Saturday, April 28, 2012

On Burying a Husband


On Burying a Husband  

Another funeral.
A well-lived fruitful life.
We sang hymns
To comfort my friend. 

But oh
The long long nights
I search for you
on the rim of memory
listening for a silenced voice
and footsteps that never come. 

The darkness swells and grows
The stillness deafens.

Laurel Lamperd


www.smashwords.com



Sunday, April 8, 2012


More on JK Rowling and the Harry Potter books.
The children in my family love the Harry Potter books and movies. I have adult relatives
and friends who love the books and movies. A writer myself, I think JK Rowling has a
wonderful imagination. What do you think? Laurel
The below was taken from Paul's Writing Blog     http://paulcurd,blogspot.com.au
There was a minor furore when someone said the Harry Potter books were
'poorly written, ill conceived and trite", drawing this impressive rationalisation:
"Being overly fond of adverbs isn't enough to totally condemn her as an author. I do
 believe she is of unparalleled importance, especially in what her books have done to
bring not just more children into reading, but to jump-start the publishing industry into
publishing more children's books. In a similar way to how Tolkien redefined high fantasy
and has his spot in history for it, Rowling redefined magical fantasy and children's
literature to a large degree. 40 years from now I doubt an author like Don DeLillo
will be much discussed outside of 20th Century American Literature classes, but
Rowling will still be eagerly looked over by young readers in 40 languages. Critical
opinion will become more favorable to her as time goes on."

Thursday, April 5, 2012

April's Calamity's Corner is now available for download. An online magazine for
Readers, Writers, Movie Buffs at Leisure. Contact calam@live.com.au for a free
download.
Rick Chisler, a thriller writer, is Author of the Month. Rick discusses his
protagonist in his Tara Shores series who is a FBI agent and how a FBI Agent
would react in certain situations.
LJ Roberts reviews Moonlight Downs by Adrian Hyland plus movie reviews by
Edith Parzefall and Calamity.
In Travel News you can visit Brittany in France with Alanna through her descriptions
and photographs.
You can find much more in Calamity's Corner.
You, too, can be a contributor to CC. Feature your pet or send in a book or movie
review.
www.smashwords.com
Matt Allenby is investigating a murder in a small West Australian country town.
The murder looks fairly straighforwarded at first, then Matt finds he is falling
in love with one of his suspects.

 

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

What I like about having blogspots and websites is that one can  re-publish
work long after it was first published.
Read an excerpt from my short story - Shanti. If you want to see what happens
to the teller of the tale, read the rest at
www.authorsden.com/laurellamperd

    I met Stephanie, the new arts teacher, the week after I saw Caroline on the plane
to England.
"I'd like someone's help to hang my paintings?" Stephanie said at morning recess
after everyone had introduced themselves.
"I'll give you a hand," I said, attracted by her vivacious pixie face framed by short
dark hair so different to Caroline's cool blondeness.
 Stephanie's eyes lit up. "Thank you. Come for dinner."
Nigel, the manual arts teacher, a gangling one hundred and ninety centimetres,
leered at us in his usual inane way. I knew what he thought. Caroline has been
gone a week and you're already on to another.
Stephanie's front door was open when I arrived at her unit on the second floor
of a three-story block of flats. Receiving no answer to my knock and call, I went
in. She sat on the mat in the living area wearing a pale blue sari, edged with silver
 and red trimmings, staring through me as if in some subliminal trance.
Set in Roman Britain, Crossroads at Isca is the story of two British girls whose lives
are changed forever when the meet two young Roman tribunes.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Keeping the Faith


Excerpt from Interview With Thriller Author Diane Capri
Click and read the full article at read and comment over at Write It Sideways

Today’s post is written by Debra Eve.
What can you tell writers with families and day jobs about keeping the faith?
I often speak to groups of aspiring authors who worry that they’ll never “make it,” because the field is “too crowded” and they’re “not good enough” and it’s “too hard to get published.” I tell them the truth: Believe me, not everyone wants to write a book.
In fact, millions of people don’t even want to read a book, let alone write one. Yes, writing is a competitive business. What work of any value is not competitive? But I believe that desire is a gift; we don’t desire to do things we have no talent for; and if you have a desire to write, you have at least some talent for it.
I can easily prove this to you by demonstrating all the things I have absolutely no desire to do, and even less talent for. (Like football. Seriously? Not only do I throw like a girl, I can’t catch, either!) If you have the desire to write, you have talent, and it’s up to you to develop that talent.
There are so many platitudes out there about never giving up and perseverance. But they’re all true. You can’t succeed if you don’t try. Don’t get discouraged when you hear “overnight success” stories. Most of the time, overnight success takes at least ten years!
The best news in today’s market is that writers can self-publish and actually reach our readers, which gives us all so many more options than we had before. Almost every author I know is self-publishing something. (And I know a lot of authors!)
If you have the desire and you’re willing to do the work, you can be a published author. No extraordinary faith required.

Sunday, April 1, 2012


SKULLS 

Skulls adorning a landscape of hills
Teetering beside chasms
cut brown into green softness.
In the foreground, a folding of green
like my green crumpled dress
which I wore
when I went out with Robbie
who doesn't want me anymore. 

I thought of the skulls
And how one day I'd be one. 

Why wait fifty years? 

They are flying above me
Against the skyline
like balloons of methane gas.
I want to be up there with them
looking down on my desolate world.

Laurel Lamperd


                                       Download Wind from Danyari at  www.sonybooks.com