Hello SEers! Welcome to another Monday Blog. Today, I thought I’d write about how to harvest the crop of your writing, and to that end, I am re-using the fertile soil of an old article I wrote for an online writing mag that has now, sadly, closed its doors. I make no apologies for my … ahem … artwork 🙂

To write a book is to become intimate with change. And, if we do it right, we’ll have something to harvest at the end of the process. As with any process, while each individual step is important, timing is everything. We need to know when to interfere, and when to leave well alone. Whether the problem be over-watering, or under, the end result will be the same: The seed of imagination will never make it to a full grown, published and successful book.

So, how do we best harvest the…

“Lucy. What are we doing here?
“The Boss is a contributor here, Twiggy.”
“I don’t see any biscuits.”
“I think he’ll fix that. Keep smiling.”

Hello, SEers. I am delighted to be part of The Story Empire group. I have long admired the members and followers and am pleased to now be a part of the team. I feel like a kid who has been looking at penny candy with his nose pressed against the display case glass, and the shop keeper invites me to take my pick.

The good news is I’m in. The bad news is now I have to go to work.  As you know by now, you can find a wealth of information on writing, publishing, and organization on The Story Empire. The authors here have a lot of experience and are willing to share.

To that end, for my first post, I’m going to discuss…

I wait for sleep to drift like a cloud with smiles into my room
my eyelids, like muted shutters, as I cover them with sheets
silence is a dragging chain that rocks the chair nearby
silkworms are moving in their cocoon in a Country far away
yearning for an answer, to a question, I seek GOD as I pray

butterflies and forgotten tooth fairies come to sing
wind rustles leaves and sends fragrances through red bricks
my mother’s hand once rubbed my forehead when I was five
a ballerina stands in mid-air turning to the sound of time
grateful as I awaken to the song of the Blue Jay and sunshine

Poem written by Joni Caggiano on 06/15/20 – Photo by my Honey Bee

Living in a hotel room severely limits your options for distractions. Movies have become the background drone I rely on to cover the distracting, and startling noises created by some other guests. Normally, movies serve as white noise, but one failed miserably. Guardians of the Galaxy sucked me into Peter Quill’s world, and I watched both Guardian movies and put Footloose into the queue.

Before I realized what was happening, I launched a quest for some of the best dance movies ever filmed. The hunt sucked me into the late 70s to mid-80s with “Flash Dance,” “Saturday Night Fever,” “Grease,” “Dirty Dancing,” “Risky Business,” and the cult favorite, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Talk about a time warp. I next swung into the 30s to visit dance icons Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers’ mesmerizing moves in Top Hat.

What is it about dancing that automatically lifts your mood? It seems…

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

By: Suzanne Collins

So I wasn’t necessarily bummed this book was about Snow when the news dropped but I did have a moment of hm, 500 plus pages about Snow… this could be a chore.

But surprisingly it wasn’t! I flew through this and it’s one of my favorite reads of the year. I’ve heard some people admit they were disappointed it wasn’t about _______ (insert fav) but when it comes down to it I think this was the perfect choice.