Endless Summer Creations

By João Pimentel Ferreira via Wikimedia Commons Well I was able to get back to my writing project which I started almost two years ago.  I have to be vague about the details right now - I feel like the finished product could be so good that I don't want to spoil the surprise.  I have my son Carl to thank for much of the concept. It's something that I need to finish.  For me.  Many things that would never be said otherwise.  Many conversations that need to be had.  Even if only in bookland.  I know these things will most likely never be said in real life.  All I need is for them to have been said on paper, either real or virtual..I have been mourning certain things.  And I know that to complete my mourning process, this book needs to be written.  It's been several years in the works already.  It's not something I can rush.  But I do need to finish and move on with my life. I've been sick and bedridden all weekend long. ...

By Girdi (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons These days spelling and grammar often seem to fall by the wayside.  Oftentimes we're aware of the grammatical lapses but let them slide in the name of convenience - as with texting lingo, voice dictation, crazy auto prompts, and so on.  But when your job relies on the craft of writing, grammar is still king. How likely do you think a publisher, editor or writing agent is to take your submissions seriously when they are peppered with grammatical and spelling mistakes?  Of course, we're all human and bound to make mistakes.  But to put your best writing foot forward, you need to proof your work and make sure it's as error-free as possible.  If you have someone who can serve as a fresh pair of eyes and give your work a second or even third read-through, that's even better.  We often become blind to mistakes in our own work, despite how much time we spend poring over it. Is English you...

This is the query letter that got me a book deal with the American Bar Association.  All it takes is one yes.  Never give up! July 7, 2010 ___________________ Director of Book Publishing American Bar Association Publishing 321 N. Clark Street Chicago, Illinois 60610 Re: Proposal to Publish Foreclosure Defense Articles and Guides Dear Ms. _________ : I am a Florida attorney and have been practicing law for almost six years. Most recently I worked with one of the largest foreclosure firms in Florida, representing lenders and servicers. However, in May I left this firm to begin my own private practice focusing instead on foreclosure defense. I have been posting a number of instructional guides on Avvo.com, explaining to foreclosure defendants in plain English various defenses to foreclosure they may have. I have posted eleven articles in the last month alone. The foreclosure crisis in Florida is so severe that I have been willing to put my work ou...

Los Angeles a mystical land I'd heard of mostly in song film poetry then that one day we were there gazing through the rain at the vast expanse of city far below stretching away for miles what is LA but a surreal place fashioned of dreams? As the streetwalker in Pretty Woman proclaims "Everyone who comes to Hollywood has a dream What's your dream?" Indeed Dream to walk the red carpet or the red light district So much about LA I could not see as I looked down from atop the hill surrounded by a theater of mountains yet as I took in the sand, desert, neighborhoods and mountains so unfamiliar to me stories of LA floated through my head similar to the Florida I know yet beyond comparison in so many ways Laurel Canyon a community of 1960s hippie love the juxtaposition between crudity, violence and death the drive-by shootings of Compton and South Central to the renaissances of art blooming in Venice Beach and the bastions of style throughout the city the opulence of Rodeo...

Right now my son and I are reading Pax by Sara Pennypacker.  The chapter we read last night got me to thinking, how the character Vola says she didn't remember one single true thing about herself after she had left the military, after going to war and then coming out as a civilian. Has that ever happened to you?  Where you just lost yourself, forgotten when your core values are?  I have.  I've been in the military too but that's not where mine were really waylaid.  That didn't come until much later. Whenever I feel like I've forgotten what my core values are, I think back to my 16-year old self first.  After that would be my college self, where I began to come into my own and make choices as an adult for the first time.  I'm then refreshed as to my core truths, when I am my honest self - some of which are: 1) If you can't count on family and know they will always have your back, that's not a family. 2) So-called "love"...