Violette L. Meier's Blog, page 2

Ode to the Goblin King!

Today David Bowie took his last breath after an almost two year
long battle with cancer.  Fans across the
world lament this musical genius; my husband one of them.  But, for me, I will not remember Bowie for
his music, although he was a pure artist and the epitome of original creativity.  I will remember the beautiful yet frightening
Goblin King he played in the movie Labyrinth. 




As a

Should this be turned into a book?

My life has been an interesting one.  I started to write the below paragraph and was wondering if I should turn it into some kind of book. What do you think? Leave a comment below. Thanks.


From the beginning, I walked with the spirits.  You see, it is impossible to believe in God and not believe that other spirits are around.  Energy is never destroyed but only transformed.  We are pure energy.  Energy is all around us.  People try to separate the supernatural from religion and spirituality when they are one in the same.  I knew that there was a thin veil between this world and the next.  I felt the others whisk past me, lurk in the shadows, and whisper through dreams.  I knew as a child that this world was way more complicated than it seemed.  In my great grandmother’s attic and basement, I knew something lurked, craving to be seen by one who can see. Mainly me!  When I was eight years old, one came to me and stood in the living room as real as I was with a smile upon his golden face; a face of all races mixed and a yarmulke upon his head; dressed in gold trimmed garments.  He looked into my eyes.  I stared at him with juvenile curiosity, too young to understand that he wasn’t supposed to be there.  He was not a tangible entity like me. Eye to eye we locked until I broke my gaze and looked away, discomfort creeping up my spine.  I turned back to him and he was gone.  I looked away and allowed the floor heater to blow warm air up my nightgown as I contemplated my encounter. 

Don't Give Into Media Madness!

Most of the news in America is so slanted that it is perverse.  What happened to unbiased reporting that highlighted the facts on all sides of the issue?  Now most of the news is nothing more than agenda driven edited clips whose entire purpose is to manipulate the masses.  I get so weary of watching the news, reading the news, hearing the news.  The only reason I continue is in hopes that I can discern the truth through all the mucky foolery surrounding it to understand what's really going on in the world.
It is understandable that all people have opinions and our own way of viewing things, but the job of journalism is to present all sides of an issue and report on the unadulterated truth. Why not let people draw their own conclusions and form their own opinions?  Do the powers that be think the masses are too stupid to think for themselves so they must think for them?
This morning I was listening to News Radio 106.7 in Atlanta, and they were speaking about the heinous terrorist attacks that occurred in Paris.  A Muslim person made a comment that true Islam did not represent violence and all religions had aspects of violence.  Then, a woman responded that it was untrue and no one ever heard of Presbyterians bombing (I’m paraphrasing here).  I could’ve fell out of the passenger side of my car when they allowed that to be the last word of the discussion as if the woman was making a valid point.  All I could think is, “Lady, are you kidding me?”  I am a Christian, but anyone who has ever picked up a book, read a newspaper, lived in this world knows that just about EVERY religion has been responsible for some sort violence.  Horrific acts such as trans-Atlantic slavery, colonization, the extermination of Native Americans, the Spanish Inquisitions, the Crusades, The KKK, bombing of abortion clinics are under the belt of “so called” Christianity alone.  Not to mention that Hitler was given the title Reich Bishop over a protestant sect of German Christians when he was exterminating the Jews.  And I’m sure ignorant people everywhere were high-fiving each other when that clueless woman made her dumb butt comment on the radio.
My intention is not to defame Christianity, but to point out how stupid it is to generalize an entire group over the crimes of a few and how even more stupid it is for the media to perpetuate this foolishness! 

My intention is also not to minimize the horror that was done to the people of Paris.  The terrorist should be found and exterminated so that justice can be served.  I would also like to offer my sincerest condolences to the families that suffered because the unforgivable acts of evil extremist.
Until the mass media begins to seek truth instead of agenda, I implore you to think for yourself and take everything you see, hear, and read with a grain of salt. Remember to love hard and live free. I’m out! 

Feeling Good

                The older I get the more I learn to appreciate the small things like: seeing my children roll down a hill, laying in the grass and watching the clouds float, laughing at my mother’s off colored jokes, dancing until I hear my thighs clap, creating new literary characters, making love in the morning to the man I adore; these are the things that I have learned to appreciate.  I no longer give energy to foolery.  Life is way too short and I am determined to be happy.  All of my dreams haven’t come to fruition; yet.  I know they will.  I can feel it in my bones.  Life is full of unforeseen circumstances, but I will let the cards fall where they may and play the hand that I’m dealt like a freaking boss.  Like Nina Simone sings, “It’s a new dawn.  It’s a new day.  It’s a new life for me, and I’m feeling good!”

My Angry Rant Regarding Baltimore, the Media, and Racism in America

It is 2015 and America is still struggling with race relations and abuse of power.  In lieu of the latest slaying of a black man by a police officer, America is up in arms about the Baltimore riots.  Why?  Real riots (not when white people turn over cars or burn up stuff after sporting events) are the cries of people with no voices.  It is the explosion of frustration by the marginalized and oppressed.  These people are not torching police cars for fun.  They aren’t raising hell in the streets out of boredom.  They are fed up with being profiled, abused, and seeing their loved ones killed.  Am I justifying violence or damaging property? Of course not!  But we must look at the cause and the effect of the situation.  Is it fair for the media to descend upon Baltimore and highlight all the negativity, but ignore the fact that another an unarmed young black man was murdered by the police?  Is it fair for the news to keep talking about gorilla gangs with the full intention to drive the image of black people as wild monkeys in the minds of delusional whites?  Why praise a woman knocking her son upside the head for protesting when in any other circumstance the media would be calling her an unfit abusive parent?  Why not highlight the peaceful protesters, the bereaved family, or the community leaders that can shed some light on the plight of the disenfranchised people of the city?
When white people riot, it is called revolution.  When black people riot, it is called thuggery.  Contrary to popular belief, all black men aren’t thugs, uneducated slackers, deadbeat dads, or products of the penal system.  I’ve been black my whole life, and the majority of the black men I know are strong, upstanding, educated, hard working, family men.  Why can’t each man be judged for his own actions?  Why make sweeping generalizations when it comes to blacks?  Am I saying there are not bad blacks?  Of course not!  There are good and evil in every group of people.  The evil among blacks is no greater or lesser than any other group of people.  There is black on black crime, white on white crime, Asian on Asian crime, Hispanic on Hispanic crime.  This country has to stop getting drunk off of stereotypes and get sober with the truth!
What happened to liberty and justice for all?  Why are our cries muted?  Why is the media so slanted when telling our stories?  I’ll tell you why.  America is still deeply rooted in racism.  Racism is at the root of employment bias, real estate bias, mass black incarceration, and the broken educational system.  When we can be honest enough to admit that racism is a systematic problem and that America is just as racist as it was before the civil rights movement; that the spirit of Jim Crow and oppression still is alive and literally kicking, only then can real dialogue and change can occur.

(Dropping the mic and jumping off my soapbox.)

Why you Should Establish a Writing Schedule by: Quanie Miller

Back in the day (way back. Before Facebook), I had a creative writing professor who asked the class: “How many of you have a writing schedule?” Very few of us raised our hands. A writing schedule? I mean, I watched The Young and the Restless and The Golden Girls regularly and spent a lot of time thinking about going to the gym. I knew I eventually wanted to write a novel, but actually

How to Turn A Woman on and Keep Her Turned on Forever

https://flic.kr/p/apFWjS


1.      
Be a man
of your word.  Nothing is sexier than
a man who does what he says that he is going to do.  Your word is bond.  It gives a sense of security.  Your word builds trust.  When a woman can trust you, she will open
herself to you in every way.


2.      
Be
faithful.  When a

Am I Fruitful or Fruit Cake?

 My younger brother shared a video with me of T.D. Jakes talking about the need for people to be productive.  His message was short and sweet.  He highlighted that God’s first commandment to humanity was to be fruitful.  He also pointed out that the reason there is so much discontent in the world is because they are not living their purpose , are unproductive, and are uncreative; thus, are living contrary to their nature.  Bishop Jakes left me contemplating my life.  Am I truly being fruitful?  I know I’ve birthed three babies, but I know my contribution to humanity has to be more than blessing the world with my children.  Don’t get me wrong.  Humanity has been and will be bettered because of them, but they are individual souls who are destined to walk their own paths and find their own purpose.  My soul needs accomplishments of its own.  So I ask myself, am I productive enough?  Am I living to my fullest potential?  Am I using all the gifts that God has given me?  I ask myself these questions periodically to see if I have been on a steady path to accomplishing my objectives.  Sometimes I burst with pride when I review all my accomplishments.  At other times, I am racked with disappointment in myself because I have not reached the goals that I set by my age.  I try to remain optimistic, but sometimes it is difficult to remain on a dream trip when reality keeps slapping me awake.  I am forced to ask myself, "Am I fruitful or a fruit cake for believing in a dream that is taking so long to come to fruition?"  Whatever the case may be, I choose to push on and keep on believing that I will be everything that I said I will be.  I am the oracle of my own life, and I see visions of grand success by the creativity of my mind and the work of my own hands.  I will keep the faith and keep on keeping on, at least for today! J

My Ribs Are Showing

It seems as if I inadvertently became a starving artist.  The romantic in me has cast away the toil and troubles of conventional work.  I choose to be neither blue nor white collar.  I prefer purple.  My lot in life is to sit home and peck at my computer.  Although I may have to forget the finer things in life, like food and gas money, writing requires great sacrifice.  There is no room for little else when creativity is calling.  I am a martyr for the written word.
NOT!
Being a starving artist is utterly ridiculous.  Who says one cannot be faithful to ones art and have a career, take care of your family, and still be dedicated to art?   A talent for multitasking, a sizable amount of imagination, a gigantic amount of hard work, and a passion for your art that runs deeper than the volcanic blood that circulates through the veins of the earth are the only requirements.
Time management is paramount.  Stealing opportune moments to write is the key.  Like now, I’m writing this blog on a borrowed piece of paper on borrowed time.  Even when it seems like there isn’t an extra minute in the day, I find it because it is important to me.  My dream of informing and entertaining the world is important to me.  My dream of being a bestselling author is important to me.  We all know that when things are truly important, we make time NO MATTER WHAT!

I realize that selling 100 million books is a long shot but we all  gotta have dreams.  The amount may sound ludicrous but as William Butler Yeats said, “But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; tread softly because you tread on my dreams.”  While I dream, I shall not be so poor so I choose to work, hustle, make due, make ends meet, keep food on my table, a roof over my head until my dreams come to fruition.

Interview with writer Kevin Tumlinson, the Wordslinger

I had the privilege of interviewing writer Kevin Tumlinson, the Wordslinger.  It was interesting indeed.  Here is what he had to say.


1. Who are you?

Some say a man displaced in time, with a hidden agenda that could lead to either humanity's salvation or its worst nightmare. Others say "that guy who talks about being pantsless all the time." I generally say, "Hi, I'm Kevin." Kevin Tumlinson — Wordslinger, Author, Marketing Smartypants. I've written professionally since I was 12 years old, so if I don't know what I'm talking about I've gotten pretty good at faking it. Probably the latter.

2. What inspires you to write?

When I was five years old I wrote a "book" — three pages on notebook paper, front and back. My stepfather loved it, and read it to the family with great fanfare and to high praise. My first taste of being "published" to an appreciative audience! 
I was hooked, and all I ever wanted was to have that feeling again and again.
 I love my audience, and they're the reason I keep coming back to the keyboard every single day. But I love the language, too. I've made a pretty good living with words, working mostly as a copywriter for most of my career. I managed to turn words into dollar signs, and that was a pretty good motivator too. The audience, though — I come back for free, if I have to, because of that group of amazing people who ask (demand!) that I keep writing. 

3. What are your goals?

Now that I'm treating my books as a business, I have strange new goals. Before, it was all about seeing my name on the spines of books lining someone's bookshelf. I still want that, but the timbre of that dream has changed. Now I want to expand my reach by producing a large body of work. I want to have the adjective "prolific" associated with my name. 

Recently I've committed to writing at a level I never thought possible. I write every day, with the goal of eventually churning out a book each month. I think that can be done, and done well. I see other writers doing it, actually, and that's very encouraging. Getting to that level will mean success for me. I feel very deeply that being a prolific fiction writer will eventually allow me to break into the "walled garden" of publishing success, as I've defined it for myself.

4. If you ruled the world, what would you change first?

I would forbid Michael Bay from making any more films that destroy all of my childhood memories. I don't think that's too much to ask. I'm a benevolent dictator. 

Beyond that, I'd implement a reform to education, world-wide, to refocus it on teaching kids how possible everything is. I've known too many adults who had no idea how much they could have done and how much they can still do with their lives. No dream is out of reach — which sounds cliche until you realize that we live in a world where you can now decide to be just about anything, like an author, and if you put in the work and learn a little bit here and there you can make that happen. 
The barriers are down. We can all walk around free now. I'd make knowledge of that fact into something that's as common as breathing for future generations.

That has influenced my fiction a great deal. I write hopeful fiction — stories in which people may struggle, but they recognize the presence of hope. People die in my stories, and people can be wicked and evil there just as in real life — all the same ups and downs and ins and outs apply. But the underlying message in everything I write is hope. It's all about people doing what they do, struggling against whatever challenges they face, with the hope that it will turn out ok.

5. What's the most important thing we should know about you? 

I want to help. 

That sounds kind of trite when I see it written on screen, but it's the absolute truth. I've spent a couple of decades focused on me, on being a success by my own definition. It was only recently, within the past two or three years, that it finally dawned on me that there are other people in the world facing the same sort of struggles I face, chasing the same sort of dreams. And all of those people could use someone to give them a bit of advice, a nudge, some encouragement.

There's a quote by Zig Ziglar that I use as a guidepost for my life now: "You can have everything you want in life if you're willing to help enough other people get what they want.​"

That's who I am now. It's what I do. I help other people, especially indie authors and publishers, as much as I can. I love writing fiction, and I want that audience to grow to unbelievable levels. But in the end, I truly believe the best way to achieve my own goals is to help other people achieve theirs.

If you think about it, that makes a great deal of sense. As I'm learning more about publishing and marketing the work, and making more contacts in the industry while discovering new resources and tools, all on behalf of someone else, I'm able to use all of that for my own work. Plus, hearing someone say, "This would have been a lot tougher without your help" is pretty cool. I could live with that, if it were the only thing I accomplished with my life.

6. How can we find your work?

My books are available with pretty much every online book retailer, for any device you can think of. But the shortcut to finding everything would be to visit my book page at www.kevintumlinson.com/books. I keep that up to day with everything I publish, with links to every format you could want. 

At the moment, I'm actually offering the first book in my "Citadel" series for free. If you go to kevintumlinson.com/freebook and sign up for my mailing list, you can download "Citadel: First Colony" at no charge. All I really ask is that you review it on Amazon! That helps a great deal.

And if you ever need help, advice, or maybe just someone to bounce an idea off of, I'm available on my site and on all the social media greats. Find me at plus.google.com/+kevinTumlinson on Google+, facebook.com/kevin.tumlinson on Facebook, and @kevintumlinson on Twitter.