Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Twisted Endings


My short pieces always have a twist at the end.

So when the new online magazine Twisted Endings requested submissions, I knew it was a perfect place for me to submit a piece.

Please read my flash fiction story "Brolly Folly" on page 5 of the March 2013 issue. 


I hope you enjoy it! 


And if you'd like to submit something, here's the link. 



Do you like surprise endings? 

Friday, March 15, 2013

Musicians, Maestros, and Muses




Aubrie Dionne is visiting my blog today to talk about how being a musician helps her write and inspired her new book.

How Being a Musician has Made me a Better Writer

1.     Music has taught me patience, hard work and discipline. Practicing an instrument is like exercising- you don’t see the rewards right away. It takes a good week of long tones to finally start sounding stronger at all and years to get the fuzziness out of your tone. It wasn’t until Grad school-twelve years of playing- that I started to achieve the clear, resonant flute tone that I have today by changing small things with the shape and size of my mouth, my lips, and my chest cavity. So, if anything, music has taught me that patience, hard work, and discipline will yield results sooner or later- you just have to keep working at it.

2.     Music has taught me how much time you really need to invest be a pro. I just read an article in Flute Talk magazine- yup there’s such a thing- about this conservatory teacher who asks his students to practice 20 hours a week- that’s like 3 hours a day! If you truly want to sound professional, than you need to spend A LOT of time with your instrument. I have to practice an hour or two a day just to maintain the level that I’m at for rehearsals and teaching.

The same goes for writing. 500 words a day isn’t going to cut it. Right now I dedicate 2-3 hours a day to my writing, and finally, I’m starting to see results.

3.     Music has taught me how to express emotion. The tools you use with music are different than with writing, but you need emotion in both just the same. With music, you use vibrato-waves in the sound, dynamics-loud and soft, rubato- bending the tempo, and emphasis on certain key notes to achieve an emotional result. They all have to work together in synch and make sense to produce the desired effect. With writing, you can achieve emotion with a mix of internal thoughts, outward actions, character arcs and development, and specific associations to produce a desired emotional effect- but it has to work right together- just like music to produce the emotional result.

4.     Music has taught me how to receive criticism in a positive way and how to use it to better myself. Each week at a music lesson, if you have a good teacher, your teacher will give you suggestions on how to improve. If you take those suggestions, over time you start to see how they can make you a better player. Sometimes you don’t want to hear how you don’t sound clear, or you’re playing the wrong rhythm, but you grow to learn that your teacher is there to help make you better. The same goes with your editor. You have to truly listen to what they are saying and then try to implement it in your writing.

Tell me, what part of your jobs or careers has helped you with your writing?


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Sunday, March 10, 2013

Reflection

















Peaceful sun-kissed
Surface
Shining sparkling
Mirror
Scratching scraping
Reflect

You calm
You thrash what you’ve calmed
You ebb
You flow when you’ve ebbed

You give
You take what you give
You come
You go when you’ve come

You promise
You betray what you promise
You beckon
You banish when you beckon

Break the surface
Belies
Sinister underbelly
Current
Undertow pulls under
Drowns

This is dedicated to the residents of Plum Island who just lost homes.


Sunday, March 3, 2013

Deluge



The sky’s
Blue hue
When we’d
Entered
The restaurant
Transformed
To thick
Black clouds,
So
We quicken pace.

First drops
Splash down.
We shriek
We run
But we cannot
Outrun
The rain,
So you
Grab
Your umbrella.

I gaze
Your face
Sprinkled
With drops
As you fumble
The latch.
I quake.
The top
Pops
Open. Shelter.

Huddling
You and
I, we
Giggle.
Two girls trembling.
I feel
Abloom
With you.
My
Heart beats faster.

Our eyes
Padlock,
I freeze,
Inhale.
You, me. The rain.
Pitter
Patter.
Your lips
Reach
For mine. Soft, sweet.

I pull
Away.
Exhale.
Confused.
Your eyes wounded,
You pull
Away.
Lost
Moment. Undone.

You give
Me your
Shelter.
Hands brush.
No words spoken.
I want.
I can’t.
I don’t.
You
Retreat rain-soaked.