Behind the Scenes: Life Experienced

Life Experienced is a collection of poetry depicting colorfully splashed moments of activity from life in the U.S. Virgin Islands to college in Chico, California, including daydreams, observations, and memories, some happy, others filled with sorrow or hope. Life is too short not to be experienced to the full every day.

Inspiration / Muse:
These poems were written during or after some experience snatched up an emotion and brought it to the surface. They span my life from middle school through college, a time when I did a lot of gut-felt meditation on who I was and what I wanted to be. Nature (of which humans are a part) affected me in many ways and that became apparent in the titles and stanzas of my poems.

Theme:
In one word? Experiences. I never wrote essays in a journal. I wrote poems to express what I thought and felt. I showed in words the things I saw, remembered, or longed for. They give hints to my valued friendships, my fears, and my prayers. I attempted to bring sounds to a blank page.

Journey:
No matter where I lived or what I went through, I kept God close. My choices always kept me moving from the few friends I made. However, those same choices took me away from those who bullied me. No matter what, I asked God to guide my steps (Psalms 119:105) and He has brought me through some unforgettable experiences. Poems are my memoir.

Meaning behind the cover:
The college student who painted the cover for Real Purpose: You are Special also painted the cover for Life Experienced. I wanted green as the main color to represent the life-giving essence that experiences can potentially bring. Flowing water means a lot me, so I am pleased that both water and trees ended up in the painting although I had not specifically requested it. The poems spoke on my behalf.

Impact / Tribute:
Although I've experienced many things since middle school, high school, and college, the words in this book brings back all the emotions of that time and place. I hope that this collection can encourage others to live their lives to the full as well.

The fifth in the Behind the Scenes series is planned for May 2, 2020.

Behind the Scenes: Love's Intensity

Love's Intensity delves into a love drama with many of the complications that come with having one's possible soul mate and family move into the same house as employees. Then, things get even crazier when their kids stumble upon a telepathic attraction.

Inspiration / Muse:
I am a teen at heart where love is continually coming alive and evolving into something more than when it began, constantly renewing itself. My interest in young adult stories and motion pictures paved the path to writing this Young Adult paranormal romance with tension, passion, and martial arts. (I grew up looking at Bruce Lee, so, yes, martial arts.) What I found interesting was that the biggest muse for this story was Christian music. What now? With keys of G and C, those songs fueled the love center of my brain. How in the world does that happen? I wish I knew. Although I enjoy experiments, science may not be able to figure this one out. Oh, and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet left a huge impression on me, so there's elements of that story in Love's Intensity (hint: sword fighting).

Theme:
In a word, LOVE. Of old friends, of young friends, of parent to child, of child to parent, of young attraction. It affects how someone deals with grief and anger and sorrow. Love heals where indifference cannot and can be reborn in interestingly powerful ways.

Journey:
Starting out as a dream, this story took nine months to write, another nine to fix up for submission to yield a contract, and yet another nine to edit. But even after its release, this labor of love (no pun intended) required many more months of work before the print, which is coming soon, can be released. As for the characters? There's a bit of me in both Brad and Kressa, but characteristics of people I've known also found their way into Bradford and Nina, the soul mates, as well as the other characters, even the bullies, who scarred my high school experience. So it's no surprise there's negative drama for Kressa in that space. She had Brad. I had the intuition God gave me to make it to graduation day.


Meaning behind the cover:
Nine tries at a cover and a few hundred dollars later strained my sanity and my pocketbook. No one warns you about the challenges behind creating the right cover for a story. This cover was no doubt my biggest challenge (and I thought editing Love's Intensity was tough).

Impact / Tribute:
This story is a tribute to everything Shakespeare and my dad who often performed monologues with me after watching one of Shakespeare's plays on PBS. Those are precious and happy memories for me. Over the years, I've learned to be grateful for the ability to love and be loved. So, in your life's journey, remember two things. Live Life. Love Intensely.

The fourth in the Behind the Scenes series is planned for April 18, 2020.