Monday, April 30, 2012


No – know

No: opposite of yes
Know: have knowledge of

Be – bee

Be: to exist or live
Bee:  flying insect

See – sea

See: visualize, look at
 Sea: large body of water 

Wednesday, April 18, 2012


©

Rote – wrote

Rote
 A fixed, habitual, or mechanical course of procedure
The rote he followed each day never changed.

Wrote
The past tense of write
She wrote the letter yesterday.
Right – rite – write

Right
A direction
We turned to the right after going through the tunnel.
Tom was right, the cards were stacked. 

Rite
A formal or ceremonial act or procedure prescribed or customary
The priest preformed the rite. 

Write
The act of forming intelligent or not intelligent marks, symbols, or characters to relay information.
We will write the post today. 

Wednesday, April 11, 2012


Sense – since – cents
Sense – mental ability,
The sense of smell, hearing, taste …
Since – time
Every since I fell my foot hurts.
Cents – money value

You – Your – You’re
You meaning not me
Your - belonging to you – ownership
You’re – the words you are condensed
You’re should only be used if you can use you are in place of
You like deer can mean one or many.

By – Bye – Buy
By – near
The car was by the road. The car was near the road.
Bye – ending or leave taking
I told Sonia bye as she left. Tom said good-bye before hanging up the phone.
Buy – purchase
We will buy only what is needed.

Rein –Reign - rain
Rein – gear for a horse
He pulled much too hard and the horses reins causing the horse to jump.
Reign – rule
The queen’s reign was much too long.
Rain – something falling from above usually water
The rain fell so fast there was no time to avoid getting wet.

Saturday, April 7, 2012


 A Whisper of Secrets

 This is just a peek at what you will find inside this book

 
Preface
This story was written in memory of Jimmy and Carrie my
grandparents who instilled within me a love for storytelling and
mountain lore. These two were born in the last part of the 1800’s and
grew up in an area where education was not of the greatest importance
and both still spoke in the old dialect of their parents. They lived in
much the same way as their parents before them had in a deep cove
located in the wild and beautiful Appalachian mountain range.
This story was built around a story Grandpa told of a time when
he was a child. A time of superstition and mystery, a time when the
dusk just before dark was called the gloaming, a time when shadows are
deepest and the unknown spirits roamed the mountain valleys.
My favorite time was and still is the gloaming of the day. As a child
the greatest event of my day was spent listening to the old stories after
dinner was over and chores were done. This is the time my grandparents
referred to as the gloaming, the dusk just before dark.
Granny would say, “Come child ye granddaddy’s gonna tell a story
and you must listen close fur he’ll only tell it once tonight.”
We would either sit near the old pot bellied wood stove in the living
room or in summer on the front porch. Giggling I would climb up
beside Granny saying, “that’s silly Granny he’s Grandpa not Daddy.”
“Hush child and listen.”
Grandpa would spit either into the stove or over the banister of the
porch, wipe the dribble of snuff from his chin and begin in his soft low
voice.
vi
Merlene M. Allison
The story as he told it went like this:
“I remember one time when a haint follured Papa home. It was late
fall and Papa had gone ta town, Momma and the rest of us young’ens
stayed at home. Well it got dark and Papa wouldn’t home yet. I guess
it was getting on to be about nine o’clock when we heard the awfulest
racket. Hit sounded just like you uz pullin the lag off some woman.
Momma made us young’ens gather in the livinroom an she locked all
the doors. Momma never had shot a gun but she got Papa’s old huntin
rife out and had me and my brother Joe to load it fur her.We sit there
froze in place fur a while then somethun run up on the porch and
started pounding on the door. Momma in her bravest voice called out,
“who’s that.” It wuz Papa and he started yelling, “let me in hit’s right
behind me.”
Momma run over and opened the door, Papa run in and closed
the door back. After he had a drink of water he set down and told us
about it.Papa said this haint started folluring him just at the mouth
of the cove. He could hear it walking in the leaves next to the wagon
trail. Finally the moon come out from behind the clouds and he saw hit
plain as day standing on the ridge above him. Hit wuz bigger’n a hoss,
hit even looked like a hoss an wuz as dark as midnight but when hit
rared up on hits hind lags an opened hits mouth he knowd hit wuz a
haint. Instood of hoofs hit had claws an when hit opened hits mouth ta
scream hit had teeth an fangs like a cat-e-mount that’s when he knowd.
We stayed up most of that night an watched ta see if it was gonna try
ta come in the house.
 A note from the Author:
I have tried to make the words sound just the way he spoke, in my
mind I can still hear his soft voice in that old dialect. Can still feel the
awe of hearing the old haunting and ghost stories he told.I have taken
the liberty of changing his story adding characters and events in a more
modern time.Granny was a Native American Indian and had many
stories also. Many of her stories involved the next world to come. Not
wanting to leave her out I have taken a hint of the world to come and
woven it into A Whisper of Secrets.
Come, come walk with me maybe we too shall see that which roams
the darkened coves and deep valleys in yon mountain heights when the
gloaming comes.
 
 
©
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic,
or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval
system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied
in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this
novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:
iUniverse
Amazon.com
Barns & Noble
Books A Million
iuniverse also has an electronic version

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Just a bit about me.


 
 Born on March 10, 1959 in Gwinnet county Georgia I am the second of four children born to Everett and Billie Jo McClure. My family lived in Gwinnet County until 1970 then moved to the small town of Hayesville in Western North Carolina where I grew to love the mountains as much as I loved to read.
 For me the written words were magic, I remember my older sister Mary reading to me before I learned how to read. To me Mary was a supreme being simply because she could turn those little black marks into wondrous stories and at the time my greatest dream was to be able to do the same thing. I was in awe of her ability and determined that I to would gain this ability. By the time I was in second grade I was reading books from the high school section in the library and would read three every week while school was in session. Dad would not have a television in the house so reading was our entertainment. His opinion was that TV was going to be the ruination of the young people of the world; time was better spent doing something productive.
 My father was a veteran of WWII and disabled so life wasn’t easy for a family of six. The small disability check Dad received from the veteran’s administration just barely kept the wolves from our door.
 After we moved to North Carolina I spent a great deal of time with my grandparents who were wonderful storytellers, I would spend hours listening to them and they had some of the most interesting stories to tell. I loved spending the night at their house and waking up to the smell of bacon cooking and coffee brewing and hearing the soft voices of the adults talking quietly.
 My mother passed away when I was eighteen and my father followed fourteen years later. My family was not especially close but after mom died my father and I built a close relationship and letting him go was hard.
 At fifteen I left home and married shortly after. Quitting school and going to work in a local factory where I worked until my first child was born five years later. I then stayed at home for several years during which my second daughter was born. After my second child was born I returned to work in the factory and worked there until 1986 when I moved back to North Georgia with my husband Don and children Leona and Becca. One year later my son Matt was born.
 After my son was born I become a stay at home mom for four years and found that I had free time on my hands so I went to the local library and checked out text books. After a few weeks I had taught myself what I would need and took the test for a GDE and earned it. As a child I had been an A, B student and had no problems passing the test.
 When my son was four I returned to work in a factory and worked there until the company I worked for followed the path of other manufacturing companies and moved their plant to Mexico. At this point I decided to return to my education so I signed up at a local two year college and earned a degree in engineering. After graduating I went to work for the Georgia Department of Transportation as a Civil Design Engineer. As time went by I moved to another position in the Construction Department and have remained there. I enjoy the work and the people that I work with are great but I find myself turning back to my first love and that is the written word.
 Throughout my life I have written short stories and many poems, which have only lay on my desk until I either tossed or filed away. The poetry I would write and give to someone in need.
 In 2008 I finally decided to get serious with writing and pulling from stories heard as a child I wrote Where Does She Go. Being unsure of my ability this to was shelved. Then in October of 2011 I awoke one morning and realized that this story was destined to go the way of my past efforts so I decided to at least try and publish. After receiving a review of my work I was thrilled. I know that sometimes a review can make or break a person and many will dump the whole idea of writing but for me it was simply wonderful to get an honest opinion on my work, constructive criticism if you will.
 After reading the review then going back to my manuscript I made a few changes thus Where Does She Go became A Whisper of Secrets. That one review changed my whole outlook on writing I became more conscious of how things should be worded in order to make the most of an idea, to make a story flow, and how to get the most from your characters.
 I have always been an avid reader but in 2001 I lost my vision for a few months due to multiple sclerosis. When my vision returned I could not focus well enough to read like I had in the past. I still read but more slowly than before and require larger print. Where I would read as many as three books in a week I can now only manage one in a month now. Sometimes for me it is a struggle to simply walk across the floor but during those times I can work on my computer and I can change the font to a size that is easy for me to see.
 I love the mountains and spend as much time as possible at the property my husband and I own in the Southern Appalachians of North Carolina. While living there full time I did not realize how peaceful how calming the mountains are but living away for twenty five years then going back makes a person appreciate the beauty of those old mountains. With no cities nearby the night sky is so much more vivid a storm louder and where else could you stand on the front deck at four thirty in the morning and look over and see a bob cat sitting on the steps beside you as if he owned the place. Where else could you go for days and not hear a siren screaming somewhere near? If you hear a vehicle you know who it is just from the sound and if you don’t recognize the sound you go to see who it is.
 I enjoy painting also and occasionally I will pull out the oils, I also enjoy quilting, cooking, and gardening. The thing I enjoy most is spending time with my family, to have all my children and their families together for a home cooked meal is the best.
 I am presently working on a novel that deals with a family haunted by an ancestor from the far past who is intent on destroying them and the life they have built.
©

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Today's word:

Right - direction - opposite of wrong
Write - To make letters, numbers, or symbols on a surface with pen or pencil
Rite - A ceremonial act