Getting the Word Out!!

We are getting the word out! It is such a wonderful thing to know that people care for one another.

Our radio stations rarely play music these days because they act as a call center and hotline. People STILL unable to get food and water are having anyone with a cell phone call these stations so that their community/neighborhood/town can get on the map again. So that someone will add their names and those of their loved ones to their prayer list. They don't care who you are praying to, just please pray for them.

I listened with tears streaming down my face as Erica stood on a hill so that she could get signal in order to call our local station JUST to get the people around her on a prayer list. Five months pregnant and she has been living in a tent with her husband since the storm. He gets up every day and walks down the road to help those who are sifting through what is left. She bides her time by helping some other families also living in tents around them. There are dogs who would not leave the side of their loved one even after that loved one no longer breathes the same air. One dog sat sadly on the rubble that was his home and watched as his beloved owner was taken away. These are real people, real stories - they need our help...

Just last night I met with the amazing Crystal Harris at Barnes & Noble in Hoover, Alabama. I was beyond excited and ever so touched by her enthusiasm to help in every way possible. Together with all the amazing people who contribute, donate, bid, communicate - I am confident that this will be a great success!!

We are contacting so many people but there is still a great need for items/services/critiques. SO SPREAD THE WORD about the upcoming ALL 4 ALABAMA Disaster Relief Auction!!

Oh by the way HELP WRITE NOW is also hosting an auction that is already live! Go bid - spread the love for these devastated communities!

Getting Organized over at ALL 4 ALABAMA Disaster Relief Auction Site

Good Morning!

I have had some wonderful contacts about the upcoming auction!! So excited for all there is to come.

There are some wonderful writers/bloggers/authors contributing so far (check out the Contributions page on the ALL 4 ALABAMA Disaster Relief Auction Site ). I know that list will continue to grow.

It sounds like some awesome items will be given but also some amazing opportunities for query & manuscript critiques!!! I know!

So continue to spread the word to all who want to contribute and those that are just itching for it all to begin.

Lots of Love,

Courtney

My Life Belongs to the Whole Community...

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live.

~George Bernard Shaw

***

Good Morning! It has been a crazy past few days. I have found myself crying at the smallest things, at the oddest things and at the most beautiful things. They say that with faith you find strength. Many people still search every day for a God to believe in, for a reason to keep going, for meaning that they may never truly understand. Well we are human. We question, we wonder, we ask, we ignore, we believe and we begin again every morning. Life makes us remember that time is not something we can control.

In an instant a child is born, a flower blooms, a baby cries, laughter rings out, lives are changed and lives are lost. If you have seen any sort of news outlet you know about the devastating scenes that surround a town and state that I cherish. We are still combing through the rubble even as the academia class this storm a Category 1 Natural Disaster - that my friends means that we are now the history books with Hurricane Katrine and 9/11. I am beginning to accept that life here will be termed a timeline event; a Before & After. Already our local news source ,Tuscaloosa News, offers the unique tool using Geo & Google Earth to see the exact Before & After. Modern media outlets were able to utilize technology that filmed live the devastation as it literally tore a path across three states. They were there when the lights went out in each town and as my own family huddled in the basement of our home. We all have been through terrible storms, tornadoes, hurricane winds or some weather controlled scare but this day was different. We knew it even before we saw the horrible images online.

Our power was out for 3 days, for others it still is and who knows when it will return. Alabama Power has worked diligently to restore power to so many areas. But friends the "area" is so large. We have National Guard units, my brother's included, patrolling our town hoping to keep looters at bay. We are under a curfew every night. Areas are still under a boil water advisory. We lost 3 schools - LOST - as in gone. Who knows when school will return to some form of normalcy. This storm hit on exam week and commencement week for our University of Alabama and others. These are just a small collection of the impact of the storm in my area.

There are other areas: Hackleburg - the town is gone, the people remaining are trying to get help. Sawyerville is much the same, Moody, Phil Campbell - towns that will not only need aid but will have to completely rebuild EVERYTHING.

So I decided to quit the tears, to reach out and see what this writing community, this collection of amazing people can pull together and do. Some of you, my dear Royal Court, will have received emails from me. I hope that we can ban together and do something for the rural communities in this great state.

I have created the blog: ALL 4 ALABAMA. I plan to soon begin auctioning off items & services in order to raise money for those rural affected towns. If any of you would like to contribute, be it an idea, an item, a service or even a dollar please contact me. I plan to go live with the auction as soon as possible. It will just take a little bit to get all the items set up, so please keep watch on the blogs (this one and the ALL 4 ALABAMA); go over and follow it in order to keep updated on all news.

The people need help. Truly. Please do what you can. I know we can do this and by golly we will do it well! Please spread the word - tell people that you know who can help donate or supply items for auction to contact me.

contact me at all4alabamarelief(at)yahoo(dot)com

COMING SOON: ALL 4 ALABAMA Disaster Relief Blog!!!

I am working to get a Donation/Auction site up to benefit those affected by the 4/27/11 Tornado in Alabama! I hope to offer some wonderful items soon! Please check back periodically!

I always enjoy being surprised by the outpouring love of mankind. My beautiful city that has seen such horrific destruction over the past few days has been shown kindness beyond belief. But there are other areas, rural areas begging for help and needing to be reminded of hope.

After much prayer, tons of inner turmoil on where to begin & continue I decided to contact a community full of wonderful people who have welcomed me with open arms over the last few years...the Writing community. I am so blessed to have 4 walls around me, my husband safe and sound, my dog at my side, my niece safe at home - a few streets over was not so lucky. I just had to find a way to help soooo......

If you or someone you know, publishers/editors/writers/friends/neighbors/dogs/cats can offer critiques, experiences, items...WHATEVER it is, please contact me. I created the blog ALL 4 ALABAMA so that we could help to raise money for these areas. There is already a Donate button but I plan for it to work very similar to the Do The Write Thing for Nashville campaign. We will auction items/services off via the blog. ALL proceeds are going to Disaster Relief in Alabama.

Please if you have any ideas or want to help contact me at all4alabamarelief@yahoo.com

Have a beautiful Sunday and check back for updates soon!

ALL 4 ALABAMA!!! Please pray for us...WE WILL REBUILD

Wednesday, April 27,2011 a tragic Tornado hit Tuscaloosa, Alabama - my town.

We are safe, our home is still standing, we are beyond blessed...but for the town we cherish we will be rebuilding for quite some time...

Kicker Road

We are not the only ones....

from Mississippi to Tennessee to Georgia, but this for me is personal... These flat areas with just metal - those were homes, businesses, landmarks, historic places....

15th street

McFarland

Please pray for us...

This is my home...These are my people...

This video is a compilation copy and paste if you can.

(if you can see it wonderful, if not the above speaks just as loudly)

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=217778308234398&comments

(Tuscaloosa Tornado video footage compiled by Shari Gilbert)
These images are of those who I may know, may meet, may never know, may never see again...but they are also of people who are strong, who are hurting, who are powerful, who laugh, who cry and who I love....
We are a state, a town, a family going through a storm. April's Fury is more than a nice title for a tornado it is how we will come back from this tragedy: with a furious, strong, resolve. We will rebuild. We will rise.
Please go to Tuscaloosanews.com, RedCross.org, United Way liveunited.org - if you can help, please do, but please continue to pray.

(photos are a compilation from my own pics and various outlets)

You give me fever....

"It's Spring fever...You don't quite know what it is you DO want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!"

-Mark Twain

***

Wow. This time of year brings a yearning that always catches me a little off guard. Mark Twain nailed that idea of a need/want/urgency during this time of year. My heart flutters when the sun warms me. I think of swimming holes, three digit temps, humid evenings, mosquitoes, lemonade, BBQ, fruit salad, picnics, bumblebees and sweet tea. My childhood is full of memories that include wonderful books, cold metal wheelbarrows and the cool earth as I dug for worms to fish with. Life in Spring is special.

Spring Fever has me in its clutches and its a lovely place to be!

Is there one particular memory/thought that Spring makes you think of?

***

On a different note - my heart goes out for everyone who has seen damage, survived, loss or been taken aback by these Spring storms. So much devastation and the weather season is not done yet. Please know you are in our prayers.

Here... and Now...

it is a good thing you aren't here right now...

you would see my messy hair from rushing this morning...

the note smeared on my left hand as a reminder to bring a book to a coworker (forgotten again by the way)...

my nails for some reason are still hosting a bright blue polish beneath the nude professional overlay...

my barely charged cellphone Barry the Blackberry (who is quite whiny of late)...

non-mascara-d eyes that scream for eye make-up love...

leggings that really are not the same black as the lovely tunic on top (darn fading cotton)...

but most of all you would see the expression of utter craziness on my face...

You see right here and now I am sinking/diving/careening/wrecking/jumping/crashing into 'StoryLand'. I did not realize that the Hook bringing me back would also come with its on crashing ball as well. Did I order the insane dreams with crazy characters as well? I really need to check my dream card statements!

I actually dreamed one of my MCs was holding the word "DIVULGE" and chasing me down the freeway...not sure I want to even try to decipher that one.

But I did notice one thing during my "Great Word Escape" last night. The MC was screaming while she ran:

Not my name.

Not HELP!

Not "I'm gonna get you my pretty!"

But the single word: NOW.

She screamed it over and over again. I actually woke up with the word on my lips. Okay that is weird. All day I have ran Divulge and Now through my head. What do I divulge? What is the urgency? Why don't I understand?

Have you ever done this? Woke up from a dream and KNOW there is a message, there on the tip of your consciousness it waits for you...

If you were here you would see me ponder a dream that beckons me to act on something...and you would laugh as I walk to the freezer grab an orange TwinPop popsicle, pull back the wrapper and with utter sincerity scream:

NOW... WHAT?

Have a Nonsensical & Terrifical Tuesday...

Monday Memo: The HOOK brought me back around...

Hook: a device especially in music or writing that catches the attention (Webster's Dictionary)

Because the hook brings you back

I ain't tellin' you no lie

The hook brings you back

On that you can rely

-John Popper, Blues Traveler, HOOK

I found myself this weekend reminiscing with some tunes from my Middle School/Jr. High days, no idea why early 90's was the theme but it was... Blues Traveler popped up on my iPod and I sang "Run Around" at the top of my lungs just before it clicked over to "Hook". Immediately a sense of longing flooded through me. Longing that I had not felt during my two month hiatus from everything writing related. I did not exactly mean to take the break. It just happened. Softball has been in full swing with Duchess Kristin, traveling for the dayjob and well a weird aversion even to reading. The written word, normally so elusive yet so near, had decided to become a mere shadow. Often I opened the computer and read blog entries but the urge to write my own was so far down in my system that I could barely even recognize it this weekend. But it emerged - triumphantly as the lyrics to this song played loudly in my kitchen. It swam through my bloodstream and had tears falling down my cheeks.

John Popper was enjoying a satirical view on how no matter what words a singer sings so long as the "hook" is good people will love it & come back to it every time. He also speaks deeply while trying to tell you he isn't - about how in music a hook is what makes the money not the depth of the song. Yet even he while writing such a song could not avoid deep topics. I admit the hook in a song is great, not always the chorus mind you, but that portion that brings it to forefront of your memory. But if you love the song, the hook may not be the only thing that brings you back. The entire song is important to the listener - when you love it, you listen, and when you listen you find meaning just for you. In writing the Hook in your story is often discussed as the first few lines. Those words on page one that suck you in.

A writer cannot depend on a musical background. Sure, playlists are now very popular with books, but how often do you press play on your iPod as you begin reading? The words need to have their own flow, their own rhythm in order to bring you to that moment where you feel like the characters are sitting with you following along on their adventure.

So it was a Hook that had me waking up this morning and wanting to do a Monday Memo. I have a file open that houses my own hook. It is there minimized at the bottom of the screen waiting for me to wake up a couple characters who have been on vacation. To engage in conversation with them and to remember why they continue to bring me back in and hopefully one day soon will suck you in as well to their adventures....

***

Around BloggerVille...

Shannon's Got a Great Giveaway Post...check it out!

Talli has an awesome interview with Kate Lord Brown! What a great sounding read!

One of my favortie Montanians is telling all about what sounds like a great Middle Grade book! Check it out!

Okay the sweetest CP and all around doll Summer has a romance novel cover hottie photo on her blog today...oh yeah and something about character names, maybe...still drooling.

Have a Marvelous Monday!!!