The Writer:
In 1992, I decided that I wanted to write. To facilitate this goal I brought several pads of printer paper, notebook paper, pens, and pencils. Then I sat down with an old Brother’s wordprocessor, which was a WYSIWIG (What You See Is What You Is What You Get) system. It had a black screen with orange text. Well supplied, I was in a writer’s heaven, but now that I had all the treasurers for writing, what was I to write.
I was full of creative imagination, and I had always been a lover of books. I read books in nearly every genre. Non-fiction, biographies, autobiographies, true crime, modern histories, ancient histories, contemporary fiction, science fiction, mysteries, historical romances, paranormal, supernatural, fantasy, time travel, and westerns. I read them readily. What books I did not buy new, I bought used or borrowed from the local libraries. Overtime, I became a familiar face in some of the local libraries and bookstores in town.
Yet, what was I to write. I dreamed of writing the perfect romance novel, but felt I didn’t understand a loving relationship, and all the poems I wrote alluded to love gone bad. Moreover, I had a tendency to write my characters into plots of high adventure, and then watch the story die as it moved toward its conclusion. My question stood before me like a hangman’s rope. I did not know my natural voice and feared making mistakes. Imitating other writers for practice was frustrating because I feared breaking the mold and writing what was in my mind’s eye, or what my characters were experiencing. My characters lives haunted me, and like real people, they yammered constantly in my head wanting me to tell their stories. I wanted perfection, but my characters were the flawed. They were the broken. Some were the everyday heroes and other the villains but each was flawed. How could I write about them? I couldn’t write about them. At least not in the way, they wanted their stories told. They were the junkies, the pushers, the pimps, the hookers, the burnt out and jaded cops, the fallen doctors, the knight in tarnish armor in far away kingdoms in imaginary lands. Some appeared saintly but they hid the monstrous. Others were neither too good nor all bad, just flawed.
How could I write about such broken and infamous characters? They got angry. They bugged me day after day, and followed me into my dreams. Then, Laura Kitt emerged. Laura was a detective and worked in 
homicide. She woke my creative juices and my writing appeared nonending. She was beautiful and broken, but she was a dedicated detective and a deadly adversary. She was my female hero. She was long before Xena Warrior Princess appeared on the screen.
The book I was writing was a mystery/thriller about a fictional serial killer known as the Puppeteer. Its inspiration came from some serial murders that had occurred around the country. Many of the news stations were flooded with stories based on modern and historical serial killers from around the world. I was personally appalled to turn on my television set to news laced with mostly murder, but Laura had her story to tell. I gather my courage, and I stepped inside of her life, but I did the research. I gathered the research from written and televised documentaries on the fore-mentioned street life of the junkies, the pushers, the pimps, the hookers, the jaded cops, as well as the rise, the corruption and the ultimate fall of the deluded attorneys, doctors and nurses in the medical field.
Although, and in real life, some people, with questionable morals and motives, thought it would be fun to place some of these people of the above mentioned type in my path, it caused a bit of trouble for me and my family and in turned called for police intervention, it was and is truly a heartless and unwise thing to do and should never be repeated.
It was my first true creative start as a writer. By this, I mean it was the first time I did not dabble. It was the time I actually let go and let my voice emerged and my characters live.
I read every book on how to write fiction, mysteries, police procedurals, as well as an old police sergeant’s manual that I could borrow or buy. Then in the fall of 1993, I took my first creative writing course at SPJC (St. Petersburg Junior College), which is now SPC (St. Petersburg College) and brought the first four pages of Laura’s story with me. I timidly handed the precious pages to my writing instructor after class the first day. My questions to him was “Do I have talent?” “Can I write?” he took my offered pages and said he would look over them and let to me know at our next class.
I was excited! I was thrilled. Someone was actually reading something I wrote. Someone was judging what I wrote. I was scared. What had I done? What was I doing? What made me think that I could write? Waiting was hell.
Then it was Wednesday, and class was in session.
I sat half listening to my instructor lecture on narrative and descriptive writing wondering, “Was I a fool to give him my story?” A story that still plagued me as I sat there in class to write when I had some free time; a story that begged for me to squeezed in a little time for a line or two, just a bit of dialog from one character or another or a fantastic scene good for a backstory.
I was half-mad with wonder and worry. Finally, the hour was up (45 – minutes in reality) and our time had ended. No mention of my story was spoken of during class, and many of my classmates were vying for our instructor’s attention before he could leave the room and quickly vanished down the hallowed halls and into his office within the department of English. I hung back until all the other students had had their meeting; and finally it was my turn, and as timidly as I had handed him my meager story, I asked him his opinion of it.
For a second he looked puzzled, and then with a look of recall, he said “Oh”. He turned and retrieved my precious pages from his briefcase, then handed them back to me with these touching words of encouragement. “Finish it.”
It’s amazing what a little encouragement can do to booster one’s creative energies. I have since finished all but the very conclusion of the Puppeteer. My problem is how to bring Laura back from the horrendous events as those portrayed in the story. How do I make her perspective of humanity feel comfortable and untarnished again? Or, do I leave her forever broken?
Shortly after coming this far, I developed a case of writer’s block and Laura’s story still stands as I left it because my dilemma remains the same. “What must I do to bring Laura home?”
In 2005, I created the AOL blog called “The Woman Within”. The site quickly grew in theme as my creativity and interests grew. The site became a hodgepodge of religion, news, politics, current events, and entertainment locally, nationally and globally. After two and half years, it became clear to me that I needed to break the site down according to my growing interests. Out of “the Woman Within” came “It’s A Woman’s Thing – Feature Film Reviews Page”.
Here I wanted to write more reviews on the television series and movies that I believed were worth watching, but I was not satisfied with the blog format and “The Woman Within Website” was born on AOL Hometown with that purpose in mind. The site was initially dedicated to the stars of Xena Warrior Princess, but soon expanded to include other actors from the big and small screen who have entertained me over the years.
Later and just before Hometown shut its doors in October 2008, I created the “It’s A Woman’s Thing” Online Fan Page”, as a replacement fansite on Homestead. From Homestead, you can completely customize and own your domain as I do. 
In the year 2000, the Xena Warrior Princess series was gone and all sources stated she was never to return. At least not with the same cast, which includes its star Lucy Lawless? All of the series fans (including myself) were heartbroken. Many Thousands of Xena and Lucy Lawless fans worldwide still hold on to the hope that Universal Studios (who holds the rights to the series) and creators Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi will patch up their differences and produce a Xena movie in the future. However, so far, these thoughts and petitions have proven fruitless, and some fans have branched out and accepted a new female fantasy hero. The newest being Kahlan Amnell from the fantasy series “Legend of the Seeker” on the CW. The character of Richard Cypher is the Seeker, and is based on the character from “The Sword of Truth” book series written by author Terry Goodkind. Kahlan Amnell (played by Bridget Regan) is the Mother Confessor, who is helping the Seeker of Truth (Craig Horner) to fulfill his destiny. She possesses powers so dangerous that they even frighten her, and from this intriguing character, I created the website “Kahlan’s Legend“, which is dedicated to the series character.
More recently, I was asked to be the moderator of the fansite and forum, Legend of the Seeker on Wetpaint. The website is based on the series of the same name and is growing in popularity.
Although female characters appear to be the dominating focus point of my sites, Sam Raimi has a new series airing on Starz this winter call Spartacus: Blood and Sand. From all the media hype, Comic – Com International interviews, and preview videos the series is going to be for Starz what True Blood is for HBO. Hot! Extremely sexy and pushing the limits of Roman life across the small screen in a big screen way with the life of a fallen Thracian soldier named Spartacus, who is now a slave in the roman gladiator ring of Ludus.
Being intrigued and an open-minded adventurer, I have found the series interesting enough to create the Spartacus: Blood and Sand Fan Page, and with a little inside PRnews from Starz and other sources, I see this site growing fast and furious with in-depth reviews and commentaries on each new episode.
Then there are my religious and civic leanings. As a Catholic, I am a member of the Diocese St. Petersburg, and in one way I share and express my faith is through my website, “A Catholic’s Life” on the Catholic Web network. Through this I have not only expressed and expanded my Christian beliefs, I have made friends from among people of different faith and Christian art communities around the world.
I am also a member of NoiseOff, a global organization with the interest in the reduction and/or outlawing of noise that is abnormally high and that creates unpleasant physiological and emotional response in the listeners. This means the violators of the noise ordinance as well as their neighbors are in danger from the prolong and negative effects of excessive loud music, engines, and other excessive noise making machinery, which is in many cases permanent. NoiseOff is a united coalition of citizens, elected representatives, law enforcement professionals, educators, researchers, lawyers, students and activists from the United States and overseas. The organization is dedicated to combating excessive noise as a dangerous urban blight that is ruining communities everywhere.
Although I haven’t been able to attend the quarterly F.A.S.T. (Faith, and Action for Strength Together) gatherings because they meet on nights that I have classes, I am still a member through my parish.
The F.A.S.T. Mission Statement: As led by the Creator of all things, the Mission of F.A.S.T. is to engage people of diverse faiths in a process of listening, education, action, and reflection in order to powerfully address community issues in Pinellas County.
The goal is to serve as agents of change, calling for a “renewed” community by holding public systems accountable to improve the quality of life for all in Pinellas County. To foster and promote community wide interest and concern for the problems of individuals and families, particularly low to moderate income, so that such issues as poverty, crime, sickness, housing education and environmental degradation may be lessened and education and economic opportunities may be expanded.
How does FAST help fulfill the Mission of my parish? We come together each Sunday to join in Prayer and Worship. We are involved in mercy Ministries, Elderly Housing, (Trinity House), reaching out to the poor and needy, (St. Vincent DePaul Society). As members of F.A.S.T. we have expanded our vision to include justice ministries, not only giving to the poor, but in speaking out for justice for the rights of all people, especially in the political sphere.
Finally, all my blogs were transferred to Blogger and the original “The Woman Within” blog on AOL became “The Constituent”. In it, my issues center on the neighborhoods, national, and international news. Occasionally I will write my opinion of events that has an impact on our lives, but for the most part, I have added links relating to issues of health, education, careers, and the prevention of various crimes. Like all sites of its nature, “The Constituent” is a public blog and is intended for adult readers.
Presently, I am studying to finish my degree in English/Creative Writing, and I hope to finish this summer. If not, then December of next year. I have also joined a wonderful writing group called Borders Writer’s Roundtable, and we meet at our local bookstore twice a month.
In addition, I create all of my graphic art and maintain all my websites. It has been a joy, but allot of hard work as well. I once commented on my Twitter 
site that when I grew up I wanted to become an online reviewer and commentator. Now looking back on those sites and what I have posted here, I think that I have already become it.
These are some of the programs I might use to create one web page and/or one piece of graphic art: Collage Maker, Ifran image viewer, Paintshop Pro Photo X2, Framemaster, Adobe Creative Suite 4, and Microsoft Photo Editor, UFX Freeware viewer, WordPerfect, MS Word, and MS Publisher. These are just a few of the programs I use. In my opinion, they are among some of the best programs out there for commercial and noncommercial web production.
The photos above without labels are the many faces of me. those below are of me and Bill McCollum, Florida Attorney General; me and Governor Charlie Crist, and me and Mayor Rick Baker of St. Petersburg. Dig the funky hair. They are just a few of the guys I work for.
Peace,
Evelyn
10.09.2009
LA CRÉATION DE MOI! 