• General Thoughts,  Pop Culture

    Music and what my favorite songs mean to me

    I am currently rewriting a novel called Jordan’s Sister, which is about a singer/songwriter named Taylor who is trying to break free from her past and step out of the shadow of her sister’s fame while getting to know a former child singer, Layne (male). I have been thinking a lot about music and songs in general while I have been writing my draft for this story. Layne’s song was fun to write. If only I could sing, I could let you all know what it sounds like in my head. I think of my character Taylor as a singer who sounds like strong female singers like Avril Lavigne and Christina…

  • Adult Poetry,  General Thoughts,  Poetry

    A Eulogy

    “A Eulogy”  12-26-05 Written about my grandmother, my father’s mother, who died in March of 2004. She was my favorite person in the world and the reason my daughter’s middle name is Pearl, named for my Meema. When I started college, Meema would write letters to me several times a week. I have saved every single one of them.  What can I say about her? Simple doesn’t say it— Beautiful is too generic. All I can say is that I loved her, And can’t believe she’s gone. I still think of her gentle old face, Hollowed in its frailty, smiling while writing letters to me. She told stories of the past with…

  • Artwork,  General Thoughts,  High School Short Stories,  Short Stories

    The Summer of Reality

    This story was part of the collection of writing samples I submitted for the Creative Writing Scholarship contest at Arkansas Tech University in Spring 1999. I placed 4th, so I was pretty excited about that. The scholarship paid for my books for my first year in college.  The Summer of Reality, 1999 The last day that I was ever fifteen, I went to the mall with my Mom, my aunt Carrie, and my best friend Melanie. Earlier that morning, I mailed a letter that could change my whole life if the receiver decided to at least humor me. During the previous school year, I had developed a crush on a new boy…