A to Z II - P is for Pete

Welcome to another installment of my personal A to Z challenge. Today's letter is the letter p. The letter p is for Pete, of course.

Peter is a vital character to the story of Trajectory.

Without Pete, Joe would be an absolute wreck. Pete is Joe's rock. He is his confidant, his touchstone, his sanity. Pete gives Joe clarity, serenity, logic, insight...he's everything Joe needs to help him gain perspective. He doesn't judge Joe. When Joe feels completely alone in this world, he always knows he can count on Pete.

The two met in the Marines, and they quickly forged a good friendship.

After the Marines, they returned home to Detroit. They joined the Detroit Police Department together, and they both made the SWAT team. Through it all, their friendship remained strong as ever.

In the end, one fateful call changes everything between Joe and Pete. Nothing could ever take away that friendship, nor the importance of it to Joe.

Pete is a wonderful guy. Without him, Joe would never be - and could never be - the man that he is.

Pete is truly Joe's rock.

A to Z Challenge - P is for Passion

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

It's time for another A to Z Challenge! This year, I want to tell you about a story that is currently a WIP (work in progress). It's the story I'm writing in honor of my baby lovebird, Robert. It's a fantasy story, but it's really a story about emotional healing. So let's examine it by going through the alphabet!

Our letter of the day, p, stands for passion.

When I started writing Robert's story, it was a way I wanted to honor him and his memory. My passion and my connection with him was what spurred me to do this in the first place.

As the story evolved, so did my passion.

My passion for the message of Robert's story was ignited. The message was one that was as important for me to hear as it is for you. I needed to write this to heal myself, in order to help you heal.

My love and passion for Robert morphed into Robert's passion for helping both you and I heal.

The passion that is behind this story is immense. Without that passion, this story would have fizzled out. Instead, the passion helped it to flourish into a wonderful story with a wonderful message.

Passion is of the utmost importance in writing something like this. I am so grateful that Robert helped give me the passion I needed to create this piece.

Tomorrow we discuss the ever interesting q! Don't miss it!

2015 A to Z Challenge: Pianissimo - Day 16 (P)

 For the third consecutive year, I am participating in the A to Z blog challenge.
http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

This year, we're going to go through my latest full-length novel, Pianissimo.

Today just happens to be the 16th day, so that means our letter is P. P is for Pianissimo.

Pianissimo means softly, or to play softly. With a story that talks about softness, gentleness, caring and compassion, the title is quite fitting.

It's a title that is meant to grab and intrigue you. I think it does just that (it's ok for me to say that. I wasn't the one who came up with the title! LOL).

In this story, the music is played softly; the love between Agnes and Margaret runs deep and softly; the changes and growth Corinne experiences come softly; the restoration of the piano comes about by a soft touch.

It may mean softly, but it still has a tremendous impact!

http://www.amazon.com/Pianissimo-Lauren-Shiro-ebook/dp/B00OEOTZMC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1420832795&sr=8-2&keywords=lauren+shiro

P: Poetry

In my younger days, I loved writing poetry. Poetry was a wonderful outlet for me and I think I wrote poetry well. My staccato voice and love of powerful words found a great home in poetry.

When I divorced, my sole request was to have all of my belongings returned to me. Unforunately, my ex-husband did not fulfill my request. Instead, he held on to a few of my most prized possessions including books I had been published in and my beloved blank journal in which I wrote my poetry.

I have not written poetry since. That was thirteen years ago.

Thirteen years of no poetry. In fact, it was at that point that I had really focused my attention on the sciences and any writing I did was non-fiction. Facts were my life; creativity eluded me greatly.

In 2006, I began writing fiction just for myself. I enjoyed it tremendously. Pushed by my publisher, I submitted it and have been writing fiction ever since.

Still no poetry, though.

That is until recently.

A dear friend of mine is a writer in The Netherlands. She recently discovered the Dutch form of poetry known as Elje.

An Elfje is a Dutch poem of consisting of 11 words. The stanzas are broken down such as this:

1
23
456
78910
11

So it's one word, then two, then three, then four, then back to one.

I don't know why, but something about Elfjes appealed to me. They weren't intimidating. They seemed like a fun form of poetry.

There are rules for writing these, but I (along with my friend), have decided that rules are simply meant to be broken! :) I have no idea what the rules are, I just write them as I see/feel fit.

And they are. Since I started, I have written several elfjes (I average about one poem per day). I cannot describe how cathartic these poems have been for me. They free me, cleanse me, heal me. Most importantly, they challenge me. It's a new genre. There are so many ways to write these, so many different ways to express one's self just through elfjes. I simply love enfjes!

Poetry takes on many forms and are a wonderful way to express oneself. I highly suggest writing in any form of poetry that appeals to you. Elfjes are just one wondeful form of self expression. :)