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J.P. Farris

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About Me


Get my banner code or create your own banner -------------------- The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself. ~Albert Camus-------------------------------Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born. -Dale E. TurnerJ.P. Farris has been a weaver of words since an early age. He has published more than 30 poems, essays, and short stories as well as having 2 creative writing workbooks to his name. His current project is Eyes of the Nephilim, a supernatural thriller and his debut novel.Great thoughts and a pure heart, that is what we should ask from God. -Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheThe formation of one's character ought to be everyone's chief aim. -Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheI've made up stories since I can remember. In high-school I wrote poetry. In college I studied English, literature and theatre, and learned to perform stage magic. I took interest in music, photography, psychology and criminology. I traveled coast to coast, and worked in the Great Smoky Mountains and New England, collecting stories and experiences. I searched the world for what I wanted to do and realized I had been doing it all along! Using the gift that God has given me, I became a writer! EXAMPLES OF MY FICTION AND MY ESSAYS CAN BE VIEWED AT: MY WRITING PORTFOLIOThe future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. -Eleanor RooseveltSAMPLE CHAPTERS FROM MY NOVELS: . EYES OF THE NEPHILIM - CHAPTER ONE . EYES OF THE NEPHILIM - CHAPTER TWO . SEE NO EVIL - INTRO . SEE NO EVIL - PROLOGUE . The quality of life on this earth is dependent upon how we treat the rest of life on this earth -David AttenboroughMORE EXAMPLES OF MY WORK: . POETRY . THE JOURNEY (poem) . WANDERLUST (poem) . CREATION SPEAKS (Poem) . THE SACRED EARTH (Poem) . STILLNESS (poem) . ESSAYS . SANTA LIVES (essay) . YOU CAN'T CANCEL CHRISTMAS (essay) . SHORT STORIES . SUKI (short story) . SINGING DOWN THE SPRING (short story) . THE DAY GOD MADE TORTILLAS (short story) . IT WAS A SUNDAY MORNING (short story) . MY OTHER BLOG . ROMANCING THE MUSE (blog) .An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.MY PUBLISHED WORKS: . The following list is sketchy and doesn’t include everything…but almost everything. (I wasn’t the best at keeping records and dates on my earlier works.) . Newspaper Report: . One Nation Under God, Valley Christian News, 2001 . Short Stories: . A Failure to Communicate, WILD's The Writer's Block, Issue, #32 The Failure Issue . Bad Karma, WILD's The Writer's Block, The Mistaken Identity Issue . A Quest For Purpose, WILD's The Writer's Block, The Purpose Issue . The Day God Made Tortillas, WILD's The Writer's Block, Spring/Summer 2003 . Nemesis, The Face of Justice, WILD's The Writer's Block, Issue #33 The Heroic Issue . Friends Forever, Long Story Short, April 2008 . Poetry: . An Angel & A Demon Fell in Love, WILD's The Writer's Block, Strange Romance Issue . The Muse & I, WILD's The Writer's Block . It is Finished, RGV Christian Life, March 2002, later reprinted in WILD’s The Writer’s Block . Deny Self, RGV Christian Life, April 2002 . One Grain, RGV Christian Life, July 2002 . Through His Eyes, RGV Christian Life, September 2002 . His Hands, RGV Christian Life, October 2002 . Trivial Things, RGV Christian Life, November 2002 . Written in the Stars, RGV Christian Life, December 2002 . Testament, RGV Christian Life, May 2003 . Everything is Under Control, RGV Christian Life . Rain, The Pink Chameleon, Summer 2007 . Essays: . An Incurable Itch, Apollo's Lyre, Spring 2006 . What Rejections Mean to Me, Apollo's Lyre, Spring 2007 . Miracles, LIVE, June 24, 2007 . Books: . Revising and Editing Workbook, May the Fours Be with You, 2005 . Write Right Now Creative Writing Workbook, May the Fours Be with You (due out Fall 2008) .Let us not love in word and tongue, but in deed and truth. -1 John 3:18
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FREE IMAGE HOSTINGWhatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. -Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheI expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. -Stephen GrelletIf I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come. -Chinese Proverb
You Are 84% Gentleman
No doubt about it, you are a total gentleman.
You please the pickiest ladies, and you make everyone in a room feel comfortable. Are You A Gentleman?He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure. Doubt has killed more splendid projects, shattered more ambitious schemes, strangled more effective geniuses, neutralized more superb efforts, blasted more fine intellects, thwarted more splendid ambitions than any other enemy of the human race." -James AllenMY PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY (attributed to Budha):TEACH THIS TRIPLE TRUTH TO ALL: A GENEROUS HEART, KIND SPEECH, AND A LIFE OF SERVICE AND COMPASSION ARE THE THINGS WHICH RENEW HUMANITY.Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. -Buddha
Your Birthdate: May 18
You are a cohesive force - able to bring many people together for a common cause.
You tend to excel in work situations, but you also facilitate a lot of social gatherings too.
Beyond being a good leader, you are good at inspiring others.
You also keep your powerful emotions in check - you know when to emote and when to repress.
Your strength: Emotional maturity beyond your years
Your weakness: Wearing yourself down with too many responsibilities
Your power color: Crimson red
Your power symbol: Snowflake
Your power month: September What Does Your Birth Date Mean?If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give. -George MacDonaldMY DAILY CREED (by an anonymous poet):LET ME BE A LITTLE KINDER, LET ME BE A LITTLE BLINDER TO THE FAULTS OF THOSE ABOUT ME; LET ME PRAISE A LITTLE MORE; LET ME BE, WHEN I AM WEARY, JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE CHEERY; LET ME SERVE A LITTLE BETTER THOSE THAT I AM STRIVING FOR... LET ME BE A LITTLE BRAVER WHEN TEMPTATION BIDS ME WAVER; LET ME STRIVE A LITTLE HARDER TO BE ALL THAT I SHOULD BE; LET ME BE A LITTLE MEEKER WITH THE BROTHER THAT IS WEAKER; LET ME THINK MORE OF MY NEIGHBOR AND A LITTLE LESS OF ME.---------------Cherish your vision; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart. The beauty that forms in your mind. The loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts. If you remain true to them, your world will at last be built. -James Allen
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CLICK HEREOne thing to remember is to talk to the animals. If you do, they will talk back to you. But if you don't talk to the animals, they won't talk back to you, then you won't understand, and when you don't understand you will fear and when you fear you will destroy the animals, and if you destroy the animals, you will destroy yourself. -Chief Dan George
Your Animal Personality
Your Power Animal: Eagle
Animal You Were in a Past Life: Whale
You are active, a challenger, and optimistic.
Hard-working, you are always working towards a set goal. The Animal Personality Test
Your Power Bird is an Eagle
You are spiritual and able to soar to great heights.
You are a true inspiration, and many people look to you for guidance.
And you are quite demanding in relationships... but you're worth it.
People know that you will become even greater than you imagine. What's Your Power Bird?
You Were a Whale
You see the unseen and connect on the deepest level.
You help others find their soul's song. What Animal Were You In a Past Life?
Your Element Is Air
You dislike conflict, and you've been able to rise above the angst of the world.
And when things don't go your way, you know they'll blow over quickly.
Easygoing, you tend to find joy from the simple things in life.
You roll with the punches, and as a result, your life is light and cheerful.
You find it easy to adapt to most situations, and you're an open person.
With you, what you see is what you get... and people love that! What's Your Element?
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My Interests

Life is a promise; fulfill it. ~Mother TheresaFaith goes up the stairs love has built and looks out the window which hope has opened... -Charles SpurgeonReading, writing, poetry, acting, hiking, spending time in the great outdoors, and travel. What makes me who I am? Where do I get my personal philosophy? What makes me see life the way I do? Read MIRACLES and you will know.Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them. ~Nathaniel HawthorneISSUES THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO ME:Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart. -Kahlil GibranAMNESTY INTERNATIONALHUMAN RIGHTS WATCHGREENPEACE INTERNATIONALDEFENDERS OF WILDLIFEOCEANA.ORG -----BLUEVOICE.ORG -----CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITYBe the change you want to see in the world. - Mohandas Gandhi.

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Happiness comes when your work and words are of benefit to yourself and others. -BuddhaSave The World - One Click At A Time!

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Click here to post this on your page or 'blogWhen you reach the heart of life you shall find beauty in all things, even in the eyes that are blind to beauty. -Kahlil GibranDream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men. - Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
You Have Fantastic Karma
You are a kind, sensitive, and giving person.
And all your good deeds will pay off - if they haven't already.
But you're not so concerned with what you get in return anyway.
You have an innate caring nature - and nothing can change that! How's Your Karma?We are the leaves of one branch, the drops of one sea, the flowers of one garden. -Jean Baptiste Henry Lacordaire
Love expects no reward. Love knows no fear. Love Divine gives - does not demand. Love thinks no evil; imputes no motive. To Love is to share and serve. ~Sivananda

I'd like to meet:

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. -Matthew 22:39Writers, publishers, columnists, journalists, poets, novelists, literary agents, artists, actors, theatre people etc.We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another. -Luciano de Crescenzo

Music:

I'm a man of the '80s, and there are certain songs that take me back.I love music that moves me! I grew up in a musical family, so I like all kinds of music: Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Andrea Bocelli, Karisa Winett, Native American flute, Acoustic, classic rock etc. There is music in the sounds of nature: bird songs, rolling thunder, rain, and the waves of the sea.There's music in the sighing of a reed; There's music in the gushing of a rill; There's music in all things, if men had ears: Their earth is but an echo of the spheres. ~Lord Byron

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Movies:

The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, The Chronicles of Narnia, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, 8 Below, Snow Dogs, The Maltese Falcon, Volcano, Dante's Peak, Twister, Day After Tomorrow, Next of Kin, the Godzilla movies, Pirates of the Caribbean, Sherlock Holmes movies, U.S. Marshals

Television:

Anything on Animal Planet or SciFi. My DVD collection includes seasons of CSI, Dark Angel, and Firefly. Others shows not in my collection include the Dresden Files, Doctor Who, Andromeda, Criminal Minds, Law & Order, Las Vegas, Bones, and Numbers.
You are Derrial Book (Shepherd) Derrial Book (Shepherd) 90% Malcolm Reynolds (Captain) 70% Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic) 70% Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic) 65% Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command) 60% River (Stowaway) 50% Wash (Ship Pilot) 45% Inara Serra (Companion) 40% Jayne Cobb (Mercenary) 40% Alliance 40% A Reaver (Cannibal) 15% Even though you are holy
you have a mysterious past.
Click here to take the Serenity Firefly Personality Test

Books:

Anything by :Frank Peretti, Stephen King, James Byron Huggins, James Patterson, Jeffrey Deaver, Agatha Christie, Mickey Spillane, Arthur Conan Doyle etc. My bookshelves are packed with mysteries, thrillers, true crime and books on forensics. I also have a large collection of back issues of Ellery Queen's and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazines. Another row of shelves contain the classics: Poe, Hawthorne, Alcott, Thoreau, Whitman, Dickinson, Emerson, and Frost. And I can't forget Charles Dickens, Mark Twain and William Shakespeare among others. I love to read and a love of reading leads to a love of writing! As Stephen King wrote in his book "On Writing": Reading is the creative center of a writer's life.


You're A Prayer for Owen Meany!
by John Irving
Despite humble and perhaps literally small beginnings, you inspire faith in almost everyone you know. You are an agent of higher powers, and you manifest this fact in mysterious and loud ways. A sense of destiny pervades your every waking moment, and you prepare with great detail for destiny fulfilled. When you speak, IT SOUNDS LIKE THIS!
Take the Book Quiz at the Blue Pyramid .

Heroes:

First and foremost is Jesus Christ; Steve Irwin, a true wildlife warrior, he had a message for the world; Shaun Ellis for his revolutionary work with wolves; J.K. Rowling, who got thousands of kids to turn off their video games and start reading books which is an incredible accomplishment; Pope John Paul III; and of course my father, the Reverend Ray G. Farris, whose life impacted so many others.Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither store-house nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? -Luke 12:24
MyHotComments :: HotFreeLayoutsConsider the lillies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you? -Luke 12:27,28
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My Blog

The Taj Mahal Review

This year started out with a long list of rejections and discouragements, and I came to realize just what it meant to say, "Writing can sometimes be hard work."  Writing is enjoyable, but marketi...
Posted by J.P. Farris on Mon, 07 Apr 2008 01:04:00 PST

NaPoWriMo

It is NaPoWriMo and I’ve been too preoccupied to realize it until now.  What is NaPoWriMo?  Like NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), NaPoWriMo is National Poetry Writing Month wh...
Posted by J.P. Farris on Sun, 06 Apr 2008 08:34:00 PST

Count Your Blessings

We live in a world full of pressures and anxieties.  I don’t know how many people I’ve talked to that haven’t had at least some kind of anxiety attack sometime in their lives.&n...
Posted by J.P. Farris on Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:14:00 PST

Im doing the Dance of Joy!

Last year I wrote a short story for the RenPen Rennaisance Club Short Story Contest.  I called it "Max and the Marvelous Miracle Mincemeat Pie".  As the title suggests it was about a pie with magical ...
Posted by J.P. Farris on Tue, 25 Mar 2008 09:12:00 PST

How I Write

     If your life’s calling is to write there is no one certain way to work that is set in stone.  Some writers write in the early morning; some work during the midnight...
Posted by J.P. Farris on Sun, 16 Mar 2008 03:11:00 PST

Media Release for "FRIEND’S FOREVER"

M E D I A R E L E A S E FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: J.P. Farris E-mail: [email protected] LONG STORY SHORT Writing Site Honors Local J.P. Farris Author's story Alamo, T...
Posted by J.P. Farris on Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:38:00 PST

Its never too late for a lifestyle change!

I often use A Creative Writer's Kit by Judy Reeves.  Besides daily writing prompts it includes inspirational quotes and cards for writing practice instruction and inspiration.  One card in p...
Posted by J.P. Farris on Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:46:00 PST

Im back and writing again!

Stroke!  The word made my heart sink and filled me with dread.  Mom had always been the one to hold the household together and to hear that she had a stroke was unfathomable.  We took h...
Posted by J.P. Farris on Sat, 01 Mar 2008 12:21:00 PST

I may be away for a couple of days!

My Mom had a minor stroke on Valentine's Day.  She is doing a lot better and should be leaving the ICU this afternoon.  She should be back on her feet in no time.   In fact, s...
Posted by J.P. Farris on Sat, 16 Feb 2008 12:26:00 PST

Music & Memoirs

A couple of months ago I attended my twenty year high-school reunion.  I've been reminiscing about high-school and remembering a kid who was known for writing poetry.  He expressed himself t...
Posted by J.P. Farris on Wed, 13 Feb 2008 08:03:00 PST