when "Carisa meridiates" ...

Talking about writing, let me introduce you to another story, this time, a novel, this time, still a work-in-process, this time, by one of my favourite LA author…^ ^

Here is the first page of his story….

THE CARISA MERIDIAN
a story by * Mojo Shivers*

one- the initial friend
Her first name was Carisa. Her last name was Ashington. I used to joke with her that she was related to George Washington, but somewhere along the way an idiotic relative had lopped off the “W” and there you had it.
She said it was one of the dumbest jokes she had ever heard.
But then she still laughed anyway. She was just that kind of person.
I was googling Carisa the other night. I didn’t find very much; not a lot has been written about her in quite some time. I suppose that is why I felt the need to look her up again, to see exactly if my memory of her holds true to the actuality. Or maybe to find out what the actuality is. I am not quite sure if the history I remember was the way things really happened or the way I wished they had happened (did the chicken really lay the egg or had the egg been there all along and the chicken come a bit later when it found out where all the best eggs were? Do you think the chicken, having seen the egg, went back to all of its chicken coop buddies and told them of the cool place in the barnyard he had went to on Saturday night where all the best eggs were to be had? Or how it even got some action from the hen behind the barn?). The mind can play tricks on you. Days come and go, and soon the girl from down the block can turn out to be one of your closest friends. Maybe your wife wasn’t supposed to be. Or the girl you thought you liked at the time may turn out to have been the one you were destined for—a soul mate if you believe in that type of thing. I guess I’ll never know and maybe that’s why I keep searching for a piece of her.
My search revealed an interesting site that broke the name Carisa down according to Eastern philosophy:

“Your name of Carisa bestows upon you the necessity to comprehend and assist others but at the same time you can become too over-extended into their concerns and, consequentially, worry more than necessary. You desire a future with thoughts of home and family predominating that idea of your future. You have the capacity to create harmony and understanding in your family relationships as you are supportive, forgiving, and polite. You love children, caring without a moment’s hesitation who might require your particular talents. Wherever you can manage it, you avoid stress because you prefer not to face a conflict if it results in someone’s feelings being hurt.”


I do apologize in advance, for having posted it without his permission or whatsoever (ok, Mojo, flame away ^_^ )….. But I also felt I could show him how much I cared for his story, how much I liked it, from the very beginning, when I asked him more about, back in late August 2004…Just imagine he had posted about him writing a novel, a few hours before I took my holidays….. Somehow, this information had lingered somewhere in my brain, for when I came back to work, first thin gI did was to ask more about it. So he started to send me his chapters on a regular basis, sometimes the very moment after its completion…..I would receive a mail (around 3, 4 AM his time), then hurried to print it out, or sneakily save it on my comp…

The reading of his story got me, I must admit, some egotist pleasure. Not only was I in total admiration faced to such a story-teller talent (and God forbid, maybe I felt a bit envious at times), but I couldn’t help find in between the lines some hints about how my life was doing… to tell you the truth, Mojo and his story crashed in my life at a point when I had lost everything…. A somewhat sad separation with someone I could finally say I was genuinely falling for had drained memore than I wanted to admit it.

Then I was given that story to read, where fictional people were enduring actual torments and questionings, somewhat more complicated, more heavy in consequences than my banal love story… There was Mojo and his paper friends, giving me an daily reading routine, an occasion of feeling helpful, and most of all, I must admit, giving me an out-of-myself trip opportunity as well. Dare I say that, throughout our little mails about this or that aspects of the story unraveling, some real-life aspects were slowly mixed too…. As my begging for a digital shoulder to put rest my heavy head on it… And my finding solace in those casual talks.

I could have been fooled by the nickname over the real man, but I know one thing for sure. He has always been around whenever I felt like giving up to a life I didn’t , and wouldn’t understand. He patiently listened to my naïve questionings, always filling me with wise piece of advice. And at the same time his story gave me a magisterial lesson in English, his counsels helped me to grow up, face the reality, and take upon myself, in a way, consolidate all those premises my ex-love had seeded inside of me. And I still am persuaded that someone able to write such marvelous things could not be half as the jerk he claims to be…

Maybe, at that very time, Carisa was already being a catalyst. Not only in her grave of digital chapters, but enabling a connection I thought it would have never been possible.

And when asked about writing some constructive review (and God knows how those are important, oh yes), I always feel a bit sheepish, and pretty helpless… I know I cannot give any constructive feedbacks on a language point of view, and I wonder if my subjective feelings could be of any help either? Maybe I still hasn’t found the proper way to express all that Carisa brings to me. I feel all those questions and statements swirling in my mind, paragraph after paragraph, and the introspection it sometimes leads to adds another dimension to the reading… Not only do I read for my entertainment, but with the secret hope that, once again, Carisa and her friends will enlight me on one or another subjects….and it still happens that way, even after a few month’s break taken by the writer……

My caring is genuine, though.

My supporting is absolute, with no concession.

For I think that if “The Carisa Meridian” can touch people around as it had touched me, in my heart and soul, then it’s a book definitely worth the writing. And I still want to believe that story-telling is about magic, and not about editorial policies, aimed at a maximum of selling’s, for a minimum of quality.

Now my dream is to see Carisa reverse the processus, and put the Art of Writing back into place.
No more, no less.