Today is a day I always remember. August 29, the anniversary of when Hurricane Katrina hit. Today is the 9th anniversary.

Most people on the Gulf Coast remember today like our parents remember when JFK was shot or when Pearl Harbor happened. It’s a date that changed people’s lives.

I’m proud of my home town for its ability to be resilient in the face of destruction and hopelessness. I’m upset that many things still haven’t come back, and many people decided not to. Most of all, I sit in reverent silence and am thankful for my friends and family.

I wrote a poem after Katrina happened – today I share it with you. It’s on the Freebies page of my website. Click here to read it.

We are coming up on the 9th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, on August 29.

Some of my local friends down in New Orleans sent me this link that shows the city then and now. The only real visual of this I saw in person was the big pile of garbage in Lakeview. That stayed there for several months afterward.

Keep remembering. Keep New Orleans safe :)

FYI – next year (2015) on Aug 29, I plan to release a women’s fiction novel about 2 sisters in the aftermath of Katrina and how they view the city. So stay tuned!

Happy Sunday and weekend, all :)

Today’s post is going to be random. Kind of the way my mind is most of the time, yanno?

I’m on a writing retreat this weekend, about 75 miles north of where I live. It’s a quaint small town with enough restaurants and amenities nearby to keep us happy, but not enough nightlife to be distracting. For those who haven’t done writing retreats, I highly recommend them. They can increase your productivity tenfold, provided you have people with you who have the same goal: WRITING.

Here is a typical look at our schedule:

11am Friday – arrive and meet at restaurant for lunch. Plot and brainstorm during lunch, catch up.

12pm – 5pm Friday – writing in hotel room.

5pm Friday on – dinner, relax, chatting, brainstorming.

Saturday 9am – 5pm – writing with the exception of breakfast and lunch, during which we plot, talk, brainstorm. The main hours of the day are quiet with us writing; we talk and go over any stalled areas during meals.

Sunday 8am-12noon – writing.

12 noon – retreat ends & we go home.

This year’s been a productive one (yay!)

Now I get to drive home in a computer. Not a car, a computer. Or so it seems. I’m used to my 14 year old car and its easy means of pressing a button to favorite a radio station. This rental car I’m in (because my car is being worked on, hence the need for a rental) is a Chevy Malibu. Talk about bells and whistles! It took me 30 minutes to figure out the cruise control and I *still* haven’t figured out an easy way to navigate between radio stations. That’s my biggest complaint – getting pre-set channels should be user friendly and easy. But all the favorites I pick don’t show up in the listing.

We had some excitement at the beginning of our weekend. The whole town was under a “boil water” advisory because supposedly some samples of water came back contaminated. That means no soda, water, or anything made with water at restaurants. Turns out the ban was lifted the evening we arrived, and the reason for the ban in the first place? The EPA used dirty sample containers that were unsealed when they got them.

Now, it may be just me, but don’t you think the EPA would have been more efficient and safety-precaution oriented than that? Because they had dirty containers and the need for safety rules, an entire town went crazy without water for 3 days. I did notice in the paper that this town will no longer have the EPA doing testing; they will use a private firm.

Yeah. Smart move.

Happy Sunday and enjoy the water whereever you are!

Well, I never thought I would be gleeful and saying, “Yay! He’s dead!” so often in one week.

No, I am not a terrible person. But when I’m seeking to use a quote from a copyrighted work, I do smile when I notice the person has been dead at least 70 years. That means I *can* use the quote in question.

I listened to a copyright attorney give a seminar about a month ago. One item he mentioned was that in order to use a lyric, quote, poem from someone without worry of copyright infringement was to ensure the creator has been dead for at least 70 years. That means, anyone that died in the 1800s, 1910, etc. – their quotes can be used (for the most part – there are always exceptions).

For my Southern Ghosts Series, I have quotes before every chapter in Book 1. At first I thought I would have to remove them all, but it turns out, most of the creators have been dead 75-300 years. Yay! So true, while I don’t cheer on death, I am happy I can use most of the quotes. For some, I am seeking permission. For others, I will simply remove the quote and use another one that is legal.

You never know what phrase is going to make you happy when you wake up in the morning…

Summer is typically a great time for the release of new movies, everything from the action adventure over-the-top antics of Transformers to the more subtle, lovely indie films that give our souls a bit of a lift on sad days.

I’m a huge movie buff, but in the last year I see films dwindling and dwindling. Then, to my surprise, I found a few gems out there that I thought I’d share…

Fave #indiefilms of this summer:

1. BEGIN AGAIN (Mark Ruffalo, Keira Knightley) – lovely piece set in New York City that incorporates heartache, love, being an artist, and starting again. All with the Big Apple as the backdrop. Lovely, lovely.

2. THE ONE-HUNDRED FOOT JOURNEY (Helen Mirren, Rohan Chand) – a war between restaurants with charm, wit and passion. Fantastic :)

3. AND SO IT GOES (Diane Keaton, Michael Douglas) – Humorous and fun romantic comedy. Curmudgeon Michael Douglas lives next door to a questioning-her-worth Diane Keaton while suddenly getting his granddaughter dropped off on his front steps. Great emotion, great moments, even cried in a few places.