About Writing:

In a world of hourly posts, I find myself challenged to even do a yearly update. And certainly I can use the excuse of busy or involved but to tell the truth, I have to think for awhile, sometimes a long while, and paint for awhile, figuring out what I want to say or show to the world.

It seems we are inundated with information, good, bad, misinformation and a raft of lies and misdemeanors in this age. I read everything with a grain of the proverbial salt these days, realizing that the data can change in a heartbeat, or in the twisting world of 140 words.

What’s true?

I think we each have to find truth. Sometimes this means exploring the distasteful side of things, people we’d rather not read a word of, sides we don’t agree with, as well as the pundits that we resonate with.

Like looking at a painting you dislike, you have to figure out why you might feel that way, or what you say to the person who is proud of it. Is there any nugget of truth to it? Can you step away from the your emotions about it, and work out in your head what it is about THAT piece?

Sometimes those closer examinations help you find your own truth in painting. Certainly it can help you clarify what it is that you don’t want to do.

Our work evolves, as we should. So what I’m doing today will be different than what I produced a year ago, and what comes next year, will be different again. But each change should bring us closer to our own truth.

Poems

Eve Leaves Eden
This is what is known as an Alphabet poem. Not submitted, therefore, not published till now.

A voice sang out from a cloud.
But she did not turn around.
Clerks pointed at the window,
Dismayed by what stood outside.
Even small children cringed.
Fingering the shiny beads in her pocket,
Gaining strength with every step,
Hesitation was not an option.
Intention set on the future.
Just as the sun turned a shadow
Keeping the light from her eyes.
Little did she know that
Meekness retreated with strength.
New thoughts held power.
Old doubt fled.
Pushing forward into the forest,
Quiet reigned.
Resigned now to the end.
Standing so close to the edge.
Triumph within reach of her fingers.
Up above her, she saw the beginning of her new life,
Valued for her own strength.
When they looked again at the
X-ray of her heart. the
Yoke was now gone.
Zenith ruled.

Here is "Freedom for the Spider."

Freedom for the Spider
    (Accepted 2River View - February, 1998) (Accepted for Reading – HoCoPoLitSo*) - Sunday, April 26th)
    *Howard County Poetry and Literature Society - Chosen to read at Historic Oakland, April 26th, 1998 –
      National Poetry Month, Maryland Poet Laureate Roland Flint moderator

I think I will return for the black spider.
Trapped in the storefront window,
Pinned to slick cardboard,
It is much too big, very gaudy,
Made with cheap black
Cut glass.
Wide stalking legs,
And a big body,
But I like it -
And think it would
Make a fine god,
For the other spiders.

Publishing Credits

1998 – Silhouettes in the Electric Sky – The best poetry from two years of Gravity: A Journal of Online Writing, - Poem “Concert Crowd” – under maiden name, Rochelle Randel.

1998 – The 2River View, Spring 1998, Poem, “Freedom for the Spider”

2003 “Idiots Guide to Zombies, Ghoulish Intent. My first published short story.

2003 “When you Play in the Graveyard” FMAM [Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine, Fire to Fly Short Story Contest 3rd Place Winner.

2004 “Bertram’s Heart”, FMAM, Honorable Mention (not published)

2007 “The Oracle of 22nd Street”, Crime and Suspense, January

2007 Ten for Ten, Crime and Suspense, Anthology 2, “The Oracle of 22nd Street”

2008 “Twice Killed”, Crime and Suspense, March ezine

2009 “The Soft-Touch Killer”, 78th Writer’s Digest Short contest, Honorable Mention (not published)

2010 “Between the Lines” January first-prize winner of Abbey Hill Literary Flash Fiction Contest (in the 1st quarter contest, published online)

2011 RiversEdge, Spring Vol. 24, No. 1, Short story, “The Artist’s Solution.”

2012 Coe Review, Vol. 41, #2, Spring, Short Story “Night Walking Woman”, online and print.

2012 The Alembic; Short story, “All His Careful Lies”

2013 Forge, Issue 7.2, Fall, “ Short story, “A Party to Die For”

2014 Writer’s Advice, Short story, 3rd place winner in Flash Fiction Contest. “Two Wrongs”

Four Honorable Mentions in the Alfred Hitchcock Mysterious Photograph, flash fiction contest (not published)

http://www.diversevoicesquarterly.com/about/ My story in this publication is on page 65, Issue 9&10. The magazine is a PDF. "Message for Lea"