Story Character Casting Call for Second Collection of “Little Red Bear Stories”

January 30, 2015 / jrmilson / 5 Comments

As you may recall from the Breaking News announcement on Monday, the First Collection of short stories in “The Adventures of Little Red Bear” series was completed and sent out for beta reads a few days ago. My plan was to take a couple months off from writing to focus on new creations and store work, but it seems like everyone else wants to keep it going and get started right away on developing new short stories for the Second Collection in “The Adventures of Little Red Bear”.

Little Red Bear already signed on four new story characters this week, and more seem to be banging on the door this morning! So instead of giving everyone some time off, I decided to make it official and put out a Casting Call for new story characters, and had the receptionist start scheduling new character interviews. Since everyone is on board with it, we’re just going to go ahead and get started right away on the next set of stories and adventures. As mentioned earlier in The Ozarks Ostrich Crisis events, my receptionist is an elderly bunny who needs her job to support her large family, so better for her to be able to keep working anyway. Was going to pay her regardless, but don’t tell her that.

Interestingly, three little woodland fairies have turned in applications to appear in the next collection. Rather unfairylike, the largest of the three is very, very muddy in her application head shot photo, lists under qualifications and experience- “working in a mud kitchen”- and goes on to mention something about a peculiar, one-legged duck on her application. I was unable to read the rest because it was covered in mud. Anxious to hear more about all that and I have put a star by her name on the interview list. Sounds like a story there to me!

Little Red Bear isn’t quite so sure. After his mixed experience with a domesticated animal character in the first story collection, he is a bit apprehensive about working with another in the second set of stories. He intends to sit in on that interview, to determine if working with the mud-covered fairy also includes working with a one-legged duck. Personally, I’m hoping it does. Thinking it might be fun and have already jotted down some story notes! To be determined, I suppose. Not telling Red, but I requested she bring the duck along to the interview when it is scheduled.

And it just goes to demonstrate, Red and I never know who or what may show up at the door when we put out a Story Character Casting Call. Brings to mind the Ostrich Crisis events from the last recruiting push, as a simple process spun wildly out of control last year. So we’ll see who walks, hops, crawls or flies thru the door this time.

Speaking of which and since it is an open Casting Call, if you have a favorite animal, critter, bird, fish, wildflower, tree, agricultural crop, or whatever that you would like to have possibly appear in a future collection of stories, I invite you to mention it in the comments below. No promises, but Little Red Bear is always eager to make new friends. As you may recall, the stories are generally based in the Ozarks Mountain Country of Southeast Missouri, but we have worked with international story characters before too, once the Work Permit Visas are obtained.

Please stay tuned for more updates as the first story collection nears release, new work on the next Little Red Bear stories gets underway and new creations for the store are shared. It’s turning into a very busy year! I’m off now to interview a Porcupine. I hear they can have a rather prickly personality at times.

Thanks as always for following! — Jim (and Red!)

Waving Bear
(image found on Talking Bear, Facebook Community Page)

“The Adventures of Little Red Bear” Goes Out for Review!

January 26, 2015 / jrmilson / 1 Comment

Breaking News! Stop the presses!

We interrupt your Monday morning reading for a breaking news story.

Huzzah and Hip Hooray! After a solid and non-stop writing push for the past several weeks to finish, the first collection of Short Stories in the “Adventures of Little Red Bear” series went out for review and beta reads yesterday afternoon! Happy Days!

You haven’t been to a hootenanny until you’ve seen a bear Texas Two-steppin’ across the floor and dancing to “Cotton-Eyed Joe!” Yee-Haw! As soon as I uttered the magical words of “That’s a wrap, folks!” – somebody switched on the music followed immediately by critters and story characters rushing to the dance floor in all directions. The dance party lasted til the wee hours of the morning and Little Red Bear is still going strong kicking up his heels around the place.

While awaiting feedback the next step is to get busy on a cover design. Hopefully, it won’t be long until the first collection is available for release.

We now return you to regularly scheduled programming. Please stay tuned to this station for more updates! — Jim (and Red!)

News Reporter Snoopy

On Rabbitbrush, Ripples, Sheriffs and Such

January 5, 2015 / jrmilson / 1 Comment

Had a terrific weekend of writing. I had an idea for a story in my head for several months but it never went anywhere, very unusual for me because I am a “pantser” in approach mostly, just sitting down and writing from start to finish from an initial story concept or character name, without a lot of forethought or planning. I had the initial story idea, which is usually enough, but it never developed. After sitting down the other day with the story idea once again, the light suddenly went on and it entered that magical land where the story writes itself. Very happy with it, delighted actually, and wish I could share the story now with you. But it is to be included in the upcoming “Adventures of Little Red Bear” collection so we will all have to wait just a little longer.

Work then started on another new story late last night. So today I am working on what quite possibly could be the final story in the collection, and writing about Rabbitbrush, a featured element in the story. Love the stuff. To me, it is beautiful. It is a plant native to arid regions in the North American West and Southwest, and thrives in coarse, alkaline soil common to desert environments.

Detail of Rabbitbrush Flower Head
(Image Courtesy of Wikipedia)

Rabbitbrush is an important food source for wildlife, especially during winter months. The Zuni people of the Southwest used the plant’s blossoms to make a yellow dye, and stems for baskets. Rabbitbrush is gaining popularity now as an ornamental plant in areas where water conservation is a growing concern. In the wild, it is often found in unmanaged range lands, along roadways and in abandoned fields.

Also known as Rubber Rabbitbrush for its uses as a source of rubber dating back to 1904, it is a shrubby perennial growing in sizes ranging from 12 to 90 inches tall. It’s flower heads are comprised of five small, yellow tubular flowers appearing in clusters. The flexible stems are rubbery (hence the name) and its leaves a greenish-grey in color with a felt-like covering.

Rabbitbrush- Chrysothamnus nauseosus
(Photo credit- Wikipedia)

Having seen Rabbitbrush before in travels to the Southwest but not knowing what it was, I learned more about it from beautiful photos shared over a year ago by a great friend, the award-winning author Kathleen Creighton in California. That is how I met her, actually. She shared the photos online, I commented, she replied, and without hesitation granted me permission to use her photos. Kathleen then contacted and put me in touch with others to provide me with more information on the plant. A conversation struck up and we have been talking and great friends ever since. And now I am including it in a Little Red Bear story. It’s wonderful how it all works when one is open and receptive to meeting new people. More of that Sending Out Ripples notion.

Rabbitbrush, California Farm- October, 2013. (Photo by Kathleen Creighton Fuchs)

But, it has taken me a year to get the Rabbitbrush into a story, and I have stacked up a pile somewhere north of 1,000 story ideas and features since then. I will have to live to the age of Moses and Methuselah to get them all into stories. Since that is probably unlikely, I better pick up the pace it seems.

And in case you are wondering– “How does an arid desert plant find its way into a story about Little Red Bear and friends based in the Ozarks Mountains in the Southern Midwest?” Well, guess you will have to wait for the upcoming collection of stories to find that one out. But here’s a hint– There’s a new sheriff in town!

Wishing everyone a great day and positive start to the New Year! Break time is over and Little Red Bear is calling me back to writing so I need to go. Thanks for visiting! — Jim (and Red!)

Rabbitbrush, California Farm- October, 2013.
(Photo by Kathleen Creighton Fuchs)

First Annual Report for the Blog– “2014 In Review”

December 30, 2014December 30, 2014 / jrmilson / 2 Comments

The WordPress.com folks, who host my blog site, prepared a 2014 Annual Activity Report for this blog.

“Here it comes.” — Waiting for the Activity Report (Photo credit- Ron Niebrugge, Wild Nature Images)

Here’s an excerpt:

“A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,800 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 45 trips to carry that many people. This blog featured 51 new posts and was visited by readers in 67 countries in 2014, with the United States leading the way, and the United Kingdom, Italy, Ireland, Australia and Brazil close behind.”

“Little Red Bear”– Pleased as Punch!
(Photo credit- by Wildlife Photographer Marina Cano)

This blog began as a way to share creative works and writings in May, 2014. With that in mind, and considering most days I am still figuring out step by step what I am doing in the social media and tech world, and that the above report reflects activity starting from ground zero for only a little more than half a year, I am very happy with that. Or, as my good friend Siobhan Daiko would say- I am “really chuffed!”

Special thanks to Siobhan Daiko , Lesley Sky, Kim Gosselin, Frank Clark and Adele Wilson for being top commenters in the year, to Sylva Fae’s “Sylvanian Ramblings Blog” for being one of the top referral sites right behind Twitter and Facebook, and to the wonderful artist Christine Southworth of “Bear Prints Studio” who provided original artwork for my primary blog image– “Milson, the Steampunk Bear“, top right. And another special thank you to Matthew Milson, my author son, who pushed me into starting the blog in the first place.

Bear Hugs! Perfect in all Sizes!

And a big Bear Hug and Thank You to all who have visited and continue to follow along. Your support and encouragement is what keeps it all going. Onward now to an exciting New Year, featuring many new creations, writings and the upcoming release of the first collection of “Little Red Bear” stories.

We’re off to a great start. Let’s keep it rolling! — Jim (and Red!)

“Little Red Bear”– Story Research in a Tree (Photo courtesy of National Geographic)

Big News! “Howie the Hound Dog” Planning a Return?

December 27, 2014 / jrmilson / 1 Comment

Hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas, Holidays and Festive Time!

A lot to do here. Working hard with Red to finish the first collection of short stories in his upcoming “Adventures of Little Red Bear” series. Preparing a new Blog Post for Monday morning—about being specific. (Gee, thanks Santa!) And Charles Dickens is back again after the holiday, working with me on that poem started awhile ago. Much to do.

And this morning, to top it off now– there’s more! I awoke an hour early this morning with my writing muse going a hundred miles an hour in my head, got up and going, and made breakfast figuring to get an early start on it all. I opened the front door to get some fresh air and found a “Special Edition” of the local “Owl Hoots & Toots” backwoods newspaper at my doorstep.

Big news! Word is that Howie the Hound Dog over at the old Cooper place on Flint Crick is fixin’ to get a new band together! Howie’s last group broke up when . . . . . . . . .

Well, before we rush into a rumor with our overalls half pulled, let me check it all out first and get the whole story together before I bother you with the background details. But if it’s true (the “Owl Hoots & Toots” is very reliable) then toe-tapping times may be coming back to the holler!

I will do some digging around, see what I can find out and let you know more about it all next week. Rusty the Fairydiddle is busy fact-checking the Owl’s article too, and trying to get a confirmation from Banjo the Bluegrass Bunny. In the meantime, you might want to retrieve your dancing shoes from the back of the closet!

Remember, you can always sign up to follow the blog for Free and have notifications of all new posts delivered directly to your email inbox. There is an easy link in the right column. We surely don’t want you to miss out on Howie the Hound Dog’s return and getting a new band together! That ol’ boy could bark and spark all night!

So I will get busy and be back next week with more. Best wishes for a wonderful, safe and healthy holiday season! – Jim (and Red!)

Howie the Hound Dog.
(Photo credit- Christina Talley)

New Eyeglasses Bring The World Into View!

November 15, 2014 / jrmilson / 2 Comments

Well folks, I finally broke down and ventured out for new eyeglasses last week. They arrived yesterday, so the ol’ “bear-maker/storyteller/whatever-he-is” has new glasses to work with. Finally! A support in the old glasses had broken in July and things have been more or less out of focus than usual the past several months, held together with rubber bands.

Ralphie from “A Christmas Story”- “You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out!”

That, and the “old” glasses were vintage 2001 before kids started traipsing off to colleges one after another. When did the cost of a pair of eyeglasses start to rival the price of a major appliance or qualify as a major prize award on “The Wheel of Fortune”? Holy cow!

With the old glasses being 13 years old and the new prescription vastly changed, there is quite a bit of adjustment going on getting used to the new specs. Hopefully the “transition period” will be short (a week or two the doc said) and then allow for much faster work not only on making things, but also on catching up on both a long list of story research, things to read and new writing projects. A major headache last night but so far so good today! So stay tuned, the world is coming back into focus. I can actually see individual leaves on trees now! Wow! It makes me wonder if the Impressionists painters were actually doing stylized work or if they were just poor bummers too, in need of new glasses?

Vincent van Gogh- “The Alpilles with Olive Trees in the Foreground”

And so much to catch up on. Stories to finish, research to do, maps to make, cover designs, book trailers. Not to mention teddy bears and the holiday season! Quite a list and stack, indeed.

Stack of Books and Research

I went with Duck Commander styled frames, with a Camouflage Design on the inside of the arms. I figured it would help me get around with Little Red Bear and the Little Fairydiddle gathering story tidbits now. It’s good to remain undetected when sneaking about in the backwoods digging up story ideas like a chipmunk gathering acorns. And, they make me look a lot younger, if I say so myself. Not a day over 93. Have a lot of reading, research and work to catch up on. Off to it now.

“Hey Red! I see a varmint sneakin’ around that tree over yonder. Probably a dad-blamed weasel. Should I plug ’em with my Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle With a Compass in the Stock?”