Cemetary Tour - Mount Holly

I love history. If I could choose, I'd go back 10 years and go to college to be a high school history teacher. (Not mention this would afford valuable family time and summers off). My love of history leads me to a love of places full of history: Old homes, libraries, black and white films, and....cemeteries. Yes, mobrid, I know - but fascinating none-the-less. After living in Little Rock my entire life, I had never taken the opportunity to visit one of the oldest and most historical cemeteries in Arkansas.

On May 17th, 2008, Diamond State Romance Authors took a self-guided tour of the grand Mount Holly Cemetery. We shared our adventure with the local artists’ guild. What an experience! The sun was shining, the breeze cool and refreshing, and to walk by beautiful old grave sites to see oil paintings or charcoal sketches of these sunlit spots – well, it was inspiring to say the least.

I find the spithaies left by the living for the dead give you an insight into the lives of teh deceased. You see sense of humor which leads you to wonder the personality of the person buried there. Or sometimes you see a site that makes you want to weep. The very tragedies people never recovered from, as told by the carefully chosen words they leave engraved in stone: “Beloved wife…” “Gentle angels…”

The daughters of this couple arranged to have this monument made to their parents. Not an angle, but a forlone, sad woman sitting atop the gravestone. Perhaps a symbolism of the longing for their parents.

This inscription gave me the chills. Is says:

Ever near us tho’ unseen

Thy dear immortal spirit treads

For all the boundless universeis life

there is no dead.

The day before we were set to arrive at the cemetery, I went and picked up some pamplets at the bell house. Next to the bell house is the most tragic grave site I have ever seen. I turned and looked at this grave site. Chills creeped up my spine as I read the inscriptions on the children's tombstones: "Papa's Baby" and "Mama's Darling" for Little Martha and "Papa's Sweetheart" and "Mama's Pet" for Pearl. The husband and father was buried many years after the deaths of his two very young daughters and his beloved wife. After reading these two gravesites, I immediantly felt a definant presence - deeply saddened and of great, everlasting love. Maybe it was simply my 'mothers' instincts or the spirits of this young family, regardless I was reduced to tears. Notice how the mother's statue appears to be coming toward the camera, as if in protection of her two daughters.

Little Martha and Pearl:

This is a beautiful statue on a headstone. A weathered angel keeping watch over souls.

These are my sisters in crime, from left to right: Linda, Shayla, Me, Elle, Sandi, Sara, and Delilah.

If you’re a writer, take a trip to your local cemetery - what an amazing place for inspiration. In fact, on my adventure to Georgia this month, I'll be visiting the Historic Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta. Stay posted for pictures and blogs about my next adventure.

Oh and speaking of real life experiences. Here's this from a fellow author. In her free time she and her dad are the caretakers for a cemetery. She was weed-eating around the tombstones when she took a step backwardsand her leg fell through the ground up to her knee! Interesting huh?

Thanks for reading and keep coming back! You never know what I'll talk about next!

Shada

Twelve Steps (of Agony)

Well, I went and did it. I took the BIG leap because of a challenge put forth to DSRA by one of our members.

What was this challenge, you ask: To write a 6000 word story for the New Black Lace Anthology Series.

I did it - and LOVED every word of it.

What is Black Lace? Black Lace is an imprint of Virgin Books that specializes in erotica and erotic romance written by female authors specifically for female readers.

The first series was themed "Seduction" and due on June 2nd, 2008.

My first story, titled "Twelve Steps", is about a woman who sets out on a path to sexual self discovery by developing a twelve-step program which leads her to seduce a stranger and thereby release her inner vixen. The threat of having a tryst in a public location, with a stranger, only heightens her desire. In the end, she finds letting go of the reigns may be the ultimate step to any seduction.

The next three themes are:
Liaisons (due Aug. 4th, 2008)
Misbehavior (due Sept. 8th, 2008)
Affair (due Nov. 3rd, 2008)

So stay tuned as I make this writting journey. I'll be posting excerpts on my MySpace page on each deadline.

Thanks for reading!