Lisa Karon Richardson and the Smith Corona

Lisa Karon Richardson and I met in college and have been friends ever since.  She is now a published author and mainly writes historical fiction.  Her most recent publication is one of four novellas in a collection entitled Colonial Courtships.  Her novel, The Magistrate's Folly, is being published by Harlequin and will release in early 2013.  Another novella and first book in a series are planned for release next fall.  Lisa has earned a reputation for meticulous research and I know from personal experience that this reputation is well-deserved.

During our freshman year of college, student access to computers was limited to a few decrepit machines in the library which made typing papers a challenge.  With the ink barely dry on my office assistant certification from vocational school, I proudly (and naively) offered to type both Lisa and Rick's research papers for Missions class.  Of course, I procrastinated until the night before they were due, but thankfully, I was able to borrow a smith corona word processor from an upperclassman.  I'm pretty sure I typed Rick's paper first because, after all, he was (and still is) the love of my life.  That left Lisa's paper for the wee small hours of the morning.

Despite my superior typing skills, it was slow going.  Lisa had chosen to do her paper on India and her research was very thorough.  In fact, it was so thorough and the paper so lengthy that it was like typing Strong's Exhaustive India.  Okay, I admit I'm exaggerating, but at 3:00 am that is how it felt.  The situation was made worse by the fact that, in order to not disturb my sleeping roommate, I had to muffle the smith corona with a pillow each time I printed out a page.  Somehow, I made it through my first all-nighter and our papers were submitted on time.  Needless to say, I didn't offer to type any more of Lisa's papers.

All joking aside, I am glad Lisa has put her research skills to good use and I look forward to reading her novella in Colonial Courtships which I recently purchased from Amazon.  Who knows?  I may pull another all-nighter to finish reading it.

Sign of the Bluet

Thanks to my good friend and fellow writer, Lisa Karon Richardson, I am a guest blogger today on www.inkwellinspirations.com and have a post there promoting Fertility Rites.  Today's Versions of Chai post is intended to be additional content to the Inkwell one, so if you haven't already read it, I suggest going to Inkwell Inspirations first.

To explain why I considered the bluet a sign from God that I was going to survive my loss, I need to give some background on this tiny wildflower.  Bluets, or Houstonia caerulea, prefer somewhat rocky soil and tend to grow at the edge of wooded areas.  They are plentiful in the part of southeastern Kentucky where I grew up.  Something about these flowers always intrigued me.  As a kid, I thought they were forget-me-nots.  I later discovered this was not the case, but could not find out what they were called.  I used to carry one around with me, pressed in a notebook, so I could ask plant enthusiasts to identify it.  The original draft of the following poem was actually written before my sister finally identified the flower as a bluet.  In the poem, I describe the bluet as a representation of myself, which is why I knew the bluet I saw that day was a message meant especially for me.

Bluet

Four petals
of misty light blue
fading to white
before a sunny yellow center
balanced on a stem
as slender as thread
a blue star in a sky of green
quivering in the breeze
a dainty ballerina
trembling on satin points.

That's me
that blue flower
growing wild beneath the world's knees
curling its toes up in the hills
hugging them close.
That's me
that tiny bit of wilderness
visible only to those
willing to give a second glance.

http://www.wpclipart.com

Rick McGee: writer, illustrator, skunk promoter....

Advance sales have officially started for my poetry chapbook and the front cover image has been loaded on the site!  Here is a direct link to where you can preorder a copy that will ship in February:  https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product_info.php?cPath=4&products_id=1533&osCsid=8470o7bhvcpq0un3mn5vpbhnp5.  The number of preorders directly affects how large the total print run will be.  My goal is to have 105 preorders so the total print run can be 500.  Please spread the word!

www.ramonecologne.co

As I mentioned in my last post, I would like to honor some of the people who have supported me with this project.  First and foremost is my husband, Rick McGee.  For the two of us, it was a case of love at first word and 17 years later, the words are still flowing.  But enough about that....  Rick is a renaissance man who has many talents in addition to writing.  A few of these artistic talents are showcased in a comic book about an orphaned skunk named Ramone Cologne.  I've posted a picture of the front cover of the first issue:  A Skunk's Tale.  So far, two issues have been published and a third is currently in progress.  To find out more or order copies of the books, visit www.ramonecologne.com.

There are so many good things I could say about Rick that it is hard to narrow them down, but one of them is the discipline he shows in his work.  I have watched him spend countless hours drawing, painting, and writing.  He doesn't just talk about all the creative things he wants to do.  He does them!  And often he does so while I am sitting on the couch being lazy.  Somehow his dedication hasn't rubbed off on me yet, but occasionally, it motivates me into action.

Thank you Rick for supporting me and being my inspiration!

Publication Update and Preorder Info

Since my last post, life has been a whirlwind.  I know my blog has been pretty much silent for the last year.  Part of that time, I was in the dark room being developed, but several months ago, I emerged into a life that is colorful once again.  So many things have happened this year:  I ran a 5k, became a mother to two foster children, and of course, my long-time dream of publication is now coming true.

Amidst all the spinning plates, I somehow managed to meet my contract deadline and the publication of Fertility Rites is on track.  Advance sales officially start on Monday, October 22nd; however, the chapbook is already available for preorder at www.finishinglinepress.com.  Just click on "Preorder Forthcoming Titles" on the right-hand side of the page.  The books are listed alphabetically by title and Fertility Rites is listed on the second page.  Preordered copies of the book are supposed to ship on February 1st.  Unfortunately, they don't have a thumbnail image of the cover up yet, but hopefully, it will be on Monday.  I'm posting the image of the front cover here so you can see what it looks like.

The cover was designed by Tonya Leigh Morgan who also designed the Versions of Chai logo.  Once again, she has taken my wisp of a concept and turned into much more than I ever thought it would be.  She is a very talented artist and I am truly blessed to call her my friend.  In addition to Tonya, there are others whose help has been invaluable to me on this project.  First of all, none of this would be possible without the support and encouragement of my husband, writer and illustrator Rick McGee.  I know I can face anything with him by my side.  Over the next few days, my blog posts will honor Rick and some of the other writers who have supported me:  Julie Hensley, Lisa Karon Richardson, Katerina Stoykova-Klemer, and Eric Scott Sutherland.

To the few followers of my blog, you may wonder what has happened to some of my previous posts.  As you know, I had posted rough drafts of several of the chapbook poems along with commentary.  The poems themselves have been removed, but the commentary remains.  If you want to read the poems in their final versions, you will have to buy the book!

Fertility Rites to be Published!!

I am pleased to announce that Fertility Rites has been accepted for publication with Finishing Line Press!  At this point, I am still waiting on the official contract and publication timeline, but I hope to post more information soon.

Letting go of the anger....

One of the things I have learned in the process of healing after the loss of my daughter is to let go of some of my anger.  When I look around and see irresponsible people having children that they end up neglecting or mistreating, it is easy for me to get angry.  It seems so unfair that these people should have children while I do not.  Why this happens is one of the questions I have asked God several times over the last year and a half.  Then a few months ago God answered with a question of His own.  Could I honestly say that I wish any child had not been born?   Or would not be born?  Of course, my answer to this was no and it made me realize I had been looking at things the wrong way.  Instead of focusing on how unworthy or undeserving I thought the parents were, I needed to accept that God must want those children to be born, that their lives may have a higher purpose.  I thought of all the people who began in adverse circumstances that ended up doing great things with their lives.  People like my dad and like Steve Jobs, who was born to unwed college students and then adopted.  And I realized, I have to let my anger go and just trust that God knows what He is doing.

Still My Hero: A Tribute to James Still

During a recent visit to Half Price Books, I discovered one of the treasures I had been searching for:  The Wolfpen Poems by James Still.  For those unfamiliar with his work, James Still was an Appalachian author and a part of the Southern literary renaissance that began during the Great Depression.  He is most well-known for his novel, River of Earth, which has been classed with Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath as one of the best representations of Depression-era life.  However, he was also an exceptional poet.  When I was in Junior High, he visited my school and shared some of his work.  His presentation made an impression on me and may very well have been one of the influences that sparked my own interest in writing poetry.

In reading his poems, I feel such a kinship with him.  His words echo some of the cries of my heart, yet in a richness that I could never express.  It is difficult to choose my favorites from among his poems, but at the moment, "Heritage", "I Was Born Humble", and "Infare" are the uppermost in my mind.  All this reveling in the poetry of James Still, made me decide to write a tribute to him.  This just a start, but here it is:

Still, James Still:
with such a name
one would think him destined
to work the copper kettle.
Yet, though his steps turned
toward the thunder road,
his communion with the moon
brought forth a different draught
one which heightened his soul's
perception and called him to
remain in the land of his sojourning.

So he remained,
forsaking modern convenience
to sit in stillness, watching the
smoke of the mountains, listening
to the throb of the universe.