“He wasn’t Rocky, no matter how many times Aldo played that damned “Eye of the Tiger” song.” (page 54)
Cue the orchestra, Day Four of the -Cock Fight- Dailies is about to begin!
Music.
A theme song.
An original score.
I wonder if we all have one? A unique tune or singular symphony that follows each of us around wherever we go? Maybe it plays on a frequency we haven’t learned to hear yet? What if a strum of a guitar string, the note of a flute or the crash of a cymbal are our auditory fingerprints?
What if that was true?
What would the score to your life be?
Would it be something jazzy, something with a swing to it? Would people walk away from you tapping their toes?
Maybe it would have a twang? A J.D. Sumner singing bass? Or a Jenny Lind singing Soprano?
Is your violin plucked pizzicato, or is it stroked like a lover by its bow?
Is there an oboe?
A chorus?
Is it something long and complicated like Eliot’s “Wasteland” put to song?
Or is it simply a psalm sung by a shepherd a thousand years ago?
What is your score?
What is mine?
Mine would be the song of the tree frogs, the clicks and chirps that promise the storm is over and sanity has returned to the heavens…
Until tomorrow…
Chloe Stowe
“Back and forth he kicked his loafer clad feet under the table, looking all the world like a boy who’d just gotten out of his cereal box a new riddle to solve.” (page 37)
Day Three of the -Cock Fight- Dailies has arrived on your virtual doorstep. Your day may officially begin now.
After yesterday’s blue crab fiasco which ended with my adopting a crustacean into the Chloe Stowe household, I can confidently guarantee you that little such nonsense will be had today. Whether that’s sighs of regret or thunderous applause that I hear echoing out there in the darkness, I do hope you will allow me this one serious moment.
Isadora.
In Cock Fight, Isadora is a character that we barely get to know. Time on the page, just as it is with time on this earth, however, rarely defines the importance of a person on this world. It is Isadora’s presence as much as it is her absence that fuels this love story.
Isadora is based on a friend of the family who lost her struggle with ALS just this last week. The disease, once it struck, took less than two years to take this bright light to heaven. While none of us probably knew her as well as she deserved, her memory will keep us company for many years to come.
Celebrate the time and the health that you have.
Dance in whatever light you can find.
Touch as many lives as you can.
Make the memory people are left of you a grand one.
The number of pages don’t matter; it is what you write on them that does. Write boldly.
Until tomorrow…
Chloe Stowe
“Leverage.” Mitchell didn’t bother sugarcoating it. “That’s what runs my world. You have got to grab it whenever you’re given the chance.” (page 17)
Welcome to Day Two of the -Cock Fight- Dailies, a hopefully enjoyable way for me to introduce you all to my 11th novel, the love story of an underground cage fighter and the man hired to save him.
The excerpt above is from Chapter One, a jaunty little piece called “Blue Crab and Cold Beer.” Every day of this 13 day event you can expect an excerpt and a chapter title. One or both will then be tied into the accompanying blog.
Now, isn’t that a tidy little morsel of fun for you to enjoy every day?...
Ok, here we go…
(hours pass as I stare blankly at the computer)
Or not…
I’m stuck. Leverage, cold beer or blue crab? What am I supposed to do with that?
In theory, the idea of using the chapter titles and excerpt as a “jumping off point” for the blog is a good idea. But come on! A crustacean? A blue one at that? If I detail my drinking a cold beer while I watch Timothy Hutton steal stuff on TNT can I leave off the funny colored sea creature and call this blog done?
I didn’t think so.
Alright. I’ve got to pick one… And as usual, I will pick the hardest and go for the blue crab.
After an in depth study of the ultimate blue crab website (bluecrab.info… yes, there really is such a place and a fine place it is), I have come up with the perfect way to tie in our little sea critter to today’s blog.
Please see below.
I proudly introduce to one and all Brewster the Big, Bad Blue Crab, the new mascot to the Words and Madness of Chloe Stowe Blog… (silence)… Come on! Every blog’s got to have a cute little creature to lure the wayward readers its way… (crickets chirp)… It is not a cop out! I can defend myself and Brewster and I will…
First, blue is my favorite color… ok, now that one is a cop out.
Second, since I lost my mind twenty years ago, I no longer eat crab. Seafood is just asking for trouble when you’re convinced even drinking the wrong tap water will surely do you in… yeah, don’t expect me to explain that one. Just consider it an endearing quirk and we’ll all move on, ok?
Third, just like blue crab I am an acquired taste… See? Can’t argue with that one, can you?
So, join me in welcoming Brewster the Big, Bad Blue Crab to our little family! And while Brewster might bite, there will be no biting or chewing or swallowing with contented sighs of him.
Until tomorrow, when I better be getting better key words or we’re scrapping this whole crab tamale…
Chloe Stowe… and Brewster
“The air was thick with sweat and beer.” (page 1)
Welcome to the -Cock Fight- Dailies, a 13 day blogging event to celebrate the release of my 11th novel, Cock Fight!
For you old hands at this, you’ll notice that I’m trying something a little different this go around. The title of each day’s blog will be one of the chapter titles from the novel. Immediately following is an excerpt from that chapter, a tease as to what you can expect when you pick up Cock Fight. The accompanying blog will somehow incorporate either the excerpt or the title into its daily theme.
I’d love to hear feedback, so please don’t hesitate to comment. I will gladly respond to each one, hopefully honing my response skills to razor sharpness (a skill, I’m sure, will come in handy in case of petulance, plague or other Biblical-sized disasters that might come calling).
Now, let’s get this party started!
Cages have always interested me. I think they interest us all in some manner. I, however, will not attempt to speak for everyone. This is all me, a woman heavily medicated for chronic panic attacks the last 20 years, a woman crazy in love with life in spite of being stuck in the quicksand of mental illness. So, please feel free to color your opinion of me and my thoughts in this light. I don’t mind.
The concept of cages is intriguing. They are meant to keep a person from moving from a spot but not to stop them from moving. Struggle and crawl and claw all you like. There’s no way in hell you’re making it to that door you can see across the room that means freedom. It’s a particular kind of cruel.
I’m sure a lot of my “regulars” know where I’m going with this. Mental illness is a cage. It’s bars of steel around your brain. Worse yet, they’re invisible bars; no one can see them and only you can feel them. Unfortunately, half the time people won’t believe in what they can’t see. Imagine half of the world standing outside your jail cell constantly taunting you to come on outside and play. Some even throw little trinkets of affection at you, promising you more if you’d just slip between those bars.
Yeah, color me bitter. But color me so lightly.
There are so many other crayons, brighter more beautiful crayons coloring my life. Look behind the bars and you’ll see them. Periwinkle, cornflower, copper, magenta, meadow, marigold… they’re all there. Sometimes, you just have to look deep within the cage’s shadows to find them.
I will leave you here for today wishing you cornflower blue skies out your window or between your bars, whichever the case may be.
Until tomorrow…
Chloe Stowe
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