SHORT STORY: It Could Just Be The Wind

 

Never wrote a short story before. Please tell me if the story spooked you, made you wonder too, or had no effect. Writers want the reader to have some kind of emotional feeling. DID I ACCOMPLISH THIS? Feedback of any kind appreciated. DO I HAVE A FUTURE IN WRITING?

IT COULD JUST BE THE WIND

 

Finishing my, as the book directd, prayer, “Lord, please forgive me of all my sins known and unknown. I repent of any wrong I have done to others, known and unknown. Cleanse me of all my sins and allow me to see your divine angels, In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen,” I feel a chilling puff of cold air on my right forearm. Goosebumps stand erect acknowledging what my eyes didn’t see. If all the other occurrences could be summed up as, “It could just be the wind playing tricks on you,” I would take it with no more questions asked. But this can’t be explained away so cavalierly.

I wonder for a moment, if the prayer to see angels I just performed really works. I was a little hesitant to say the prayer because the beautifully illustrated jacket of the book warned if there is any darkness or unforgiveness in you, you may see demons instead of angelic angels. Immediately after saying the prayer, I, with wide eyes, search for what will appear from my prayer in my sun filled livingroom. Nothing. It has always been my dream to see the angels and nothing.

Hearing the youthful sounds of children playing basketball in my yard, I smile and decide to take in some afternoon sun on the black iron garden bench and watch them play. As the kids laugh and try daring basketball moves, I become overcome with the nagging feeling there is a slithering snake at my feet. Unable to ignore the increasing sense that a snake is near, I fold my feet under me Indian style on the bench, which did not ease the feeling. Finally, I cautiously bolt to the security of the indoors. Once inside, I laugh at my foolishness.

Kids fed and tucked into bed without much complaint, I settle to watch my favorite show, ER, with lights off. Just me and George Clooney for an hour. Suddenly in the darkened room illuminated by the flickers of the television, my peripheral vision sees a black formless shadow dart from the side of the black kitchen refrigerator and disappear at the end of my side vision. Snapping my head in the direction of what I am sure I saw, I simultaneously think, “Did I just see that,” and “Who’s there?”

Just as quickly as the feeling of impendinng doom came, it disappeared as I laugh at myself, being startled by nightly tricks of the eye. Focusing back on the t.v., I settle in to enjoy my remaining time with George.and his gorgeous hair. I jump, startled once again, but this time by the extremely loud booming hum of the refrigerator, which sounds more like a hungry chainsaw in search of its food. It has never been this loud before. Frowning, as if pained from the audio assault, I must pee and pee badly. I gather myself to scurry past the cold loud kitchen to the powder blue bathroom down the hall. Relieving myself and exhaling my uncalled-for fear, I dismiss the previous frightful occurrances.

Why have I been on edge all day looking for something that doesn't exist? I’m never jittery like this, literally shaking like the last brown dry leaf holding on to a tree branch in the blustery fall wind. I twist and flutter, shaking but never giving in to the power of the destructive winds like that leaf. Of course, I’ve seen shadow figures before, but never several times like tonight. I need to calm down, breath, and relax. With that, I wipe and flush the toilet. The sound of the flushing sounds like bombs of war going off. The percussion sound blows me back, causing me to stumble. I feel a rush a wind again. Searching the tiny bathrrom, looking for an open winndow, which remains closed and locked, I can't find a sourch of the bone chiilling wind. shivering I run to the dark living room, hopping onto the couch, cowering under a blanket as the toilet roars from the bathroom like an angry lion. Praying for the toilet to fill and quiet, I wait, all the while I feel as if someone or something is watching me.

Trembling like a wet fearful dog hoping to be rescued by its master, I look out from the red wool blanket, searching the kitchen for the black formless shadow. After a few minutes, which seemed like an hour, the black shadow darted from the side of the refrigerator down the hall towards the bathroom and my baby’s room. Heart pounding like a startled rabbit, I question once again whether I have seen what I had saw. No! No, I didn’t. I don’t believe in ghos….

Suddenly it dawns on me; my prayer. My breathing quickens to pants reliving today’s earlier request to see etheral angelic angels. What if I unleashed demons instead of angels? No! My heart is clean! The prayer didn’t work! Its not possible to request to see angels. Good angels. The book warned me! Why didn’t I listen! No! No! No! I don’t believe such stuff, and yet I do in the secret creases of my heart.

The night dragged like a man lame from war as I waited for the snail-like approaching daylight. I removed the batteries from the clock hours ago, each tick of the second hand sounded like a grenade going off. Boom! Boom! Boom, striking terror with each explosive sound. Now I sit in a fetal position in the corner of the green velvety couch. I’m freezing, bone shaking cold, but too scared to move from the couch to put on warmer clothes. I had on sexy sheer lingerie for my quality time with George. The airconditioner is pumping out North Pole air. My brain is ping-ponging from one explanation to the other for the shadows and noise. Nothing is comforting or reassuring. As each moment passes, I feel my grip on reality slipping away. If only this was a dream, then I could make sense of it all. Even though I have vivid dreams, dreams I can manipulate while sleeping to start, stop, or change at my command, I can tell the difference between dreams and reality. Now I don't know what reality is at all.

This is something different. Something unearthly. I am between insanity and reality, not knowing which is which. If I am seeing dark demons from my prayer, is it real? If I’m seeing demons, is it from the prayer or am I just going crazy? I don’t know what is real right now, which makes me question my sanity even more. Did a mental breakdown happen to coincide with a prayer to see angels? Whatever is happening to me is terrorizing. Rocking myself, wanting to hum a soothing song but can't form any words in my head, eyes cast down, I pray for daylight.

As the dark night sky of mystery yields itself to shades of gray tinged with the oranges of a rising sun, I’m proud I’ve held on. I called hubby an hour ago who is out of town working. I didn’t know what to say except I need you to come home and take me to the doctor. Now I question what exactly I will tell my husband and doctors about what happened to me all night. Looking into the not-so-dark-now kitchen, I see no shadows and immediately question if I ever had.

Hearing the sputtering engine cut off from the truck hubby drives, I quickly decide, as I smile with relief, last night didn’t happen. I just had a bad bad day. I was just over sensitive to noise and now its over. No black shadows or bombs going off. It could be the presence of daylight, hubby’s calming presence, or my imagination, but none of the feelings from the night linger in the coming daylight.

I explain to hubby I was having a bad day and just felt off. I will go to the doctor if the feeling returns but all is okay now. We spend the day together having family fun. We put the children to sleep an hour after their usual bedtime. They got to stay up an extra hour because dad had come home early. Me and boo shut down the house for the day and snuggle, talk, and laugh in the middle bedroom. We hear at the same time the sound of little feet almost running from the kid’s bedroom heading our way. Laughing we know it is our nightly bed-jumper, our youngest. We listen as the tiny feet approach, waiting to hear the excuse of a four-year-old trying to worm her way into our bed. No child appeared.

With a questioning look, his usual furrowed brow and without words, hubby looks at me for a long minute. Climbing over me, his knees promising to do damage unless I sheild myself, he goes to the open bedroomm door and looks down the hall into the livingroom where the footsteps were heard. Confused, and with mouth open he stares at me for some kind of answer. All I can offer him is an ‘I know. I heard it too’. I pat for him to come sit on the bed next to me. I explain the prior night’s event, leaving out the part where I prayed to see angels. That never happened right? I'll never tell I prayed to see angels and was scared shitless instead.

I tell hubby I need to go to the doctor and tell him what I told him. We both agreed the doctors will think I’m crazy. Hubby offers to tell the doctors he experienced some weird shit too in the house and we both heard the unexplained footsteps. I can’t imagine what doctors will think if two parents came to them with such a story. We would probably lose custody of our children. No. Only I will confess to the craziness.

It does enter my mind to pray for the visions to disappear. But that will only work if the prayer to see angels worked in the first place. With hubby experiencing hearing the human-less footsteps, something occurred after the prayer. What, I can't tell you. On the other hand, I have a long family history of mental illness, schizophrenia to be exact. I’m sure I saw what I saw and heard what I heard. But so was my mother when she thought she was the Unabomber police were looking for because she once worked at the post office. The things she must have heard and saw with that delusion.

“I want you to place one of these pills under your tongue each time you have a panic attack,” the nice doctor said handing me a prescription for Xanax. My hubby watched as my shaky hand took the prescription from the doctor, nodding my head. Smiling, I felt as if I had the answer, anxiety attack. Sounded right to me even though hubby wants to hang a horseshoe over the door to ward off evil and says he will never stay in the house alone again.

I’m mentally ill. How relieving. It’s not schizophrenia though. I'm lucky. Sure, hubby is a little shaken. Okay, scared, but we have been okay for days even though I have to pop several pills at night when the noises and shadows come. I sleep with a fan running to drown out the footsteps at night. I believe it is called white noise. Many well people sleep with a television or fan on at night to help with sleep. My days are normal. No boogieman nor signs of schizophrenia. Just peace in the mind. Nights are another story.

Nights have become battles of thought. Are those who can see and talk to angels mentally ill or are those with mental illness able to communicate with beings on another level. Should I embrace being able to see what I see, good or bad, or continue to monitor my mental health for further decline. I brace myself each night at the mercy of a thing which I can not determine what it is. Menacing is the best word for it right now. Should I surrender to this unknown? What is my reality? Do I see what I think I see? What is a certain reality is the fact I have gone from one pill to six and this reality persists, and the torture is not knowing what my reality is. “Hello shadow, how are you tonight?”

 

A Writer's Life Defined

I believe people fail to realize writers LOVE words. They love the sentences when words come together. They spend a lot of time trying to create one perfect sentence that will grab ahold of every reader and become part of the mainstream venacular. 

Writers are akin to philosophers because they spend countless hours pondering subjects searching for unforseen new ways to spin old and sometimes overused subjects. They are always wondering "what if."

But writers are more than story tellers and philosophers. Many are historians, armchair scientists, detectives, criminals, women who are men, and men who are women. They are whoever their story needs them to be to give the reader a book worth reading and once opened, never put down.

Writers are made of thick skin, rubber skin, skin of armor. They are made of these many different skins because they have to be in order to be a writer. People read their work they may have toiled years to get just right and reject it, criticize it, mock it, have contempt for it, or declare they are a much better writer than they are. Writers are not weak in any form of the word. Their spine has to be made of the material of Iron Man's suit each time they present their BEST work to the public to be adored or trashed. It takes real nerve to be a writer.

If you are lucky enough to know a writer, aren't you amazed at how they can form a character in their mind, give the character a detail rich home, a tragic or eviable life, a love found or a love lost, and a life altering choice in their life that would be difficult for any normal person. Writers create crises and also solves them. How good are you at creating your own crises and solving them?

A writer stares at a blank page on their computer screen, and creates an entire world. How can they do this you may ask? Because a writer's brain is never really at rest. They are constantly thinking. Their imagination is constantly triggered with ideas, plot twists, or new imaginings from everything and everyone they encounter in their day. I know even while waiting to go into surgery, I was thinking about crafting a operation scene in a work in progress I was writing. I was taking mental notes on everything medical and would have loved to have had a pen and paper handy to jot down how I would describe my operation scene in my work.

The five senses are crucial to a writer. Writers have to impart an experience to their reader. How a lover looked, smelled, felt, tasted, and sounded. I know you are saying you can do that with your own love interest. But does your love interest have the ability to make thousands, hopefully, millions of the opposite sex reader desire them? Writers have to dig deep into sexuality, sometimes heavy handed (almost pornographic), at at time with the lightest touch to leave the reader longing. I guess writers are also sex experts or at least romantics.

Writers are magicians. Their aim is to entertain the reader, surprise the reader, shock the reader, and never let the reader know the secret to their magic. They take the ordinary and do wonders with it and the lucky few can perform something never seen before. Writers are magical.

Before I forget, I must add writers are psychologists. Psychologists study cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior by observing, interpreting, and recording how people relate to one another and to their enviroments. They use their findings to help improve processes and behaviors. To write about humans one must understand people. Using their knowledge of human behavior, writers make you love, hate, or even feel indifferent about characters in a book. Many books take the reader on a journey discovering good and bad things about the human psyche. Writers make the the reader relate to heroes and villians tapping into the readers emotions. The reader may see themselves in the characters artfully written about in the pages and decide to make the same or opposite changes just as the character/characters did. Writers can inspire, encourage, and give hope to their audeience. Writers draw out the reader's smiles, tears, anger, sympathies, compassions, and even hatreds. 

I started writing twenty years ago and as most writers know, my first books were crappy. I loved the subject matter of my books but my writing skills were really bad. Fast forward to present writer Dorothy, and I'm much better. The one thing I have learned is that writers continually sharpen their writing skills. Their writing becomes better due to critism, helpful feedback, just continuing to write, and from having their work published. The win - PUBLISHED! But, nothing is certain in a writer's life. One book can be wildly successful and they are heralded as genius and the next book is a flop and the public says they were never actually talented.

So why do writers write? Because writers love words. They love the sentences when words come together. They spend a lot of time trying to create one perfect sentence that will grab ahold of every reader and become part of the mainstream venacular. They are magicians with a story to tell. To all my writer friends, never stop making MAGIC.

Please share, like, comment, and follow. Thank you. 

You can do it too.

FAMOUS QOUTES FROM CLASSIC LITERATURE

• “Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.” —Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

• “I have been bent and broken, but— I hope— into a better shape.” —Charles Dickens, Great Expectations 

• “Anyone who ever gave you confidence, you owe them a lot.” —Truman Capote, Breakfast At Tiffany’s 

• “The thing is—fear can’t hurt you any more than a dream.” —William Golding, Lord of the Flies 

• “It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.” —Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland 

• “Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat.” —Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man 

• “I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing.” —Herman Melville, Moby-Dick 

• "It’s in vain to recall the past, unless it works some influence upon the present" —Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

• "It's much better to do good in a way that no one knows anything about it." —Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina 

• “If you tell the truth you do not need a good memory.” —Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

• “You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.” —Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men

• "Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs." —Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre 

FAMOUS QOUTES FROM POETRY

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning.” —Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven

• “To be or not to be: that is the question” —William Shakespeare, Hamlet 

• “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the road less traveled by” —Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken 

• “Every time I travel I meet myself a little more.” —Yrsa Daley-Ward, Coordinates 

• “Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without words And never stops at all.” —Emily Dickinson, Hope is the Thing With Feathers 

• “You can trodme in the very dirt, but still like dust, I rise.” —Maya Angelou, Still I Rise 

• “Be an outcast, Be pleased to walk alone.” —Alice Walker, Be Nobody’s Darling 

• “I celebrate myself, and sing myself.” —Walt Whitman, Song of Myself 

• “To live a little better and  always be forgiving, to add a little sunshine to the world in which we are living.” —Helen Steiner Rice, A New Beginning 

• “Life’s battles don’t always go To the stronger or faster man,But soon or late the man who wins Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!” —Walter D. Wintle, The Man Who Thinks He Can 

FAMOUS QUOTES FROM ROMANTIC LITERATURE

• “He’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” —Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights 

• “If you loved someone, you loved him, and when you had nothing else to give, you still gave him love.” —George Orwell, 1984

• “Who, being loved, is poor?” —Oscar Wilde, A Woman Of Importance 

• “To love or have loved, that is enough. Ask nothing further.” —Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

• “All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.” —Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

• “The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.” ―Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays

• “When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” —Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

• “We love the things we love for what they are.” —Robert Frost, Hyla Brook

• “How you love yourself is how you teach others to love you.” ―Rupi Kaur, Milk and Honey

• “I am beginning to measure myself in strength, not pounds. Sometimes in smiles.” ―Laurie Halse Anderson, Wintergirls

FAMOUS QUOTES FROM CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

• “Promise me you’ll be braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think.” —A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh 
• “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” —Aesop, The Lion and the Mouse 

• "Where you tend a rose, my lad, a thistle cannot grow." —Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden 

• “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” —Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

• “The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid.” —L. Frank Braum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

• “The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all.” —Shiamin Kwa, Mulan

• “The more he gave away, the more delighted he became.” —Marcus Pfister, The Rainbow Fish

• “But all the magic I have known. I’ve had to make myself.” —Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends

• “Real isn’t how you are made, It’s a thing that happens to you.” —Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit 

• “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” —Dr. Seuss, Happy Birthday to You! 

• “Never hurry and never worry!” —E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web 

• “Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?” —Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables 

Should Women Write About Manhood?

Dreams + Vision Board

 Want to add another tool to acheiving success? Try a vision board.

    This is my vision board for 2024.

 

    You may have heard people refer to vision boards, but do you know what a vision board is and its purpose?

    

    Simply put, a vision board is a collage of images and words representing a person's wishes or goals, intended to serve as inspiration or motivation. Nothing more or nothing less. The great thing about a vision board is that they are as unique as every individual and individual dreams and goals.

    People are given the suggestion of cutting out images from magazines which represent goals they want to acheive or dreams they want to come to fruition. Words can also be used. The finale product should be a visual of what you would like to acheive and are working to acheive.

    The concept of vision boards is relatively new. Vision boards became popular after Rhonda Byrne's self-help book, The Secret, was published in 2006. Byrne introduced her readers to the idea that they could manifest their desires through the law of attraction, which is the idea that positive thinking will bring positive experiences into a person's life. 

    The law of attraction is a philosophy suggesting that positive thoughts bring positive results into a person's life. While negative thoughts bring negative outcomes. It is based on the belief that thoughts are a form of energy and that positive energy attracts success in all areas of life, including health, finances, and relationships.

    I chose to use real photographs and skills, in word form, I need to become a succesful writer. Let's look at my vision board again.

    My board begins with the word CAREER in the center and underneath, a picture of a publishing contract waiting to be signed. I want a writing career and for my work to be published. Oprah is represented twice on my board. I want my books to be on her book club reading list and I want to be interviewed for Master Class giving tips for success. Religion is featured twice in photograph form. Once for my continued reading of the Bible and for the Trinity to always be with me. The majority of my writing is Christian themed or mentioned. The word pray is also present. A world map is pictured because I want my writing to be read worldwide and a picture of a woman motivational speaker speaking to a packed audience is part of my board. I included bookstores I would like to see my work sold in along with being interviewed on Good Morning America. 

    Words play a significant role on my board such as, have a thick skin, refuse to quit, manifest, meditate, daydream, trust my gut, subscribers, visualized, destroy negative demons, commit, plan, multitask eliminate fear, post online, read, passion as fuel, and remove limits. 

    The word BALANCE is important to avoide burnout and stress while working towards my dream It is in different colors and there is a reason behind using different colors. There are 7 chakras, each having its own indiviual color or either red, orange, gold, green, blue, dark blue, and purple. I want my chakras to be in balance and aligned. Algnment is important. One of Opra's famous qoutes state, "When my power (my mind, intellect, desire to learn, and seed plant) align with my personality and my gift I have to give, why I am here (alignment of personality and purpose), I will acheive my dreams (I added text in parentheses).

    Another part of my vision board is enjoy the process and journey and that is represented by my future tea cup puppy I plan to buy along with my convertable mini coupe. Even while we are putting in the hard work and time to acheive our dreams and goals, we must make sure we are enjoying today. Another element I wanted to add was my plans, once I have the income, is to open a fruit and vegatable market which also offers slads and seating ares to enjoy a healthy meal.

    76% of small business owners who've used vision boards and images to create their companies say their businesses are where they envisioned them. Oprah Winfrey, Jim Carrey, Will Smith, Steve Harvey, and Beyonce have used the technique of vision board to manifest their goals and have acheived great sucess in their respective fields by doing so.

    

 

A WRITER'S LIFE: Tim Cagle

 

Have you heard the saying, Indecent Proposal? Well, author, Tim Cagle, had an "Indecent Rejection." Tim is the first of hopefully many writers I will be featuring on my blog in a segmaent tiltled, A WRITER'S LIFE, in which I interview writers and how they deal with the hills and valleys that come with a writer's life. 

Even though Tim is one in a million in his writing, he is also one of thousands of writers who have received the dreaded rejection letter from agents and publishers. But thankfully, he was not deterred from creating magic with words. What he did after reading the rejection letter is probably something some of us would love to do also (Or has done?).

I hope you will be inspired and encouraged in your writing journey after reading his interview. Make sure to check out his contact information at the end of the interview.

1.  I have been a writer since the 1990’s.  I was a medical malpractice, products liability and wrongful death attorney for decades and began to write as a way to share stories about clients I could not help because the law or the facts were against us. Unfortunately, at that time, I was working 100 plus hours a week and did not have the time to bring my books up to publishable standards until I retired.

2.  I have written two medical/legal thrillers, Unexpected Enemy and Class of Two, as well as one book about songwriting, Whispers from the Silence, based on the time I shut down my law practice after I passed the bar and went to Nashville to write songs. My big break never broke and I learned I would always be a songwriter trapped in a lawyer’s body.

3.  I have lost count of the number of rejections I have received. Most of the time, agents did not even provide the courtesy of a reply, and I consider that to be a form of rejection.

4.  The worst rejection I received was from an agent regarding my most successful novel to date, Class of Two. It is the story of two lawyers, one black and one white, ex-college roommates and football All-Americans, who reunite in Boston to go to trial against the country’s leading heart surgeon. They were the first black and white teammates to live together in Texas in 1964, during the height of the Civil Rights movement. It highlights what the turbulent 1960’s were like, and how the friendship of two men could overcome the evils of society.

I sent my manuscript to an alleged agent who wrote me back a scathing review. It was highlighted by the words, “I never knew one football player who was smart enough to go to law school, let alone two!” I was at my fiery, trial lawyer, take-no-prisoners, litigation self and wrote back to him the following, “Thank you for pointing how naïve I was to think that football players could have two separate IQ points to rub together. I am now on a quest to inform the following individuals that they are too stupid to survive, 1. Byron “Whizzer” White, J.D., University of Colorado and Pittsburgh Pirates (now Steelers) running back and US Supreme Court Justice, 2. Pat Haden, Rhodes Scholar, former USC and Los Angeles Rams quarterback, 3. Dr. Frank Ryan, PHD in Mathematics, former Cleveland Browns quarterback and considered a genius in geometric function theory, 4. Alan Page, JD. Former Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman and now Minnesota Supreme Court Justice, 5. Kris Kristofferson, Rhodes Scholar, Army Ranger, Pomona College end and prolific songwriter, and 6. Nick Buoniconti, J.D., corporate attorney and a graduate of Suffolk University Law School, my alma mater. I told the agent I would inform the foregoing individuals he considered them too vapid to exist and they should immediately withdraw from societal interactions.

5. The best way to bounce back is to keep writing!  This is the most subjective business I have ever seen. It is mostly based on guesswork and despite their frequent and multiple failures, even a bad agent occasionally guesses right.

6.  My best advice for writers is to be careful to whom you listen. Many writers consider agents to be god-like figures and all-knowing gurus, when in fact, they are often self-appointed pseudo experts. I once had an agent tell me a scene I wrote about a lawyer’s first meeting with a new client lacked form, originality, scope and substance. I told her that I was at a significant disadvantage because I only had twenty-five years of law practice and trial work upon which to base my descriptions, and would do my best to imagine how a Hollywood lightweight would write the scene.

Also, never forget that most agents have twenty-something year-old assistants whom they rely on to screen a writer’s work. I was also an Evidence professor for 25 years and have some insight into how the twenty-five-year-old mind works. Most consider someone of my maturity to be an irrelevant dinosaur and consider Taylor Swift to be a goddess songwriter. I have had conversations with them about GIFTED songwriters like Smoky Robinson, Jim Webb, Norman Whitfield, Jim Croce and John Fogerty and always ask how they would have handled Taylor’s insightful lyric about how “he didn’t like it when I wore high heels”, and wait for them to look at me with the same insipid glance as the agent who told me football players were too dense to do anything but run through a wall.

Finally, do not get discouraged. My success came after I abandoned the search for an agent as I can read and interpret my own contracts. Also, when it comes to agents, always consider the source. If the chance comes to become the next J.K. Rowling, Toni Morrison or John Grisham, make sure you have a top-notch advisor by your side. If success never comes, pull out every drop of fulfillment you can because you were able to so something few people can, finish writing a book.

Above all, keep writing and stay safe,

Tim Cagle, J.D.,  an ex-linebacker who made it through law school so I could deal with arguing with expert witnesses, after I finally stopped trying to run through walls.

PLEASE take the time to visit Tim's platforms, check out his work, and share with friends and family 

Twitter and Instagram:  @timcagleauthor

Facebook and LinkedIn:  Tim Cagle 

UNEXPECTED ENEMY https://goo.gl/joxZLH woman has interracial child after clinic gives her STRANGER’S SPERM;

CLASS OF TWO https://tinyurl.com/y2bsfgkt 2 lawyers, 1 black, 1 white, ex-roommates and football All-Amercans vs ELITE HEART SURGEON!

WHISPERS FROM THE SILENCE https://goo.gl/EVvYQZ two songwriters fall in love in Nashville & write songs by waiting for silence to whisper the lyrics....

***WANT TO BE FEATURED?*****

It's simple. Contact me at: rizerfall@yahoo.com

 

Rejection Letters

Everyone is familiar with the "Dear John Letter." A letter sent by a woman to a man madly in love with her who has found someone else. Dumped via a letter. These letters were usually sent to soldiers off fighting in wars on foreign soil. Their love, who promised to wait for the man's return, found someone new and was ending their relationship. These letters were viewed as the cruelest letter to receive. Many will argue in this new age, "text" breakups, are just as painful.

Writers will tell you the "rejection" letters/e-mail from potential agents and publishers are excruciating also. After writing what they believe to be the best book ever, writers send out their query letter letting agents and publishers know they have a manuscript the world needs to read. With hopes high and fingers crossed, writers wait for a reply of acceptance. To their dismay, "rejection letters" roll in quickly.

Some refusals are polite, instructive, and encouraging. Some rejections are brutal, insensitive, and cold. But writers know this is part of the process to become a published author and they continue sending their work out into the world to be rejected once again. Don't become dismayed. You are in good company. Many famous authors survived being rejected multiple times and we are forever grateful they did not give up.

• Margaret Mitchell was rejected 38 times before she published Gone With the Wind.
• Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen were rejected 144 times before they published Chicken Soup for the Soul.
• Robert Pirsig was reject 121 times before publishing Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
• James Joyce was rejected by 22 publishing houses before Dubliners was published.
• Joseph Heller was also rejected 22 times before publishing Catch-22.
• Frank Herbert was rejected 23 times before publishing Dune.
• James Patterson was rejected 31 times before publishing The Thomas Berryman Number.
• Alex Haley received 200 rejections before seeing Roots in print.
• Jack London received 600 rejections before publishing his first story.
• J. K. Rowling was rejected by 12 publishing houses in a row before Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone saw the light of the day.
• Louis L’Amour, whose books have sold 330 million copies, was rejected 200 times before he could publish his first book.

I am currently sending out queries for my book, When Will Eve Be Forgiven?, and I'm hoping not to become discouraged from the many rejection letters I'm expecting to receive. For my mental health I decided to try to engage with my fellow writers/authors as I obsessively check my e-mails for the wonderful ACCEPTANCE lettere-mail.

I enjoy INTERVIEWING people from different walks of life on various topics. I would love to share with others on my blog the agony of rejection letters and how writers find the courage to continue putting their work out there. I would love for my readers to be able to read some of the more INTERESTING rejection letters you have received.

AUTHORS!!! Participation appreciated for interviews regarding manuscript rejections. Answer the below questions, e-mail answers to rizerfall@yahoo.com, include your photo, state/country you live in (optional), work, book, links, and please share your rejection letter story. 

I need encouragement and I know other writers new or old to the querying process needs support and encouragement as well.

QUERY REJECTION INTERVIEW

1.    How long have you been a writer?

2.    Genre?

3.    Estimate your number of rejections so far in your career.

4.    Worse rejection letter received.

5.    How or what do you do to bounce back from rejection of your work?

6.    Best advice for writers regarding submitting their work to agents/publishers?

Help me spread the word about this offered insight and support for writers.

Thank you all so much for your participation and good luck in your journey.

Go On, Google Yourself

Do you believe you have an ego problem if you google yourself just to see what pops up? I mean, we all believe we are the center of the universe right? I mean the world DOES revolve around us. On social media we are exciting, beautiful, fun loving people. Not an ugly one amonst us.

But my children once caught me googling myself and scolded me. They said, "What type of person sits around googling themselves?" I mean the internet is there! Why not give my name the good old spin and see what happens. Well, they google shamed me and I stopped doing it way back in 2011.

But, tell the truth. HAVE YOU GOOGLED YOURSELF? Did you like what you saw? Was there a gorgeous picture of you there for the world to see or the horror of knowing your address is available for ever crazy person out there to see?

Even before the INTERNET we humans have left a footprint wherever we went. We leave impressions dailiy on family, friends, and even strangers. We are not an island of solitude nor does the world revolve around us. But special and unique we remain.

If you have googled your name, do you look good on paper? One RIGHT or one WRONG comment can be life changing living in our era of cancel culture and trolls. A heavy presence on social media can make you or break you.

Google Blac Chyna and get an eye full. She is in the process of transforming herself but the OLD her will remain for all to see when her name Blac Chyna is searched. Being clever (not) she is now going to use her birth name, Angela Renee White, which will be forever linked and pulled up with the name Blac Chyna. She recently earned a doctorate degree from a Bible college. Okay. That's a 180 for the lady.

I said all of ther above to say this: So funny. While trying to set up a gardening page on Facebook (4) Black People Garden Too in Mississippi | Facebook I had to Google the link to my blog page. I had forgotten the exact name of my blog because I had recently changed it and THIS popped up.

ME being quoted for an upcoming movie release in 2012. “The Voice of John: a nurse speaks out on a baby born alive after an abortion.” By Kristi Burton Brown September 27, 2012 , 01:18pm.

I’ve been quoted before in articles, but not a film promo. My friend just recommended my book to someone in which this quote was taken from: “When Will Eve Be Forgiven?” Thanks friend.

What was the reaction from one of my children when I told them about my google search, "Wow! That's crazy!."

Do you realize I couldn't have beamed with pride for at least a week from my name and book being mentioned in connection with a movie release!!!! The window is GONE now! No peacock strut for me! 2012 is a decade gone by. DAMN!

So, even if the world does not reolve around you and you're not the center of the universe, go on do it. Google yourself. Let the people talk.