I'm Just Me...

It's been a long while since I've written on this site, but I'm baaaack, as they say. No, no need to go into boring details as to why I was away, but suffice it to say it's been traumatic over these last few years though I haven't given up on my writing. Actually, things are moving in the right direction - finally. I'm traveling up the mountain instead of tumbling down the cliff, so all's well in this Writer's world! The truth is, I may have been invisible for a while, but I wasn't gone completely. In fact, writing is like breathing to me, so since I'm still kicking, I must've been writing, just nothing worth going on about, until now. To start, great news!! My son, Shaun is published! Apple doesn't fall far from the tree. He's an intense and brilliant Poet and his very first published book of poetry titled, Hope In The Dark is here: https://www.breakingruleswritingcompetitions.com/store/p23/Shaun_McCarthy_-_Hope_In_The_Dark.h

   This year alone, I've completed a humorous Memoir, two novella's and nine short stories and I have two novels in progress, plus I edited a full-length novel for a close friend and I've been submitting short stories and flash fiction to competitions, so it's been a busy year so far, and all that while, I'm living as normal a life as possible, just like every one else. To say, I love what I do would be the understatement of the year, because I far more than love it. I eat, breathe, sleep, and even shower with it and I don't regret any of it. I find it takes a great deal of commitment to write daily and a ton of discipline, and I take the greatest joy in having deadlines. So I thought I'd take a few minutes to share with you what I'm learning while writing in different genre's and different styles as I travel along in this journey.    I'll begin with the short stories, and I'll tell you why I love writing them so much. At first, the process

   Wow, what a ride!    Over the course of the last few months I've been furiously working on my humorous memoir, 'TTITC' and I'm happy, no, exhilarated to say, "It. Is. Finished." I wrote the last word two days ago and I still can't breathe. Though to tell you the truth, I didn't think I would feel so sad over it at the same time. I'm happy and ecstatic, true, but those emotions are tinged with a feeling of sadness. Perhaps this is a natural reaction in saying farewell to a book that I've nurtured and coddled over the last six or seven years. One that I've cried and laughed over, hated and loved, treated carefully and ignored for months on end, but in the end, one that I always came back to. Working day and night, many a night burning the midnight oil over and not truly knowing if I'd ever finish or not. I don't really know, beings it's the first full-length novel I've completed and one that is so intensely and personall

   Just a meander . . .        I lay back on my blanket, having a moment in the Sun. I go from ordinary to extra o rdinary, and close my eyes! I feel the Sun warm my bro wning skin, dancing on t he surface of my body like butterflies alighting and dancing across m e . I hear the gentle sigh of the breezes as they move past my ears, and I'm enchanted by the sound. The birds are ch irping happily in the boughs above me, as the sun dappled tree tops gently s way. I am whisked away to imagination, a nd, it, is, extraordinary!    There's so much more to life, I know, then four walls and struggles, as I transport my mind to . . .     T he freedom to be myself, deep, unfettered, unwa v ering. Take the time to under stand me, not just know me, but know me. Dig deeper to get to me. Share t hose parts of yourself with me and let's trust each other with our deepest , most honest truths . T rue freedom. To be w ho I am, and know that I'm accepted. L oved. Needed. B eautifu

   Okay everyone, on my mark. Ready with the paddles? Clear! PaCHA.     Blogs body jumps with the jolt, but remains lifeless.    Again! Ready? Clear! PaCHA.     Blogs body jumps yet again, but still nothing is happening.    One more time. Ready? Clear! PaCHA.     Okay, that's great everyone. Good job! I think Blog's got a pulse now, and welcome back . . .       I know I've been away for quite awhile and there's no excuse, but you knew I'd be back, didn't you? Of course you did. Well, here I am. My apologies to you all if you have missed me. I'll give you a brief rundown. Life happened. Life handed me too many curve balls to keep up with since last Summer and something had to give and my social platforms were the targets, especially my Twitter and blogging habits, but the good news is, I've dealt with all that was handed to me, successfully, might I add and now I'm here again, and it's good to be back!        So you know, I didn't gi

  Last night, I had an epiphany for a new short story, and I'm very excited about this! It isn't that I don't have ideas for stories all the time, because I do. No. The epiphany came because, well, I realized my mashed potatoes are finally looking ' right ' to me!   Do you remember the movie, 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind?' Remember the scene where Richard Dreyfus was building a plate full of mashed potatoes trying to make something he knew in his spirit was correct, but couldn't put into words, or a plate of mashed potatoes what it was he was trying to show to his wife? Well, last night, I was playing the role of Richard Dreyfus!    A few years ago, I gained knowledge of a place that I know inside of me is real, and yet, in a sense, not real at the same time. Inside of me, I know what it is I want to show you, but I can't quite make it connect with my words, because I realize, there are no words to describe the essence of that place. For