Worth Defending

 What do you consider to be worth defending? 

There's a sign in a window I've only seen once... I'll paraphrase because I can't recall the exact wording... 

                                                  "I defend marriage." 

I have met the person who put up that sign but I haven't, yet, had the opportunity to have a in-depth conversation with that person regarding that strong statement but that is what I find fascinating about that person.

I, personally, defend the freedoms I wrote about May 5, 2026. I believe that the freedom from fear is almost impossible to uphold or experience. When I wrote my novella, The Red Dust Healers, it started out as an exercise in 'healing of memories.' I actually wrote this novella before I wrote my novel so, when I couldn't decide if I thought it was good enough to publish, I started writing the big project novel, The Orchard Walk by El Dueck.

Quoting my novel, page 109-110... 

"I have spent my whole life conquering fears, one at a time. That's what Simmy's Adventures is all about."

"Was it your publicist who renamed the book? 'The Red Dust Healers' seems so poetic,... thought it would be more sale-able if we called it Simmy's Adventures." As she said this quietly, her mind was already focusing on the book and absorbing the emotions of the compassionate creativity that had driven her to write it. "We'll need to get the book from the Hummer." (As a aside... I owned and drove a H3 Hummer during the time I wrote my novel so I just wrote my vehicle into my book. I have since crashed it and no longer have it but I did for quite a few years.)

                                      "Simmy's Adventures- Chapter 1- Sugar Justice."

So, what I would, definitely, say is that I would defend my writing and my ownership of property, over time, and my ownership of my intellectual property... my novel, The Orchard Walk and my novella, as yet unpublished, The Red Dust Healers.

When I finished writing, although I keep adding possible chapters to this, as yet, unpublished work... I realized that all the chapters had a very central theme of overcoming fears. 

If you knew how many crazy people have said things like... 'I'm going to publish your novel and put my name on it,' I can't even believe people would say something like this... never mind, actually believe that they can steal my work. Now, I think someone who considers doing this is supremely lazy, lives in a world of make believe where they impersonate someone they must surely greatly admire to wish to steal their work. I, personally, am way too busy working on my project... which I find endlessly fascinating, to care what someone else is doing.

At first, when I started writing my novella... and, by the way, I had this thought, already, when I wrote my published novel... 'What if, I, Elfrieda, want to publish my novella at some later date? Well, to ensure that it is a seamless transition... I'll quote from my own book to my own book. Brilliant. I mean, what better way to defend and prove your writing could there be?

P.S. Wouldn't it be great if someone thought... well, I'll just donate a new H3 Hummer to Elfrieda because she did buy one (a 2008 purchased in 2009) and... maybe she needs a new vehicle... those are just my wonderful thoughts... I am certainly not the kind of person who wants anyone to suffer working endlessly for a material thing.