FALLING IN LOVE WITH FALL...

To all my current and future #DCSPeeps (DECIDE, COMMIT, SUCCEED), welcome to my new series in my continuing effort to inspire, amuse, and entertain you! Each Monday I will select a new word to analyze how it might apply to our writing lives and also give you a peek into my childhood growing up in the swamps of southern Louisiana, so kick back, put your feet up, and check out my story about TODAY'S WORD:

FALL

I'm pretty sure my sister didn't realize just how much I admired her when we were growing up. I thought Janet had it all...a witty personality, a bevy of friends, and the coolest wedge sandals I had ever seen.

I've been 5'10" since I was eleven years old. Tall enough to tower over most of the other students in my class which didn't win me any popularity contests, but the thought of adding another 5 inches to my height was too tempting to resist. Besides, to a gangly pre teen, those shoes represented about the sexiest thing I had ever seen.

My sister let me borrow those shoes one day and I strutted around the playground like I was the Homecoming Queen. That is, until I tried to turn the corner of a building and ended up FALLING off those shoes.

Hitting the concrete face first.

In front of a group of kids.

Who started to laugh and point at the goofball on the ground trying to gather her dignity and her high heel wedges before slinking off to hide in the girl's bathroom for the rest of recess.

I never wore those wedge shoes again, but for one moment in an otherwise mediocre elementary school career, I was on top of my world!

Writers FALL in love with their stories. They are passionate about those writerly relationships,  sometimes extending the "honeymoon" phase of loving their main characters long past what is best for the overall storyline. That's where a good critique group or critique partner comes in.

An outside pair of eyes will catch weaknesses in those manuscripts, preventing those main characters from FALLING into the dark hole of the slush pile.

For writers looking for a critique partner or critique group, here are a few links to check out...

 http://thewritersmatch.com/

https://www.ladieswhocritique.com/ 

 https://thewritelife.com/find-a-critique-partner/

 http://lisapoisso.com/2016/07/26/find-critique-partners-groups/

Children's book author, Donna L Martin, has been writing since she was eight years old. She is a 4th Degree Black Belt in TaeKwonDo by day and a 'ninja' writer of children’s picture books, chapter books and young adult novels by night. Donna is a BOOK NOOK REVIEWS host providing the latest book reviews on all genres of children’s books. She is also a book reviewer for Harper Collins, and a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators. Donna is a lover of dark chocolate, time at the beach, and good stories.

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TALES FROM THE BAYOU: There's A Strong Wind Blowing

In honor of the Fall...my favorite time of the year...I thought I would list my ten favorite things about this season when I was growing up.

Living in the swamps of southern Louisiana was very different from where I live now in the hills of Tennessee. It's almost like living in two different worlds but I can remember some traditions carried over from my younger days that still make me smile today when I think of them...

DONNA'S FALL FAVORITES

1. Cloudy days...Being allergic to the sun, bright Summer days in the muggy south weren't exactly my idea of fun. Give me the overcast, grey days any time and I was a happy camper. That hasn't changed now I'm grown up.
2. Halloween...One of my favorite holidays smack dab in the middle of my favorite season. What more can a kid ask for? Guaranteed candy I almost never indulged in the rest of the year and a chance to get away from the house to prowl the streets for treats. My kind of childhood fantasy when I was a kid.
3. Rain Puddles...There is something hypnotic about the sound of rain on a tin roof that I like. Being in southern Louisiana there was plenty of rainfall during the Fall and that produced plenty of rain puddles to splash in, float leaf boats in, and just have a good time.
4. Umbrellas...I've always loved umbrellas. When I was a kid, I could open an umbrella on a rainy day and imagine it was an invisible cloak to hide me from the monsters who lurked behind trees as I walked to school. It fascinated me that something as simple as some vinyl stretched over some metal bars could keep me dry in most any storm.
5. Warm towels...I tended to get tonsillitis and bronchitis a lot when I was a child so if I had to walk home on a rainy day in the Fall, I could almost guarantee that there would be a warm towel heated from an old space heater waiting for me when I got home. Mother would make me take off my wet socks and shoes at the door. Then she would wrap me in a warm towel and tell me to go stand by the heater until the chill was gone and I was dry.
6. Hot Cocoa...This and Mother's bread was probably THE favorite things of Fall. If there were warm towels waiting for me when I got home from school, there was always a cup of homemade hot cocoa to warm my insides. The first day she made a batch of hot cocoa I was allowed to drink as much as I wanted in one sitting and then it was rationed out to one cup a day until it was gone. It was so good I almost wished for more rainy days than we had each year!
7. Fresh Bread...A close second to the hot cocoa was Mother's fresh bread. If I timed it right, I could walk in the door after school to the smell of freshly baked bread being pulled from the oven. Back then bread at the grocery store was something like twenty cents a loaf and even that was too expensive for our family of six so Mother would bake the bread. Nothing is better than a slice or two of homemade bread (with homemade butter on it) and a mug of homemade hot cocoa. It's one of the best memories I have of my childhood.
8. School...Yes, I was one of those nerdy kids who loved, loved, LOVED school. With home not being a place I enjoyed much and never being allowed to have friends, I sought the company of books and learning. I excelled in my studies and maintained near perfect grades all the way through high school. I even graduated second in my class and had to do a commencement speech at my graduation. Even without the ability to connect with my classmates because of my Mother's rules of social behavior, when it came time to vote for Senior Favorites, I was voted Most Like To Succeed which astounded  me because I never realized the people at my school even knew who I was because I was so incredibly shy as a kid.
9. Thanksgiving...With all the various and unusual things that crossed my plate over the years growing up, the holidays usually meant Mother had saved up enough money to make the Thanksgiving meal special. It was one of the rare times of the year when not only was there more than enough to eat...you also actually wanted to eat it!
10. Hallmark...Who doesn't remember the wonderful, magical Hallmark holiday movies of their childhood? I would get giddy with excitement when the holidays approached because I knew there would be a number of Hallmark movies that Mother would let me watch. Even more special than the movies, though, were those Hallmark commercials. Special moments frozen in time where I could just imagine one day someone would give me my very own Hallmark card. Funny what becomes important to a young mind and even now when the holidays roll around you can find me standing in some card aisle, just reading the various sentiments waiting inside to be shared with someone special.

The holidays are what we make of them and even during the most challenging of years growing up, Mother always managed to make our holidays special.  Knowing now what I didn't know then makes me realize she was much more special herself than I ever gave her credit for. I can only hope wherever she is now, she can hear me when I say...

Thanks, Mom.

Flash Fiction Friday

Miles To Go

by Donna L Martin

A solitary blast of the horn startled Jake from his nap. The clickety-clack of the train's wheels gave him a false sense of security and he had dozed off. Looking around he noticed quite a few passengers nodding their heads in rhythm to the sound. Jake knew it wouldn't be long before the compartment would be filled with the soft snoring of weary travelers trying to get home before the holidays.

Sitting up straighter in his seat, Jake reached down to massage a sudden charlie horse. Thankfully the seat in front of him was empty but even then his tall frame could just stretch so much before he bumped into someone else's space. Gazing out the window he could just make out a cascade of leaves racing alongside the train's engine as if playing tag. This part of the world was beautiful this time of the year. Bursts of color burning the countryside and reminding him of other trips up the mountain to a place he used to call home.

To Jake, Fall is a time for gatherings. A time to stuff more than just the turkey, and a time to gather loved ones close, giving thanks for another year together. At least that's what Fall used to mean. Jake wasn't sure any more. This homecoming will certainly be one for the books as his momma used to say, God rest her soul.

A soft sigh, barely heard above the sound of the wheels, brought Jake's attention back inside. Shifting in his seat again, he reached out and tucked the blanket more securely around the sleeping child lying next to him. Just a few more miles to go before he arrives at the old station. Just a few more miles before he finds out if he even has a home to go back to...

*Okay, it's your turn! What will Jake find at the end of his journey? And why does he have a child with him?  Put your creative cap on and add a sentence or add a paragraph. Continue my story or start one of your own. Join the fun and see where this picture prompt takes us!***