pollen and faux vietnamese iced coffee

spring is incredible this year after a month of heavy rains. my hay fever is outta control but i don't care, i'm up and to the task. three of four americans are smoking. dabs and butter and wax. not me. we don't have a chance and i don't care. nuclear bombs are big but they won't make you greater. peace is not possible when you're a hater. i don't care. you have it in your heart or you don't. you write well or you don't. live your life or you won't. you were born. you will die. i don't care. show me what you got! that's hot.

itching for play (writing process)

my friends, confidence rises as the words fall into place and chapters materialize around central concepts and characters. the cover is itching for play as i write into the future of this series. not knowing where it is going, i understand myself better seeking who i am then being who i have found myself to be. i need not wear the booksellers cap right now. of course i crave readership and less do i thirst for sales. i am much more interested in communicating with my audience than banking off of them. how separate the marketing mind is from the actual making of a book. july has been very good. best month in months for WIP production. i have been back to shouting out from behind my desk, alone in my room but for cats! a very good sign. i don't holler much unless i'm onto something. like any project of any kind, the builder can see when things are falling into place (or not). with this book, not unlike the others preceding it, i found the process of setting the foundation to be painstaking, almost like the surface was some scraggled slippery rock on saturn. like bones on the mend, i had to literally break it up several times and reset it. there were days i could not even walk and meet the site,  the reminder of all the work needing done. the healing has begun. the foundation is in place and the structure rises up and takes form against the harsh landscape! though the inners must be fulfilled, it is a lovely and most tingly experience to walk around and above and look upon the book, the materialized form of it! (i mean in my mind, materialized as a vision) again, this work heals me and has little to do with the separate process of bookselling and building readership. it's a faith play. knowing that it's a fine house and someone will make it their home. the cool thing about a book or work of art, is that the builder shares the home with the reader and the world. i am unsure how large my fan base is, at this time, and it may be very small. but the author, the one who writes, is carefree! carried across the healing process, jettisoned into fresh space, wearing saturn's ring. saying what i needed to say, in an ordinary, heartfelt (ritualized and methodical) way. and the paint job? the cover, she awaits, ornamental, itching for play.

edge of seventeen cover

Cover Reveal! - Book 3

Here is the cover for Book #3  in my ongoing series of literary fiction. I anticipate releasing this book in late Spring or early Summer, 2016. Book One is now free!  -- DOWNLOAD GRAND THEFT LIFE --

changes and reviews

Friends,

Good things are happening! I changed the cover of my horror story, Everlee & Lee, see it below! Also, I have received about a half dozen verbal reactions from people who are currently reading my new book Maze, mostly friends and acquaintances who did read the first one, and they have all been very positive! As most of you know, I am also telling the story by way of video readings, from beginning to end, on my Youtube channel.

Also, the first written review of  Maze

came through on Goodreads yesterday...

Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars:
"I have not read the first book, so I was quite lost when I first started reading. The book is short, and while not action packed, it ended with a bang which I found satisfying. I'm not sure if I will go back and read the first, but I will pick up the next one."

Please pick up a copy, if you want something different to read over the holidays. 

I can only promise you it will be unlike anything else you have ever read!

Cover Reveal! + 'avocado'

Cover Reveal

avocado
color of moss

you and me
may our paths
cross

red apple
high gloss

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

To my beloved friends and fans, I want to wish you all a Happy Halloween
from the daughter of darkness...

'Roses' by Katya Mills, 2010

I took this photo in the Morcom Amphitheatre of Roses, in Oakland, where i found sanctuary from the downward spiral of my life. The years 2010-2012. Life was crazy, wild, I was experiencing a shutdown that was necessary for my re-emergence, I guess. Anyway... I believe I may use this photograph for the cover of my short story on Amazon, Everlee & Lee. I plan to change both name and cover in the coming weeks.

NOVELLA (2014) COVER DESIGN

My plan is to release a Novella
to the world within weeks...
I designed the cover, ici.

The photograph is
courtesy of the Romanian
artist  Sandy Manase

K Covers & Reviews Dylan's Rainy Day Woman #12 & #35

This is a cover song I performed, of Dylan's 'Rainy Day Woman #12 and #35'.
From the Blonde on Blonde album. I hope you like it. 
I used to listen to this song when I was a kid, and sing along. 
I feel like Dylan is telling us:  Hey, you don't have to be so sensitive, honey,
everybody faces criticism on all sides. Keep doing your thing. You're not alone! 
The vocals come off irreverent, light and easy, but I think the message is real and 
real painful underneath. 

The repetition of words plays out like the meaning of the song. You know when you 
finally found your courage to bring your voice, your truth out into the open, expecting 
people to shut up and listen...right... and then what results is getting 'stoned'. 
No, not getting high (though self-medicating the pain of repetitive abuse 
in any form, often verbal, could be a common reaction to character assassins). 
This kinda stoned here is more like Shirley Jackson's kinda Stoning  (her story, 'The Lottery').
Getting attacked the old-fashioned medieval way. An onslaught of rocks. 
This is how people were once summarily executed. Today they use combo drugs 
and lethally inject you. Or sever your head with a machete. Maybe not so evolved
as we would hope. 

What i got from Dylan, was a feeling maybe he was feeling being in the spotlight
as a star, a showman, a celebrated musician and mind. The character assassination
which comes along with celebrity. How the media analyzes every word you say, every note you play.
They look for ways to break you down, to prove you're not perfect. Even when all you
might be saying is "hey, I am real!" It's not your fault they put you up as a deity. All you
were doing was selflessly sharing songs, putting your passion on play over the airwaves 
for whomever would hear. Trying to spread the love comes from your beating heart.

But the feeling is universal. Because everyone is sensitive from time to time. Some more than
others. And some are better at hiding vulnerability. Anyone can hear this song and relate. 
Anyone can find happiness, just singing along.

K Covers the EAGLES

Just a little fun for your Friday...

K cover song:  EAGLES
'Best of My Love'