An Overzealous Newbie

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Kendi McLain

Kendi McLain

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Aug 6, 2017
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4,946
SW Missouri near Arkansas line
#1
So, I posted about me yesterday under someone else's thread and it was suggested I start my own with a lil about me.

In acuality, I've been writing since I was about 12 or 13, but created stories in my head a lot earlier. (NOT to be confused with my fantasies.) In my teens, my stories were a mix of third and first person, with POV all over the place. But they were all about me, my boyfriend, my best friend and her boyfriend. Hand written, page after page after page. I don't know if my Daddy got a hold of it and read it, or just knew what I was doing and told me to throw that crap away. Some of it went, but not all of it and I continued to write. I took a creative writing class in high school and my teacher told me my writing was trite and I'd never sell anything. If she is still alive, which I doubt, I hope she knows the market share romance holds today.

I've sold some poetry, won some small awards with poetry, placed as a semi finalist in RWA's Golden Heart, and won some small awards with short stories and first chapters. It's not the size of the award so much as it is the validation that someone thinks your work is that good. Though, I have to admit, the critique I had on my first completed manuscript sent to bed with a brandy bottle and tears. I put it away and haven't touched it since. And, now, it will all have to be retyped because it was put on a disk long enough ago that the newer computers can't read it. Perfect time to edit, right?

Writer's are a breed of their own. We write for many reasons, one of which to quiet the voices in our head, demanding their story be told first. I was seeing a psycologist when we live in Italy. The conversation went something like this, actually verbatim:

"Do you hear voices in your head?"
"Of course I do, I'm a writer!"
"I don't mean the make believe ones."
"Neither do I."

He never saw me again.I'm looking forward to being here and learning as much as I can. My genre's currently are historical romance, fantasy, horror/Sy-Fy and Poetry. I also have around 100 erotica short stories and two complete manuscripts. The count is one completed manuscript, three half done manuscripts and a couple of first chapters I'm really excited about. I participate in NANOWRMO (sp) and sometimes JANO.

I look forward to chatting with as many of you as I can.
 
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#2
Welcome @Kendi McLain

You write wonderfully, with humor and lighthearted fun. We are delighted you are here. You are in good company and yes, we ALL hear voices.

To tell you a bit of a true story, as a Navy chaplain, I counseled a young sailor with dissociative identity disorder. I bridged the possibility of talking with oneself...I said I often talk with myself. I was then asked if I could hear the many voices within the petty officer's head, because they were so clearly speaking internally, they sounded like external speakers.

Alas, I had to say, no.

At any rate, we sooo look forward to many occasions of interacting with you. I think you are a great addition to our Savvy family.

Congrats on all your successes that your teachers poo-pooed. Keep up the great work.

Lyn
 
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Kendi McLain
Kendi McLain
Lol, what a coincidence. This was a Navy Psycologist at the naval hospital in Naples, Italy. My late husband was a retired corpsman.
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lrdavis
lrdavis
But I didn't say that it was a bad thing to hear voices. In fact, I applauded the voices, because it was those voices that had kept the petty officer alive through all the hellish experiences in life--from a murder attempt while a baby being smothered by a pillow, to being shut in a closet for days, etc. Each of the 13 personalities I met had formed to fulfill a specific function for survival and each was a blessing to the whole "complex system of identities."

I met the baby one day, when I visited the house, and watched this 39 year old adult crawl into a fetal position, pull a blanket up over all but the eyes and stair, unblinking, at me for about five minutes. Since it was without warning, I was worried, I had done something wrong, and kept asking if everything was alright, when the four year old girl popped out and said, "No, that was the baby. Wanted to see what you looked like."

The 11 year old boy loved working with my husband and building things in our garage, after they retired from the Navy.

The alters found a wonderful VA psychologist and integrated later. I lost track after that, but I was glad to hear that they were doing well. They were all brilliant voices--each of them. And I spent hours talking with all of them, with the exception of one--the angry male, who never spoke but destroyed things and threatened suicide and defended the group with blades. One day I was given a gift of sharp blades wrapped up individually--the group had convinced him that I was trustworthy and I had convinced the group that they were worth keeping alive and the blades were not going to be used. We had a covenant. He gave me the blades as a sign of the covenant. I cried at receiving them. He wouldn't talk with me, but I praised him effusively for being their protector and being so strong and having the hardest part--to hold all the anger for all of them all the time. That would be so enraging, and yet he kept his cool. I kept acknowledging how brave and courageous he was, even though I never heard a word from him, but the situation changed from that moment forward. Once he trusted me, we made huge leaps and I didn't have to constantly make bargains about suicide. They were calm and not at risk.
Anyway, I've often wanted to write about it, but most editors are not interested in it. After Sybil, it became too sensationalized...and they would get dozens of books wanting to tell their story...or write about a fictional story.
I didn't mean to digress so much. I just wanted to say, I didn't shut down the voices, rather I encouraged the voices to speak, I just had to wait until they took possession of the body for me to hear them. I just couldn't hear him or her arguing inside a brain not my own. LOL I had to wait until he or she took charge of the body. Slightly different from your situation.
Lyn
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Kendi McLain
Kendi McLain
That's pretty amazing. I didn't realize you were talking about someone with multiple personalities at the time. I applaud your strength in staying with that situation. And, thank you for your service. There is a publisher I'm marginally associated with, hopefully more interactive with them after October. They are a multi-genre publisher. If you'd like to look them up, it's OGHMA publishing out of Bentonville, AR. My sister is their marketing director.

Every October there is a writer's conference in Eureka Springs, AR hosted by Ozarks Creative Writer's. OGHMA is sponsoring a contest; first three chapters and synopsis. I'm working on that today. I have a full BDSM manuscript I'm editing to be more publisher friendly. We'll see what happens. I just finished my blog updates for the morning. One is BDSM erotica short stories and the other is a crazy lady's retirement. Lol, therapy on the second and lots of friends who missed my storytelling in a chatroom on aol every sunday morning.
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