Category Archives: Uncategorized
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New Piano Students
I’m now accepting new piano students. If you are interested click here
Caverns Found, the Sequel and Editing
I’ve finally released the sequel to Ocean Lost, Caverns Found.
On Feb 24, 2011 I started this book, I finished it four years later. I spent the last six months moving to Texas, unpacking and procrastinating editing.
There’s something very emotional about writing a book and prepping it for publication. I love sharing my books with other people, but there’s a lot of fear involved too. I feel like Shalise and the writing is my dragon. I want to be on the other end of the warm reception without going through the process in the middle.
Editing is a very different process from writing. It uses new skills and different parts of the brain. It’s like being on a safari hunt for the perfect word. I read a sentence and see that the words don’t work right; that something needs to be shifted to better express the feeling I wish to convey. Editing is my monster within, but once I’ve made the transformation from creator to critiquer(yes it should be a word) it’s not so terrible.
I read once that most people will forgive a bad first book because you are expected to have mistakes your first time through, but that if you have a bad second book, they won’t read you again. I love Caverns Found. In some ways it surprises me. One of the difficulties in editing lay in that I kept finding myself getting caught in the story. I noticed that in my readers too. After about page fifty there were a lot less corrections or maybe I was a better writer by then.
Anyhow here’s to getting Caverns Found‘s sequel done in less than a year. Wish me luck.
Bookmarks to the first five commenters. Email me your address if you want one.
Police Shootings – Give Us a Voice Not Violence
I’m horrified by the recent attacks on police officers in Baton Rouge and Dallas. I recognize that there are injustices in the executive and judicial systems of the United States, but violence is not the way to protest violence.
The time is ripe for the right voice, the voice that speaks for the pains and anguish of peoples too long oppressed. That voice will not be heard coming from behind the muzzle of a rifle. That voice will not be heard from an angry man shouting, “It’s not fair!” to an uncaring world. That voice will be heard from the mothers crying for their lost sons, husbands, daughters and fathers. That voice will be heard from a thousand heartfelt stories of how I was treated in school, at my job, on the street and even in my home, because my skin was a different color than another, because my race was different from someone else’s race.
We do judge, we do prejudge, we show prejudice. We cannot ignore hundreds of years of history between our peoples. We cannot ignore the brutality that brought many of the African Americans here to the United States. We must acknowledge the choices that our ancestors made and we must choose a different path. We must choose to overcome our internal judges, our own prejudices. We must choose to overcome our instincts to fear what isn’t us, what we perceive isn’t us. We are us.
The greatest lie is that there is an us and a them. We all hurt, we all cry, we all fear, but we also can grow. We can build, we can overcome, we can change. Give us the chance, show us the path to healing. Tell us the words that your hearts are aching to say. Tell us the words that the past has buried so deep that all that is left is pain, fear and violence. We can listen, we can change. We must. It is time.
Injury
I may have tendonitis, as with any injury as soon as you mention it, you find out lots of people have had it, It’s on my right arm, so I’m typing left-handed only. I’m hoping to not use it for a week or two to let it heal. So far the most complicated task I’ve had to do was brush my teeth left-handed. My toothbrush moves at super slow speed; up then down, up then down. Eating with chopsticks left-handed is also very awkward. I haven’t tried to cut with my left hand, I don’t trust my dexterity enough to not nick a finger. I did cut a chocolate cake up, because the incentive was great. So goodbye for now, I’m taking two weeks off to heal.
Caverns Found
I’m working on finishing Caverns Found the sequel to Ocean Lost. This book takes place in the same world as Ocean Lost and introduces new characters, Lorelai, Shalise, Ben and Joey. They live in the evergreen forests of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The story begins with friends, Lorelai and Shalise, exploring in caves near their homes. They find a secret spring and the adventure begins.
This second book, in this new series, is about overcoming inner challenges as the four friends deal with the very big problem of transformation. Children and adults will welcome this new young adult fantasy. Enjoy!
To be published late February 2015, on Amazon.com.
Fairytale Part 1
Deep in the eastern woods there lived an old woman in a small cottage. No one remembered her name, but they would go visit her from the local village if they had aches, pains or fevers. She grew flowers and medicinal herbs around her garden. One day Cecily’s mother sent her to the old woman. “Your younger brother has a fever, go to the old woman’s cottage and get some herbs.”
The young girl put on her bright blue apron and wrapped a shawl around her shoulders. The sun didn’t shine well in the eastern woods and it got cold there even on bright summer days. “Follow the path to her cottage and tell the old woman that it’s for your younger brother.” Cecily nodded. She grabbed a berry basket and headed out the door. The sun was already overhead by the time that she reached the eastern woods by following the well worn road that ran through the village. Nobody else came this far unless they were going to visit the old woman and the road was only a footpath by the time that she reached the edge of the woods.
Cecily was hungry so she sat on a large boulder at the edge of the woods and pulled out a slice of bread and some goat cheese that her mother had packed for her. “Why does the old woman live so far from the village?” Cecily remembered asking her mother earlier that day.
“She likes to be alone and there are certain plants she uses that only grow in the forest.” Cecily’s mother had answered before laying a hand on Phillip’s forehead. “He’s still hot. Hurry now.”
Cecily slid off the rock and landed with both feet on the path. She paused at the edge of the woods. She liked being alone in the forest by her home, but these trees were different, darker, taller and wilder. She began to walk into the woods.
Global Warming: So Why Should I Care?
We’ve heard about it since we were young, “recycle, ride your bike instead of drive your car, conserve and plant a tree.” But we aren’t scared yet. Is global warming real? Yes. Is it something to keep us up at night? Definitely.
Why should we care? If global warming is real National Geographic, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United Nations, and these articles from various authorities on world conditions and climate say that it is, why do we need to be concerned?
Rising temperatures will lead to major shifts in climate. Deserts will grow and spread. Coastal areas will flood. In the United States with our resources it would cause havoc to have most of the population of Florida move inland, but our infrastructure could handle it. But in India with a population of 1.2 billion, 300 million (the population of the US) of which are under the age of 14, could have half of its population displaced by coastal flooding. Their infrastructure isn’t prepared for that kind of climate change.
But that’s way over in India, why should we care here? Because they’ll have to move, putting stress on the countries around them. Hundreds of millions of people relocating will stress the global economy. Besides it shouldn’t matter if a poor person lives in India or next door, we should still be concerned for their welfare, we should still want to help.
So what can we do about it? Those things that we were taught about as children we can apply them here. But the biggest thing we can do is care. We can talk about this issue. A century might seem a long time away, but just as with airplanes flying cross country a slight course change now, can make a big difference at the end of the route. The difference between arriving in San Francisco instead of Los Angeles is a few degrees when starting from New York. Can we stop Global Warming by ending all coal burning, car emissions, and cows today? Probably not, but we can change our course by a few degrees now and make a huge difference in the next century. Give a global gift to your grandchildren. Care today.