Debra R. Borys's Blog, page 29
April 19, 2012
Win A Free Copy of Painted Black
Prep Your Terrible Mind
April 18, 2012
Homeless Female Veterans
April 13, 2012
Wet Shelters
April 12, 2012
Sharing Their Stories
April 11, 2012
Adventure Therapy
A few years before I started writing Painted Black, before I began caring about the issue of homelessness, I went on my first wilderness canoe trip in the Canadian Boundary Waters. It was a life changing experience that was in some ways the complete opposite of the world I witnessed on the streets of Chicago.
Or was it? Below is a paragraph I wrote about the experience:
Canoeing in the wilderness brings life down to its smallest basic components: weather, work, food, friendship, sleep, sun. How can I put into words all those small things that added up to such a big meaning for me? The crackle and brightness of the campfire at night, the singing of hymns around it; the laughing of loons and complaining of Canadian blue jays; the clarity of the constellations and the dancing of the Northern lights.
Surviving on the streets brings life down to its smallest components also. Where will you sleep tonight? What can you find to eat? When will you be able to take a shower? Even basic human needs like where can I use a bathroom? When life boils down to the quick like this, the smallest things can make a difference: the triangle of a sail against sun-warmed Lake Michigan, a peanut butter sandwich and a friendly conversation, the smile and simple greeting of a passing stranger.
Unlike the experience of living on the streets, though, my canoe trip left me with a renewed spirit, an increased hope that I was not alone in the world but accompanied by a higher power who cared about me.
Once you've been there, you'll understand what I mean. You'll understand how close you can get to heaven, and that eternity is here for the taking. That peace and love and quietness of mind you hope for in the kingdom of God is around us every day, if only we take the time to hear with our ears and see with our eyes and believe in our hearts.
Conversely, life on the streets can leave youth and adults who experience it embittered, hard-hearted and drained of all hope. When you experience only darkness, it is hard to believe there is any light.
That's why organizations like Teen Feed and The Night Ministry continue their work, to fight against the darkness. And recently I found out about another program that knows how healing experiences like my Boundary Waters trip can be to the heart, mind, body and spirit. Chicago Adventure Therapy (CAT) offers kayaking, climbing, camping and other adventure experiences to at-risk youth. I wish I still lived in Chicago and could participate with this program in some way.
Using outdoor adventure sports such as kayaking, orienteering, cycling, and rock climbing, Chicago Adventure Therapy (CAT) helps under-served youth in Chicago have a lasting positive impact on their communities and become healthy adults by teaching effective social skills, increasing participants' sense of possibility, and fostering a sense of empowerment and personal responsibility.
Filed under: Musings Tagged: Adventure therapy, Chicago, Homelessness, streets of chicago
April 2, 2012
‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ Parody Coming this Spring
'Fifty Shades of Grey' Parody Coming this Spring
If you were interested in my post a few days ago titled 140 Shades of Twilight, you might like to read the Publisher's Weekly article linked below. Andrew Shaffer, otherwise known as @evilwylie, did get a book deal to publish his parody, Fifty Shames of Earl Grey. Renee Sedliar at Da Capo acquired the novel and intends to release it this spring.
Here's a little taste of what the novel will hold:
Da Capo said Shaffer's book follows a handsome count named Earl Grey who gets involved with a young coed. The press elaborated: "Past the tacky waterbed, strobe light, and blacklight posters inside his "Room of Doom," he brings Anna, a naïve college student into his twisted world of, well, mostly naughty dialogue and light spanking"
Filed under: Musings Tagged: publishers weekly, trends, twitter
March 31, 2012
A Contest and Reflections of an Author
I think all authors put a piece of themselves into their characters. But when Painted Black's main character Jo Sullivan did an interview recently at Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews, there are a number of things she said like the quote below that make me realize how true that is.
Click here to read the whole interview, an excerpt from the novel, and a chance to WIN a FREE copy of Painted Black. Two winners will be chosen May 4.
Tell us how you became a journalist and what you like about your job with Winds of Change?
Wow, was I surprised by how the change of jobs has changed me. It started as just another step in my career, you know? In addition to covering the cop beat and other stories assigned to me, they wanted me to continue a column they had called Street Stories. The purpose of the column was to make street people visible as human beings, instead of the scourge of society like so many people think. Each story focuses on one individual person, and I found that by writing them, I started focusing on the individual person. They weren't just stories anymore; they were the vet who got brain damaged by an IED, or the teenager who got kicked out because the family couldn't afford to feed her anymore.
Filed under: News on Painted Black
March 28, 2012
140 Shades of Twilight
I just found a new person to follow on Twitter. Andrew Shaffer (@evilwylie) has a sense of humor I can appreciate. He's written a parody of the wildfire best seller 50 Shades of Grey which is an adult, erotica fan fiction spin off of the wildfire YA best selling Twilight Series. Shaffer's book started as a satirical selection of tweets mocking 50 Shades of Grey and progressed to tweeting the first chapter of his parody 140 characters at a time. The tweets earned him 2000 readers and an offer via twitter from a small press.
His agent is currently shopping the complete manuscript around now. I hope it finds a home, because I can tell you that while I have no intention of reading any books in the Twilight or 50 Shades of Grey series, I would buy Shaffer's book just to give him a buyer's version of a high five.
Shaffer plans on publishing the book, if it's acquired, under a pseudonym. He's also acutely aware of the meta nature of what he's doing—writing a parody of a novel which, itself, is a variation on another novel—and he's celebrating that fact. "I was upfront about my intentions to 'sell out'—I posted that once I sold the book to a publisher I would change the characters' names to Edward and Bella and hide out from my fans in a McMansion in Beverly Hills. Of course, this all just parodies EL James' path to success, so maybe what I'm really doing is an extended piece of performance art?"
Filed under: Musings
