Storytelling & Other Content Reinvented with Movie-Style Soundtracks ("Gifts": Top Short Story Reading In 4 Categories)

Gifts: A potential new relationship turns tense when some unfortunate words are spoken on a first date. 

 #1 Spiritual Category
#1 Spiritual Short Story Category
Top 10 Romance Short Story Category

Revised Story, New Soundtrack, 
New Book Cover & Reviews!

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"Gifts is a profound lesson about the importance of knowing when to graciously accept someone's kind gestures. This short story is a tightly interwoven package of dialogue and narration that pulls you into it intellectually to fully understand the silent emotional energy being transmitted between the two main characters."

—Joey Pinkney, Award-winning Author & Book Reviewer

"A beautiful short story."
—Priyanka Seth, Editor, Star Scribes

"Love the new cover! :-)"
—Chazz Hill-Hayr, Director of Audio, Booktrack

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GIFTS has received over 900 engagements/reads.

Imagine the possibilities for your projects.

 

WHAT IS A BOOKTRACK?

A Booktrack is content with a synchronized movie-style soundtrack. It's a new way to experience creative storytelling, essays, poetry, screenplays, and other formats utilizing the integration of text, music, ambient and special effect sounds to reinvent reading and engage people into a unique experience with content. Do it yourself or hire someone familiar with the Booktrack Studio to create your story or other content.

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Instructions for Reading: 

• 1) Press the PLAY button on the eBook cover. 
• 2) Click the arrow on the right side of the page to turn the pages.  
• 3) Use the (-) and (+) symbols on the bottom of the page to slow down or speed up the soundtrack to synchronize better with how fast or slow you read.  
• 4) Use the Audio icon to lower the soundtrack (or MUTE the sound if you prefer to read it the traditional way). 
• 4) You can experiment with the other symbols on the bottom of the page.  

SHARE the direct link to "Gifts" that can be read at the Booktrack website (plus other books): http://tinyurl.com/zt9lz6o.

"Gifts" is slated to be adapted into a short film. I am having fun imagining my wish list for the music soundtrack. Thank you to Dame Judith Dench for BOTH of these songs after hearing her Desert Island Disc choices on the BBC show of the same name (and to my friend, Stephen in the U.K., who introduced me to this delightful, insightful program). Immediately, I thought of the couple, their relationship, their love story.

"All Right, Okay, You Win"

Count Basie & Joe Williams

From the album, "Count Basie At Newport"

"Gifts" will become available to purchase in the future so read it for free now (plus other books using the Booktrack studio platform). The "Gifts" Booktrack eBook will remain free, as a giveaway, as a GIFT is meant to be with no attachments or expectations of any financial return or exchange. I hope you enjoy it!

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HOLIDAZE (Excerpt from a Short Story About the Loss of My Mother)

Image Credit & Copyright: David Castillo Dominici

I am sharing an excerpt from a short story about the affect of my mother's death on my life (Sarah Bernice Turner Oliver Hoskins, March 2, 1933 - September 12, 1979).

A book of short stories is a component of my memoir project that's been in storage for a while. This one is from Holidaze in the chapter titled, "The Anniversary." The short story isn't finished yet, nor has it been edited (I've no guilt about imperfections as per Cassie's guest post), but I'm happy that my Creator has guided me to share it with you just the same. Remember to hug your mother and tell her you love her. Love, serenity and joy to you and your loved ones.

HOLIDAZE
by Valerie Michele Oliver

THE ANNIVERSARY. 
I write. We buried her. Anger, sadness, and numbness competed inside me for priority. When I last saw my mom, she was not the person I wanted her to be: the face with the perpetual smile. She tried to be though, attempting smiles through urine-soaked eyes, and dry, wrinkled skin. She vacillated between being skeletal thin or bloated, expanding with intravenous fluids. Eyes full of sorrow and desperation, she asked me to take her home, far from the intensive care unit.
“I want to go home,” she stated. Her eyes looked into mine. I imagined tiny striped and solid pool balls in her mouth. Yeah. I smoked some extremely potent weed on the ride down from Athens, GA to Savannah. I shook the hallucination off.

I held her bony, frail hand, returned her look, and responded, “I can’t, Ma. This is the best place for you.”

That was not the answer she wanted to hear. Perhaps, she thought I hadn’t heard her the first time. Perhaps, she was expecting me to be the strong one, and take charge as I had many times in the past when she had been able to rely on me.

“I want to go home. Please. Take me home.” It was more urgent this time. A few of the balls fell out of her mouth and shattered on the floor. Tiny, white, thin skeletons laid among the remains.

 “Ma, I wish I could, but I can’t. They can take better care of you here. Now eat something. Please ma, you’ve got to keep up your strength, so you can fight this thing and get better. Drink this juice. It will help you get stronger.” I placed the juice up close to her lips. She forced herself to take a few sips. I knew that it was not for her benefit, but for mine.

“Please. Please, take me home.” She had tears in her eyes now, and pleaded through them. My hand was in hers, and I knew that if she had more strength, she would have pulled me closer to her by them. It wasn’t happening, but I felt that pull anyway. I knew I couldn’t take her away. I had no power in this situation. My stepfather had all the control, and was calling the shots (which in my mind were bad ones). At that time, I loathed myself for being weak. I told myself, “You’re weak.” And after she died, I blamed myself. I was weak. 

That evening, when to hospital rooms were dark, and most of them quiet, I laid on a cot next to my mother's bed listening to her breathing. I don't remember sleeping, but do listening. Her breathing became low moans like the kind you have when you dream someone is chasing you, and about to catch you, and you're trying to scream but it comes out like muffled moans. I climbed into her bed, put my arms around her, stroked and rocked her, and said "I love you." This was what she needed. What she didn't get from her husband. It was the exact opposite of what he offered her as she slipped away, everyday . . . a little . . . death. It was what she needed, and I gave it to her. 

That morning, I left town. I returned to my home about four hours away from the hospital. She told me she wanted to leave. I believed her, but could not face that she was dying, and that I couldn’t even grant her last urgent wish. I felt that I deserted her. She deserted me a few hours after I left. I got the call only minutes after I returned home. She checked out on her own.

Less than an hour after I returned home, the phone rang with news of her death. Three voices on the telephone, my sisters and my brother, spoke to me. “She’s dead,” said a voice. Was anyone crying? “She died not too long after you left,” said another.

I dialed my best friend. It was time for her to take charge, and she was definitive: “I’ll be right over.” Company and comfort were on the way. I rolled a joint and smoked it—a familiar, unconscious pattern to help distance reality. I shed my clothing—anesthetized—and stepped into the bathtub. I stood washed away by tears underneath the shower head. They kept flowing. They soaked my body. They went down the drain.

copyright © 2016 Valerie Michele Oliver

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"Back Up the Truck" (Prompt Flash Fiction Written in 15 Minutes) by Valerie Michele

Description: Two kids are up to some pay back against an adult who hurt someone they love.

"Back up the truck," I whispered under the shade of night.

It was about that time when the moon was up in the sky and the sun would have its turn soon. It was April Fool's Day and O'Neal wanted to play a trick on his Uncle Charlie.

My best friend O'Neal (whose real name was Maurice, but he hated it and liked the name in the middle) asked me to help him. I snuck out of my house and met him at the side of his house in the alley like he asked.

I didn't want to do it when he asked me earlier, and then I asked him: "How are you gonna move his truck into the middle of the street?"

"I know how to do it. I learned how to drive a truck when me and my mom lived at our farm in North Carolina," he said in a way that shut me up. So I did what he asked and made sure there were no cars coming down the street, and ran up to the truck door where he sat at the wheel with a I-hate-you-Uncle-Charlie-for-beating-my-mom-yesterday look on his face.

He looked down at me and asked, "Back up the truck now?"

I looked both ways again and saw only parked cars and street lamps and some cats knocking around something.

"Yeah, do it now,' I whispered.

I caught his here we go look.

He put the truck in reverse.

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You can also LISTEN to the reading of the story (1:38 minutes)

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Creative Content Strategy: Using This Story

1) USE THIS FLASH FICTION STORY in an anti-domestic violence campaign focusing on how it impacts children. Create a number of story scenarios to drive home this point to attract and engage audience stakeholders.

2) USE THE STORY IN A RAW, EDGY marketing campaign about childhood friendships that survive traumatic situations and endure the test of time that leads to happiness in some form--a product, event, fine arts project, or service they share (an antithesis to the traditional "Hallmark" variety content). My friend and I had to instantaneously come up with an intelligent, creative and practical solution under intense stress. The physical approach failed, so we quickly moved on to save his mom from that attack. We worked together to accomplish it. We were both about 11-years-old.

THIS STORY IS JUST ONE IN A SLATE that are either already written as short stories (some written under strict time constraints as the creative structure model) that are to become short film scripts or expanded into larger formats for film, television and theater.
Back Up The Truck is the word prompt used to write this story. Prompts can be very useful when experiencing writer's block, to get straight to the heart of the matter, and as a way to get the creative juices flowing.

"Leaning In" (Prompt Flash Fiction Content Written In 15 Minutes)

Image Credit: MeteoWeb

Description: A woman takes a journey to a lagoon where she hopes to experience a healing, and experiences an emotional connection once she arrives.

We were at the lagoon: the one that is known for its magical healing properties--the one spelled with a capital L--the one that is Negra because of the dark water that represents the Void where all answers and solutions reside.

I almost didn't make it to the mid-line of the mountain where Laguna Negra makes her home, grounded between two large stone formations looking like the face of the Incan ancestors from whom the legends about her were passed on from generation-to-generation.

Anemia choked my chest, and the breath became strange and stranger to me as we made the climb to reach her sacred space of tears that flowed from the heavens down the mountain into her liquid womb to fill her up: the largest cup for the seeker.

I was so breathless that the best I could do was to lay down my burdened body over a flat rock and lean my face in as close as I could, darkness regarding darkness.

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You can also LISTEN to the reading of the story (1:18 minutes)

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Use short stories and short films to add value to your content. This is a creative option useful to entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, self-publishers, authors, and others in the creative, content and marketing arenas who need fresh stories for projects, products and services (text, audio, video, or consider this innovative interactive format).

A story like Leaning In has application potential for travel, environment, personal growth and wellness (e.g. mental illness support, non-smoking support), a product (something rising out of the darkness of the lagoon), vision (can't see the wonderful world in the water until putting on eyeglasses or in contacts)--so many possibilities.

Existing stories can be purchased or optioned for use through contacting the owners (just like producers, production companies & studios in the entertainment industry), or you can come up with your own stories to add value to your content, then write them yourself or hire a ghostwriter. You might also consider getting the usage rights to an excerpt from a fiction or nonfiction novel or short story that you can adapt for your own creative vision.

Note: Leaning In was written while participating in a writer's group with about 11 participants in Northern, NJ. A number of  writing prompts were provided, "leaning in" was one of them, and we all had fifteen minutes to write a story using that prompt.

The Creativity & Spirituality Magazine: February 21, 2016 (Published Weekly)

TOP STORIES

1. Death of the Artist--Birth of Creative Entrepreneur
"Hard-working artisan, solitary genius, credentialed professional—the image of the artist has changed radically over the centuries. What if the latest model to emerge means the end of art as we have known it?"

2. The Most Anticipated Books of Spring 2016

3. Bold Graphic Novel Highlights Gay Love Struggle In Iran

4. Homeless Experience Inspires 5-Year-Old Boy To Write Book

5. Holidaze: Excerpt From Short Story About Death of Mother 

Plus Much More Content!
 

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Top Posts for December 2015 and All Time (Based On Your Interests & Views)

Tick tock. Tick Tock. The New Year is here! There's so much love for us, and so much to give. May 2016 explode with loads of GOOD ______ (fill in the blank) for us all. Now with that said, since it's the end of the year, I am sharing with you the Top Posts for the month of December 2015 and the Top Visitors/Countries, plus the Top Posts for ALL time since the creation of this blog, and the Top Visitors/Countries (This will provide an opportunity for you to view some posts you may have missed if you're a fairly new subscriber or visitor). I'd love to share your favorite posts for the 2015 year, but blogger does not provide the statistics. 

So here we go . . .

Your Top Picks for December 2015

1 - GIFTS MONEY JUST CAN'T BUY

2 - Holidaze (Excerpt from a Short Story About the Loss of My Mother) 

3 -  Lava Mae: Showers for the Homeless - Hope NYC Gets On Board Soon

4 - Angel-Guided Star Sigils (An Introduction & Vision)

5 - GIFTS: Top in Romance Short Stories on Booktracks (eBook Created with Synchronized Soundtrack)

6 - The Healing Artist Studio Project: It's What?

7 - Magical Music Moments: Nataly Dawn & Dawn Kallevig (Her Mom) Singing "Wild Horses"

8 - What's In or On Your Bedside Table: What It's Says About You

9 - I Am Definitely Not Perfect by Cassie Parks, Money Maven

10 - What's Up, Twelve?: Twelveness by Eleanora Amendolara

Top Five (5) Visitors/Countries

1 - United States
2 - Brunei
3 - Germany
4 - Slovakia
5 - France
Your Top Picks of All Time (2009 - 2015) 1 - Angel-Guided Star Sigils (An Introduction & Vision) 2 - Stories From the Healing Dream Realm: The Treasure Chest 3 -  How Chumpi Stones Are Made and How They Impact the Healing Artist Studio Project 4 - GIFTS: Top in Romance Short Stories on Booktracks (eBook Created with Synchronized        Soundtrack) 5 - Archangel Ariel/Auriel/Uriel -- Which One? 6 - Top Comments From Healing Arts/CHILL Clients (Your Testimonials) 7 - Lava Mae: Showers for the Homeless -- Hope NYC Gets On Board Soon 8 - The Healing Artist Studio Project: It's What? 9 - Gifts Money Just Can't Buy 10 - Holidaze (A Short Story) Top 10 Visitors/Countries
1 - United States 2 - Germany 3 - Russia 4 - United Kingdom 5 - France 6 - Brunei 7 - Ukraine 8 - Canada 9 - Slovakia 10 - China
It's an honor to be of service to you, and I'm so grateful to be in this partnership with my Creator, who is love, superhuman strength, all-knowing, all-powerful, creative intelligence, and direction. My main goal for The Healing Artist Studio Project in 2016, is to continue to act on the guidance I receive from God/Goddess/Great Spirit/Jehovah/Allah/Source, and the many names used to describe The Creator. In the words of the child character, Tiny Tim, in the story A Christmas Carol written by Mr. Charles Dickens . . . "God bless us, Everyone."

GIFTS is Top (#1) in Romance, Short Story Literature on Booktracks (Books with Soundtracks: Reinventing Reading)

Click here to experience Gifts.

                             

I'm sharing the first beta interactive multimedia test version of a short story, Gifts. I've integrated literary and cinematic elements (music score, ambient effects and sound effects) to this tale to expand and enhance the storytelling experience.

Feel free to leave comments regarding your experience to help fine-tune this new publishing platform made available by Booktrack™based in New Zealand.

The next step planned is to re-write Gifts as a short film script and to use the Booktrack™ platform to create a new soundtrack and sound effects for it. Do contact me if you're a screenwriter, music supervisor or composer who would like to explore collaborating with me on the script.

Technical notes:

1) You can control synchronizing the reading & soundtrack speed of the story using the (+) and (- ) icons located at the bottom right of each page.

Click here to experience Gifts.

Gifts is a Booktrack™-sponsored production.

Imagine, innovate, play and create without fear of failure.