Anyone who has visited my blog knows I'm not much of a blogger. I tend to blog only when I feel very strongly about something. So let me get right to the point. I want to ask you for your help.
Karli Rush has recently suffered one of the hardest things that life can throw at us. She has lost her husband. Her children have lost their father. This particular story strikes me very close to my heart because I know exactly what she's going through right now. I'd gone down a similar road almost 5 years ago with the loss of my youngest son. Because of my own personal experience, my heart is literally crying for her and her family right now. The link at the end of this blog will detail her story and situation.
Anyone who has ever gone through something like this knows what I'm talking about. I don't need to detail any of the emotions, nor speak about the literal waterfalls of tears that I know from experience, Karli has already shed - or the countless others that have yet to fall. I've shed more than a few tears already after hearing about what's happened, and I don't doubt I will shed many more in the coming days for her and her children.
Five dollars. That is what I'm asking for Karli. Five dollars from you, donated to the giveforward fundraiser that has been set up for her.
Five dollars in itself may seem like a drop in the pond, a tiny ripple that makes no difference. But add another drop. And another. And another. Add a thousand drops, two thousand, five thousand.
A single drop may cause merely a ripple, but enough drops in the pond can cause a flood. It's a combined effort. Each little drop adds up. It's giving up very little, nothing so much that it will truly be missed, in exchange for helping out a complete stranger.
I don't know Karli. I've never met her. But she's a person who has lost someone close to her suddenly, unexpectedly. Like the rest of us, she's a human being, which makes her family to each and every one of us. And family helps each other out when they're in need.
Below, you'll find the link to the giveforward fundraiser for Karli. I'm asking you to please go to the link, click on the DONATE button, and in the box, donate five dollars (the minimum amount)... more if you are able to, but at least the five dollar minimum.
Five dollars CAN make a difference, if enough drops go into that pond. The goal for Karli is $5000. I think we can do much better than that, if we all work together as a family and each donate even the minimum amount.
Life isn't about what you can get, but what you can give. It's about holding each other up through the worst of times and being a single drop of water in the pond that adds with others to create that flood. Five dollars will not be missed by any of us, but together we can help Karli, and take away some of the monetary worry that she's facing while she tries to come to grips with her loss.
To Karli, if you ever read this, I am so sorry for your loss. I hope that in some small way, I have been able to help, and that others will add their own drop to the pond as I have done.
Tearfully,
Scott A. Borgman
Monday, August 17, 2015
Sunday, August 16, 2015
Butterflies
I wanted to take some time this morning to share a few things. First, a very heartfelt and sincere thank you to those who have read my work. I've had other jobs during my life, but none ever made me as happy and content as being an author does. I truly love being able to delight and entertain others. There is nothing more rewarding than bringing others joy.
One thing about writing (which isn't always apparent) is that often times, even in the most fantastic of stories, the author incorporates personal experiences, thoughts, and feelings into the story. The reader may not even be aware of it, but it's there. It could be a character, or a house that the author remembers or even grew up in.. pretty much anything. For me, it was a butterfly.
Why do we do this? I'm sure there are several reasons, but the main reason is to honor a memory, or perhaps a person. In my case, the butterfly scene in The Exiled was in honor of my son, Cami:
Cami's favorite color was blue, and so the butterfly in that particular scene was blue. The meaning behind that scene actually came from a poem I had written shortly after Cami had passed away.
One thing about writing (which isn't always apparent) is that often times, even in the most fantastic of stories, the author incorporates personal experiences, thoughts, and feelings into the story. The reader may not even be aware of it, but it's there. It could be a character, or a house that the author remembers or even grew up in.. pretty much anything. For me, it was a butterfly.
Why do we do this? I'm sure there are several reasons, but the main reason is to honor a memory, or perhaps a person. In my case, the butterfly scene in The Exiled was in honor of my son, Cami:
* * *
“You’re confusing me
again,” David said, a twinge starting in his temple. The sword disappeared back
into her jacket and then Celeste walked over to the side of the mansion and
knelt down. Along the wall, flowers of purple and yellow that had been planted were
in full bloom. Resting on one of the purple flowers, lightly fanning its wings
was a blue butterfly.
“Here, look at the
butterfly. Was it born looking like this?”
“Of course not, it
started out as a caterpillar,” David replied. Celeste nodded.
“And when it was
ready, it wrapped itself in a cocoon, a shell that covered and protected it
while the caterpillar was changing into a butterfly. When humans procreate, a
piece of energy from the mother and father combine and form a separate energy. That
energy wraps itself in a protective shell – your body. When you die, that
energy is released. Like a caterpillar emerging as a butterfly from its cocoon.”
“So you’re saying
we’re all like butterflies?”
“It’s a simple way
to explain it, but yes. The point is that Frank was no longer ‘Frank’ at the
apartment, merely the shell that had been left behind. My brother Raphael was
the one who was responsible. The weapon that he used was created for the sole
purpose of forcing the energy out of its protective shell,” Celeste explained. “Once
it was released, the shell – Frank’s physical body – was left behind. Raphael
was then able to fill that empty void inside with his own energy. It may have
looked like Frank, but only on the outside.”
“I
don’t think I’ll ever look at butterflies the same way,” David commented. Celeste
smiled.
* * *
Cami's favorite color was blue, and so the butterfly in that particular scene was blue. The meaning behind that scene actually came from a poem I had written shortly after Cami had passed away.
* * *
Butterflies
I heard the other day a talk,
Of butterflies and wings.
Of hopes and dreams, and feelings,
And many other things.
For some reason I didn’t understand
Butterflies were in my head.
Curiously, I grabbed the thought
And this is where it led.
As I lay in the darkness,
Drifting off to sleep,
A voice spoke up inside my head
Warm, gentle, and deep.
“You all start out as angels,
But each one needs to learn.
And so you are brought to earth,
Until it is your turn.”
“Each one of you I gently wrap
Inside a human shell.
You live, and laugh, and love,
And when you’re ready, I can tell.”
“Sometimes it takes a while,
And sometimes it goes fast.
Sometimes others feel hurt and loss,
For others that have passed.”
“But understand, and take comfort,
For when that shell shatters,
Each one of you spreads Angel’s wings,
And that’s what really matters.”
“So when you see a butterfly,
Remember it is a sign.
It’s just my way of telling you,
That each one has their time.”
“Each one of you are angels,
And you don’t really die.
You simply come out of your shell,
And spread your wings, and fly.”
It was then that I awoke,
And thought of what I’d heard.
And suddenly it all made sense,
Every single word.
So though we feel loss,
And our grief is hard to bear,
Our angel has simply shed his shell,
So he can fly up there.
* * *
I love writing about the Tal'Avern fantasy world and the characters that live within it. But the Exiled trilogy has a special place in my heart where a blue butterfly sits, gently flapping its wings.
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
The Reason for Simplicity
There's the old saying that goes: you can't judge a book by its cover.
And yet, that's not entirely true. Often, our initial impression comes from that book cover. It's the eye-catch that piques our curiosity and draws us to it. That is what it's supposed to do, after all.
There are exceptions to this, of course. An author that we're familiar with doesn't need a flashy cover with neon strobe lights pointing to it. The name is enough for us to pick up the book. But if the author is someone you've never heard of, well... that flashy cover is pretty much required.
So when I finished overhauling my Exiled trilogy, I had to make a decision. Go with flashy covers to draw attention to the books, or keep them in a simpler form. Now, I'm no Stephen King by any means, so for me, right now I should fall under the 'flashy covers required' category.
I chose not to.
Oh, I could have. The opportunity was there. I should have leapt at the chance and had those neon strobe lights all over them, right? So why didn't I?
Because I wanted the covers to reflect the deeper meaning within the overall story. A flashy cover, in this particular case, would have been the wrong choice.
I mentioned it before in my blog about the 'rebirth' of the trilogy, but I'll say it here again. There is much more to the trilogy than just a story. I'm not saying that just to pique a curiosity, I'm saying it because there truly is a deeper meaning within the story that one will discover. There are several points with the books, in fact, but the covers reflect one of those, something which could not have been emphasized in a flashy cover. It would have taken away from it, completely negated one of the key deeper meanings.
Granted, the overall story has to be interesting, and I believe it accomplishes that in the way I wanted it to. Sure, there's strong language, there's some violence and horror elements, there's even a few steamy scenes in each of the three books. Steamy. Not over-the-top explicit graphic scenes. But unlike a lot of today's movies where they toss in a shower scene for no other reason than to show some skin, those steamy scenes aren't thrown in there just for the hell of it.
The covers for all three books don't fall into the 'flashy' range, and for good reason. They reflect one of the deeper meanings within the story: often times, what we see on the outside is far different than what lies underneath.
So the question is, does one judge based only on what they see, or does one look closer and see what lies underneath?
And yet, that's not entirely true. Often, our initial impression comes from that book cover. It's the eye-catch that piques our curiosity and draws us to it. That is what it's supposed to do, after all.
There are exceptions to this, of course. An author that we're familiar with doesn't need a flashy cover with neon strobe lights pointing to it. The name is enough for us to pick up the book. But if the author is someone you've never heard of, well... that flashy cover is pretty much required.
So when I finished overhauling my Exiled trilogy, I had to make a decision. Go with flashy covers to draw attention to the books, or keep them in a simpler form. Now, I'm no Stephen King by any means, so for me, right now I should fall under the 'flashy covers required' category.
I chose not to.
Oh, I could have. The opportunity was there. I should have leapt at the chance and had those neon strobe lights all over them, right? So why didn't I?
Because I wanted the covers to reflect the deeper meaning within the overall story. A flashy cover, in this particular case, would have been the wrong choice.
I mentioned it before in my blog about the 'rebirth' of the trilogy, but I'll say it here again. There is much more to the trilogy than just a story. I'm not saying that just to pique a curiosity, I'm saying it because there truly is a deeper meaning within the story that one will discover. There are several points with the books, in fact, but the covers reflect one of those, something which could not have been emphasized in a flashy cover. It would have taken away from it, completely negated one of the key deeper meanings.
Granted, the overall story has to be interesting, and I believe it accomplishes that in the way I wanted it to. Sure, there's strong language, there's some violence and horror elements, there's even a few steamy scenes in each of the three books. Steamy. Not over-the-top explicit graphic scenes. But unlike a lot of today's movies where they toss in a shower scene for no other reason than to show some skin, those steamy scenes aren't thrown in there just for the hell of it.
The covers for all three books don't fall into the 'flashy' range, and for good reason. They reflect one of the deeper meanings within the story: often times, what we see on the outside is far different than what lies underneath.
So the question is, does one judge based only on what they see, or does one look closer and see what lies underneath?
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Rebirth of the Exiled trilogy
I've been writing for close to 5 years now, and in that time I've put out several different works. A collection of poetry. A short work detailing my initial journey to becoming an Indie author. (both of those are available for free on Smashwords, so please don't hesitate to grab them! http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ScottBorgman)
My main focus of course has been fantasy, and consists of the three Tal'Avern Chronicles books, with the fourth and final book in that series being started soon. Those are available exclusively on Amazon. Link to my Author page there: http://www.amazon.com/Scott-Borgman/e/B00KROBR4W
If you click on that however, you'll notice three other books which make up the Exiled trilogy. Until now, I haven't really mentioned them much, nor have I promoted them. About a month ago, I was actually considering unpublishing them. But not wanting to make any rash decisions, I asked opinions from my fellow Indies, and got an overwhelming response to keep them active.
So I decided if I were going to keep them up, I should read through them again. I've grown much more critical of my work over the past few years, and that pretty much demanded that they get overhauled, which I did over the past month or so, 7 days a week, 12+ hours a day (one of those was 19 hours... sorry babe!) until they were where I expect them to be.
With their 'rebirth' so to speak, I feel I need to give some of the backstory to them. First and foremost, they now fall under the Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance genres, and are recommended for 18+ due to strong language, violence, and sexual content.
Originally, the trilogy was written with one purpose in mind: To tell an interesting story with real lessons woven within it. That has not changed, nor will it. They're lessons that I hope will be passed on, lessons that took the loss of my youngest son, Cameron, on Oct. 18, 2010 when he was only 3 years old in order for me to learn. I can't help but wonder even today if that was the reason all along why Cami was given his wings, so that I would write the Exiled trilogy.
There's a deeper meaning behind the books, behind the story. You'll find it within the pages. And maybe the reason why I never really mentioned them before or promoted them was because when I wrote them initially, they were written during a time when I was trying to come to grips with the piece of my heart that had been broken. Maybe I needed time to let the pain dull and turn into the desire that I now have to write for the enjoyment of others, until I was ready to go back and write them at the level I expect of myself now which I didn't back then.
One of the main themes in the Exiled trilogy is that there is a veil that covers the world which hides the truth behind it. In that respect, the books have their own veil. All one needs to do is look behind it to find the true meaning, the purpose, and the lessons within the pages. Lessons that I learned from a 3 year old boy who I miss with all my heart, but who I honor and who I hope is proud of me with every word I write.
The Exiled (book 1) www.amazon.com/dp/B00L9NO5U8/
The Exiled: Continuation (book 2) www.amazon.com/dp/B00L9O95FC/
The Exiled: Infinity (book 3) www.amazon.com/dp/B00L9Q1TKE/
My main focus of course has been fantasy, and consists of the three Tal'Avern Chronicles books, with the fourth and final book in that series being started soon. Those are available exclusively on Amazon. Link to my Author page there: http://www.amazon.com/Scott-Borgman/e/B00KROBR4W
If you click on that however, you'll notice three other books which make up the Exiled trilogy. Until now, I haven't really mentioned them much, nor have I promoted them. About a month ago, I was actually considering unpublishing them. But not wanting to make any rash decisions, I asked opinions from my fellow Indies, and got an overwhelming response to keep them active.
So I decided if I were going to keep them up, I should read through them again. I've grown much more critical of my work over the past few years, and that pretty much demanded that they get overhauled, which I did over the past month or so, 7 days a week, 12+ hours a day (one of those was 19 hours... sorry babe!) until they were where I expect them to be.
With their 'rebirth' so to speak, I feel I need to give some of the backstory to them. First and foremost, they now fall under the Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance genres, and are recommended for 18+ due to strong language, violence, and sexual content.
Originally, the trilogy was written with one purpose in mind: To tell an interesting story with real lessons woven within it. That has not changed, nor will it. They're lessons that I hope will be passed on, lessons that took the loss of my youngest son, Cameron, on Oct. 18, 2010 when he was only 3 years old in order for me to learn. I can't help but wonder even today if that was the reason all along why Cami was given his wings, so that I would write the Exiled trilogy.
There's a deeper meaning behind the books, behind the story. You'll find it within the pages. And maybe the reason why I never really mentioned them before or promoted them was because when I wrote them initially, they were written during a time when I was trying to come to grips with the piece of my heart that had been broken. Maybe I needed time to let the pain dull and turn into the desire that I now have to write for the enjoyment of others, until I was ready to go back and write them at the level I expect of myself now which I didn't back then.
One of the main themes in the Exiled trilogy is that there is a veil that covers the world which hides the truth behind it. In that respect, the books have their own veil. All one needs to do is look behind it to find the true meaning, the purpose, and the lessons within the pages. Lessons that I learned from a 3 year old boy who I miss with all my heart, but who I honor and who I hope is proud of me with every word I write.
The Exiled (book 1) www.amazon.com/dp/B00L9NO5U8/
The Exiled: Continuation (book 2) www.amazon.com/dp/B00L9O95FC/
The Exiled: Infinity (book 3) www.amazon.com/dp/B00L9Q1TKE/
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