’m behind the power curve and honestly, that just adds on another layer of frustration.  And then, when I get the chance to write, I sit in front of my laptop – I type, delete, type, delete… It’s amazing that I’ve managed to move forward at all.

And then there’s other distractions…

Like the new characters who have stopped by to introduce themselves.  They want their stories told.  But the longer I ask them to hold on, the less often they visit and that worries me.

So now you know… 

When I talked to my husband about this, he got that “deer in the headlights” look.   I got a lot of hemming and hawing and nothing else.  And that is why I’ve turned to you – because maybe you’ve been in this same spot or know someone who has.  Even if you haven’t, maybe a fresh set of eyes can see the better path. Either way, your  thoughts and experiences would be so appreciated.

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Was Burgermeister Meisterburger Misjudged?

santa and reindeer
openclipart by: nicubunu

It’s that time of year again when children of all ages get to watch those Christmas classics – Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer and Santa Claus is Coming to Town.  These stories are as much of a part of my childhood Christmas memories as tinsel on the tree and oranges in my stocking.

As my children grew up, I’ll admit to being somewhat disappointed that they didn’t find these classics as entertaining as I once had.  I assumed that when a kid has countless cartoon options, the oldies just aren’t all that appealing. But maybe, that wasn’t the real reason…

My children never liked The Little Drummer Boy.  Why?  Because they thought the drummer boy was a whiny jerk and the only character they liked was the lamb who got run over by the chariot.  This made me take another look at those classics.

Oh my…

Frosty the Snowman:

Poor Frosty. Not only does he have to deal with the very real possibility of melting, he must contend with the nasty magician who made several attempts to obtain the magic hat knowing what the end results would be. At the end of the story, we find out that the magician is on Santa’s naughty list.  Naughty Hell!  He’s a freakin’ murderous thief.

And then there’s Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer:

When we meet Santa, we’re in for a surprise.  Jolly Old Saint Nick?  Not hardly – more like, Grumpy Old Codger.  The elves don’t sing good enough and he has an issue with Rudolph’s nose.  And an issue it is – because Santa is a judgemental jerk.  Poor Ruddy can’t make the team because of his shining sniffer.  In fact, the only reason Santa comes around and tries to make nice is because he needs Ruddy.  Apparently even Santa needs to see while he’s flying his sleigh.  If it hadn’t been for poor visibility, Ruddy would have been sitting at a bar with the other unemployed reindeer while Santa was flying around the world with his perfect posse.  Would anyone really have blamed Rudolph if he told Santa to stick that offer up his butt?

How about – Santa Claus is Coming to Town:

Not to defend Burgermeiester MeisterBurger, but Santa (Kris Kringle) was at the very least a trespasser – at worst, a burglar.  While he didn’t take anything, he was guilty of breaking and entering people’s homes. Maybe Burgermeiester calling Santa public enemy number one wasn’t an overreaction.  In my neck of the woods, we shoot people who break into our homes.  Fact: We’ve got a guy (Santa) who sneaks into homes and leaves toys for children.  Creepy.  And then we have the music – from the lyrics by Jules Bass: If you sit on my lap today, a kiss a toy is the price you’ll pay.  Oh my gosh! If I heard someone say this to a kid, I’d hit them on the head with my purse as I called 9-1-1.

So there you have it, a fresh look at those Christmas Classics.  Now grab your cookies and hot chocolate, sit back and enjoy the show!