MY BOOK
A brief synopsis:
A dark elf named Ryo and her father journey through an eerie wasteland after the mysterious demise of their world. Ryo and her father search for two things: Food, and for their lost people.
Ryo must learn how to survive without magic in a world that has collapsed after "The Break," an enigmatic post-war disaster that scarred reality and led to the disappearance of all but two of the elves.
Ryo must traverse a land somewhere between dreams and reality, dodging the dangers left behind by the reckless society that came before her. Throughout it all, a strange and seemingly all-powerful figure creates chaos and torments Ryo and her father. Ryo races to find a way to defeat it before it claims the "Broken World" for itself.
Click the image above to learn more!
A dark elf named Ryo and her father journey through an eerie wasteland after the mysterious demise of their world. Ryo and her father search for two things: Food, and for their lost people.
Ryo must learn how to survive without magic in a world that has collapsed after "The Break," an enigmatic post-war disaster that scarred reality and led to the disappearance of all but two of the elves.
Ryo must traverse a land somewhere between dreams and reality, dodging the dangers left behind by the reckless society that came before her. Throughout it all, a strange and seemingly all-powerful figure creates chaos and torments Ryo and her father. Ryo races to find a way to defeat it before it claims the "Broken World" for itself.
Click the image above to learn more!
My Other Stories:
Flash Fiction Magazine kindly presents my short-story, "Dream Rifle." Click here to read it, and thank you for your consideration.
Bridge kindly presents my short-story, "Stoma." Click here to read it, and thank you for your consideration.
Bridge kindly presents my short-story, "Stoma." Click here to read it, and thank you for your consideration.
What Am I Currently Writing?
A few different novels, but primarily, the sequel to the book above!
July 2022
My first book has been published!
You can find information about it at the top of the page. A huge thank you to my advanced readers.
I hope it is the first of many!
j.c.c.
My first book has been published!
You can find information about it at the top of the page. A huge thank you to my advanced readers.
I hope it is the first of many!
j.c.c.
March 2021
Feel free to read the short-story Stoma, available here!
A big thank you if you read it, and a big thank you to Bridge for considering and publishing my work.
j.c.c.
Feel free to read the short-story Stoma, available here!
A big thank you if you read it, and a big thank you to Bridge for considering and publishing my work.
j.c.c.
December 2020
Wow. So much time has passed and there is so much to say. What a crazy year.
16 no's, but finally a yes! "Stoma" will be published in Bridge, the Bluffton University Literary Journal. You can catch that story in their Spring issue. More details to come.
Published not once, but twice soon! Feeling very grateful, even among these dark and strange times.
j.c.c.
Wow. So much time has passed and there is so much to say. What a crazy year.
16 no's, but finally a yes! "Stoma" will be published in Bridge, the Bluffton University Literary Journal. You can catch that story in their Spring issue. More details to come.
Published not once, but twice soon! Feeling very grateful, even among these dark and strange times.
j.c.c.
May 2020
What surreal and strange times we live in!
No update in a while. I focused all of my efforts into teaching this year. Now that I have a bit of breathing space, I will be submitting again. Stay tuned!
j.c.c.
What surreal and strange times we live in!
No update in a while. I focused all of my efforts into teaching this year. Now that I have a bit of breathing space, I will be submitting again. Stay tuned!
j.c.c.
August 2019
It's finally here! You can read my first published short story by following the link below! Exciting! Exclamation points!
Dream Rifle
While you're there, feel free to check out all of the other talented writers featured. Thanks again to everyone who helped me to grow and improve in my writing. Let me know what you thought about it by shooting me an email at [email protected]. You have my gratitude for taking the time to read!
j.c.c.
It's finally here! You can read my first published short story by following the link below! Exciting! Exclamation points!
Dream Rifle
While you're there, feel free to check out all of the other talented writers featured. Thanks again to everyone who helped me to grow and improve in my writing. Let me know what you thought about it by shooting me an email at [email protected]. You have my gratitude for taking the time to read!
j.c.c.
June 2019
I got an email about the release date of the short story, and it looks like it will be published August 8. As soon as it goes live you'll be able to read it! Very excited!
j.c.c.
I got an email about the release date of the short story, and it looks like it will be published August 8. As soon as it goes live you'll be able to read it! Very excited!
j.c.c.
May 2019
It seems that my persistence has paid off... I got a yes!
After eleven months of submissions, revisions, rejections, resubmissions, a plenitude of nos, a few almost-yes-but-not-quite-yesses, and finally, one resounding yes, I will be a published writer very soon!
I will update once I have some more information about when the story will be published, but for now, time to celebrate! I hope you all read it once it comes out!
j.c.c.
It seems that my persistence has paid off... I got a yes!
After eleven months of submissions, revisions, rejections, resubmissions, a plenitude of nos, a few almost-yes-but-not-quite-yesses, and finally, one resounding yes, I will be a published writer very soon!
I will update once I have some more information about when the story will be published, but for now, time to celebrate! I hope you all read it once it comes out!
j.c.c.
May 2019
As I've been visiting classrooms as a way to get a feel for the district that I would like to teach in next year, I've seen many different teachers teaching many different subjects. As a way to help the teachers who are kind enough to let me into their classrooms, I play along with the activities that the teachers have planned for the day (incidentally, it lets me get to talk with the students and get to know them). One such activity, in an English classroom, was a creative writing assignment. Students wrote for five minutes about this topic:
"If you could have any view from your back porch, what would it be?"
I also participated, and once all of the students had shared their excellent examples, they asked me to share as well. Here's what I wrote:
---
If I could have any view from my back porch, I would have a view of the whole of the Mediterranean ocean. In the morning, I would watch the sun cast itself over the Levant, and watch the world light up as the sunshine reflected off of the pale blue water. I’d drink coffee as the sun raced over Greece towards the Adriatic sea. I’d see Italy and the coasts of France illuminate while I finished my eggs and toast. I’d drink orange juice as Tripoli and Alexandria rise with the light of a new day, and I would play soft and slow music as the sun fled farther and farther away, past Morocco and Spain, through the Strait of Gibraltar and onward, across the Atlantic Ocean and outward, across thousands of miles of brisk and deep water, towards the New World.
They seemed to like it. Hopefully you do too!
j.c.c.
As I've been visiting classrooms as a way to get a feel for the district that I would like to teach in next year, I've seen many different teachers teaching many different subjects. As a way to help the teachers who are kind enough to let me into their classrooms, I play along with the activities that the teachers have planned for the day (incidentally, it lets me get to talk with the students and get to know them). One such activity, in an English classroom, was a creative writing assignment. Students wrote for five minutes about this topic:
"If you could have any view from your back porch, what would it be?"
I also participated, and once all of the students had shared their excellent examples, they asked me to share as well. Here's what I wrote:
---
If I could have any view from my back porch, I would have a view of the whole of the Mediterranean ocean. In the morning, I would watch the sun cast itself over the Levant, and watch the world light up as the sunshine reflected off of the pale blue water. I’d drink coffee as the sun raced over Greece towards the Adriatic sea. I’d see Italy and the coasts of France illuminate while I finished my eggs and toast. I’d drink orange juice as Tripoli and Alexandria rise with the light of a new day, and I would play soft and slow music as the sun fled farther and farther away, past Morocco and Spain, through the Strait of Gibraltar and onward, across the Atlantic Ocean and outward, across thousands of miles of brisk and deep water, towards the New World.
They seemed to like it. Hopefully you do too!
j.c.c.
January 2019
The submission process has been very enlightening over these past few months, and I have learned much about what to expect from the world of publishing as an emerging writer (a hint: a lot of rejections, but that's okay).
I have learned to revise, revise, revise as I've made my way through the MAT, and any writer will tell you that the key to getting better is in the rewriting phase. I will continue to keep at it until I prevail! Persistence!
j.c.c.
The submission process has been very enlightening over these past few months, and I have learned much about what to expect from the world of publishing as an emerging writer (a hint: a lot of rejections, but that's okay).
I have learned to revise, revise, revise as I've made my way through the MAT, and any writer will tell you that the key to getting better is in the rewriting phase. I will continue to keep at it until I prevail! Persistence!
j.c.c.
December 2018
Here is a flash fiction story I wrote about an equalization school. For those that don't know what an "equalization" school was, here's a quick background:
Throughout the 40s and 50s, southern states attempted to forestall integration by dumping money into "separate but equal" schools as a way to keep southern education segregated. All at once, millions of dollars funded shiny new Mid-Century modern schools for African American students. These schools were a welcome change to the black schools of before, but ultimately, these buildings were constructed to continue to keep the races separate.
Once segregation legislation became fully overturned, instead of integrating white children into these schools and communities, African American children were integrated into white schools. As a result, many of these new and expensive school buildings were demolished or abandoned.
---
See the desk, slouched against the wall. Watch as the corners droop and the wood splinters. The water spills from the leaking roof above and drips, drips, drips onto the sagging seat. Feel the repetition, like the beat of the tom-tom. The rust gathers at the armrest and around the legs, waiting for instruction.
Now smell the classroom. The faint ghost of dust and mildew clings to the air like the creeper-vine that spins its way upward and in through the shattered windowsill. The browned shards of glass stand upright in their muntins, forever at attention.
Step through the door. Drag your feet on linoleum long dulled. Pull your fingers across the decaying lockers, and see the red on your fingertips.
This place is gone now.
Continue down the long hallway lined with empty window frames. You side-step as a deer tiptoes its way past you, searching for alfalfa. The trickles of sunlight through the shattered skylights offer you warmth, but not much. You walk through the front door and down the stone steps. You turn and read the name of a place long gone and yet still here: Martin Elementary. It stood tall and slouched inward once, two halves that made a fractured whole. Martin has all but disappeared.
This place can never be gone.
Now you take a look at the whole of it. You stand still and move forward. You watch as the sun sets and the moon rises. You see the trees grow taller and cast their elongated shadows across the decaying roof. You listen to the squeak of the kudzu as it move its way across the walls, smothering.
Do you smell the separation that still seeps from its aging foundation, the blood and gold that spring from the corroded water fountains? You offer an apology, and listen to the silence as your answer.
You watch one last time as the walls cave inward and the roof collapses. You see the dirt and the grass overwhelm the structure until nothing remains. You watch the buzzards gather. You raise your hand to the sky as this place teaches its last lesson.
j.c.c.
Here is a flash fiction story I wrote about an equalization school. For those that don't know what an "equalization" school was, here's a quick background:
Throughout the 40s and 50s, southern states attempted to forestall integration by dumping money into "separate but equal" schools as a way to keep southern education segregated. All at once, millions of dollars funded shiny new Mid-Century modern schools for African American students. These schools were a welcome change to the black schools of before, but ultimately, these buildings were constructed to continue to keep the races separate.
Once segregation legislation became fully overturned, instead of integrating white children into these schools and communities, African American children were integrated into white schools. As a result, many of these new and expensive school buildings were demolished or abandoned.
---
See the desk, slouched against the wall. Watch as the corners droop and the wood splinters. The water spills from the leaking roof above and drips, drips, drips onto the sagging seat. Feel the repetition, like the beat of the tom-tom. The rust gathers at the armrest and around the legs, waiting for instruction.
Now smell the classroom. The faint ghost of dust and mildew clings to the air like the creeper-vine that spins its way upward and in through the shattered windowsill. The browned shards of glass stand upright in their muntins, forever at attention.
Step through the door. Drag your feet on linoleum long dulled. Pull your fingers across the decaying lockers, and see the red on your fingertips.
This place is gone now.
Continue down the long hallway lined with empty window frames. You side-step as a deer tiptoes its way past you, searching for alfalfa. The trickles of sunlight through the shattered skylights offer you warmth, but not much. You walk through the front door and down the stone steps. You turn and read the name of a place long gone and yet still here: Martin Elementary. It stood tall and slouched inward once, two halves that made a fractured whole. Martin has all but disappeared.
This place can never be gone.
Now you take a look at the whole of it. You stand still and move forward. You watch as the sun sets and the moon rises. You see the trees grow taller and cast their elongated shadows across the decaying roof. You listen to the squeak of the kudzu as it move its way across the walls, smothering.
Do you smell the separation that still seeps from its aging foundation, the blood and gold that spring from the corroded water fountains? You offer an apology, and listen to the silence as your answer.
You watch one last time as the walls cave inward and the roof collapses. You see the dirt and the grass overwhelm the structure until nothing remains. You watch the buzzards gather. You raise your hand to the sky as this place teaches its last lesson.
j.c.c.
July 2018
During this year, I will be pursuing both a Masters degree in Teaching as well as my passion for creative writing. I will be updating this portion of my website with stories I have crafted, and hopefully news of the stories I am successful in publishing. Stay tuned!
j.c.c.
During this year, I will be pursuing both a Masters degree in Teaching as well as my passion for creative writing. I will be updating this portion of my website with stories I have crafted, and hopefully news of the stories I am successful in publishing. Stay tuned!
j.c.c.
