Hello and Happy Friday,

I was going to submit a short story featuring my character Detective Owen Story today, but I'm not going to because it's not ready, though I wrote it a few years ago.

It's funny how you can re-read something you've written when you could barely write and have gotten a little better (just a little) at the writing game; only then--if you're lucky--can you see how bad was you earlier writing. This is what happened to my Owen Story short-story called Ghost Town. It isn't terrible, but its pretty bad; wordy, too long, confusing and I wouldn't let my dog read it if he could read; so I'm definitely not going to let you guys do it, wasting your time and imagination. So I'm reworking the story and making it better and to my relief I've learned how to do it--somewhat; I hope you think so too.

I'm offering the story next week, the much better version. I hope you get a chance to read it; want to read it and if you have any questions or want to tell me I missed the mark and why, please do, I would love to hear from you.

So next week the story; see ya then.

If you have any comments or suggestions please e-mail me at my new address: shabazzl@adasbcc.org.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello,

I hope this note finds you well.

My second novel in the Owen Story trilogy will be out--hopefully--at the end of February 2009. For those who might be interested (one or two folks-possibly) I will put out a short story next Friday ( I want to clean it up a bit) I wrote a while back, it illuminates a part of Owen's life, his long friendship with Richard Giordano--son of a crime boss and pretty shady himself-- and why he is a huge part of Owen's life.

I hope you're interested and want to read it and most important, that if you do, you enjoy it.

Send me something you wrote, I promise to read it.

If you have any comments or suggestions please e-mail me at my new address: shabazzl@adasbcc.org.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori

Hello, I hope this e-mail finds you well,

You know; its funny how, if you’re known for writing a novel, it makes people think you can write anything and maybe it’s not the truth. I was asked to interview the principal of my son's school and to write it up for the school news letter, I did so with no problem—the principal Mr. Brown is great, the schools terrific and it was and easy story to write---but, it got me thinking about the things I feel—I almost know—I can’t write well or I would struggle like crazy to do such as writing horror. I love horror to read but writing it; gives me the shivers; writing horror is a complicated process exampled by just about every Stephen King novel. It’s not just the scary stuff he gets right, it’s the dead-on (don’t mean to be funny) character development where they are real, even the minor ones , all wonderfully thought out and unforgettable, he’s creating these characters while plotting in the scary stuff happening in mostly ordinary situations; take Carrie for instance. Carrie is a story about teenage angst which is everyday, but the way he uses this as a foundation for terror is phenomenal.

I have tried my hand at two horror short stories and they were not bad, I liked them but there was a reason they were short, I don’t believe I could sustain a larger work. Someday—you never know—I might venture into the unknown land of horror writing but for now I’m definitely sticking with what I feel I write best and for the most part, I’m just working my way around how to do that and have a long way to go, its enough of a challenge; so God willing I be allowed to do it as long as possible.

Keep up the writing,

If you have any comments or suggestions please e-mail me at my new address: shabazzl@adasbcc.org.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori