SG Cordray Pondering the Universe

I pulled http://www.writingwise.com out of mothballs… Finally! To give you some background about it, I had started the site when I started writing again. For months I had searched for good resource sites and couldn’t find any. I had joined a number of forums but the information was sketchy at best. I was getting quite a collection of articles and tips on my hard drive and thought perhaps others were having the same problems as I; not being able to find a good site that has it all.

Not long after I started the site, I happened upon a link that solved most of my wants and hung my hat there. I neglected my site in favor of this other site and wasn’t really unhappy with the decision. I did feel guilty about keeping the domain name for so long and not doing anything with the site.

After discussing it with a friend, we decided to open the site back up and try to offer some things that aren’t offered as a general rule on any writing sites we’ve come across. We wanted to give back to the writing community which has supported us for so long. My friend is a published writer; I’m not… except for my small contribution to “Stories of Strength.”

One of the features already installed is eWriting. eWriting allows you to post stories, books, articles, or whatever pulls your chain. Whole books can be posted in chapter format. I have a use guide for using it that I have to upload sometime today. This component is open to all registered members right now but later will become specialized with specialized access… for copyright and publishing rights protection. We thought this would be a neat thing to have, especially for new writers who need critques and encouragement. Writing is such an isolated activity that it’s often difficult to find the right kinds of people to help you stay on track and provide the necessary feedback to make your work shine.

Of course, there’s a forum, but don’t expect me to run it. I’m a hermit and I can hermitize very well. I hate running forums and I hate modding them. I’m also the quiet sort and don’t often have a lot to say on very many topics. I’m a listener more than a talker. That will be other people’s baby.

As for the rest… well… I invite you to go to the site, look around, see what you like, and provide feedback and wishlists if you have a mind to do so.

I had to submit to such a worthy cause although I had written very little in the last 20 odd years and I’ve never been published. The piece I submitted was written especially for the anthology. I had nothing prepared for such a work, of course. I did mention that I hadn’t written anything noteworthy in decades, didn’t I?

I wrote the essay in about two hours. From there I shared it with my friend who had urged me to submit to the project. After a flurry of emails; she was critiquing mine while I was critiquing hers, I “slept on it”. The next day, I went through the motions of bringing up my email program, hitting the new message command, copying and pasting the essay into the body of the message, and titling the email Stories of Strength submissions. I even apologized that it was so near the deadline and for not knowing about it sooner. Then I sat and stared at the email for hours. My hand would not move the mouse to click that little send button.

I knew deep down that I wasn’t worthy. With all the well known successful writers contributing works why should I think mine would be accepted? It was then I remembered why I had written the essay in the first place: Not to get my name in a book or to show off my writing skill but to show support for a project that had at its heart a desire to help people when they felt there was nothing left to count on. I wanted the group at Absolute Write to know I supported their efforts. I hit the send button with that thought in mind. It didn’t matter if it was accepted or not. It was and remains a message of support.

You see, I have family “down there” on the Gulf Coast. All my in-laws live along the Coast from Destin FL to Beaumont TX. It was a devastating and worrying time for my husband and me. Given the scope of the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina, our limited funds were going to help family members in crisis. Right after the Katrina calamity, along came Hurricane Rita which affected the last remaining in-law who was previously unscathed. Her house was destroyed. I was tapped out for cash but still managed to donate a little. It was precious little and I wanted to do more. I could support the Stories of Strength project. Cash was not something I had in great supply but I have a body that can move wherever I tell it to go and a car that takes very little gas. I could work to help the project thereby stretching my limited resources.

Knowing my offering wouldn’t be accepted anyway, I put it out of my mind and started working on ways to help get the word out about the anthology. The project took a total of 2 months from the call for submissions to being available for purchase. Time was a critical factor in more ways than one. The holiday season had arrived and everywhere in the news we were hearing about donation fatigue. Indeed this morning on Channel 5 news there was a short segment about how some of the local charities are suffering from a lack of funds due to donation fatigue and Christmas around the corner. For me it is a nail biting time with this project being so close to my heart. My doctor was not happy with me last checkup but she will have to understand that sometimes some things have a greater need.

“Stories of Strength” is an anthology of essays, poems, and short fiction compiled by Jenna Glatzer, owner of AbsoluteWrite.com and author of the authorized biography: “Celine Dion: For Keeps”. The anthology is published through printer: http://www.lulu.com for speed to publication. It features stories by Orson Scott Card, Wil Wheaton, and Christian writer, Robin Lee Hatcher. Writers from all over the world contributed to the book. 100% of the proceeds for this project go to charities for disaster relief. In one month’s time since the book has been available, more than $2000 has been raised for disaster relief through Lulu. The numbers haven’t come in from other online bookstores or Ingram Distributors. I do know, at the time of this writing, “Stories of Strength” has a sales rank on Amazon.com of 169,232 and a rank of 69,969 on Barnes and Noble which is very good for a Print on Demand book that is only a month on the market.

We feel helpless when matters are out of our control and this is a year for events beyond human influence. Mother Nature has walloped us, not only in our own backyards but all over the world: Tsunamis followed by hurricanes followed by earthquakes followed by floods followed by tornadoes in a seemingly never ending stream of disasters. It has truly been a banner year for experiencing the worst of nature. We have given and given and still there is the need for more. We look at the tiny faces of those who count on us for home, security, and love wondering how we can let them down when they live for this time of year with their childhood fantasies of glorious Christmas treasures under their tree. For the adults and teens in your life, you can give something that does both. “Stories of Strength” makes a great gift for co-workers, family members, and anyone you think might need something tangible to remind them that we all possess some measure of strength although it may differ from individual to individual. The anthology can be purchased directly from here: http://www.lulu.com/content/172091 or at any online or local bookstore through their ordering systems.

Oh, by the way, my essay is on page 138, “Heart of the Mountain”. Another Nashville writer, Yvonne Oots, has her essay, “Merlin”, included on page 159.