From the Inkwell, From the Vein.....

Argh!! Why oh why does editing have to be so painful??? Wait, strike that---- why does reducing a document by a third feel like dismemberment??? Editing really isn't that bad. Usually I look forward to what a really good edit will do to whatever piece I'm working on....but, cutting a story to pieces??? 6,000 words....not a long document to start with, but, apparently for the market it's intended for,  it's 2,000 words too long *sigh* So, 48 hrs later and 2 pages shorter, I've managed to shave 1,016 words... the hardest part is trying not to alter the overall workings of the piece. It's not easy trimming the fat from something that was already svelte to begin with.... If I can manage to slice away the remaining 984 words while still keeping the essence of my story, I'll be amazed. But, if my story doesn't survive the crash diet, I could always harvest its remains for decorative purposes....

Though our feet leave different prints,our tongues sound different words, there's a mirrored rhythm in the beating of our hearts. Though born in different worlds, our eyes sharpened 'neath different moons, there's an unspoken truth in the warmth of our touch. We may walk in different strides and dream different dreams, we may speak in different voices, maybe swim in different streams. It's plain to see, when dark night falls, as all the stars shine through, that underneath it all, there's no difference 'tween me and you.

Oh blissful, blissful hiatus... So, I took four days away from everything-- the day job, the writing, the reading, the blogging-- everything that I do on a daily/regular basis, I stopped for 4 glorious days. I haven't been completely bone-idle these last four days, just filled them with other things that I wanted to do, or needed to get taken care of. The days were marginally productive (which I guess deludes me into thinking that I got quite a few things accomplished). The husband and I spent the weekend in a state of quasi-productiveness---how's that?--- and still managed to enjoy ourselves. We bought summer shirts, that we both desperately needed in the equatorial clime we're currently living in. We got haircuts, or trims really, as our shaggy tresses were making the unrelenting heat even more unbearable. We bought groceries, including an assortment of grill meats-- equatorial heat does obligate one to grill, right? We went to the movies, twice...in one weekend--...

Just finished Lev Grossman's, The Magicians , and I have to say, the book was surprisingly good. It centers around a group of "normal" teenagers who aren't so normal.... at least, they've never felt normal or like they belonged in the world.  Quentin Coldwater is one of those out-of-place teens, a math genius, looking to enter an Ivy League college and wondering what it would take to find something exciting. Quentin runs from the boredom of his home, from the boredom of his high school. He runs straight into the arms of a magician's college. And, when he discovers the possibility of a magical world existing that he's read about since childhood, he thinks he's finally found the life, the world he's always wanted. But, the deeper he goes and the further he runs, the more he begins to question exactly what it is he's running from.  This is not your typical magical story. And, definitely not a children's fantasy tale. It is the adult ...

I should have written this days ago, but I couldn't.... I should have posted this when it first happened, but it was too close.... The words wouldn't come, but the tears did. As humans, we often boast about our position in the state of the world--- the most intelligent, the most creative, the most innovative.... It's what we shouldn't boast about (though some do) that sickens me... There are too many times that the human race has failed itself--- too many innocents slaughtered, too many lives lost for no purpose, too many things destroyed, too many things ignored. Pit Bulls (Pibbles, as they are affectionately called) have gotten a bum rap for years. They have been viewed as viscous animals that should be feared and shot on sight, lest they "rip your face off." Most communities, apartment complexes, cities have some ordinance or ban against owning the animals in the first place. They have been bred to fight, they have been bred to be monsters--- B...

A seed is sown, a bud to yield, a light is born, a dream fulfilled. From tiny rose, to towering oak, each finds the room, to cultivate hope.

I meant to post this last week, but life (a.k.a.--work, stress, drama, etc) got in the way... I was invited to participate in a bi-weekly blog event, "Thursday Short Story Slam", hosted by Bluebell Books,   here . It's a neat, little challenge that doesn't tax the energies too badly since it isn't like the month-long "write everyday or you fail" kind of blog challenges I've participated in before. The premise is simple. They provide a photo prompt, every other Thursday, and you provide the short story or poem--- that's it. It's exciting to see what 100+ people can do with a picture.... This past Thursday, I participated twice-- one poem,   here , on my regular blog and one story,   here , on my experimental blog that I started recently on a whim (where these whims come from, I'll never know). Whims are funny things, they spring up at the strangest times and in the strangest ways...and sometimes they pay off in the strangest f...

With Independence Day looming, I was suddenly struck by the fact that I had never really contemplated what it meant to be patriotic and what it meant to have freedom. It's difficult to put our liberties, which so many of us take as inherent and automatically assured, into perspective when we've never had to face a life without them. As it is so easy to assume that we are protected from life's indignities because of our freedom, I am compelled to wonder what would happen if our protection was suddenly taken from us. Though, I don't mean in the same fashion as 9/11 (which was a horrific tragedy that I hope never repeats), no, I mean in a complete form-- that EVERY freedom we have was suddenly stripped from us, that EVERY liberty (which we assume is our birth-right because someone died to secure it before we were even born) was suddenly erased. So many times I cringe when I read the latest headlines-- coercion, political tyranny, corruption, not to mention the blatan...