Mother Nature's Mud Slushy

A few nights ago a freak thunderstorm developed just north of my hometown of Amarillo, Texas. Along with the usual rain, wind and lightening, this storm dumped 4 FEET of hail. The individual hail stones were not super large but freakishly plentiful. Here is some footage of mother natures mud slushy. Highways were forced to close and snow plows were brought in to clear the roads. 

Here is some video footage ...

Please ... And Thank You

My 2009 house fire taught me many things. First and foremost that this world is stocked full of good, generous, and caring people. Many of these spectacular souls banded together to create an online fundraiser for my family. I can't tell you what the out pouring of friendship and love meant to my family. I pride myself in my writing ability, but there simply are not words to describe some things.

Many of those same individuals in the online writing community have banded together to create a project benefiting writer, activist, and friend-to-many, Richard Levangie.  I have a story in the project as do many others. i have not read the collection yet, but given the talent involved I can promise you it will be a great read.

Here is a bit from the website created for this worthy endeavor ...

Welcome! Friends of writer and activist Richard Levangie are raising money to assist him as he recovers from neurosurgery to treat a pituitary tumor. In exchange for every donation, in any amount, we're giving away Facing the Sun, an anthology of 29 stories, poems, and reminiscences contributed by fellow writers from around the globe.

Richard is an award winning writer living and working in Nova Scotia. He has a degree in journalism from The University of King’s College, over a thousand bylines, and a national writing award. His articles have appeared in newspapers and magazines such as Endless Vacation, WINE Magazine, The Montreal Gazette, and The Halifax Daily News.

He has written and edited three daily environmental business publications for Fortune 1000 executives. He blogs at http://www.richardlevangie.com/ where he routinely promotes authors through his "25 Questions" interview feature.

Richard was originally diagnosed with a prolactinoma, a non-cancerous pituitary tumor, in 1994, which caused frequent, debilitating migraines and chronic fatigue.

Last year, an MRI revealed that Richard’s tumor had doubled in size, that it was more aggressive, and that it was invading his sinus cavity. In an attempt to avoid, or at least delay, an operation, Richard entered an experimental drug trial. Unfortunately, the results were not what he and his doctors had hoped, and on 5 April he was admitted to surgery.

Years of illness have placed Richard in a financially precarious position, and his absence from the workplace is crippling. He's given a lot to the writing community. Now, with your generous help, we would like to give back.

Please donate what you can using the PayPal button below. No matter the amount, we'll email you Facing the Sun in pdf format. And we'll carve your name in stone in the sidebar.

Please visit the website created for this project and consider donating to help a great guy and to add some worthwhile reading to your collection.

Notch Up The Arrows

More and more I realize I am the literary equivalent of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde.Actually my two writing personalities are not so much good and evil as they are ridiculous and serious.

All of my works fall into either the categories of absurd comedy, or darkly emotional.

But there does seem to be one common theme to most everything I write -- love.

Even THE FEEDSTORE CHRONICLES, for all of its pervasive comedy, is at its conclusion a love story. Plundered Booty the same. I have recently tried to write 3 separate comedy project where love was not a factor in the plot or theme. I have failed to create so much as a single acceptable chapter on any of the three. 

I have 4, maybe 5 unfinished novels buried on my hard drive. Upon further examination none of these failed starts deal with love.

All of my completed novels, from the romance and women's fiction stuff to the comedic stories to the one literary novel I've completed would make cupid proud.

I'm not sure what this says about me. Perhaps I have tried too hard to flee the "big hairy love story writer" moniker. Perhaps I have been in denial about who I am as a writer. But no more. I am going to totally embrace this fact about me and write strictly from the heart. Even if I have to market the more serious, dark material with a pseudonym.
 

Five Great Ones

This blog is 5 years old today. I guess that means it is ready to head off to kindergarten and learn to play well with others.

I want to thank you for taking time to stop by here and read my eclectic mix of posts over the years. You guys have been life savers, motivators, confidants, so-conspirators and most importantly friends overs these past 5 years.

I don't post as often as I used to, but y'all have truly made my world a better place.

THANK YOU.