Women’s History Month- by, Linda Johnston, guest blogger

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Journals, Kansas Literary Society, Kansas Territory, Linda Johnston, Womens History Month, writing

First, thanks so much to Nancy for letting me be her guest today. Second, thanks to all the members of Write by the Rails who participated in the Endless Possibilities Blog Tour, it has been a great adventure! The Prairie Star – An 1850’s Anthology Women’s History Month has me thinking about women, yes, but mainly women writers. Those of you who know me or are familiar with my writing, know I like to illuminate the stories of everyday people from the past, that so often have parallels with our own. When settlers went west they didn’t leave everything behind. They brought many cultural traditions to their new communities as a way to socialize with new neighbors and bring some feeling of civilization to newly formed towns.

Prairie Star

Today I would like to introduce you to the ladies of the Kansas Philomathic Literary Society. This group, formed in Topeka, Kansas, held its first meeting during the winter of 1855-1856 in Union Hall. The first Saturday of the month was set aside for lectures, with the other Saturdays for discussion and literary readings. In 1857, the Society began producing a handwritten “journal” called the Prairie Star, which featured the poetry and prose of its members. All punctuation and spelling has been left as in the original documents.

The “mission statement” of the group is poetical as presented in the prospectus: We have christened our paper the Prairie Star, Seeking a name synonymous with our far Western and beautiful land, and from these broad and fair Prairies we will endeavor to send forth Such Sentiments as will serve a beacon light to those around us, pointing them to all that is Noble, fair, and truthful.

In the January 24, 1857 inaugural issue, Maria Martin, the journal’s editor, opened with reflections on settlers’ perspectives as they huddled inside for the winter: “With the early days of the bright New Year, while the cold searching winds Come sweeping o’er these broad prairies, entering every creek and crevice of our Kansas Homes, We circle round our quiet firesides, each busy with his or her own thoughts, thankful for the measure of peace which now is ours after the distracting Scenes of the past year- The man of business as he rests from his daily toil, thinks of his prospects, how much the receipts of his last years labors were. How he will provide and act for the future. The Mother thinks of the home She has left, of the valuable Schools, the many advantages which formerly surrounded her youthful family and earnest hopes that the Same may ere long Surround her and hers, in this there far Western Home. The young wife with busy thoughts intent, building up in her imagination her little home with all of Nature and Arts adornments . . . but bright dreams for the future occupy her every thought. And the young man, and blooming maiden full of gaity and mirth, and bright anticipations, Transplant to there new homes, Some of the Scenes and enjoyments of former homes. First, and most valued among we consider out ‘Literary Society’….”

Certainly, our writing groups today are different from the Philomathic Society in many ways. But think about why your own writing group came together – camaraderie, a shared interest in writing, and perhaps educating each other and the community. Consider the Prairie Star as the Society’s anthology, with its goal to enlighten their neighbors. Unlike many anthologies today, printed on Create Space or other electronic means, each Prairie Star issue, and each copy of each issue, was handwritten. What an undertaking and what an accomplishment. The editor expressed the group’s desire to produce a quality journal. Although, the group was primarily ladies, they did not discriminate in accepting submissions as the editor points out: “…Our lady friends we hope will rally around aiding us with there contributions of Poetry and Prose, and not only from the ladies but we trust our male friends will lend us the cheering smile, and kindly word, and think it a priviledge to occasionally Send us a few thoughts by the more practicable pens for our mutual benefit and of wit and humour a share to enliven our pages and amuse our hearers….”

So now, near the close of Women’s History Month, let us raise our pens to the ladies of the Kansas Philomathic Literary Society.

Linda Johnston’s launch of “Hope Amid Hardship”

Writer and artist Linda S. Johnston enjoys combining history, art, and nature in her writing. She began reading pioneer diaries in 1986 and never stopped. Her first book Hope Amid Hardship: Pioneer Voices from Kansas Territory, is a collection of pioneer writings about the happy side of life in early Kansas and includes watercolor sketches throughout. To learn more about Linda and her writing, please visit http://www.lindasjohnston.com

Guest Blog Post: Stacia D. Kelly, Ph.D.

Tags

creative writing, imagination, Stacia Kelly, writing

I first met Stacia when she was promoting her non-fiction work, “Nine Months In- Nine Months Out.”  You can click HERE to read the long list of her credentials.  Or, you can read on and allow her to inspire you….

Writers and artists draw from many sources of inspiration. Movies. Other Books. A piece of artwork. Memories. People passing by. Things happening in nature or history and even dreams. Sometimes, we even just pick a random set of words to try and spark an idea. There’s even a box available for writers called “The Storymatic.” It’s supposed to be great not only for authors, but teachers, artists, road trips, improv and game nights. You simply pick one red card and one gold card. For example, I just pulled “wrestler” and “fever,” which should make for an interesting scene…(if you want to run with it, by all means, go for it!)

Where do you find inspiration?

As much fun as that can be, I realized a number of years ago that I tend to daydream my stories into being. At least the first scene or two. I can spend hours perfecting and tweaking a single opening scene in my head before ever putting it on the page. And, every so often, I layer in pieces from snippets of conversations going on around me, a hint, a suggestion, the way someone moves or says something.

• The Goddess Chronicles came about from a daydream idea that randomly popped up during an RWA conference. I’d started out with Glacial, the Goddess of Water, in a swirl of snow and ice, but somehow Phyxe, Goddess of Fire took over and demanded to be first. Imagine that, Phyxe being demanding. She’s not really known for her patience.

• Ichi, with Ryan and Shia, evolved from someone mentioning they’d love to read a story about a female samurai (which also sent me off reading about samurai and ninjas). And, now that I think about it, both series came from the same person! Thus, the samurai sisters were born and have taken over our writing household.

• And now, I have a new contemporary that started when scenes began appearing in my dreams one night.

Wolf Maze, the new contemporary, is one of those brilliant dream sequences from the depths of my subconscious that has blossomed into a story. It’s both a blessing and a curse. What was truly awe inspiring? I dreamed it in sequence. I’ve never had that happen before. And now, Jax and Vincent are chomping at the bit (pun intended) for me to get started, but I have Goddesses demanding I finish their storyline first.

For other stories, I’ve had a glimmer of an idea here or there that came from the dream realm, but never a full story. Glacial has stolen a few of those dreams for her story. Phyxe had one show up in hers as well. I should start a contest to see who can figure out which scenes are the dream ones!

When other authors tell me, they only had the one story in them, I’m constantly amazed. I have so many voices vying for attention that sometimes it can be challenging to sit down and focus on just the few in the series I need to be working on.

My imagination keeps it moving along. If you’re an author or artist (any type of creative), where’s the most creative places one of your ideas or stories came from?

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Stacia D. Kelly, Ph.D., is the author of the fiction works, “Phyxe: Goddess of Fire”, “Ichi”, and the upcoming “Gaian.” Her non-fiction work includes “Reduce You”, “Muse”, and “Nine Months In, Nine Months Out.” Read more atwww.staciakelly.com.

Blog Tour Guest Blog Post: Nick Kelly

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Catwalk Series, comic book, Just Wanna Play, Nick Kelly, superheros

Meet Nick Kelly; a fascinating and talented writer.  I’ve gotten to know Stacia, his brilliant wife, and because this power couple intrigues me, I’ve asked Nick a few questions.  He’s was kind enough to answer them!  

Here is my blog post on Nick’s page: CLICK HERE  

When did you begin writing?

I was really into drawing long before I was in to writing. I remember drawing comic book super heroes and G.I. Joes as far back as I can remember. I enjoyed reading everything. I tore through Choose Your Own Adventure books, or anything Dungeons and Dragons, David Eddings, Lloyd Alexander, Tracy Hickman, you name it. As a matter of fact, the hero in my sci-fi series originally appeared in a comic book, not a novel. It took over a decade before he actually made his first novel appearance.

Catwalk Messiah

How did you find your style?

I’ve been told that my style is incredibly visual, which makes perfect sense (and is exactly what I shoot for). I like to write so that the reader feels like they’re reading a movie. With high-impact and action-packed sci-fi, visuals are an essential piece of the puzzle.

One of my favorite interviews was on the special features of the Blade Runner DVD. Apparently, the initial script was very compact and took place in a single room. (Director) Ridley Scott came in with a stack of Heavy Metal magazines and said, “this is how we’re going to do it.” Can you imagine Blade Runner without the incredible visuals of the Tyrel Building or the giant freaky Japanese woman?

How did you find your characters?

My sci-fi (anti-)hero is Leon “Catwalk” Caliber. The first version of Cat came from playing the role playing game, Cyberpunk 2020. He’s evolved a bunch since then, and so has the universe and the supporting cast. Heck, I didn’t even release the novels in the order I wrote them.

My cop in the urban fantasy novel, “Ichi”, the first of the Urban Samurai series, was built as a counterpart to Stacia’s samurai heroine, Shia. She’s a 1000 year old samurai who hunts all things demonic and supernatural. Naturally, my guy, Detective Ryan Calder, is a total skeptic. He simply loves his unmarked car and his classic rock and doesn’t believe in any of that mumbo-jumbo until he starts seeing it first hand.

How both have evolved?

I love, love, love my writing friends and partners. I’ve learned so much from working with fellow authors like Stacia Kelly, J.T. Bock, Tee Morris, Pip Ballantine, and others. I highly recommend that writers find accountability partners and writing groups (either local or online). I absolutely tore apart my first few works following feedback from other writers and my beta readers, too.

Did either your style or your characters, or your frequency of writing, change upon finding your partner in life, the lovely Stacia?

My style didn’t change but my writing process did completely. Stacia introduced me to NaNoWriMo, the annual writing event each November. The goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. That helps to flesh out a straw man that I can go back and edit for better quality and continuity. Then there’s a lot of red ink from the editors and feedback from the beta readers. (I’ve learned from my beta readers that they are a bloodthirsty group!)

Writing with Stacia requires a completely different tone than writing alone. Having reviewed horror films for years has made me numb to gore, I guess. When you watch that much blood, you tend not to mind it when you write it, and my readers like to clamor for lots of blood.

What are you working on now?

Combined, Stacia and I have at least four books coming out in 2014. I have a short story, “Catwalk: Jericho”, which connects the first two books in that series. Stacia’s 2nd book in the Goddess Chronicles, “Gaian”, will be out, and then “Catwalk: Lineage” and “Ni”, the 2nd Urban Samurai book will be out later in the year. I have a zombie thing I’m working on, also, but those are the only ones we’ve committed for this year.

Thanks for letting me ramble. Time to grab my red pen and get to some edits!

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Nick Kelly is a musician, professional speaker, and an author. His works include the cyberpunk/sci-fi novel, “Catwalk: Messiah” (Book One in the Leon “Catwalk” Caliber series), and “Ichi” (Book One of the Urban Samurai series). Both are available on Amazon.

Blog Tour Guest Post: Tamela J. Ritter and The Fire

Tags

Camp Fire, Camp Sweyolakan, Camp Tannadoonah, Council Fire, fairies, From These Ashes, Helen Gerrish Hughes, mystery, North Idaho, Tamela Ritter, wo-he-lo

I asked Tamela J. Ritter if she had any camp memories.  She has conjured up a magical one just for us involving Camp Fire Girls and Camp Sweyolakan in Idaho.  “Memory Lake” gives a brief mention of Camp Fire Girls and Camp Tannadoonah in Michigan, but not the praise either deserves, mainly because I’d been homesick over my one-week stay as a young kid.  Despite having my sister along, my best friend, Jenny, and my doll, Diane, I’d been miserable.  I didn’t appreciate camp until I was older.  Thanks to Tamela, I can recall that one-week stay in a whole new light.  As she says, it is all about the fire…

Go We Forth From Our Council Fire

Wow. I haven’t thought about camp in a really long time. I went for three summers when I was ten until I was twelve. It was a week-long, sleep-away Campfire Girls camp on Coeur d’Alene Lake in the panhandle of Idaho called Camp Sweyolakan.

camp Sweyolakan

Camp Fire was founded in 1910 as the first non-sectarian, interracial organization for girls and was built on the American traditions of pioneering and Indian lore. It became co-ed in 1975. I don’t remember any boys there when I was in the organization in the 80s, but boys weren’t really on my radar then, so who knows.

I was an incredibly shy kid who had trouble making friends and I’m not sure why I was so desperate to go all those summers that I sold a metric ton of Almond Roca (the Campfire Girls equivalent to Girl Scout cookies–and in my humble opinion, a million times better) to pay my way. But, for some reason I did and I loved it.

I don’t remember any friends I made–but I remember making them– or any of my counselors, but I do remember archery, hiking and canoeing, and learning to swim.  I remember the day that a small group of us got in our canoes and rowed across the lake, the teenage girls who were our counselors taking off their shirts and brazenly sitting in the front of the canoe in their bras. I was so awed by that bravado then. We camped that night, under the stars, with the fires we had started cooking our meals and told stories, trying to scare each other.

Tamela Ritter

I remember the excitement of the ferry ride that took us out to the camp and I remember it being sad on the return trip when camp was over. I remember the mess hall where we’d sing songs of thanks and if we put our elbows on the table, we’d have to scoop up the fairies we’d squished and throw them over our shoulder. The forest around us was full of fairies and magical creatures too and there were rules and regulations for them all.

I remember legend, myth and fantasy; the romance and danger of nature and fire.

Thinking back on my life, my writing and my novel “From These Ashes” I realize the lessons I learned there have stayed and followed me throughout my life. The appreciation and awe of the outdoors and the great fear and desire that only fire and all it entails can instill in me. I am forever awed by the sense of beauty in the dancing flames, in the crackle of embers blazing and in the smell of pine burning. The sense of danger in the scorching heat and precarious sparks dancing in the wind and finally, the sense of healing and rebirth, the ability to burn away all that has wounded and scarred you and allow you to grow again, stronger and healthier.

It all started there. Funny how I had forgotten that until I was asked to come here and write about camp, thanks Nancy.

Go we forth from our council fire

Into the night, into the night.

In our hearts renewed desire

Burning bright, burning bright.

Loveliness of thought we’ve found,

warmth and friendship’s love.

Forest stillness closes ’round

Sky and stars above.

Blend into the mystic call

Wo-he-lo, Wo-he-lo.

May Wokanda’s blessing fall upon us as we go.

— by Helen Gerrish Hughes, copyright by Camp Fire

Tamela J. Ritter was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, her debut novel From These Ashes was published in March 2013 by Battered Suitcase Press. She now lives and works in Haymarket, Va. You can find her on Twitter or on Facebook.