Readers' Forum Today

Today I’m trying something new!  I’m turning this blog post into a READERS FORUM.  As the debut author of THE CHOSEN SHELL, I’d love to reply to your comments and questions, plus I’d love it if we discussed ideas among ourselves  too.  

Some of you have already read my novel.  But since it’s only been on sale since Dec 14^th, I’m sure many haven’t.   That’s okay, we can still talk about elements of my book without giving away the story’s secrets.

I’ll start with a few questions:   Are you intrigued by the era of the 1960s?  What’re your thoughts about that era?  Did you ever wonder what it was like to be a nun?   Did you ever want to do something extraordinary?   Have you ever had to make a difficult decision?  My novel will elicit these questions in your mind.         

I’m excited to hear your answers and comments!  So don’t hold back, ok?

To some of you, life in a convent probably seems as foreign as life on Mars!  Well, my story isn’t sci-fi but it IS historical fiction, because it happened over 50 years ago.  And since I was a nun myself for several years, as you read my story you’ll be receive true-to-life glimpses of monastic life. 

When the story opens in 1963, Celie, an attractive and naïve poet , has just graduated from high school and has won a state writing contest.  Nonetheless, she kisses her boyfriend Mike goodbye and goes off, in her words, “to make a difference in people’s lives.” 

Have you ever wanted to do something with your life that was a cut above everybody else?  If you have, you’ll understand Celie.  If you haven’t, you’ll probably be curious about WHY she would choose to be a nun.  Nonetheless, as you follow her into a convent of Augustinian nuns, set in the hills of a small northern California town you’ll see her grapple with a very different life style than she expected.  Have you ever chosen something and then found out it was quite different from your expectations? 

But WHY does Celie want to be so special?  That’s another question. . . 

Okay, I’m done writing for now. . .  Instead, I’d like to know what you think.  Share your comments and questions, PLEASE!  Perhaps some of my former-nun friends will share their insights too. I HOPE so!

Hurricane Moon

I’m a DreamTraveler.  I believe, to be happy, we have to recreate ourselves, maybe not every day but two or three times a year and many times in a decade.  That’s what makes life an adventure.

Sometimes I can’t wait to try something new. Other times the last thing I want to do is test a new path. I’m frozen.  Stuck.  But life can often force us into a new niche.  Looking back, I’m usually glad I took the first step and moved on.  The characters in my stories are too.

My writing is usually about trying new paths, reinventing our lives, a bit at a time.  We concoct a dream or set a goal or need to escape--and we go for it!  Sometimes the results are not what we expected, but we adjust, make a turn, finesse our way through the disappointments, confusion, the good stuff and the hard stuff, but in the end, we GROW and the end result is a new dimension of ourselves.

Case in point:   I love to travel, but recently my husband wanted to go on a trans-Atlantic cruise. I got out a map and took one look at the vast oceans we were going to cross and got VERY COLD feet.  We would start in Amsterdam, then go to Norway, and eventually cross the Atlantic Ocean, stopping in Iceland and Greenland, then complete our journey by reaching northern Canada, and finally disembark in New York. 

Though I was nervous, in the end we booked the trip, leaving on August 29^th. But to make matters even more scary, after we left Norway, not one but THREE hurricanes began following our Holland America ship.  Their names were Rick, Leslie & Michael—thank God, Sandy hadn’t slammed her way up the coast yet!   The captain kept assuring us that all of his weather data showed he could outrun Hurricane Rick, but despite the ships’ stabilizers which minimize rocking on the waves, he warned that the storm might affect our sleep on one particular night. 

Well, I was MORE than nervous that night. Even though I’m a deep sleeper I woke up at2 a.m. But the ship wasn’t rocking too badly so I sat very close to my husband and took a look at the angry sea outside.  I’d never seen anything like those towering, furious waves. Yes, it was VERY frightening. Then he put his arm around me and pointed up to the sky and we glimpsed, amazingly, a full moon, shining down on the stormy seas.  What a Gift! Then the moon disappeared, but after several moments of complete darkness, there it was again. He nudged me and said, “You should write a poem about this.”  So I did.

Image by prozac1, courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

             Hurricane Moon

Haloed white moon

     piercing hurricane clouds

     that wisk and wail over

     waves swooping up and

     rocking ships at sea.

Despite the fright of warnings

     and the bobbing havoc

     tormenting lives,

     the white moon glimmers

     midst shifting mists and roiling waves.

Gleaming intermittently, like the

     mysterious and relentless force

     that moves us all,

     inside and underneath  the vagaries

     and unexpected weather

     of our days.