LoQ: Core

Time for another Installment of Letters of Questioning!

My poor dizzy friend, Dreamland’s Insurgents,

You know… I think you are touching on something deeper when thinking about ideas.  Because to me… whenever I read a book, or when I even look at something I have written, even knowing that it is just an idea that may have blossomed from a prompt, it shows something about ourselves. It shows tiny glimpses of who we are.  Of course, what that says about me, and some of the very dark things I write, I couldn’t really say, or maybe I don’t want to face it, hehehe.  But I think, in all honesty, it is one of the deepest, most almost spiritual parts of writing that is at its very core, and prolly the most important thing to consider when we are looking at writing.

I think that being able to pin point the very core of our processes into a few sentences is what allows us to create/do something so much more, something deeper!  It is from finding that little core bite that allows an author to nail down the deepest part of the plot of a novel, and I think that a mission statement does that same for us in life!  All too often we just let the tides of life batter us around! Well, NO MORE! Stand firm, and find that core! Or keep floundering… I am good at that too.

I have to say, going forward, I am hoping to find my lost motivation.  Not sure where I left it… maybe in my poor little boat that I sank so I would never have to leave the island, that is now battering me with storms?  I am looking at prepping, Camp NaNo is just around the corner and I will work on my cookbook! The stories to be told I hope will find a way to shine! Maybe the cookbook needs a mission statement? At the least it could use a one sentence summary!

What projects does this letter find you working on? In the ever rising tides are you finding that you are still managing to stay afloat of your ever increasing demands on time and life?  Or are you, like me, feeling the tides rising faster and you sunk your own boat?

Trying desperately to craft a raft from sticks and twigs,

~Ravyn~

How about you, our friends.  Where does this letter reach you? Are you happy on a cozy island? Or are you on smooth seas or bumpy waves?  Do you find yourself digging to the core of your writing or instead just letting the tides take you where they will?  Do you have any burning questions? Or maybe you are searching for a treasure with a map of no destination?  Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Exciting News: Upcoming Release Date!

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Everyone, I am so excited! I have been given a release date for the anthologies I am in!

April 14th they are going to be available for purchase!

So that means that you should get ready for the great stories you can pick up! I am in three seperate anthologies this time around! There is Tattoos & Knitting in the Literary Fiction anthology.  I have two in the scifi/fantasy edition, Stimulus for the scifi piece and Home for the fantasy piece.  Lastly I have Running Late in the horror edition!

I hope that you will be able to enjoy these reads as well! As soon as I have links for purchase I will share them with you, but I had to share the wonderful news that there would be more published works that you could pick up!

I also wanted to say that I am sorry for not posting daily, it is Camp NaNo and I am focusing my attention on the cookbook I am working through. I would share that with you, but I kind of would like to keep it under wraps until it is further along.

I will post some more updates soon!  And you will still continue to receive Letters of Questioning and I may also find some time for letters or at the least postcards from Camp!

A Camp NaNo Project: Confictionary Tales

So, I thought, since there was interest, I would share with you the summary for Confictionary Tales. I am very excited with the shape this project is taking.  Now I just have to figure out how to make it work. I am finally starting to see it take shape in my minds eye, though, and that is very exciting!  So, here is the summary in all it’s raw glory. I hope you enjoy!

Photo by Joshua Newton on Unsplash

Confictionary Tales Summary

In a time that has changed the very words they use, not to mention the changes that have come to those who have survived, food is not as it once was, and flavors have melded together, not to mention food is not called by the same names anymore.

This means that our hopeful untried chef must brave failures on their own, without grandmother’s pages to guide. What few pages are left, are using antiquated names that are hard to understand and figure out, the language lost.

Knowing that if they are ever to create a name for themselves they must first figure out the lost recipes from grandmothers book, they set out to explore and create. One page, one recipe at a time, they hone their skills.

With both failures and great successes, they find their way to crafting the family heritage. Food that both sustains and heals. Food that expresses the joys of family and the test of time.

There are many ideas on this taking shape, but I am still working through the details!  What do you think? Does this sound like a cookbook and tale you would enjoy? What do you think would make it better? How do you see it working best?  Please share in the comments below!

What’s To Come

So I thought that I would  take a few moments and share with you some of my up and coming projects!  I have already shared that this year I was not really going to take on a new novel, instead I would be tackling drafting 365 new flash fiction pieces. One for every day this year!

Photo by Cynthia del Río on Unsplash

But I have some other goals, and with Camp NaNo coming up in April, I thought it was a perfect time to tackle one of those goals! And the really great thing, it goes along with my Flash Fiction challenge.  I am going to be working on my cookbook!  I have not talked a lot about the year plus I have been absent here, but during that time I learned I had Celiacs Disease. It has been a rather big learning curve, learning how to prepare foods, how to cook, and taking so many things I used to eat out of my diet. On the cool side… I have learned there are foods I actually like!  But.. being the kind of person who wants to turn things into blessings, I have been trying to find a way to enjoy cooking.  In that endeavor, well… I have started creating my own recipes!  So I had an idea… something different than I have seen before, a cookbook that is also a fun fiction anthology!  So the idea of my cookbook was born. So Camp NaNo is dedicated to drafting the first draft that I am hoping will be useable by November! Here’s to hoping!

Along with that, I am actually hoping to see Mo Thuras be considered a “finished draft” by the end of the year!  Because I need to start finishing my writing! Having pieces published I would like to keep that momentum going and that means actually having pieces finished.

Those are the big ones for now… as the year progresses that may change, but I am really excited to get rolling on the Cookbook!  What about you? Do you ever take the time to take stock of where you are and the goals you have and see where you are going? What are your current goals? Do you think you are on track to meet them?

Life: Healing? Maybe? I hope.

Hey all, just another really quick update!  I am hoping that I will be back starting Monday! My foot is trying to improve, turns out that I prolly managed to actually tear the ligament and sprain my foot, so the dislocation was just the very visible part of everything!

It is healing, and now it is just a billion shades of black and blue. The whole front half of my foot!  I am finally able to limp some, and am finally not trapped in bed all day every day, so yay!

Next up, keeping up with my Flash Fiction a Day challenge, and next month, next month is April and that means Camp NaNo! So hey… maybe I will dust off my stationary and see if I can send you letters from camp!  My goal for this camp I think will be to do 2 Flash Fictions a day, so that I can actually manage to end the year with the 365 Flash Fiction Stories that I am hoping for!

What about all of you?  Do you sometimes find it hard to dust yourself off as well?  Are you going to be participating in Camp NaNo?  Let me know! Let’s get through it together!

Memoir Moments: Chemo

Hey all, coming at you with another short piece from my writing class. This one is another true telling, of sorts. It is actually two different events all rolled into one. Names may have been changed to protect identities…

Chemo, yet again. You would think that after five years this would be old hat, but no. The sharp tang of hospital chemical assaults your nose. Nothing like strong chlorine to wake up the senses with a jolt. Glancing around the room you see all the usuals, but in the chair next to your’s is a new face. She seems pretty bubbly, the day is looking up, of course unless she is obnoxiously positive. Man alive can those people grate on your last nerve. Nothing like Sally Positive to really make your skin crawl.
The clicking of IVs echos through the small room. Every week you go in, sit in your designated chair, drink water from the big plastic cup they keep for you, with your name on it in black sharpie on the lid, and wait through your several hours of chemo. Drip, drip, drip, go the IVs. Beep, Beep, Beep, go the monitors. A never ending drone that you eventually learn to tune out. But every week it is like the first time all over again. A cacophony of sound, banging through your head, until you learn to turn it all down and hear what you want to hear.
“Hi there, I’m Becky. What are you in for?” she asked you, beaming.
“Hodgkin’s… some trial drug chemo experience. You know, the one we all sign up for,” you tell her with a laugh. “What about you?”
“Oh, just maintenance Chemo. Ovarian Cancer.” She says, the smile wilting a little.
You can’t help but cringe. Ovarian… that’s a death sentence. Ouch. Of course you would never say such things to her, upbeat, encouraging, positive, that’s how all the strong cancer patients face the day.
“Doesn’t cancer just suck” you say in response. All the fun and we even sign up for this crap” you murmur.
She laughs, “too true.” She glances at your girlfriend and sees the knitting she has pulled out. “Oh that is so fun, what are you creating? Oh, and I didn’t catch your names…”
“I am B, and my girlfriend is SaraBeth.” You answer her.
“I am knitting a shrug” your girlfriend answers. “I mostly make up my own patterns, but this one looked cute, so I thought I would give it a whirl.”
“That is really great! I wish I could do something like that. Bet that will take a while.” Becky says.
“Oh not really, if I don’t finish this today, I will have it done before next week’s Chemo.”
“That would be amazing, you will have to bring it so I can see it! Hey Kelly, I am due back same time next week right?” She asks laughing, knowing the answer is of course yes. “What about you B? Are you due back same time next week?” she asks you.
“It would seem so” you answer, laughing yourself. Something cuts you off though, a tightening in your throat. It would seem that this time things are different. Your girlfriend drops her knitting and gets the nurse over there. Codes are called, the room moving into a flurry of activity. Mere moments, that seem to last an eternity there is a room full of staff, and they are pumping you full of antihistamines. Your veins feel like ice, the room feels too hot to breathe.

Let me know what you think in the comments below! I love to hear from you!

Guest Post – Camp Fail

Our version of Tetris!

Hey all, I know I have been gone a few days, sorry about that.  I was out helping my sister move! Lots of work and then no interwebs at the new place!  I am home, but beat, but I have a GREAT post to share with you all!  My great friend and cabin mate, StoryCoat, has some wonderful words for you, so here she is!

Camp Fail

Well, unlike my lovely cabin mate Ravyn, I did not make winner this year at camp. As I packed my proverbial bags to go home I wiped away tears of disdain at my camp fail! I nearly tripped over my lip as I headed out the door and down the trail to get on the last bus leaving camp. The bus for losers.  Ravyn bless her pea pickin’ heart, was long gone in that decked out bus for winners, banners flyin’ the whoops and hollerin’ lasting for miles down the road.
As I boarded the bus I nearly slipped on the puddle of tears dropped by others who failed to get their word count goal. I mounted the steps and stood looking at the bus full of heads hanging low, lower lips flowing over laps touching the floor of the bus. Whimpers coming from the mouths of those who had failed along with me. The bus was full, almost standing room only. (I’m also slow) Then it hit me. My lower lip zapped back up so fast it nearly bruised my teeth! We aren’t losers! We didn’t fail!! Heck! We’re on the bus!! WE ARE ON THE BUS!!! That means we took the time to at least make the effort to try. “WE ARE ON THE BUS!!” I shouted, “WE AIN’T LOSERS, WE ARE TRIERS AND WE TRIED!! WE GAVE IT A SHOT!!”
Then some little green kid looked up with teary eyes and said, “Yeah, but . . . there is no try. There’s only do or don’t do.”
“Okay,” I said. “So everybody who wrote something – anything at all for Camp NaNo raise your hand.” Every hand on the bus when up, including the little green kid’s. “Well then,” I said, “We all done did!! Maybe we didn’t do as much as we planned on doing but we did something which is a damn sight better than the millions who stayed at home doin’ nuthin’ sayin’ ‘oh yeah, dude that Camp NaNo sounds like fun. I’ma do that one of these days.’ By golly, WE got ON the bus, we came, we saw, maybe we didn’t conquer but we did a little bit and now we can go home proud of the fact that despite all the adversity we faced in the month of July, we wrote sumpthin’. Whatever it was, it counted. IT COUNTED PEOPLE!!”

You shoulda been there to hear all those long faces zapping back up to where they belonged. Even the little green guy got happy! The shouts of joy echoed for miles and miles. Sometimes it’s not whether you win or lose. Sometimes all that matters is that you made the effort!

Thanks, StoryCoat, for those amazing words of truth!  So long as you have even one word, it is one more word than you had before setting out on this Camp experience!  How about everyone else? Was camp a fail? Or did you manage to do “something”?

Camp Followup!

I did it!!! I don’t know how I pulled it off, but somehow or another, I pulled off my word count by the skin of my teeth!  The amazing 6k day was the best.  It was like, all of a sudden, the words were just flying out.  I don’t know what happened to make the flood gates open, but I am so glad they did!

What I am most excited about, however, is that I managed to get some words and ideas put down in the scenes that I have avoided.  Which was actually my goal for Camp more than words were!  I am really excited to sit down and actually get worked through Mo Thuras now, seeing as I almost have a complete story to work with!  It is so exciting to see this story rolling together!

How did camp go for you?  Did you manage to reach your word count goal?  If you didn’t get your word count goal did you manage to reach any of your writerly goals?  Did you at least manage some words?!?

Letters from Camp: Last Letter!

I can’t believe it, today is my last letter from camp.  I was going to tell you all about this great holiday that happens to be today, Uncommon Instrument Awareness Day, but… I am all sad.  I can’t believe that today is the last day of camp.  I have to tell ya though… I had a six thousand word day on Wednesday!!!  I couldn’t believe it!  I was super excited about that!

Oh, and about that Uncommon Instrument Awareness Day… well, not many people know this, but I play the harp!  I was going to post this great picture of my harp for you all, but I am away from home and I totally forgot to take a picture before I left.  But I might just add one in later, when I get home next week!  I also play the penny whistle and accordion!  I have a real love for different instruments and if I could have one of everything I totally would.  Someday I want to have a full size floor harp, a violin and I would like to also learn to play the bagpipes!

What about you?  Do you play any interesting instruments?  Share  unique fact about yourself with us!

Letters from Camp: Paperback Book Day, “Squee”

Let’s be honest here people… If you are a reader (and of course that is a big assumption on my part, but if you are following my blog I gotta believe you have some kind of like/passion/love for the written word) any time you walk into a bookstore, it is almost as if you are a 14-year old fangirl/boy!

I know that when I am around books, I am all like:

“my precious”

Well, today is going to be a rush, I am going to be gone for another weekend… You know, at that party camp!  (Ok, maybe it is just my sisters house, but still!)  So, since I am so behind and Camp ends in just a couple days, I am going to shoot for getting finished today and tomorrow morning!  Let’s see if I can!!!

What about you? Do you have that same response to books?!? What makes you “squee” like a little teenage fan?