An Alternate Reality

That’s the name given to my new podcast.
.

It’s a format where I can give a voice to my observations and ramble a little bit about...oh, you know. Just life

An alternate reality sort of describes the way I’ve chosen to live.  I really don’t fit into the parameters dictated by society, especially for someone my age.

Born under mutable Gemini, I find myself constantly drifting from one expression of reality to another.  It follows me in my daily routine, (what routine??) and allows me to navigate through a sort of platform 9 3/4 on my way to whatever expression of myself I need to be to get the job done, whether I need to be a book-binder, a farmer, an energy worker, a writer, chief cook and bottle washer, accountant and book keeper, and/or just general dog’s body and go-for.

After a few years of living like that, I had sort of moved into a very narrow expression of myself, perhaps in order to move into the confines of each job I was asking myself to do.

“Wait a minute!”  I had to ask myself, “When did that happen??”  Time to let my mind expand again. Time to remember a more fluid way of doing this.  Time to release tightly woven bonds that have crept in...the learned patterns that twine around me like ivy twining round a tree.  Eventually the ivy becomes a parasite that kills its host.

Yeah, so fair warning...If you listen to An Alternate Reality, you may be in for that kind of a ramble.  Also stories, essays, and just plain (or not so plain) observations about life in my little world, and the world beyond.

Micro Stories

Every Monday on Patreon I post a Micro Story for my Patrons.  These stories are usually between 70 and 350 words.  They're short and sweet, and they show up like johnny on the spot.  Another word to describe them would be flash fiction.  So if you like your fiction tiny, head on over to Patreon and check out It Pays to be Prepared.

If you like what you see, you can become a patron of a story teller (me) for as little as $1 a month.  And for that you get 5 to 6 micro stories a month.  Sure, if you think about it, every three months there are 5 Mondays.  If you do the math, that's 52 Micro Monday story posts per year plus 12 mini zines mailed to you.  64 thought provoking, entertaining little stories a year for only $12?  Who could resist that?

Thanks for reading my pitch and enjoy the story.

Tea For Tue : Another Story from Tea With Whimsy

Three weeks ago, I posted A Bedtime Story I Tell Myself, which became the beginning to a story called Tea With Whimsy.  Here was the next installment originally written as a blog post on September 30, 2013 and titled Gathering Herbs in the Moonlight.  If you'd like to read the first post, just click the link below.

Gathering Herbs in the Moonlight

(Continued from A Bedtime Story I Tell Myself)

She straightens up and hands me her basket, and without a word bends over and goes back to cutting herbs.  She's never surprised when I arrive.  Whimsy is always expecting someone to show up, and of course they always do.

I stand shivering in the moonlight holding the basket, which fills up as Whimsy continues to snip herbs crooning softly as she works.  And I notice, that she seems to be singing a love song to the plants, like a mother singing a lullaby to a beloved child.  A small sigh of contentment seems to ripple round the garden, and I begin to feel not so chilled as before--as if someone just pulled a blanket up around my chin and tucked me in.

When the basket is over flowing, she straightens up and onto her toes, raising her arms over her head and stretching hugely.  She beams at me and invites me to come inside.

We enter through the kitchen door, and the warmth and the smell of fresh baked bread wrap around me like a soothing embrace.  I look around at the tidy kitchen and think about my own never quite clean kitchen, with the dishes in the sink, the crumbs on the counter, and unswept floor.

"And that's why you can't sleep at night!"

"Hey", I protest weakly.

"Well...your thoughts are very loud." 

I know they can be at times, and so I just nod and cock my head to one side raising my eyebrows, while she continues.

"It's true, though.  You've got a lot of..." and here she searches for a word and gestures, flourishing her hand around over and around my head.  Into my mind's eye comes a picture of a black tangled ball like a scribble on paper when someone is trying to get the ink to flow in a sluggish pen.  "...snarled energy", she finishes.  "You've got a lot on your plate right now.  Why do you want to be such a glutton and take on so much?  Are you sure you're not biting off more than you can chew?"

"Stop with the food analogies, you're making me hungry!"

Her eyes sparkle.  "Let's have some toast." 

And now my eyes are sparkling, and I nod my head enthusiastically in agreement.


That seems like a good stopping place for now.  (I think I'll have some toast--more later).


After all these years, I still remember that it was nearly midnight when I posted Gathering Herbs in the Moonlight.  I ended with "I think I'll have some toast..." and just as I was shutting down my computer, my husband Mike came out of the bedroom.  He had just woken up hungry.  The first words out of his mouth were, "Did you say something about toast?"

At that time he still didn't even know I was writing Tea With Whimsy, nor that I was having insomnia.  But somehow, he picked up on the suggestion of toast.  I love that form of communication.  And it figures prominently in Tea With Whimsy.

What is Patreon?

What is Patreon?  Patreon is a platform that connects Creators with Patrons.  Everyone knows how difficult it is for the majority of artists of any kind to make a living from their art form.  Most painters, musicians, writers, sculptors, etc., find themselves working at least one full time job, (or as in my case-multiple part time jobs), to earn a living because  the art they are devoting themselves to creating, doesn't pay the bills.

We don't value artistic achievement highly enough in modern America.  We want to be entertained, but we don't want to pay for it.  And yet we do pay for it.  In many ways.  For example, most people pay a premium to get 100 channels or more on TV, but how much of that does anyone watch?  Who even wants most of it?  Why not pay for something you do want?

If you had the chance to encourage the artist of your choice...someone you believe in, who hasn't been discovered, but you really appreciate what they do, would you do it?

Patreon allows you to pledge a monthly amount (as low as $1. or as high as you want to go) to help an artist succeed.  In return, it frees up some of the artist's time and resources which allows them to create.  And they share those creations with their patrons!

The zines pictured above are the Rewards I sent out this month to my Patrons at the  $1. and $5. levels.  Those Patrons also have access to a micro story that I post every Monday on Patreon that I call Micro Monday.  Typically the Micro Story posts are for my Patrons only, but occasionally, I share one publicly.

If you would like to read an example of one of my micro stories, just follow this link to my Patreon page and feel free to leave a comment.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/it-pays-to-be-15245549

Regardless of the amount of economic support I get from Patreon, I benefit in other ways.  As a writer, I want to be accountable to myself and with my Patrons watching, I feel compelled to write constantly.  Before Patreon, I only wrote when everything else on my to do list was done, which meant I got very little writing done.  Since joining Patreon, I've written over two dozen short stories in the last 8 weeks, and I'm feeling ready to return to writing the full length story I started two years ago.

I invite you to head on over and read the Micro Story, maybe let me know you were there.  And check out the rewards at the different levels of support.  If you like what you see, I'd love to have you cheering me on as a Patron at any level.  (Also take a look at the "Goals" in the side bar as a special incentive to sign up as a Patron.)

Thanks for reading and I hope to see you on Patreon.

The Origins of Tea With Whimsy

Every now and again I refer to Tea With Whimsy in my writing.  Whimsy and I go waaaayyyy back.  Today I'd like to talk a little bit about Tea With Whimsy, where the idea came from and how it has evolved.

Once upon a time, way back in 1992, I began writing a story called Tea With Whimsy.  It was a day dream ramble about a very young woman living alone in Seattle, who finds herself in an Alice in Wonderland type adventure, and I think it's safe to say that it was heavily influenced by old movies and TV shows which featured witches.

As circumstances would have it, we ended up moving a couple of times and I lost track of Tea With Whimsy.  Not only that, I mostly stopped writing anything.  But even though I lost the original story, I never forgot the title.

Two decades later, I discovered blogging.  I posted every day for months when I first began, I was that hungry to write.  But even in those days, though I was writing non fiction accounts of my thoughts and experiences, I began to realize they were a bit bizarre for public consumption.  And because I was writing so much, my creative imagination woke up and wanted to express itself.  I decided I needed a separate blog to write fiction.

I remembered Tea With Whimsy, and thought maybe I could rediscover the story if I began blogging it.  So that became the title of my story writing blog.  

To test the waters, I started writing short story posts.  In fact, several of the stories I wrote for Tea With Whimsy,  eventually found their way into Hearth & Heart.

After a year of posting stories in Tea With Whimsy, I began to have trouble sleeping and so I regularly stayed up late and wrote until I fell asleep at my computer.  That's when Tea With Whimsy became a story instead of a blog.  Starting as a serialized story, it grew and took on a life of it's own.  

Eventually, I fell in love with the characters and their world. The story began to tell itself.  I took the posted fragments and began to work on it seriously and discontinued the blog.   

It was thanks to that blog that I began writing stories again.  Tea With Whimsy led me to write other works which later became Winter Tales, and the Hearth & Heart series.  Now I write daily.  When I'm not creating story content for my zines, I am posting stories for my Patrons on Patreon, or I am writing stories here on this blog for my feature the Saturday Breakfast Serial.

This feature Tea for Tue, is a way to turn my thoughts back to Tea With Whimsy.  By writing about Whimsy, I know it will stimulate me to get back to telling that story.  I plan to use this feature to post updates on how the story is coming along, as well as back ground on the characters.

If you're interested in how Tea With Whimsy is progressing, follow me here, or you can get updates on facebook if that's easier for you, by liking and following  https://www.facebook.com/TeaWithWhimsy/  .  I know it would help motivate me to know you were interested and reading.  And I always welcome constructive feedback.  

Tea With Whimsy

One of the reasons I joined Patreon was to help inspire me and keep me disciplined to carry on with my writing.  I had allowed myself to relegate story telling to my lowest priority.  

Tea With Whimsy was a story I began writing on September 15, 2013 because I couldn't sleep at night.  It was a way to lose myself in a story.  To sooth my mind, and keep it from cycling through a to do list which was keeping me awake.

I stopped writing for nearly two years, and decided Patreon would help get me back on track.  And while it did get me writing and creating constantly since joining in mid August, I still have not gotten back to work on Tea With Whimsy, which is the story I love to write above all others.

So now I'd like to share the very first lines of Tea With Whimsy, which began with a post I titled...

A Bedtime Story I Tell Myself

It's after Midnight, and I find that I can not sleep.  So I slip out my front door and into the night.  My feet find the way for me...They read the ground...They know it even through my shoes.  And my spine stretches up and up into the night air.  I grow taller as I walk.

My feet take me off the paved road and onto the road not paved.  The road that has grass growing between the tire tracks, and around me in the darkness I get glimpses of four legged folk.  Some are wild and some live with people.

On I walk.  The night air tickles my nostrils with scent of green and earth and water...some fragrances come stronger in certain places, like the spot along the road where the fragrance of cedar stands out stronger than it had been, or where the road comes close to a small stream and the smell of the water comes to you even before the song of the water reaches your ears.

I look back, and I see Coyote following behind me.

I laugh at him and he laughs back.

And Owl laughs too, because he gets the joke.

And a little rustle of laughter rises up from the land around me in the stones and the plants and the water and the wind.  And the frogs decide this would be a good time to resume their song.

Ahead in the darkness, I can see the dim moonlight glow off a white picket fence.  My hand finds the latch and as I step through the gate, the clouds part to reveal the face of the waxing moon nearly full, lighting the grounds of the cottage which is Whimsy's house.

And at that, I practically trip over her bent over there in the path gathering herbs in the moonlight.



I'm tired -- more later...

Do frogs sing after midnight?  You bet they do.


And that was the beginning of Tea With Whimsy.  I hope you enjoyed that little tiny bit of it.  I enjoyed writing it.  Night after night, I would post a little bit more whenever I couldn't sleep.  And always it would relax me and help to heal me of insomnia as I would write.

Later, as it became a growing story, I stopped blogging it and began to write it in earnest as a full length book.  Then for some reason, I no longer remember, I stopped and just never got back to it.

But I'm ready to pick up the threads again and hopefully see it through to the end.

Momentary Magic

I'm considering changing the title of my zine from Hearth & Heart to Momentary Magic.

This is an example of the type of story that appears in Hearth & Heart.  I would appreciate some honest feed back to the following questions.

1.  What are your favorite genres?  (for example:  weird, fantasy, mystery, horror, suspense, etc.)
2.  Who are your favorite authors?
3.  In which genre would you place Stories To Be Carried?
4.  Would you read more stories like Stories To Be Carried?

Please feel free to respond in the comments below.

Stories To Be Carried

528 words

I saw a woman on a dusty road one day. The sun shone hot, and there was the smell of berries and pine trees in the air and the drone of insects, and no other sound was there but for my own breathing as I labored to climb the steep hill we were both on. She was walking down the hill, and she had strapped to her back an enormous basket. And as I approached her, I could see the basket was hanging with the open end downward.
She greeted me, and I her, and then I asked her about the basket.
"It was for the stories I gathered," was her answer.
"But it's upside down. You've lost your stories, " I said with deep concern.
"Well, they weren't really mine, you know," she said leaning in and placing a hand upon my arm as if to reassure me that it was quite alright.
And then her eyes left my face and looked off into a distance which I could not perceive, and she spoke.
"There was a time gone by, when I would collect all the stories I would come across. And whether they spoke of beauty and joy, or they spoke of tragedy and pain, it was all one and the same to me, for each story would wring my heart until it felt like it would burst within my breast.
"And because I gave them my attention, and allowed them to touch my heart, they would cling to me, until I had to find a basket large enough to hold them all.
"And still I went my way in the world, gathering more stories, until my basket became heavy with them."
She paused and looked at me. She made a deep satisfied sigh, and her face resembled that of a child, though she seemed ancient.
I looked back at her eagerly, and I waited for her to continue.
"One day, they just became too heavy to carry. So I simply turned the basket over, and allowed them to escape."
"But didn't they want to stay with you?" I questioned.
"They were old stories. They had grown sleepy. I don't know if they even noticed being loosed."
I pondered this a moment and she continued.
"Now when I meet a story, I can look it in the face, acknowledge it, get to know it even, before I continue on my journey. It's nice to be able to say to a story, "I see you" and then be able to part ways rather than picking it up and carrying it with me."
After a moment of silence, she sighed happily and spoke again.
"I've enjoyed our talk, but I must be on my way," she said gesturing to her path which led down the hill.
I turned to watch her go, and could see other women in the distance making their way up the hill, and all were carrying baskets of varying shapes and sizes.
I knew what I must do. I reached behind me and removed my own basket. Then turning it over, I watched the stories tumble out like colored marbles.

Copyright Rita Tortorello 2014 May 30
This story appeared in Hearth & Heart Volume 1 2015 Summer Edition

Thank you for reading and for your feedback.

Another Gorgeous Day

Yes!  I love this weather.  I love being outside!

I started my day sitting on my front porch --"noticing".  Aaannnd--I actually wrote today.  I think it's been over a year since I've written anything new.  It was a real pleasure.

What I noticed about the mind set around writing is that, there is a certain frame of emotional well being that I have to be in, in order to see a potential story happening.  I have been living in a high stress environment, which is normal for a lot of people, I suppose, but it's not something I look for in my life.

However, today I realized that if I consciously disengage from the to do list spiraling around in my head...again, not really my consciousness of choice...but if I can disengage from that, I see magical things.  And they become stories.  My body remembers how to do it.  The only challenge is to remember to shift into it at odd moments.  Any moment.  Practice...practice.

So this was given to me...

And written down at 9 am on April 1, 2016...

The sun has been up for hours. 

But here-- 

It is only now rising above tree tops and shining through branches still bare of leaves. 

Now--before the dew dries from the grass and with the rays lighting up each individual droplet, standing on each individual tip of grass-- 

Only now, at this exact time when the sun shines on the ground, but is shaded from my face, can I see a wondrous network of shining webs.   

Each individual strand in motion moved by currents of air seems to pulse, much like I imagine neural pathways convey information within my own body.  

I ponder these threads which sparkle and shift with the ripple of grasses.   

To pull back in my vision brings this landscape of countless threads into sharper focus. 

This--so like a laser show pulsing to the bird chorus that plays in 'surround sound' all around me.   

I look closer and see webs waving on the air 

each emanating from a minute spider which could fit comfortably on the head of a small pin.   

They ride the currents on these web strands which act as sails to catch the gentlest breeze, no stronger than a baby's breath.    

My rooster crows   

Beginning a new movement in the bird symphony 

Supported by a gentle rhythmic clucking in the hen section of the orchestra.   

The webs fade from my vision as the sun climbs higher in our sky and the spell is broken.   

I rise from my seat to begin my work day and feel a gentle resistance.   

I turn my head in time to watch a web anchored to my shoulder stretch and break free as the silver thread captained by its tiny spider, goes sailing off 

Rippling on waves of air. 

--Rita Tortorello 

12 Days of Dec. ~ Day 4 #Zine Feature: Hearth & Heart by @RitaTortorello https://t.co/Nj4WSin1i8 #nature #stories pic.twitter.com/E1tLKorCcn

— Sweet Candy (@SweetCandyPress) December 5, 2015

eeeee!  I can't believe it.

Now, I really do wish I hadn't been too busy to get the next two editions out.  Weeeellll, better late than never.  I guess I'll just have to add two more things to my list of priorities.

THANKS SAGE! for featuring my zine.

Racing The Clock

I just made my to do list for tomorrow, and all I can say is--no wonder there is no time for writing.

The only thing that is going to make me feel better about it at this point is to post a picture I took today of Ruby and one of her chicks.

Ruby with chick

I often see a small face peeking out over the top of her wing.  Sometimes all I can see is a small beak.  They're getting big quickly.  And that means I'll have to make other arrangements to house them, soon.  

But no time to think about that this week.  This week I am in a book binding marathon, which includes 6 different titles.  I'm hoping to have time left over to work on a financial report due by Monday.  Give me strength!

It's all part of the seasonal deadline that comes when Christmas coincides with a book release.  No complaints.  And I should be caught up, and even a little ahead of the game soon.

I've already told Mike, I'm taking two weeks off from press related activities during the Christmas holiday.  Hoping to get some serious writing done then.  

Or even some rest.

Thanksgiving

Since we work out of our home, it's hard to take a day off.  Thanksgiving is no exception.  But rather than spend it in overwhelm, I chose to multitask under more pleasant conditions.

At noon, I decided to take my stack of books to be sewn in preparation for binding, outside and work in the sunshine so I could allow the cats outdoors to bask in the sun, while at the same time letting Ruby and her chicks out into the yard to scratch and forage.  Maintaining a human presence as a moderator between species made me feel more secure, although I'm sure Ruby could handle it on her own.  (The cats usually steer clear of her anyway).

The chicks are developing new skills on a daily basis.  Yesterday I noticed they were all taking short flights around the yard, and today, I saw one fly up to the porch.  They also began scratching for themselves today, rather than following Ruby around.  They also took their first dust bath today.

Now I'm indoors with a chicken in the oven (turkey is too big for just the two of us), and putting the final touches on a simple supper.

I'll be covering slip cases after supper and gluing spines, on the freshly sewn books.

I would have taken the day off, but with no company, and family too far away this year, I decided to take the opportunity to get more work done.  I'm racing the clock to get all the Christmas orders filled for Pegana Press customers.

I still feel disappointed over not getting my Autumn zine out.  It was so close to being finished.  It doesn't look like I'll have time to release the Winter edition either.

Hearth & Heart Autumn 2015 update

________________________
Hearth & Heart Autumn 2015
cover mock up

I was hoping to have this edition out by now, but things keep happening to delay.  I have almost the whole thing ready to go, but I needed to reproduce 4 major images and I'm not satisfied with the quality.  I guess I need to find another printer.

Zoë is another reason.  I have decided not to use that stupid over-sized cone on her, so that means that from time to time, I have to remind her not to start exploring her wound site, while it heals.  She's doing amazing.  I actually got some sleep last night.  I feel lucky that I work from home, because it allows me to be present with her.  One less thing to stress about.  And one thing I know from experience working in energy medicine with my own animals and with others, is that our human stress over our loved ones, slows down their healing process.  My analysis is that it causes an interference pattern in your psyche, which inhibits your ability to "see" your sick animal as healthy.  (Or to use the more familiar language of Abraham-Hicks, --You won't be a vibrational match with that outcome.)

I got some amazing insight into the physiology of a cat, while doing Zoë 's session last night.  It was so magical, that I might try and find a way to share it in story form.

I'm also doing some book binding work right now.  Pegana Press is releasing The Golden Key by George MacDonald with illustrations by Charles Van Sandwyk.  (hopefully by the end of September).  Visit the link to view photos of the book.

Well now it's off to work I go.

Zine-ing

As a self published author, I thought zines would be a good way to get my short stories out more quickly than writing a full length book.  Plus it adds a whole new layer of creativity to the project.  Plus it's fun.

But there is a dark side to this zine making.  Yes.

I am learning about myself while engaged in this work.  When I told my friend Sage I wanted to try my hand making a zine, she responded by saying that I had the hard part out of the way, because I already had written the stories.

Uh, no actually.  For me, the stories are the easy part.  Stories just sort of tell themselves to me.  It's more like they just happen to me.

The cutting and pasting, now that's hard.  Not kidding-really.  The whole multi media art form thing was very daunting to me.  But I'm getting the hang of it.  And it's very freeing.

I was programmed from an early age, not to deface books.  Not to cut them, or mark them up.  To handle them with care.  My text books in university were only barely touched with a highlighter, if at all.  (Do they still have text books at universities?)

And being a book binder by trade, I am in the business of making books.  So it's very difficult for me to take a pair of scissors even to a magazine.

And collage is all about the layers, right?  But one of my other vocations is that I'm an energy worker/healer type, and in that activity it's all about removing the layers.  So I was baffled by the whole process of collage at first.

When I was a kid I used to write stories and draw all the time.  I got so that I could do very detailed pencil sketches with high lights and shading.  But as I grew into a busy adult, the creative me began shrinking.  And things like writing and artwork began to freak me out.  The less I engaged in those practices the more important they seemed to be, and the less capable I felt myself to be.  By the time I was in my late 20s, I was so wound up with anxiety around artwork, that to do a pencil sketch would take me hours, and then I would leave it unfinished.

That set a precedence, which led to a long string of unfinished stories too.  Then I stopped singing and playing music too.  That whole "not good enough" fear factor just spiraled out into every aspect of my creative life.

Now, many years later, I have reconnected with my creative muse.  I am writing and drawing and singing again, only now my drawings are more like cartoons, and doodles and I'm okay with that, because now they are fun and spontaneous and I actually finish them.

I would much rather have a finished creative scribble, than an unfinished master piece.  And this is why.  Because all of the feeling you're trying to convey in that scribble is actually recorded on the paper.  It is in every way like a vinyl record.  So I know that what I'm trying to demonstrate with a sketch or a doodle is going to communicate itself, even if it's not fine art--and that's what I'm after.

Which brings me back around to collage and zine making.  It's a great process for shining some light into the dusty corners of one's psyche.  And it's a very primal way of expressing creativity which takes me right back to being a kid.

Hey, it's my first zine!  I'm gonna put it on my refrigerator, like the rest of the kid art.

Hearth & Heart is available at Pegana Press.  https://www.peganapress.com/zines.html

The Voice of Fire

Do you ever sit in front of a fire, and listen to the song it sings?  Have you ever hearkened to The Voice of Fire?  A story of magical realism by Rita Tortorello.  One of three short stories in Winter Tales available through Pegana Press.

The Voice of Fire from Winter Tales available through Pegana Press.

Here is a page from the letterpress chapbook, Winter Tales.  Special preorder price is available through January 18, 2015 at Pegana Press.


You can listen here to an excerpt read by the author.

Winter Tales StoryCast

In this StoryCast we discuss the inspirations behind Winter Tales.  The author (OK, that's me) reads an excerpt from two of the stories.

Enjoy.

Winter Tales

Winter Tales -  Three original stories available from Pegana Press.

I'm really excited to announce the upcoming release of my first published works.  Three short stories of fantasy inspired by the winter season, collected together in a hand letterpress chapbook under the title Winter Tales.  Available through Pegana Press.

A Little Background

Winter Tales was first conceived by my husband Mike who wanted to have a special chapbook to release for the winter season.  Together we run Pegana Press.  He is the letterpress printer who lovingly and painstakingly sets each individual letter and space of type for each book created, and then takes each block of type apart to use those letters and spaces in creating the next page.  It takes months for him to create a book.  Once the book is finished, he hands it to me for binding, which I do by hand.  For almost 6 years we have worked to create the kinds of books we ourselves would enjoy reading, with works from some of our favorite authors.

Since we typically publish works by authors known to collectors of fantasy, Winter Tales is a bit of a departure for us.

The Stories

Stories tell themselves to me constantly, right out of ordinary day to day experiences.  And if I'm present and focused, I am able to recognize it as such.  My brain says, 'Hey! That's a story.' and then I will  rush to my computer and write it down.  And because I see ordinary daily occurrences as magical, the stories typically feel like fantasy.  I am told that this style of writing is referred to as magical realism.  I like that phrase.  I joyfully inhabit that realm of magical realism in my perception.

An example of that is conveyed in the first story of Winter Tales, entitle The Voice of Fire.  That story was inspired by simply sitting by the fire and listening to the sounds it makes.

The second story, Where the Snow Folk Live was inspired by the legend of the Yeti.  And the third story, Cup of Cheer was inspired by a photograph I saw years ago.  I used it in a blog post, but when it came time to write the story, the only thing that I kept was the title.  The story had by now, evolved into an idea inspired by the Northern Lights.

In the next day or two, I will include some excerpts read from Winter Tales.  I hope you will enjoy.

Transition

Garden of Awakening Orchids in Portland OR.

If you've landed here expecting to see HeartStar MindBody Connection, I've moved it.  It was a relatively painless process, and for that I am grateful.  I've installed a tab at the top of the page labeled "Energy Medicine" that will take you to its new location immediately.

I wear a lot of hats these days.  I am still very much involved in my Energy Medicine practice, and seeing clients regularly.  And I love doing that work very much.

I am still binding books for Pegana Press, which is our small family run press.  And I love doing that very much too.

I think talents and interests are like children.  They are each unique and they each require special care and nurturing to bring out the best in them.  And like children they can be loved equally, even though each one adds something different to our lives.

I have been writing for many many years and in all this time, I have kept my writing mostly to myself.  I haven't even thought about publishing until recently.  I have always just enjoyed writing and when a story came to me, I wrote it down.

Now suddenly, I find that my status has changed.  I am publishing three short stories in a chapbook format through Pegana Press.  The book is limited to 50 copies.  It was hand set and letterpress printed on a Vandercook SP15 press, and will be hand sewn with ornate soft cover.  It will most likely be ready for release next week.  There is also a tab on the menu bar above, which links to Pegana Press labeled Winter Tales, which is the name of the book. *

Winter Tales contains three original short stories inspired by the elements of Fire and Ice.  I will be talking more about the stories in my next post.

Thank you for your interest.

* See my Written Works tab for links to publications.