murder.booklocker.com

It should come as no surprise that I’m thinking of abandoning this blog. After a year of trying to make it work, I’m simply giving up … for now.

Maybe I’ll reinvent myself and it. Maybe not.

There’s lots of good stuff hidden in the archives - take a look around. Thanks to CWA members who helped me mount the last hurrah.

The End. Two of the most famous and widely known words in the written language.

I love the word The End. I often start my writing with some “end” in mind and work my way back. I say “some end” because every once in a while the ending that I had conjured is not what it turns out to be. We’ve all been there I’m sure, the detour of the creative mind and the characters we dream up. However, for the most part, I try to stick to what I set out to accomplish as the finality of the story.

The words The End are sacred to me. They hold the secret to the final resolution, conflict, and issue to whatever I’m trying to convey. When you eventually read the words The End, that’s it, it’s the full loop. You have reached the last stop on your ride of reading for that particular tale.

I recently had the pleasure of penning in my first fictional novel: Isabella, My Rose, the words The End. A story about a couple’s journey and struggles within their marriage, and the miraculous birth of their daughter born with a congenital limb deficiency who becomes the pinnacle in their relationship, in keeping it all together. Honestly, I had mixed emotions after I finished it. I knew I couldn’t go any further, but yet I felt it was time to conclude the story. Similar to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series.

But are you really done when you reach The End? Is all that labor of furious writing complete? If you are just writing for yourself and it’s a personal escape, well then, I guess you can end where you want. Maybe not, who knows, that’s an individual decision. However, for those writers like myself who want to publish their writings, it really isn’t The End, is it? I currently have two people editing my novel. I know there will be changes, but will their feedback change my ending? Hmm…I don’t know. That is between me the writer, and the message I’m delivering. I do know that if ever I get the opportunity to entertain the interests of the publishing industry; there will be plenty of enhancements to be made.

So even if you penned “The End,” the road to the bookshelves can be an uneven path full of cracks and rolling pebbles. The End may be done, but that my friends is only the Beginning. Keep writing. May the pen always be in your hand, and the words flow from your mind.

There’s a book that I think several of my readers will have an interest in, particularly veterans. It’s called Heroes Among Us by Hal Terrell. It’s the story of “twenty-two boys who grew up in a small western Colorado town during The Great Depression and how they dealt with their circumstances. It also delves into each individual’s WWII experiences and what each one did after WWII to help build America into what it is today. There’s a multitude of information on the book’s website but since I’ve been corresponding with Mr. Terell, I wanted to share what he had to say about how he decided to write the book.

Dear Cheryl

It was a sunny day but a bit chilly as I stood among thousands of white marble crosses. My wife and I came to this place to honor the memory of all the young men who fought and died here on D-Day and the following few days after June 6, 1944. United States and Allied Forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, France on D-Day to liberate Europe from German occupation, one of the most significant and imortant events in the annuals of military history. We also wanted to honor all of America’s young men who fought and died on every other far flung shore or foreign country during WWII. It had been over sixth years since that morning of June 6,1944 when American forces stormed ashore at Omaha and Utah beaches. Time has inevitably relegated their heroic deeds and suffering to a storage room of dusty archives and all that remains are the fading memories of those who lived through those terrible days. Time is gradually defeating all WWII veterans. That is something Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany could not do.

During the D-Day cermony I, along with two other WWII veterans, was given the honor and the privilege of placing the memorial wreath at the feet of the “Spirit of American Youth” statue during the cermony on June 6, 2001.

At the conclusion of the wreath-laying ceremony I found myself strolling slowly among the white marble crosses. All I could hear was the soft whisper of a sea breeze caressing my face, the sound of the surf against the sandy beach below, and the twittering of the birds in the surrounding trees. As I looked around, I realized I was standing in a place where every blade of grass appeared to have its own private caretaker. Yet, I felt no joy or particular appreciation for the aesthetic value of this place. I was completely overwhelmed with a somber and desperate feeling of sadness and grief that surrounded me. My emotions were almost uncontrollable as I struggled to get my breath. I felt tears streaming down my cheeks. I felt a burning lump in my throat and my body began to involuntarily shake. Suddenly the silence was broken by a soft, low moaning or sobbing sound. I looked around to see who was in distress but no one was near me. I suddenly realized the sobs and moans were coming from my own chest and throat. That was the moment when I decided that I had to located the boys I had gone to grade school and high school with and document their stories and experiences. The result ended up as a book, HEROES AMONG US.

Sincerely,
Hal Terrell

Mr. Terrell also sent me the following.”Perhaps you can use some of the comments made by some of my readers. I can honestly say that I never received one single comment that was derogatory.

THE GLENWOOD POST INDEPENDENT
“A reader is fortunate when he hooks into a book that is so good he doesn’t want it to end. A newspaper reporter is even luckier when he talks to a subject who has so many stories the reporter doesn’t want the interview to end. That is how it turned out when I interviewed Hal Terrell about a book he wrote about local World War Two veterans.”

TOM AXELROD–70th DIVISION, 274 BATTALION, COMPANY K
(Tom recently passed away)
“WOW! This is going to be some book! Hal has been hiding under the editorial blanket all these years. He has he touch. All the stats, the trip to Europe, his letter writing, the footwork, the years in the making looks to be paying off. From what I have seen and read it appears to be one of the best sellers.

LARRY SCHMUESER & ASSOCIATES
“You have summurized the feeling and thoughts of most Americans, my generation included. The war should, and will not ever be forgotten, and your generation will be remembered not only as the greatest but also the one that could and did. You have said far more in a few words than many of the historians have in volumes. THE OLD NATIVE WAY! This book should be required reading by all leaders in government, all teachers who teach history, at all levels of learning”.

HAL CAPRON
“I found tears rolling down my cheek while reading about Alex and Raymond. Two such different lives, but both heroes just the same. The stories you tell are very touching and should be identifiable to people from all generations and backgrounds, just like your heroes are. It is hard to imagine the fear of being in the tail of that B-17, or having to live with the challenges of Raymond. But, your book has brought me as close as I will ever know of what it was like. I only hope that if I had been dealt the same hand as they were I would have been man enough to play it as well as they did”.

FOX CLEAR CHANNEL TELEVISION
“I just finished reading one of the most moving and compelling books I have ever read. Your first chapter sent chills up my spine and brought tears to my eyes. Your descriptions of the battlefields, the walk through the cemetery at Omaha Beach, and the letter from the military doctor in San Antonio all put into perspective how insignificant and fortunate we really are. The fact that you have put all of this on paper is a tribute to you and your character. I for one, thank you for opening my eyes”.

STEVE BEATTIE, ATTORNEY AT LAW
“Great reading! You are both tough and tender, and the combination makes for a unique and inspiring narrative. When the book is actually finished, I look forward to being one of your first customers. I know my Dad would enjoy the book”.

CHARLES JACKSON
(He has a chapter in this book) “If you hadn’t written this book, I would have gone to my grave having no idea about the true greatness of the individuals in our Garfield County High School class. We were/are a pretty impressive bunch of people, and before the book, I didn’t have a clue”.

NORMA AND GENE STROMBERG
“I read the first chapter of your book to Gene as he is almost blind now. It was great! We were both quite impressed and we both had tears in our eyes. I got choked up, especially when reading the poem at the end of this chapter. Gene is eighty three years old now and your book has brought back a lot of the WWII memories to him. (Gene made the D-Day invasion at Utah Beach”.)

RESA AND JOHN WING–WING INTERNATIONAL
“Just wanted to tell you how deeply touched John and I were while reading your book. You have a rare gift of not only poetry, charisma–we all know that about you–but even more importantly of sharing your heart and vision. Good luch with your book”.

JIM NELSON–PUBLISHED AUTHOR
“”Heroes Among Us” by Hal Terrell is obviously a labor of love. So many of us who are alive today remember little or nothing of the enormous conflict of WWII. As Hal points out in his epilogue, WWII was indeed a world war, a war of almost unbelievable scope. It involved sixth-eight countries and resulted in the death of many millions of people, both military and civilian. Through his research, his persistence and his words, Hal has presented slices from the military and the personal lives of twenty-one men. These men joined the armed services, shipped out for places of terrible danger, fought, and in some cases died for their country. Most of them had not yet reached voting age. “The Greatest Generation, the enormous death toll of WWII, the terrible injuries of many of the survivors are all things that slip all too easily into the mists of time. Thanks to Hal Terrell, some of the battles, some of the horror, some of these men will not be forgotten.”

[Niama Leslie Williams, Ph.D., better known as Dr. Ni, is a radio talk show host. I recently asked if she would do a guest post about what she's looking for in the work submitted to her.]

I was standing on a hot, sweaty street corner waiting, interminably, for the slow-ass 23 bus.  The six or seven of us gathered there quietly not fighting for the miniscule space in the shade under a definitely unloved something straining to be a tree.  We couldn’t fault it; it was trying with everything it had.

The only sources of true entertainment were the two addicts, an interracial couple, madly in love, dancing, walking, talking and occasionally nuzzling while waiting for the bus.  Their love, we could see, was clear, pure, honest, and vivacious, and they didn’t care who saw.  Neither looked a long way from their last high, but my heart leapt when I saw the female, either Latina or white, holding fiercely to and reading, a book.  Literature, I thought, in the hands of someone who needs it! Then I saw the title.  Knife Assassin.

So when you ask me the rationale behind the choices for my radio show, “Poetry & Prose & Anything Goes with Dr. Ni,” I tell you that I want my listeners to hear the best writing out there; if they tune in, I want their ears dripping in anticipation.  I want their appetite for good words whetted and then sated in the way that only sweet potato cheesecake can make a gourmand smile.

Keep in mind that I am, and have been for 13+ years, a professor of literature, and therefore I want poems and prose with evidence of study and the development of craft.  To give you an idea, here is a definition of poetic art that I gave to the Kelly Writers House for whom I did a poetry workshop in 2005:

Why poetry:  Poetry works because it bypasses the intellect and goes straight for the gut, the soul, what lies underneath your tame and ordinary conventions, ideas, and feelings about the world.  It takes you out of your commonplace feelings and arouses, touches something deeper, something you feel only in your solar plexus, something you feel only when someone surprises you and knocks the wind, momentarily, out of your sails.  That gasp for breath, of recognition, that’s what you’re going for as a poet.  You want your audience to recognize but be stunned, startled by that recognition.  You want them shocked awake by what they instantaneously understand.Poetic language: By poetic language I mean metaphor, simile and imagery as your nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs; as your building blocks with which to communicate.  Poetic writing is about density (of image and metaphor) and compactness of language; you are communicating in symbols, but you are compacting those symbols so tightly that you express 5 pages in six or seven stanzas.  Your medium is the comparison, the putting of a thought or concept into its mirror, an image:  the way in which a flower unfolds, the way in which a bee approaches and pollinates, the way in which a mirror smashes against a wall and proliferates into a million and one shards.  Tell us about your news item and its effect on your world using image and metaphor and simile.  Tell us by showing us through what you see, what you hear, what you taste, what you envision, what you hold every day in your hands.

Do you see what I mean by development/evidence of craft?  I want poems and stories for the show that leave a reader THINKING, recovering from an emotional onslaught, yes, absolutely, but I want their brain teased into motion as well.  Density, complexity, sophistication:  I want all three evident in the prose or poem, and it must be a great listening experience as well; if writing is not fun for the reader, does not pull the reader in—especially against his or her will—if it is not magnetic, kinetic, and instructive what then is the point and who will ever care?
   
You may wonder why I put “and instructive” in italics.  I am one of those old saws who still believes in the ideals of the Black Arts Movement.  Literature is supposed to give us tools for living, is supposed to tell us how others survived the impossible, the improbable, the unjust so that we too can do the same—with our dignity intact, with a sense, even, of majesty and grace.  Literature is supposed to arm us for Mr. Charlie, whoever and whatever our Mr. Charlie looks like.  That tree needed love and attention and water, and that female in love and recovery needed stronger sustenance than Knife Assassin would ever be able to offer.  To face the cruel twists and turns of fate sober will require knowledge, solace, tales sophisticated and honest with characters real in their bravery; characters enough like her to help her envision acting with similar courage and fortitude.
   
The 23 bus did, eventually, come, and I left that tree there, alone, unloved, unwatered.  Soon to be another fatality in this city of mounting bodies.  As I boarded the bus I tried very hard not to look at that woman and the book that, in her hands, would continue to break my heart.