August Blog Bash, Day 23 - Linda Hofke

Welcome to the Debut of the August Blog Bash 2012!

I am very much excited and honored to be hosting this new feature series... and it is a great way to end the summer!  This Blog Bash is an impressive talent showcase of poets, artists, and writers/authors from all walks of life.  For each day of this month, one individual will be featured here on this blog, at Origami Lotus Stones, my Twitter (hashtag will be #augblogbash), my Facebook community page, and on my blog page on Writing Our Way Home.  Please be patient while I post on all platforms. 

**Please note that all authors/artists have given me permission to post their work on the following platforms/sites I have just mentioned.  Please do not plagiarize, modify, reproduce, or distribute any work without permission from the original authors/artists.  Thank you!** If you are interested in participating in this Blog Bash, feel free to check out the details here.

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Today's Feature:  Linda Hofke

Per Hofke,

I love the blur of the purple flowers in the back and the "pose" of the hearts on the branches, as if they are arms reaching out for all who walk by.

Hofke says that these bleeding hearts are in front of her house.  For me, I can only imagine how simply beautiful it is to be able to walk by and admire these beauties.  The contrast between purple and pink in this photo is vivid, yet I like how each set of flowers are curved in different directions (the bleedings hearts are like a rainbow across the center and the purple flowers are like the letter "C" in the sidelines).  I also find that this untouched photo is like a visual "small stone," already polished in its own way without having to retouch the photo itself.  Isn't Mother Nature inherently photogenic?  This lovely photo captures the fresh breath, colors, and delicateness of springtime.

(Click on image to read the full story on Ney's "Writing in Wonderland" website/blog.)

I'm excited to say that this is the second short story piece featured here in this August Blog Bash series (making it a third prose piece too)!  Hofke's memoir is a heartwarming creative nonfiction story that doesn't quite fit in with the typical science fiction stories whenever you think of the theme of "Space Tales."  There are no aliens, clone experiments, robots, or wars between galaxies.  There is, however, a touching relationship between her and her daughter, exploring the kind of unconditional mother-daughter love that simply goes beyond "the moon, the stars, and [even] fairy dust."  Sometimes believing in and having that kind of love from a parent is more than enough for any child out there to go through life.  I'm sure every reader can relate to this story because after all, we are perhaps more fortunate than we realize.  Hofke's style of writing is concise and humorous; her words are chosen with care.  The dialogue in this piece is what makes this story so well-put together (smooth flow) and tangible. Stunning work, Linda!  Thank you so much for sharing and being one of the contributors!  And many, many thanks for your patience and understanding with what I'm going through now. (NB:  Text arrangement on MS PowerPoint by Kathy Uyen Nguyen.  Please note that text/graphics will be in this format.)

To check out more of Linda's work, you can click on the following link(s): Linda's Life on the Other Side (blog) Lind-guistics (blog) Please do promote this new feature on Facebook, Twitter, etc.!  Thanks so much for all the support!  And look, my blog now has buttons (see below) to make your life easier!  Come back tomorrow for a new artist/author feature!