["Heart Tree" photo by Lisa ]
Featured Stories
My Interview with the WOW! (Women on Writing) Blog, "The Muffin"
Welcome to Lisa H. Owens who won second place in our latest creative nonfiction essay contest! Her essay is titled, "What You Can Do in 8 Minutes and 46 Seconds." You can read it here, and you don't want to miss it. It's powerful, and we discuss below why she was motivated to write an essay about George Floyd and his treatment by the police officers who were arresting him. But first here's a bit more about Lisa:
"Growing up, my family moved around—a lot. I attended a total of nine schools-in six cities-in four states before my first year of college. My first attempts at writing became a series of short stories inspired by the antics involved in making those numerous moves—from north to south and east to west—with my oddball family. Two local newspapers picked them up; running one story per month in a humorous memoirs column for a couple of years and that had me hooked. I continued to write, entering contests and submitting a piece periodically to The New Yorker magazine and am quite proud of receiving a few rejection emails, which was a step up from the old, 'If you haven’t heard from us in three months, we won’t be using your story...' scenario."
"Most recently, I have completed my first book, a compilation of letters to my sister-in-law describing my first year as a new-hire flight attendant in the magical city of Boston called, Dear Melinda, How I Met Your Brother. Now the hard part, finding a publisher. I have two wonderful children (now in their 30s) and reside in North Texas with three rescue dogs and a WFH job as an environmental compliance manager. I am continuing to write part two of my book, Dear Melinda, How I Married Your Brother. You can read a variety of my pieces (poetry, humorous memoirs, and stories dealing with more serious subject matter) at lisahowens.com."
WOW: Welcome, Lisa! Congratulations on your second place win. Why did you want to write a piece specifically about what happened to George Floyd?
Lisa: The idea of writing a piece about George Floyd came to me, as I stood in my living room bowing my head to observe the 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence—the length of time Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck—called for by Al Sharpton on the televised memorial service of George Floyd on June 4th. As I stood up (from the comfort of my sofa) with my eyes closed, my mind began to wander. I opened my eyes. Only one minute and thirty seconds had passed. I closed my eyes again. I began to fidget. I had laundry in the dryer to fold. I opened my eyes. We were at three minutes now. I walked out to the garage, retrieved my basket of clean clothes, and sat down to fold. The clock continued to creep along toward the eight-minute mark. I couldn't wrap my brain around what an eternity nearly nine minutes must have felt like to George, as he begged for mercy. Next, I found myself thinking about how much a person could really accomplish in that time-frame. Once upon a time, I used to run a mile in around eight minutes.
WOW: Thank you for describing that to us. Honoring Mr. Floyd's life in that way was very powerful. Why did you decide to write the piece in a list form?
Lisa: The list formatting was born out of the thought process: What are some things we can do in around nine minutes? This piece really called for the bullet point formatting. I wanted to keep it simple and to the point.
WOW: It definitely works. The bullet point list is extremely powerful and makes your point well. Did you research all those different points, such as how many times you can hand-write I love you?
Lisa: Yes! I did research every point on the list. I used Google mostly, googling things like: 9 minute Guinness Book world records and picked the most outrageous one I found (2013 eating 141 hard-boiled eggs). At one point, I was going to cook Totino’s Pizza Rolls and read the baking instructions. One serving (10 rolls) in 9 minutes at 425º. I thought the list should start with light, fun facts and slowly become more serious in nature. I was absolutely blown away when I connected the time the first plane hit the World Trade Center Tower on 9/11 (0846 am EST) with the amount of time George was denied a breath of air. As far as the specific points like heartbeats, typing, handwriting, and reading, I needed a range so researched the high and low of each category using a one-minute time-frame (example: the lowest number of human heartbeats in one minute; then the highest number of human heartbeats in one-minute; then used the average for each). I had to ask for help with the math involved to calculate the totals at 8 minutes and 46 seconds. There is a weird formula involved when converting base ten numbers to time, and I didn’t know what that formula was! I wanted the numbers to be accurate, and math was not my strongest subject in school.
After I completed the cerebral parts of my story, it was time to do the one thing I dreaded. It was time to watch the video filmed by Darnella Frazier. I’m not going to lie. It was hard, and like everyone else in the world with a soul, I cried and asked, “Why?” I was shocked to see Chauvin with his hand in his pocket...at least that is how I interpreted it. Nonchalance. Nothing out of the ordinary for him. A normal day on the job.
WOW: Just hearing you describe it is extremely heartbreaking. I think the order you put the items in really makes your point. Let's switch gears a little: It sounds like you have a very interesting book and that you are looking for a publisher. Tell us more about that book and your process.
Lisa: It is my first book titled, Dear Melinda, How I Met Your Brother. It is an epistolary memoir; a series of letters written to my sister-in-law when my husband (her brother) and I separated after being together for thirty-four years. It mainly highlights (in hilarious detail) navigating a new job and a new city (Boston) as a naive new-hire flight attendant from the Deep South and a series of fated events that ultimately led up to the night I met Melinda’s older brother for the very first time. When I began the first letter, I had no idea it was going to turn into a book. I was literally going “old school,” writing a physical letter to Melinda telling her I still love her and all of my in-laws whether her brother and I are together or not—but it turned into something else. A letter almost every day for several months talking about my life before meeting the man of my dreams—in the past; but then I began to throw in a letter here and there to talk about what was happening currently in my life with the pandemic, the George Floyd marches, the Confederate Monument standoffs, and the challenges of being alone after thirty-four years. I sent the completed book to Melinda because if she wasn’t on board, it was dead in the water.
She loved it and said, “I laughed and cried about a million times, as I read it.” So, I am excited about how it came together (with the help of Chelsey Clammer’s professional editing) and can’t wait to see where it goes from here. I have promised myself that I will submit to one publisher or literary agent every day and not get overwhelmed.
WOW: That book sounds fantastic! And we know that if Chelsey helped you with it and it is also coming from you, it is going to find the perfect home! What is next for you? What are you working on now?
Lisa: I am getting ready to begin the continuation of the book because there are so many crazy stories and situations that occurred once Melinda’s brother and I began dating! I may call it, Dear Melinda, How I Married Your Brother. We’ll see!
WOW: We can't wait to see what the future holds for you! We are so glad you decided to enter the contest, and best of luck with your writing!
CREATIVE NONFICTION ESSAY WINNER, SOCIAL JUSTICE ESSAY
Interview with Lisa H. Owens conducted by Margo L. Dill for the WOW! (Women on Writing) Blog, "The Muffin" on November 7, 2020.
"Growing up, my family moved around—a lot. I attended a total of nine schools-in six cities-in four states before my first year of college. My first attempts at writing became a series of short stories inspired by the antics involved in making those numerous moves—from north to south and east to west—with my oddball family. Two local newspapers picked them up; running one story per month in a humorous memoirs column for a couple of years and that had me hooked. I continued to write, entering contests and submitting a piece periodically to The New Yorker magazine and am quite proud of receiving a few rejection emails, which was a step up from the old, 'If you haven’t heard from us in three months, we won’t be using your story...' scenario."
"Most recently, I have completed my first book, a compilation of letters to my sister-in-law describing my first year as a new-hire flight attendant in the magical city of Boston called, Dear Melinda, How I Met Your Brother. Now the hard part, finding a publisher. I have two wonderful children (now in their 30s) and reside in North Texas with three rescue dogs and a WFH job as an environmental compliance manager. I am continuing to write part two of my book, Dear Melinda, How I Married Your Brother. You can read a variety of my pieces (poetry, humorous memoirs, and stories dealing with more serious subject matter) at lisahowens.com."
WOW: Welcome, Lisa! Congratulations on your second place win. Why did you want to write a piece specifically about what happened to George Floyd?
Lisa: The idea of writing a piece about George Floyd came to me, as I stood in my living room bowing my head to observe the 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence—the length of time Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck—called for by Al Sharpton on the televised memorial service of George Floyd on June 4th. As I stood up (from the comfort of my sofa) with my eyes closed, my mind began to wander. I opened my eyes. Only one minute and thirty seconds had passed. I closed my eyes again. I began to fidget. I had laundry in the dryer to fold. I opened my eyes. We were at three minutes now. I walked out to the garage, retrieved my basket of clean clothes, and sat down to fold. The clock continued to creep along toward the eight-minute mark. I couldn't wrap my brain around what an eternity nearly nine minutes must have felt like to George, as he begged for mercy. Next, I found myself thinking about how much a person could really accomplish in that time-frame. Once upon a time, I used to run a mile in around eight minutes.
WOW: Thank you for describing that to us. Honoring Mr. Floyd's life in that way was very powerful. Why did you decide to write the piece in a list form?
Lisa: The list formatting was born out of the thought process: What are some things we can do in around nine minutes? This piece really called for the bullet point formatting. I wanted to keep it simple and to the point.
WOW: It definitely works. The bullet point list is extremely powerful and makes your point well. Did you research all those different points, such as how many times you can hand-write I love you?
Lisa: Yes! I did research every point on the list. I used Google mostly, googling things like: 9 minute Guinness Book world records and picked the most outrageous one I found (2013 eating 141 hard-boiled eggs). At one point, I was going to cook Totino’s Pizza Rolls and read the baking instructions. One serving (10 rolls) in 9 minutes at 425º. I thought the list should start with light, fun facts and slowly become more serious in nature. I was absolutely blown away when I connected the time the first plane hit the World Trade Center Tower on 9/11 (0846 am EST) with the amount of time George was denied a breath of air. As far as the specific points like heartbeats, typing, handwriting, and reading, I needed a range so researched the high and low of each category using a one-minute time-frame (example: the lowest number of human heartbeats in one minute; then the highest number of human heartbeats in one-minute; then used the average for each). I had to ask for help with the math involved to calculate the totals at 8 minutes and 46 seconds. There is a weird formula involved when converting base ten numbers to time, and I didn’t know what that formula was! I wanted the numbers to be accurate, and math was not my strongest subject in school.
After I completed the cerebral parts of my story, it was time to do the one thing I dreaded. It was time to watch the video filmed by Darnella Frazier. I’m not going to lie. It was hard, and like everyone else in the world with a soul, I cried and asked, “Why?” I was shocked to see Chauvin with his hand in his pocket...at least that is how I interpreted it. Nonchalance. Nothing out of the ordinary for him. A normal day on the job.
WOW: Just hearing you describe it is extremely heartbreaking. I think the order you put the items in really makes your point. Let's switch gears a little: It sounds like you have a very interesting book and that you are looking for a publisher. Tell us more about that book and your process.
Lisa: It is my first book titled, Dear Melinda, How I Met Your Brother. It is an epistolary memoir; a series of letters written to my sister-in-law when my husband (her brother) and I separated after being together for thirty-four years. It mainly highlights (in hilarious detail) navigating a new job and a new city (Boston) as a naive new-hire flight attendant from the Deep South and a series of fated events that ultimately led up to the night I met Melinda’s older brother for the very first time. When I began the first letter, I had no idea it was going to turn into a book. I was literally going “old school,” writing a physical letter to Melinda telling her I still love her and all of my in-laws whether her brother and I are together or not—but it turned into something else. A letter almost every day for several months talking about my life before meeting the man of my dreams—in the past; but then I began to throw in a letter here and there to talk about what was happening currently in my life with the pandemic, the George Floyd marches, the Confederate Monument standoffs, and the challenges of being alone after thirty-four years. I sent the completed book to Melinda because if she wasn’t on board, it was dead in the water.
She loved it and said, “I laughed and cried about a million times, as I read it.” So, I am excited about how it came together (with the help of Chelsey Clammer’s professional editing) and can’t wait to see where it goes from here. I have promised myself that I will submit to one publisher or literary agent every day and not get overwhelmed.
WOW: That book sounds fantastic! And we know that if Chelsey helped you with it and it is also coming from you, it is going to find the perfect home! What is next for you? What are you working on now?
Lisa: I am getting ready to begin the continuation of the book because there are so many crazy stories and situations that occurred once Melinda’s brother and I began dating! I may call it, Dear Melinda, How I Married Your Brother. We’ll see!
WOW: We can't wait to see what the future holds for you! We are so glad you decided to enter the contest, and best of luck with your writing!
CREATIVE NONFICTION ESSAY WINNER, SOCIAL JUSTICE ESSAY
Interview with Lisa H. Owens conducted by Margo L. Dill for the WOW! (Women on Writing) Blog, "The Muffin" on November 7, 2020.
What You Can Do in 8 Minutes and 46 Seconds
- You can walk 0.44 miles @ 3mph.
- You can run 0.88 miles @ 6mph.
- You can drive 5.11 miles in the city @ 35mph.
- You can drive 8.76 miles on the highway @ 60mph.
- You can swim 8 to 9 freestyle laps in an Olympic size pool.
- You can hard-boil an egg.
- You can eat 141 hard-boiled eggs. (World Record in 2013)
- You can do the prep-work for a meal.
- You can bake ten Totino's Pizza Rolls @ 425º.
- You can ride the Texas Giant roller coaster 2.7 times.
- You can smoke one cigarette.
- You can listen to 60% of Freebird by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
- You can read approximately 2,190 words.
- You can read approximately 8 pages of a novel.
- You can read the Old Testament Book of Ruth.
- You can read the New Testament Book of Philippians.
- You can recite the Hail Mary Prayer six times.
- You can type "I love you." approximately 219 times.
- You can handwrite "I love you." approximately 105 times.
- It is the exact moment in time (0846) that the first plane hit Tower I on 9/11/2001.
- You can take somewhere between 105 and 175 breaths.
- You can feel your heart beating somewhere between 526 and 1052 times.
- You can kneel on a man’s neck.
- You can nonchalantly keep one hand in your pocket.
- You can ignore the pleas of bystanders.
- You can ignore a man crying out, “I can’t breathe.”
- You can ignore a man whispering for his Mama.
- You can stop a man’s breath.
- You can take a life.
- You can devastate a family.
- You can incite a Movement.
By Lisa H. Owens
Inspired by current events - 6/15/2020
Awarded 2nd Place in the WOW (Women on Writing) Q-4 2020 Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest !
Interview with Lisa H. Owens conducted by Margo L. Dill for the WOW! (Women on Writing) Blog, "The Muffin" on November 7, 2020
Sometimes We Need to Listen
My cell phone rang. (Your brotha's on the phone. Your brotha's callin' you.) I answered. It was my brother, no surprise—you know, the ringtone and all. I launched into my typical tirade. Words to hear myself talk.
Me: "You must have read my mind. I was just phone shopping online, and since you always have a Galaxy phone too; what phone would you recommend?"
My brother: "I never had a Galaxy phone. You should talk to Cooper about phones."
Me: "You did have a Galaxy. I remember that we both had the very first Galaxy at the same time. That's why I started down that path. The path of buying Galaxy phones."
My brother [grumpy]: "Maybe you're right. I can't remember."
Me: "I know I'm right, but anyway; what phone are you using now?" (I hear Lein, his wife, in the background. I hate when he doesn't tell me I am on speaker. I need to tell him to let me know from now on.)
My brother [slightly less grumpy]: "An LG."
Me: "Wow. We are on the same page. That is exactly what my thoughts were. I had an LG once and loved it." (I hear a voice over a loudspeaker in the background.) "What model is it?"
My brother: [silence] (Voice over a loudspeaker, Paging Doctor...)
Me: "Where are you? Are you at home?"
My brother: "No. The hospital. I had a mild heart attack last night."
Me: [finally silent, as I absorb this information from my 55-year-old brother] "Why didn't you tell me to shut up talking about stupid phones?"
My brother [chuckling]: "I was waiting for you to finish. Waiting for you to listen."
By Lisa H. Owens
10/8/2020
Inspired by a real conversation. Her brother ended up with a quintuple bypass and a surgeon's suggestion to stop smoking. (10/9/2020)
Me: "You must have read my mind. I was just phone shopping online, and since you always have a Galaxy phone too; what phone would you recommend?"
My brother: "I never had a Galaxy phone. You should talk to Cooper about phones."
Me: "You did have a Galaxy. I remember that we both had the very first Galaxy at the same time. That's why I started down that path. The path of buying Galaxy phones."
My brother [grumpy]: "Maybe you're right. I can't remember."
Me: "I know I'm right, but anyway; what phone are you using now?" (I hear Lein, his wife, in the background. I hate when he doesn't tell me I am on speaker. I need to tell him to let me know from now on.)
My brother [slightly less grumpy]: "An LG."
Me: "Wow. We are on the same page. That is exactly what my thoughts were. I had an LG once and loved it." (I hear a voice over a loudspeaker in the background.) "What model is it?"
My brother: [silence] (Voice over a loudspeaker, Paging Doctor...)
Me: "Where are you? Are you at home?"
My brother: "No. The hospital. I had a mild heart attack last night."
Me: [finally silent, as I absorb this information from my 55-year-old brother] "Why didn't you tell me to shut up talking about stupid phones?"
My brother [chuckling]: "I was waiting for you to finish. Waiting for you to listen."
By Lisa H. Owens
10/8/2020
Inspired by a real conversation. Her brother ended up with a quintuple bypass and a surgeon's suggestion to stop smoking. (10/9/2020)
Photography By Lisa
[A Whole Lotta Texas]
"Big Tex" [State Fair-1988]
"Halloween and Music" [2020]
"Rose on Glass Patio Table"
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"Creature" my painted rock
"Stairs in Soldier Spring Park"
"Mushroom? on Something?"
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"God Bless America"
"Shark Attack at the Stock Show"
"Cowboys, Baby!"
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"Cowgirl on a Palomino"
"Oil Pumpjack at Possum Kingdom"
"Concrete-Mixer or Chicken?"
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Our Rescue, Dingo
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Buddy [terrier] & Neo [boxer]
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Our Rescue, Fred
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Our Rescue, Henry
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"Side View of 'Heart Tree' with Bluebonnets"
