The
Kite is the first story for the upcoming anthology, The
Bloody Trail of Disenchantment – which I realize is a mouthful. In The Kite, a woman reminisces about her
idyllic childhood, her adoring daddy, her very first kite, and the moment
everything changed.
You can
read the second draft over at Wattpad or at Amapola Press here.
You can comment on it, and feel free to critique to death for all it is worth,
I welcome your feedback.
The
Bloody Trail
(which is a better, if slightly sinister title) will include stories about the
aftermath of infidelity from various perspectives. That’s the goal, whether I
can pull it off remains to be seen.
It
occurs to me that at the end of my first story, I may not have answered the
obvious questions that readers would naturally have.
The experiment is to
determine whether I have touched on what makes the story not just a good read
but a memorable, emotional journey for the reader.
So I
hand it to the world and let it judge the story in its infancy. Do the readers
see the possibility of a good story that would or could grow on them?
There’s
always the chance that a troll or two might make it into the process,
especially because you may comment anonymously. That ought to make it even more
interesting!
I’m not
writing by committee, nor do I suggest anyone try that. I want to write, put
the work up for review, and be responsive to criticism. I believe this exercise
will make for an interesting developing experience. Or it might be a disaster.
(In which case, it will make for great story fodder for a comedy!)
I think
I know what the story is missing, but it will still be interesting to see how
others judge it. That the experience may go from humbling to humiliating is
just a risk one has to take when involved in creative pursuits. If nothing
else, it might be a good way to develop a thicker skin.
FYI,
the covers are placeholders—but feel free to critique them as well, if you have
something constructive to add. In for a penny, in for a pound, right?
There has been a lot of talk about marriage equality and
the right of corporations to behave as individuals and protect their religious ideals. (Does anyone really believe the Governor of Indiana was shocked about the backlash?)
There are moral and legal implications to what is
happening, and inevitably, there will be consequences to society – in the arts,
literature, film and pop culture.
These are big picture issues currently handled by little
people with little minds, handing out hate as if it were corn kernels to pop
over the embers of the hell they are igniting.
Why do we need to protect a social construct that was meant
to protect money and estates, but it has been dressed in the divine to inflame
the moral rectitude of the righteous?
In my mind, marriage equality is simply a matter of
equal rights. It is about civil rights, period. It is a human issue not a sexual
one. In addition, sexual issues are the business of the partner(s) involved and
no one else: not your neighbors nor the Church, and especially not government!
Kerry Washington received the Vanguard Award from GLAAD
and her speech was a thing of beauty. In it she spoke, as a member of the
media, about telling stories of inclusion in the media.
If you haven't seen this, please listen to her speech. It is a good message.
It starts with writers and artists before it moves to TV
and film.
Everyone needs to write what they are comfortable with,
or they can break out of it, it is their choice. Treatment of different kinds
of people in literature makes for a more complete canvas of the world we
inhabit.
In my world,
there are a variety of colors and shapes, ethnicities and nationalities, sexual
and asexual preferences, religious affiliations and political stances. The
motto of Amapola Press is “Expand
Your Horizons” precisely because we all should strive to break out from our own
provincial inclinations.
When I wrote Justified, the narrator was first a
woman, but I felt that people would think it was me. Instead, I chose a gay man
based on someone from my past. Would he have minded that the character I based
on him was a murderer? No. I know he would have loved it. Yes!
I know because I based Edmond on my late uncle and he
would have been tickled pink (literally) to be in my first novel. I can almost
hear the cackles.
When I wrote Because She Was A Woman, I tried to
be inclusive. After all, I am the product of several generations of mixed marriages, and I
want the worlds I create on the page to be as diverse as my own DNA. In fact, some
of these marriages and liaisons were viewed as illegal, immoral, and an affront
against God. I am none of these things. I am simply a product of love that
transcended prejudice.
BSWAW
included
a Vietnamese, a Black poet, a couple of Latinas, and I included groups that
may not be the sexy ones we see in popular culture. It was important to me that
the women I wrote about were not a homogenous glob of undetermined nature.
All these little labels serve a purpose – they define
the culture that shapes us. As adults, it is our job to outgrow these
boundaries and become who we are, to come into our own, never letting these boundaries limit us nor
allowing others to use them to keep us down. That’s just bullshit!
So far, the stories I have begun for The
Bloody Trail of Disenchantment include a story based in a post
Reconstruction community in an unnamed city. I will be including at least one story
with LGBT protagonists, not because
it's the trendy thing to do but because they are here, they live and love, and
for the purposes of these stories, they cheat too.
I’ll write of their cheating, not because
they are damaged, but because they live and love just like the rest of us – they make mistakes because they are only human! I also realize that some family, friends, and readers don't necessarily agree with what I wrote here or the ideals of equality I propose -- whether for religious or other reasons. I respect everyone's right to have an opinion and a personal sense of morality, so long as it does not infringe on the rights of others nor lessen those who are different from them. Anybody or entity that enlists people to devalue others is not ethical. Please rethink your stance, I beg you.
