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About Author

The author of these blog posts is a lawyer by day and fiction writer by night.
Jul25

Me, as a Teen

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A Serial Killer’s Type?

Ted Bundy’s 1968 Volkswagen Beetle

I was skinny. I had long straight brown hair, to my waist, parted down the middle. It was thin and fine and most of the time, it looked messy. It was not the pretty thick hair that would lie nicely; it was too fine textured for that.

The serial killer, Ted Bundy, was arrested, in his volkswagen, about 6 miles from where I lived. I was the exactly the physical type of girl he victimized. If you look at the pictures of the girls he killed, I fit his victim profile. My mother was freaked out that he was arrested just a few miles away from our home. She thought I could very well have been targeted by him if he’d stayed in town, uncaught.

He appeared on tv in court here in Pensacola and he was very good looking and eloquent. I could see how a girl would trust him.

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Jul23

Rocking Chair Picture

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Was discussing the haunted lighthouse last  night with friends and I told them about this shot I got in one of the rooms upstairs.  At one point while we were in the room, a live woman was standing right by the chair, rocking it and and acting like she was going to sit down.  She didn’t- she was asked not to sit down by the guide.  The guide told us that the chair was brought in from somewhere else and that it sometimes rocks on its own.  I took a picture of it as we left the room. My friend had felt a cold spot near that area of the room- she was over to the far left of the chair (out of the shot).  

I don’t recall this mark on the wall – wonder what it is.  I also don’t recall anyone standing where the big white spot is.  Not saying there wasn’t a person there, just don’t remember it and it could be a white tee shirt. Right?  

It was also pitch dark in the room- I had no flash on- don’t know about the redness of the shot either. None of my other pictures have any red in them at all.  What do you think? 

Jul22

The Worst Teacher I Ever Had

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Snow in Florida Cancels Geometry for a Day

7652 Historic Snowstorm Charlottesville and Central Virginia Reverse Sunrise

Geometry- 10th grade- witch. She broke her back and would be in pain and leave, be gone 3-4 days, we had substitute teacher (s)- never the same one 2 days in a row- Witch would come back- still in pain and give tests on material never covered in class, ad infinitum- Horrible experience.

One day it snowed- YES, in Fla, it snowed. We all were late to class and she dictated a paragraph that we were to write 20 times. It was HUGE- all I can remember is the first few words: “The snow today has warped my mind…”

Before we got it all down once, the principal came on the intercom and told us to go home. Whew!

And, I never did learn geometry!

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Jul21

Life is Short

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and you never know when it’ll end.  One of my former clients who always had a great story to tell and who I planned to use as a source for some of my fiction, has died. Quite unexpectedly.  He was a former Navy Seal and motorcyclist. He  had a patch on his on his jacket that said, “psycho bitch magnet”  and it was true. He seemed to attract the wrong women. Now he’ll never  have a chance to find the right one.

  He was hit from behind as he turned into his neighborhood on Monday.  By a guy in a SUV.  He was taken to the hospital by helicopter. They put him in a medically induced coma  and he never regained consciousness.  He passed away at 3:45 this morning.  My world is a  little less bright today.

Amazing stories of  his days in the jungles and hot spots of the world died with him.  It’s ironic and very sad that what guns and enemies of the United States couldn’t do was done by a careless old man driving his car and following a motorcyclist too closely-  Brought down on a city street, in his own neighborhood. 

K.M., you will  be missed.

Jul19

Free Range Fairy Tales

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Back Cover

Is now available to order:  here is the link: http://whortleberrypress.com/

My story is called Rumpelstiltskin’s Quest. Hope you’ll enjoy it if you read it. It was a fun one to write.

Front cover

Jul19

My Weirdest Pet Peeve

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The Grammar Bible

my weirdest pet peeves are language related. Ending sentences in prepositions, use of the non-word, irregardless, and people who can’t use commas properly (and you know who you are on the third one). All in all, not too bad. If all I have to fret over is these three things, life is good.

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Jul18

Sea Cucumbers

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My sister recently returned from Australia. She spent one night at the aquarium- in Sydney, I believe.  She shared her pictures with me and she had some great ones.  One in particular brought back a funny memory of my senior year in high school.  One of the advantages of living on the Gulf Coast is the great classes our schools are able to offer. I took oceanography as a senior.  Part of our class assignment was to catch some salt water sea life and maintain a salt water tank. We went seining in Pensacola Bay and caught shrimp and other sea life in our nets. Each tank had a team of four lab partners. My team consisted of me and three dumb boys.  We had the only tank in our class with a sea cucumber in it.  It was quite a fat little dude.  The boys,  in an effort to embarrass me, named the thing “Dick.”  They would laugh and poke each other, trying to get  me to react to the name, “Dick.”  In revenge, I started calling it “Richard.”  Even then, the boys couldn’t  best me! 

Here are some Aussie “Richards”:

Jul17

Accepted again

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Got the second acceptance email of the day.  My story with the hero with the best name ever got accepted for the debut/launch issue of a new Romance magazine. First issue will come out Sept 1, 2010 and my alter ego will be a part of it. I’ve chosen to use my pen name as that  is the name I’ve chosen to use for romance work.  So, this one, called One Night in Costa Rica, will be credited as Jillian Chantal.

Jul17

Halloween Story

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Submitted a Halloween Story called The True Believers this week to here: http://whortleberrypress.com/   Just got the email that it’s in.  Accepted.  It was inspired by one of my favorite places, the Pensacola Lighthouse.  I recommend a visit if you get the chance.  Climb to the top and look out at the Gulf of Mexico.  Awesome.  I haven’t been to the top lately- they don’t go all the way up on the haunted tours- need to get back out there and do it.

across the access road from the lighthouse

Jul16

Crumbs

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I got a recommendation to visit one of these places in  NYC.  They are cupcake shops.  Check  it out:

I got chocolate and #2 son got vanilla. Spouse got the brownie.  None of were overjoyed. The cakes were kind of dry.  It was 8 pm when we got them and I didn’t eat mine til the next day. Maybe that was the issue. Don’t know because the person that recommended it is a Manhattanite and she said they were delicious.