The Between Times

Sometimes in life a series of images, thoughts, or ideas run through your mind. As a writer, I find I must write them, or they will haunt me.

I wrote The Between Times after being inundated with so much negativity in our current political climate. Many of the decisions that have been made by the Supreme Court and the Congress, as well as statements made by political figures, inspired this view of a possible future. It is a path that we might find ourselves walking, if we continue along the paths that some of these remarks and decisions are pointing us in.

Though that world is a dark place for many, it also contains a bit of magic in the form of a young woman named Jewell. I always believe that life can be made better if not by actual magic and miracles than by the power of the people if they join their energy to create a better world.

NEWS FLASH

I am so excited to share this news with you all. The new expanded Wee Three: A Child's World will be available for sale in paperback. It will be available at Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com, martamoranbishop.com and many other retailers. It will also be available in kindle at the low price of $1.99. I however must recommend the paperback as kindle doesn’t do justice to the wonderful illustrations by Hazel Mitchell.



I just approved the proof!!!!! Now only a few days out.

I want to thank Beth Hoffman, Dellani Oakes, and Amanda Thrasher for their continual support of Wee Three. It has and does mean so much to me.



A special thank you to all of you who loved Wee Three: A Mother's Love in Verse, this expanded edition, has gone from a mere 60 pages to 92 pages. It contains many more poems depicting the joy, and innocent pleasures of childhood.

WHITE FANG BY JACK LONDON

I am currently about ten thousand words into my novel, which has a current working title of Sadie Fights Back.” I have absolutely no idea if it is even close to what the story will eventually be called. It is a fictional story based upon events that can and do take place in the life of a nurse mare.

As a part, of my research into writing a story from the perspective of an animal. I read a series of books written by some of the best. Two of them were written by Jack London. They were Call of the Wild and White Fang. I enjoyed both books, and they both gave me an insight into not only writing from the perspective of an animal, but what might happen in the mind and life of a wolf or wild dog.

It also tells how the cruelty of man can affect the life of animals. Not only do they have to face the challenges of nature, and other predators. They also in many cases face the indifference of men, who consider them expendable and sometimes use them in brutal ways. Making them insane beasts, that in many cases destroys their sanity.

White Fang was one such animal. Part wolf, part dog, he was first raised as a wolf, then he begins his life in the world of man to be used and abused by both animal and human.

In part of his story I wept, cringed, and feared for his life, as a man called Beauty turned him into a fighting dog. Treating him with the utmost cruelty until his life was nothing, but kill or be killed. He was turned into a wild beast that would frighten anyone. It reminded me that in this day and age, we still have similar people and similar events, dogs are still used as entertainment for evil men whose only interest is watching blood sport.

Will, White Fang find anyone, be it man or beast that he can love and will love him? That is the question that only someone who reads this excellent book can learn.

It was originally written as a book for younger boys, yet in today’s world it would be considered to brutal and to mature a book by many. It is a book that I believe everyone should read who wants to learn about books, animals, and the cruelty that our actions can cause.

I fell in love with White Fang and will never forget him or Jack London’s excellent writing.

Wee Three: A Mother's Love in Verse, has undergone a publisher change and is available as an expanded edition entitled Wee Three: A Child's World.

Both the paperback and the ebook are priced a bit lower to match todays economy.

PUDDLES

I saw a puddle it was fine,

A splash or two will make it mine.

I’ll leap I’ll jump I’ll make it spray,

Splatter and spurt will make fine play. 

It matters not I’m sopping wet,

Though I don’t know why they’re upset.

For water dries so very quick,

 And won’t make me a little sick.

 

Copyrighted Marta Moran Bishop January  28, 2012

THE HITCHHIKER

I didn’t even know,

My little hitchhiker,

I never caught his name,

Over highways we flew.

I was all warm inside,

He took his ride outside,

Holding on for dear life,

To the trunk of my car.

Not until we had parked,

Did I see the poor thing,

Crouched against the trunk rim,

All aquiver was he.

The tiny little mouse,

On unfamiliar ground,

Across the car he ran,

Upon the grass he jumped,

No stop to say goodbye,

The petrified mouse flew,

Running to get away,

As fast as he could go.

.

Sure wishing he stayed put,

And not traveled afar,

The little hitchhiker

So far away from home.

WEE THREE: A MOTHER'S LOVE IN VERSE

Many years ago before I born, when my mother, aunt and uncle were small children, myGrandmother Helen Springer Moran began writing poetry, about and for her children.

She began her poems from their perspective and how they saw the world.

She wanted her poems to be published more than most things in life, though I was to learn this much later. She passed away about six months before I was born, I didn’t even know that her poems existed till many years later, when my own mother lay dying.

The one thing besides, having her children around her, that she enjoyed most was having those same poems read to her over and over again. They brought back lovely memories of her childhood to her in her last days.

Many children don’t have the ideal childhood, I was one of them. I wonder if in fact there is such a thing as an ideal childhood or is it only in the imagination of Hollywood?

When I first decided to take these poems my grandmother wrote, lengthen them, and add my own, thereby publishing, Wee Three: A Mother’s Love in Verse, it was first a gift to my mother and grandmother. It was a way for me to honor their memory and the memories of children. I wanted to help people to reconnect with the child within and to bring a link back to families.

Wee Three: A Mother’s Love in Verse, carries with it the best memories of childhood. In both its lessons and its joys, for childhood is full of both.

I was raised in a family of nine, we were very poor. Not every memory of my childhood is good, in fact most aren’t. Yet, my intention was to focus on the best and greatest things that it held.

Those are of imagination, beauty, joy, discovery, and gentle lessons. The lessons that give us boundaries and teach us responsibility without harm, as told in “Punishment.”

Wee Three: A Mother’s Love in Verse, is meant to be read to the young or the young at heart. It was written to help me remember the innocence and joy that we all begin life with and share that with others.

It is a childhood keepsake book, to be passed down between the generations, bridging the gap, between life as it was in the past and life that is yet to be.

My hope is that it will bring joy, wonder, and imagination back to the world. Today, we live in such a fast paced technological society; it seems we have lost so much of life’s pleasure in just being.

WRITING FOR A CHILD PART II, WHAT MAKES A GREAT CHILDREN'S BOOK?

Have you ever heard a piece of music, smelled something and all of a sudden a feeling washed over you, bringing back a happy or sad memory? Great children’s books will do the same thing. They will take your heart and mind to back to the memory of days gone by.

If you consider books to be only teaching tools, remember the warm glow that special book brought you. Think about it, can you feel the joy, sadness, warmth, and yes even the smell of the place you were in, when first you heard or read that special book?

What was that book, was it one of the classics like, Little Women, The Cat in the Hat, Charlotte’s Web,Treasure Island or another book? When writing for a child, you should remember the world that they see and hear. Find within yourself the beauty and wonder of life as it unfolded around you when you were young. The book will hopefully take even an adult back to the silly, clever, imaginative or wondrous world that still lies within them.

Take Dr. Seuss’, The Cat in the Hat, many of us remember it being read to us as a child. Our eyes lit up and we giggled as the clever rhymes told a wondrous story. If we picked it up again today, to read to a child or just for our own enjoyment, maybe it would help us to once again find the spirit of the child within us, waiting to be let out.

Remember the sweet sad, touching story of Wilbur the pig being saved from slaughter by a spider named Charlotte? Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White is considered a true classic in children’s literature, yet it is written from the point of view of a pig and a spider.

So what makes a great children’s book? It is a story that holds the heart, mind and spirit of a child within its pages. It is a book that can be picked up years later by an adult and they will again be swept up into the story all over again. Maybe like The Cat in the Hat, the adult will find themself once again chuckling, reliving their own youthful innocence.

Charlotte’s Web, might once again make you cry, feel the pain, loneliness and simplicity of life, nature and the love that fellow creatures can have for one another.

Perhaps you will feel the adventure again that you found in Treasure Island, and remember the days when you played pirates.

Little Women, might bring you back to a kinder, gentler world. A world that is forgiving, even in the face of darkness and pain.

No matter the age of the person, a great children’s book will delight both the child and the adult. It will sweep all the world’s problems away and take you into the land where you will once again live the glorious days of your own youth and innocence.

Whichever book you remember most clearly the message remains the same. The story, prose or verse must capture the essence of the heart of the child. It must see the world through their eyes, if it is to be a book that is to be picked up generation upon generation.

WRITING FOR A CHILD

So much of writing for a child is in the remembering to think like a child. The most popular children’s books today are told from the perspective of the child.

Why is the Harry Potter series such a success? Is it because there is magic, witches, goblins and strange magical beasts, potions that make you shrink, brooms to fly. Yes this is some of it, for we would all like to believe we can become more, that magic can fill our lives.

But the other and more important part is that the books do not talk down to children. They aren’t adults giving another lesson clothed in magic. They are about learning to fight the good fight. They are about being responsible for ones actions and the difficulties of growing up.

They teach lessons of how “cliques” and bullying can hurt. They teach the truth that there is worth in every child and that more lies below the surface then can be seen in who someone hangs out with or whether or not they are popular. They teach it is okay to be different and not okay to be cruel, greedy or power hungry.

Yet these stories are told clothed in a way the child can accept, they are told from the way a child thinks and feels. So often in writing a child’s book, what leaves the child cold is the author is thinking like an adult and not like a child. As a result the book or story comes across as just another adult lesson, one that just proves once again that adults don’t understand.

Fourth of July today and yesterday

Fourth of July in years past was celebrated with fireworks, parades, picnics in the park most of which we still have today. But what is different today from all the generations before us?
Yesteryear, the families in many of the smaller towns across the country, from young to old would gather in the town square to celebrate.
A small parade would go down Main Street, there were always little children dressed in homemade costumes in the parade. There would be the local town band, or school marching band and a float or two. Our veterans and those soldiers home from leave would march side by side with the local mayor and a few town officials. Small children would be on the shoulders of their parents and few would miss anything.
Afterwards the ladies would go off to get the food ready to bring to the town square, the gents off to set up the tables, sometimes having a sip of local brew. The children would usually play until it was time to wash and dress for the festivities. Yes even for a picnic everyone would dress nicely; even the poorest of the poor would put on their best.
There was a little bandstand where a couple of musician would gather, playing songs for the fourth.
The sound of the Barber Shop Quartets would fill the air, with the noise of the sack races, three legged races and many other types of games and sporting events for the young or young of heart to join into, relieving the excess emotion a day of socializing can bring.
Laughter could be heard over the music from the band stand and when the musicians took a break, why there was always someone to sit in, having brought their own guitar or banjo. Later on in the evening there would be dancing.
It was a day to celebrate not only our countries freedom, but a day to put aside differences and celebrate life with each other. It was a day where young and old could find the pleasure in the day and each other. Families and friends would talk, play, eat, sing and dance together.
It however wasn’t a day where you sat in front of the Television or brought your game boy, or cell phone to text your friends. Nor was it a day to separate yourself from those around you. It wasn’t a day to exclude others or a day when each family kept to itself as an island alone in the world, jaded with contempt for the simplicity of those that were making merry.
Well my friends do what do you think we can do to bring back a bit of the simple pleasures in life? Do you think we can find commonality in each other again? Can we slow our world just a bit to find the time to play the silly games of sack races? Or are we to be forever isolated from each other and our children as they text their friends and we text ours? Not talking to each other nor finding the joy in the moment. Can we find once again find the pleasure of life without some technical gadget hanging from our ear or in front of our face?