Once Upon A Time: A Collection of Unexpected Fairytales

Once Upon A time: A Collection of Unexpected Fairytales, collected by S. J. I. Holliday and edited by Anna Meade, is finally available for purchase! My husband Robert's story and my story are both included in this collection of flash fiction fairytales.  It includes 89 fairytales that are each 350 words or less, and I can't wait to get my copy!


I am told that the proceeds will be going to a charity. I will update here as soon as I find out which one.


Doesn't this cover look great?




These flash fiction fairytales are a great way to add some magic to your day in small increments of time. Each one is a quick and easy read, great for reading while waiting for an appointment or while sitting on a bus. Actually, they are great to read whenever you have small snippets of time. As a busy mom to small children, I like flash fiction stories because I actually have time to read one or two before being interrupted by one of the children.

And I must admit, I love having my story published!


Here's where you can buy your copy of it in paperback:



Tweet

Writing: Critique Groups

This is my post for Day 10 of the Author Blog Challenge.



NaNoWriMo 2011 group meet-up

Have you participated in a critique groups? If so, how did it work out for you? If not, why have you avoided them to this point?

It is only recently that I started seeking out critique groups. I've participated in NaNoWriMo for three years now and been a municiple liaison for my region for the last two of those years. In November of 2011, our meet-ups progressed into forming a critique group called Swindon Free Writers which meets up the first Saturday of every month. It has actually been very helpful for me in showing me where my weaknesses are in my writing and where my strengths are.

I also joined the 12 x 12 in 2012 picture book writing challenge this year, and through the Facebook group, joined a critique group of about 6 people. It has helped me immensely as it showed me just how little I knew about writing picture books and has really helped me to step up my game when it comes to writing picture books. I have learned so much through the challenge and the critique group.

Also, in the Chapter Book Challenge, a lot of us got together in the Facebook group and started sending our stories to one another for critique, ideas and general support. I'm happy to say that one of our members has signed her book series up with an agent now, and, having read her story, I know it is good and I have every belief that we will be seeing her book available to buy on the shelves very soon!

I do believe that, with all of the writing that I am trying to get done, I sometimes take too long to get to the critiques I owe the members of my critique groups. It takes time to give a decent critique of someone's writing. And you need to know enough on the genre they are writing in to be of any help with your critique.

You also need a thick skin. Some of the critiques you get back from people will not be what you want to hear. Most of the time though, I find that my critique partners tell me the things I expect to hear, things that I am already aware I need to work on in the story, so they help me to confirm my own writer-instincts.

Tweet

Writing: Alternate Realities and Fiction Verses Non-Fiction

This is my post for Day 9 of the Author Blog Challenge.



   If your book is fiction, how could you change it to make it a nonfiction book? If your book is nonfiction, what could you do to turn it into a story? Hollywood has done it (What to expect When You’re Expecting; He’s Just Not That Into You), so how could you do the same thing?

Several of the books I am writing are fiction. I really don't see how any of them could become nonfiction, unless we lived in an alternate reality where vampires, werewolves, fairies and other mythical creatures existed. I fn this were the case, I suppose I would be writing non-fiction book swith titles such as "How to avoid being eaten by vampires or turning into one" or "How to date a werewolf" or "How to begin living a magical life in the world of the fae."  But we don't live in that alternate reality, so my stories will continue to be fiction.

My non-fiction book about living a healthy lifestyle, titled Skinny Dreaming (after my blog of that name) could become a fiction story if it was based around a woman trying to lose weight and change her life, but I'd probably have to throw some humorous encounters and a romance in there somewhere to make it more interesting as a fiction piece. (And the character would have to be very different from me as I am not very funny.)

But the truth is, neither my fiction stories or my non-fiction book are meant to be anythign other than what they are. And that's how I like them.

Tweet

Writing: Research Verses Imagination

This is my post for Day 8 of the Author Blog Challenge.


   Describe the research process for your book. Did you interview people? Travel? How prominent a role did the Internet play? If you didn’t do new research, how did you learn what you needed to know to write your book?

My books are fiction, and they are not set in the real world, although they are meant to seem as if they are, indeed, a part of the real world. They all have elements of the paranormal and magical in them, so instead of research, I have to rely very heavily on imagination. I do research fantasy creatures and myths, depending on the story I am writing. If I am writing a story with wiccans in it, I will research ingredients for spells and the different properties in those ingredients. If I am writing a story with a character who is a strict Catholic, I will research the religion in order to get my portrayal of the character right. If I am writing a story about vampires, I will research the folklore regarding vampires. But after the research is done, imagination takes over; otherwise my creatures would be just like everyone else's.

I do read a lot of novels in the genre I write. It helps to generate ideas. It helps me to see current trends in the genre. It helps me to see what works in the genre and what doesn't work. I don't think anyone should write in a genre that they rarely or never read. You have to have love for a subject to be able to write really passionately about it, and if your novel doesn't have passion, your readers won't feel moved by it.

In contrast, in the non-fiction book I am writing on health and weight loss, I am conducting a lot of research on the topic, along with interviewing others who, like me, have managed to lose a large amount of weight and keep it off. I am reading research papers and medical journals on the topic as well. If I want this book to be helpful and informative, then I need to make sure I know as much about the topic as I possibly can. I have lived a healthy lifestyle, lost over 145 lbs of excess fat and maintained the weight loss through a healthy diet and exercise regime, which accounts for part of my research - research through living it - but I owe it to my readers to keep them as informed as possible on not just my own knowledge of the subject, but on the current knowledge from the experts.

Tweet

Believing

This is my post for Day 2 of the 15 Habits of Great Writers challenge.

 

The Day 2 challenge for the 15 Habits of Great Writers (Day 2) is to get up 2 hours earlier so I can spend the extra time writing. That's completely impractical for me, because I get up when my children do, which tends to be around 5:00am, but ion the rare occasions that I wake up before the children, the very instant they hear me up and about, they get up too. In fact, it doesn't matter how quiet I am as I step out of my room, my youngest seems to have a built-in sensor that alerts him the moment my eyes have opened.

 

So I've decided on a compromise. I rarely get time away from the children to write, and the whole point of getting up 2 hours earlier than normal would be to give me uninterrupted writing time. So, with that in mind, I am taking my eldest daughter's offer and letting her take me out to Starbuck's for coffee and a marathoin writing session. (She's participating in Camp NaNoWriMo right now.)


I'm sure I will be able to carve out two hours of quiet and concentrated writing time from this.


The thing is, I already believe in myself as a writer. Yes, I have moments of weakness and self-doubt, but even when I doubt myself, I know that, as long as I keep at it, I will eventually achieve my writing goals. So I have been regularly carving time out from each day to spend writing.


Sometimes, my children interrupt me. Sometimes my husband starts to feel left out because I spend my free time writing. Usually, my housework doesn't get completed. But I have a goal and I know, from the experience of losing over 145 pounds of excess fat, that as long as I keep working at my goal and keep it as a priority, I will succeed.


So yes, I believe.


Do you?

Tweet

Writing: Outlining & Organization

This is my post for Day 7 of the Author Blog Challenge.



 

Describe your outline process for your book. What do you do to stay organized?


*huge pause while I laugh my rear end off*  Oh, wait! You're serious with this question? *sits and ponders how to answer*


My name and the word "organized" are pretty much opposites. In fact, if you look up "disorganized" in the dictionary, you will probably see my name.  The first time I even got close to finishing a novel I was writing was during NaNoWriMo in 2009. I started that novel with a firm idea of who and what and nothing more. Then I write all of it by the seat of my pants.

It's not the most effective method of writing a novel. That novel is still sitting at around 60,000 words with no ending in sight. Without an outline, it's easy to get stuck. This is a bit of a problem for me, because sometimes the way I start a novel is by sitting down to write with no idea what I am going to write until my hands start typing up a story.


I used to think an outline would be too restrictive. But I am now learning that an outline can be loose and flexible and still help me get to where I need to be with my writing - a finished novel.

An outline would probably also help with continuity issues. In that first novel, I had a character who was introduced as having gone a little bit crazy due to all of her years being treated as though she already was, but as the novel continued, I realized that I had normalized her too much; she didn't act the way that she had been described in the beginning. Notations made in an outline would have helped with that as I wrote the story so that I would not have needed to go back and change several scenes in the novel involving her.

My answer to the above question is that I am not organized and I do not have an outline process for my book, but I am working on it. (If anyone reading this has an outlining process that works particularly well for them, I would love to hear about it in the comments.)



Tweet

Writing: The Journey of Inspiration

This is my post for Day 6 of the Author blog Challenge.




Where were you when the idea for your book was initially ignited? Who was the first person you told? How did they respond?

The answer for these questions really depends entirely on which book is being asked about. I am currently writing three paranormal romances that were inspired by very vivid, movie-like dreams. I started writing one of them during National Novel Writing Month in 2009, the second one during NaNoWriMo in 2010 and the third one during NaNoWriMo in 2011. I told my husband about the stories, and we often discussed my stories during our late night walks when we took our dog out. He helped me brainstorm whenever I struggled with parts of the stories.

I am also currently writing three paranormal YA novels. These were inspired, in part, by the first three novels mentioned above. They were also inspired by the fact that I have teenage daughters, which gives me a constant look into the lives of teenage thinking. All of my teenage daughters want to read the books.


I am also currently working on three chapter books for children. Like the other novels I am writing, these too have a paranormal twist. I wanted to write something that my 9 year old daughter would enjoy reading. She is very excited about the idea of these books and can't wait to read them.

I am also writing more than four children's picture books. I cannot draw at all, so someone else will have to illustrate them when I finish them. The first one was inspired by my children and the fact that I have a large family. It has a subtle message for children of large families.  The second one came to me when I lost a lot of weight and started living a healthier lifestyle. It has a not-so-subtle message about the importance of living a life that helps you to be healthy and strong. The third one came to me when I was looking at a fairy figurine that my daughter had just been given. It has a subtle message about being happy in the life you have now. There is a fourth one that came to me while writing one of my blogs about believing in yourself and being capable of transforming yourself or your life.

I'm beginning a blog-to-book idea that has to do with health and weight loss. It is an idea that came to me through a suggestion, the same suggestion being suggested to me by three different people. I am still working out the kinks of the idea for this one though, so it is in very early stages. My husband was one fo the people that gave me the suggestion.

I always talk to my husband about my stories. He is wonderfully supportive most of the time and he just hopes I finish my stories soon.



Tweet

Writing: Seeing Ourselves in Fictional Characters

This is my post for #Day 5 of the Author Blog Challenge.




Who is your favorite literary character? With which literary character do you most relate?

Oh no! Not another "what is your favorite" question! I am terrible at these types of questions as I don't really have a favorite; I like too many characters to ever choose.

Now, if I had to say the one that comes to mind who is the most like me, I would have to say Molly Weasley from J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. The similarity is mostly superficial though. I am a redhead. I have seven children, and I would do anything, including put my own life at risk, to keep my children safe and happy. I also have a tendency to mother my children's friends.

Now if only I shared her ability to perform magic! Maybe, just maybe I'd then be able to keep my house clean. That is one area that she and I differ on even more than the ability to perform magic: domesticity. I am a mother who would do anything for her children, and I'd like to think that I am doing a good job in raising my children, BUT I detest housecleaning. My house is cluttered and messy and probably dusty as that's another thing I don't like spending time on. I do laundry because it has to be done. I vacuum and clean the dishes because those things have to be done. I even pick up toys frequently, because there are so many in my house that, if I didn't tidy them up often, I'd be tripping over them most of the time.

But I am not "house proud." People don't admire how pristine my home is or how well decorated it looks. My bookshelves are cluttered with books, knick-knacks and paper. My counters are cluttered with more paper and probably books too. The one word that would best describe my house is "cluttered."

I do cook, but I'd rather spend my time writing, playing with my children, taking walks and living life than worry about having the perfect home.

Do I wish I had better habits when it comes it keeping my home spotless and presentable. Sometimes. But this is me.

Too bad I can't just magic it clean!

Tweet

Writing: To Read or Not to Read in the Genre You Write

This is for Day 4 of the Author Blog Challenge.





How do the things you read impact your writing? What do you love to read? What do you avoid reading at all costs? How would your writing change if you read more of the things you typically avoid?


I'd like to think that the things I read help to broaden my vocabulary and my knowledge of different places, vernacular, customs, history and more. Finding things I love to read helps me to find different styles of writing and different voices that I enjoy.


I read everything, from how-to books to romances to paranormal to science fiction to horror to historical to fantasy to literary fiction to...well, you get the idea. I read it all. But I will readily admit that, lately, I gravitate more toward paranormal and YA. This is probably because whenever I sit down to write, these are the genres that come out of me. I read them more frequently now with my own stories always in the back of my mind as I read. It helps to see what works in the stories I am reading and what doesn't.


I have never limited myself as to what style or genre I read, so I don't think there would be much change to my writing by reading other genres. In fact, I have never avoided reading anything specific. I suppose, as in most cases, the more variety a person reads, the broader their knowledge base is when they sit down to write.

If you were to ask me why I am drawn to stories in the paranormal genre, I would have to say that maybe it is because I like to escape. Reading about fantastical worlds and powerful beings is so far from the reality of day to day life that it provides a fascinating and fun escape. And because the paranormal has so many different aspects to work with, there are no limits to what I can write about within the paranormal world.

Tweet

Writing: Mentors

This is for Day 3 of the Author Blog Challenge.

Who are the writers you most admire? Who are your writing mentors?

This has always been a difficult question for me to answer. I don't read any particular writer exclusively and I don't find any one specific writer someone I want to aspire to become. I read all different genres of writing and  all different styles and voices. There are so many wonderful writers out there that it is impossible to choose even just a few as influences on me or as specific writers that I admire.

I guess, lately, I am most impressed with my indie writing friends who are getting their stories out there, marketing them all by themselves and being successful. I read their novels and am impressed that they have managed to produce such fabulous writing without the aid of publishing houses or marketing money, and I am most impressed with the fact that they believe in themselves and their writing enough to find a way to put it out there for public consumption.

Tweet

Writing: The Path of Learning

This is in response the Author Blog Challenge #2 writing prompt.





What kinds of classes, programs, or workshops have you taken to hone your skill as a writer? What sorts of exercises did/do you use to improve your craft? Have you ever taught a writing class or workshop?

Other than always being fascinated with writing stories and poems ever since I was a child, the only actual training I had for writing was during my university education when I studied English for my BA. Although I have always wanted to take workshops to help hone my craft, I have always been short on one thing that was necessary for taking the courses, and that one thing was money to pay for them.


I have joined a writing group here in my area where we are helping each other with monthly critiques. And I have started writing short stories to help me get the practice I need while I am simultaneously writing my lengthier novels. I also read advice on writing in magazines and blogs regularly.

I have never taught a writing class or workshop, but, as a mom who actively works with her children to make sure that they practice writing and learn to love the craft, I used to run weekly "clubs" in my own home for my children and their friends. They would write short stories or poems, based on prompts I would give them. Then the stories or poems would be read aloud by me, kept completely anonymous during the reading, and everyone would vote on their favorite story or poem (not being allowed to vote for their own). The winner of the evenings writing usually won a chocolate or similar treat.

Surprisingly, my children and their friends really loved coming to our writing clubs. And I think it did have some benefit as I have one daughter who has already finished her first novel and is beginning her second one, one daughter who has written over 600 poems this year alone, and another daughter who is writing several short stories. (I am still working with my younger children although we don't hold the writing club anymore. I am considering starting it up again for them and their friends though.)

Tweet

Writing: My Beginning Through Now

This is in response to the first writing prompt from the Author Blog Challenge.




Describe your earliest memory of writing? How did your writing habit/process/career develop?


I remember very clearly writing stories as a child. I would sit at my desk and write page after page of whatever story I felt like putting to the page. When I was about 10 years old, my best friend and I started writing stories to share with one another, taking turns writing a story each week. (She still has some of those saved after all of these years!)

My dad and my grandpa often told me they thought I should become a writer and that they were very proud of my writing ability, and I think they helped to spark the idea of becoming a writer way back when I was very young.


Looking back at a piece of writing I did after our family pet (a cat named Bibsy) died, I had written a story about a little girl who kept finding animals to take home and keep as her pets, but the animals would each die before she would find another one. I guess that, even as a child, writing helped me to work through the sadness of losing my pet.

In junior high, when I was around 11 years old, a teacher of mine sent in a poem I had written to a competition. There were no financial prizes for it, but my poem was one of 100 to be selected for publication in the poetry anthology. I remember being very proud of that achievement.

My love of writing is the reason I majored in English and eventually got my BA in English. But the studies for getting my degree seemed to take some of the joy out of reading and writing from me. Writing critical analysis of the classics and delving into the methodology of the different eras became boring to me after a while. It lacked the creative spark that I needed to keep me interested. I did well in my classes, but I needed something more.

So many little things sparked my desire to be a writer, but it took many, many years before I started trying in earnest to write. I think the reason it took me so long is that a part of me really didn't have the confidence to believe in myself and in my ability to succeed. I didn't believe I was good enough.

That all changed when I decided it was time to take control of my health and lost over 145 pounds of excess fat. It was an achievement that I had once thought was impossible. The fact that I set my sights on such an insurmountable goal and then achieved it helped to confirm in my mind that I am capable of achieving anything that I strive toward.

I started blogging about my weight loss along the way and it re-sparked my love for writing. So once I reached a healthy BMI and got to my goal weight, I decided to focus on making another dream of mine come true, my dream of becoming a writer. I was approached by a magazine to write articles for them for parents wanting to help their children live healthy lifestyles and became a regular writer for the magazine in 2010.

I joined National Novel Writing Month for the first time in November of 2009. I managed to complete a little bit over the 50,000 word count that was required for "winning" the challenge, and it thrilled me that I had been able to do so much writing in such a short amount of time. I joined NaNoWriMo again in 2010, "winning" again while also becoming a municiple liaison for my region and then I joined again in 2011. In 2011, I managed to write 50,000 words in just 2 weeks, and completed over 75,000 words during the month of November.

All of this helped me to believe in myself more, and in 2012, I joined the 12 x 12 in 2012 picture book writing challenge, started and hosted the first Chapter Book Challenge and have now joined the Author Blog Challenge. I've made a list of competitions and story submission deadlines to attempt each month of the year during 2012 and I have written more short stories than in any previous year. I completed my chapter book for the Chapter Book Challenge, but I am still revising it before I will be ready start to send it off to publishers. I am even attempting to write a non-fiction book this year. I have one short story that will be published soon in an anthology of unusual fairytales called "Once Upon a Time."

I can not be certain that I will be published much this year or even that my goals will succeed in 2012, but I can be certain that I am working towards my goals and that the more I focus on my goals and take strides in the right direction, the closer those goals are coming to being realized.


Tweet

Princess Parade Flash Fiction Contest

I'm running a little contest on one of my other blogs, Princess Parade.  It is the Princess Parade Flash Fiction Contest. There is a prize for 1st place, bought and sent by me. It's in protest against some of the drivel published as stories about princesses for little girls. It can be written for adults or kids but needs to be family-friendly. Find out more about it and the details of submitting over here.

Don't you want the chance to write something that paints its female protagonist as stong, confident and ready to take on the world?

Tweet

First Day of NaNoWriMo!

50,000 words in 30 days means I have to write about 1,667 words a day. I have accomplished 1,788 words today! Yay me!

I honestly wasn't sure I could do it, but I am so pleased that I did! And it's shown me that I CAN do this! Yes, what I've written so far is probably rubbish. But it's written.

And it's more writing than I've done on my novels in a long time.

How are you doing on Day 1?