Does Peacemaking Work With A Skunk?

Life can be so confusing.  Life can be so challenging.  Life presents so many choices in the way we should think and feel.  

About fifteen months ago I blogged about our dog, Sweet Jenny, getting “skunked.”  By a skunk, of course, not the way I get skunked in Words with Friends on my smartphone.  Jenny got skunked right in her own back yard, where she encounters a variety of animals from time to time.  She’s even featured in my new book about creating peace in her backyard.  It’s called JENNY AND HER BACKYARD ZOO, but you won’t find skunks at all while she teaches lessons in peacemaking. 

Since that awful night when Jenny was “skunked,” when it’s dark outside I take her out to the front yard on a leash.  We decided that is the safest way to keep her safe and “un-skunked,” while giving her a chance to go outside one last time before bedtime.  It works out very well and gives us a chance to see a bright and beautiful full moon once a month, which we would probably miss otherwise.  

If you know anything at all about Texas Hill Country you already know about the abundance of deer that share space with the human population.  And very often when we turn on the front lights and open the door, ready for our stroll around the front yard, there will be deer in our front yard.  One glance at us and they quit munching grass and dash off to the shadows of our neighbors’ yards, pausing to stare at us from a distance and respecting the fact that it’s our yard and we make the rules. 

Last night was no exception in our routine.  But when we turned on the front lights and opened the door there stood a skunk – right on the walk just off the porch – staring right at Jenny and me as we stopped safely inside the storm door.  Even a bright porch light in the eyes did not intimidate that critter, and I recalled years of warnings about nocturnal animals not intimidated by sunlight, flashlight, or porch light.   Jenny and I were both so startled by this face to face encounter.  She didn’t even bark, which she frequently does at the deer.  We stood very still as our intruder focused is beady eyes on us, then turned and ambled very casually down the sidewalk like he had all night and day to get out of our yard.  That’s Ambled. Capital A.  Like he owned the world. 

Now, after Jenny was skunked a year ago I was convinced skunks lived under the mower shed, and I threatened to get the BB gun out of the closet and launch an attack.  A friend remarked, “Remember, they were here on this land before you,” to which I responded, “They are welcome to stay if they pay the property tax and mow my lawn.  Otherwise, I’ll make the rules about who lives on my land.”

Since last night, running through my head have been all the things I’ve been taught about “all of God’s children,” and “bless the beasts and the children,” and “all creatures great and small,” and…  I could go on forever and so could all of you.  And, every time I come right back to “my house, my rules.”  And then it expands to “my land, my rules,” and then careens right into one of our hottest issues today, “my country, my rules.” 

I think you know by now where I’m headed.  While we take precautions to protect a member of our household, Sweet Jenny, from danger we find an unwelcome visitor violating our home and yard so we can’t live safely and comfortably…  Is there a metaphor for life somewhere here?  Does the “Castle Doctrine” apply to skunks?  This law is sometimes referred to as the “Make My Day Law,” so where was Clint Eastwood when I needed him?  The friend, who unwisely told me skunks under my shed or in my back or front yard were here long before I was, better think again.  My home, my rules, and those don't include meeting a skunk on my front porch.  I know a skunk dwon't pay the taxes or mow the lawn, but maybe this calls for some serious peacemaking.

I wish the skunk could read my new book, JENNY AND HER BACKYARD ZOO.  It tells about Sweet Jenny and all the animals she has encountered in the back yard.  At one time she dreamed of being a Zoo Keeper, but when she discovered the animals were not friendly to each other.  So she taught them to be kind to each other, and to her, and live in harmony and peace – Sweet Jenny became a Peacemaker and her book has guidelines at the end of the story to teach children and adults how to become Peacemakers right in their own backyards.   It’s available in paperback from Amazon and at The Kindle Store.  Get Jenny’s book today and start an epidemic of peacemaking for special children in your life. 

Good morning world!  I woke up this morning to find the first two emails in my Inbox were about seeking “behavior therapy” and How To Look 20 years Younger.”  I know they should have gone into my Spam Box, but…What a way to start the week, especially since next Monday is my birthday. 

Now, at my age I’ve run through a lot of behavior, changed from good to bad, glad to sad on a dime without having to rebuild my transmission.  And, if you knew me 20 years ago you know I’ve never been a beauty.  So why would I want to look like that again?  Sure, these days I jokingly refer to my makeup as “spackle” and the applicator as a “putty knife.”  And my strong opinions fall somewhere between conservative and liberal, but are pretty consistently Bible-supported?  They’ve been honed and polished with years of experience and fine-tuned by trial and error. Today I’m a virtual kaleidoscope of imperfection!  I don’t need behavior modification or magic face cream.  I’m fine, thank you very much.  Age develops character in appearance and attitude, and I feel both my face and my behavior reflect that I’ve lived and am still living a great life.   I hope I look and act like I’ve learned a few things for all these years. 

Why is it that behavior and appearance are so associated with and judged according to age?  If I want to wear a Texas sundress with no sleeves to the elbow when it’s 103 in the shade, what’s the problem?  Even in an election year if I politely express a strong personal viewpoint I risk being considered cranky, old fashioned, or out of step.   So at what age are we supposed to know the truth?  When do we finally get credit for getting it right?

Hang on to your hats, folks.  The well-known musician and humanitarian Bono just came to this old codger’s rescue with a great quote to continue my day.  On my daily values.com he says, “My heroes are the ones who survived doing it wrong, who made mistakes, but recovered from them.”  He’s in his early 50s and already discovered the “secret.”  And it makes me feel better about this day to discover that just being me I may be one of Bono’s heroes.   

What are your thoughts on all of this?  Age?  Character?  Opinions?  Changes?  Traditions?  Preserving what counts?  Don’t be shy.  Let’s share some comments.  Tell me how you feel even if it’s not your birthday month.    

Terri Clamons, author
Cocaine Campus, The Toy Room, and Corporate Prince,

Suspense, adventure, and intrigue with a light romance.

The Church Mouse That Flew, a story of learning to pray for children and adults

Jenny And Her Backyard Zoo, a story of Peacemaking for children and adults

All 5 books available as paperbacks and ebooks at Amazon, listed under Terri Clamons 

You are invited to visit my website: http://terriclamons.com

Please read and comment on my blog: http://blogbyterri.blogspot.com

We all have a story!  Come on.  Admit it.  You have one, I have one, old uncle whatshisname has one, your crazy neighbor has one.  Like I said, we all have a story.  Admit it! 

Sometimes it’s a short story about a person or something special to you.  Sometime it’s a poem expressing deep feelings you can’t say out loud.  And, sometimes it a story based on what you know, people you know, and now you want to place it in history for everyone to enjoy.  Come on now.  Admit it.  Everyone has a story!  And it’s not too late to share it with readers everywhere.

Thirty years ago our family helped to organize a church in Stanley, Kansas.  It was a special time, we worked hard, and we all learned something from the experience.  During the time our congregation was out-growing available space we spent an evening speculating where we could worship until our church building became a reality.  The discussion led to silly speculation, which included hiring a pilot and helicopter to fly an old white frame church from the Ozarks of Missouri and place it on our five empty acres.

This conversation and the laughter with friends led to my writing a children’s story back in 1982 and I named it THE CHURCH MOUSE THAT FLEW.  It’s a whimsical view of flying the church from Missouri to Kansas as seen through the eyes of the church mouse that lived under the pulpit step.  It also relates the faith of the mouse during his wild trip because listening to the pastor had taught him to pray.  Prayer helped the mouse deal with fear, uncertainty, his move to a new location, and his safe arrival where he knew he would be cared for by a new congregation. 

This is my moment to say TaDa!  THE CHURCH MOUSE THAT FLEW has just been published for me by CreateSpace.  It has evolved over the years into the same sweet story of the mouse in flight while teaching children the value of prayer, including guidelines for parents and children at the end of the story to develop skills in personal prayers.  I am excited and I know you will all love it when you read it. 

Share with me now how you learned to pray.  How old were you when you felt comfortable praying, even by yourself?  Who prayed with you or did you learn on your own?  Do you have special memories of finally feeling comfortable with personal prayers?  Please comment on these feelings and experiences.  I hope to put this book into parent hands and would love to share with them some personal experiences from people who remember how their prayer skills evolved and strengthened. 

Remember the name.  THE CHURCH MOUSE THAT FLEW and ir's available now in paperback from amazon.com and createspace estore.  You and special children in your life are going to love this story!

Terri Clamons, author
Cocaine Campus, The Toy Room, and Corporate Prince,

Available as paperbacks at amazon or createspace estore, and

          as ebooks at amazon or The Kindle Store.

The Church Mouse That Flew, a children's book about prayer,

          is at amazon and createspace estore..  

You are invited to visit my website: http://terriclamons.com
Please read and comment on my blog: http://blogbyterri.blogspot.com

A few blogs ago I wrote about the excitement of new school supplies, especially crayons, as time draws near for the start of a new school year.  But, I live in a college town and the start of a new school year has special impact on the whole community.  I grew up in a college town and recall how the energy level of the whole town fluctuated with the presence and absence of the students.  The “quiet, peaceful village” mentioned in the college song became even more intensely quiet during holidays and summer months and more intensely energized with the return of the students each fall.

Here in San Marcos we have a major university so classes continue all summer.  Many students stay to work through Christmas and spring breaks, so their presence and energy never disappear entirely.  But the intensity of university life and student population diminishes in the spring after graduation, automobile traffic thins out on our streets, and the bicycle population is greatly reduced. 

I get excited this time of year as the cars multiply on our major streets and young adults with backpacks strapped to their bodies increase the bicycle traffic once again.  My father was a college administrator when I was growing up, and I’m familiar with the multitude of issues encountered by staff members at the university and the variety of decisions students face as the new school year begins.  I have a September birthday and as a child my father was hard-pressed to have time for celebration as he encountered the multitude of routine needs and crises attached to the start of a new year.  As the student population swells after the summer lull I find myself watching the throngs of people in the coffee houses, stores, and restaurants.  The parks get busier, there are more “tubers” in The River, and even church pews and the choirs are a little fuller each Sunday.

Popular retailers don’t just increase their inventory of needed items for dormitory and apartment living.  As you walk the aisles you pass huge bins brought out especially this time of year filled with pillows, bedding, throw rugs, towels, mirrors, and light-weight furniture necessary for leisure as well as studying.  Even local residents take advantage of the lowest prices all year on electronic items that are being snapped up by new students.  Parents from out of town move about town with their astonishingly young-looking offspring.  It brings back memories of taking our own three off to college some time ago and that poignancy I witness around San Marcos each year at this time is not missed on me at for a moment.

I have friends with spouses who have taught all summer or spent valuable down time to research and prepare new material.  Most of them are already off to university offices and classrooms for last minute class preparation or meetings with students who need their wisdom and counsel for class choices.  As the town’s demographics change dramatically, once again, I feel if I stood quietly near the town square I will actually hear the hum or buzz of excitement attached to the return of the students and the launching of an exciting new year.   My hope is that all is well at our university and the staff and students are ready to kick off a great year on Monday.

--------------

Not so with Dr. Bradley Storm, new college president in my book, COCAINE CAMPUS.  His year is launched with the drug-related death of a student and the disappearance of his wealthy brother-in-law, who had agreed to finance the new student residences.   As he pieces together fractured family relationships and warms up neglected friendships, Brad Storm never has a dull moment from his first day on campus to his take off from Miami in Butch’s expensive toy on the final page.  COCAINE CAMPUS is now available as a paperback or an ebook at Amazon. 

Terri Clamons, author
Cocaine Campus, The Toy Room, and Corporate Prince,

All are available as trade paperbacks or ebooks at Amazon  

You are invited to visit my website: http://terriclamons.com
Please read and comment on my blog: http://blogbyterri.blogspot.com

As a writer, I am constantly asked where I get my characters in the books and short stories I write.  My flip response is usually, “I’m constantly taking notes so be careful or you’ll end up in one of my books.”  Sometimes people look at me slightly chagrined at the thought and others quiz me about the traits I look for the most and what really attracts my attention.   When I’m asked that question it always makes me stop and seriously think through the process of developing strong, interesting characters.  One thing I know for certain.  I have to “fall in love” with all my characters, both good and bad, before I can make them significant to the story. 

In my first adult novel, CORPORATE PRINCE, I was inspired by Phillip’s need to chase his dream half way around the world to a small African mission.  The mysterious CD that led him was my own creation, but I once knew a man whose life had followed a path very similar to the one I laid out for Phillip.  And while developing Phillip and his life changes, I sensed he would need the new discipline and confidence found in training for and completing his first marathon run, which was a passion of the man after whom I patterned Phillip.

An agent who read CORPORATE PRINCE at a writers’ conference in 2005 specifically mentioned my characters and how real they became to him.  “Tell me, Terri, did you have an Aunt Sophie?” he asked.  “No,” I responded and laughed along with him as he admitted, “Well, I did and your development of her was so real it made me sure you had an Aunt Sophie of your own.”  Before writing the character I had my spiral filled with behaviors that fit together into the character that became Phillip’s Aunt Sophie, including the hood ornament incident I witnessed in a parking lot in Kansas City.

Some readers may believe a wild imagination is all a writer needs to develop good, strong characters.  While that may be a skill that lends strong support to character development, keen eyes and ears are also important tools in lending touches of both reality and wild abandon to the people telling your stories.   Filling a spiral notebook with both bizarre and common traits shared by us all can result in the development of special characters that carry the story on their backs or become the comic relief or tragic victim needed to tug on a reader’s heart strings.

 

CORPORATE PRINCE is available as a paperback or ebook at Amazon.  Order it today and meet some exciting and extraordinary characters.  How about the three wealthy African businessmen, one of whom is a priest constantly stirring up trouble?  You don’t want to miss his friend, the bush pilot named Oopsie.  And, what happens when Phillip finds himself holding a gun in his hand for the first time ever while he attempts to rescue a kidnapped family member?

Leave a comment and let me know how you like Phillip’s story as he searches for a new life, learns his mother’s astounding secret, and finally discovers Elizabeth’s unconditional love.

 

Terri Clamons, author
Cocaine Campus, The Toy Room, and Corporate Prince,

All are available as trade paperbacks at amazon or createspace estore, and

as ebooks at amazon or The Kindle Store.  

You are invited to visit my website: http://terriclamons.com
Please read and comment on my blog: http://blogbyterri.blogspot.com

Do you get energized about the start of another school year?  I do!  I really do!

My belief is that everyone’s lives are impacted by the school schedule.  Community activities and events are scheduled around the school calendar filled with sports, theater, music, and the Back To School and Open House events that occupy parent and students.  Even churches and civic groups double check with the school calendars to avoid conflict and confusion.

 

I’ve been putting together Back To School surprises for our grandchildren and I was out shopping today.  You know, the usual trek through Target, Academy, HEB (aka grocery for all of you non-Texans).  Monday is usually not a busy day in the stores in our town and a good time to move about efficiently with little concern for shopping cart pile ups.  But today?  The stores were astonishingly empty until I got to the section in each store labeled with banners and everything short of flashing lights – SCHOOL SUPPLIES.  

There I became entangled with hordes of families shopping in groups.  Children clutched supply lists in their hands as they tried to explain the importance of some items to parents who were editing their choices.  I left my cart at the end of the bumper to bumper traffic, selected my meager needs of pencils, pens, and Post It Notes and then moved on.  I escaped the crowd and headed for electronics, searching for the flash drives on sale at a ridiculously low price and was told, “Oh, those are  in SCHOOL SUPPLIES.”

While I’m back in SCHOOL SUPPLIES’ gridlock cart traffic again, I am suddenly drawn back in time by that unforgettable fragrance of crayons.  Fragrance, you say?  Yes.  It’s a fragrance.  Crayons are stacked around me in a variety of box shapes sizes, color mixtures, washable and those with warnings.  Warnings?  For crayons?  So time changes things, but the fragrance is unmistakable.  It’s crayons and crayons mean back to school time for everyone. 

I moved on down the aisle and the fragrance stuck with me as I picked up three of the bargain priced flash drives and consider the USB cords no student could misplace because it’s worn as a bracelet.   Finally, I backtracked to my shopping cart and headed to check out with my high tech school supplies.  But as I passed the crayons again I threw a pack into my cart.  It’s just an eight color box.  But when it’s time for going back to school doesn’t everyone need a new box of crayons?  By the way, do they sell Big Chief tablets anymore?

Let me know how you feel when school starts.   Do you feel the urge to buy some new crayons? 

Terri Clamons, author
Corporate Prince, ebook at amazon.com and The Kindle Store
The Toy Room, paperback and ebook at amazon.com and The Kindle Store

Cocaine Campus, ebook at amazon.com and The Kindle Store  
You are invited to visit my website: http://terriclamons.com
Please read and comment on my blog: http://blogbyterri.blogspot.com

Self publishing three novels over the past eight months has been quite a ride!  Consequently, it's been some time since I've blogged.  I love reading blogs, so this week I've resolved to get back in the swing of things, share thoughts and ideas, and hope to hear back from all of you.  Trust me when I tell you I have not been sitting around doing nothing.  Since I last blogged I finished my third novel and self-published all of my novels as ebooks at The Kindle Store.  The past few weeks have been totally consumed while working with CreateSpace to develop all three books into trade paperbacks. (Please don't make me tell you again I have not been sitting around doing nothing.)

While waiting for the proof copies to arrive Fred suggested I take time off or, perhaps, we could even go away for a few days.  What?  And who will race to the door every time the FedEx or UPS truck roars up our road?  Who will check to see if the driver finally stops and walks to our door with boxes from CreateSpace?  What is he thinking?

So, incurable workaholic that I am, this week I attacked old files to stir up some things I've developed in the past that have taken a back seat to my three books -- COCAINE CAMPUS, THE TOY ROOM, and CORPORATE PRINCE.

My brain is shifting gears from suspense and intrigue to my little Church Mouse, who teaches children how to pray, and our dog Jenny, who seizes the opportunity to be a peacemaker among animals in our backyard.  And what about that file labeled "Essays?"

My gardening instincts have taken over as I find myself searching for a trowel to stir things up a bit or grabbing the clippers for needed "dead heading" and clipping here and there to improve the health of these long-neglected ideas.  My flowers on the deck have been either under-watered or over-watered this summer and work to survive extreme ups and down on the thermometer.  But with my patience and loving touch, they are flourishing and surviving Mother Nature's hard knocks.  All my writing projects have been treated much the same way, either flourishing with attention or gathering dust by neglect.  But the same patience and loving touch used on my weather-battered deck flowers has emerged as I read through my stories hidden in abandoned computer files and dusty piles pushed aside on the desk.

That's the life of a writer, right?  There's the project that is polished and looking great, while others languish and suffer from neglect.  Let me hear from some of you writers out there with ideas how to keep your projects in better balance.  And I promise I will continue to share thoughts and ideas with you all while I blow the dust off my old projects and see how they develop with my tender, loving care.

Terri Clamons, author
COCAINE CAMPUS, THE TOY ROOM, CORPORATE PRINCE
All available as ebooks at The Kindle Store and Amazon
All soon to be available as paperbacks at Amazon and CreateSpace
Please visit me at my website: http://www.terriclamons.com