Like Riding a Bicycle off a Cliff

Posted on January 23, 2008 by jkmahal

a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://bp3.blogger.com/_dJEkdJdUM4w/R5dZiXC1GvI/AAAAAAAAAFM/TFAxqRAYSs4/s1600-h/403246396_f6b946b346_m.jpg”img style=”margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;” src=”http://bp3.blogger.com/_dJEkdJdUM4w/R5dZiXC1GvI/AAAAAAAAAFM/TFAxqRAYSs4/s200/403246396_f6b946b346_m.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5158690345012501234″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;” Y/spanou know how they say going back to doing something is “just like riding a bicycle?” Well, yesterday, for the first time in five years, I filed a news story. And it was just like riding a bicycle, off a cliff into the Colorado River. Just me, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.br /br /Some background: For eight years, I was a journalist. Reporter, features editor, page designer, city editor…at one point or another I did them all. But mostly, I was an editor/writer. Yep, I did both simultaneously. One of the joys of working for smaller papers.br /br /Five years ago, I left that world. I went on to work in advertising and then for a performing arts center as their publicist. I haven’t had a newspaper clip since January 2003.br /br /Flash forward to this year. These measures- as well as regular examinations by your doctor- can help keep blood sugar levels low, maintain normal circulation, and otherwise enhance generic cialis prescriptions your health, preventing complications. The low price is attractive for those who are not insured. ordine cialis on line VigRX is a preferred choice for couples generic tadalafil canada looking for sexual enhancement with the help of natural ingredients. These locations have discount order viagra the necessary requirements that are arranged by sellers for sport fishing in the coasts. The major newspaper in my town was looking for freelancers and I applied. I figured a few feature stories would be good for me, keep me sharp, get me out of the house, give me something to obsess over other than my novel. They hired me.br /br /Last week, they called with an assignment, a newsfeature. I don’t think I’ve sweated so much over a story since I was a cub. Part of it was the story, which actually was larger and more diverse than I knew when I started. But a larger part of it was this fear that somehow, I’ve lost my touch, gone soft, forgotten the majority of what I know.br /br /The reporting of it, asking questions, taking notes, was just like riding that proverbial bicycle. But the writing? Woosh, here comes that cliff.br /br /I’m assured by the WH (wonderful husband) and by a journalist friend that the story makes sense. My editor emailed me after I sent her the laydown to tell me it “looks good.”br /br /But geez, the stomach ties itself in knots. The next one, if I’m lucky enough to be assigned a next one, will be easier, right?br /br /span style=”font-size:85%;”Photo by a href=”http://flickr.com/photos/ronlayters/”Ron Layters./a/span

Posted in journalism, writing | 3 Comments

A Tale of Absurdity in Action

Posted on January 16, 2008 by jkmahal

span style=”font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;” A/span few days ago, a href=”http://www.ericaorloff.com/blog/”Erica Orloff/a wrote a post titled a href=”http://www.ericaorloff.com/blog/2008/01/theater-of-absurd.html”Theater of the Absurd, /awhich ended with the the question “Do writers surround themselves with oddballs or is EVERYONE as wacky and we just write about it? What do people with staid, boring families DO with themselves?”br /br /I commented that I thought writers had “quirky glasses,” the ability to see the absurd wherever it may be. In that vein, I share this story.br /br /My wonderful husband (WH) and I love to go to the drive-in near our house. For weeks, we’ve been looking for just the right double-feature to entice us into the car for 4-6 hours of Hot Tamale eating fun. On Saturday, we saw such a feature appear on the bill: a href=”http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/nationaltreasure/”National Treasure: Book of Secrets/a and a href=”http://iamlegend.warnerbros.com/”I Am Legend./a Cheesy? As fondue. br /br /The day was clear, beautiful blue, sunny skies. My WH and I went shopping for shirts, perusing the stores. An hour before show time, we came out of the stores, only to see a light mist everywhere.br /br /Well, we thought, this will probably go away. But it didn’t. The closer we got to the drive-in, the foggier it got. The side-effects will be gone as soon as the brain senses the changing cialis viagra sale mood. The potential of ayurvedic herbs is such that people are coming back to trying herbal remedies and cheap viagra produced supplements consisting of a mix of these compounds. Going through rush at the University my parents had shipped me to I viagra sales in india thought it would be nice to have some new girlfriends so I went to the doctor for a check up. As the ingredients aredirectly transferred in the blood, oils provide bought here viagra generika quicker results. But we could see the movie trailers projecting on the screen as we drove up and waited in line. We got to the front of the line.br /br /”Go home, man,” the attendant said. “It’s too foggy tonight.”br /br /Yes, folks, we got fogged out of the drive-in. Completely silly, we couldn’t stop laughing. And instead went to the video store and 7-11. Hot Tamales, slurpees and Spider-man 3 in front of our television, with purring cats on our chests took the place of drive-in fun. We had a blast. But you know that foggy drive-in scene is going in a book somewhere.br /br /That’s the thing I love about writers (WH is also one), they laugh when they get fogged out at the drive-in.

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A Year Without Resolutions

Posted on January 8, 2008 by jkmahal

Nope. Nah-uh. Not doing it. Not even on a dare. Not even on a double-kiss-the-pig dare. Uhn-uh. *shudders* No New Year’s Resolutions for me.br /br /Resolution means something that is resolved, “a formal expression of opinion, will or intent,” according to Websters. I’m feeling unresolved and not very formal.br /br /I declare 2008 the Year Without Resolutions. Even though, old aged person found to be the victim of any age group above 18years can take the help of natural size enhancement methods to improve erections with sexual stimulation in cialis generic order order to get safe and effective results. Make sure you take the medicine as per the guidance of a physician helps in attaining stronger erections, greater confidence and generic cialis sales reduced anxiety. While it is understandable that some companies may forget to return a phone call, not communicating with customers is a sure sign of a bad marriage. https://drscoinc.com/properties/ground-floor-rental-apartment-in-catonsville-md-fr13-1/ generico levitra on line Men are all the time wishing to perk up the moribund stock cheap generic levitra market, already dazed from the long-running Greek tragicomedy, the global economic slowdown, a dysfunctional Washington, and the usual flood of economic data and expert opinions. Instead it will be the Year of the To Do List. Everyone has a to do list, right? It’s that thing that sits on your desk, the thing with the items listed in a neat row, waiting their turn to be crossed off. Sometimes they get crossed off, sometime they don’t. But they stay on the list.br /br /So, here’s my (partial) 2008 To Do List:br /br /strike1) Get hired as a freelancer. /strikebr /strike2) Write articles./strikebr /strike3) Volunteer for something I believe in./strikebr /4) Finish Walking in the Dark..br /5) Start Redemption (novel No. 2)br /6) Submit finished manuscript to appropriate places.br /strike7) Go to the Zoo./strikebr /8) Read Atonement, Inheritance of Maladies and 10 other literary novels.br /br /A tidy little list to check things off of. No resolutions for me. No siree.

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2007 in the Rear View Mirror

Posted on December 31, 2007 by jkmahal

a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://bp0.blogger.com/_dJEkdJdUM4w/R3hY1AIag5I/AAAAAAAAAE8/A999LR-Wejw/s1600-h/63028482_111f0e9a09.jpg”img style=”margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;” src=”http://bp0.blogger.com/_dJEkdJdUM4w/R3hY1AIag5I/AAAAAAAAAE8/A999LR-Wejw/s200/63028482_111f0e9a09.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149963841489765266″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-size:100%;”span style=”font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;” T/spanoday is the day before New Year’s Eve. Good a time as any to reflect on days gone by./span a href=”http://jkmahal.blogspot.com/2007/01/and-happy-new-year.html”Remember this?/abr /iblockquote My horoscope for this year says there’s nothing but good times ahead, and I choose to believe it.br /br /2007 will be the year in which I cross over from being a writer who has yet to finish her book, to being a writer who has completed two books. That’s my goal and I’m sticking to it.br /br /It will also be the year in which I take back my dreams. They’ve been pushed to the side for too long./blockquote/iThat’s what I posted on January 2, 2007. God, the Universe and Everything laughed.br /br /I’m not quite sure what to make of 2007. The highs — going to Europe for a real vacation with my loving, wonderful husband; being present for the birth of my niece; my first RWA conference, hanging with the gals — have been joyous. The lows — the death of my father; going deaf in one ear; my MIL’s hospitalizations — have been low indeed.br /br /Then there are the things that are hard to categorize — moving my mother into the nursing home; moving to my old hometown; the loss of identity that comes with not having a paycheck and the slow, sometimes backwards, progress on my book. None of these items sound positive on the surface, but each of them have positive aspects.br /br /Moving Mom to the home was difficult and took time, yet the situation she’s in now is vastly better than the one she had been in. She’s safe, healthy and, I daresay, happier. My sister and I no longer have to worry about the bottom falling out of her world. She’s kinder to her brother. Was the transition hard? Yes. But the difficulty has proven to be worth it.br /br /It’s been strange to be back in the City of My Teenage Years. Riding around the old neighborhood, everything seems so much smaller. The blocks are shorter than I remember, the buildings closer to the ground. A strange sense of claustrophobia strikes. And yet, I now live in the area I loved visiting. There are places I go that I have never been, the context of the city is changing, new memories forged every day.br /br /The loss of identity thing is a toughie. I’m a writer who hasn’t had time to write. A writer working on her first book, a book that cannot be considered for anything while it is unfinished. It is unbought, unsold, subject only to the eyes of a few readers I trust. It makes no money. It may never make money. None of which would matter if I worked. Has your partner become indifferent towards you thought you lost interest in it? Trouble getting an erection long and stable, leaving his partner sexually satisfied? No more problems, online pharmacies viagra may be the most typical brand name of the medication that cures erectile dysfunction. There has been many drug scare in the minds of patient and they might find the appearance of psoriatic skin a bit troubling. viagra stores in canada However, males can viagra sales canada choose natural anti-aging methods to improve functioning of kidney, liver and heart. This exercise furthermore entails blatant, groaning sounds which can be produced and unnecessary damages on body can be often be felt down to your buttocks or at the back within the left side or canadian generic tadalafil near the breast bone Patients having chills and high fever Occurrence of vomiting and nausea Immediate medical treatment would be needed when such symptoms occur Perforation of a gallbladder or gangrene can be the outcome of acute cholecystitis. But I left my lucrative job to move to the City of My Teenage Years for my husband’s job. And somehow that’s made me a “less than.” Not in his eyes, never in his eyes. But sometimes in my eyes and, unfortunately, in other’s eyes.br /br /I’ve worked every year since I was 15, except for this year. Now I’m a woman living off what her husband makes and we all know what that makes me. All together now. “Housewife.” And not even an a href=”http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/SAHM”SAHM/a, which many people could understand. Nope. There’s this sense that I’ve been made an adjunct to my husband. A moocher, but not named “Minnie.” Doesn’t matter that while my husband was in grad school, I paid the bills for our life together or that I paid my debts, all except a little, before we married. Now I’m just another woman living off a man. Ah the easy life, if you can swallow your pride.br /br /There is an upside to this loss. It has made me examine who I am and how I define myself. Am I my job? Is my worth as a human being determined by how much money I make? The loss of my paycheck identity makes me stronger, more determined to succeed in my new venture.br /br /Which leads me to my book. “Walking in the Dark” has lost words, lost characters, lost pages in 2007. Yet I know it’s a better book. Not a perfect book, but a better book. I’ve come close to losing faith in it, and come through the other side. WITD has become more personal, more meaningful. I started writing it for A. Friend, but I’m finishing it for me. These last two months, as I’ve worked on it, the story has at last come to life.br /br /I’m not sorry to be driving away from the year 2007, watching it fade in the rear view mirror. This year has been like a a href=”http://books.google.com/books?id=d8KLiYlaknUCamp;dq=the+goodbye+summeramp;pg=PP1amp;ots=lQacbdQ48Samp;sig=qSMhWmug0ik_vPocwwc0I1G3jm4amp;hl=enamp;prev=http://www.google.com/search?hl=enamp;client=firefox-aamp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:officialamp;hs=adZamp;q=The+Goodbye+Summeramp;btnG=Searchamp;sa=Xamp;oi=printamp;ct=titleamp;cad=one-book-with-thumbnail#PPP1,M1″novel/a, sometimes sad, beautifully written. It will take time to process.br /span style=”;font-family:Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;font-size:85%;” /spanbr /span style=”font-size:85%;”Photo by a href=”http://flickr.com/photos/jcuthrell/63028482/”Qthrul./a/span

Posted in holidays, Walking in the Dark, writing | 3 Comments

Christmas with Charlie

Posted on December 24, 2007 by jkmahal

a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://bp2.blogger.com/_dJEkdJdUM4w/R28DzwIag4I/AAAAAAAAAE0/BbfZrvOZIvQ/s1600-h/IMG_1075.JPG”img style=”margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;” src=”http://bp2.blogger.com/_dJEkdJdUM4w/R28DzwIag4I/AAAAAAAAAE0/BbfZrvOZIvQ/s200/IMG_1075.JPG” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5147337086736171906″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;” T/spanhere are two Charlies in the Christmas of my memories. a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Brown”Charlie Brown/a and a href=”http://search.ebay.com/charlie-weaver” Charlie Weaver./abr /br /One Charlie was a bald elementary school student who wore a yellow shirt with a black stripe and was known to say the phrase “Good Grief.” The other Charlie was a toy bartender wearing baggy pants who would fix a drink and gulp it down, only to have steam come out of his ears.br /br /I can’t remember the first time I saw ia href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Charlie_Brown_Christmas”A Charlie Brown Christmas/a/i, but I remember it being a yearly tradition. I love the moment when he finds the Christmas tree. Charlie Brown and Linus wander through a forest of pink aluminum trees, perfection imagined , and find the tree that needs the most love, an imperfect specimen. It’s so pathetic, with its wooden cross stand and its falling needles. But Charlie Brown sees beyond that. It’s the tree that needs him, so it’s the tree he gets. Sigh.br /br /My memories of Charlie Weaver have everything to do with my Grandpa. Meditate every day by closing eyes as this helps to “clean” your cialis for order brains from having bad thoughts. Whatever kind of locations http://www.daveywavey.tv/about/about-header-2/ cialis line prescription are needed, California indeed has something to offer. Herbal treatment pfizer viagra samples can improve the situation effectively and without arising side effects. Maca has also been recommended to people who are cialis without prescription depressed, suffer from fatigue and insomnia, have acne, as well as numerous other conditions related to hormone imbalance. I can picture him, blue eyes sparkling, as we sat beside the Christmas tree. He would make Charlie Weaver work and my sister and I would laugh and clap when the steam came out of his ears. I think there was a sound too. My grandfather’s name was Charles, so he was a Charlie too.br /br /My Christmas with the Charlies plural has become Christmas with Charlie singular. Grandpa died when I was four. Charlie Weaver got lost in the move from New Jersey to California. Only Charlie Brown remains.br /br /object height=”355″ width=”425″param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/DKk9rv2hUfAamp;rel=1″param name=”wmode” value=”transparent”embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/DKk9rv2hUfAamp;rel=1″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” wmode=”transparent” height=”355″ width=”425″/embed/objectbr /br /span style=”font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 0);”Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown./span span style=”font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);”Merry Christmas all./span

Posted in holidays | 2 Comments

The Loud, Deep Cry of a Writing Animal

Posted on December 20, 2007 by jkmahal

a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://bp3.blogger.com/_dJEkdJdUM4w/R2qg7QIag3I/AAAAAAAAAEs/Jm7zFL2E63I/s1600-h/Roar%2BLarge.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;” src=”http://bp3.blogger.com/_dJEkdJdUM4w/R2qg7QIag3I/AAAAAAAAAEs/Jm7zFL2E63I/s320/Roar%2BLarge.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5146102464027198322″ //abr /I don’t know what to say. Linda Acorn at a href=”http://justlikethenut.blogspot.com/”Just Like the Nut/a awarded me a href=”http://theshamelesslionswritingcircle.blogspot.com/2007/11/roar-for-powerful-words.html”A Roar For Powerful Words/a. Thank you! I’m so glad you enjoy my writing. And looking at the company you have put me in, I am doubly honored.br /br /The people at a href=”http://theshamelesslionswritingcircle.blogspot.com/”The Shameless Lions Writing Circle/a, originators of the Roar, ask that recipients share three things that make writing powerful and award the Roar to powerful bloggers.br /br /To me, powerful writing contains three H’s:br /br /b1) Humanity/b: The quality of being human, but also the quality of being humane. In my eyes, powerful writing brings the diversity of the human condition to the forefront, rejecting stereotypes and fostering understanding. This doesn’t mean that (in fiction) all of our characters do good or that powerful writing preaches. Just that powerful writing connects us with ourselves, with each other, with the story.br /br /b2) Humility/b: When I think of powerful writing, I think of a href=”http://www.annefrank.com/”The Diary of Anne Frank,/a the speeches of a href=”http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm”Martin Luther King Jr./a, the cadences of a href=”http://books.google.com/books?id=8qzy7K9Z2ckCdq=Alice+Walkerhl=enprev=http://www.google.com/search?q=Alice+Walkerie=utf-8oe=utf-8rls=org.mozilla:en-US:officialclient=firefox-asa=Xoi=printct=resultcd=1cad=author-navigationalpgis=1″Alice Walker/a, the words of a href=”http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_R._Murrow”Edward R. Murrow/a. There is something humble and humbling about each. Powerful writing lacks false pride, it gets to the center of things without having to say “look at me” every few phrases.br /br /b3) Heart/b: As the song goes, “You gotta have heart, miles and miles and miles of heart.” Spirit, spunk, courageousness. In today’s times of stressful lifestyles, fatty fast prescription canada de viagra foods and desserts. On the other hand, don’t send messages once every three months and expect your prospects to care what you have to say – or even remember who you are. order levitra without prescription http://donssite.com/Coconut-Palm-tree-sunrise-Indian-River-Grant-Florida.htm Kamagra became so popular to help men treating the problem at very reasonable price. tadalafil overnight delivery Kamagra basically inhibits the enzyme called phosophodiesterase viagra fast shipping found in the blood vessels are relaxed. I know it when I read it. That phrase or story that gets me right there, where I live, and stays. That’s powerful stuff.br /br /And now my picks to pass on the Roar, powerful writers all:br /br /a href=”http://www.ericaorloff.com/blog/”Erica Orloff/a. Erica, your writing stirs me. br /a href=”http://www.marycastillo.blogspot.com”Chica Lit (Mary Castillo)/a. Mary, that heart thing? You’ve got it in spades.br /a href=”http://web.mac.com/remiaubuchon/Walking_The_Line/Blog/Blog.html”Walking the Line (Remi Aubuchon)/a. Mr. Aubuchon, it takes courage to walk the line for your convictions. br /br /Congratulations.

Posted in Roar, writing | 2 Comments