What I’ve Been Up To

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As you know, I’ve had some projects hanging over my head for quite some time. I hope to get them finished by the end of the year. 

I’ve finally gone back to work on my second novel, Time’s Echo and am nearly finished with the rough draft. I’m not sure what inspired me with new ideas and scenes to add, but it feels good to be living life with Jenna and Morgan again.

Almost since I started Story-Power, I’ve wanted to put the episodes up on YouTube, but since I publish the audio only, that meant I had to add some kind of visual to make the episodes compatible. I’m happy to say, I have just finished converting episode 50 and am uploading the latest 5 finished episodes to my channel. It has been rewarding to go back and listen to all the episodes again. My guests have inspired me anew. Creating Story-Power is one of the best things I have ever done in my life. One of the reasons it is so meaningful to me is because each guest is optimistic about what they are doing and how it will have a positive impact on the world. If we only listen to the news, we could get depressed. But there are plenty of people out there who are creating great content and that’s a wonderful thing.

Fall and Winter always feel like a time to hibernate to be quiet and reflect. This year is no different. I’ve gone back to writing in my journal every morning something I had stopped doing. I was inspired by a short YouTube video by Elizabeth Gilbert to pick up my journal again. Also one of my guests reminded me of the value of Morning Pages, that Julia Cameron encourages creatives to do in her famous book, The Artist’s Way. I have to say writing these pages has been quite helpful in keeping me motivated. One thing I realized while writing in my journal was that I put too much on my plate when I published by online course Saving the World One Story at a Time on Ûdemy. So, I have decided to remove it at the end of the year. At some point I will revise it, or use the videos on another platform. But for now, I want to concentrate on Story-Power, growing my Patreon community, and finishing my book.

I did take a leap of faith earlier this month and enter The Space Between Time in the American Legacy Book Awards in two categories. It’s a new award created by The American Book Awards for books that have been published between 2010 and earlier this year. I know it’s not a perfect book, but since I’m nearly finished with Time’s Echo, or at least the rough draft of it, I thought any kind of new exposure for the first book, might help the second.

Barry and I have also been watching some interesting series recently. My favorite is, The Wheel of Time, which is on Amazon Prime. I’ve not read the 14 book series, except the first one. This series is high fantasy, which I’m not always into, but there is something about the characters, their interactions with each other, and the things they discover about themselves that speak to me where I am right now. The premise is that 3000 years before the story begins, The Dark One wanted to take over the world. Magic exists, but only certain men and women are channelers of the One Power. One man, designated as The Dragon, is set to confront and cage The Dark One in a prison. However, something goes wrong and the world is broken. At the beginning of our story, The Wheel has turned, and a new Dragon is reborn to attempt to cage The Dark One again.

Moraine an Aes Sedai,(female channeler) and her Warder (protector), Lan have been searching for The Dragon Reborn for 20 years and in the first episode they find four possibles in a village called The Two Rivers. It’s isolated high in the mountains. The village is attacked and the six of them must escape the monsters to protect their loved ones. A fifth person, the Wisdom, (shaman/healer) of the town tracks them down, and Moraine and Lan discover she is needed by the other four, and an important part of the battles to come.

There are over 2000 named characters in the books, which means it makes the storytelling complicated. Some of the characters must be combined or eliminated. One of my favorite characters is the Ogire, Loial. He’s wise. Moraine and Lan rely on him to guide the group to face The Dark One in what they think will be the last battle. Of course it proves to be only the first one.

In the second season, Loial says one of my favorite quotes. The heroes are fighting the enemy. Some are hesitating, not knowing what to do next and Loial says something like, “We are the heroes of the future. It’s time we started acting like it.” I was inspired by that, because WE are the heroes of the future. What we do today has a huge impact on what happens in the years to come. The future will either be better or worse by what we choose to do in the here and now. If you’re into fantasy, I highly recommend this series. A third season is already in production. I can’t wait to see what happens.

A series that I was looking forward to was Ahsoka, a Star Wars continuation, or maybe one that fills in the blanks between movies. In any case, I have to say, Barry and I were disappointed. It was slow. I didn’t think the plot was constructed very well. The character of Ahsoka seemed flat to me. Who knows where things go wrong in the production of a movie or TV show. I hope, if they do another season, they can fix the characters and storylines. Also, I thought there was too much talk when there should have been action. It just didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I was hoping it would be like another Star Wars fill-in-the-blanks series, Andor, which I thought was fantastic. If you love Star Wars, and haven’t seen that series, you might want to check it out. I think a new season will be airing in the new year. Both of those series are available on Disney +

The third series we just finished watching is an amazing murder mystery taking place over four timelines, with the same dead body appearing in each. The title is, Bodies and it’s available on Netflix. The four detectives discover the same naked body in their timeline in the same lane in London. The man had been shot in the eye, but there is no bullet. There is also a mysterious mark on the body’s wrist that no one can decipher. As the story goes along each detective comes into contact with people who are part of a cabal that was formed beginning in 1890 to “create a better world” which manifests in 2053. To accomplish this “better world”, the villain does what one of my future Story-Power guests calls, The Thanos effect. He destroys London in 2023 to make way for this better world. I loved the visual effects of how the different timelines were connected by blocks of scenes from one timeline juxtaposed next to another timeline. The story is just the kind I love. It’s complex but unfolds in such a way that makes the ending completely satisfying. It’s great storytelling based on the graphic novel written by Si Spencer. I highly recommend it.

Well, that’s all from me for now. I’m off to convert another Story-Power episode and do some work on my novel. Have a great weekend.

Blessings,

Lucinda

Story-Power on Patreon and Apple Subscription

I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power podcast, Patreon Community, and Apple subscription so I’d have an excuse to talk story with other story lovers. Patreon is $5 a month for content not found on the Story-Power podcast, or on my Sage Woman Blog. The Apple subscription is $3 a month. If you’re passionate about stories, and want to talk about what you’ve learned from your favorites, come join me at patreon.com/StoryPower. Or, you can subscribe to the subscription on Apple where Story-Power is published.

PodMatch

If you are a podcaster, or have a message or fantastic product you want to share with the world, I encourage you to check out PodMatch. I call them a dating service for podcasters. Use the affiliate link and tell them, Lucinda sent you. Then contact me so we can set up a Story-Power chat

Characters are the Most Important Part of a Story

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After being medically retired from the Army in 2015, Maccabee’s life has been a rollercoaster of a journey down a road most refuse to travel. Before deciding to become a voice actor, Maccabee was just like everyone else; working to survive and take care of his family. And when God decided to use D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) to inspire him to give acting another chance, he’s never looked back. This journey has given him the chance to record character voices for a short animated film that continues to earn international awards, narrate a television series that has been requested more episodes even before it’s aired, and helped give a voice to small businesses nationwide. This also led him to create his own podcast, Beyond the Pen, to give unknown and newly published authors an international platform to tell people about themselves, their book, and the story behind the story. But most of all it’s allowed him to get back to the basics of storytelling by helping authors and creatives a like develop fully fleshed-out characters, backstories, and world events for their fictional worlds.

Mack’s podcast website with all his social media links: beyondthepenpodcast.com

Mark W. Travis, Director of feature films and TV

The Space Between Time,Lucinda Sage-Midgorden

Story-Power on YouTube

Gemma Germán Story-Power episode 26, “Finding You Niche”

Downton Abbey TV series, (2010 – 2015), Julian Fellowes creator, writer

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1982, 2007) Based on the play by Christopher Bond, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Dracula, Bram Stoker (book)

Foundation, TV series (2021 – ) Isaac Asimov novels, Creators, David S. Goyer, Josh Friedman

Fight Club, (1999) Director, David Fincher, Chuck Palahniuk, novel, Jim Uhls, screenplay

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan TV series (2018 – 2023) Based on character by Tom Clancy, Creator, Carlton Cuse and Graham Roland

Beyond the Pen Digital Marketing episode

Emanuel Rose, Digital Marketing Guru on LinkedIn

The Great Cleric, TV series, (2023 – 2023) Director, Masato Tamagawa, Tsukashita Yoshihiro, Hiiro Akikatze, Keiichirô, Keiichirô Ôchi, writers

The Last of the Breed, Louis L’Amour

Sergeant York, (1941), Director, Howard Hawks, Abem Finkel, original screenplay

Rambo, (2008), Director, Sylvester Stallone, Art Monterastelli, screen writer

Miss Saigon: 25th Anniversary, (2016), Director, Brett Sullivan, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg, writers

Hacksaw Ridge, (2016), Director, Mel Gibson, Robert Schenkkan, screenplay

Saving Private Ryan, (1998), Director, Steven Spielberg, Robert Rodat, screenplay

Hudson Hawk, (1991), Director, Michael Lehmann, Steven E. deSouza, screenplay

Story-Power on Patreon

I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power podcast, Patreon Community, and Apple subscription so I’d have an excuse to talk story with other story lovers. It’s $5 a month for content not found on the Story-Power podcast, or on my Sage Woman Blog. If you’re passionate about stories, and want to talk about what you’ve learned from your favorites, come join me at patreon.com/StoryPower. 

PodMatch

If you are a podcaster, or have a message or fantastic product you want to share with the world, I encourage you to check out PodMatch. I call them a dating service for podcasters. Use the affiliate link and tell them, Lucinda sent you. Then contact me so we can set up a Story-Power chat.

Nature vs Nurture, Birth Family vs Adoption

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Adopted at birth, Edward Di Gangi was born and raised in New York City. Although he knew for most of his life that he was adopted, it wasn’t until he approached his seventieth birthday that he began to search for the identity of his birth mother. His journey and the many surprising discoveries he made as he searched are recounted in his memoir, The Gift Best Given.

Edward and his wife now live in Hillsborough, North Carolina. He is a popular book club presenter and podcast guest. The Gift Best Given is his first full-length book.

Edward’s Social Media links:

www.digangiauthor.com

www.facebook.com/digangiauthor

www.instagram.com/digangiauthor

ancestry.com 

Story-Power on Patreon

I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power podcast, Patreon Community, and Apple subscription so I’d have an excuse to talk story with other story lovers. If you’re passionate about stories too, and want to talk about what you’ve learned from your favorites, come join me at patreon.com/StoryPower.

PodMatch

If you are a podcaster, or have a message or fantastic product you want to share with the world, I encourage you to check out PodMatch. I call them a dating service for podcasters. Use the affiliate link and tell them, Lucinda sent you. Then contact me so we can set up a Story-Power chat.

Are We Inheriting the Wind?

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“He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind; and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.” ~ Proverbs 12:29

I don’t usually quote The Bible, but man are we humans troubling our own house right now, on so many levels! I’m getting whiplash from the newest events every day. Everything seems like it’s in chaos. And yet, you have to take everything out of the closet before you can reorganize it. I think that’s what’s going on right now. Humanity is doing some cosmic closet cleaning.

I connected with The Bible quote because it was part of the the movie, Inherit the Wind (1960) that I watched not too long ago. It’s about the Scopes vs Tennessee Trial which took place in 1925. I’ve seen this movie several times and I’ve always thought of it as a dramatization of an historical event. But within the first few moments of watching this time, I was dismayed by the similarities between this movie and all the “history denying” going on in various States and school districts around the country. I guess we haven’t yet learned this lesson from history.

The story is based on the real events when the Tennessee Legislature passed a law forbidding science teachers from including lessons about the Theory of Evolution in their curriculum. The ACLU immediately wanted to challenge that law, hopefully going all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. So, they looked for a teacher willing to challenge the law. In real life, John Thomas Scopes volunteered. The trial became what was called “The trial of the century” and dubbed The Scopes Monkey Trial by the press. 

I thought it was interesting that the stage play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, premiered a few years after the main investigations of The House Un-American Activities Committee and may have been in response to those events. 

The compelling thing about what happened in real life is that it attracted two powerhouse lawyers, Clarence Darrow, (Henry Drummond played by Spencer Tracy) and William Jennings Bryan, (Matthew Harrison Brady played by Fredric March). These two nationally known figures are what made following the trial so popular. Radio was in it’s infancy then, and this trial was a ratings hit. But there were print stories galore as well, for those who didn’t own a radio, outlining every aspect of the day’s proceedings.

On the surface the issue was whether Evolution should be taught in schools, but as Henry Drummond points out the real issue was whether or not the students should be taught different theories of the origin of the planet and everything that lives upon it, so they can make up their own minds about what they believe. Instead, Drummond pointed out that the law was really about whether or not the students would be allowed to use their minds to “think”, to consider the many possible creation stories in addition to the one taught in The Bible.

Much of the trial dialogue in the play/movie comes strait from trial transcripts. In fact, in real life, Clarence Darrow did something never done before and called William Jennings Bryan to the stand as an expert in The Bible. He did this because all of his scientific witnesses were denied him. Little by little Drummond, (Darrow) was able to get Brady, (Bryan) to admit that there are inconsistencies in the “historical” thread of the Biblical creation story, which weakened the prosecutions case. 

This segment of the story is so compelling and relevant to today. At one point Drummond, goes on a rant: “I say that you cannot administer a wicked law impartially. You can only destroy, you can only punish. And I warn you, that a wicked law, like cholera, destroys every one it touches. Its upholders as well as its defiers.” 

Judge: “Colonel Drummond …” 

Drummond: “Can’t you understand? That if you take a law like evolution and you make it a crime to teach it in the public schools, tomorrow you can make it a crime to teach it in the private schools? And tomorrow you may make it a crime to read about it. And soon you may ban books and newspapers. And then you may turn Catholic against Protestant, and Protestant against Protestant, and try to foist your own religion upon the mind of man. If you can do one, you can do the other. Because fanaticism and ignorance is forever busy, and needs feeding. And soon, your Honor, with banners flying and with drums beating we’ll be marching backward, BACKWARD, through the glorious ages of that Sixteenth Century when bigots burned the man who dared bring enlightenment and intelligence to the human mind!”

I say, that’s the precipice upon which we find ourselves again with groups wanting to walk us backward. I’m not sure it’s working this time, though. Thankfully there are a growing number of “woke” people in the world, people who are aware of systematic injustice and prejudice on all levels and who are doing something to stop it. 

It’s almost a century since the Scopes Monkey Trial. Maybe this time we’ll cross the finish line and never go back to intolerance and fear of the truth. We’ll champion sincere investigation. I hope we’ll understand that no one person can know what is best for everyone because we each have free will and live in our own realities. None of us see the world in the same way. I love that I can learn new things from people who see the world differently than I do.

If you’re interested, my sister, Celeste and I recorded a Bonus Story-Power episode about Inherit the Wind for Apple subscriptions. It’s free to listen to through, or maybe until October 25. There are so many great things about that movie that we can learn to apply to today’s situations.

Thanks for reading, liking, and commenting. I appreciate it very much. I’m not sure if I’ll write a post next week. I’m still preparing and uploading past episodes of Story-Power to YouTube. We’ll see what the events of the next week bring up for me to comment on.

Blessings,

Lucinda Sage-Midgorden © 2023

Patreon

I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power podcast, Patreon Community, and Apple subscription so I’d have an excuse to talk story with other story lovers. If you’re passionate about stories too, and want to talk about what you’ve learned from your favorites, come join me at patreon.com/StoryPower.

PodMatch

If you are a podcaster, or have a message or fantastic product you want to share with the world, I encourage you to check out PodMatch. I call them a dating service for podcasters. Use the affiliate link and tell them, Lucinda sent you. Then contact me so we can set up a Story-Power chat

Improving Writing by Trying New Forms

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“Humans are not ideally set up to understand logic; they are ideally set up to understand stories.” ~ Roger C. Schank, Cognitive Scientist

Lisa Jensen is a ghostwriter and novelist living in the Northwest with her husband and a furry family that includes a pack of Chihuahuas and a pair of cats.The job description for most of the work she’s done throughout her adult life included writing, editing, and proofreading. It started in radio, where she wrote scripts and ad copy daily, and continued when she started freelancing for lifestyle magazines. It was during that time, when her assignments began centering on showcasing the unique stories of everyday people, that Lisa discovered how much she enjoyed hearing people’s stories and telling them. She loved working with those individuals to tell their stories in an engaging, entertaining way that honored them, and that’s when she shifted her full focus to ghostwriting.

Additionally, after decades of toying with the idea of writing fiction, Lisa wrote and self-published a novel, Cedar Ridge, under the pen name Maris Parker in 2021. The following year, she narrated and published the audiobook version and has started writing the follow-up book with the intention of making it a series.  

lisadeewrites.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-jensen-88941542/

https://www.alignable.com/pocatello-id/lisa-d-writes

Lisa’s first novel, Cedar Ridge pen name, Maris Parker

Foundation series, Isaac Asimov, Foundation TV series on Apple TV, David S. Goyer, Creator and one of the screen writers

Outlander, series Diana Gabaldon, Outlander TV series, Ronald D. Moore, Creator and one of the screen writers

Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell, Cloud AtlasMovie, Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski, Tom Tykwer screen writers

Three Pines, TV series on Amazon Prime, based on Louise Penny’s Inspector Ganache series. Created for TV and written by Emilia di Girolamo among others

Bridgerton, Julia Quinn, Created for TV and written by Chris Van Dusen among others. Produced by Shonda Rhimes among others available on Netflix

The Marvel Cinematic Universe and the D.C. Universe, movies and characters based on Marvel and D.C. graphic novels

The Harry Potterseries of books, J. K. Rowling, movies, various directors and screen writers

The Hunger Games series of books, Suzanne Collins, movies, various directors and screen writers

Jane Austen’s Dragons series, Pemberley: Mr Dracy’s Dragon book 1Maria Grace

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith, Movie, Burr Steers, Director, Burr Steers, Seth Grahame-Smith, screenplay based on Jane Austen’s book

Sense and Sensibility, Director, Ang Lee, screenplay, Emma Thompson, based on Jane Austen’s book 

Alfred Hitchcock, iconic director of suspense movies like Suspicion, Notorious, The Man Who Knew to Much, North by Northwest, and many others

The Space Between Time sequel, Lucinda Sage-Midgorden

The Man Who Invented Christmas, Director, Bharat Nalluri, screenplay, Susan Coyne, Les Standiford, based on the life of Charles Dickens

Story-Power on Patreon

I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power podcast, Patreon Community, and Apple subscription so I’d have an excuse to talk story with other story lovers. If you’re passionate about stories too, and want to talk about what you’ve learned from your favorites, come join me at patreon.com/StoryPower.

PodMatch

If you are a podcaster, or have a message or fantastic product you want to share with the world, I encourage you to check out PodMatch. I call them a dating service for podcasters. Use the affiliate link and tell them, Lucinda sent you. Then contact me so we can set up a Story-Power chat.

“Instead of condemning people, let’s try to understand them. Let’s try to figure out why they do what they do. That’s a lot more profitable and intriguing than criticism; and it breeds sympathy, tolerance and kindness. “To know all is to forgive all.” 

― Dale Carnegie, How To Win Friends and Influence People