Initiative

This is my post for Day 3 of the 15 Habits of Great Writers challenge.



  The challenge: Choose yourself. Then, I want you to start something you’re scared of.

I am already doing this. Joining a critique group was scary. Letting others read my stories (in the critique group and here on the blog) was scary.  Submitting my stories to competitions was scary. Letting my family read my stories was scary. (I have a lot of writers in my immediate family.) Letting my friends read my stories was scary.

I promised myself that I would spend this year writing, improving my writing and sharing my writing.  Until this year, I never shared my writing with anyone, with the exception of my blog posts. I was too afraid that my writing wasn't worthwhile and that people would think less of me because I wasn't good enough.  I still struggle with self-doubt. I still think, when someone makes a nice comment about something I wrote, that they might just be trying to be kind.

I know I still have a lot to learn when it comes to my writing. I want my novels published and out there already, but I know they aren't ready yet. That's why I have started writing short stories. Some of my short stories are better than others, but I am sharing them and finding out what people think, and, hopefully, learning something about my writing in the process.


And the best part about all of this writing and sharing of my writing is that I am starting to find my voice.

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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.

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Lise & Nat: The Sun & the Night - a flash fiction story for the Forbidden Love Blog Hop

This is written for the Forbidden Love Blog Hop. This flash fiction challenge is stated as:

The phrase 'star-crossed lovers' was coined in the prologue of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet:

"From forth the fatal loins of these two foes,
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life"

We're leaving the term open to interpretation.

You can put your own spin on a classic story

Create a modern retelling

Craft your very own modern star-crossed lovers.

Plus, you can close your story with any ending you like. Give your lovers a set of matching tombstones or a running chance at Happily Ever After. Their fate is in your hands!

It has to be 300 words or less.

Lyse & Nat:
A Story of a Forbidden Love Between a Fairy of the Sun & a Creature of the Night

300 words

Lise was a child of the Sun.  Its warmth and radiance favored her species of fairy, and she reveled in its light. One day, she was so engrossed in dancing and playing that the night fell upon her before she even realized it was getting late. Startled by the darkness creeping up and weakened from the lack of the Sun’s rays, she turned for home but found her way blocked.

A tall figure stood before her. His skin was pale and his eyes were dark. He wore all black, shrouding himself in a cloak of shadows. He smiled at her and she stared at the fangs peeking out from his smile.

She knew about vampires. Just as her fae kind could enchant and ensnare humans, these blood-drinking dark counterparts could also capture human minds through enchantment. Lise tried to move past the vampire, but tripped on a stone and stumbled.

His strong arms caught her, keeping her from falling. She lifted her gaze to his. Instantly, they were both ensnared in each other’s enchanted gazes. They kissed and sat speaking for hours. Lise learned that the vampire’s name was Nat. Nat learned that Lise loved to dance. They soon fell in love.

Before long, the Sun began to rise and Lise realized that her  beloved Nat was suffering. He could not live in her sun-filled world and she, a creature of the Sun, could not live in his eternal night. She cried out to her beloved Sun to help her but the Sun refused.

The spirit of the Forest heard her pleas and took pity on her. The Forest transformed Lise and Nat into oak trees, with their roots and branches forever entwined.  They would be together forever as trees, nourished by the sunlight yet never harmed by the night.

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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?

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A Siren's Tears - a flash fiction story for the Forbidden Love blog hop

This is written for the Forbidden Love Blog Hop. This flash fiction challenge is stated as:

The phrase 'star-crossed lovers' was coined in the prologue of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet:

"From forth the fatal loins of these two foes,
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life"

We're leaving the term open to interpretation.

You can put your own spin on a classic story

Create a modern retelling

Craft your very own modern star-crossed lovers.

Plus, you can close your story with any ending you like. Give your lovers a set of matching tombstones or a running chance at Happily Ever After. Their fate is in your hands!

It has to be 300 words or less.

The Siren’s Tears

295 words

Princess Lenora often ventured near the ocean’s surface, rescuing sea creatures from fishing nets. One day fate intervened by placing him in her path. She had been tearing a fishing net apart, freeing the fish that were caught, when the net started rising to the surface.

She followed, completing her rescue just as she crested the surface of the ocean and that’s when she saw him.  He was one of the fishermen. His skin was bronzed from the sun and he had dark hair that fell loosely across his face, framing his warm brown eyes.

He didn’t move or call to the others, though, by the way he was staring, it was clear he could see her. She felt a strange warmth enter her heart and felt almost as if her heart would burst with the sudden feelings that filled it for this man before her.

She knew they were meant to be together, and, before she could even think about what she was doing, she began to sing. It was one of the old songs, one that had never been taught to her but had come to her now instinctually.

Unable to resist her charmed singing, her beautiful man climbed overboard, leaping from his tiny fishing vessel and into the water. She took him in her arms and, grabbing his hand, she led him below the surface. After a short while, she felt his grip in her hand go slack. She stopped swimming and turned to him.

His eyes stared unseeing into the distance. His breath had stopped moments ago and his heart had stopped beating along with it. Princess Lenora wept in sorrow at the loss of her love, and as her heart broke into pieces, she joined him in his watery death.

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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.)



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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.



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I am a writer

This is my post for Day 1 of the 15 Habits of Great Writers challenge.



  
I am participating in Jeff Goins' 15 Habits of Great Writers, and the first challenge is to declare that I am a writer. I do not find this challenge all that difficult. I already see myself as a writer. I write on my blogs frequently. I write health articles for a monthly magazine. I am writing children's stories and Young Adult novels and even a self-help book.

My novels and my self-help book aren't finished and have not been published yet, but that doesn't make me any less a writer. If I stopped writing, then I would no longer be able to call myself a writer. If I stopped believing in my abilities as a writer, stopped learning and improving and gave up my pen (metaphorically speaking), then I would have no right to the title of "writer."

But I am never going to do that, so here I am, a writer still striving to write something great, still hoping to share what I have written and maybe entertain someone or help them in some way.

I have too many stories in my head that want me to write them to ever give up writing.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.)

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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.


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Wood Sprite - a flash fiction entry to The Faerytaleish Pinterest Contest

I entered another flash fiction contest. This one is by Anna Meade from Yearning for Wonderland. Anna has some "fairytaleish" pins and the challenge for this contest is to write a short story inspired by one of the Faerytaleish pins (300 words or less) and post in on my blog.

Here is the picture I chose to write a story for, originally pinned by Heather Sutherlin.



 

Wood  Sprite

The cold seeped into my bones, making my teeth chatter. I pulled my coat tighter around me and continued to walk. My campsite was around here somewhere. I had just intended to take a short, refreshing walk through the woods, but I must have traveled further than I meant to as I was having difficulty finding my way back. I wasn’t worried though. I knew if I kept walking in this general direction, I’d find the campsite again.

A movement to my right caught my eye. Something on the tree had moved. I stepped closer to get a better look. At first, I thought the tiny wooden stick with leaves on it that twitched slightly as I neared was just one of those stick insects I’d seen on a nature program once.

But then a tiny little face turned towards me, with eyes that sparked with intelligence, and I realized that I was very wrong. It had a vaguely humanoid body and tiny leaf-like wings. I somehow knew it was female. Her eyes were almond-shaped. I could hear a faint hum coming from her; it had a musical quality to it, a haunting but unfamiliar melody that felt as though it was moving through me.

When her face turned towards me, I looked into her eyes and I couldn’t look away.  Thoughts and images poured into my brain as if being projected there; the life and vibrancy of the forest around me filled me with warmth and knowledge. I was filled with purpose and knew that this forest and all of the life in it had to be protected.

She flew away, but her message stayed with me. I knew that my brief encounter with this magical creature had forever altered and expanded my view of the world.

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Mother Lioness - a flash fiction story for National Flash Fiction Day

I write a quick flash fiction story in honor of National Flash Fiction Day. The original story was 784 words long, but I was attempting to write a 500 word flash fiction story so I cut it down to 502 words.

My powers came to me very suddenly.

I took my three kids with me to the park while walking the dog for his evening walk. After a few minutes, Jasper, our collie, stopped suddenly, his body completely still as he stared forward at something I couldn’t see. The fur on his back slowly started to rise until it stood straight up and a low growl emanated from him. The kids didn’t notice any of this and skipped right past us, unaware anything was wrong.

That was the first time Jasper spoke to me, although I didn’t realize it was him at the time.

“Danger!” a decidedly male voice shouted in my head, and I instinctually heeded it.

“Katie, Callum, Jenny, get back here!” I shouted as I ran towards them. I didn’t know what the danger was, only that there was something dangerous ahead.

As I got close enough to my children to pull them close to me, three men came around the corner. Their eyes were deep red. Their skin was pale and I definitely glimpsed fangs on one of them. Of course, back then, I thought vampires were just fictional characters in books, so I had no idea what I was actually looking at. I didn’t need to know what they were to sense that they were dangerous.

Jasper was standing beside us, hackles raised, that low menacing growl still emanating from him, and I heard again, “Dangerous! Must protect!” (Dogs think in very simple terms.)

The vampires were looking at my children hungrily and moving towards us purposefully. That’s when my first shapeshifting occurred. The shapeshifting was almost seamless. One minute, I was noticing claws sprouting from my fingers and the next I was on all four, covered in fur, feeling powerful and very angry.

I pounced on the vampire closest to me, and with one bite, I crushed his skull. He disintegrated then and there.  I kept my cubs, I mean, my kids behind me and used a paw to strike out at one of the remaining  two vampires. I was pretty powerful in lioness form, judging by the five feet I knocked him back.

Jasper was biting the leg of the other vampire, shouting, “Kill! Kill!” I told him to let go, and he did. The two vampires immediately took the reprieve to get up and run away. My animal instinct made me desperately want to chase them, but I had my kids to protect so I stayed where I was.

My children were excited, having seen my transformation and stroked my back all the way home. We probably got some strange stares from people on that walk home, three kids and a dog walking beside a lion. Once home, I changed back into myself.

I thought that this was my new reality and accepted it. But then one day Katy, my oldest, turned herself into a cat right in front of me and I knew that we were all in for a crazy adventure.

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Lucky 7 Meme - from "Thinning of the Veil"

I've been selected for another Lucky 7 Meme, and as I am currently working on several different novels, I can pick and choose which ones I share for this one. Meg McNulty in her blog From Darcy to Dionysus is the lovely lady who tagged me.

How does it work?

1. Go to page 7 or 77 of your current MS/WIP
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next 7 lines, sentences or paragraphs and post them as they are written.
4. Tag 7 authors and let them know.

I'm sharing 7 lines from "Thinning of the Veil," one of my current works-in-progress.
 

She had a very large volume in front of her.  The pages were yellowed with age and the binding was an old, weathered leather with very intricate patterns scrolled all over it.

“According to this, there is a veil between our world and the worlds of other dimensions.  Usually, no one on either side can see or feel anything from the other side of the veil.  Some people have a natural born gift for sensing things on the other side though, which is where we get mediums, clairvoyants and others like them.  There are places where the veil is thinner, and that’s where we get ghost stories from.  Where the veil is thinner, people sometimes glimpse things from the other side, from one or another of many different dimensions.”

I'm going to copy Meg's method of choosing the lucky 7 who I will pass this along to by choosing friends from the #ouatwriting and #storycraft conversations on Twitter.

Jane Isaac - @JaneIsaacAuthor
Susi Holliday - @SJIHoliday
Anna Meade - @ruanna3
Jeff Tsuruoka - @jtsuruoka
Dionne Lister - @dionnelister
Ang - @ang_writes

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Call of the Siren - Form & Genre Challenge 14 #FGC2012

This is my entry into the Form & Genre Challenge #14 at Write Anything. The challenge was to write a 1,500 word story in the first person point of view. This was a departure from the usual for me as I normally write in third person. I have to say that I enjoyed writing this though. I hope you enjoy reading it! Please leave a comment below and let me know what you think. And if you like my story, please vote for it when the voting is open!

Call of the Siren

I felt sand under my hands and grating against my cheek as the darkness lifted from my consciousness. My hair was wet and I could feel every grain of sand against my naked body as though I was lying against sandpaper. My head throbbed and I tried to stand but a wave of dizziness washed over me and I lay still again.

I could hear the ocean’s waves somewhere behind me, and the salty tang of the sea drifted by on the wind. I was still at the beach, but how did I end up like this? The last thing I remembered was finding a private section on the beach where I could lay and relax on my beach towel without being disturbed. I’d brought along my notepad and pen and was hoping the quiet would help me find my muse. I had a deadline approaching and a story to write.

Somewhere from the back of my mind, through the fog of a distorted memory, a face swam into view. I remembered seeing someone. He had walked up to me and asked me about my writing. He had wanted to know about the story I was working on. I remembered now! His name was Aigean.

Thinking it might help me work through some ideas, and because, well, the guy was easy on the eyes, I had started to tell him about my story. I told him all about my story about a girl who finds out she’s a mermaid and falls in love at the same time. I told him about the problems I was having with the plot line. I explained to him how I kept changing parts of the undersea world of the mermaids in the story because I couldn’t decide on how I wanted to portray it or on which portrayal seemed the most plausible.

His kind eyes had looked into mine and somehow I found myself spilling everything to him. I even told him all about my fear that my writing wouldn’t be good enough to share, that no publishers would love it as much as I did. Writing was all I had ever dreamed about doing and the fear that I wouldn’t succeed at it ate at my soul.

He’d settled down next to me and listened attentively as I poured out my heart in a way I would never have done under normal circumstances. I hadn’t understood then, why I had opened up so easily to him. At the time, his gentle gaze had seemed to catch me within it and pull the words from me against my will, and yet, as the words came, I realized I wanted to tell him everything.

As I finished telling him about the story I was writing and my fears about being an inadequate writer, I took a moment to study him. The sunlight shone warmly against his tanned skin. He definitely spent time outdoors. His hair was a light brown, full of lighter golden highlights and his eyes were a sparkling blue, or maybe they were green. I hadn’t been able to decide and had compromised by deciding they were teal. His smile seemed genuine enough. And his body was lean and athletic, with just enough muscle to give him a physique I would classify as powerful.

While I studied him, he was looking at me with equal intensity. I wondered what he thought of my long, straight brown hair and pasty white skin. I was pale enough that it would be obvious spending time at the beach, or anywhere in the sunshine, wasn’t something I did often.

My eyes were nothing special either. I had hazel eyes, a mixture of brown and green, but mostly they just looked brown. My lips were thin, but my body wasn’t. I wasn’t too plump, but I had a good twenty pounds more on me than I needed, and I was overly curvy. I wondered why he was talking to me at all.

But he’d only smiled at me and took my hand, pulling me to a standing position. He’d asked me, his voice deep and mellow, if I wanted to swim in the ocean with him.  I didn’t want to admit to him that ever since I had seen a dead jelly fish on the beach as a child and been told about its ability to sting, I had been afraid of entering the sea. It was a foolish childhood fear, and his voice, asking again, felt like a warm heat moving right through me, calming any fear I had, making me want nothing more than to follow after him as he walked into the ocean’s waves.

At first, we only let our feet get wet as the gentle swell of the waves reached out to us lazily and tickled our toes. But his hand tugged on mine to take me further into the water. And I couldn’t seem to stop myself from letting him pull me into the ocean after him. I didn’t want to stop him.

That’s all I could remember. How had I ended up from there, just entering into the ocean with him, to here, lying naked on the beach, waking up from an unconscious state? Had a wave captured us? Had I somehow hit my head? My head hurt and I was feeling dizzy. That made the idea of having hit my head seem more plausible. But where was Aigean?

Thankfully, there was still no one around or my nakedness would have been entirely too embarrassing. I cautiously lifted my head, hoping the movement wouldn’t cause the dizziness again, and spotted my clothes sitting further up the beach, away from the trickle of waves.  I was just lifting myself to my hands and knees when the water from the gentle waves reached my feet again.

That’s when things became very strange. My body started to tingle as if someone had just zapped me with a really low-powered tazer. My legs slid back into a prone position, but I managed to keep my upper body lifted onto my hands. This only helped me to see more clearly when my fingers started to grow webbing between them.  I didn’t have time to freak out about that though, because I could feel other changes occurring.

My entire lower body became super-heated. I should have been on fire to feel this kind of heat, but I looked down at my legs and there was no fire. As the water reached ever higher across my feet and legs, I noticed the changes that were occurring. Scales were appearing one by one on my legs. I didn’t feel them appearing other than that overall heat, but watching them was amazing. They appeared as if by magic. The skin underneath held a bluish tint that was soon covered by the scales as they started to encroach on more and more of my body. Eventually, my legs began to meld together into one, and my mind finally kicked in and told me what was happening. I was getting a tail, and not just any tail either; I was getting a mermaid’s tail.

So much about myself had changed.  Even my already-long hair had grown longer. I felt around my face and didn’t notice any change, but my ears were different. They felt pointier.  And I had some sort of openings on either side of my neck. Gills? I wouldn’t have believed any of this if I wasn’t experiencing it first-hand. But how had this happened?

The tide was slowly coming in, and I knew I would be able to swim out into that ocean, would be able to breath under the waves. But where would I go? I was all alone in this. And just as I thought those words, I heard him call to me.

Aigean! He was singing something soft and soothing. The melody called to me, and I moved myself deeper into the waves, wanting to get closer to his voice. As the water enveloped me, I found myself gliding easily through it. I followed his voice, but despite the allure of his call, I realized I didn’t want to just follow him around. I wanted him to come to me.

With the ease of someone born to it, I started singing. I’d never heard the song before that came so easily to my lips, but I felt its magic as it reached out towards him, ensnaring him as surely as he had ensnared me. I could feel him moving through the water, closer to me.

No, I wouldn’t be alone.

1,433 words

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Once Upon a Time Anthology

My flash fiction story "The Guardian" and Robert's flash fiction story "What Daddy Doesn't Know Won't Hurt Him" will be available in an anthology of Unexpected Fairytales along with 88 other stories! It will be available as a print book or ebook! It will hopefully be ready in time to coincide with National Flash Fiction Day on 16th May (when the WINNERS of the contest these stories were entered into will also be announced).

These stories were all contest entries for the Once Upon a Time flash fiction contest of Unexpected Fairytales, hosted by Anna Meade from Yearning for Wonderland and Susi Holliday from SJI Holliday. They had 88 entries into the contest, and, with the inclusion of their own stories, that will make 90 stories for the anthology.

I have had a read through all of the stories in the competition, and I thought all of them were fantastic works of fiction that used fabulous wordplay and wonderfully creative imagination. Some of the stories were remakes of old fairytales with a twist, one was written as a poem, and some were completely new fairytales.

I will be sure to announce when the book is available for purchase, and I hope that you will go out and buy one!

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The Magic of Storytelling

I come from a family of storytellers.

When I was a little girl, my grandfather lived with us, and he was a storyteller. He often spun tales about his past as a cowboy on a ranch in Texas, and, as children, my siblings and I loved hearing his stories. He had a way of telling the stories that made us listen closely and wonder at all of the things he experienced. Even though he had immigrated to the US from Germany as a small child and moved to California in his later years, he had a slight Texas accent from spending so much time there.

My brothers, sisters and I felt an almost hero worship for him and believed every word of the stories he told us, despite the rolling of eyes that some of the adults displayed when he started telling one of his stories. One thing I learned from these stories my grandfather told was that stories are a wonderful way to learn about people.

My grandmother was a storyteller too. Her stories were about the different plants she grew and the animals around her home. She told us stories about the squirrels in the garden who would come and eat nuts from her hand and the hummingbirds who would flit to and fro right in front of her face as they came to visit and feed from the hummingbird feeder she had out in her garden. As an animal lover, I loved hearing about the animals in her garden and their frequent visits. One thing I learned from the stories my grandmother told was that stories helped us to learn about our surroundings.

My other grandmother told me stories about my relatives and ancestors, and I had a great-uncle who once took me on a drive from San Jose, California to Bakersfield, California to visit my cousin, and he spent the whole trip telling me stories about the "old highway" trails (even pointing them out to me along the way). He pointed out things of historical significance and would explain how things had changed, both from progress and from earthquakes that had moved mountains and rockfaces. From both of their stories, I learned that stories can teach us about history.

I grew up to have children of my own, and one thing that my children loved was our bedtime routine, because they got to choose a story for me to read to them. Sometimes, they asked me to tell them a "made-up" story, which was a story I would think up on the spot and tell them, usually about children like them with their names and with different adventures they would get into. They loved these "made-up" stories more than the ones I read from books. I hope these stories helped to spark their own imaginations.

Storytelling is magical in that it can teach and inspire. It can create emotion in the listener. It brings our past and our present together and even opens windows into new realities. History is relived. Worlds are built and worlds fall. New creatures are created and extinct creatures are brought back to life. Anything can happen in a story. A storyteller weaves a magic unparallelled.

Do you have storytellers in your family?

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The Guardian - contest entry for the OUAT flash fiction contest

My friends Anna and Susi are running another flash fiction contest, the Once Upon a Time flash fiction contest. The challenge is to write an unexpected fairytale within 350 words.

The Guardian

Cassie found a fluffy orange cat in the bushes outside her bedroom window. He was growling and hissing and looking very grumpy. He was huddled under her bushes and he looked as if he’d been through a fight. He had some small cuts and he was dirty with lots of twigs and leaves stuck in his fur.

She couldn’t leave him like that, so for the next hour, she coaxed and cajoled, trying to get him to come out to her. Finally, with the help of a can of tuna from her kitchen cupboard, she managed to get the dirty and hurt cat to come out from the cover of the bushes. She left him eating the tuna and was surprised when she got up to go inside her house and he followed her right in.

Later that night, as Cassie slept, her window flew open and the dark creature entered. It had been watching her for days.  She was destined to fight his kind, blood suckers, evil fae and demons alike; her birth had been foretold centuries ago. But he would stop her before she ever even came into her power.

A cat lay at her feet and he pushed it aside as he closed in on her. He leaned in close over her, preparing one long, sharp fingernail to slice her throat. That’s when he felt the burning pain of the silver sword pierce his heart. He turned, surprise on his face and saw a boy standing behind him, sword in hand. “Where did you come from?” he whispered as he fell into eternal sleep and his body crumbled into dust.

The boy put the blade back into its scabbard. He leaned over, giving Cassie a gentle kiss to her cheek, and slowly shifted back into the rough orange cat he had been moments before. He jumped back onto the bed and settled against Cassie’s leg. He would protect her. It was his duty.

327 words




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Interview with Author Genevieve Petrillo and Cupcake the Blogging Dog

Genevieve Petrillo is a wonderful and inspirational friend who I met in the 12 x 12 in 2012 picture book writing challenge. She recently turned 60 and has an adorable 5 year old dog named Cupcake. Genevieve is not the only writer in her home as her dog Cupcake writes for her own blog. We are fortunate today as, not only has Genevieve kindly agreed to answer our interview questions, but her sweet little dog Cupcake is also taking part in this interview.

Tell us a little about yourselves.

Genevieve:  
I was born, grew up, played and worked within the same few towns in northern New Jersey.  I was an elementary school teacher for 34 years.  I LOVED being a teacher, and feel very blessed to have spent my days working and playing with kids and actually getting paid for it!  Being around children day in and day out was inspirational!


Since I retired, I keep busy supervising student teachers for Bloomfield College, reading books on tape with Ocean County Volunteers for the Blind, and as part of a therapy dog team with TheraPet.

Cupcake:
I lived all over the place till Mom found me and brought me to our forever home.


When Mom brings me to the Veterans Home, I make disabled veterans smile and remember happy times.  I cuddle and snuggle and get treats. We also work at the public library where kids read stories to me, and I cuddle and snuggle and get treats.

Do you use a pen name? 


Genevieve: No pen name for me! I waited WAY too long to see my name - on a book - on a shelf - in the library – at the bookstore.  

Cupcake:
Before I was rescued, my name was Ka-Ka.  Mom named me Cupcake because I’m so sweet.

Do you have any writing accomplishments to share with us? 


Genevieve:
My first (and hopefully not last) picture book, Keep Your Ear on the Ball (Tilbury, 2007), earned a Moonbeam Award and recently became part of the IBBY Documentation Centre of Books for Disabled Young People.  It’s the story of Davey, a blind 3^rd grader, and his sighted classmates, learning an important lesson about interdependence.  The story is based on the year I spent in a sighted classroom learning from David DeNotaris, a blind boy who changed my “view” of life, teaching, accomplishment, and acceptance. There’s a link to his website on my website.

Cupcake: Mom wrote a story about ME, and I’m hoping it gets published so I can go along on Author Visits.  Then I won’t have to look out the window all day.


Genevieve:
My stories, poetry, teaching ideas, kiddie recipes, and craft activities have been published in lots of children’s and teachers’ magazines, including: Spider, Highlights, Ladybug, Turtle, Creative Classroom, and Instructor.  One of my poems appeared on the NJ ASK, standardized test, and I recently sold a poem to the publishers of an English language textbook in Belgium!

Cupcake:
Once I ate a piece of ham.

What type of writing do you do? What genre do you write in? 


Genevieve: I consider myself a poet and picture book author.  I am not at all snobbish about submitting my stories to magazines.  Would I rather see them as picture books?  Of course! Is it exciting and thrilling to be in a magazine, knowing thousands of kids are reading my words? OF COURSE! 


Cupcake: I don’t know how to write, but once I chewed a pen and some colored pencils. Mom helps me write my blog where I tell about my life as the pet of a children’s author.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? What was it about writing that drew you to it?

Genevieve: I was always a pencil and paper kid, “making books” every time I found a piece of scrap paper around the house.  As a teenager, I created countless unfinished “novels” filled with teen angst. It was in college that I started thinking I’d really be able to be a published writer.  When I was teaching, the ideas were EVERYWHERE, but I only wrote in the summer, because teaching is a full-time job and 65 part-time jobs combined.


Cupcake: One night, I typed QQQQQQQ when I fell asleep with my ear on Mom’s iPad.)

What books/authors have influenced your writing?


Genevieve: I can’t say there are books/authors that have inspired me – well, OK – Judy Blume, Dr. Seuss, Cynthia Lord, Treasure Island, The Wizard of Oz.....but it was really my 5^th grade teacher Mrs. Nelson who read stories to us every single day right before the bell rang, and always left us wanting more.  In 5^th grade we were certainly too-cool-for-school, but Mrs. Nelson immersed us, pulled us in, and made us love words, stories, language, learning, listening, and imagining.  It’s why I became a teacher, and it’s why I became a writer.  I wanted to make kids feel the way she made us feel.


Cupcake: My favorite stories have dogs in them.  My least favorite story is The Cat in the Hat.  I don’t like cats and I don’t like hats.

What are your current writing projects?


Genevieve: I’m always working on multiple projects.  Right now, I’m part of 12x12in’12, so I am creating a new picture book manuscript each month, which is easy to say in February.  Check back with me in October, when I may or may not have lost my mind.

Cupcake: I’m learning to fetch. Apparently, there’s something about bringing the ball BACK involved.  I don’t get that “coming back” part.)

Do you ever experience writer’s block? How do you get through it?


Genevieve: I don’t feel writer’s block.  I actually set a timer and write for exactly an hour a day. I stop writing after an hour, even if I’m in the middle of a word.  This ensures that I will know what I’m doing when I sit down to write the next day.  I also work on many projects at once, so if one story turns to a rock, I work on something else.


Cupcake: I am afraid of soccer players.  When I see them playing in the field by my house, Mom has to carry me because I turn to a statue and forget how to walk.)

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?


Genevieve: The most challenging thing about writing is getting the work to the right place at the right time, and having somebody say, “We LOVE your work and we want to buy it!”


Cupcake:
I was in the right place at the right time when Mom adopted me.  I was smaller than she wanted and older than she wanted, but it was love at first sight. She said, “I LOVE her! This is my new dog!”)

What do you love most about writing?


Genevieve: I love visiting schools to read my book and talk about being a writer.


Cupcake: Mom also loves going to “work” in her pajamas!

Is there anything that you have learned about yourself through writing/pursuing your career as a writer?  

Genevieve: I used to think that after 100 rejections I’d give up the idea of being published.  I’m well past the 100 mark, and I’m still going strong.  I guess I’m more determined (relentless) than I thought I was.

Cupcake: I love wearing cute dresses.

If you could become one of your characters for a day, would you? (and who/why?)


Genevieve: I’d like to be Chrissy from my story Chrissy’s Terrific Sneakers.  She’s an imaginative little girl who uses her old, outgrown sneakers for everything from a hermit crab cave to a tree house elevator to a water dish for her kitten.  I like how she thinks out of the box, and what writer wouldn’t want to be overflowing with ideas!?


Cupcake:
I am already a character in one of Mom’s stories! Cupcake Learns is about how I went from being naughty to being a good girl and a therapy pet.

Do you have any advice for other writers?


Genevieve: I would tell writers to say YES to everything.  Say yes to ideas that you don’t think will develop.  Say yes to submitting to unlikely places, like online poetry sites, and small magazines.  Say yes to entering contests. And say yes to invitations, which are marketing opportunities.


Cupcake: I would tell writers to always have a dog in every story they write.

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Please thank Genevieve and Cupcake for sharing a part of their writing journeys with us by leaving a comment below.

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