Texas Book Festival Oct 31-Nov 1

It’s time again to see authors, LIVE and IN PERSON! This annual festival, started by Laura Bush in 1995, celebrates authors, reading and benefits libraries. So come on and enjoy the fun ! Celebrate at the State Capitol Building and beyond.

Over 200 authors!

Cooking Tent, Yum!

Children’s Tents!

Interesting Readers and Writers like you!

Texas Book Festival !!!

Happy Anniversary, Woodstock!!

Woodstock is 40 years old this year!!! Woohoooo!

Sirius XM is celebrating by having  Woodstock channels (channel 40 on XM and channel 16 on Sirius) starting August 14 noon eastern time and ending August 16th.

Get your Richie Havens, Johnny Winter, Jimi  Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Santana, Sly and the Family Stone, CCR, Jefferson Airplane and more here.

The original Woodstock was in 1969, August 15-18. I was toddling around no where near there, but I grew up with the music. May decide to take a long trip in my car and tune in, or pretend and just sit in the driveway to save gas money. I’ll put on my old Grateful Dead T-shirt and Enjoy!

High School Reunion aka Grace

I’m having a hard time feeling in the flow of things about the reunion without talking about time. What came before, what came WAY before and what happens at the reunion, then what happens tomorrow, the future before the next reunion?

So is this piece about the reunion or about writing?

The reunion is hard to talk about. There’s the facts.  A long time ago, I went to high school. Efficient people set up a reunion, facebook presence and Web site. I registered and my husband, Wise One and I rode to Boerne to stay with my Mom. Husband and I dressed and drove to Maggiano’s. See, how boring this is already.

How do I use concrete language to talk about an event that I feel like writing, “It was so cool. Everyone was so gracious and welcoming. I saw so many old friends. Everyone was so happy. The band was fantastic!”?

Before the reunion, I was nervous. I had disappeared from reality my senior year and missed out on so many bonding experiences like the class trips, prom (or did I go? I don’t remember). Living in Austin, I was used to the idea of casual dress code. Hey, many electrical engineers wear shorts to work. But, from living in San Antonio, I remembered people dressed up more. What to wear? Well, Black and White, of course. My school colors. Fast forward to the day. Tired, Wise One didn’t nap, didn’t want me around. She knew something was going on. By nighttime Wise One was resigned to accept that Mommy and Daddy were going out and she was going to bed. Oh so hard to leave her.  My earrings were heavy.

Lisa greets us to give us nametags. She remembers me. Twenty-five years later and she remembers me. She looks just as glamourous, her face classically beautiful. Fuller hair.

Upon entering I had seen our Cougar mascot, but now he or she has disappeared. Inside the private Maggiano’s restaurant room people, people everywhere. And here’s where point of view is needed. So hard for me and a reader to take in all at once. Before I walked in, JD was to one side talking to Michelle. The noise rose as I entered through the double doors, my husband’s hand in mine. Fruit piled up on left, my eyes searching for faces in the dimness and jumble. I turn right toward the center of the room. And here comes Barbara’s face, larger and clearer as it comes closer. Not her, then her then even more precious, as before. “I saved you seats,” she hollers to be heard over the band.  And she introduces her husband, sons. I intro Hubby. All in hollers. Great seats, right on the dance floor. An 80s song playing. In fiction, there would be a name of a song that themed the night. I imagine hearing, “Thank you for helping be mice elf, again.”  Aha! and there is the Cougar. Barbara and I stand on each side of him/her, our pic taken with a Cougar and two extremely young looking (shows my age) cheerleaders.

We all listen to 70s and 80s music. I roam the place for food, see familiar faces, squint at nametags because of my blackhole memory. Hugs here and there. Lots of dancing, dancing and more dancing. Welcoming faces, welcoming hollers, or spoken directly into ear, words. Short conversations. More dancing. Food shortage. Starving Hubby. More dancing. My husband comments (loudly), “Everyone looks so happy.” More dancing.

If I name any more names, I will have to name everyone. But to all of you I talked, I mean, to everyone I yelled with, I so enjoyed seeing you. Reasserting, connecting synapses. Feeling that electrical feeling in the head.

On one of the band’s breaks, kids (schoolmates now my age) set up chairs for major group shot, and we all huddle in while patient, loved ones take pictures. Band starts again, but I take my gracious (that’s a word to describe the night) Hubby outside. He has taken the constant waves of sound on his body like me. Fresh air and another friend from the golden days. Her face and hair are the same. Still pixie-ish, darling, angelic. WE actually get to talk away from the happy, loud madness. And her daughter is there, soon to be the age we were. And I think of Wise One. Wise One asleep in a bed, her head on a pillow with the princesses: Jasmine, Belle, Aurora.  She starts half-day school this month. But someday, she will be in grade school, then middle school, high school and beyond. Will she be as grateful to her classmates as I feel, now?

Back inside for goodbyes to Barbara and her precious family who I already feel connected to.

And it isn’t until Hubby and I are walking to the car that my feet throb and scream. I’m so excited to talk to my husband about everything. I notice the moon, how bright , and not quite round, but imperfect and beautiful.

Far Talking-Wow!

Today I read a level 3 children’s book to Wise One about Alexander Graham Bell (and Tom Watson) and the invention and implementation of the telephone (“far talking”).

I cried. I was overwhelmed with awe at what an amazing invention this is and at how it almost wasn’t “discovered” by others because Bell was hidden upstairs (hardly anyone was willing to go up there in the heat) at the World’s Fair. But it took just One person to go crazy over it for the rest of the world to catch on. The telephone by Bell almost didn’t happen, But it DID!!!!

Look what it has evolved into.

This world is so amazing!

What discovery or invention or work of art will happen because of You? The opportunity to change the world, to create the awe-inspiring is Yours!

Enjoy the ride!

Laurie

Birdsong

Dear Rumi, this is my longing and my prayer, too.

 

Birdsong

Birdsong brings relief to my longing.

I am just as ecstatic as they are,

But with nothing to say.

Please, Universal Soul

Practice some song,

Or something,

Through me.

 

–Rumi

Goodbye Michael and Farrah

I’d say I’m speechless, but then I wouldn’t be writing this blog. I just don’t know how to express how I feel.

I come home and am standing in the kitchen, low lights, with my husband and his sister and I hear a comment. “He was 50.”

“Are you talking about someone who died? Who?”

“Michael Jackson.”

I swallowed, wanted to be alone, searched my mind, but found only void.

“Farrah, too. It’s been a weird day.”

Two icons from my life. People that were models, heros, artists.

Both brave survivors, supernaturally brave.

I feel, above my heart, below my throat, a fist-sized weightiness, not a rock, but a weight just the same. Farrah’s tremendous sense of life and her beautiful smile will never be forgotten.

Mostly, I am shocked about Michael Jackson, a larger-than-life legend. I can’t have danced to his music so much and listened to his music so much without it getting into my soul and without there being a connection between us. Just like the rest of us, he just wanted to be free and happy. He tried so hard to be free…

I think that sticks with me, connects to that inner yearning within each of us.

He gave me so much joy!

Thank you, both, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.

Here’s Michael Jackson on YouTube. Here’s Farrah Fawcett on YouTube.  Sometimes we just need to go back and watch or read about or connect in some way with people who have died. These links are for that. An honor to them and a sense of connection for us.

May you find the peace you are yearning for.

Laurie

Loving it is enough, isn’t it?

I read this in Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees and cried:

“Actually, you can be bad at something, Lily, but if you love doing it, that will be enough.”

There was relief in that crying. I can just do it. Just because I love it! Oh God, thank you.

But now, a week later, I ask myself, Is it enough?  Is it enough for me to just love doing it–writing?

Of course, soon after reading the Bees quote, I reread something (that I didn’t remember from any of the earlier readings) in The Intuitive Writer by Gail Sher.  Sher tells a story about a painter in the 30s, Harlen Hubbard, who from seeing his work ignored and rejected, eventually (ten years later) rejected all others, but not his work. He kept painting. Sher writes,

“‘No Paintings for Sale’ Hubbard firmly tacked across the door of his studio when he realized that the mere hope of sales and acceptance by other  artists had created a psychic trap. Not untl he could paint without even the possibility of selling, would he be able entirely to surrender to himself.”

And that surrender, that freedom for the work to come from Truth,  is more important to me than “the mere hope of sales and acceptance by other artists.”

So, Yes, for me, Loving doing it is enough.

Popping In

So gone that when I visit my own page, I have to sign in again. Reveals how long I am away.
I miss blogging.
I am currently enjoying reading Tiger Moon, a youth novel that reveals India through a young woman who is expecting to die each night, but continues to be blessedly left alone to tell her story in legend form. Dreamy language takes you into both stories:hers and her legend.
Wise One saw it on the shelf and plucked it for me. She picks out better books for me than I.
Back on chocolate, swimming almost everyday, tanning despite lavishings of SPF 50 sunblock and freewriting.
I am still enjoying taking pictures and have learned some things, but not too much.
Here’s a fun pic I took because, yay, I carried my camera with me and saw this.
Blessings to you all,
Laurie Cosbey

Murder, Mayhem, Mystery info

Hello,

I want to share the info about this Mystery Month in Central Texas. Free, free, free stuff and loads of character.

Monday, May 4, 5:00-5:30 p.m. Glynn Marsh Alam on ‘Murder She Writes’ – an internet radio show featuring women mystery authors  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/MurderSheWrites   Sylvia Dickey Smith, Host   sds@suddenlink.net

Thursday, May 7, 7:00 p.m, ‘Writing Dynamic Dialog’  L. C. Hayden.  Georgetown Library, 402 W. 8th St   Georgetown, TX 78626   Richard Groves  512-931-7620 .
San Gabriel Writers League, Joy Nord  rnord@austin.rr.com .

Friday, May 8, 6:00 p.m.  Signing  “Why Casey Had to Die”  L. C. Hayden   lchauthor@yahoo.com   Barnes & Noble Westlake #P860 701 South Capital of Texas Highway Austin 78746   1-512-328-3155   crm2757@bn.com  

Friday, May 8 (6:30-9:00 p.m.) and Saturday, May 9 (9:30-11:30 a.m.)  ‘How to Write a Mystery’  L. C. Hayden  
Thursday, May 14, 7:00 p.m.  ‘On Writing Mysteries’   George Wilhite, Michael McCracken   Barnes & Noble Waco 

Monday, May 11, 5:00-5:30 p.m.  Pat Brown on ‘Murder She Writes’ – an internet radio show featuring women mystery authors  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/MurderSheWrites Syvlia Dickey Smith, Host   sds@suddenlink.net

Friday, May 15, 5:30 p.m.   ‘Setting the Mood for Mystery’  Rosemary Poole-Carter, Betty Gordon, L.B. Cobb, Laura Elvebak, Diana Driver, Gordon Payne   Katy Budget Books  2450 Fry Road Houston TX 77084   Stacy Morris   281-578-7770   <marketing@katybooks.com>

Saturday, May 16, 1:00 p.m.   ‘Meet a Mystery Author’   George Wilhite  
  
Saturday, May 16, 3:00-4:30 p.m.  ‘Using Local Resources in Mystery Writing’  Sylvia Dickey Smith, Moderator, Joan Upton Hall, Micqui Miller, Dave Ciambrone  Hill Country Book Store 719 S Main St, Georgetown, TX 78626 1-512-869-4959  Margarite Holt
hcbookstore@suddenlinkmail.com

Sunday, May 17, 2:00-5:00 p.m.  ‘Barbara Burnett Smith Aspiring Writers Event’
Co-sponsored by the Barbara Burnett Smith Mentoring Authors Foundation, the Barbara Burnett Smith Aspiring Writers Event will feature the presentation of the 2009 Sage Award to Texas Mystery Author Micqui Miller.  The Sage Award honors a member of the mystery writing community who is an inspirational and encouraging mentor to aspiring mystery writers.  The Event includes a signing by Ms. Miller, ‘A Mystery in Four Parts’, and presentation of the 2009 Mentor Authors and Aspiring Writers.  Barnes & Noble Westlake #P860 701 South Capital of Texas Highway Austin 78746   1-512-328-3155   crm2757@bn.com   Sisters in Crime Heart of Texas Chapter   hotxsinc@yahoo.com

Monday, May 18, 5:00-5:30 p.m. Jane Finne on ‘Murder She Writes’ – an internet radio show featuring women mystery authors  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/MurderSheWrites Syvlia Dickey Smith, Host sds@suddenlink.net

Tuesday, May 19, 7:00 p.m.  ‘Mystery Writing Panel’   Sylvia Dickey Smith, Moderator,Diane Fanning, Karen MacInerney, David Ciambrone, Susan Rogers Cooper, Val Taylor, George Wilhite  Book People  603 North Lamar Blvd  Austin, Texas 78703  Alison Kothe Nihlean   512.472.4288 x207   events@bookpeople.com

Saturday, May 23, 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. ‘Texas Mystery Author Panels’   Betty Gordon, Sylvia Dickey Smith, Nancy Glass West, Susan Rogers Cooper, Laura Griffin, Rosemary Poole-Carter, LB Cobb, Vallie Taylor   Murder by the Book  2342 Bissonnet St., Houston, TX  77005   David Thompson  1-713- 524-8597 / 1-888-424-2842 / Fax: 1-713-522-7945   <david@murderbooks.com>

Monday, May 25, 5:00-5:30 p.m. Betty Webb on ‘Murder She Writes’ – an internet radio show featuring women mystery authors  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/MurderSheWrites Syvlia Dickey Smith, Host  sds@suddenlink.net

Visit www.hotxsinc.org for more information, or e-mail hotxsinc@yahoo.com

Happy National Poetry Month

April is the month officially set aside as Poetry Month, though we know poetry transcends time. Lovers, liars, loners, all those full of passion, desiring to live, fly, grasp what they really are continue to thrive on poetry by word or movement.

 Yes, celebrate by reading some of your favorite or some new poetry. Go to poetry readings; read your own works. Enjoy the Austin International Poetry Festival April 23-26. Or attend a festival in your area.

But also celebrate by living just a little larger this month.  And maybe even a little larger next month. You are more and you can grasp more, thrive in it.