At First Glance - Weekend Writing Warriors / #8sunday / 11/30/14

Hi! Welcome to another Weekend Writing Warrior round. Every week writers post 8 sentences on their blogs from a published or unpublished book. Then we "hop" around and leave comments on each other's snippets. Whether our work is already published or in progress, the helpful comments help us become stronger writers on our next WIP. We welcome EVERYONE's comments.

See more at the
WeWriWa blog

I'm continuing with snippets from The Meeting, a part of The Many Faces of Chelle Cordero, a short-story collection which exemplifies (I hope) the diversity of my writing.

The story begins at a Charleston SC train station in 1942. America, still reeling from the Pearl Harbor attack, entered the war and soldiers in uniform were going off to Europe and the Pacific to fight. Life continued on the home-front.

Last week two young ladies, both Southern born and bred, were saying a tearful good-bye at the train station. A young MP riding in another car was about to step onto the platform.

It felt good to stretch his legs as he stepped down from the train onto the platform. He watched as two women tearfully hugged each other and found himself unable to stop staring at the woman left on the platform. She was beautiful.

He lit his cigarette and took a drag and then walked over to the woman.

Jeannette was aware of the soldier‘s stare and tried not to let it affect her. He was a handsome man, but it just wasn‘t polite to be scrutinized so thoroughly like that. He came even closer and she tried to look in the other direction.

           “Hello.”

 For more WeWriWa snippets, go to www.wewriwa.com

The Meeting

From a random meeting in the south during WW2 to a
marriage and love that lasts for an eternity.

 AUDIO 

PRINT 

Kindle 

 AllRomance Ebooks 

 iBooks 

 Smashwords 

The Many Faces of Chelle Cordero is a single author collection of short stories featuring Introduction, Pussycat Tails, Holiday Happiness, Not Alone, I Swear That Raccoon Just Knocked on the Door, Stormy Weather, A Mother’s Love, More Than a Friend, The Meeting, The Vacation and a special bonus section.

...and in time for the holidays!

A short story about finding holiday happiness whenyou didn’t realize it was right there with you all along.

Holiday Happiness: A Short Story [Kindle Edition] by Chelle Cordero

just 99-cents - click HERE to buy

A Few of My Favorite Things

A Day to Be Grateful...

Traditionally Americans are coerced into reciting all of the things they are thankful for before feasting on gluttonous meals yearly on the fourth Thursday in November. Several other cultures celebrate similar days of thanks as well. Hopefully each one of us remembers to appreciate and be grateful for all that we have the other 364 days in the year.

Before I sit at my family's Thanksgiving table tomorrow, I wanted to take the time to thank all of my readers - blogs, books and articles - and all of my social network friends for allowing me room in their lives. My wish for each of you is to have many, many, MANY reasons to be grateful every day.

I feel the need to mention just some of the things I thank G-d for everyday: My husband, our children and their soul-mates, our combined siblings and their families, our cousins, extended family and mishpocha (relatives through blood & marriage), our cats and other family pets,the professionals I get to work with in a job I love, my publisher and fellow authors at VHP, the friendships I've made through work, a warm home, my needs being met and lots of hopes and dreams we are all working towards. I am thankful for so many of the people I've known in my life, even several who are no longer present, and the experiences and joys I've been allowed to see. I've been blessed to find some of my closest friends among the very people I call family, and friends who have become family. I can earnestly say It IS a Wonderful Life.

May you and yours enjoy all of the goodness 

and blessings of the day

 and forever have reason to be thankful! 

This is dedicated to the ones I love...

Love Can Drive You ~ #Monday Blogs

When a loved one needs your help, you find yourself going above and beyond everything you thought you were capable of - you find yourself asking complete strangers for incredible sacrifice, you pray every night for someone, anyone, to go out of their way for you, and you lose all shame by repeatedly asking and appealing to emotions. When you love someone that person's welfare is foremost in your mind and you keep hoping...

My brother-in-law, a man who loves my sister and their children, is in need of a kidney. The advantage of kidney donation is that anyone can donate a kidney. Most of us are born with two healthy kidneys, but you only need one to live. Anyone who is interested can be tested to see if they would be a compatible donor and many factors are take into account to ensure success for both the recipient and the donor.

Becoming an altruistic donor is an incredibly selfless way to be a hero and help save a life.

If you or anyone you know is willing to be tested to see if you are a compatible match for donation please contact Robert Wood Johnson Transplant Center, New Brunswick, NJ at (732) 253-3699 or 1-877-NUKIDNEY and follow the prompts for the living donor program. Tell them you are calling on behalf of Del Du-Bois.

This beautiful couple is my sister Bobi and her husband Del,
as you can tell by this picture, they are very much in love.

But Del needs YOUR help ~ he needs a kidney.

Living donors offer recipients the best chances for a healthy life.
You can be tested to find out if you are compatible.
Please help by getting tested and spreading the word.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

click here to read a letter from my sister

Introducing The Meeting ~ Weekend Writing Warriors / #8sunday / 11/23/14

Hi! Welcome to another Weekend Writing Warrior round. Every week writers post 8 sentences on their blogs from a published or unpublished book. Then we "hop" around and leave comments on each other's snippets. Whether our work is already published or in progress, the helpful comments help us become stronger writers on our next WIP. We welcome EVERYONE's comments.

See more at the
WeWriWa blog

I'm moving to another story from The Many Faces of Chelle Cordero, a short-story collection which exemplifies (I hope) the diversity of my writing.

This snippet is from The Meeting which begins in 1942 at a train station platform in Charleston, South Carolina.

“Make sure you send me a letter as soon as you get there,” Jeannette stopped to dry her eyes, “you just know how I am going to miss you.”

“Oh honey, I‘ll write to you every day,” Melanie hugged the best friend she always shared everything with. Their mommas had taken them for walks in their baby carriages together, they were there for each other‘s first dates, they consoled each other when Melanie‘s big brother left to go fight the big war, and they stayed up late reading letters from Melanie’s ill mother. “Oh I wish I didn‘t have to leave you.”

“You tell your momma to get well so you can bring her home again.”

“Last call for Greensboro,” the train engineer poked his head out to remind passengers to get their luggage loaded.

In another car an M.P. checked the cuffs of the prisoner he was transporting from Georgia and then motioned to another soldier on the train.

“I‘m going to step off and have a smoke,” he was satisfied the prisoner wasn‘t going anywhere.

 For more WeWriWa snippets, go to www.wewriwa.com

The Meeting

From a random meeting in the south during WW2 to a
marriage and love that lasts for an eternity.

 AUDIO 

PRINT 

Kindle 

 AllRomance Ebooks 

 iBooks 

 Smashwords 

The Many Faces of Chelle Cordero is a single author collection of short stories featuring Introduction, Pussycat Tails, Holiday Happiness, Not Alone, I Swear That Raccoon Just Knocked on the Door, Stormy Weather, A Mother’s Love, More Than a Friend, The Meeting, The Vacation and a special bonus section.

from the book's dedication...

To my parents, Marcy & Reva, their relationship was the epitome 

of the love story and the inspiration for "The Meeting"

The great Invention ~ #MondayBlogs

It doesn’t matter if you’re 23 or 65, there comes a time (usually multiple) that you need to re-invent yourself. Most people think re-invention is only about careers, but it could be about your health, your looks, your home life or relationships.

You’ve made it this far doing things the way you do so why change it now? Maybe you just work up realizing that you aren’t where you want to be, or maybe some drastic change around you has happened to throw your world into a tailspin. (If that’s happened my dear friend Author Charmaine Gordon says to “just put one foot in front of the other”, it’s good advice).

What do you want in life? What are your true passions, your dreams and your likes? Make a list of where and who you want to be. Even if you want something seemingly fanciful, aim for it. If it proves to be unrealistic at least you’ve tried and you’ve probably made significant moves in the right direction.

Work and careers: My mom always told me that if you enjoy your work, you’ll never (feel) work a day in your life. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to look forward to what you do all day long and still pay your bills? It isn’t uncommon to pursue a career based on favorite hobbies. Hone your skills, take night classes (often offered at a local high school for little or no cost) to learn new talents.

Health and body: Improve your diet by eating the right foods, losing/gaining weight (slowly and regularly), getting adequate sleep and taking time for yourself (personal grooming). If you are changing your diet make sure to see a dietician to make sure that your nutritional needs are being met. Add regular exercise into your daily schedule, it doesn’t have to be extensive calisthenics, even walking 15-to-30 minutes a day counts.

Home life/relationships: If the person or people you spend time with leave you feeling low, or you don’t look forward to your own four walls, maybe it’s time to move on. Surround yourself with folks who have similar interest and values, who intrigue you, and who make you feel important and special. Maybe it’s time for you to change location – look at your potential opportunities. You might feel comfortable staying in the community or you might want to move to an entirely different region. Consider your ties to an area (family and friends), your job opportunities  the weather and climate, safety and your budget.

It takes time so don’t get discouraged, but if you don’t see movement within a few years, re-evaluate the steps you’re taking to move towards your target. Re-invent yourself and be happy.

One more snippet from NOT ALONE - Weekend Writing Warriors / #8sunday / 11/16/14

Hi! Welcome to another Weekend Writing Warrior round. Every week writers post 8 sentences on their blogs from a published or unpublished book. Then we "hop" around and leave comments on each other's snippets. Whether our work is already published or in progress, the helpful comments help us become stronger writers on our next WIP. We welcome EVERYONE's comments.

See more at the
WeWriWa blog

A few weeks ago I began running snippets from the story Not Alone from my short story collection, The Many Faces of Chelle Cordero.. Told in 1st person POV we learned that someone had died and everyone was blaming Jordan, including the narrator. Here is one more snippet from the story and we'll find out a bit more of what happened... Next week I'll move on to another story - but read to the end of this post if you are still interested in finding out how this story goes.

Kimmie’s dad came by to pick up the rest of his daughter’s things; we shared a suite in the dorms. He hugged me and thanked me for the friendship I shared with his daughter. He told me how much it meant to him and his wife to hear me talk about Kimmie during the memorial service. Then he asked me to help keep Kimmie alive by never forgetting her. When he left, the tears began to fall again and I stared at a picture of my best friend while I cried.

Maybe I didn’t really, or maybe I did, but I heard Kimmie’s voice telling me that Jordan needed me. I thought that maybe I was losing my mind, it could have just been the desperation I felt, but I knew that I heard her voice. So I went over to Jordan’s off-campus apartment; I stared at his door for a few minutes before I actually knocked.

 For more WeWriWa snippets, go to www.wewriwa.com

Not Alone

Sometimes forgiveness seems impossible, but then so is turning your back on a friend.

 AUDIO 

PRINT 

Kindle 

 AllRomance Ebooks 

 iBooks 

 Smashwords 

NOT ALONE is available as a FREE
audio preview of my short story collection

Download Chelle’s audio story NOT ALONE
from this short story collection [FREE]
http://store.payloadz.com/go?id=1901650
(narrated by Wendy Tremont King)

A Sample From the Amazon Kindle Blog

Living, Breathing, Writing
[Kindle Edition]

Getting Emotional

Put your reader into the story by making them feel as if they are there. Let them feel emotion. Incite your readers to join you and to experience something through your words. If your reader feels an emotional attachment they will feel as if the words they are reading is reality.

Think of a time, any time, that your community has gone through a defining moment… preferably when you were there. Think of times like severe storms and natural disasters (up to and including hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, etc). If you have been fortunate enough not to have experienced a natural disaster, think of any incident that might have grabbed news headlines locally (i.e.: fires, accidents, lost child). Use any incident that affected you and your emotions. Choose an event that might have changed things whether for the better or worse, so long as the event made an impact on your community or yourself.

Make sure that the reader can identify with you as a real person. Let them know you have feelings, vulnerabilities, hopes and even fears. You’ll find that a reader will often put themselves in the place of a character, or alongside a character, if they believe it is a real person.

Try throwing yourself into the middle of the incident and write about it from your perspective; if you were in the middle of it, describe it from your perspective doing something different than what you did. Write this story in first person. Feel free to make yourself a hero or have the solution to a problem if you would like. Were you frightened, sad, or  angry? Don’t say it, show it in your actions. If the power went out and it was dark, mention the shadows, bumping into something or someone, or show how frustrated you were because you couldn’t see the exit or find something you needed without light.

Put feelings into retelling this story, reach deep into your readers’ emotions and let them “feel” as if they are right next to you and the events are happening now. Build tension with your words similar to the way filmmakers use background music building to a crescendo as forewarning of something to come. If the event is a storm you might talk about the increasing volume of the howling winds of the increasingly deafening roar of rain hitting the roof. Don’t add too much unnecessary description or be unnecessarily verbose or you will find that your readers will lose interest or get lost in confusing rhetoric.

One way to get emotional is to make a list of emotions that you felt during the event, or believe you would have felt if you were there or circumstances were different. For each emotion listed write down three things you did based solely on the emotion such as crying, slamming a door, covering your ears so you won’t hear, ducking under a table for protection or anything that was a pure emotional reaction. Make sure that you include these actions in your tale, but try NOT to name the emotion.

Writing Exercise:  Practice your point-of-view. Describe the room you are in at this moment and your actions from your point of view (first person: I see, I hear…); then describe the room from the viewpoint of someone standing in the doorway and watching YOU (third person: She sat rocking in the chair…) Remember that in third-person the person describing the room cannot be in YOUR head, they cannot know HOW you feel.

Writing Prompt: Write about your feelings (a.k.a. emotion) for each main color of the rainbow - red, yellow, green, blue and violet. Does any color make you think of a specific memory?

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A Busy Life ~ #MondayBlogs

So many schedules to keep up with, everyday pressures from work and family, bills, cleaning, traffic jams, getting the kids’ to school on time, expectations from your boss… No wonder we feel so overwhelmed so much of the time.

No matter what your lot in life is, your job, your home life and all of the things others depend on you to do, it is so easy to believe you’ll never catch up. Magazine articles and caring relatives will offer you advice – prioritize, concentrate on one corner at a time, turn off the TV, turn off your computer, put yourself on a schedule. It’s all sound advice and yet you still feel like you are drowning.

Prioritize, it sounds so easy, after all, what is it that you have to get done? It’s depressing when you run out of room on the paper to write your list; there are only 24-hours in a day and you really need to allow for a few hours to sleep, eat and even just go to the bathroom! You feel like you will never get it all done.

Actually lists are good, it just is what you are listing that could be the problem. Make a list of your goals, your dreams and your wishes. Star the big ones, the ones that you really, really, really want or need. Now list the steps you need to take to reach a particular wish or goal and that becomes the start of your new to-do list. And if some of the things that used to be on your daily agenda have no purpose towards your goals – does it really need to be done?

Don’t go through the rigors of life “for others” – live and work for YOU. While your goal may take a while to achieve you will feel accomplished with every little bit you gain towards realizing your dreams. Knowing that you are getting closer to the things you want will give you the impetus to climb out of bed in the morning and dive right in.

Re-evaluate your to-do list now and stop putting pressure on yourself for all of the things you were doing to appease an employer, look good in your neighbor’s eyes, pay off loans for the things you didn’t really want…

Today is for YOU, you deserve it.

The story behind Not Alone ~ Weekend Writing Warriors / #8sunday / 11/09/14

Hi! Welcome to another Weekend Writing Warrior round. Every week writers post 8 sentences on their blogs from a published or unpublished book. Then we "hop" around and leave comments on each other's snippets. Whether our work is already published or in progress, the helpful comments help us become stronger writers on our next WIP. We welcome EVERYONE's comments.

See more at the WeWriWa blog

Last week I started with a snippet from the story Not Alone from my short story collection, The Many Faces of Chelle Cordero.. Told in 1st person POV we learned that someone had died and everyone was blaming Jordan, including the narrator. Here is another snippet from the story and we'll find out a bit more of what happened...

As word of Kimmie’s death spread across the campus, the ostracizing began. Her friends and classmates were too stunned to think beyond losing such a young, vibrant friend. Kimmie’s parents had suffered one of the worst things that ever could happen to a parent; they had no room for forgiveness in their hearts, grief was taking up too much space. It was easier to blame someone than to try to make sense of it, our friends turned on Jordan as well.

I cried non-stop at Kimmie’s funeral and thought of all the long phone calls we had and the shopping trips to the mall and cramming for tests. I couldn’t imagine a world without my best friend or a world without her laughter. Even though I knew that Jordan had been banned from attending the funeral I was angry that he wasn’t there to witness the mourning, the loss and the questions of how we were all supposed to go on.

That was yesterday.

 For more WeWriWa snippets, go to www.wewriwa.com

Not Alone

Sometimes forgiveness seems impossible, but then so is turning your back on a friend.

 AUDIO 

PRINT 

Kindle 

 AllRomance Ebooks 

 iBooks 

 Smashwords 

The Many Faces of Chelle Cordero is a single author collection of short stories featuring Introduction, Pussycat Tails, Holiday Happiness, Not Alone, I Swear That Raccoon Just Knocked on the Door, Stormy Weather, A Mother’s Love, More Than a Friend, The Meeting, The Vacation and a special bonus section.

The Inspiration For This Story: First let me put the disclaimer here that this story is PURE fiction, however I was inspired to write it after an incident that happened near my home.
Without going into the identifying details - a young man that we had known for a number of years was involved in a work related accident, he was driving. His co-worker, sitting in the passenger seat, was severely injured and left disabled, no one knew for sure, including the doctors, if she would even survive. It was known that his injuries, although serious, were not life threatening and after long-term physical therapy would be overcome. Although witnesses came forward to say he didn't appear to be at fault, the girl's parents and several friends blamed him for her injuries.
I remember speaking with him one evening when he came to visit, he was still wearing a back brace and bandages. He was blaming himself - he said maybe if his reaction had been quicker, if the major impact was on his side and not hers, if he had chosen a different route all together, if, if, if...
What I remember most from our conversation that night was a  combination of hurt and anger he expressed - while in the hospital they placed him under a suicide watch because, when he first found out how maimed she was, he uttered the words, "It should have been me." He told me that the last thing he would do would be to take "the easy way out" and relieve himself of his guilt by killing himself.
The case went to trial and he was found innocent of criminal negligence, but did lose a lawsuit in civil court her parents initiated. He also lost his livelihood because of liability after the lawsuit.
I definitely thought of the pain in this young man's eyes when I created Jordan.

#MondayBlogs - Think first of others

When someone is upset by an event in their life such as the cancellation of a dream vacation, the loss of a pet, the break-up of a romance which you might not have approved of, or any stress caused by something they feel is important, it is NOT your job to tell them they don’t have a right to be upset. I’ve heard folks tell others that they are not the first person to…, so get over it; or say things like I didn’t like him anyway; it was only a pet; or even comparing their plight to another’s and making it trivial.

Anytime someone faces an abrupt change, or feels like things are beyond their control, or faces a disruption to their routine, it can cause stress and feelings of crisis. People react to stress in individual ways, they have different priorities, strengths and weaknesses. No one has the right to minimize another person’s concerns, fears, love, loss or sadness. Supporting someone who is in crisis mode means respecting their feelings and not putting your own feelings first. You may not care for dogs but telling someone who just lost their beloved pet that “it was only a dog” is cruel and thoughtless.

Practice kindness by showing compassion for someone who is suffering. Compassion begins with understanding their feelings, empathizing with them, and the desire to help them survive the stress. Minimizing and ignoring their feelings may be easier for you, but does nothing to help them. Respect their feelings, don’t criticize them. Be there to lend a shoulder or an ear, hold them (literally or figuratively) and let them know you care. Their feelings are important to them, respect that. This also holds true for celebrating accomplishments – it’s a big thing and important, so applaud them loudly and congratulate them without limits. 

“Compassion brings us to a stop, and for a moment we rise above ourselves.” ~Mason Cooley

I’ve been fortunate with the people surrounding me – one of my pussycats was recently very ill (thank goodness he seems to be recovering nicely) and friends and family offered encouragement and showed genuine concern. It really was appreciated.

How Kimmie Died ~ Weekend Writing Warriors / #8sunday / 11/02/14

Hi! Welcome to another Weekend Writing Warrior round. Every week writers post 8 sentences on their blogs from a published or unpublished book. Then we "hop" around and leave comments on each other's snippets. Whether our work is already published or in progress, the helpful comments help us become stronger writers on our next WIP. We welcome EVERYONE's comments.

See more at the WeWriWa blog

Last week I started with a snippet from the story Not Alone from my short story collection, The Many Faces of Chelle Cordero.. Told in 1st person POV we learned that someone had died and everyone was blaming Jordan, including the narrator. Here is another snippet from the story and we'll find out a bit more of what happened...

I left the party that night early, too early to know that Kimmie’s boyfriend dumped her and left her at the party while he went home with another girl. She was upset and shouldn’t have been drinking; most of the folks at the party were under the legal drinking age – but that’s another issue altogether.

Kimmie wanted to go home, she couldn’t even hold onto her keys, Jordan offered to drive her. He drank a beer early in the evening, he was one of the few who could legally, and then he hadn’t had anything else for hours. The cops even said that his blood alcohol level was well below the legal limits, Jordan was just trying to be a nice guy.

I visited Jordan in his hospital room right after I heard about the accident, I didn’t even know that Kimmie was dead. Jordan was devastated, he told me how he got cut off on that dark and winding road and the car rolled down the embankment. There were no witnesses; just a minor paint scrape on the front fender.

 For more WeWriWa snippets, go to www.wewriwa.com

Not Alone

Sometimes forgiveness seems impossible, but then so is turning your back on a friend.

 AUDIO 

PRINT 

Kindle 

 AllRomance Ebooks 

 iBooks 

 Smashwords 

The Many Faces of Chelle Cordero is a single author collection of short stories featuring Introduction, Pussycat Tails, Holiday Happiness, Not Alone, I Swear That Raccoon Just Knocked on the Door, Stormy Weather, A Mother’s Love, More Than a Friend, The Meeting, The Vacation and a special bonus section.