Literary Musings

Vietnam & Afghanistan

By Dr. Mike Nelson

Vietnam:

We stood in line today. We FNG’s; strung out in a line. We stand in line for mail call

for chow, We stand in line for our turn to take a shit

or a shower.

We stood in line today They handed us our bullets. We loaded our guns. We stood in line today. We stood in line on the tarmac.

We waited for the Hueys We stood in line while we listened to the rotors wind up and smelled the fuel exhaust.

We stood in line waiting for ‘The guns are up!’ from the chief

We stood in line waiting for the ‘Go!’ from the tower

We stood in line in silence, there were no more words

We stood in line today. We stood in line to go to war.

Afghanistan:

We stood in line today, In the grocery store, At restaurants, amusement parks, and overpriced coffee shops We stood in line today with aged faces, But sharp memories, hobbled knees and other scars

We stood in line with bubbly children and frenzied parents Focused on ‘to-do’ lists and schedules

We stood in line with people who’d no idea the things that had been done Without perspective that we’d stood in line, For them

We stood in line today seeing what the war had bought us And go home to eat our cornflakes and sip our coffee

Belongings with Me Belong

By: Jade Dee & Wilnona Marie

Still my dress will sway in prettily pink. Such a lady on the brink. Skeletons With decaying meat attached, it stinks.

No one knows because of my pantyhose. No one knows cause my heels have bows. No one knows cuz my voice is light, female No one suspect me because of the stories I regale

With audiences on the tip of theirs chairs Dangling yet still unawares

But my stares are glares. With a hint of intent

of my low rumbling aspirational crime stints.

Stephanie Fowler - Saltwater media

Interview by Brandy M. Miller

Stephanie has never known a time when she wasn’t writing. Her desire to be a writer began in elementary school, followed her through high school, and resulted in her winning the $65,000 Sophie Kerr literary prize from Washington College. The woman who won the award the year before her ended up on Oprah Winfrey and landing a contract with Random House, so Stephanie was sure she’d just secured the keys to an agent and a traditional publishing contract, but things didn’t go according to plan. Publishers didn’t see the value in publishing a creative non-fiction work that featured stories about small towns in America few people knew existed, and the repeatedly rejected her work. After a few years of this, she was faced with the choice to allow her voice to be silenced by their lack of vision or to set out on her own and choose to publish it by herself at a time when independent publishing still carried a stigma. Ultimately, in 2007, she decided to self-publish it. She had no idea what she was doing, but eventually got it done. Looking back, she did some things well and some things poorly and some were middle of the road. However, that experience stuck with her. Her books were selling but nowhere near enough to allow her to quit her day job. She continued working in corporate health care until 2012. It was at that point that she found herself so miserable in the work she did she just couldn’t continue. During a conversation with her mother about her situation, her mother stopped and asked her what she wanted to do with her life and her career. “I told her I wanted to help people do what I did – to publish their books. I expected her to tell me to go open a taco stand or do something practical with my life, but she didn’t. Instead, she told me to build a business plan.” Her mother was a successful business owner and that advice was solid. The community college in the town Stephanie lived offered a small business development center, and Stephanie took advantage of the opportunity to get help putting together her business plan. That business plan became the foundation of Salt Water Media.

Today, she is living her dream of working with people who were like her. They come with professionally edited manuscripts, ready to publish, and she takes it from the manuscript to the book in their hands. “My goal is to provide them a quality book that is properly laid out with a well-designed cover.” The books are published under the Salt Water Media brand with the idea that when people see that brand, they should expect to see the same quality in her books that they would expect from traditionally published books. She released her 2nd book last year, which won several awards, under Salt Water Media’s label.

She doesn’t take every manuscript that is sent to her. “I won’t be the right fit for every client and they won’t be the right fit for us.” The books they take are carefully reviewed for the quality of the story and its readability. “If I can’t get past the first page, I will send it back to the author with a recommendation that they get it professionally edited before coming back to us.” To find out more, connect with Salt Water Media at https://www.saltwatermedia.com.