blog – WRITE TIME AND AGAIN

A Fear I Overcame

Posted on June 2, 2025 by L. M. Montes

When I was in the Navy Reserves, I took a course called Firefighting and Damage Control at the Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, Long Island. If any of you have been there, you know where I am talking about. The course was two weeks long with the first week covering firefighting and the second week covering damage control. The first week consisted of a lot of classroom instruction (Monday – Thursday), then Friday was hands on. Now keep in mind I was a novice at this. I had seen firefighting on TV shows, but I was never part of the act in real life. Until that course. Yes, I was nervous, fearful, and Oh My Gosh all wrapped into one emotion. The key is not letting that show.

The hands on consisted of various scenarios. In each scenario we had to put out a fire in a different type of environment as it pertained to Naval situations. For some scenarios we worked with a partner, and for others we were put into teams of six. My fear at that time was claustrophobia. Let’s just say it isn’t my fear anymore.

Let me explain. This school had a small Navy ship built into the pavement for training purposes. The galley (kitchen) was below the surface. The stairwell to get to it was painted black. The fire (Yes, there really was one, albite it being controlled) was in the kitchen. My team of six headed down the stairs (keep in mind that if we didn’t do any of these scenarios, we didn’t pass the course). I was in the middle of the line of sailors heading down the stairs. We got halfway down. It grew darker. The walls closed in. I froze, slapped my hands on the walls on either side of the stairwell, turned and ran back up the steps. When I reached the top, my instructor asked, “What’s the problem?” To which I replied, “Claustrophobia.” He told me to relax and breath. He didn’t force me to go down. After all, I did have a choice. But I needed to pass that course. That fact kept slapping me in my head more than anything. So I said, “I have to do this. I’m going down.” And I did. I trotted down the stairs, met my team mates who where fighting the kitchen fire, took hold of the hose and did what I was supposed to do.

I know I made this sound like the decision was easy at the end when I decided to finish the scenario. But, trust me, it wasn’t. The fear of failing won out in the end. We put the fire out and passed.

Prompts

Broken Bones

Posted on May 19, 2025 by L. M. Montes

Yes, three. When I was four, I decided it would be fun to hang on the arm of one of the flower pots on the side of the house. It was approximately 2 feet by 6 inches and about 6 or 7 inches deep. It was filled with dirt at the time. I wrapped my foot in the angular arm protruding out from the house, grabbed hold of it with my hands, and started swinging. It took one swing and the flower pot came down on my left ankle. I remember that pain like it was yesterday. I am thankful to God for not letting it come down on my head, or I probably would not be here today reliving that experience. Then…..

Last year, July 29 2024, I was on a walk. I had my cellphone in my left hand playing music (no headphones) and going at a pretty good clip. I was on the sidewalk (usually I walk on the street). As I approached the next street, I tripped over a piece of cement sticking up from crack. My knees went out from under me, I couldn’t right myself, and I flew over the curb into the street. I landed on my left side. My phone went flying, my left arm twisted, and the left side of my face smacked against the pavement. My right arm was trying to do its job, and in so doing, twisted as well but not as much as the left. The result? My left arm was dislocated at the elbow (radius), and the ulna was broken in three places. I have a plate and screws keeping it all together. The right arm had a tiny hairline fracture in a small round bone inside the elbow. No cast for the right arm, but it still hurt to the point I needed my husband to do tiny favors for me like opening the tube of toothpaste, LOL. The left had a splint for the first two weeks (after the ER doctor put the radius back in its socket). Two weeks later I had surgery on the three breaks on the ulna to put the hardware in, then it was wrapped for a month.

Now, ten months later, my arms are as good as new.

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Autumn Spread

Posted on November 1, 2021 by L. M. Montes

The above photos are from trees out my back yard and to the side of my house. The colors were to beautiful to resist.

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Humility

Posted on October 13, 2021 by L. M. Montes

Writing success can come fast and hard. It can also come slow and steady. Regardless of the speed at which it comes, remain thankful, grateful, and most importantly humble. Keep in mind that you aren’t the only one working for that success. There are other people on your team who work to get you that success you are striving for. So, in a nutshell, it is not all about you.

You might be thinking, ‘Wait, I’m the only one working toward my success. I’m the one writing the stories that people like.’ Well, yes and no. Yes, without your stories, articles, or blog posts, etc, there wouldn’t be a career. But, let’s not forget, there are people along the way who help to get you where you are going. There are supportive family members who stay quiet so you can write (if you’re married with kids or just you and the spouse). If you’re single this alone time will be easier to come by. There are others who help you to promote your book/work, social media plays a large role, editors, beta readers, those who hire you to write for them, and the list goes on.

How can you remain humble? Thank people from your heart. Appreciate what they do for you by doing for them. Above all else…..give thanks to God. Without Him we are nothing.

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Appearance

Posted on June 1, 2021 by L. M. Montes

Remember, not everything is what it appears to be. Just when you least expect it, the “curtain” can go up and things are then seen in the truest light.

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American Golden Finch

Posted on May 6, 2021 by L. M. Montes

American Golden Finch

Fiction, Writing

Atmospheric Emotion Continued

Posted on April 16, 2021April 19, 2021 by L. M. Montes

On (April 8, 2021) I posted a photo of a lightning storm and titled the post Atmospheric Emotion. In your writing you will need to convey emotions to your atmosphere/setting. This then creates a connection to your readers because they start to feel these emotions too. Typically, darkness or a dark room conveys foreboding or unease. A warm setting with trees, green grass, a cozy cabin with a small pond depicts serenity. But what if you want that calm serene scene to depict foreboding without the darkness? What can you insert into that scene to create that foreboding? Perhaps it’s too calm. Maybe the friend of yours who lives there is no where to be found. Her belongings and car are there, but she is not. Her cellphone is sitting on the patio table, so calling her won’t do any good. Or, perhaps he/she was there a minute ago and now he/she is not. He/she vanished in the midst of this calm setting.

When it comes to emotions and projecting them onto a setting, you must go beyond narration. Just telling your reader the back yard was creepy or gave your main character a creepy feeling or a sense of foreboding, is not enough. They must FEEL that sense. These emotional projections from a story to its reader(s) is part of what makes for a great book/story.

Example 1:

Bad
I hadn’t been in my friend, Elliot’s, basement before. Elliot had always been so upbeat all the time; full of jokes. But the black walls and purple lights were the opposite of my friend’s personality, so it was creepy.

Good
I hadn’t been in my friend, Elliot’s, basement before. I never understood why until now. In the past Elliot’s upbeat demeanor magnetized others. People drew to him. So, my breath caught in my chest, when I reached the bottom of his basement steps and flicked on the light. A deep purple glow radiated throughout the room in front of me. The color of the walls appeared to be black, but the purple light made it impossible to tell. A kind of mist seeped through a few cracks in the walls. It hit my nostrils and a dank stench reached my stomach, giving me the dry heaves. Peering to the left, a cot stood in the far corner. Was it my imagination, or was there an indentation of a body on the one and a half inch mattress? I inched that way to take a closer look. I came within five feet, and the indentation moved. No body was visible…..

Example 2:

Bad
I took my tea, opened the sliding glass door and stepped onto the back deck. The grass had been freshly mowed the day before and the flower gardens weeded. A well kept yard makes for a relaxing mood. I spotted the lounge chair to my right, walked over to it, and sat down.

Good
I lifted my tea to my nose and inhaled the ginger fragrance, causing me to smile at the sweet scent. The sun peeked out from behind a cloud and shown through the sliding glass door. I opened it and stepped out onto the back deck. A warm breeze whispered by and pushed my shoulder length hair back as I took in the freshly cut lawn and sweet scented flowers. Standing there taking in all of the beauty reminded of a mental massage of sorts. I stepped over to the cushioned lounge chair and sunk in, closing my eyes and relishing the clapping of the leaves on the trees as the breeze moved them.

In Example 1 the bad sample tells us that the character feels creepy, but do you the reader feel it? In don’t. We get that the main character feels creepy, but WE don’t feel as creeped out as he/she does. We don’t even believe he/she feels creeped out because the seriousness of the situation doesn’t come across.

In the good sample of Example 1 we feel the main character’s emotions of fear and apprehension, and we feel his disbelief of a friend who is normally upbeat but has a basement that’s dark and dreary. We are as creeped out as he/she is.

In Example 2 the bad sample is rather mundane and stale. We understand the environment is relaxed in nature but it doesn’t come across in the writing. The environment doesn’t evoke emotion at all.

However, the good sample of Example 2 conveys the imagery needed to evoke the relaxed and warm atmosphere to the reader. We can actually identify with this because most of us have experienced this type of relaxation. But, it wasn’t told to us as in the bad sample. It was SHOWN to us. Did you feel relaxed? I did.

Overall, emotions play a huge role in any story, especially when it comes to atmosphere/setting. They draw your readers into the text and keep them there. That’s where you want them, and you want them there to stay.