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Category Archives: My Essays

Garaaga’s Children: Ancients

28 Apr

Garaaga's Sigil

I’ve had the tremendous pleasure of reading all of the stories in the Garaaga’s Children: Ancients series by Paul E. Cooley and been fortunate to be able to voice a few of the female characters in the Parsec  Award nominated podcast versions of some of these stories.

These stories start before the written word, when stories were passes down from one teller to the next. These are the stories that became the legends. The stories of the hunters, the hunted, and the story tellers themselves. Stories of love and war. Of sex and violence. Of ancient religions, warriors, and scholars.

These stories represent the beginning of an ever expanding saga. Garaaga, his children, their followers, and their hunters are not just the stuff of legends. They are around in the here and now as well. There are so many more stories to come as Cooley chronicles these groups as they battle their way through history.

Ancients is the first volume of the Garaaga’s Children tales.

Now, these stories are being published in a limited edition hard cover version that is being offered as a special package that includes the signed numbered hardcover, bonus materials, a bonus story, special ebook, and the audiobook. All for just $35.

These aren’t the stories that legends are made of. These are the legends themselves. Go back to the beginning and discover the truth of Garaaga for yourself.

 
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Posted by on April 28, 2013 in My Essays

 

Looking Back

31 Dec

The idea of creativity and the act of creation is such a simple one: producing something from nothing. Yes, I have oversimplified. But, really, that’s what we’re talking about. How that equation plays out is different for each of us and different for each something we create. So, the complexity that results is staggering. I love that!

Chocolate Scotch has been around for 18 months now and as today is the end of 2012 it seems like an appropriate time to take stock of life, the universe, and everything. Getting people of all walks of life, who create in different ways, to share their thoughts on creativity, art, and/or inspiration in the hopes of adding kindling to people’s creative flame is the goal at ChocolateScotch. That there are poems, audio posts, stories, essays, and letters here thrills me. So far, there have been 78 guest posts in the Creativity Blog Project. This is a lot less than I had hoped to have by now; yet they are a stunning collection of thoughts.

In looking back, I know I’ve not given this site the time and energy it requires to grow over the past year. As with a lot of my creative endeavors, I started out by giving it my undivided attention and over time let myself get sidetracked. As with all things, moderation is key. I know now that publishing a guest post a day was an insane way to start this project. It took way too much of my time and made sustaining that output (once the initial pile was posted) all but impossible. That is, and have any kind of life beyond these pages.

For the coming year, I would like to post a couple of guest posts a month. Every other week seems reasonable; one a week would be ideal. If you’ve already contributed but have another thought on creativity that you would like to share, by all means submit again. If you haven’t already contributed, why not?

If you are already on the awesome page of contributors and would like to update your information, please send an email with how you would like your bio blurb to read now. And, if you are updating that, I urge you to consider sending in some new thoughts as well (but this is not required).

If I had to sum up the past year in a single word, it would be grateful. Grateful for all of the support I have received from friends old and new. Grateful for the amazing and inspiring posts so many have contributed here. Grateful to be doing things I love like writing and editing. Grateful for too many people and things to list them all here. Mostly, grateful for you.

Thank you for reading.

Here’s to a brand new year and the creations we all bring forth therein.

Cheers,

Sue

 
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Posted by on December 31, 2012 in My Essays, My Writing

 

Happy Birthday to Me

06 Aug

When it comes to holidays, I’m a firm believer that a person’s birthday is their one special day just for them.  It’s their holiday; their day to do whatever their heart desires (within the constraints imposed by the necessities of finances, work schedules, etc).  But I think you know what I mean.  Other holidays are about various religious or national celebrations and involve the whole family being active participants.  Your birthday is just that…yours.

Seven years ago on the occasion of my 40th birthday I chose to not do any chores on that day.  Now, this was not necessarily an unusual choice on my part; I avoid housework as much as I possibly can.  On that day, however, I felt I had a great reason…it was my birthday, my special day, my day to do or not do as I saw fit.  To which I was promptly asked if I was somehow special because it was my birthday. And when I asserted that was in fact the case, I was told that I’m not a fucking princess, that I was mistaken and I am not in any way special, and, “Happy Fucking Birthday”.

To say I was devastated doesn’t do justice to how I felt at that moment.  That I sit here with tears streaming down my face as I recount the story seven years later speaks to the damage that one interaction did to me.  A part of me believed what I was told.

Fast forward through seven years.  Years that feel more like lifetimes.  I know now, how wrong that person was.  I know I suck at housework. And, while I struggle to improve in that area, I also know it has no bearing on what kind of human being I am.  I am special.  As are you.  We all have our faults and we all have wonderful gifts.

So, this year I reclaimed my birthday as my special day and I celebrated for an entire weekend.  I didn’t throw any elaborate party or take an exotic trip or spend a lot of money. Hell, I didn’t even bother with a cake this year. What I did do, was spend time with my boys, have two inexpensive meals out where I didn’t have to cook or cleanup, and I got myself a small, useful, inexpensive present.

Oh, and I declared the day to be “Create Something Day”.  And my kids and I talked about creativity.  And how creating things inside a video game (Minecraft) absolutely counts as creating something.

Then NASA went and landed on Mars.  I can’t even begin to discuss the awesomeness of that.

And a friend from Twitter, Lance Schonberg, posted about what creative things he had done on “Create Something Day”.  To inspire someone else in any small way is something so amazing I don’t even have words for the joy it gives me.

I spent today and the entire weekend talking to friends on twitter between all the other activities that make up my daily existence (as usual).  The first voice I heard on my birthday was that of someone near and dear to me over the phone. And I remembered that not only am I special on my birthday, but I’m special every day, even when I’m not my best me.

I couldn’t ask for better gifts.

Thank you all for the best birthday ever.

 
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Posted by on August 6, 2012 in My Essays, My Writing

 

Create Something Day

04 Aug

Last week Wil Wheaton, of STtNG fame and all around cool geek guy, decided to declare his birthday to be “Don’t Be a Dick Day”. What a wonderful idea to take your birthday and proclaim it to be whatever kind of day you want (preferably something that has the potential to yield positive results). Technically, Wil didn’t start it; but he saw the brilliance of it and embraced it. If you don’t already read his blog, the story is here.

So, in this spirit, I have decided to proclaim my birthday, this coming Monday, August 6th, to be “Create Something Day”. While I won’t turn down fancy chocolates or a lovely bottle of scotch, the one thing I’m asking for is for you to create something. Anything. Draw something, write something, start the blog you’ve been dreaming of, knit, crochet, cook… Whatever.

It doesn’t matter what you create. It matters THAT you create.

If you want to share your creativity, that would be awesome. If just one person creates something that they wouldn’t have otherwise, this will be the best birthday ever. Actually, truth be told, even if none of you does a damn thing this will still be the best birthday ever. But your creativity will certainly make it awesomer. Yep, that’s a word. See, I just created that…okay, I’m making it up. Same difference.

So, stretch your imagination and use your creativity. And when your special day rolls around, what sort of day will you proclaim it to be?

PS….ChocolateScotch is always accepting guest posts on creativity, art and inspiration as well as guest poems.  So if you create something and need a way to share it with the world our door is always open.  Just saying…

 
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Posted by on August 4, 2012 in My Essays, My Writing

 

Impasse

20 Apr

There is a moment in time
between nothing and something
when something’s gotta give.
It may only be a heartbeat,
or the time it takes
to walk away
from your heart’s desire.
But there comes a point
when the time for talking
has finally passed
and the only thing left
to do is…something.
But what that something is
can only be decided
in that brief moment
of impasse…

 

This poem was inspired by the synopsis of a movie by the same name. The screenplay was written by Jeanne Veillete Bowerman @Jeannevb (you can read about it on her website and it will be directed by Michael Bekemeyer @Bekemeyer.

This movie is a KickStarter project. Please check it out (AND CONTRIBUTE)!! 

When I read the synopsis I was moved to tears. I know that moment of impasse all too well. I knew in that moment that I had to do whatever I could to help Mike and Jeanne get this movie made. I don’t have much spare cash these days, but they don’t need a lot from any one person…they just need a big ‘ole bunch of us to skip a latte or two and help get the word out. So, that’s what I’m doing.

Check it out. If it moves you even a little bit, please consider donating. Even $1 counts. If you have a website or blog or facebook, G+ or twitter account follow these two wonderful, creative individuals and help spread the word.

Thank you.

 

 

This is a cross-post.  The original post is at More Yarn For Me.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in My Essays, My Poems, My Writing

 

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What You Can Do

18 Jan

I am a content creator. One of the first things I learned when I was studying photography was the copyright laws and how they applied to the latent image on the film from the moment the exposure is made. That’s right, for those of you that grew up post actual film, the image (and its ownership) is sacred and copywritten the instant it exists in the camera.  Protecting that copywrite was a very different matter back then and possession was nine tenths of the law, as the expression goes.  The negative was a physical thing that couldn’t be duplicated by a simple click of the mouse. Publication wasn’t instantaneous and world wide.

Today, theft and piracy are constant threats for anyone who creates art and content and publishes it electronically. We are all on guard constantly to make sure that not only is our material not being used without our express authorization, but also that we are not leaving ourselves vulnerable to theft by corporations with questionable terms of service contracts.

As terrible as online piracy is, and the threat is real, the answer is not government censorship, or the potential ability to censor.  Censorship of legitimate activities because of the potential bad behavior of others is not how I want my country to be run.  I don’t want a bunch of rich white men who don’t know an IP address from an IHoP telling me what I can or can’t put up on MY sites.

Being anti-SOPA or anti-PIPA does not mean I am for piracy, it means I am against my government trying to regulate something it’s ruling membership doesn’t even understand by means of censorship at the expense of the innocent.

Today, this site went dark in solidarity with hundreds of thousands of other websites large and small to boycott the pending SOPA and PIPA legislation. But, we need your help to make our point to the elected officials that want to curtail our rights to put our content up without the risk of censorship.

Please contact your representatives to Congress and tell them that if they support these bills, instead of the internet going dark, it will be the lights in their district offices going dark when we vote them out of office.

You can find your representative and their contact information HERE.

 
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Posted by on January 18, 2012 in My Essays, My Writing

 

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Thoughts on Podcast Fiction

18 Dec

These thoughts are from the perspective of someone who is a HUGE fan of podcast fiction. I love to read but don’t have much time anymore. I do, however, have a job where I can listen to whatever I want for most of the day and for the past couple of months, that has meant 6+ hours a day of podcasts. I have been catching up on my “reading” this way and having a ball. Most of the time. I have developed a few pet peeves as a listener and am sharing them here in the hopes that podcasters-to-be might read this and learn from the mistakes of others.

One of the things I need to remember, as a listener, is that I am getting this entertainment for free. These are not professionally produced audio books. Not that the creators don’t strive for that kind of quality. I know they do. I also know these are done by people at home in make-shift recording studios around the time and attention demands of full time jobs and families. I need to lighten up. I know that.

There are two sides to the issue of podcast fiction; the story itself, and the production quality of the recording. As for the story, my only comment is that the writing needs to be edited before it’s recorded. And, I do not believe the author alone can do this. If they can’t afford an editor, they need get a friend or another writer to go through the story with a critical eye. Then, they need to pay attention to what they are saying as they read it. And, if it doesn’t make sense, it needs to be fixed right then.

As for the production quality, consistency is the one thing I think most first-time podcasters lack. Considering it’s their first time, I guess that’s not terribly surprising. Things like suddenly adding sound effects half way through, or music when it wasn’t there at the beginning is one of the things that annoys me more than anything else. I would much rather listen to a simple read through without any fancy editing tricks than listen to one that changes every time the podcaster learns how to do something else. I’m thrilled that they are learning new skills, but really wish they could save them for the next podcast.

I think often the person doing the creative work tries too hard. I know I’m guilty of it myself in some of my own creative endeavors. Focus on one thing you want to improve on with each project. The idea is to get your work out there in as clean a way as possible so that your audience can focus on the message, not the method of delivery.

Finally, I need to say, “Thank you” to those of you who produce these works. You make my day go by in a wonderful way that is so different from just listening to music. I will try to remember that you are doing this on a shoestring budget (if there is a budget at all) and as an artist working to share your passion with the world.

Now, about those sound effects and background music that suddenly showed up in episode 15…

 
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Posted by on December 18, 2011 in My Essays, My Writing

 

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