Nashville Nightlife - by guest author & singer Kymberly Bryson

It all starts with a song....That's a line you'll hear in Nashville, Tennessee. Filled with honkey tonks, Nashville is known as Music City. Most people in town are aspiring singer/songwriter types like myself, Kymberly Bryson. We're all here to be heard. A good song, the right connections and soon you could be on your way. I've been fortunate to play at some great venues - Fiddle and Steel Guitar Bar, Legends, Second Fiddle, The Stage - along with traveling with a band to different states. It's all been a blessing.

Currently, I'm working on a cable tv project, singing with the band Beacon Hill, and performing at Buck Wild Saloon as a karaoke jockey. I've met some great people in this town. There's nothing like a country crowd. Performing for them is always entertaining. Everyone is very welcoming. But don't be fooled, not everyone walks around in a cowboy hat and boots. From business suits to chains on jeans, Country music brings many different people together. And keep your eyes open as you walk the streets of lower Broadway. You may very well see some of Nashville's finest. Blake Shelton and Jamey Johnson have both been spotted around town along with many others. And you can't forget about the regulars. When I work at Buck Wild Saloon there are several people that come back again and again to see my show. Some join me by dancing on the bar and others get up and sing a song. It's always a pleasure to see their smiling faces along with others that stop by when they are in town.

Nashville is really a great city. From the Grand Ole Opry to the Ryman Auditorium, you're surrounded by dreams coming true and the legend behind country music. So if you're looking for a small town with a big city feel...come check out Nashville. We'll be glad to have ya'll. Oh, and be sure to look for me...Kymberly Bryson.

Links:
Facebook - Kymberly Bryson Become a Fan!
Myspace - www.myspace.com/kymberlybryson
Check out videos on www.youtube.com
Kymberly Bryson on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads
www.myspace.com

Enough - poetry by guest author Renee Anderson

When is enough really enough?
when you feel broken and empty inside
when you have nowhere to go
when you have no more tears to shed

Can anyone really live this way?
you hate to go home
in a room full of people you stand alone
your heart yearns for more
all you see is emptiness

When you are told that you are loved - but it's hollow
you can hear the words but no action is given
the need you crave is never met
you replace one addiction with another
until you are just a shell

Standing alone
I want so much more than I have
I have so much more than I need
If life was simpler I would be set
My wants carry over into obsessions
My thoughts take control of my head
If I could just take a step back
Maybe just maybe I wouldn't feel alone

How?
how do I control the rage
how do I control the beasts inside
how do I let these feelings out before they become my life

I wish
sometimes I wish I could go back in time
to a worry-free feeling of bliss
to lack responsibilities
to lack wants
to start over or end it all

Renee has been writing poetry to let out her emotions since she was 9yrs old. For Renee, writing is just another way to express who she is deep inside. As "Chief Dribbler" on this blog, I'd like to add that I'm thrilled to bring Renee's poetry to Minddribbles and encourage all of my friends who enjoy writing either poetry or prose to submit their words for display on this blog to sendtojenn@yahoo.com. I'd love to read whatever has dribbled from your mind, in any format!

A Life Unplanned - by guest author Shannan Mix

November 25th, I turned thirty-five. This was a special year. Instead of the normal presents I would ask for or even get for myself, a trendy outfit, a gift certificate for a massage, dinner at a nice restaurant; I decided to ask for something completely out of the ordinary…a divorce. The reasons why I left my husband aren’t important. Well, they are or I wouldn’t have left him, but they don’t matter for the purpose of this blog. The important thing is that on the day of my thirty-fifth birthday, while my family was trying to rally around me asking if they could take me to dinner or make me a cake, I sat in my room crying wondering where it had gone all wrong.

Was it when my friends went off to big universities, but I had to stay behind at the local community college? When I got in a car accident that forced me to drop out of school and quit my job? Should I not have married my now-ex-husband? I sat cataloging and second guessing every major decision in my life. I had just abruptly ended my marriage of almost eight years. I had no job. No idea where I was going to live. My self esteem was in the crapper. I was thirty-five and single again. No, this was not the life I had planned.
No, the life I had planned…well, wait a minute. I guess you would have to be specific about my age at the time I was planning it. See from the time I was six until I was about 11, I was certain I was going to be a model or an actress because that’s what Olivia Newton-John and Christy Brinkley were and I was going to marry Kirk Cameron, John Stamos or Jeff Renaud, a boy in my class. Whoever asked first would be the lucky one. He would propose with a Batman or Superman ring and we would live happily in my parents’ basement.

By the time I reached 7th grade, I was no longer pining over Kirk, John or Jeff. I had moved on to Jon Bon Jovi, Johnny Depp and an older boy that went to school with me. He was an 8th grader. I remember my best friend, Renee and I had it all worked out: By the time we were in our twenties, we would be working at our dream jobs; I would be a movie director and she a hairdresser to the stars in California. At age twenty-three, we’d have met our soul mates, just gotten married and be well on our way to living happily ever after. We would have our first kid by the time we were twenty-five and be done having our fourth and final kid by the time we were in our early thirties.

Oh, how naive and stupid we were. At twenty-three we could barely take care of ourselves, never mind a husband. When our twenty-third birthday approached and neither of us had met our knight in shining armor, only some idiots in knockoff tin suits, we modified our dreams a bit. The age we would get married got pushed up and became more of a ballpark number. We started focusing on finding a guy we would actually consider going out with on a second date. The number of kids diminished, greatly. She decided she wanted to own her own salon in Michigan. I went from wanting to direct movies to hoping to regain enough of my vision to be able to go back to school and complete my psychology degree.

Now here I was, thirty-five and divorced. Once again, my plan was getting modified. I ran the gamut of emotions. There were times I felt completely alone even when I was surrounded by people. Other times I felt angry, hurt and confused. Mostly I felt scared, unsure of myself and like a big huge failure. I mean look at all of my family and friends… and that’s when it hit me. For the most part, we’re all in the same boat. More than half of my friends are divorced. A number of them (and the rest of the world, for that matter) just lost their jobs and have no idea what they are going to do either. Most of them didn’t end up becoming what they thought they were going to be when they were six, sixteen, twenty-six or even forty-six. And you know what? That’s okay. I don’t love them any differently or think any less of them because of it. Here are some things that I’ve learned over the past few months:

1.) You can’t have a future if you’re living in the past. You have to let go of the person you thought you were going to be and learn to love the person you are;

2.) It’s okay if you don’t know exactly what you want to do with your life. Most of the people I know that seemed so focused and chose a major and career right out of high school hate their jobs. The good thing is you can always change it. My sister’s brother-in-law was a licensed CPA. When he was thirty, he decided he hated being an accountant and wanted to be a lawyer. Everyone said he was crazy. He wouldn’t graduate for eight years making him forty. His response was, “In eight years, I’m going to be forty either way. I’d rather be forty with a law degree than without one.”

3.) Never let other people decide your fate. Others will always have opinions on what you should do with your life or how you should handle your relationship, but you’re the one that has to live with and deal with it. Make sure your decisions are your own, and if you’re involved, discuss them with your partner;

4.) Never take advice from someone whose life you don’t respect. Have you ever noticed the first people to hand out financial advice are the people that don’t have any money? If you do want advice on how to handle your financial affairs or about your relationship, ask someone that has a bank portfolio or a relationship you admire;

5.) Never hold others responsible for other people’s mistakes. Your new love is not your old love. Your husband is not your father. Direct anger where it belongs. Just because someone else hurt you, doesn’t mean the next person will;

6.) Love is always worth it. The reward is always so much greater than the risk.

It has now been several months since my divorce. I still don’t know exactly where my life is heading, and I’m happy about that. After all, how boring would that be? I have wonderful family, great friends that love me, I’m dating…at least I think I am. Still trying to learn how to do this whole dating thing- Texting, facebook-ing, whatever happened to the plain old telephone call? But that’s another blog. I’m no longer on an emotional rollercoaster. I am happy, calm, a little nervous about the future, but more excited than anything. Most of all, I feel a sense of peace.

Life hardly ever turns out the way you planned it. Thank God, for that because being married to Kirk Cameron, raising our four kids and shooting movies all while living in my parents’ basement could have gotten a little crowded.


Shannan Mix always had an interest in writing, but became serious about it when she wrote her first nonfiction on the topic of chronic pain titled, "Pain, Pain Go Away..."  The book can be downloaded for free @ www.chronicpainbook.com. She has just finished her second book, "Why Am I Still Single?" and is currently shopping it to publishers and agents. Read excerpts from the book, along with humorous weekly observations on her blog: After Wife found @http://shannan-afterwife.blogspot.com. 

Riding the Mental Tsunami - by guest author Dean La Douceur

I’m pleased to support the craft and talent of a fellow scribe. When Jennifer asked me to contribute a blog, I was delighted to do so. Let me share with you some ideas on writing and being a writer.

Calling yourself a writer is one of the most fascinating acts a person can do. Unlike a salesman, a dentist or a quarterback where someone hires you, licenses you or drafts you as such, you and you alone are the key to calling yourself a writer.

In this era of social media, blogs and highly self directed content, there are more opportunities to call yourself a writer. But the key is that you have to be comfortable with this before others will recognize you as such. I still recall the first time I was introduced by someone as a writer. My daughter’s godmother Carolyn was introducing me to some of her friends, when she first told them I was a writer. It was the coolest thing that had ever happened to me. Someone else recognized what I really wanted to be. In fact, it is still my favorite way to be introduced.

I have a friend who aspires to be a writer. He seems somewhat envious of me at times for being one. He is a well traveled man of great creativity and talent and would make a fine, thoughtful author. But despite all my best efforts, he is a still more of a media consumer. I know he loves movies and books. He professes that he buys a book or two a week. He is also great patron of the library. When we talk about the process, I have invoked several times the words of Ken Kelsey, who is best know for the book which became the popular movie, “One Flew Over the Coo Coo’s Nest.” When asked the hardest part of being a writer, he replied “Once in a while, you have to sit down and really write something.”

Alas, what he doesn’t understand about writing and what I want for you to know is that writing is solitary and small motor. Often, writing has moments that are isolating. You can’t write with a crowd. People when they find this out wonder how someone like myself, who is larger then life, gregarious to a fault and often the center of attention though no fault of my own can want to be a writer. The truth is that this time with thought and keyboard is often quite satisfying. It can nurture my soul in a way that nothing else does. I feel closer to the universe when I am in the flow of an idea. It is my bliss, my prayer and my zazen.

When it comes to writing, recognize this truth. Great ideas are like butterflies. Butterflies will float off never to return if you don’t do something to capture them. So too, great ideas will be quickly forgotten if you don’t capture them. I’m sure you have had this happen to you at least once. I also feel the mark of a real writer is how close they are to a pen at any given time. Have you ever noticed that great ideas don’t make appointments. When they hit, they can be a mental tsunami that drowns you in ideas, colors, shapes, thoughts, experiences and insight. You can almost always find something on which you can write it down, but you are totally screwed if you don’t have a pen.

Don’t confuse being an editor with being a writer, for they are very different jobs. A parrot can repeat the rules of spelling and punctuation. But it is a deep soul that paints the word pictures for all with eyes to see. You can always go back and spell check it.

Also, don’t ever confuse writing as a short cut to celebrity. The road of great writing is littered with broken dreams, unpublished manuscripts, tossed out screenplays and ideas that have been dragged across the desktop and into the recycling bin. If you want to be assured of being a celebrity, the best answer is for you to marry another celebrity.

I often seek inspiration from the words of Steven Spielberg, the famous director and producer. When asked how he could produce so many beloved and highly profitable movies, his response was “It all starts with the written word…” Any idea you wish to share is best explained, captured and presented when written. So, I challenge you if you are a blogger or haven’t written more then a grocery list since your last days of school. I want you to be willing to spill your spleen on paper. Share the things that mean something to you, especially if it is messy, uncertain or personal.

Now, get out there and write.




Dean La Douceur is a Southeastern Michigan-based promoter, consultant, publicist and author. He is founder of Roundtable Promotions & Publicity, an organization that sponsors business and networking that are as great as the people who attend them. Dean is also co-founder of Prosperous Artists Academy, a business development project which he co-founded with Rosh Sillars. Prosperous Artists Academy is the first business school developed for creative artists, such as photographers, artists, designers, writers and musicians.

Guest Authors Coming Soon!

You might look through your list of Facebook friends and Twitter followers and wonder where they all came from. You see school friends you'd once forgotten, found in a moment of curious weakness one late Sunday night when you couldn't sleep. You see colleagues from jobs you've definitely tried to forget, but something compelled you to look them up one day, perhaps because they were the one shining light that made a terrible job bearable. You see friends of friends who sent you an invite, who you thought might widen your circle, and with one click, you allowed them into your little world.

My Facebook and Twitter lists are certainly made from the same stuff as yours - friends, family, networkers, schoolmates, colleagues new and old, and friends of friends. But when I look at their names and profiles, I see possibility. I see a sampling of what makes up the real world away from our keyboards, which is true variety of thought and experience. I see married couples. And singles. I see gay friends and straight. I see white, black, brown and even orange (Yes, I see you, Self-tanners!). I see blue collar and white collar. Entrepreneurs. Struggling artists and struggling parents. Introverts and extroverts. I see political and religious views across the spectrum.

All of these friends have unique viewpoints. All of them have original thoughts to share. All of them are experts in some area of their lives, even if they don't know it.

How can I NOT share their experiences with you?

Over the next weeks, I will open my new blog to these friends. I hope that through me each guest writer will bring to you something unique, some little dribble from his or her mind that inpires you, angers you, informs you or even makes you laugh.