Update from North Carolina

Last Friday I went hiking at Chimney Rock Park which was a great stress reliever. Chimney Rock is located near Lake Lure, NC (the setting for the gazebo scene in the movie Dirty Dancing). Dr. Lucius Morse purchased 64 acres at the turn of the century to fulfill his dream of developing a park for all to enjoy. The park now has over 100 acres and is still owned by the Morse family. Scenes from various movies have been filmed at Chimney Rock. "The Last of the Mohicans" included quite a few scenes filmed at Chimney Rock. See video on side bar for a scene with the Falls in it!

My family and I have been traveling to Chimney Rock for years. A few years back my sister happened across a dirt road called "Hog Road" which led to a little dirt path called "Edge of the World". Traveling down this little goat path will lead you literally to what is the edge of the world. This awesome view is indescribable and if you happen to end up in Western North Carolina I highly encourage you to take a trip to the edge of the world.

The Chimney:

Hickory Nut Falls:

Hickory Nut Gorge:


Another view of the Gorge:



The Needle's Eye:

There are some interesting stories about Chimney Rock and the Hickory Nut Gorge. One involves a Presbyterian minister living there in 1806. There were eyewitnesses including the minister who reported seeing people (men, women, and children) flying around the side of Chimney Rock. The minister reported that the people were dressed in clothes so brilliantly white it hurt his eyes to look at them. Prior to that, the Cherokee Indians who inhabited the land had reported seeing such sights and they referred to them as "The Little People". When visiting Chimney Rock and the Hickory Nut Gorge you can well imagine the sight of angels or "the little people" floating around these inspiring hills.

Thanks to Robert for making the Chimney Rock day so memorable!

On another note, Lisa Vella (Getting it Write for You) tagged me with a meme asking "What Is Your Favorite Type of Writing?"

As a new writer, I don't think I have quite figured out what my favorite thing to write is. After publishing two little articles on Associated Content, I then jumped into a nonfiction book of which I have finished 103 pages and thrown on the back burner. The problem was after completing this many pages, I read another book about the same subject that said basically everything I had wanted to say. I had a gread idea but someone else beat me to it! In the process of writing this book, I found the passion and joy in writing! I then started working on more nonfiction articles (have since had one published) and also began delving into writing fiction.

Currently, I have a humorous short story in the fiction genre entered in a contest. I'm anxious to see if it makes it to the finals as I really enjoyed doing the piece. My challenge as a new writer is finding and making the time to write. There is such joy in the writing process that it is something I hope to learn to effectively incorporate into my life on a regular basis.

I am tagging:

Anne from Anne Brooke's Writing Journal

Dan from Dan's Blah Blah Blog

and Vickie M. Taylor

The Competition

I know I am kind of gullible but I was so pleased when the author agreed to review some chapters. I asked for her critique of my writing wanting to know what areas were weak, what needed further development, etc. I had perused her website before approaching her and found that it was well done and that she had a new book listed there that was in the same general topic...although mine has a major different twist.

Her reply letter said five or six years ago my book might have been good but it wouldn't go over now and insinuated that my writing wasn't sophisticated. She could not recommend the book to her readers (well, that was a no-brainer--she is the competition).

I hadn't asked her opinion on whether the book was marketable and certainly hadn't asked her to recommend it to her readers. I simply wanted her to critique my writing. Insinuating I wasn't sophisticated was actually a compliment as the book is a practical guide based on reality and I hope to reach everyday, down-to-earth people as opposed to those high-falutin soe-phis-te-cay-ted ones.

What I find most interesting is that when I went back to her website to see how old her book actually was (maybe it was five or six years old and she was trying to save me some heartache), I found something very interesting... Some of my very good ideas had magically appeared on her website---hmmm, the words were changed but the ideas were clearly mine straight from my chapters! Something is rotten in Denmark.

What I learned:
Never give the competition your book for review.
I'd rather be honest than sophisticated.

Meanwhile, unsophisticated Robin is going to keep on writing!