Literature was my very favorite class in school. I loved reading. I was often told I was “out picking daisies” when I wasn’t listening in class. My mother said I was “telling stories” when she suspected what I said wasn’t exactly the truth. I come by this writing thing naturally.
But literature is the common language of all mankind. Cave walls told stories, in picture form, of incidents in history. Maybe some of them were true. Stories were told around campfires when clans gathered at night. Most of those weren’t true, but stories pull us all together.
In the year 2000, my husband and I traveled to Zimbabwe for a trip of a lifetime. We stayed in a camp and my husband went out daily with professional hunters and trackers and some days I stayed in. It was a lot of hiking, and besides, I had a Stephen King novel that I read as I sat by the Zambezi River that was the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. I also watched the local wildlife from my chair as the workers in the camp went about their daily lives. I felt like it was a National Geographic special right before my eyes.
Part of the week, children who belonged to one of the professional hunters came to spend the week with Dad. They were on break from their boarding school. One little boy, about 10 years old, came over and sat with me and we talked. Most American kids would not have struck up a conversation with an adult they didn’t know. I tried to think of things to talk about as we sat there 8,000 miles from my home, when along came an inch worm on the arm of the chair.
“Oh, look,” I said, “a Pushmi-Pullyu.” I instantly thought this boy will not know what you are talking about. My kids and I used that term even though it wasn’t what the animal looked like in the Dr. Doolittle book.
He sat quietly a moment and then said, “My teacher has been reading Dr. Doolittle to us in school. Are those animals real?”
And instantly this boy, who lived a world away from my world, and I had a bond. Literature. He knew who Dr. Doolittle was! And he knew the wonderful, though fantastical, creatures of that piece of literature written in 1920–long before either of us were born.
Literature brings people of all cultures together. It is a common bond and a goal worth pursuing whether you are reading or writing. What is your favorite piece of literature?
What have you been reading this week?
It’s October and time for ghosties and ghoulies and three-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night. I don’t know if I’ll do the Trick or Treat thing, but I did get out the few decorations I still have and decorated for fall. It is the end of a season and the beginning of a new one. It’s October. I don’t know if I’ll do the Trick or Treat thing, but I did get out the few decorations I still have. It is the end of a season and the beginning of a new one.
This weekend was the 50th reunion of my high school class. I have no idea how that happened. 50 years ago, I was a bright-eyed teenager with the world at my feet. My husband and I met in high school and married young, had our children young, and then settled in staying in our hometown. We’ve only moved three times. It would take a crowbar to get him out of this town. We have traveled a lot, just always coming home to Enid, Oklahoma.
I recently released a new book, Flatiron Death Grip, through Airship 27 Productions. It is in the pulp fiction genre and the publisher always pairs the writer with an artist to bring the story to life. The color cover is painted by Ted Hammond and the inside black and white illustrations were done by a relative newcomer, Gabriella Saenz (Gabs). Rob Fortier, one of the owners of the publishing company, teaches a class on comic book writing and met 16-year-old Gabs in his class. He immediately saw a world of talent in her and asked her to do the inside illustrations for my book. Now that the book has been released for sale, I wanted to introduce her to you. So, I asked her a few questions. Here are her answers. And when I asked for a headshot so you would know what she looks like, she sent me a self-portrait of the artist. 
Beautiful!
I’m having a book release party on September 24, 2021 from 5-7 at Enid Axe Throwing 
The tag line for this year’s blogs is “Expect the Unexpected.” And I have. I came up with a “brilliant” idea several years ago taking characters from short stories I’d written and putting them together into a novel. They were all fantasy characters, and my plan was to take them and merge them into one story. These characters would make a band of superheroes with one main goal in mind. Maybe not so “brilliant.” What could they possibly have in common?
When I was a young mother of a two-year-old I saw that a yoga class was being taught at a local church. I needed the socialization and time away from home—not to mention the exercise. So, I joined and loved the class. I began to practice it at home. A life-long swimmer, as time went on I became a certified swimming instructor and taught swimming and water exercise at the local YMCA. I continued to practice yoga and they asked me to teach that class too. I wasn’t certified to teach it I merely parroted what I had learned but the classes filled up.
I have had so much fun lately in my writerly/readerly world. Last week I set up at Comic Con in Enid and yesterday the Enid Writers Club presented Bernhardt at the Manz in the historical Champlin Mansion in Enid 
