Orrin Jason Bradford's Blog, page 6

My Favorite Question to Ask Readers (Part 1)

This past year, two life-changing events came together in one of those perfect storm scenarios that unfortunately don’t seem to happen enough in my life as a writer. Both would be what most people would consider ‘bad things.’ Certainly, the COVID-19 pandemic ranks right up there with bad things in my life, though fortunately so far I’ve not lost any friends or family members to it. The second ‘bad thing’ was a growing level of frustration about not have a more direct connection with those who read my books. I’d been sending out regular newsletters to over 6,000 subscribers but rarely heard anything back from them, and I found the open rate of less than 20 percent just added to the frustration.

So, with the help of some powerful coaching and other creatives, I came up with the ideas to host a monthly Zoom-based gathering that I call the Zak Bates Eco-Adventure Readups, and my awesome audiobook narrator of the series, Ben Fife, has joined me each month to read the first book in the series to parents and their kids. The Readups have been a blast and have certainly helped me connect with my readers in a fun and fulfilling way.

One of the most fun aspects is when I ask the questions: If you could go on a mission with the Eco-team of Ra-Kit the magic cat, Sampson, the flying dog, and young Zak, what mission to help the animals of Earth would you choose?

Both the parents and the kids seem to enjoy engaging in this question, and it’s has spawned some interesting ‘good things’ which I’ll share later this week.

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When Inconsequential Moments Become Pivotal (Part Two)

Did you miss part one of this article? Then go here.

Let’s fast forward a few years from that summer in 1960 when my next-door-neighbor librarian, Mrs. Crabtree bought me a stack of books that would transform me into a joyful lifelong reader. But before we teleport ourselves forward in time, let me explain what I mean by the term, joyful lifelong reader.

In this country and throughout much of the world, it’s inevitable that most people will become lifelong readers by the very nature of our educational system. That’s not to say that there aren’t still many people illiterate but that they are in the minority in developed countries. But how many of them are joyful in their reading. In other words, how many people just love to read for the pure pleasure they get from picking up a good book and sinking into their favorite chair to while away hours at a time? How many of our youths today prefer reading over watching television or movies, or playing video games?

I think you may see where I’m going with this so let’s speed ahead in time by a little less than sixty years. By this time, I’ve been a professional writer for quite a few years and have started focusing on writing science fiction and fantasy novels. Somewhere along the way, I remembered that summer of 1960 before I entered the fourth grade and that first stack of books along with the many other stacks I brought home from the library for my own reading pleasure.

Among those books I discovered was the Tom Swift, Jr. series. Much like the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew, this series showcased a young Tom Swift, Jr. Wikipedia describes him as “virtuous, brave, and very smart,” a perfect role model to me because he was also a scientist, or at least the son of a scientist. I loved those books like Tom Swift and his Ultrasonic Cycloplane, or his Jetmarine, or his Aquatomic Tracker.

There was just one thing missing from those books. Biology. You see, I’m a student of the biological sciences more than the physical sciences, so I decided almost six decades after devouring the Tom Swift Jr. Series to write my own series with a lover of animals and magic as the protagonist, and Zak Bates was born.

Like many authors, I now write the books I would want to read as a young boy growing up on his way to becoming a small animal veterinarian, or research biologist, or zoologist. And I write the Zak Bates Eco-adventure series to inspire other young people to become joyful lifelong readers and learners. It’s my way of paying back Mrs. Crabtree and all those many other authors who wrote all those books I loved that kept me mostly out of trouble.

Since the Covid pandemic hit, I’ve also started to reach out to young people and their parents through a monthly series of Zak Bates Eco-adventure series Readups conducted via Zoom with my audiobook narrator, Ben Fife. The link to the series is below in the comments (0r here).

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When Inconsequential Moments Become Pivotal (Part One)

There are moments in our lives that at the time appear inconsequential, just something that happened in the course of our daily life. It may be years or even decades later before we realize how pivotal those moments were in retrospect.

For example, my father passed away from a massive heart attack while fishing just two weeks before my seventh birthday. Now, don’t worry, I knew at the time that was a major deal, a pivotal time. However, that only leads up to the moment I really want to share as an example.

About two years later my mother, brother, and I moved to Raleigh, North Carolina during the summer before I was to enter the fourth grade. Within a matter of days, my brother found other kids his own age and was off playing with them leaving his little brother behind with no one to play with except good ol’ mom. Of course, mom was doing her best to get us moved into the new house and had little time to come out and play with her youngest son. But that didn’t keep me from begging and pleading on a daily basis for her to come to play with me.

Fortunately for both of us our next-door neighbor, Mrs. Crabtree, witnessed all of this and a few days later brought home a stack of books hand-picked for a boy my age. You see, Mrs. Crabtree just happened to be the children’s librarian at the Olivia Rainey Library downtown.

“Perhaps your son will enjoy a few of these,” she said as she handed them to my mother. Thus started a new twist to the game mom and I were playing. Whenever I would plead with my mom to come out to play with me which again occurred frequently throughout the day, mom would point to the stack of books still sitting on our living room coffee table.

“Why not try reading one of those first,” she would suggest, then refuse to come outdoors until I followed her ‘suggestion.’ Of course, back in those days I could be pretty stubborn, a quality I’ve well-honed through the years. So I declined to follow her suggestion. After all, I couldn’t believe anyone would expect me to read anything during the summertime. Reading was a necessary evil of going to school, but surely not during summer break.

  However, every time I asked her to come out to play she would simply point to the books. I learned that summer where I had gotten my stubborn streak—from dear old mom.

Finally, in utter frustration, I picked up the top book from the stack and started reading and much to my surprise found it pretty good. In fact, I finished the whole book, then picked up the next one and the next one. Within a matter of days, a new world opened up for me. Actually, I discovered several new worlds as each book revealed its own secrets and magic to this young boy’s imagination.

That summer I became a joyful lifelong reader. Did I realize at the time how consequential and pivotal that summer was for me? Of course not. It would take me close to sixty more years for that to happen. But that will have to wait until Friday when I share the rest of the story.

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100+ Blog Posts Game (Part 3)- Purposeful Persistence

Yep, this is part 3 of the 100+ Blog Game. So to start, I acknowledge I’ve been terrible at blogging. I don’t mean the content so much as the regularity, and the 100+ Blog Game has not changed that. This is why I’m writing Part 3.

100+ Blog Posts Game (Part 1) was written on Feb. 11, 2019. 100+ Blog Posts Game (Part 2)100+ BLOG POSTS GAME (PART 2) – A Breakthrough in Progress was written on Feb. 25, 2019. Catchy title, right. Unfortunately, I’m acknowledging the breakthrough didn’t last, not really. Since starting the game, I’ve written a total of 13 blogs…Ouch! 13 in 21 months. At that rate…let’s not go there. Sufficient to say, at that rate, I’m not likely to complete the game anytime soon (as in my lifetime).

And one thing I know about myself and life in general, purposeful patience and persistence pay off in the long run.

So, just like the other posts about this game spoke about books that have contributed to creating the game, I’m adding another book to the mix that has me back at the keyboard writing this blog post. The book title is Be the Gateway by Dan Blank.

In it, he describes how many authors when are asked what their goals are, we “default to defining them via objects, tokens, and metrics… ‘I want to win an award,’ or ‘I want to be a bestseller.'” Unfortunately, such goals often leave us flat even if we reach them.

So what do we do? Often times we focus on marketing and social media shooting for that one idea, blog post, or photo that will ‘go viral.’ At the same time, we may feel that our pure creative vision is then corrupted by this ‘requirement’ to market our work. Dan’s solution to this all too common dilemma?

Be the gateway.

“Instead of framing the value of your work on how it performs in the market, you define it by how other people experience the world through your creative work—the stories and experiences you share, and the topics you talk about. (My emphasis.) This simple idea radically shifts the value of what you create. Instead of selling a product in the marketplace, you become the gateway for how your work can shape the world for others, and inspire them.

“Reframe success so it isn’t about seeking validation from massive audiences, but rather how you reach one person.

“When you create as a gateway, success immediately becomes more accessible.”

And let me add one other quote that resonates so strongly with me. “Reframe success so it isn’t about seeking validation from massive audiences, but rather how you reach one person.”

So, what does this all have to do with my 100+ Blog Game? Well, a lot. I may never complete the game, not at the rate I’m writing blog posts. But if even one person reads one of these posts and has his or her view of the world shift even a little bit, then I’ve accomplished my goal to be the gateway. And I’m adding one new twist to the game.

The Stories Behind the Stories (and My Life)

As Dan so clearly identifies in his book, we creatives are all storytellers no matter what our medium is so let’s use this gift. I’ve spent a good part of my journaling time this morning making a couple of lists.

A list of personal short stories/anecdotes (ie blog posts)  that chronicle in a general way why I write, and
A list of similar stories about my books and how I came about writing each one and what I learned in the process.

Since February 2019 when I wrote the first parts of this 100+ Blog Post Game, I’ve also developed a better system for keeping such projects in existence. While it’s far from perfect, I plan to incorporate this game into it to become more regular about sharing these stories behind the stories. After all, they are one more form of my own self-expression that will perhaps shift even ever so slightly others’ perception of the world.

And just in case someone happens to read this within a day or two of it being written, I’m facilitating a discussion group on Dan’s book via Zoom starting on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020. Find out more about it on Facebook at this event page.

 

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Don’t Wait to be Inspired to Write

I recently received a nice email from an aspiring writer who complimented me on my work and then asked a few questions. I thought I’d share my responses here in case there are others struggling to find their voice.

Thanks for your message. I’m happy to hear my writing has inspired you in some way. I’ll do my best to answer your questions briefly in this email and I’d be happy to go more in-depth with you via a phone call, WhatsApp or Zoom if you’d like.

I also wanted to ask if you had any advice for a young writer who is just starting out. I’m struggling with writer’s block and wondered how you came across your stories? 

First, consider that there really isn’t such a thing as ‘writer’s block.’ You are either writing or your not and then you describe when you’re not writing as ‘writer’s block.’ Of course, it’s not quite that simple. There are probably some other old conversations you are having with yourself that are keeping you from writing. Identifying those and letting them go, while not always easy is well worth the effort.

Not knowing that much about you or what you’re interested in writing, I’d be stabbing in the dark to offer you any more coaching at this point. Perhaps if/when we talk. And yet, I will take a stab:
1. Do you have an established writing time/schedule. If not create one. To start with it doesn’t even have to be that much time. An hour a day, even thirty minutes to start. Whatever it is, keep your word with yourself.
2. Try the Pomodoro technique when you do sit down to write. Set a timer for 25 minutes, then write until the timer goes off. That could be brainstorming what you want to write, adding to something you’ve already written, or revising, etc. Stick to it for the full time, then take a 5-10 minute break before going resetting the timer if you still have time set aside.
My promise to myself is to write for at least 2 Pomodoro segments every day during the week and once per day on the weekend.

Or how do you keep yourself motivated, especially during the current pandemic which can be quite draining?

Truth be known there are times I’m not motivated or inspired to write. Often times it takes keeping my word with myself and sitting down at the keyboard and setting my timer. I mean, after all, 25 minutes isn’t that long, and if I do that I often find by the end of the time, I’m back in the flow. Don’t wait to be inspired. Sit and write and let that inspire you.

You maybe like me. I often don’t like to write. It can be hard. However, I love to have written. That’s a blast.

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The Fringe Candidate Visionary Fiction Soon to be an Audiobook

That’s right. After a successful Kickstarter Campaign to raise the funds for this project we’re full speed ahead to produce a tw0-narrator audiobook of the visionary fiction political satire, The Fringe Candidate.

Here is a short sample of what the audiobook will sound like provided by my two narrators, Ben Fife and Meg Price.

Want to Know More about the Story?



A race against evil . . . and time
— Delivering a simple truth can be the most courageous act —[image error]
— Exposing evil rulers is a game of life or death — 

Led to the brink of destruction by its corrupt POTUS, Amberica is bleaker than ever. Who could hope to unseat Oscar Wellian, a fascist who wields the full force of martial law? Plenty are willing to try, but only one entrant has what it takes to give Oscar a run for his ill-gotten gains. Enter Angeline Tarkington . . . the people’s final hope.   

Despite her heart of gold and concrete ideals, it won’t be easy. Is Tarkington’s integrity enough to combat systemic corruption and heal a hemorrhaging nation? An amalgam of corporate interests known as ‘The Triumvirate’ will stop at nothing to silence her, and Tarkington can’t expect victory without sacrifice. 

Tarkington’s ability to transform those around her will be put to the ultimate test, as new allies may mean the difference between victory and defeat, but will they join her? In any case, she’ll need to tread very carefully. Unmasking a monster will be an invitation to an all-out duel with the nation as the prize.

With The Fringe Candidate, Brad Swift offers readers a picture of untold possibility. The Amberica series is visionary fiction from a dreamer’s apex—dark and doubly daring for its optimistic soul. 

The Fringe Candidate is now available on Amazon in ebook and paperback editions.[image error]

A Few Early Comments & Reviews

From Writers Inspiring Change International

No spoilers, but if you want see the vision of an actual government that represents the true democratic principles espoused by the Constitution it is supposed to follow, and not the mediocrity and imposter it has become over the years, read this book.  Read the entire review by Writers Inspiring Change International Here.

I LOVED The Fringe Candidate. It was one of the funniest, most hopeful, and true to life bits of satire I’ve read in a very long time. Jane L.

If you ever want to read a book that keeps you interested and ignites possibility in your heart, read The Fringe Candidate. Brad Swift kept me on the fringe of disbelief, despair, eagerness and hopefulness in his book The Fringe Candidate. It is a read I urge you to take in as a possibility. Although it is clearly a parody of what is happening today, it offers mystery, intimacy, and intrigue.J. Hollifield

Also, a recent article published by the Visionary Fiction Alliance.

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On Becoming a (Homeschool) Teacher

Some years after we’d completed the job of homeschooling our daughter, Amber, I asked my wife, Ann, her recollections on how we’d come to make such an important decision in our only child’s future. I learned that Ann’s recollections were almost completely different from my own. At the end of the conversation, we agreed that while our paths had been different our final destination had been the same. We realized that homeschooling Amber was consistent with our somewhat unconventional, even contrarian approach to life that had up to that point worked pretty well.

My own path involved a couple of conversations with two other contrarians, Daniel Quinn, and Ocean Robbins. Not long after Amber’s birth, as a freelance writer, I created Project Purpose: “To write and publish articles about people and institutions whose lives and missions are dedicated to a bold and inspired purpose or vision.” Quinn and Robbins were two of the purposeful people I interviewed. Both made a significant contribution to my advocating homeschooling Amber.

Quinn, an American writer, cultural critic, and former publisher of educational texts, is probably best known for his novel Ishmael, which won the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship Award in 1991 for an unpublished work of fiction offering creative and positive solutions to global problems. (The award was worth $500,000, the largest single sum ever awarded to a single work of literature.) I had the honor of interviewing Mr. Quinn a few years later for an article that appeared in The Sun. One of the questions I asked in the interview was how do your views articulated in Ismael apply to our society today? How can we apply this information to education, for example?

Quinn replied: “People say, ‘Oh, but there’s so much more to learn in our society.’ Yes, but do children actually learn it? When we give them a test to find out how much they actually know, we find they know very little. Yet if a child grows up in a household where four languages are spoken, that child will learn four languages. So there is nothing wrong with the learning capacity of children. If they have access to information, children can learn anything they want.

“If preteens, for example, get into computers, they can learn how to defeat national-security systems. They don’t need to go to school to learn that. They sit at their computers and teach themselves. This is the way learning takes place in tribal societies. Children have access to everything there. And if children in our culture had access to everything we have, they would learn it all. The best part is, if they learn things because they want to, they never forget them.

“Our educational system doesn’t trust our children to be able to learn, even though we are learning machines; we are genetically designed to learn. This is our greatest success as a species. We don’t need to force children to learn, or put them in a prison-like environment.”

About that same time I interviewed homeschooled Ocean Robbins, the son of activist John Robbins and author of Diet for a New America. A few years previous to my interviewing him, sixteen-year-old Ocean had joined with eighteen-year-old Ryan Eliason in founding YES!, Youth for Environmental Sanity, a nonprofit organization, formed to encourage young people to get involved in making a positive change in the world. During the interview Ocean paraphrased Mark Twain: “I couldn’t let school get in the way of my education.” It was a passing comment that resonated strongly with me and sealed the deal. Ann and I would homeschool our daughter.

I’ve never regretted that decision even during times when we stumbled in the process. For example, fairly early it became clear that Ann’s teaching style didn’t mesh all that well with Amber’s learning style. They butted heads numerous times before we figured out that my more organic, learn by doing approached did work well. Still, Ann played a key role as our homeschool principle and chief administrator making sure all the critically important details required to homeschool a child in the state of North Carolina were met. Ann was also our chief planner when it came to our family trips which were no longer just vacations but were now learning opportunities for Amber. Such field trips became an integral part of Amber’s educational curriculum.

Did we make the right decision to homeschool Amber? To answer that question I need only look at Amber who is one of the most loving, grounded, and savvy young women I’ve ever met. So, while we may have muddled through the education process at times, it all seemed to turn out well in the end.

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Canine Candy Striper

For weeks we listened to the news about the devastating effects wrought on New Orleans and the Louisiana coast by Hurricane Katrina. Being a former veterinarian I was particularly sensitive to the horror stories I heard about the thousands of displaced pets. My gut would not let me rest. I felt compelled to do something but what? I remember awakening in the middle of the night with the clear message: “go help the displaced pets.” I was surprised by the message because I’d not been in practice as a veterinarian for over a decade, and thought my small animal vet days were over, but as my mom was so fond of telling me, “Once a vet always a vet.”

The next morning I searched the Internet and found that the United States Humane Society was in special need for volunteers who could travel to Gonzales, Louisiana within the next twenty-four to seventy-two hours. Hearing this, I rearranged my schedule to answer the call. On Wednesday morning, September 21st, as I had breakfast with my family, we planned how to make my trip safe and of the most service possible. My thirteen-year-old daughter, Amber, who I believe received a double dose of the “pet-loving gene” volunteered to call local vet hospitals and grooming parlors to ask if they would donate supplies for me to take. By that afternoon, the van was filled, not only with gas but also with donated pet food and medical supplies.

My destination was the Lamar Dixon Exposition Center in Gonzales, Louisiana where over 1200 displaced pets were housed.  The warning on the instructions stated: “You must realize the Gonzales facility is extremely chaotic. You must be able to work independently as well as follow directions of the incident command and lead veterinary staff. Housing is up to you and involves camping. You will need to make your own travel arrangements and assume all related travel costs.”

What was I getting myself into? I wondered.  I had over fifteen hours to ponder that question as I drove south while listening to increasingly alarming warnings on the radio of another tropical storm approaching Louisiana – Hurricane Rita.  I confess I had serious doubts about this mission of mercy Wednesday evening as I watched the Weather Channel from my hotel room in Atlanta.  I almost turned back for home – home to the love and safety of my family.  Then I remembered the van full of supplies entrusted to my care by the other veterinarians and groomers.  No way was I going home before I delivered them.

Shortly after arriving in Gonzales in the late afternoon on Thursday, I connected with Dr. Eric Davis, director of Rural Area Veterinary Services (RAVS) who had organized a team of veterinarians, techs and other volunteers to transport about a hundred and fifty dogs plus about two dozen geese, ducks and chickens north of Baton Rouge to the farm of the Dixon Correctional Institute where it was believed they would be safer from the approaching Hurricane Rita, and where they could be cared for by the inmates of D. C. I. under Dr. Davis’ supervision.

With the donated pet and medical supplies in my van, I felt compelled to be sure these generous donations were well utilized and was guided to offer them to Dr. Davis and his team, of which I was now a part.  We loaded the pet poultry in a couple of vans and the dogs in two large semi-trucks and our team of about twenty volunteers traveled to the farm of Dixon Correctional Institute, arriving in the early morning hours.  We worked until about four a.m. checking the animals in, making sure they were properly identified and comfortable in sections of the barn that the inmates we were working with referred to as cellblocks.

Everyone on the team worked diligently to bring order out of the chaos that we’d experienced at Lamar Dixon. For the next four days, we made sure all the animals’ records were updated and accurate. Several of the veterinarians and techs began examining the pets and caring for those who needed medical attention.  We ate prison food for our meals and were thankful to receive it.  Most of the predominately female team slept in the barn or the nearby farmhouse on palettes on the floor, six to eight per room. Although I had brought a tent, the weather was hardly conducive to outdoor camping so I ended up borrowing a dog pillow from the donated pile of supplies to soften the back seat of my van where I slept each night, including on the windy, turbulent night that Hurricane Rita blew through our area.

I awoke the next morning stiff but thankful to be alive and to notice that the barn that had become the center of my universe was still standing and had suffered only superficial damage to the tin roof. During those four days and nights of helping establish a safe haven for the pets, I fell in love with all one hundred and fifty of them. Among other roles, I appointed myself as their “canine candy striper.” I found a supply of donated pet toys, chew toys, and dog biscuits that had been generously donated by people around the country. While everyone else was busy with the many other tasks of caring for dislocated pets, I made sure they each had something to play with and chew on, as well as giving them a little extra love and attention.

I left the farm late in the afternoon on Sunday for the long trek home, thinking my job was done, but somewhere between Louisiana and the mountains of North Carolina, I realized this little project of mine was far from over.  I realized that many of these loving animals would never be reunited with their original families.  What would happen to them? What an injustice it would be for so many people to make such an effort to save these courageous animals only to later have them euthanized. While they were receiving excellent care at D.C.I., that was only a temporary solution. So, upon reaching home I connected with the Animal Compassion Network; the largest no-kill, non-profit animal rescue organization located in Western North Carolina. I learn that through the hard work of other volunteers and foster homes they had found loving, permanent homes for more than 2,500 cats and dogs since 1999. I also learned they were receiving shipments of displaced pets from the Gulf states, no doubt some of which came from the D.C.I. Farm.

I guess my mom was right.  “Once a vet, always a vet,” and may I never lose my love and compassion for our four-legged friends.  It really has made for a most interesting life on purpose.

W. Bradford Swift has enjoyed a combo career as a writer & life coach for over thirty years. Since discovering Medium.com he is now the proud editor of Integrity Magazine which focuses on living a life on purpose. His website is www.wbradfordswift.com .

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Energize Your Writing with a Purposeful Writing Project

Several years ago I found my enjoyment of writing for magazines had faded. At that time, most of my writing revolved around my previous career as a small animal veterinarian, but writing about animal health issues had become boring and routine. Fortunately, I stumbled upon an idea that revitalized my love for writing. I invented a writing project, but not just any project. One of my favorite vet-related assignments had been to interview Bill Irwin and his dog, Orient. Irwin was the first blind man to walk the entire Appalachian Trail with Orient leading the way. I loved working on the piece and wanted to write similar articles that would give me a greater sense of purpose and that would allow me to tap into my passion as well. So, I created Project Purpose:

To write and publish articles about people and institutions whose lives and missions  are dedicated to a bold and inspired purpose or vision.

I started to focus my efforts on getting assignments that would fit Project Purpose by including the project in my query letters.  About three months later I received my first Project Purpose assignment from New Age Journal  (since re-named Body and Soul) to write a profile of Bo Lozoff of The Human Kindness Foundation in Carrboro, North Carolina. It was the largest assignment I’d received, both in the prestige of the magazine and the size of the paycheck. In fact, the check was for twice as much I had previously received for any other single article.

The most interesting phenomenon was that receiving the payment was the proverbial icing on the cake. I enjoyed the entire assignment, from researching the article to writing the piece. Even the revision process was virtually painless because I was doing something close to my heart. When the check arrived, the icing on an already delectable dessert, I knew I had hit upon something really important.  As Greg Braendel of Career Dreams, Inc. and another Project Purpose profile subject says, “Passion always sells; obsession never does.”

Create Your Own Revitalizing Project

I truly believe that what gave my writing project so much energizing power was that it reconnected me to a sense of purpose and passion. So, start to create your own project by asking yourself; what stirs your passion? The question isn’t as silly as you may think. Many people have lost touch with their passion, the inner spark that ignites them to inspired action. The best they can muster is a mild curiosity or a passing interest. The following exercise will help you get in touch with your passion. Find a nice quiet place where you won’t be disturbed as you go through this five-minute exercise.

The Passion Police are on the way to your home with a mission is to take away everything you’re passionate about. Your only hope is to write down those things in life that are really important to you. If it’s not written down, the Passion Police will take it away, never to be in your world again.

You must be as precise as possible about what you write. For instance, if relationships are important to you, write down which relationships are important. If you love animals, which ones do you love the most and why? Describe the specific details of your passion. What do you want to be left in your world after the Passion Police leave? It must be written down. Take five minutes to record in your notebook everything about which you’re passionate, then set the list aside for a day or two. When you come back, use the list to help guide you to the subject or subjects about which you most want to write while keeping in mind the various markets that would be interested in those subjects. Write down a simple statement of your new writing project and begin to include it in future queries. Here’s an example:

This article is part of a long term writing project—Project Purpose: to write and publish articles about people whose lives are dedicated to a bold and inspiring purpose or vision. This project eventually led me to co-found Life On Purpose Institute after writing about dozens of purposeful people (samples HERE ).

Just be forewarned. It’s impossible to predict where a purposeful, passion-filled writing project might lead you, but I can promise that you won’t be disappointed by the final destination.

Besides his extensive magazine writing experience, W. Bradford Swift is also the author of From Spark to Flame: Fanning Your Passion & Ideas into Money-making Magazine Articles that Make a Difference, and Life On Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life — an award-winning finalist in the Self-Help: Motivational division of the Best Books 2007 Awards sponsored by USA New. Swift is also the author of twenty books of speculative fiction including the FreeForm Series under the pen name of Orrin Jason Bradford. His website is: www.wbradfordswift.com .

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Charm House – A Suspenseful Tale with a Twist

One of my fondest and clearest childhood memories is of sitting on one of the many wraparound porches so popular in the South, eating watermelon, listening to the grownups debating various topics. On such lazy summer afternoons, a favorite question often bantered back and forth was which came first? Was Charm House named after an original family whose surname was Charm, that then resulted in the family modeling the house to match its new name, or was it such an attractive house that this most appropriate name just naturally arose to any who saw it? Not that many people ever saw it. Charm House sat on a dirt road off the main thoroughfare of Foster Flat, if the small town could be accused of having such a thoroughfare.

No, Charm House sits at the end of a long, ever-narrowing, almost unnoticeable road. One would think the two large stone pillars on either side of the road’s entrance would stand out more, thus making the entrance to Charm House more observable as well, but they’ve been covered by a thick growth of English Ivy for so long that few people even know they exist. But every once in a while, a small sign appeared on the side of the road:

In its day, Charm House had been one of the most well respected and popular boarding houses in Western North Carolina. Even though it had always been off the beaten track, word-of-mouth spread, so it was rarely vacant. Then, the War of Northern Aggression had broken out at Fort Sumter, and the isolated location of Charm House proved to be an advantage. Even the large stone pillars that marked the entrance to Charm House camouflaged themselves under a veil of ivy, and the lone sign was removed. Many years later, that very same sign would appear on rare occasions for a few days at a time. The local residents would awaken to see the sign next to one of the pillars. They’d shake their heads knowingly and make sure their loved ones knew to stay away. A few days later, the sign would be gone, and the same residents would breathe a sigh of relief.

Such was the case on a muggy summer afternoon as Sebastian Haverstock drove his ’65 Ford truck along US 25 approaching Foster Flat. It was a day of regret for Sebastian. He regretted deciding to grow a beard after returning from his second tour of duty in Viet Nam. He regretted even more not taking the time to fix the air conditioning in his truck, ignoring the advice that “it’s a lot hotter down there” from the few people who knew of his plan to travel south.

But he was on a mission to find the truth of a rumor that had haunted his family for over four generations, and hopefully, in so doing, lay the groundwork to build a new life for himself.

At the moment, he was more aware of the heat and the constant ache in his right knee, where a sizable piece of shrapnel still resided. This chronic pain was topped by the stabbing pain between his shoulder and neck, as though someone had taken the bayonet from his duffle bag and planted it in his back. He also regretted not stopping at that gas station over fifty miles back, but he was determined to make it to Foster Flat before calling it a day. Then he saw the sign:

Charm House

Bed & Breakfast

Vacancy

He knew B&B’s tended to be more expensive than Motel 6’s and the like, and making a habit of staying at them would deplete his minuscule savings. That would jeopardize his mission before completing its objective. But he also realized he’d not seen anything resembling an economy hotel in the last two hundred miles.

Besides, he’d been good so far in pinching pennies. He deserved at least one night with a decent meal and a comfortable bed, not to mention the warm feeling of home that came over him as he read the sign. As he turned onto the narrow graveled road between the two hidden pillars, the feeling of coming home grew. Strange, he thought. I’ve never lived in the south or anywhere remotely like this place. Still, the feeling grew stronger as he pulled to a stop next to the most aptly named house he’d ever seen. Everything about it reeked of charm, from the steep Victorian style roof to the emerald green shutters along each window, to the light yellow paint that looked to be in need of a touch up if not a full new coat. Probably more expensive than I can afford, he thought, as he contemplated turning around.

The thought evaporated as the front door opened and out stepped the most exotically beautiful woman he’d ever seen, dressed to match the same period as the house itself. She reminded him of Vivien Leigh’s portrayal of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, complete with the flaming auburn hair cascading in ringlets down to her shoulders and the dark emerald dress that matched her eyes.

It felt like he’d stepped back in time to his great-great-great grandfather’s era, which, considering his mission, made this the perfect place to launch his investigation. As he lumbered from the truck, stretching his aching back and shoulders and gingerly flexing his knee, the sign on the side of the road slowly faded into oblivion.

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