Woohoo, I’ve been published!

All authors dream of getting their work out there, being recognized, getting published. For some it’s writing the next best seller, for others it’s an article in their favorite magazine, for some it’s e-publishing.

Recently I submitted a short story and just received word it was accepted. It’s my first national gig. Please check it out, here’s the link:

http://voices.yahoo.com/shrink-wrapped-12362313.html?cat=44

New creative outlets

To all my writer friends out there I issue a challenge. Try something outside of your creative box this month. What does that mean? In my case, it was Painting With a Twist.

Yes I know exactly what you’re thinking, “But teschoenborn, I barely have time to write, how am I supposed to do something else creative?” Trust me, those thoughts and guilty feelings flooded through me as well. But I decided a few hours of my time was a small price to pay for a creative recharge.

Okay, so what is Painting With a Twist? It’s a company specializing in a fun painting experience. You show up with your snacks and wine, yes I said wine, where an instructor walks you through a predetermined painting, step by step, no previous experience required. Thank God, because this was my first painting experience. The instructor was wonderful, the atmosphere relaxing yet fun, and I left feeling satisfied as well as recharged. Oh, and the bonus? I took home a painting to hang on my wall!

Interior painting; more than just a pretty color

I don’t know about you, but I could really use some extra help updating my wall colors. I mean is white even a color? I don’t think so.

We're Your Painters Inc.

We all know that adding color to the walls in your home is a great way to reflect our taste and personality, but there are many more benefits to applying paint to your interior walls.

It will make old decor look fresh and new. Such as that piece of artwork that you purchased but just doesn’t look right on the wall. This may be a result of the wrong color behind it.  We’re Your Painters Inc. can help with your color choices to make that piece of artwork become the focal point that you were hoping for.

New interior paint also presents a great opportunity for a clean, fresh look. Dust and cobwebs can collect on the texture in those high and hard to reach places. Hiring We’re Your Painters Inc. is the best way to avoid climbing those tall ladders yourself. The cobwebs and dust will be removed as part…

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Walmart Parking Lot

Okay, I just have to share this. A whole story could be written surrounding this interesting mode of transportation.

Who drives it? Where do they live? Which item did they attach first? What if they drove this to attend a PETA convention? What would be the repercussions?

I await your imaginative responses.

Duck Duck Gray Duck

About right…

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Can you finish this short story?

“What the hell kind of noise is that?” Jim mumbled to himself as he made his way through the thick underbrush. Over forty years hunting in these woods and he’d never heard nothing of the sort…..

Here’s your challenge. What will Jim find? I have no idea. Do you? Finish this short story and post it in the comments or on your site with a link in the comments below. I look forward to reading all your responses!

Homeward bound…

If you, or the things around you aren’t changing, hold a mirror up to your mouth to verify you’re still breathing.

Change happens to us all, sometimes in small increments, other times in tsunami size waves. Sure, you might stuck where I am now, hanging to the top of a tree waiting for the water to recede, but don’t worry, the ocean will eventually return to its bed.

As for me, I’ve just moved from Oregon (where I’ve lived my whole life) to Texas, and yes, it’s hot here. I’ve also been forced out of a company I founded by people I once trusted, leading to all sorts of issues; unemployment, sense of betrayal, etc. However, this seemingly negative event has set in motion certain positives. Such as starting a new ‘day job’. I’m now a Realtor! As you can imagine, I could use everyone’s help getting started, so if you are planning to buy or sell, send me a message so I can refer you to a good real estate agent in your area.

Okay, enough plugging myself for now….

A foggy mountain trail

The fog blanketed the trees as I made my way along the trail, alone in the wood. Different than my past river trail run along the Deschutes, but just as satisfying, I jogged watching my breath puff out before me adding to the mystic of the morning. The temperature hung just above freezing and ice clung to the evergreen limbs lining the path.

Insulating.

Ice and fog, like a frigid shroud.

Eerie or peaceful, depending on your perspective.

Huh. The key to life discovered on a morning jog, and isn’t that just the way of the world?

Changes

Life is full of change. It’s unavoidable, inevitable—like death and taxes—something we all must face. However it’s not ‘change’ that’s of interest, it’s how each of us deal with said change that truly matters. Do we fight it kicking and screaming, edge into it slowly while gripping the past tightly? Or do we embrace it, move on and grow?

What does this have to do with my website? As you can see, there’s a long gap between this post and the last. Why? Well changes of course. So, you may be asking yourself, which way did I respond? Never one to do anything halfway, I decided to go for all the above. Not all at once, but in stages. This led to a long gap of non productivity while I tried to cope, not an approach I would recommend to anyone else.

So finally here I am, back to my website and my writing. Embracing the change in my life and funneling it into creativity. Sorry it took me so long

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming….

I’m not on an island….

I’ve been a little philosophical lately. Not sure why. Maybe it’s all the change taking place in my life, affording me a different perspective. Or the new and interesting people who have come in and out of my life lately. Regardless, I’m seeing things differently and perhaps just a bit more clearly.

I used to visualize myself as on an island, safe and secure, allowing only those I wished onto my shore. The control was mine, who to let on, who to kick off, whether to swim to someone else’s island for a day or not etc.

It was a good outlook, if a bit lonely.

Recently I met someone with the same type of life philosophy, only their island had huge rock bluffs, impenetrable jungles, and a lava spewing volcano directly in the middle. A very exciting place but impossible to ever relax on. None of the beaches had sand, only rocks, the jungle had no trails and the water source was across the freshly spewed lava fields, which changed location every day.

Needless to say, after trying to navigate all that chaos I finally gave up and just swam back to my own little safe and sane island. Probably the latest in a long line of adventurers to do exactly the very same thing. Sad actually, because his island was of his own creation, his loneliness his own doing. A prison of his own making.

Wait. Prison.

I looked around at my island. Different but the same. A prison. My prison.

Okay, that was my epiphany. So now what you ask?

I’m out in the ocean swimming from island to island, yelling to everyone, “The water’s warm! Come join me.”

A woman torn

It’s been awhile. I know.

This morning I woke up thinking of freedom. Shocker right? Seeing as it’s July and all, but the type of freedom I’m referring to is personal freedom. Where does it come from? And who’s to say what it means to you, or to the neighbors across the street, or to that couple sitting on the park bench?

Look more closely.

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The woman gazed at the clothing laid out on the bed, designer fitted dress or leather and chain? What would she wear? Who would she be tonight? Her heart pounded, palms sweated.

Her fingers caressed the edge of the dress, black and elegant. It sang of upscale restaurants, limos, men with suits.

Her hand moved to the leather, subtle and soft but speaking of dominance and obedience. The riding crop laid out next to it spoke of… other things.

She placed her hands in the middle, just as he came into the room, the man who gave her the freedom to be both.

She picked up the riding crop…