Pitch Slapped

Bru Interviews...Dianne Salerni!

2013-05-20T06:00:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone!

I am really excited about my guest today: amazing writer, inspiring teacher, and all-around phenomenal person, Dianne Salerni! She is someone I have truly admired for a long time, so I am thrilled to chat with her here about all the wonderful things going on in her life and writing career right now.

Welcome, Dianne!

FG: First of all, congratulations are in order on so many fronts! In addition to all of your writing achievements, the short film THE SPIRIT GAME, based upon your book WE HEAR THE DEAD, has just gone to CANNES! That is SO HUGE! How does it feel???

DS: It feels very far away and a little surreal. I’ve seen the film short, and it is stunning. Now, it’s not exactly like my book. I based my book on historical events. Then my book inspired the concept for this movie, and a screenwriter wrote a 10 minute script based on what the director and producer wanted. Actors came along and interpreted their parts – and the director pulled the whole thing together. So my part is only a fraction of the whole … but still! I had a part in making a movie! (Starring Charles Shaughnessy, Gale Harold, Liberty Ross, Katherine Isabelle, and Katie Boland.)

The producer wants to pitch the film as the premise for a television series, so if THE SPIRIT GAME is well-received at Cannes, maybe a studio will take an interest!
You can see a sneak peek at the film HERE.

FG: That is incredible, congratulations again. Now, please tell me about your newest release, THE CAGED GRAVES.

DS: THE CAGED GRAVES is a historical mystery inspired by two real caged graves I saw in an abandoned cemetery in Catawissa, Pennsylvania. Even the local historical society doesn’t know why the graves of these two women – sisters-in-law who died a couple days apart in 1852 – were enclosed in cages.

DS: I built my story around a 17 year old girl, Verity Boone, who returns to her hometown after fifteen years to take part in an arranged marriage. But her homecoming is a disappointment. Her father is aloof and distant, her fiancé is not as charming as she hoped, and worst of all she learns that some kind of scandal surrounds her mother’s death. Her mother and an aunt she never knew are buried outside the church grounds, their graves enclosed in cages, and no one will tell her why. When Verity discovers her mother’s diaries in the attic, she delves into the mystery on her own.

FG: That sounds intriguing! I am looking forward to reading it as soon as I can. You are also working on a book series that has a premise so clever, when I heard it I had one of those moments when I thought, "I wish I'd thought of that!" Tell everyone a little about THE EIGHTH DAY and when we can expect to see it on store shelves!

DS: THE EIGHTH DAY is the first book in a Middle Grade fantasy series. Jax Aubrey is a seventh grader who discovers an extra day hidden between Wednesday and Thursday, as well as a mysterious girl in the house next door who exists only on that secret day. Jax tries to entice her out and befriend her, just because he’s curious, but his carelessness leads dangerous people to her door – people who know this girl is the key to destroying seven days of the week.

THE EIGHTH DAY is expected to release in Summer 2014. Just this week, I got a sneak peek at the cover. I can’t share (sorry), but it is amazing! Possibly even my favorite cover yet.

FG: That is fantastic, I can't wait until it's released!

Finally, what is the best advice you would offer to a writer who is trying to find their voice and struggling?

DS: Keep writing and keep revising. I usually don’t discover my main character’s voice until the first draft of the book is almost done. Then I have to go back and change the rest of the book to match. Often, the voice continues to develop over successive drafts.

You can’t be afraid to cut and change your words. (Although you should keep a copy of every draft.) Good writing is forged in fire and sweat. It’s not supposed to be easy!

FG: So true!!! Thanks so much Dianne for visiting today!

You can all find out more about Dianne and her writing by visiting her blog. It is not to be missed! From there you can also find her on Facebook and such. Hurry on over!

~bru

This Life Is Being Refurbished For My Future Enjoyment

2013-05-17T14:36:00.005-04:00

On my recent, spur of the moment (and if I'm honest, pretty much manically driven) solo trip to Florida, I had an unsettling experience that I am now only beginning to really appreciate.

For the first time in my life (and I have been going to WDW since I was pre-verbal) I saw active construction crews at work in the Magic Kingdom.

They were breaking ground, those big metal vehicles everywhere (which put me in mind of Arthur Dent: I kept thinking one word, "Yellow,") complete with beeping noises as they backed up, crunching and grinding and tearing away at the old to make room for the new. All of that sort of thing.

Right in the middle of New Fantasyland.

Now, I knew construction was ongoing in Fantasyland before I went. But there was something about seeing that real-world work, the heavy lifting usually kept behind the scenes as much as possible in WDW right in the middle of the Magic Kingdom that really bugged me at first. It was the proverbial slap in the face of reality...in the middle of the magic. How do you focus on the majesty of the new Beast's Castle in the background (in the pouring rain no less) when there is a backhoe screeching at you, rising into plain sight behind a barrier too short to disguise it?

I couldn't fathom it. For the first time in my entire life, I didn't know where anything was anymore. Me! Asking directions in Fantasyland! Preposterous!

Yet, I did.

And after I rode the new Voyage of the Little Mermaid and looked at the gift shops and all, I rode my little scooter on to other 'lands' unaffected by the construction and tried to focus on how impressive the additions so far to Fantasyland really are (had lunch inside Beast's Castle at Be Our Guest and it was beautiful beyond description...and the lemon cupcake was to DIE for...) But the sight of that frigging backhoe tearing up what I considered to be sacred ground from my childhood stayed with me.

It was only after I got home that I realized that the construction in the middle of Fantasyland is a perfect metaphor for my life right now-- and that is probably why it bothered me so much.

There are some parts of my life that may appear sparkly on the outside to others, but are really just akin to magical-looking facades in front of normal, everyday office buildings.

Like the Magic Kingdom, in my life below the surface there is a whole city of activity going on...some good some bad. Despite all I write about on this blog and elsewhere to try to raise awareness on certain issues and about conditions that are a part of my life, I try to keep the worst of it to myself. Just like you never see a truck hauling garbage out of The Happiest Place On Earth, because it all happens behind the scenes.

So too, have I been keeping to myself the heavy lifting I've been doing behind the scenes as far as life, and my writing life, goes. I haven't been talking, but believe you me there has been a flurry of construction and renovation going on-- mostly challenging the limitations that I have set upon myself up until now (Mom's voice in my head, much, telling me I'll fail? Yeah, time to finally tell that voice where to go.) and pushing my boundaries beyond my comfort zone to see what can happen.

I can't talk about all of it yet but I am hoping VERY soon.

For now, it's just like that thin wooden barrier between New Fantasyland and the construction zone: This life is being refurbished for my future enjoyment.

Refurbished, and reimagined.

All you can see right now is the tops of those construction vehicles and hear the infernal beeping that drowns out the sound of the carousel. But the end result is, with any luck at all, going to be pretty cool.

There are things I can't change in life that I desperately wish I could.

But I turn 42 this weekend: it's time to try to see what I can do with what's left in life beyond those things I cannot change.

Watch this space...

~bru

Motherhood Lost

2013-05-10T13:15:00.003-04:00

It was about this time of day one year ago when I got the phone call that would change my life forever.

The phone call in which my daughter informed me that she had gotten baptized and now identified herself as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

She then further informed me, at the age of nearly seventeen, that she was cutting me out of her life unless and until I repented and did things “God’s way.”

I felt my knees go out from beneath me.

I cried.

I screamed "No" and wailed as I have never heard my own voice sound before in my life.

I know that I just completely and utterly lost it.

She said nothing more.

I lost it for many reasons, not the least of which was because of this announcement itself but also because she had promised me, on many occasions, that she would warn me first before she took this drastic step with her life (her father and stepmother’s doing).

She lied.

She told me many lies the two previous two years of her life, during which she had undergone this conversion or as I prefer to call it, brainwashing, at the hands of those determined to love bomb her into the submissive role of a ‘good young Christian woman’.

I lost my daughter that day, despite my pleas she think this through. That she remember the way that I raised her— with open mindedness, and acceptance of people of all walks of life and orientations. I begged her to remember her promises she could never do this to me. I begged her to think about the life and freedom she was throwing away.

I was raised in the same narrow, controlling environment that she was just entering, and I know what it cost me to get out— everything and my relationships with everyone I had ever loved up to the age of twenty-six. Five generations of my family in “The Truth” and I am the only one to escape and stay out.

Now it was costing me the one person that I fought hardest to get out for— my own, and only child. The one person I wanted to have the freedom that I never had was choosing to throw it all away.

Why do I write about this? Especially on a writer’s blog?

Because this is the reality of my life, the reality of far too many people who do not speak of this very real grief.

You need to know that I’m not alone.

There are thousands of childless mothers (and fathers) like me out here, who have had their children taken from them, not due to their own actions, but just because a religious organization that the child was influenced into subscribing to (whatever it may be) decides that they are not fit to be associated with, indeed, are unfit to live.

My daughter believes I will (justifiably) die the day that Armageddon comes; when mighty Jehovah brings his wrath upon all those who refused stubbornly to submit to his will.

If stoning were still legal, I have no doubt that she would stand in the public square, declare it God's will, and cast the first stone at me.

But the truth is, I am already dead.

My heart died the moment that my daughter told me that I was less than, just because I do not believe as she does.

The last year has been about physical survival; and never have I been less motivated to continue my own existence.

After a lot of counseling (and believe you me, counselors hardly know what to do with this, they don’t come across cases of extreme religious discrimination like this every day) I have come to the point where I am trying to start again— and that is what it feels like. I had another life for seventeen years— I was (redacted)’s mother.

Now I’m just a woman again, and one trying to find the things about herself that may be worth saving.

One day at a time, one foot in front of the other, I am still moving. At times I may be crawling, but I am still, somehow, here.

There’s nothing left the Watchtower Society can take from me, they have it all now.

Still, I stand.

It may be upon shaking knees and with tears running down my face, but still, I stand.

I wrote this poem a few weeks ago— and I post it in honor of all the childless mothers and fathers as Mother’s Day approaches.

Farewell, farewell, farewell my love

Whose heart once beat below mine;

I wish you joy and happiness

And love all in your own time.

I’ll recall you as you were

With eyes alight and shining

Avert my own lest you see tears

I ever will be crying.

~February Grace

PS. Please consider comments closed on this post-- I would appreciate them but wouldn't have the heart to reply. <3 br="">

Bru Interviews...Melissa Kline and Diana Dolan of Anassa Publications, LLC

2013-04-24T09:14:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone!

Not long ago, my short story The Wedding Shoes was released in Anassa Publications LLC's anthology Anything Prose...And Poetry, Too! It was wonderful to work with them, and I am happy to have the opportunity today to let you listen in as I ask them some questions about what Anassa is up to, and what these two wonderful ladies are up to on their own as well!

Without further ado...here we go.

Melissa Kline and Diana Dolan of Anassa Publications, LLC. Photo used with permission.

FG: Please tell me a little about yourself.

MK: I am an ever-optimistic super creative and visionary extraordinaire. Some of my titles include, Author, Publisher, Writing Coach, Miniaturist, and Super Mom! I love to support the success of others. My dream is to make a difference in the world by inspiring others with love and hope. When I’m not busy writing, coaching or editing my latest anthology for publication, you might find me volunteering my time to read to children at local schools, speaking at events or hosting workshops.

DD: I’m a multi-faceted renaissance woman with many interests, hobbies and creative endeavors. Music, multiple art mediums, videography and writing have been a huge piece of my life since I was a small child. My parents instilled a strong love of learning new things in me and my siblings, and to this day, I LOVE learning. I enjoy connecting with like-minded creative individuals by sharing what I have learned through hands on workshops and classes. I also have an extensive business and government background, which has been a great help in navigating through the business details. On top of all that, I am an avid animal lover and have been involved in the rescue, placement, and rehab of animals for many years.

FG: How long have you been writing?

MK: I have been writing for as long as I can remember. I wrote my first picture book at age 6 and began writing novels at age 13. Writing has always been a refuge for me. When I experienced moments of discord in my environment as a young person – at home or amongst peers – I turned to writing. My greatest passion is writing young adult novels. I also enjoy writing short stories and narrative non-fiction. No matter the genre, love is the central theme in my work.

DD: I have been writing creatively since grade school, but ultimately my first published pieces were for business: User guides for software systems, RFP’s and RFQ’s, and protocol/media updates. A very left-brained form of writing to say the least. That being said, I keep my right-brain active and I love a good story that’s written well. Being the daughter of one of the few remaining custom hand bookbinders in the world, I guess you could say that I’m a born bibliophile and have quite a collection of wonderful written works. I am constantly striving to develop a style of creative writing for myself inspired by excellent writers.

FG: What inspired you to start Anassa Publications LLC?

MK: It all started with a desire to give the Rocky Mountain Women Writers the opportunity to become published in a compilation. I wanted to give back to the hard-working, dedicated writers who make an effort to help our fellow members and writing community. The idea to put together a collection for the RMWW had been brewing for years, I just wasn’t sure exactly how to piece it all together. After self-publishing a book for my son, I was inspired to go ahead and begin with the process of creating an anthology that would showcase the works of the Rocky Mountain Women Writers. I teamed up with my good friend, fellow author and RMWW member, Diana Dolan, and together we made it happen! Diana and I had a vision for a company that would help communities thrive and give writers an authentic publication experience - thus, Anassa Publications, LLC was born!

DD: After having been a member of the RMWW for quite some time, Melissa approached me with an idea to form a publishing company with the hopes of encouraging the RMWW members to take the next step with their writing. I had been working as an editor for the past few years, and with my business background coupled with Melissa’s gift of promotion and social media, I was confident that our partnership would be a good one. Before we knew it, Anassa Publications, LLC was born!

FG: What sets you apart from other publishers? What is it about Anassa Publications that you believe makes it so unique?

MK: Anassa Publications, LLC is passionate about bringing artistic and creative people together. We provide support, resources, individualized attention and a solid foundation for creatives. We recognize that the overall achievement of our vision and the success of our authors and artists are co-dependent; neither succeeds without the other. As publishers, we are continuously striving to energize the author/publisher relationship and revive the importance of credibility, value, quality, and mutual trust. Our belief is that the well-being of people and animals is extremely important for a thriving, prosperous society. As such, we will be dedicating the proceeds of one publication at regular intervals to a previously defined charitable organization. The charitable book will be of a topic related to the designated charitable organization. With a view toward helping communities thrive, we strive to foster long-term relationships with our authors.

DD: More than anything, we wanted to be unique in our approach. We wanted to be able to give new authors a fair opportunity to progress with their writing instead of the impersonal and automatic rejections that so many publishing companies give to unknown and start-up writers. It was, and still is, important to us that we not be perceived as a vanity press, but are recognized as a genuine resource for writers of all ages and genres.

FG: Please tell me about Anything Prose...and Poetry Too!

MK: Anything Prose…And Poetry, Too! is our first publication under Anassa Publications, LLC, and we are thrilled to finally share this book with the world! This project and the meaning behind it is very dear to my heart. To me, Anything Prose means being able to express yourself as a writer without any limitations or traditional guidelines. It's all about freedom of expression, free form and flow. And I love how it has a grassroots beginning with the Rocky Mountain Women Writers - the inspiration for the entire project itself. We've been receiving such wonderful reviews and feedback about this book. It's a very powerful collection with writings authored by 32 incredibly talented writers (including February!). I am so proud of this project and each and every one of our authors.

DD: Anything Prose… and Poetry, Too! was born of the idea to recognize the creative works of a local writing group in Golden, Colorado, The Rocky Mountain Women Writers. We wanted to give tribute to the experimentation and creative expanse that we have seen demonstrated week after week with this wonderful group. Once we began receiving submissions, and interest in the project started to spread, we were introduced to many other writers who were interested in participating. As a result, we decided to extend this opportunity to other new and up-and-coming writers. Many of the works do not follow traditional guidelines of grammar. Some have “invented words” to drive the context or punctuation. Some have chosen to take a more experimental and free-form approach, perceiving punctuation as undue influence on the reader. The result of these creative liberties gives the overall book a very unique feel! We wanted to give authors license to express their works in the manner that they chose. As the saying that influenced the title suggests, anything goes!

FG: What are your upcoming projects? Are you currently accepting submissions?

MK/DD: We have many projects currently in the works, including some exciting books from first time authors! We are currently accepting individual book submissions and short stories/poetry for our anthology titles. We are also seeking artists, doodlers and illustrators of all mediums and skill levels to create book cover designs for our upcoming collections. You can find a list of our current open submissions and guidelines on our website at www.AnassaPublications.com

FG: Do you have any personal projects aside from Anassa Publications LLC that you'd like to mention to our readers?

MK: I am super excited about my latest young adult novel entitled, Storm, which has just been chosen as a ForeWord Book of the Year Award Finalist! I have many YA novels in the works and also a New Adult romance line I hope to debut very soon!

DD: I have several short stories written than may turn into a compilation. I am also writing and illustrating a children's book series, and working on a biography to honor a friend of mine who met an untimely end. It is my hope that it may help his family with their loss as well. One of my artistic mediums is working with glass, and as an ever-learning glass artisan, I am experimenting with some new cutting edge techniques that I hope to both display and teach in the very near future.

FG: Wow, I learned so much about each of you today, I am so glad we had the chance to chat! Thank you so much for stopping by, it was a pleasure to have you as my guests!

You can click the links within this interview to learn more about Melissa Kline, Diana Dolan, Anassa Publications LLC, and Anything Prose...and Poetry Too! Thank you again to my guests for visiting, I hope you all found this as informative as I did!

~bru

P.S. The links seem to be working on and off, no matter what I do with them, it must be a blogger issue. My apologies to my guests. Please visit Anassa Publications LLC online for more information about them!

That Small, Inextinguishable Spark

2013-04-23T08:22:00.000-04:00

In April of 2012 I signed up for Script Frenzy, the sister event to NaNoWriMo (though SF is now discontinued, whaaa) and set out to write a play.

I'd written a screenplay before (during the 2010 Frenzy) but never tried a stage play.

I was surprised how intense the experience became, and how quickly.

The setting and plot of the play were both heavy-- it was not going to have a happy ending.

As in love with the idea (and the characters) as I was, I knew pretty quickly that the physically and emotionally healthy thing for me to do was to stop, right in the middle of Act 1, and not finish it.

I saved the files though-- tucked them away. Later, I showed one section of dialogue to a poetry group I was in at the time as poetry-- and it went over well.

That stayed in my mind for a long time.

So nearly a year later, when I finally went back to reread the play I'd started about a young, emotionally troubled poet called Farran Kean, I was shocked that I'd written it- it was so different from my other work. But in a good way. More of his dialog struck me as potential poetry, so I lovingly and gently harvested it. I took his words from the page and hoped to give them new life-- that small, inextinguishable spark of existence, by seeing them published. So I tried submitting them to The Rusty Nail.

Now, I am very sentimental about The Rusty Nail anyway because they (and Sweatshoppe Publications founder and editor Craig Hart) gave me my first shot-- he was the first to ever publish my work, back in March of 2012 (has it only been thirteen months?) I held my breath and sent off these poems, which were so different from any I'd ever submitted before (and which are written from a decidedly male perspective).

I'll be damned, they accepted them and published them.

They're out now, in the April 2013 issue, and I feel something more than just satisfaction at seeing them on the page; it's like a little piece of me that was lost has found life again; because the project I loved but could not continue will at least in one way, be read. In his words dear, romantic young Farran, still exists somehow.

To celebrate that, I share with you here (the first time I have shown this to anyone publicly) a small sample of how the play began: a play that, who knows, maybe one day I will have strength enough to finish.

But if not, at least Farran's haunting echoes live on the page, out there in the world.

Thank you again, TRN.

My new painting, Speechless, contains text of two of the three poems taken from my unfinished play, FARRAN KEAN

ACT ONE, SCENE ONE

(a dark room, with a small desk in the middle. The only items on top of the desk are a glass of water, a stack of plain paper and an antique typewriter. Lights come up to reveal FARRAN seated at the desk, hands poised above the keys. FARRAN picks up a piece of paper and slowly winds it into the machine. He clicks a few keys, then stops. He pulls a pencil from behind his ear and begins scribbling on one of the blank sheets of paper, and we hear VO)

FARRAN

Would that I could stand the way it sounds, this machine so cold with its clattering arms. (a beat) That my heart would not break into pieces anew every time the keystroke struck paper, that I could remember instead the sound of her laughter and write purely by this inspired.

(a pause as he looks at the keys, brushes his fingers lightly over them, almost caressing them)

No earthly good could ever come of this.

FARRAN RISES FROM HIS SEAT AND ADDRESSES THE AUDIENCE DIRECTLY.

FARRAN CONTINUED

I am called by the name FARRAN KEAN, and poet is what I am. With a name such as that what else was I to be? Child though I am of two with such disparate views and alarmingly inartistic professions, it matters not. Poet I was born, and poet, I will perish. I will...

(his voice trails off for a moment as he looks down at his shoes)

...perish.

(FARRAN sits down at the keys once again, finally finishing the task of winding the paper in and placing his hands upon the keys. As he begins to type we continue to hear his thoughts in voice over.)

FARRAN

How she loves the sound of the clattering keys, so out of step with time and tide of modern convenience; not so smart as phone or tablet upon which people spend more time flinging raging animals across screens than writing words of ringing, lasting value. Or, so she often complains to me.

~F.G.

COPYWRITE 2012/2013 MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED IN WHOLE OR PART WITHOUT PRIOR CONSENT OF THE AUTHOR

Nathan Bransford Talks About Estrangement in the Era of Social Media ...

2013-04-22T14:15:00.002-04:00

If you haven't read this post, run and read it, then click on the link and listen to the BBC interview (you can stream it right from their site, links are in the Bransford post).

I appreciated not only Bransford's openness and remarks but also those of Becca Bland, who spoke about her estrangement from her parents.

It really spoke in a lot of ways to how it is for me about my daughter. It's difficult to find a way to go on with your life when someone you love is out there living every day without you in theirs (in my daughter's case, at least happily enough because she believes by not talking to me she is following God's law and doing the Right Thing). I am grateful that I don't have to worry about crossing paths with her online, (she is not allowed to use FB or anything like it by her 'other' parents) but it is still difficult when people bring her up in everyday life. It happens all the time.

Explaining is not easy. I have got it down to a few sentences and never try to sugarcoat the truth: she did not just move away to go to school in a different state, or to get to better weather.

She moved away with every intention of converting to the 'religion' her father practices and as soon as she had me believing that she was really moving away to go to school and live in a warmer state, BAM. The door slammed shut on me, and with her rapidly approaching 18 I was left with little recourse.

But if you've read here before, you likely know the story.

So.

Bottom line: the Bransford interview is brilliant. Listen to it.

Thank you to Mr. Bransford and everyone who participated in the program.

It does help to know that you're not alone in trying to forge forward to some kind of 'new normal', bizarre though it may be, past a very long list of haunting, painful memories.

Speaking from my own experience, I would say that sometimes the happiest memories hurt the most.

~bru

The Traveler

2013-04-19T14:20:00.000-04:00

She left with what she could carry in one small suitcase.

The rest, she left behind.

Nothing mattered but space to breathe, to feel, to reinvent life in a form more bearable than the confines of a world smothered in good intentions.

She didn’t want to be managed.

She didn’t want to be handled.

She just wanted to be loved.

She sat by the window and watched the people coming and going through the locked front door.

A gated ward surrounded her: there would be no journeys taken out into the world today.

She would be managed, she would be handled.

Somewhere deep inside her head, she was carrying that one small suitcase out the door.

She was boarding a plane bound for a land of eternal beauty.

She would finally be free.

~F.G.

4/2013

-----------------------

P.S. If you have a second, you can hop over to Karen DeLabar's blog and listen in on our chat with each other from a little while back, posted now that she is feeling up to it. Thank you, Karen. I'm so glad you are getting stronger every day, I appreciate so much that you remembered me and GODSPEED. This means a LOT to me. xoxo ~bru

An Audio Excerpt From My Orange Story

2013-04-13T11:48:00.002-04:00

Hey everybody!

Inspired by the amazing podcast by R.B. Wood and friends in honor of the release of the Orange Karen anthology, I decided to do a little reading of part of my story, Henley's Scars, which appears in the book.

Not my best reading, (tired today, apologies!) but something I wanted to do :~)

Really, take the time to go and listen to the Word Count podcast in honor of Orange Karen. It. Is. Amazing.

And please, consider picking up a copy of this book to help defray Karen's medical costs. Writers are wonderful about supporting each other, and this is an anthology that really gives so much to the reader in return. The writing is out of this world, and the variety is unparalleled.

So check it out and get your copy today! You will be glad you did.

xoxo

bru

PS I have no idea why Windows Movie Maker cut the last word off halfway through, sorry about that!

Orange Karen: Tribute to a Warrior Release Day!

2013-04-11T00:00:00.000-04:00

It's finally here!

The quality of the writing in this collection is astonishing (and I'm not speaking of my own story, though I am very honored that my story Henley's Scars is exclusively available in it) and it's all for the benefit of an amazing woman with an incredible family: Karen DeLabar.

Cover Design by Kip Ayers

Click over right now and pick up your copy (eBook is only 3.99!!! also available in paperback)

Help out a fellow writer, and treat yourself to thirty-nine stories that will really stay with you.

Thanks to the Orange Karen team for making all this possible.

xoxo
bru

One Year Later

2013-04-08T13:39:00.003-04:00

My painting, "Bedtime Prayers"

There is no funeral when a cult steals your child and they transform into a stranger: a horrific, living death right before your eyes.

When everything that makes them who they are ceases to be, one individual attribute at time; and you fight and love and cry and beg and do everything within your power to stop it in motion, but you can’t.

There should be something.

If not a funeral of sorts for the life that has been lost, then some kind of solemn ceremony where the world stops for a goddamn moment to at least acknowledge what has been lost.

I had a beautiful daughter for sixteen years.

She exists no more.

I have mourned, and screamed, and cried, and raged, and hurt so long and hard in silence and so loud I wondered if she could hear me in her dreams, thousands of miles away, where she now lives.

Soon she will be eighteen. An adult in the eyes of the law. So soon that there is no recourse for me at this point but to try to hold on to life itself, and not let her cruelty, her stubborn denial of my actual existence— because her God deems me unworthy of life— to finish me off.

If you don’t think I’ve considered it, you’re a fool.

But I am here to tell you today that out of a family with five generations in this same particularly twisted “religion” that I am the only one who ever got out, and stayed out.

Even with my only child telling me that all I have to do to be loved by her again is to “believe” again.

Innocent, she may be now as to the truth about “The Truth”: give it ten years’ time. Eyes are only open to the reality of this trap after you’re stricken and forced to abandon a limb in the claws if you have any chance of getting out at all without bleeding to death.

Getting out cost me dearly. It cost me my family, and every friend I had ever had up to the age of twenty-six. It cost me things I do not believe she will ever be willing to lose.

By staying, all she loses is me. Leaving, she’d lose everything and everyone else.

Ironically, my main motivating factor in getting out was to make sure my two year old daughter had choices; that she had options that I never did, since I had no one on the outside.

She had every choice, and every chance, and more love than any ten children normally get in a lifetime.

She still chose the path fenced by hatred, fear, and cruelty.

There is not a damn thing I can do about it.

So the question becomes, do I hold on to myself by letting go of her, or let her take me over the precipice into despair there is no escape from?

Today I chose to get out of bed. To make coffee. To write this post.

To try to explain my grief to a world that cannot understand unless they have lived it.

To try to tell kind people who offer me well-meaning but false hope that it hurts to hear it.

I know the situation better; and I know they mean to help, but it doesn’t.

Help is just saying “I’m sorry for your loss.” Or otherwise acknowledging there has been a loss at all.

The daughter I carried, held, nursed, taught, loved, raised, and worshiped, is no more.

The woman in her place is a stranger who will not acknowledge my existence, only because I do not worship the God she does.

I can only wonder if sometimes, as she falls asleep, she remembers the sound of all the lullabies I sang her.

I do.

Microfiction

2013-04-03T15:50:00.000-04:00

"Do I miss him?" She repeated the senseless question. "Sooner you should ask, sir, if the stars would mourn the moon."

~FG

Living in Story World...

2013-03-26T10:22:00.000-04:00

Hi All!

I'm having a very hard time focusing on what I'm doing lately. It seems like I'll be in the middle of a sentence and just-- oh, hello! I didn't see you there! Happy Tuesday!

See my problem?

My brain is locked in story mode; and the problem with that is it makes it very difficult for me to live in the Real World. When the Real World intrudes upon my brain's process of sorting through all the words and people in the Story World, then I get stuck. You know, like an old-style vinyl record in a groove and skip, and skip, and...

Yes, I'm old, what about it?!? Vinyl is very hip these days! Everything old is new again!

Anyway-- my point is, I am a bit all over the place right now and so this is the closest thing I can give you all to a blog post. I hope that you'll understand and while you're here I may as well give you a news update and a photo or two.

OF STARDUST is in the copy editing queue. VERY nervous/excited about that.

Work in progress IN STARLIGHT, the potential sequel to OF STARDUST, just passed the 25k word mark this morning. So much work left to do on it because I want it to stand up to the story it follows.

I've signed up for my first Camp NaNoWriMo in April to try to ensure that I have a completed first draft of IN STARLIGHT by the first of May. Wish me luck...

GODSPEED and FIREWORKS FLOWERS are still gaining reads on Wattpad-- and more importantly, gaining a place in the heart of readers, which is my dream come true. Some of the comments posted there seriously make me cry in the best possible way. Thank you to everyone who has read/is reading, commenting, voting for and supporting my stories there. It means so much more than I can articulate.

I have a few poems coming out in an upcoming edition of THE RUSTY NAIL (did I mention that already? If so, forgive me). They're poems that I harvested from a play that I started in 2012 for the last (now defunct, *sniff*) Script Frenzy. The subject matter was dark-- so dark that at the time I knew it wasn't in my best interests to finish it (because I knew how it was going to end and it was really not pretty) but inside of it I wrote some words that made pretty nifty poems, I think.

Different poetry for me-- non-rhyming-- and one at least you can clearly tell was written from a male perspective (though they all were written as monologue/dialogue for the same male character) I can't wait for you to see them. I'm really excited about the fact that they're being published, they mean an awful lot to me. I'll let you know when they put them up on TRN's website. Thanks to TRN (Sweatshoppe Publications) for publishing them!

When I've been too brain-frozen to write I've attempted painting for the first time in months (not sure I have the courage to show them though) and also decorating a small dollhouse that is a model of the house I imagine in OF STARDUST and IN STARLIGHT.

Here are a couple snapshots for ya...oh how I LOVE half-scale miniatures! SQUEE!!!

So that's the latest from here. I hope you are all doing well, and do me a favor? If you see spring wandering around aimlessly out there somewhere and looking lost, send it our way? It's almost April, people, and we're long past due.

xoxo
bru

To Be Remembered

2013-03-18T10:27:00.002-04:00

I went to a funeral on Saturday.

It was for the elderly mother of an in-law, a lady that I only met twice, maybe three times over the past twenty years.

I remembered her as being an artist; a fun-loving person who opened up her house to neighbors near and far.

I was struck by the way that those who knew her better remembered her. Not just her immediate family, either.

Some spoke of how her art had touched their lives: how her yearly Christmas painting in the front window of the house used to draw an annual audience: how when the local team was in the hockey playoffs she went across the street and painted their logo on the garage door of a neighbor who was a die-hard fan, much to his delight.

Every time they’d be in the playoffs again, she’d go over and update the logo with the new date.

But as much as her art touched people (and though she was known for never accepting it was ‘finished’: though we all marveled at her talent, to her things were never “perfect enough,” said her younger son) it was her acts of kindness that meant the most.

Grown men and women wept when they remembered childhood days spent in her kitchen, being fed cookies and cocoa and just being allowed to be there, when there was really nowhere else that they could go.

She was “Mom to the block,” and several spoke with incredible emotion of how irreplaceable she was, and how she’d be missed. I don't think a single house on that street had anyone home in it that afternoon: they were all at the funeral home.

It made me wonder afterward…in all of this, this thing we do, in the lives we live as ‘tortured artists’…is that often self-centered and self-serving pursuit what we’d want to most be remembered for? Is that what our kids, what everyone who loves us for would remember us for? That we obsessed on our writing to the exclusion of all else?

Would anyone want that?

Not me. There is only one thing I really wish to be remembered for, above everything else.

If I could choose to be remembered for anything, more than for my words I’d choose to be remembered as someone who loved as much as she could, and tried her best.

That’s all.

What else really matters?

Here’s to you, Gee Gee.

You achieved what so many artists never do, even if you never knew it: absolute adoration by all who knew you and a guaranteed place in their hearts, forever.

Would that we could all be so lucky at the end of our days, to be remembered so well, and missed so much.

~bru

One Word

2013-03-11T14:17:00.004-04:00

When All Else Fails: Music

2013-03-05T10:04:00.003-05:00

I was massively stuck on my latest WIP.

Seriously, massively, desperately stuck.

Stuck as in, I was in tears and ready to chuck it into the trunk under the bed and leave it there, oh, forever.

Then it happened, and I realized what the missing ingredient was the moment I heard it.

New music came into my life last week, just the right music at the perfect time and suddenly, I could see the story.

Don't get me wrong it is still very much a WIP but it is in the hands of betas now, and then I will do what needs to be done because the characters (one especially) deserve(s) it.

What music could be so powerful that it could unstick me from seemingly unbreakable, Bipolar 1 related writer's block?

This, to be exact. (click image to view video)

Keith Harkin of Celtic Thunder, singing "Now We Are Free"

I am, and have been for a long time a very big Celtic Thunder fan. See them live if you ever get a chance, they are absolutely incredible.

I've been lucky to meet some of the lads from Celtic Thunder before: This was taken last year at a PBS function. A much blonder me in the middle with Keith Harkin, left, and Emmet Cahill, right. They are absolutely lovely gentlemen. Keith even remembered having met me once before, more than a year before that! What a guy.

Their music has inspired me in the past to write hundreds of pages of work when I was still writing serial sci-fi with a group (no it was NOT fanfiction LOL I was writing for an Irish character) and this time, it turns out that their new album, Mythology, was exactly and absolutely what I needed to get deeper inside the head and heart of the leading man in my new story, which has the working title OF STARDUST.

He happens to be both Irish and Scottish, (try writing that accent, believe me, I have a system and method to my madness) so this IS his music.

So thank you to the boys of Celtic Thunder. As have Coldplay and Keane before them, they stormed into my mind and heart and have inspired me to carry on at just the right time...and to be able to write like that is the most freeing feeling I can imagine. Now we are free, indeed.

Here's to ya, lads. I love ya all.

~bru

PS Mythology is airing as a TV special on PBS soon (tonight here, in fact, I have the DVR set!) so check your local listings! Don't miss it.

Anything Prose...Launch Day!

2013-03-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

I'm pleased to post that today is the launch day for Anassa Publications LLC's unique anthology Anything Prose...and Poetry, too!

Here are some notes from the publisher about what you'll find inside:

· "Inspiration - Choose to say "Yes", remember that you are loved and discover how to bring happiness into your life.

· Suspense - Attempt an escape from a crazed maniac in a violent storm. Stagger your way through a haunted house.

· Memoir - Follow a mother's journey through the joys of parenthood. Discover a man's process of love and loss. See how one woman's relationship with her pet changed her life.

· Abstract - Find out what it's like to ride in a paper airplane. Prepare for a journey to the sun.

· Chick Lit - A cynical 20-something finds unexpected love... in a hot tub.

· Humor - Follow a day in the life of an enthusiastic Jack Russell terrier.

· Adventure - Go on a fishing expedition with a teen who saves the day. Trek with a lonely Basque sheepherder.

· Spiritual - The importance of simplicity, creation, universal language, joy, love, freedom, peace and bliss."

This anthology also includes my story, The Wedding Shoes.

You can go to http://amzn.com/0615758169 right now to order your copy.

You can find out more about the book, its authors, and the inspiration behind the project here.

(If you're considering buying a copy, please know that it helps a lot if you do it today, on launch day!)

It's unreal to me to think that I was published for the very first time a year ago, in the March 2012 issue of The Rusty Nail. What a year it's been. I can't think of a better way to mark the occasion than with thanks and appreciation to the editors at The Rusty Nail for giving me a shot, and to Anassa Publications LLC for including my story in this cool new anthology. Thank you, everyone, for your kind support of my writing.

Have a good weekend, everyone. I hope all is well in your corner of the world.

~bru

Walking My Very Own Yellow Brick Road

2013-02-26T13:03:00.003-05:00

...The steps to Emerald City are now beneath my Converse-high top-clad feet.

What 'gift' as a writer have you personally wished most for?

Glowing reviews? Huge sales numbers? Real interaction with your readers? Just to have readers???

Put me in that last category: I just wanted, and still want, to know someone is out there reading what I write.

To that end, I have to say that posting my work on Wattpad has been one of the best writing decisions I have made to date.

"How can that be?" you may ask, "When you're giving the work away for free?"

To me, it's no different than putting it in a public library, granted on a much larger scale, but that to me is also a huge part of the appeal of Wattpad. Anyone with a way to view the site or use the app can read your work there. There is no age barrier (most teens still don't have credit cards to order books online and so rely on their parents to do so for them) there is no economic or geographical barrier-- you have the ability to put your work out there in front of a truly global audience.

Has posting on Wattpad largely impacted my sales, you may wonder.

Nope, not personally. I am still selling about the same average number of books thus far as I have been. If anything, more people are asking me now after they finish GODSPEED on Wattpad if/when/where they can purchase it.

The biggest investment I have had to make (aside from the willingness to share my work and the ability to do it because I published it myself so don't have to worry about a publisher's views on doing so) is time. During the first six weeks, I was involved in the forums there very actively, posting links to to the book to drum up interest before it was promoted by Wattpad as a featured story. You can't just post your story there and watch the readers roll in, at least not at first. You have to promote there. But since everyone else is doing it too and as long as you do so in the proper forum it is acceptable to do so, it didn't make me feel like other marketing efforts have in the past. I knew I had something of value to give-- so I asked the reader for a share of what is, to me, their most important possession: their time.

Being featured there...it all happened for me so fast, I have been very lucky...I still don't know exactly how Wattpad found GODSPEED, but I am grateful that they saw something in it and that they've featured it. I know that has made all the difference in getting the story out there.

Every reader is something precious and irreplaceable to me. To hear someone say that Lilibet made them cry, or that they "fell in love with Quinn," is all I ever dreamed of as a writer.

It's an amazing thing to get to the Emerald City and realize that you've already got what you most dearly wished for as an artist, without ever having to consult the Great and Powerful Oz.

I have taken each step, sometimes wandering, sometimes stumbling, down the Yellow Brick Road on my own...and I know now that it was the right choice for me, at this time in my life, for sure, to take the Wattpad leap.

The more I share of my work the more I want to share.

A screenshot of my current stories/rankings on Wattpad as of about five minutes ago.

For me it's not about the semantics of how something is published anymore, it's whether or not anyone has seen it.

I only wish that every writer could feel, for a second, a little of what I've been feeling lately. It's humbling, and it's an honor to have people live in the world you've created for a little while and remember it after they've left.

If my experience tells you anything let it be this: sometimes when you know you're going the wrong way, you have to right your course yourself.

Happy writing and reading, everyone!

~bru

P.S. I forgot to add that it's not that I've stopped being active on the site since the story has been featured...I'm just differently active. I'm interacting with readers directly and still reading/commenting on other people's work, etc. Wattpad is all about interaction, and so it takes commitment to the site if you're going to get the most out of the experience! :~)

Short Story/Upcoming Anthology Updates

2013-02-21T11:23:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone!

Anyone who is a writer and publishes their work (by any means) knows that it involves waiting, watching, more waiting, and then everything seems to happen at once!

That's kind of happening for me right now, even though I only have two short stories 'out there' so far pending publication this year (who knows what if anything the rest of the year will bring, depends on how much time I spend on my current WIP which may be destined for the trunk...) there is news on both!

So I'll give you two quick updates at once.

First, Anything Prose...and Poetry, Too! from Anassa Publications LLC has a release date of 3/1/13! My story The Wedding Shoes appears in it. It's a collection of work by thirty-two different authors that is meant to contain something for everyone!

Here's a link to the latest information... you can get a much better idea of what the anthology contains...

Thanks to Anassa Publications for including my story! I can't wait to see the finished book.

The second update is about a project that has brought a very eclectic group of writers together for one special purpose: to help out one of our own.

I've posted before about Karen DeLabar and how she nearly lost her life last summer, suddenly, to Toxic Shock Syndrome. She's a warrior, and has battled back against all odds. But the best medical care comes at a cost, and there are bills that aren't going to go away by themselves. Hence, the idea for the Orange Karen anthology was born.

It means the world to me to be included in this effort. I honestly cried when I got my acceptance note, that's how much it means to me. Karen is a very special person, and I know this is going to be a very special book.

Just posted today: My author interview at the Team Orange site! Please do go and check it out. There's also an exclusive excerpt of my story, Henley's Scars, which will appear in the anthology.

The book is scheduled for an April release, stay tuned!!!

Thanks for bearing with me through these rather dry updates, I hope to post something of more substance tomorrow if I can! I appreciate you all for hanging in there with me.

hugs and love to all
~bru

The Stuff of Every Writer's Dreams.

2013-02-17T12:47:00.003-05:00

I don't generally tweet or blog about reviews I get, but today I am making an exception because I truly feel this may be the review of my lifetime. The one that every writer dreams of, but never imagines that they'll get. And it came from the clear blue sky.

I only know the writer of this review through a few recent Tweets we've exchanged within the past few days. I found (and find) his tweets to be thoughtful, and thought provoking. I told him so. We went back and forth, sharing a few thoughts. That was all. He said he was going to read Godspeed and then that he was enjoying it.

I never expected this.

It brought tears to my eyes, not just because of the elegant way that it is written, but because I could tell that this is someone who truly gets the book. Who truly understands what I tried to convey through each of the characters, as they introduced themselves to me and demanded to be heard. I was only their messenger, and in this instance, just for a moment, at least, for once I can feel that I did actually do them some small justice.

You can follow this kind gentleman @CGAyling on Twitter if you are so inclined. As I said, I find his tweets to be original and thoughtful.

Also, before I go I have to mention that Godspeed passed the 10K chapter views (or 'reads' as Wattpad calls them) mark today. Ten times what I'd dreamed of when I impulsively decided to share the story there on New Year's Day-- and it's still being read. It's humbling, and overwhelming.

I can't thank the Wattpad HQ team enough for all their support, and for seeing something in this book.

I am thankful, today, to everyone who has ever shown their support for my writing. I will try my very best to remember how I feel right now, on the hardest days.

...because I know it can't last forever: a snapshot, to remember Godspeed appearing on the Wattpad Insider page!

Happy Sunday, everyone.

~bru

It's...on...page....TWO! THUD!

2013-02-14T11:56:00.003-05:00


http://www.wattpad.com/featured?page=1

I am humbled and grateful to everyone at Wattpad HQ for making this happen. I am so thankful.

(Had to add one more picture of the cover showing up on the Wattpad homepage. I must be dreaming!)

~bru

Today is the day!

2013-02-14T10:37:00.001-05:00

I just received confirmation that Godspeed should show up on the Featured list at Wattpad (they're projecting it'll appear on page 3 or 4 of those listed) within a few hours now!

Am I nervous?

Yep.

Am I trying to check my expectations at the door, right this second?

Absolutely.

Whatever happens, happens. I will do everything I can to continue to support the book there and engage with others on the site, but I know that a lot of this is out of my hands, and will just be whatever it will be.

My experience at Wattpad has already been so much more than I could have hoped for (the interaction with readers has been grand) to be a featured writer there is more than icing on the cake, it's a whole bakery.

I'm wondering how many new sets of eyes this opportunity will enable the book to reach...

All I know is, no matter what that number turns out to be, every single reader counts. I am grateful for every one.

Happy Valentine's Day, everybody!

~bru

A Sweet Love Story for Valentine's Day

2013-02-11T14:12:00.003-05:00

Hey all,

Just a quick reminder that if you're looking for a sweet, light, quick, contemporary, romantic read for Valentine's Day I may have just the thing for you.

I haven't promoted my novella FIREWORKS FLOWERS much at all because I've been so busy with GODSPEED but it has a very special place in my heart. If you're looking for something to make you laugh, sigh, and smile at the end then I hope you'll give it a look.

Here's an excerpt for you. You can read more using the "Look Inside!" feature at Amazon.

-------------

Geoff sighed, growing bored with the fact that no matter how charming he tried to be, nothing was improving Aidan’s mood. “If you liked the girl so much, why didn’t you ever tell her? She spent enough time here for a while I thought she was on the payroll.”

“I — I don’t know. I tried once. No…” Aidan raked his fingernails back through his hair until it hurt and stared past the confines of his tiny office, which had puke green walls and was actually smaller than the janitorial supply closet up the hall. “A hundred times, maybe. A thousand.” His voice shriveled and nearly died away. “At least twice a day every day that she came in here for the past year.”

“What stopped you?”

“We were just friends. Then I found out she was already dating him, so I didn’t want to freak her out. After she got engaged to him, she seemed either really happy or really sad and it just seemed so… inappropriate.” Somehow he knew these were only excuses. He’d had every opportunity in the world to tell her and lacked one thing necessary to do it: sufficient courage to face the risk of rejection.

He had no one to blame for the pain he was in now but himself.

“The timing was always off,” Aidan mumbled as an afterthought.

“Well, call me crazy, but I think any time before the day of her wedding would’ve been good.”

-----------

Fireworks Flowers is a romantic novella about letting go of the fear that holds us back and the unrivaled power of love...


Available in eBook format only from Amazon

Update! Feature Date and Something Shiny!

2013-02-09T21:30:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone!

This will only be a short update because I've been sick for, oh, ever. *cough* *laugh* *cough* and I need to go back to sleep.

But before I do, I wanted to let you all know that Godspeed has a shiny new look just for Wattpad...


New cover art for Wattpad* by Amygdala Design. Shiny!

...and tell you too that Wattpad HQ has scheduled Godspeed's feature date for February 14th, not the 12th as before.

VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Something about this makes me very happy. It's already my favorite holiday just because it's a day about love. This year I have another reason to look forward to it! Squee!

Hope you'll all stop by and see me over at Wattpad and take a look around the book if you haven't yet. I'm really enjoying my time there. If you go over, do look me up!

Talk to you all when my head clears (or for Feature day, whichever comes first...)

xoxo
bru

*If you buy GODSPEED, it will still have the original cover art shown in the sidebar with the buy links.

Time, Silence, and Bipolar Reality

2013-02-04T13:29:00.003-05:00

My head hurts.

I’ve got some bug or other, and today is one of those days when everything seems so exaggerated, so loud, that I can barely stand the sound of my own breathing in an otherwise silent room.

I am grateful, though, for this quiet apartment.

Silence is something that I have come to love, and hate, in equal measure.

Until last year I never knew what it felt like to have a moment where my mind was silent. Completely still and empty of all thought. I had never experienced such absence of sound because wherever I went I took the noise with me.

No, never in forty-one years before then had I experienced true quiet. Always a million things and song fragments and story ideas and characters waiting to be written whispering in my ear, distracting me from the rest of the world around me, keeping me stuck, in many ways, in my own head. Isolated from the world around me and never able to live within the moment.

It took Lithium to bring about that state of calm, resigned quiet. But with the side effects it inflicted upon my poor body, that silence could not last.

Flung back into chaos time and again over the past year and a half, as different measures have been tried, I never quite reached that point of stillness in my own head again until recently. It’s taken me until today to recognize it for what it really is.

It should feel peaceful.

It just feels empty.

The snow is falling outside, pure and white, sprinkled as if shaken from my Grandmother’s old baking sifter over everything. If I close my eyes and concentrate, I can remember how that old piece of hand-operated, simple machinery sounded as it worked. So, too, I remember her voice as she sang in the kitchen, sweetly, slightly off-key.

She’s been gone eight years.

It still hurts to remember.

Even with the overcast gray above, it's so bright outside that I can barely stand the light. The snow looks like a Hollywood confection as it falls, but the draft coming from the window reminds me that it is real; that Winter is still set on having her say a while longer.

Time in the cold, dark winter goes by so slowly. Of course I’ve been sick for almost a week now and that slows down time considerably… am waiting for signs whatever this thing is that it’s letting go of me finally.

I just keep telling myself it all takes time.

Healing, they say, always takes time. Some go so far as to say sufficient time heals all wounds, but I am too jaded to believe that any more. It may give us distance, but some wounds don’t ever heal completely. If you don’t understand that, then you’ve never been cut deep enough to learn the hard way.

The time required for any degree of healing never passes fast enough for me. It never seems like I can ever truly heal before the next injury is inflicted.

Still you keep going on somehow because that is all you can do.

Even when you don’t want to.

I can say that in this moment, today, because this is the ‘stabilized’ me talking; going on every day, putting one foot in front of the other. Me in my natural state would be thinking instead of a hundred different ways I could potentially bring my suffering (and from my point of view at the time, that of those around me) to an end for good by ending my existence. With proper treatment, those ideas retreat.

Still my mother insists "Pills are not the answer."

I don’t miss such constant, invasive, self-destructive thoughts. I really don’t.

But when I think at times of what I’ve had to give up to get to this place, all that’s been taken against my will, I still struggle to accept that the moments of silence are precious seconds of peace, and not just another way to experience a life lived in isolation inside my own head.

Someday, if they finally come up with a real magic bullet, maybe I’ll finally understand the difference.

Or maybe I just need more time.

Another Victory and You Just Never Know About Twitter

2013-01-28T14:18:00.001-05:00

So here it is...pictorial proof that I overcame PTSD (shaking, medicated and unable to hold still the whole time though I was) and I made it to fulfill a long-held dream...to see Keane in concert last night!

They were AMAZING. I have never heard such a clear, perfectly on-pitch performance as Tom Chaplin gave last night. The entire group is just incredible. A memory for a lifetime.

Then there is the one other fun thing I have to mention since I'm here...those who know who Chris Baty is need no introduction as to why the man is an idol to me. For those unfamiliar, without him, without NaNoWriMo (which he founded) I don't believe I'd ever have written a novel let alone four in five years, including one now published and another of those manuscripts published as a novella. He is one of my heroes.

Well last Thursday night I answered a random tweet from him and wouldn't you know it...he tweeted back! I've tweeted to him before but Thursday was my night. I can die a happy Wrimo now...Lord Baty has tweeted to me!!! *T H U D*

You just never know what can happen on Twitter. Keep dreaming, people. Keep on dreaming.

Speaking of dreaming...my last NaNo is calling to me...whispering in my ear, beckoning me forward...could it be the words are waking up a little early from their deep Winter's slumber? At least enough to let me start on the first (major) edit?

Hope for me, will you? Because I am hoping awfully hard it's true.

xoxo
bru

PS OH! One more bit of news to share, the wonderful Lydia Kang's cover reveal for CONTROL is today! Be sure to check it out, it is awesome and there is swag to be won! Congratulations, Lydia!

Pitch Slapped

Bru Interviews...Dianne Salerni!

This Life Is Being Refurbished For My Future Enjoyment

Motherhood Lost

Bru Interviews...Melissa Kline and Diana Dolan of Anassa Publications, LLC

That Small, Inextinguishable Spark

Nathan Bransford Talks About Estrangement in the Era of Social Media ...

The Traveler

An Audio Excerpt From My Orange Story

Orange Karen: Tribute to a Warrior Release Day!

One Year Later

Microfiction

Living in Story World...

To Be Remembered

One Word

When All Else Fails: Music

Anything Prose...Launch Day!

Walking My Very Own Yellow Brick Road

Short Story/Upcoming Anthology Updates

The Stuff of Every Writer's Dreams.

It's...on...page....TWO! *THUD!*

Today is the day!

A Sweet Love Story for Valentine's Day

Update! Feature Date and Something Shiny!

Time, Silence, and Bipolar Reality

Another Victory and You Just Never Know About Twitter

It's...on...page....TWO! THUD!