Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and thirty-ninth, is of Young Adult novelist Maria Bradley.
Maria Bradley has worked at a variety of professions but has never released any of her writing for publication until November 2012. Her First book ‘Four’s a crowd’ was published by Feedaread in paperback and as an eBook on Amazon Kindle a couple of weeks later. She writes primarily for Teens and frequently states that her three young adult children are her inspiration. Although she is not primarily a poet, she has recently been placed as one of the runners up in a poetry competition with her poem ‘Manchester’; a cheerful rendition about her home town in England and it’s appallingly wet weather.
On 22 March 2013 she released her second Teen novel ‘Only Human’ in the spirit of the Twilight series and The Vampire Diaries. She is currently volunteering and writing the sequels to both novels full-time.
*
And now from the author herself:
I have always wanted to be a writer but have never really had the confidence to do it before now. Not that I’m in any way confident now, it’s just that I’ve realised that time is running out and my children are of an age where they can look after themselves to a certain degree.
I have worked as a Finance Clerk, Merchandiser, Sales Assistant, and Carer; more recently I’ve worked with special needs children and young adults. I love them all and continue to volunteer, but my real passion is for writing.
Writing a story opens up a world which is entirely controlled by the writer; it can be happy or sad, down-to-earth or mystical, heart-warming or terrifying. It is the most exciting and captivating use of time and is full of possibilities. A good story consumes the reader absolutely and leaves them bereft when they get to the end. I have read many stories like this and I hope that one day my stories will have the same effect. That is when I will feel that I have succeeded as an Author.
Now that I have finally ‘bitten the bullet’ and dived into the writing world, I can’t see myself doing anything else. I would say to any aspiring Author, and in fact, to everybody who is too shy or lacks the confidence to try and achieve their dreams, ‘Go for it! Don’t waste any time worrying if you are good enough or worry about what anyone else thinks, just do it now, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!’
Only Human
I have always been a fan of Vampire novels and thought it would be interesting to write about a vulnerable teenage girl living secretly in a vampire-dominated world. Being a teenage girl is difficult enough without the added danger of being discovered and ‘eaten’ at any given point within your nightly life. Aecia carries this burden alone until her desperate loneliness creates ‘Amica’ a blonde, blue eyed and carefree human friend whom she writes to in her diary. When she becomes involved with a real friend ‘Garok’ her life takes a disastrous turn for the worst but as her terrifying fears are realised she discovers that maybe she is not alone; with each catastrophic morsel of her life exploding into chaos she finds that her own birth has been the catalyst to events that will shake the foundations of the tyrannous vampire world forever.
Four’s A Crowd
My first project is called ‘Four’s A Crowd’ and began with someone I met many years ago when my own life was in a very dark place. ‘Chairman’ was an elderly gentleman who had absolutely nothing. He occasionally lived in a boarded up house and sometimes slept on an old mattress in the back of a rusty old van; not the kind of person you would expect to speak with a ‘Made in Chelsea’ accent, but he did. He was also extremely charming, polite and very content with his life. I will never forget his optimism and vigour. ‘Jack’ is a mixture of all the wonderful special needs children I have been fortunate enough to meet and work with. Nature has a way of affording particular and spectacular gifts to those who might be disadvantaged in another way. ‘Sky’ is my daughter, plain and simple; spirited, fiery, impulsive, stubborn, beautiful and kind.
These three unlikely friends meet by chance and are hurled into a murder mystery complicated by Chairman’s true identity, Jack’s unique and fascinating gift and Sky’s search for her lost mother. They must battle the narcissistic ‘Dr Rhinehart’ as he attempts to control their minds and confuse them with illusion. Throughout their rollercoaster adventure they slowly discover that the truth of all their pasts will become the thread that ties all of their futures together.
**
You can find more about Maria and her writing via…
***
If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog (the spotlights are option (a)) or email me for details.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Maria Bradley, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to Post-weekend Poetry and the seventy-seventh poem in this series. This week’s piece is by septuagenarian Charles Francis.
Looned
The wildest sound I’ve ever heard
was cried
not before, not behind, but beside
me, yammered
The wildest song
it dipped
it rose, my soul it gripped
not forever, but however long
Demoniac laughter
primal, animal
old before language
was born
Nature’s mocking
creation of the demiurge,
the loon,
pied piper of the diabolical
I had to see him
that call make
I had to see him
clear and near
I followed then-
that howling, laughing calling,
faith tempting,
fiction of believing-
as best I could
along the shore
I followed
sweating
tripping
falling,
through fetid
biting bug
infested
swampy growth
I followed…
Only to see him dive
disappearing
hidden
mocking
hiding
closing
To see him dive
into depths unseen
to reappear and
call again
I followed
to trip on a fallen
absent log,
agent of decay
I followed a delusive,
pranking phantom
beyond my stumbling,
beyond my groping
I followed a creature
only fit
for parables
I followed a creature
who laughed at me,
that derided me
so I turned…
conversion
failed
*
I asked Charles what prompted this piece and he said…
For those who may not be familiar with the loon, it is a large, fresh water, aquatic bird, most noted for its wavering eerie cry. Loons are found in northern climes. The Common loon has a white circle around the neck. There are other less frequently seen varieties such as the Red-throated loon. My attempts to identify what I thought might be one of the latter resulted in the following poem. I glimpsed what I though was a Red-throated loon and set off to get a closer look. The title of the poem is, of course, a play on the word and practice “pranked”.
I loved it. Thank you, Charles.
American-Canadian Charles Francis is a retired Maine high school teacher living in Nova Scotia who writes about Maine local history and nostalgia. Now, at seventy, he’s begun writing poetry within setting of his North Mountain (Nova Scotia) cottage. The horned lark is a Nova Scotia rarity.
His blog is http://viewsfromyoungsmountain.blogspot.ca and he’s also on Scribd (http://www.scribd.com/Charles%20%20Francis).
***
If you’d like to submit your poem for consideration for Post-weekend Poetry take a look here or a poem for critique on the Online Poetry Writing Group (link below).
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the twentieth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story from a young version of a current work-in-progress antagonist. The second novel I wrote (between NaNoWriMos 2008 and 2009), After Jessica, is about a woman called Jessica who dies in chapter 2 (not a spoiler, by the way) and her brother then has to tie up her estate and finds that her life wasn’t as simple as he thought. She isn’t the typical antagonist because she’s dead (and no, it’s not a ghost story) but I thought an interesting person to do. Below is my 253-worder.
*
Before Jessica
Jessica drew her tongue across her upper teeth. The drink was supposed to console her but the shop assistant had put in too much ice.
She took another sip and grimaced. Chocolate. She needed chocolate, the epitome of comfort food.
Epitome. Not a word most sixteen-year-olds knew the meaning of but the dictionary was one of her favourite books.
Simon, her older-by-two-years brother, would laugh at her, her head always buried in something; fiction, non-fiction, Jessica didn’t mind which. She especially loved the law so read crime novels, not the gory type where there’s blood oozing on every other page but clever crime, cosy; Agatha Christie and the likes.
Simon was more of a science-fiction, Doctor Who fan, although he’d not be seen dead with a book in his hands, the TV far more realistic in his opinion, video box sets his only request at Christmas and birthdays.
Jessica didn’t see the point of half-watching a programme, face peering from behind a cushion. She’d rather sit glued to every second, every frame, appreciating the work the cameramen had put in. It was an art. Everyone involved were artists.
She’d loved to do something in films, not act, she had a terrible memory, but something behind the scenes. In case it didn’t work out, she’d enrolled on a typing course, second week in.
She looked at her at chewed nails. Long nails were impractical on a typewriter, even electronic ones. A good excuse, she thought as she slurped the remnants of her orange juice.
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and thirty-eighth, is of novelist and short story writer Jim Musgrave.
Jim Musgrave’s work has been recently featured in Best New Writing 2011, Hopewell Press, Titusville, New Jersey. He was a semi-finalist the Black Lawrence Press 2012 Chapbook Awards. He was also in a Bram Stoker Award Finalist volume of horror fiction, Beneath the Surface, 13 Shocking Tales of Terror, Shroud Publishing, San Francisco, California. His short story, “Zeru,” is published in Mixer. His science fiction was recently published in SciFi Short Story Magazine, Baton Rouge, LA. He has also published three novels and two collections of short stories at CIC Publishing. He is owner of English Majors Reviewers and Editors, LLC. Jim has a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing from San Diego State, and he teaches college English composition in San Diego where he lives with his wife Ellen.
*
And now from the author himself:
I began my historical fiction mystery with the idea that Edgar Allan Poe did not die in Baltimore in 1849 from alcohol consumption. This “death by alcohol” was an accepted “fact” as told by many historians who did not believe the only man* who was with the great author during his final days on this earth. Instead, I chose to believe Dr. Moran, and this naturally grew into my building the murder mystery that I called Forevermore.
The detective hero in my mystery had to be someone who knew Poe and who wanted to prove that Poe was not a drunkard. That’s how I chose Patrick James O’Malley. I surmised that if O’Malley had a love for literature and had worked for Poe when O’Malley was a young man, then he would obviously want to prove that the great author did not die an inebriate in Baltimore. O’Malley needed to prove Poe was murdered because the Civil War vet had just begun his “private investigation” profession in New York City. This “cold case” would also help O’Malley show the world that the Irish (both O’Malley and Poe are Irish) are not a bunch of “drunkards and sots.”
I also must confess that I use a time-honored “formula” for mysteries which includes a four-act development leading to the resolution and solving of the crime. This formula can be explained with the following: 1. The murder happens. 2. The sleuth’s investigation goes down the wrong path. 3. The sub-plot involves a problem in the detective’s personal life and must be solved immediately prior to the solution of the mystery. 4. The mystery has a symbolic meaning represented by the famous story by Poe, “The Black Cat.”
I hope you enjoy my mini-mystery, and if you do, then please leave a review on the Amazon web site. Also, feel free to comment on the blog here on my site.
**
You can find more about Jim and his writing via…
***
If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog (the spotlights are option (a)) or email me for details.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Jim Musgrave, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Bailey’s Writing Tips podcast ‘short stories’ episode number 25 went live today and contained three flash fiction pieces that have appeared on my blog as Flash Fiction Fridays. Do email me should you like to submit your own.
This episode contained:
See the links above to read the stories… or hear my dulcet tones on the podcast.
The podcast is available via iTunes, Google’s Feedburner, Podbean (when it catches up), Podcasters (which takes even longer) or Podcast Alley (which doesn’t list the episodes but will let you subscribe).
*
BIOS
JD Mader has been fortunate enough to encounter many giving and inspiring people in his life.
He hopes to repay the debt.
And to make enough money with his writing to buy a house.
His first novel Joe Café, second, The Biker, and collaboration ‘Bad Book’ (with Hise and Brooks) are available from Amazon.
JD’s website is http://www.jdmader.com where you can read his stories and much more, and if you’d like to you can email him there too.
**
Dorit Kedar travels around the world, looking for inspirational places to write her books. She was a special education art teacher in the morning and a Religious Studies student in the afternoon – completing her MA degree and researching societies and their beliefs in the 1st millennium in the ancient east, for her thesis. She then wrote her book “Lilith, the Jewish demoness – 1000 years of borderline personality disorder.”
This was followed by articles and lectures about ancient life, recruiting angels, demons and spirits and about amulets and incantation bowls. Dorit carried on studying Journalism and Museum studies. All this while raising two wonderful daughters and one dog…
Her website is http://www.lilith.co.uk and her books can be found on http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0072KO88Q and http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0072KO88Q.
**
Salvatore Buttaci is an obsessive-compulsive writer whose work has appeared widely. He was the 2007 recipient of the $500 Cyber-wit Poetry Award. His poems, stories, articles, and letters have appeared widely in publications that include New York Times,
U. S. A. Today, The Writer, Writer’s Digest, Cats Magazine, The National Enquirer, Christian Science Monitor, Poetic Bloomings, and A Word with You Press. He was an English instructor at a local community college and middle-school teacher in New Jersey before he retired in 2007 to commit himself to full-time writing.
Flashing My Shorts and 200 Shorts, published by All Things That Matter Press, are available in book and Kindle editions at http://www.kindlegraph.com/authors/sambpoet
His two chapbooks: Boy on a Swing… http://tinyurl.com/6qmkdy4
And What I Learned from the Spaniard… http://tinyurl.com/7apsk6s
His new book, If Roosters Don’t Crow, It Is Still Morning: Haiku and Other Poems (Cyber-Wit Publications) is available at http://tinyurl.com/7ssnzg4
A great seller since 1998, his book A Family of Sicilians is available at
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/ButtaciPublishing2008
He lives with his wife Sharon in West Virginia, USA.
***
Thank you for downloading / listening to this short story episode – I hope you enjoyed it. The next episode will be another short stories episode in a fortnight’s time.
All the details of these episodes are listed on this blog’s Podcast Short Stories page and my email address to submit your stories is morgen@morgenbailey.com.
The podcast is available via iTunes, Google’s Feedburner, Podbean (when it catches up), Podcasters (which takes even longer) or Podcast Alley (which doesn’t list the episodes but will let you subscribe).
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Welcome to the nineteen in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story with one of the following beginnings…
- Nate plummeted to the ground, screaming Kate’s name as he fell.
- Amanda Frobisher stood in front of the entire school, only to find no words would come out of her mouth.
- Jamie stood in the wreckage of his ransacked house, trying to take it all in.
- Max had one bullet left. He had to make it count.
- “So, will you marry me or not?”
Although Max and his bullet leapt out at me (because I write crime more than anything else), I went with Jamie today. I do plan to do the others anyway and will probably post them (if I don’t submit them to magazines) as 5pm Fiction stories. Below is my 432-worder.
*
Wreckage
Jamie stood in the wreckage of his ransacked house, trying to take it all in.
He didn’t even know where to start. Was there a start?
He had to call the police, he knew that, but on this side of the city it was a fairly regular occurrence so he also knew the chances of catching anyone, of them being stupid enough to leave any fingerprints, was slim but he had to for insurance purposes.
Insurance. “Shit!” Wasn’t it due around now?
He went to the kitchen, put on a pair of yellow Marigold washing up gloves then bolted up the stairs to the back bedroom.
He looked at the bookcase but it was empty, the files scattered over the floor. He searched through them, the fact they were all the same shade of blue adding to his frustration.
When he found the right one, he clasped it to his chest, went to the landing phone and dialled 999.
He then returned downstairs, filled the kettle and opened the folder. The reminder letter from Wickett & Pringle lay on the top. Jamie scanned the text then found the renewal date; 17th July. It was the 19th.
Jamie slumped in the chair and hung his head over the paperwork. He stuck out his tongue and blew a half-hearted raspberry.
He hadn’t expected a rapid response to his phone call but had only just made himself a cup of tea, surprisingly difficult to do while wearing washing up gloves, when he saw the flashing blue light outside.
He opened the front door as two officers approached it. He then spotted the ambulance.
“Are you the owner?” the taller of the two asked. Jamie read the officer’s name badge. Townshend.
Jamie nodded. “I only called the police. I didn’t ask for an ambulance.”
“Step inside, please, sir,” Townshend ordered.
Jamie took a step back.
“All the way, please,” his colleague, Rylett, added.
Jamie reached the lounge doorway, still facing the officers. “I don’t understand. What’s going on?”
“Where’s the woman?” Townshend asked, dropping the ‘sir’.
“What wo-?”
“Never mind. Rylett, you look upstairs. I’ll stay down here with Mr…”
“Dawson. Jamie Dawson. But…” He watched Rylett go upstairs then Townshend ushered Jamie into the lounge.
Townshend tilted his chin towards the mess that was surrounding them. “So, Mr Dawson. Domestic or were you looking for something?”
“No. Neither. I’ve been out, only just got in. I don’t know… what woman? Who-?”
But before he could continue, Rylett appeared. “She’s up there. We’re too late.”
“What?” Jamie asked as Townshend strapped handcuffs to his gloved hands.
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
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For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the six hundred and eighty-second of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with writer and publisher Tracy Kauffman of K G Books. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Tracy. Can you please briefly explain the structure of your publishing house… perhaps who’s involved along the process of an acceptance to the book / story being published.
Tracy: First of all I want to thank you for inviting me to be a part of your wonderful blog. KG Books is a traditional type book publisher located in North Alabama. It is a part of a partnership and both my partner, Vicky and I agree on whom we publish.
Morgen: You’re very welcome, Tracy. I’m delighted you could join me today. You’re also a writer – does this help with deciding which projects to take on?
Tracy: Yes, I started out as an author before deciding to start my own company. I had seen where certain companies published authors but charged a fee just to get the book to print. Our company charges no upfront fees. We only make a percentage if the book sells.
Morgen: They do and there are a lot of scams out there (which is where sites like http://pre-ed.com are invaluable). The $64,000 question: out of all the submissions you receive, what makes a book / story stand out for all the right reasons?
Tracy: First of all, the book has to make sense. You wouldn’t believe how many manuscripts have been sent to us that have not been edited. They are simply hard to read. Editing makes a huge impact on whether we accept the submission or not. Then, we look at length, genre, storyline, and if it is interesting to us.
Morgen: Submissions should be the best they can be. A book will be edited by the publishers but even so… Without naming names, what makes a book proposal / story stand out for all the wrong reasons? 
Tracy: Our mission is to publish decent stories to the public. Therefore we will not consider any erotica type books at all. Excessive cursing is the second thing that makes us say NO. Cursing doesn’t make a book appealing.
Morgen: It would be out of character (literally) for a rough and tough antagonist to say, “oh darn”, but less is most definitely more. What genres do you accept? What would you suggest an author do with a cross-genre piece of writing?
Tracy: We accept all except erotica. Cross genres are actually easier to market because they reach a wider base of customers.
Morgen: I’m sure there’ll be so many authors reading this who will love to hear you say that. Is there a genre that you haven’t published and would like to?
Tracy: I hope to publish some Crime / Mystery books in the future.
Morgen: They are incredibly popular. Is there a genre that sells better than others or that you can’t get enough of?
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, KG Books, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the eighteenth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
I’m away today (at Greenacre Literature Festival) so have had to write a piece in advance and have gone with a Saturday single-word prompt of ‘bubble’. Below is my 169-worder.
*
Bubble and squeak
It was the bubbles in the champagne that got Poppy tipsy after just one glass.
“Well, you’re getting no sympathy from me,” Mark said, slamming the car door making Poppy whine. “Seatbelt,” he ordered, a little too loudly.
He started the engine as Poppy grabbed the belt and brought it in front of her stomach. She was about to click it in place when Mark thrust his foot on the accelerator making the car lurch then cut out.
Poppy put a hand up to her mouth and closed her eyes. “Please, Mark,” she said as he restarted the car.
She opened her eyes again as they drove away from the hotel and headed for the motorway. Pulling at her purple and pink bridesmaid’s dress, she debated what to say to break the silence. “Please don’t be angry with me, Mark.”
“I’m not angry with you, Poppy,” he replied. “I’m angry with myself. I always knew it was you I should have been marrying. Your sister will never forgive us.”
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
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You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and thirty-seventh, is of debut literary novelist Sharon Baillie.
Dr Sharon Baillie, MSci, PhD lives in the west coast of Scotland with her husband and two children.
Sharon has had short stories published in Morpheus Tales (a magazine of horror, science fiction and fantasy) and the Reader’s Digest website (notably lacking in horror, science fiction and fantasy).
Her debut novel, Magenta Opium, was released by New Libri Press electronically in November 2012 and physically in March 2013. If you search Sharon E Baillie online you’ll find a selection of her published chemical works, although that advice should only be followed if you really want to know about some nifty novel chemistry.
*
And now from the author herself:
As a wife, a mother of two and a full-time student, finding time to indulge in my writing was a challenge! My options were limited: give up sleep altogether or squeeze every moment I could out of any alone time I managed to scrounge. I love my bed passionately, so that ruled out option one. Fellow parents can testify to the 24 hour on-call nature of having kids in a house, so the only “alone time” I truly had was when I was commuting to university for my PhD. Clearly not the ideal way to write a novel, but as it was the only time I could manage it, I managed it! The earphones went in, the music turned up, and all other commuters were instantly forgotten as I lost myself in my writing.
For approximately 30 minutes at a time.
On my BlackBerry.
Yes, BlackBerry. I wrote my entire novel, Magenta Opium, on my mobile phone. It was the fastest half hour of the day and I am certain the regular passengers on the 0803 to Glasgow thought I was seriously addicted to texting. I prayed for delays, broken down trains and signalling problems so my tired wee fingers could type out a few extra paragraphs before the train arrived at its destination and I disembarked back into my real life.
Then all of a sudden it was finished. I had written a novel. And I hadn’t even told my husband. It never came up. At no point did he say, ‘what did you do on your train journey today?’, so at no point did I tell him. When he asked about my day I naturally assumed he meant the bit where I was in a lab doing chemistry things, not the bit where I was sitting on a train. Chemistry stuff = exciting. Sometimes there was fire. Seriously. Train stuff = boring, surely? More fool him, really.
We all know a writer writes, but it doesn’t have to be in an actual office / den / dedicated space or on a proper computer / word processor / notepad. It can be a stolen 30 minutes on a phone.
*
And a synopsis of ‘Magenta Opium’…
The Dempsey family takes dysfunctional seriously. The mother has been AWOL for 8 years, 4 months and 18 days, but who’s counting? The father gets up to something of a highly secret nature, details of which are a bit sketchy at present but possibly a bit kinky, which is detrimental to his hygiene but good for his overall happiness. The prodigal brother had been very naughty indeed. In fact, beyond naughty. Downright bad.
Meanwhile the daughter VERONICA is perhaps a genius. She’s definitely a scientist and arguably insane. Like many scientists, what Veronica likes best is routine. She lives for her schedule and shuns change. But when the police call unexpectedly at her house late one evening their arrival sets in motion a series of events that threaten to destroy her safe environment and sweep her away in a world of drugs, a dead body, kidnapping, piracy, extreme tattooing and legends. Not to mention the Devil himself. And all because of a secret ladder and what the police find in her loft …
In the process of being a genius Veronica discovers a way to make opium better than opium. Her wonder drug has the potential to change the world, literally and metaphorically. With corrupt government agencies and industrial saboteurs bent on stopping her, not forgetting that pesky dead body to deal with (she couldn’t just put it in the bin, could she?), will Veronica Dempsey succeed in bringing magenta opium to the masses?
**
Wow. Well done you, Sharon. If we want to do it, we do, don’t we.
You can find more about Sharon and her writing via…
***
If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog (the spotlights are option (a)) or email me for details.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Jane Wenham Joneswriting, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to Flash Fiction Friday and the eighty-seventh piece in this series. This week’s is a 589-worder by romantic suspense novelist Phyllis J Burton. This story will be podcasted in episode 30 (with two other stories) on Sunday 28th July.
Twisted Pearls
‘I want everyone up on stage now, please.’ Lady Priscilla Prendagast’s haughty aristocratic voice boomed out over the heads of the assembled cast. Nobody moved. They were too busy talking to listen. ‘I said everyone up on stage, please,’ she repeated, stamping her feet in temper. ‘We’ll never get through this rehearsal if you all insist on talking all the time.’
The stage lights were all on. Priscilla couldn’t see anything in the auditorium. Her hazel eyes flashed angrily and she put her hand up to her forehead to shield them from the unforgiving lights. She was tall, slim and her long blond-to-greyish straight hair swung around her head wildly as her anger increased. The cast gradually began to move and her imperious gaze alighted on one of the few people in the society who was not in awe of her.
Jack Smithers walked slowly up the steps and on to the stage.
‘Lady Prendagast?’ he said, eyeing her up and down.
‘Yes, my man?’ She looked at him with disdain.
‘In my ’umble opinion, you won’t get them to do anything if you shout at ’em. Ask them gentle like.’ He gave a little chuckle and ambled towards the ladder which was propped up against a bank of stage lights. His clothes had all seen better days. His jacket had elbow patches made from different materials and the lining hung down at the back. His shoes were in definite need of repair. He’d been ‘Sparks’ at the theatre for 40 years and had seen producers come and go. He considered “’er Ladyship” to be one of the worst.
Jack coughed and spluttered as he climbed the ladder. It seemed that every time he climbed up now, it became more and more difficult. His chest felt tight and he stood on the top rung for a while to get his breath back.
‘Smithers, I say, Smithers. Please hurry up and move this ladder, the cast are coming on the stage in a minute. We can’t possibly have you cluttering everything up.’
‘Don’t you get all high and mighty with me, missus,’ he wheezed, ‘coz I just won’t stand for it, do you ’ear? If I don’t do these ’ere lights, there won’t be no performance tonight.’
‘Do hurry up then.’
‘I’m going as fast as I can.’
‘Well it’s not fast enough. In fact I’m not at all satisfied with your work, Smithers. You are too old for this job. I’ll be speaking to the management about you.’
Lady Priscilla Prendagast was wearing a twin-set with pearls and a tweed skirt. Jack Smithers stared at her and felt an overwhelming urge to tighten the beautiful necklace around her neck until she squealed. He clenched his gnarled old hands. He wasn’t a violent man, but he’d had enough. If I don’t go now he told himself, I won’t be responsible for my actions.
He climbed slowly down the ladder, walked over to his toolbox, and closed it with the finality of a pistol shot. ‘That’s it, your ladyship. See ’ow you get on without me. Bye,’ he said giving her a wave.
Priscilla Prendagast looked as if she was about to explode. ‘But you can’t leave now…what will we do. I…I…?’ For the first time in her life, she was lost for words.
Jack Smithers doffed his cap, picked up his toolbox and ambled slowly out of the hall. He felt triumphant. For once in her sheltered and privileged life, someone had stood up to Lady Prendagast and had won!
© Phyllis Burton
*
Thank you Phyllis.
If you’d like to submit your 1,000-word max. stories for consideration for Flash Fiction Friday take a look here, or up to 5,000 words for critique on my Online Short Story Writing Group (links below).
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the seventeenth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story written to spec – use a contest’s guidelines to dictate your story’s genre, length and / or theme but we had a similar prompt last week I wouldn’t be able to post anything I wrote if I wanted to send it anywhere (because posting on here deems as published) so I went off-piste and wrote a second-person viewpoint piece (as I would on a 5pm Friday) from the prompt of ‘speed’. Below is my 154-worder.
*
Worth every penny
You look at the advert in your hand then at the car. The words ‘Trades’, ‘Description’ and ‘Act’ spring to mind.
“And the top speed is…?” you ask the old man who’s staring at his car lovingly.
“Had her over 130 a few times.” The old man steps closer. “When no one was looking of course.”
You look back at the paper, and the price. “Two thousand is a bit steep.”
“Worth every penny,” the man says, stepping back and tilting his chin. “Spent almost that much doing her up.”
You look at the car, its red rusting bodywork and wonder where the money could have gone.
The old man looks at you and nods. He shuffles towards the bonnet and lifts it up.
The sun hitting the engine almost blinds you and you pull down the sunglasses that had been perched on the top of your head. “Wow,” is all you can say.
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
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You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and thirty-sixth, is of biography and non-fiction writer Nancy Bethiaume LaPierre.
Nancy Bethiaume LaPierre was born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, USA to French Canadian parents. She grew up in Rhode Island in an unstable, alcoholic home. She married Mark LaPierre in 1974. Her first child was born 3 years later. Mark and Nancy were blessed with two more beautiful baby boys. She was determined to raise them in a loving, stable, Christian home, something she never experienced herself.
During the course of her life with Mark, she realized how God took care of her and her brothers and sisters while growing up, and how He is still watching over her. She survived the challenges of raising three children in a school bus for the sake of sending them to Christian schools. God has shown her how to forgive her parents and found herself taking care of her mom after she had suffered a stroke. She had the privilege of caring for her for seven years, up until her death in 2010. She is now enjoying life with her children and grandchildren, every chance she can get, seeing they live in all different parts of the world. She shared her story in her book, Journey to a Better Land, in hopes to bless others that might be going through or have gone through similar trials.
*
And now from the author herself:
My book, Journey to a Better Land, is a true story about bringing people hope. Showing them a better way of life if they are hurting in any way. I want to encourage the reader that they can forgive the ones that have hurt them, especially if the ones are their parents.
I had to find a way to forgive those that hurt me or I knew I would not be able to raise my own children without hurting them.
It wasn’t easy to come out of a dysfunctional, alcoholic home with lots of abuse in it. I could not have done it without God’s help.
I completed a 3 Volume CD audio book from my first book, making the pages come to life. Reading or listening to my book will hopefully help you find the way to forgive. God showed me just which way to go and how to forgive those that hurt me. We don’t always have to follow in our parents’ footsteps, making the same mistakes as they did. I pray that I am an encouragement and a blessing to all those who read or listen to my words. I narrated my Audio Book and put all my heart into it.
I am also finishing up a second book for the caregivers of this world in hopes to encourage them because I know first hand the challenges that entails, having to take care of my mom and countless others through my life. I used my own personal experiences. The book is called “Courage for the Soul of the Caregiver” and it will be out sometime this summer.
I decided to publish my own work because it was less expensive doing it that way. I am finding the hardest thing to do with my work is marketing. I found in order to sell anything, you have to come up with a good way to market or it will not go very far. I am still working on that.
It takes me at least 1 and 1/2 years to complete my books and get them ready to sell. It is not an easy thing but if you keep at it and don’t forget to pray for your help you will get through. God bless you all as you are finding your way to survive in this sometimes heartless world and know there is a better way.
**
You can find more about Nancy and her writing via… her website nblbooks.com, you can download her book at Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005ED9CSE, audible.com and iTunes. She does offer her Kindle free from time-to-time.
***
If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog (the spotlights are option (a)) or email me for details.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, Nancy LaPierre, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Tonight’s guest blog post has been sent to me because the author wishes to share it with this blog’s audience – for which I am very grateful – and to remain anonymous (you’ll see why, although I have read similar stories elsewhere) but no matter how much Banoffee Pie you try to bribe me with, I won’t tell.
The mid-list author’s version of the bleak truth
I’m not trying to discourage anyone from writing, because if someone wants to write a book, they won’t be stopped by these cynical rantings. This is more to alert aspiring authors about what to expect; and what not to expect.
You thought an editor’s signature on a contract was the real deal, your personal Shangri-La? This is what you’ve been working towards all these years, and now you’ve arrived? Think again. This isn’t where it ends – this is where all the hard work starts.
Publishers are the strangest creatures and publishing is a deeply screwy business. It’s difficult to imagine another business in which a manufacturer (a publisher) will buy raw material (your manuscript), polish it, edit it, check it, get it typeset, commission a cover and have it printed – and then not make much of an effort to encourage anyone to buy it.
Can you imagine a manufacturer of let’s say chairs, who does the business, produces some world-beating chairs, and then just stacks them at the back of a dusty furniture shop in the hope that a passing customer on the way to Ikea might notice them?
It’s not a perfect analogy, but close enough. That’s what publishers do. Well, not quite. But that’s what publishers do with the vast majority of brand-new authors and their mid-list, generally not well-known fiction writers, like me.
These days a new author doesn’t get much of a chance to prove him/herself. It’s perform or die. A few years ago a new author would be given the leeway of maybe half a dozen books to build a following, but now it can be one book and you’re out if it doesn’t sell immediately, or if marketing doesn’t like the colour of your eyes. Newish novelists are dropped without a shred of compunction to make way for the next influx of bright-eyed guinea pigs.
Behind the fluff, publishing is a hard business made even harder by the likes of supermarkets and Amazon muscling in on the book business and pulling its pigtails. Publishing is a business increasingly run by accountants and there is no room for those who don’t pay their way from the word go, and never forget that marketing is king. Even a senior editor will respond to a question or a suggestion with ‘I’ll check with marketing…’
It’s one of the things that a new author isn’t told and should be. The reality is that if you’re not a celeb of some kind, and if your advance (if you’re lucky enough to have one) is less than £5000, then don’t expect to be promoted too energetically, if at all.
It doesn’t help that editorial, publicity and marketing don’t tend to talk to each other too much. You may be the apple of your editor’s eye, but if the head of marketing (who almost certainly has better things to do than to actually read first novels by unknowns) doesn’t take a shine to your book, then don’t expect much.
Editors tend to be smart, savvy people. Publicity is different. 90% of people who are there to promote books are 26, on their second job after a degree in art history and are called Phoebe, Emma, Charlotte or Xanthe. You get the picture? These aren’t the hard-nosed, aggressive, imaginative types you might find in newspaper or magazine publishing, or even in the marketing department of the Aylesbury Fung Shui Journal.
Publishing is a screwed-up business, as I may have said before. Very little happens quickly. Decisions can take weeks and months. Even the answer to a simple yes/no question can cause endless soul-searching. On the other hand, just to keep the rest of us confused, publishers can occasionally move with lightning speed, such as when some celebrity dies and they can have an unauthorised biography on bookshop shelves within two weeks flat.
As for your brand new novel, the one that you spent a year or more of your life sweating over, Phoebe (or Emma, Charlotte or Xanthe) will send out a press release that may or may not contain typos, based on the blurb on the back of your book, which in turn may not bear a great resemblance to what’s between the covers. A copy of the book will accompany the press release in the hope that someone will flip through it and write a review. That’s if you’re lucky. Most likely it’ll go into a reviewer’s To Be Read pile and may well stay there until it it gets carted off to a local second-hand shop with a load of other unread books from publishers. Alternatively, you’ve a fairly good chance of finding the review copy, unread and unreviewed, for sale on eBay for a couple of quid.
That’s really about it. Phoebe (or Emma, Charlotte or Xanthe) are terribly nice young people and undoubtedly decorative, but they’re supposed to be plugging a hundred or so books a year and they don’t have the time or inclination to do much for each one.
My books don’t even qualify for the minimal effort that a mention on my publisher’s Facebook page would require. Post pic (of cover), a few words, and there’s a few hundred or even thousand interested readers reached. Does it happen? No.
Nobody will tell you this, but it’s all down to you. You may be basking in the warm glow of a contract, overjoyed that the results of al that sweat is actually going to be published in a real book, but unaware that your baby is pretty much going to be left by the publisher to sink or swim.
What can you do about it? The answer is; not a lot. You can hire a publicist, but it’s far from cheap and results are not guaranteed. In fact, a freelance publicist will easily eat up your advance, if you were fortunate enough to have one.
The standard route these days is to get yourself plastered over as much of the internet as possible. Blog and tweet to the point of nausea. Get onto Facebook and make as many friends as you can. The problem is, every other writer in your position is doing just this.
If you have an even vaguely famous friend of some kind, beg or blackmail them to write you a blurb. Persuade anyone and everyone to give you Amazon stars. Be shameless. Take every opportunity. If you get the chance to talk to three people and a small dog in a library or even the back room of a pub, do it. After all, one of them might have a cousin who works for Channel 4… And if that takes off, then you can expect Phoebe (or Emma, Charlotte or Xanthe) to swing into action. But not before.
In the meantime, hang on like grim death to the day job.
*
Very interesting… thank you.
Bio: The author is a mid-list writer with a modest backlist of novels, currently waiting to find out if marketing is going to allow the author’s editor to commission a few more.
***
If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. There are other options listed on http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the sixteenth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story about Future (Im)Perfect — What if [hot button issue you care about] has [come to pass / been squelched]. 10 years from now, what does the world look like? Below is my 409-worder.
*
Progress
“Remember when this was fields?”
“I do. Not all that long ago.”
“Ten years, just over. A month or two after Sally and Ben got engaged. They were one of the first to buy here.”
“Oh, yes. Paid a fortune too, if I remember.”
“A small fortunate, yes, but they wanted eco-friendly and the King was pushing for that so of course everything cost more.”
“King Charles? Was he on the throne already by then?”
“Not long before. 12th June 2014. Ben’s 30th birthday. The Queen abdicated on Sally’s; 15th May. Guess it came as a bit of a shock so it took them a while to sort out the paperwork.”
“Sally and Ben?”
“No. The coronation. The government.”
“Oh, yes. Nice party. This drinks party, I mean, not the government…”
“Isn’t it? Not many faces I recognise though.”
“Me neither. Bit of a relief to see you, if I’m honest.”
“Likewise. They’ve started digging up old Jack Tyler’s land.”
“Have they? For houses?”
“1,000.”
“No!”
“Yeah. Can you imagine?”
“Not really. 1,000 on the bit of land behind the farm?”
“Oh no, the whole thing.”
“What? What’s going to happen to the house?”
“Flatten. I think they’ve done it already.”
“That lovely old-”
“Progress.”
“So where’s Jack gone?”
“You haven’t heard?”
“Heard what?”
“Heart attack.”
“No! When?”
“When he got the letter offering seventy million.”
“Seventy million? What happened to that?”
“The son got it.”
“Jack had a son?”
“Lives in the States. Married a girl over there and stayed. Didn’t want the farm, of course.”
“Who would when offered that much.”
“The son.”
“Never saw him visit.”
“Think they fell out.”
“Reconciled after this death, though, didn’t they. 1,000 homes. Wow. The council will grant anything these days.”
“It’s the government push… since the shuttles started bringing the… you know, the legal aliens.”
“Of course, but people are leaving too, though, aren’t they?”
“Not as many. We have more resources here.”
“True, but Mars is young and you’d think exciting.”
“Fine for single people, but most have families these days, especially given the couple’s bonuses shooting up since the housing crisis came to the fore, and most wives would be more traditional, you know, happier to stay put. They’ll wait for Mars to be established then they’ll go. If they go. Most can’t afford it.”
“Can if they have farms to sell.”
“Yeah. If only…”
“Well, better mingle.”
“Me too. Nice to see you again.”
“You too.”
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and thirty-fifth, is of family saga novelist Nicole Dunlap.
Nicole Dunlap is just a nosey woman who loves watching people. She can be vacationing in the Bahamas or walking the Las Vegas Strip, or shopping at the mall, she will eavesdrop on your conversation in the very long lines at Disneyland because she just has to create inspiring and compelling characters.
Nicole writes about mother and daughter relationships over the lifespan. As a counselor, she has worked with children and teens that have been neglected by their parents. She takes the meat of each child’s worldview and paints a poignant picture that sheds tears, laughter, love, and how these tense relationships transform.
“I am the ‘gumbo’ genre novelist, because books shouldn’t be lightly seasoned,” Dunlap says about her books. “In a sense, the stories compound upon each other. Miss Nobody is a drama dealing with the issues of neglect. While Miss Scandalous, the second installment will be seasoned with suspense and full of life. With each story of these character’s lives, you get to learn how they transform. The series involves an aromatic explosion with characters that the readers can root for, love, hate, cry and laugh with, but most of all: yearn to flip through the pages to the end of that character’s journey.”
In her debut novel, Miss Nobody (The Shaw Family Saga), the main characters–mother, Charlene, and daughter, Raven–deal with the issues of Charlene abandoning her child at birth. The story takes in different aspects that can occur afterward, such as Raven being bullied and how she endured gossip as she grew in a predominantly Christian town which couldn’t fathom how she’s appeared after her teen mother’s departure. Nicole has always been fascinated about children who’ve been handed the “Joker” card for life. How some of these teens overcome their cards and how others are overpowered by such harsh lives. Sometimes adolescent can’t disconnect themselves from their own parents’ misgivings to understand that there is someone right in front of them who cares, such as a guardian, teacher, or friend. Nicole also advocates for young women who have the worst boyfriends known to mankind. Raven deals with this issue in book 1. Though her boyfriend, Chris, isn’t as awful as the horror situations she’s counseled, Nicole finds that some of the teen girls just let life pass them by while being tied down to someone so wrong.
In the second installment, Raven has the issues of neglect, a harsh life of being looked down on and it is all a burden. She is the derivative of so many young women’s fears, desires, wants, and depressions. But worst of all, she’s driven by revenge, a need to compensate for being abandoned. Revenge is the worst notion that we as humans can succumb to. Not to mention the pain we inflict on others’, it leads to inner turmoil. All the while Raven is dealing with this unhealthy mindset, Charlene is attempting to make atonement. Since Charlene has not been a good mother from the beginning, she doesn’t know the signs of Raven’s tarnished mental instability. Sometimes when people want something so bad–like being forgiven as in Charlene’s case–they are unable to take in the full picture and that’s what Nicole wants readers to take away from this novel.
In the third installment, Miss Perfect, which will be released August 2013 the reader will learn how each story has lead up to a progression of Charlene and Raven’s relationship. For some people, forgiveness is next to impossible. It can be a lifelong process. Even when they make a mother-daughter relationship impact, Raven and Charlene have flaws like any other humans. Raven will always be a secretive person no matter how much Charlene can attempt to support her daughter. This will lead to the mystery of Miss Perfect, and again adding to the gumbo seasoning of this author’s abilities.
While Nicole has a hard time parting fiction from fact, because the Shaw family seem so real, she has also began a standalone book. An Amazon Serial, which is released in episodes, similar to watching sitcoms and soap operas. She has an undying love for dramatic evening shows like Revenge and Deception and has decided to try her luck on an action romance about a catty amnesiac with a lot of “uh-oh” moments.
Nicole’s words of wisdom? “Have faith. It makes all things possible. Without faith, I wouldn’t have been able to release The Shaw Family Saga into the world. The finally manuscript is like a baby. A mother doesn’t want anyone to say anything bad about their child. So as a writer, when we launch our stories we think it is the best, but it won’t be to everyone. I have faith when I’m marketing and trying to get my story to people who are interested because these stories need to be read.”
*
And now from the author herself:
I am the ‘gumbo’ genre novelist, because books shouldn’t be lightly seasoned. In a sense, the stories compound upon each other. Miss Nobody is a drama dealing with the issues of neglect. While Miss Scandalous, the second installment will be seasoned with suspense and full of life. With each story of these character’s lives, you get to learn how they transform. The series involves an aromatic explosion with characters that the readers can root for, love, hate, cry and laugh with, but most of all: yearn to flip through the pages to the end of that character’s journey.
In my debut novel, Miss Nobody (The Shaw Family Saga), the main characters–mother, Charlene, and daughter, Raven–deal with the issues of Charlene abandoning her child at birth. The story takes in different aspects that can occur afterward, such as Raven being bullied and how she endured gossip as she grew in a predominantly Christian town which couldn’t fathom how she’s appeared after her teen mother’s departure. I have always been fascinated about children who’ve been handed the “Joker” card for life. Some of these teens overcome their cards and others surrender to harsh lives. Sometimes adolescent can’t disconnect themselves from their own parents’ misgivings to understand that there is someone right in front of them who cares, such as a guardian, teacher, or friend. I, also, advocates for young women who have the worst boyfriends known to mankind. Raven deals with this issue in book 1. Though her boyfriend, Chris, isn’t as awful as the horror situations I’ve counseled, I find that some of the teen girls just let life pass them by while being tied down to someone so wrong. This is why I was compelled to write the Shaw Family Saga.
In the second installment, Raven allows her unresolved issues of neglect, her childhood bullying and unsettled feelings to burden her young adult life. She is the derivative of so many young women’s fears, desires, wants, and depressions. But worst of all, she’s driven by revenge, a need to compensate for being abandoned. Revenge is the worst notion that we as humans can succumb to. Not to mention the pain we inflict on others’, it leads to inner turmoil. All the while Raven is dealing with this unhealthy mindset, Charlene is attempting to make atonement. Since Charlene has not been a good mother from the beginning, she doesn’t know the sign of Raven’s tarnished mental instability. Sometimes when people want something so bad–like being forgiven as in Charlene’s case–they are unable to take in the full picture and that’s what I hope readers will take away from this novel.
In the third installment, Miss Perfect which will be released August 2013, it shows the impact of the first two books, leading toward a progression of Charlene and Raven’s relationship. For some people, forgiveness is next to impossible. For others, forgiveness can be a lifelong process. Even when they make a mother-daughter relationship impact, Raven and Charlene have flaws like any other humans. Raven will always be a secretive person no matter how much Charlene can attempt to support her daughter. This will lead to the mystery of Miss Perfect, and again adding to the gumbo seasoning of my eclectic genre abilities.
Since I have a hard time parting fiction from fact, because the Shaw family seems so real, I am currently working on a standalone book. An Amazon Serial, which is released in episodes, similar to watching sitcoms and soap operas–my second favorite pastime after reading and writing. I have an undying love for dramatic evening shows like Revenge and Deception and I have tried my look with an action romance about a catty amnesiac with a lot of “uh-oh” moments. Unfortunately I can’t cross my fingers about how well the story will go, as I will be typing it.
My words of wisdom? Have faith. Without faith in myself, I wouldn’t have been able to commence the Shaw Family Saga. Nor would the teens that I have meet and counseled be approachable enough to broaden their mindset. Faith makes all things possible.
**
You can find more about Nicole and her writing via…
***
If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog (the spotlights are option (a)) or email me for details.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Welcome to the fifteenth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013.
Today’s prompt was to write a story entitled ‘Beyond The Blue Horizon’. Eek. Below is my 770-word science fiction story. Yes, folks, I’ve written some science fiction.
It’s been a busy day because I also wrote a story for LinkedIn Aspiring Writers May Competition and two 55-worders, the second of which I submitted to Austin Briggs’ monthly competition. :)
*
Beyond The Blue Horizon
Tel stared out through the treble-layer glass at the blue horizon. It seemed to be growing a shade darker every day but he looked down at the printer, at the reports, and they didn’t show anything out of the ordinary; the heartbeat lines pulsating in rhythm with no hint of a deviation. If there was an attack due then the machine wasn’t sensing it.
There was only one other explanation that Tel knew, or rather had heard of. It had never happened in his lifetime.
It was going to rain.
He couldn’t say anything. They’d laugh at him.
No one knew what effect real water would have on man-made water. Would they just blend or would one substance react with the other? Kill the other?
Maybe this was the attack after all. They, the powers that be, had said it was to be an air attack. Could it be something as simple as rain?
“Rain?” an alarmed voice said behind him.
Tel swung round. “Stop doing that!”
“What?” Farbe looked innocent.
“Sneak up on me… read my mind.”
I only read the good bits, Farbe said not moving his mouth. “Now what’s this about rain? You know we haven’t had that since-”
“And we won’t,” Tel interrupted. “The reports are fine, everything’s fine.” He gave a nervous chuckle.
“Then why is the sky getting darker, bluer?”
Tel turned to look at it. “You’ve noticed it too?”
“No.” Farbe leaned in. “I was listening to you.”
Tel stepped backwards, standing, not by accident, on Farbe’s foot.
“Ow!”
Tel faced his colleague. “How long have you been standing there?”
“Since just after you were thinking about what you’d like to do to Evetha.” Farbe grinned.
“Before…? Before! How?”
“I’m a Mark IV, remember.” He tapped the side of his white metal-clad head. “Improved sensors.” He then shook his foot to clear the pain, which appeared to do the trick. “Right,” he said, as if taking authority. “What are we going to do about this rain?”
Tel shrugged.
“There’s a contingency plan somewhere isn’t there?”
Tel’s eyes lit up. He opened a drawer under one of the desks and pulled out a red file.
Farbe stepped forward to join him.
Turning to the index, Tel ran his finger down the alphabetical list then read out, “Railway incidents… Raised blood pressure… Raisins stuck in throat.” He looked over at Farbe. “Raisins? They’ve got raisins but nothing about rain? What are we supposed to do?”
“Maybe you’re wrong.”
“I don’t think so. I can feel it in my…”
“Water?” Farbe laughed.
“Bones. I’ve just got this horrible feeling…”
“Then you should tell someone.”
“They won’t believe me.”
“I believe you.”
“No, you don’t.”
Farbe put on his sincere expression. “I do.”
“Then you tell them.”
“Oh, I can’t do that. I’m only a Mark IV.”
“What were you saying about improved…?”
“Sensors. But we’re still young. No Mark IV I know of has got past Assistant, and I’m not even there yet.” He hesitated then thrust a finger in the air. “I know!”
“Yes?”
“Let’s ask a Mark V!”
“What? There are no Mark Vs.”
“Yes there are. There’s one. It was in the paper.” Farbe held up his right hand, palm facing Tel, and a screen within it burst into life.
Tel read the first few lines then looked back at Farbe.
“That’s no good. We don’t know where it is.”
Farbe sighed. “If you’d read a bit further you’d have got to the bit saying where it was going to be delivered.”
Tel looked out the window, to the right of the horizon, to the city complex and the thousands of home-pods. “Go on, where.”
“Here.”
Tel turned to Farbe. “Here? Really? When?”
Before Farbe could reply, an electronic swish sounded behind them and a door slid open. It was the same sound as they used on the first Star Trek TV series, Tel’s boss a big fan, had been insistent on it.
They stood there open-mouthed as a gold version of Farbe glided in. “Hello, I’m New.”
“We know,” Farbe said first.
“No, my name is New.”
“Oh,” Tel said. “And erm… what do you do?”
“Everything,” New replied, his voice changing tone with every word, like a gentle stream on a summer’s day.
“Everything?” Tel repeated.
“He does,” Farbe said, looking at Tel, then scrolling down the text on his palm screen. “He even tells the future.” Farbe turned back to face New. “We have a question for you.”
“I know,” New said.
“Of course,” Farbe laughed. “You can tell the future.”
“Rain,” Tel butted in.
New faced Tel and gulped.
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
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or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and thirty-fourth, is of multi-genre writer A M Jenner.
A M Jenner is a grandmother, mother, daughter, granddaughter and sister with a very large extended family. She began reading and writing at a very young age.
Early publication credits include church newsletters, the ANWA newsletter Of Good Report, high school literary magazine Rabbit Tales, and Mesa Public Library magazine E.T.
A M lives in an interdependent relationship with her computer in Gilbert, Arizona. Her family also lives int eh same home, although they rarely see her. She owns a car named Babycakes, several quirky computers (one of which has recently discovered a taste for manuscripts), and around 5,000 books, only half of which have been catalogued. A self-professed hermit who loves interacting with friends online, she was last seen entering the library.
*
And now from the author herself:
Maybe it’s ADHD, but I like to write whatever stories come into my head and not worry about what genre they belong to. Of course, this makes it difficult when someone asks me what I write. I usually ask them what they like to read; with a shelf full of suspense, fantasy, romance, science fiction, and even some delicious non-fiction, I can usually find at least one of my books to satisfy nearly any reader.
My multi-genre approach to writing is part of the reason I’m self-published. It’s rather difficult to find an agent or a publisher who’s capable of handling so many categories, and I felt that if I split my time between several agents I would run out of time to write high-quality stories. In the end, I feel like it’s the story that counts, and not what shelf they stick it on at the bookstore.
If you like stories with characters who feel real enough to hang out with, then it really doesn’t matter if you’re trying to defeat the invaders of Kwennjurat or driving down the freeway in Phoenix trying to lose the car that’s following you, you’ll enjoy the ride.
Come immerse yourself in my stories, No matter what you read, I’m sure there’s something here you’d like.
**
A M’s books (listed below) are available in print and various ebook formats; handy links to purchase points for each format are collected at both her website, www.am-jenner.com, and her blog, http://amjenner.blogspot.com.
- Fantasy: The Kwennjurat Chronicles (Tanella’s Flight, The Siege of Kwennjurat); Fabric of the World
- Science Fiction: Assignment to Earth
- Suspense: Deadly Gamble, Inherit My Heart, A Heart Full of Diamonds
- Romance: The Moms’ Place, A Gigolo for Christmas
- Short Story Collection: Bits and Bites
- Non-Fiction: Clues to Food (a cook book)
***
If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog (the spotlights are option (a)) or email me for details.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Tonight’s guest blog post is brought to you by novelist, playwright, poet and interviewee Valerie Laws.
Writing Comedy? You Can’t Be Serious!
I say, I say, I say. My book’s got no category.
Your book’s got no category? How does it sell?
Exactly!
It’s not funny, trying to sell a comedy novel. Comedy has always been part of my writing, in my twelve commissioned plays, or my first ten published books – poetry, drama, crime fiction – even the best-selling language text books had jokes in them. The more tragic, moving, or desperate the story I’m telling, the more determined I am to include humour and joy. Life is a mix, in the midst of death, we are in laugh. My own painful disabling injuries I used as chuckle fodder for my hospital visitors, how else to keep the grapes and chocs flowing? Even my mother’s dementia had its funny side – the laughter we shared about how strangely we each thought the other saw the world is a cherished memory. More of that anon.
My first actual ‘comedy novel’ is LYDIA BENNET’S BLOG, ‘the real story of Pride and Prejudice’. Like the original Lydia in Austen’s P&P, her eponymous novel is as stroppy, awkward, rebellious and mouthy as any modern teenager, and as shamelessly self-serving and flirtatious. This applies both to the character in my novel, and to the book itself as I try to share my work with the world. LYDIA BENNET has friends in high places, and I’m not just talking about posh beanpole Arsey Darcy or nice but dim Mr Blingley. She has fans to die for, eminent authors I value and respect who gave her fab reviews – Catherine Czerkawska, Dennis Hamley, Paul Magrs; and Linda Gillard, who gave her the ultimate 5* accolade, ‘I laughed out loud. Several times – while HAVING CHEMO!!!’.
But of course to reach beyond these few but choice readers, Lydia B needs to be squeezed into the corset of Amazon categories, though delightful bits of her insist on escaping their confinement. Is the book a ‘parody’? Yes, kind of. But it’s a carefully researched literary in-joke, irreverent but loving, finding new reasons Austen never knew for the events and relationships that bug the Bennets, reasons which make crazy sense and are even moving. Why does Mr Collins fear Lady Catherine so much? Why so desperate for matrimony? What is Charlotte Lucas’ deal? Why does Lydia Bennet broker their marriage and why is it a match made in a kind of heaven? Why is their betrothal both moving and dignified, in the midst of Lydia’s normal lively teenage scorn and invective? It’s not a parody like other parodies. It’s possibly an Austen ‘inversion’, but they don’t have a category for that. Other humour categories don’t really fit. Much of the comedy is in action, much in the language, as Lydia utters a ‘cri de cur’ as yet again her brilliant foresight achieves ‘ouija vu’, or she sabotages yet another would-be suitor for Bing’s bling or Darcy’s dosh, or schemes to bag the gloriously wicked Wickham for her sexy self. It’s not a mash-up like ‘P&P&Zombies’. It’s like ‘Clueless’ in corsets, like ‘Adrian Mole’ in a bonnet. I’ve had a brilliant new cover designed by Alison Richards at designstudio@aahprintersolutions.com to get across the ‘timeslip’, ‘steampunk’ feel – these and other terms are accurate but not comprehensive. I’ve tried looking up books or films in a similar ball-park: ‘Adrian Mole’, ‘Lost in Austen’, ‘Jasper Fforde’s Eyre Affair’: but they are either listed as ‘fiction’ or anything but comedy. Perhaps ‘comedy’ isn’t funny or sexy, although Lydia Bennet’s certainly both.
In fact she’s just the person who’d be flirting at a funeral… which brings me to some serious humour. Dementia, the science of dying, human specimens, dissection + dating Zulu marathon runners, funeral flirtations, sex technology = ALL THAT LIVES, my ‘CSI:Poetry of sex, death and pathology’ which is newly on Kindle as well as in paperback. Well, if ever there was a book to defy categorisation this is it. Why can’t Amazon have a ‘science poetry about pathology, mixed with funny erotic poetry about mid-life sex’ category? As it is, not being about ‘myths and legends’ or ‘spirituality’, I’m stuck with bald ‘poetry’. I lived this book, I did the research into dating and dying. Spending time with cold lifeless bodies, frozen brains… well we’ve all been on dates like that! Seriously though folks, my life for several years did consist of watching my parents die within a year, studying the science of how we die, and beginning to date again after a long marriage ended often to erotic, often to hilarious, effect. Sex and death, that’s life. Finding out about them and writing about them, that’s how I cope. Here’s an example of something my mother and I laughed about together – her insistence that my father was actually two men. The first poem in the book, introducing both strands.
MY MOTHER’S TWIN LOVERS
‘I must get back to the men,’ my mother announces,
Then slyly meets my eye, as I choose this time
To avoid my usual reply. ‘I know what you’re thinking!’
She’s triumphant. ‘That there’s only one of them! But
You’re wrong, you know!’ My mother is having an affair.
She’s cheating on my father with another man, who lives
With them, looks like his twin, and even shares his name.
‘I think they must be cousins,’ she explains defiantly.
Before going to bed with my father she slips next door,
Turns back the spare bed quilt, and leaves her slippers there,
So the other man won’t suspect. She has doubled her marriage,
Two-timed adultery. After blameless years of barely moderation,
Let alone excess in anything, she now has a surplus of husbands.
It’s as if in creating my father’s double she’s conjured up her own
Wicked twin, denied a life ‘til now when time is running short.
She has gained an extra husband while the one I had is gone,
Which is fine, but now my elderly mother, with dementia,
Has a more exciting sex life than I do, kicking up her heels
While mine have been dragging. Perhaps it’s time, I think,
As I take her home to her lovers, for me to get back to the men.
*
Innovative forms I’ve invented too are in the book, see them animated here on youtube, in my AV poetry installation text SLICING THE BRAIN, exhibited in London, Newcastle, Swansea and Berlin so far. Rubbing shoulders with work by Renoir, Degas, Henry Moore, it makes people cry – when I perform from the book, people need to laugh too, and they do, though mixing the two strands is risky. Bring it on, as Lydia Bennet would say!
Knock, knock. Who’s there? Arthur. Arthur who? Author who defies categories.
Badoom – tish! Thank you, I’m here all week.
**
Thank you, Valerie, that was great! I met Paul Magrs at booQfest last September (I’ve been asked back so may see him again ).
Valerie Laws is a novelist (crime and humour), poet, playwright, performer, mathematician and specialist in science poetry / art installations and commissions. She is the author of eleven books, the latest being her first YA comedy cross-over e-book, ‘Lydia Bennet’s Blog – the real story of Pride and Prejudice’, available on Amazon Kindle store and on her blog www.therealstoryofprideandprejudice.blogspot.com.
She is Writer in Residence at a London Pathology Museum and has won many awards and prizes, including a Wellcome Trust Arts Award. In her Arts Council-funded ‘Quantum Sheep’ she infamously spray-painted a new form of poetry onto live sheep using the principles of Quantum physics. She featured in BBC2′s ‘Why Poetry Matters’ with Griff Rhys Jones, with her next random haiku on inflatable beach balls in a swimming pool, and performs worldwide live and in the media. She lives on the North East Coast of England, is disabled but works largely in the mainstream, and is a fanatical swimmer.
You can find out more about Valerie and her writing via:
***
If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. There are other options listed on http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Welcome to the fourteenth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story that starts, “On the edge of the mountain, silhouetted against the setting sun, there is a small ramshackle cottage made of wood.” I like to post these up at 5pm (as I was doing with the 5pm Fiction stories) but I only started it writing it at 5.12pm (finished at 5.40pm!) because I’d spent the day writing another story for a magazine competition’s theme of Insomnia (which closed today and I got it done and submitted… just!). So below is my 412-word cabin story.
*
The Ramshackle Writer
On the edge of the mountain, silhouetted against the setting sun, there is a small ramshackle cottage made of wood. It looks like any ordinary cottage but it’s the stuff of legends, the owner, the hero of legends.
Or so he thought.
“Tommy!”
No, that’s terrible.
On the edge of the mountain, silhouetted against the setting sun, there is a small ramshackle cottage made of wood. Wood collected from the forest at the top of the mountain.
Jack pulled the piece of paper from his typewriter, screwed it up and threw it at the bin. It missed, and became just one of a pile of screwed up pieces of paper.
On the edge of the mountain, silhouetted against the setting sun, there is a small ramshackle cottage made of wood. Inside sits a writer with writer’s block.
“How’s it coming?” Nancy, Jack’s long-suffering wife looked over his shoulder. “Oh dear.”
“Yes, exactly.”
“It’s a bit ‘Dark and stormy night’.”
“I know, but it’s the prompt for today.”
“Can’t you change it?”
“We can but I like to stick with what we’re given.”
“It is only for fun.”
“And to put on my blog. By five o’clock.”
Nancy looked at her watch. 5.25.
“I know. I can backtime it.
“Backtime? Is that even a word?”
“Don’t know. Backdate is.”
“If you used a computer like everyone else, it would underline it if it wasn’t a word.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m a writer, I can make up words.”
“Why don’t you?”
“Why don’t I what?”
“Use a computer like everyone else.”
“It feels… I don’t know. It feels more authentic. Like Stephen King. Very… Secret Window.”
“Terrible movie.”
“I know. It’s all a dream and all that. But I’m more productive this way. My ideas flow better.”
“They’re not flowing today.”
“I know, but that’s not the typewriter, it’s the prompt.”
“Then pick another one.”
“No, I’ll persevere.”
Nancy shrugged. “OK, but don’t blame me if…” The rest was lost as she went into the kitchen.
“Another prompt,” Jack mumbled as he pulled out the paper, screwed it up and launched it at the bin. It hit the edge but fell in. He clapped, laughed and put another piece of paper into the typewriter, twisting down the end, until the paper was sticking out a couple of inches from the top.
“Another prompt…”
He sat up straight, hovered his fingers, claw-like, over the keys and started tapping.
It was a dark and stormy night…
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
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You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, magazine competition, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, stuff of legends, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and thirty-third, is of mystery / thriller and YA writer Michael Herr.
Michael Herr was born in Evanston, Illinois in December, 1942, and moved to California in 1946.
He received a Bachelor’s degree from St. Mary’s College, a Master’s degree from California State University, Hayward, and several teaching and administrative credentials.
Mr. Herr spent 34 years in education first as a teacher (San Francisco Unified, Mt. Diablo Unified) and then as an administrator (Vice Principal Mt. Diablo Unified, Assistant Director and Director of Adult and Continuing Education Martinez Unified).
He and his wife, Barbara, to Rossmoor, in Walnut Creek, California, in May 1998. Two years later, in January 2000, Mr. Herr retired. He has a son and daughter-in-law and two grandchildren who reside in Santa Cruz.
Michael’s wife, Barbara, was born in Honolulu. Her relatives can be found on every island in Hawai’i.
Michael and Barbara travel to Kau`i every year and spend three weeks at their timeshare.
Mr. Herr gave up writing when he began teaching and did not begin writing again until after his retirement. He published his first book, The Kaua’i Obake Bar, in March 2005. He published his second book, Is ‘Chicken Skin’ a Local Delicacy?, in November 2005. Mr. Herr published his first mystery / thriller, The Bones of the Kuhina Nui, in April 2006. He published, The Old Queen’s Murder, the sequel to Bones, in April 2007. The third book in what was now a series, The Old Queen’s Treasure, was published in March 2008. The fourth book, The Old Queen’s Guardians, was published in November 2009. The fifth and current book in the series, The Old Queen and the Maui Maiden, was published in 2011. The Kohala Coast Mystery series is set primarily on the Big Island of Hawaii, though much of the action in the latest book takes place on Maui.
Mr. Herr has also written a Young Adult book, set on Kauai, that is available only as an ebook at present.
All of Mr. Herr’s work is noted for its references to Hawaiian culture and cultural practices.
As of today Mr. Herr has sold over 7,000 copies of his books in both paperback and ebook format.
*
And now from the author himself:
Life is hardly begun before it’s over
I turned 70 in December, older than I ever dreamed I’d be, and began to wonder what, if anything I had accomplished.
Most of my life seems to have happened while I was looking elsewhere. I graduated high school, having avoided death from a ruptured appendix. During that same period I also avoided killing someone with my shotgun. But I lost my girlfriend, the only one I had ever had up until graduation. I went on to college and during my sophomore year I met the girl / woman who was to become the love of my life. Counting our college years we’ve been together for 50 years now.
Together my wife and I produced a handsome and intelligent son who, just as my hope was about to expire, found and married the love of his life. And they gave us the next love of our lives, our granddaughter and grandson.
The books I write are set in Hawaii because of my deep love for the islands. My wife first led me their while I was still in college and we were not married. The islands of Hawaii found a home in my heart immediately. We continue to return each year. The books I write are filled with my memories of these islands, and with all that I have learned about the islands over the years.
I started out writing humorous / spooky stories, but found that people would rather read stories filled with death and violence. I don’t write the violent stories that I read from more-famous authors, but my characters do encounter death quite often. My characters also encounter problems with which I am familiar — conflict with other family members, poor choices that lead to difficulties, and even diseases such as Alzheimers.
My Kohala Coast Mystery / Thriller series is currently five books long. A sixth book resides in my computer, waiting only for me to return and finish it. Following my publication of that book, I intend to do a crossover book. I will bring the characters from my mystery / thriller series back in time to interact with the characters from my first two books. I just have to figure out how to kill a ghost.
I love technology. The expansion of ebooks and ebook readers has allowed me to reach many more people. I hope that you can be one of them.
Mahalo and Aloha,
Michael A Herr
(no, not the Michael Herr who wrote Dispatches)
**
I just have to figure out how to kill a ghost”. I love it! Thank you, Michael. You can find more about Michael and his writing via his website: http://www.michaelherr.com.
***
If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog (the spotlights are option (a)) or email me for details.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
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or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Michael Herr, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to Post-weekend Poetry and the seventy-third poem in this series. This week’s piece is by memoirist Jill Schaefer.
Game, Set and Match
Now as for tennis, I so love the game.
And without a net wouldn’t be the same.
No way to skim balls across the top
With a fast forehand or backhand shot.
A tennis court with no dividing net
Is no place at all for a six game set
Where to win you must lead by two
And best of three sets sees you through.
The crosscourt slice, lob high and smash
Add to your game some skill and dash
Of grip, strokes, ace serves and aim
But without a net, there’s just no game
So, dear Robert Frost, I agree with you
Your words to me ring so very true.
Yet tennis without a net is far worse
Than poetry written in free verse.
*
I asked Jill for the inspiration behind this poem and she said…
Robert Frost said “Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down!” which inspired me to compose this poem.
Thank you, Jill.
**
Jill has lived on the California West Coast for the past thirty-five years, fifteen years of which were in Santa Barbara and Goleta and twenty in Lompoc. She, her late husband and three sons emigrated from England and Germany in 1974.
‘Up The Wooden Hill’ is a historical memoir about the author growing up in London’s Blitz and her husband in Nazi Germany before, during and after World War II, featuring two tales seen through different spectacles. Stories of love and war, tears and laughter, families, friends and foes.
From school days fraught with sibling rivalry and controversies with parents, lives are rebuilt, the Deutsche mark revalued and a father de-nazified. Both the young people mentioned in the book learn apprenticeships, experience calf love and the beginning of a postwar world.
Video: http://www.eopinion.us/videos/71/up-the-wooden-hill
“Coming of Age in California -English Style-” is a lighthearted account of the author’s true story of herself, a naive English teen, fresh from home and convent school, venturing forth with a girlfriend to the California of the 1950s. The duo travel from Southampton, England on the Queen Mary to New York City, cross-country by Greyhound bus via Route 66 to a welcome in Pasadena. The two girls first visit California’s small town of Bakersfield, then on to Hollywood with an involvement in a call-girl ring.
The journey continues to Long Beach and a job with the Miss Universe Pageant, and finally to San Francisco, city of sophistication and singles bars. Along the way they encounter climate, communication, customs, and cultural challenges…and a disintegrating friendship.
video: http://www.eopinion.us/videos/44/coming-of-age-in-california-english-style
In Quest of the Old West -A Driving Diary-:
A Driving Journal of Jaunts and Journeys by Jill
As a Cold War dilemma unfolds, an Anglo-German couple, Jill and Horst, drive off on a lighthearted jaunt through the western states of America, their adopted country.
Jill keeps a daily journal of their fortnight’s trip through the Western States to the Dakotas and back to their home in California’s coastal city of Santa Barbara. News alerts of the US / Russia drama up-date the couple on their driving journey of discovery, as they dig and delve into the past, dally with locals, delight at historical sites, and day-dream into the future.
Jill’s website is http://home.earthlink.net/~schaefer234
***
If you’d like to submit your poem (40 lines max) for consideration for Post-weekend Poetry take a look here or a poem for critique on the Online Poetry Writing Group (link below).
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Jill Schaefer, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the thirteenth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story of Sam Chase, who has a mysterious past and an uncertain future. Specifically: ‘Sam Chase has just left a meeting with the big boss. Sam has been offered a dream position — or at least a position that would have been a dream if it had been dangled out there two years ago. But lately, Sam has been beginning to understand that there’s more to life than ambition, career, advancement, the trappings of success. Oh let’s be honest: it’s been coming on ever since last summer. If the only constant is change, Sam thinks, I’m a walking illustration.’ Below is my 310-worder.
*
A win-win all round
Money used to mean everything to Sam. The harder he worked the richer he became… and the quicker it went courtesy of Libby, Mrs Sam Chase. Wardrobes stuffed with carrier bags; Prada, Versace and names he didn’t recognise but the lettering gave away their status, the status Libby thought washed off on her.
He’d not told her that he was up for promotion – he knew what she’d want him to do but it meant switching from ‘on the road’ to behind a desk which in turn meant more time at home, more time with Libby.
George had given him 24 hours to think about it. Sam didn’t need that long but he knew if he turned it down, George would take longer to ask again but Sam also knew that his colleague, Ted was better at his job, a more suitable candidate so it would be a win-win all round if he said “no”.
He left work then drove around for a while thinking about what he should do. Libby was at her dance session so he had plenty of time before she was due home.
Having seen the same shops half a dozen times, he found it wasn’t helping so went home.
There was a light on in the master bedroom when he pulled into his driveway and assumed Libby had forgotten to switch it off before she went out.
Sam let himself in, put his briefcase down in the hallway, read the post, and headed upstairs to change. Opening the door, a predictable sight greeted him; stacks of boxes and bags by the chair, piles of clothes on the floor but unexpected was his wife, dressed in bright red and black underwear. Not only was she not at the gym but she wasn’t alone.
Sam took off his jacket and threw it on to the chair. “Hello, Ted.”
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and thirty-second, is of Jan Christensen.
In the early 1990s, the writing bug hit Jan hard. She quickly finished the first novel she’d started in her twenties. It’s still in a drawer. She next turned to short stories and found she loved writing them. Over a period of a few years, she had three more novels written, plus a pile of short stories.
Some of the short stories began to appear in print magazines in the mid-to-late-90s. By this century, more appeared in both print and ezines, and now her list of published stories numbers over fifty. She’s been nominated for two Derringer Awards (for short mystery stories) and won several other awards for her short pieces.
In 2004, one of Jan’s novels, “Sara’s Search”, was published and is now available for the Kindle. Since then she’s had two more novels published, “Revelations” and “Organized to Death” with another, “Perfect Victim”, coming out in April, all in both print and ebook formats. Also, a small collection of some of her previously published short stories for the Kindle is available titled “Warning Signs”.
Jan has also had several non-fiction articles published and has a regular column about reading in Mysterical-e called Reading for Smarties. She blogs about writing on Fridays and personal organization and time management on Mondays to tie in with her new mystery series about a professional organizer.
*
And now from the author herself:
When people ask me what books influenced me the most, I have to list two books in particular, and one genre. The first book I remember my mother reading to me was Alice in Wonderland. The next book I can name that greatly influenced me was Cheaper by the Dozen. And the genre I enjoyed in my teens and into adulthood and still enjoy the most is the mystery genre.
Cheaper by the Dozen taught me about time management and goal setting. Although I don’t enjoy fantasy books very much as an adult, Alice in Wonderland taught me about humor and that books should be fun to read. (Cheaper by the Dozen was a fun book, too.) And many mystery writers write with humor.
Mix them all together, and except for the occasional segue into dark mysteries, most of my stores tend to be light and have at least a hint of humor. Frequently I have an ordinary person (like Alice) surrounded by extraordinary people and events. Another theme I seem to keep coming back to is female friendships. My first published novel, Sara’s Search, is based on one, and it runs through my third, Organized to Death. (My second, Revelations is one of those darker stories.) Back to a strong female friendship theme is my upcoming private eye novel, “Perfect Victim”.
Since I am fascinated by organization and time management (that Cheaper by the Dozen influence), I made Tina Shaw, the protagonist in Organized to Death, a professional organizer. Also in the planning stages is a second book with Tina and a non-fiction book about those two topics.
I do love to write short stories, and when you think about time management, a writer can get out a lot more of them in a short timeframe than she can novels. When I started writing and joined my first writer’s group, I decided to write a short story to submit every time we met—every two weeks. I experimented with all sorts of characters and plots, and I learned the habit of sitting down to write at a regular time and finishing what I started. It did spoil me, however, for sticking to one type of mystery story, and I’ve found it harder to market the novels because of that.
The most luck I had with a short story was one I first had published in “Hardluck Stories” ezine, later published in a western noir anthology edited by Ed Gorman, Dave Zeltserman, and Martin Greenberg titled, On Dangerous Ground, now out of print. In April “Going Where the Wind Blows” from that anthology will be available in ebook format from Untreed Reads Publishing. Untreed has also published my four short crime capers about a hapless burglar named Artie. He keeps running into beautiful women who need his help, and he’s helpless to turn them down. The wonderful thing about the stories being in ebook format is that they should be available for a very long time, maybe even forever.
When people ask me for advice about writing, I always say, “Write every day. Read every day.” It’s a wonderful life.
**
I couldn’t agree more. Thank you, Jan. You can find more about Jan and her writing via…
***
If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog (the spotlights are option (a)) or email me for details.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jan Christensen, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the twelfth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story set at a wedding. Below is my 162-worder.
*
Making up the numbers
“Bride or groom?”
Robbie looked at the pews. Plenty of space on the left-hand side. Groom on the left. “Groom.”
“Name?”
Robbie went with his usual alias. “Jimmy. Cousin.”
The man with the clipboard looked at the left side of his list. It didn’t take him long. “Sorry, don’t see your name here.”
“Ah yes,” Robbie started his well-worn speech. “I was a ‘no’ because I was going to have to work but then at the last minute. You know…”
The man shrugged and added ‘Cousin Jimmy’ to the list.
Robbie took an end seat halfway down the aisle then turned to the woman beside him, holding out a hand. “Jimmy.” He then lowered his voice. “The bride’s side really but I thought I’d make up the numbers.”
The young lady giggled softly and Robbie noticed her blush.
He’d woken up that grey and gloomy Saturday feeling equally dispirited but now it looked like it might be a good day after all.
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and thirty-first, is of romantic fantasy novelist Andrea Baker.
Andrea Baker has had ideas for stories and poems all of her life – as a child she would live inside stories that grew from her favourite novels, playing with these characters for hours, inventing “what happened next” scenarios. Her Mother had encouraged her love of stories, and she could read simple books before she started school, and this was further encouraged by one of her Primary School teachers, who, recognising her love of reading, challenged her to read all the “Famous Five” series in the second half of the school year. A challenge she happily accepted, and achieved. Her favourite childhood stories included “The Chronicles of Narnia” by CS Lewis, and as she grew older, she added the “Anne of the Island” series by Lucy Maude Montgomery, as well as the Bronte Sisters and Jane Austen. Each of these favourites was read several times, and she would regularly accompany her Father to the local library, as at one time she would bring home, and read, as many as fourteen books each week!
As she grew up, and left University, she convinced herself that these imaginary stories were something that she should have grown out of – that these daydreams belonged in the realms of childhood. For many years she fought against the ideas. Every time she read a different novel, the ideas would return – she couldn’t stop her mind creating these worlds and stories, but she refused to write them down.
Instead she focused on life, and developing a career for herself. As a result has worked across both the private and public sectors, and now runs her own interim management company offering support and consultancy to those same client groups.
Describing herself as “pretty normal really”, she met her husband just two months after leaving University. They now live with their young daughter in the beautiful county of Warwickshire, close to where Andrea grew up, and just a few short miles from the stunning locations of her books.
Becoming a mother seemed to fuel her imagination once more, and since the birth of their daughter the ideas returned and grew, refusing this time to be ignored. As a result, the Worlds Apart Series, an idea that has floated around her for many years now, has been created.
*
And now from the author herself:
Thank You Morgen, for inviting me to be part of your wonderful blog. It was quite strange reading through that author biography, as it brought back so many memories of those early journeys into writing my own stories.
Now my daughter is of the age to read the Chronicles of Narnia, it is strange how I still get that same tingle when she reads the odd piece aloud to me, the excitement that I remember feeling as I read those books. I love the fact that she too seems as enthralled by them as I was all those years ago. Of course nowadays we’d call these stories “fan-fiction”, and there is a growing market for them, from readers desperate not to have to leave behind their favourite characters. Although my own stories are now unique, I know that every single book that I have ever read has influenced my work in one way or another. Whether helping me to understand a situation that I have never been in, but find my character drawn to, or allowing my mind to rest, in order to find the escape hatch once more, they are all influencers in their own right.
Looking back though I can’t believe how many books I used to read, and I honestly wonder where I found the time. Even at primary school I’d read seven or eight books a week while at the same time I was also attending ballet lessons twice a week, learning to play the Violin, and having swimming lessons! I remember that I never went anywhere without a book though, and would read on every car journey too. As I grew up, I recognised that ballet wasn’t for me, and switched from playing the Violin badly, to being not so bad on the Oboe, a legacy from another primary school teacher, and an instrument that gives me goose bumps even now when I hear it, although I can no longer play it myself. That was when my reading peaked, to fourteen books a week, at the age of 13/14. Many writers are creative in other areas – some of my author friends are fantastic artists in their own right too, but the only other area that I could be described as being creative in was music.
I think reading is an integral part of being a writer, don’t you? There are so many fabulous books out there, and I can still easily devour a good novel within a day, if time allows. I find now though that I actually have to plan my reading, and pace myself. Since the idea for Worlds Apart became a series, just hearing a snippet of a track off my writing playlist can trigger the flow of ideas, and my mind will drift off on a path of its own. That’s fine when I’m at home, but not so good when helping a client with their CRM Strategy, or major transformation programme and someone has forgotten to turn their mobile off!
The biggest challenge for me though has to be finding the time to write. I work full time, and when I’m not at work, my first priority is our daughter, so I rarely get time to stop, let alone think, before late in the evening. When the story is flowing, I can easily get several hundred words written in the space of a couple of hours, and in fact the bones of book one, over 30,000 words, were written over several evenings during a six-week period. That’s not so easy however when I’m struggling with where the story is going – and many times I’ve sat at our computer, or with a laptop on my lap, staring at a blank screen. I often find that happens when I’m trying to force the story to go in a certain direction, and the characters aren’t ready to do that. I don’t know about your own writing Morgen, but my characters have surprised me with some of the things that ended up on the page. The story still goes where I’m expecting it to, but there have certainly been a few significant events along the way that I wasn’t quite expecting!
I have to admit though that when I first starting writing Book One properly, and the realisation that this was a complete product, not just another idea, I found it a very isolating experience. I’m quite shy in many ways, and told less than a handful of people, including my husband and parents, that I’d started writing properly again. So knowing where to begin in terms of marketing and getting published was really difficult. By chance I came across the Authonomy website, and although I don’t use that site very much at all, I joined a group of writers called the Alliance of Worldbuilders, all of whom are fantasy authors of one genre or another. Book One would never have been published without their support and advice, and I know it is a much better book as a result of their comments. I’d highly recommend that anyone new to writing, who really wants to get support and advice, seeks out and joins a similar forum for the genre they write.
Thanks for having me Morgen.
**
You’re very welcome, Andrea. I’m delighted you could join me.
You can find more about Andrea and her writing via…
***
If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog (the spotlights are option (a)) or email me for details.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, Andrea Baker, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and thirtieth, is of novelist, speaker and poet Robert E Hirsch.
Robert Hirsch was born in Pusan, Korea in 1949. At age five, upon the conclusion of the Korean war, his mother placed him on an airplane and sent him to America under the adoption of his biological American father due to post-war hardships and the ostracism against Amer-Asian children that existed in Korea at the time. He did not see her again until forty years later in 1993 when they were finally reunited. Living in the South (Columbus, Georgia, 1954), he was prohibited by segregation practices from enrolling in public school because he was half Asian and deficient in English, and subsequently received his first four years of education in Catholic schools. From there he attended Department of Defense schools until age thirteen when he received American citizenship. His family then moved to France where, despite the fact that he did not speak French, he was placed in the French school system. Within three years, however, he became fluent in French and upon graduation from college at Cameron University in Oklahoma (1971), he became a French teacher. He retired from education in 2012 after a 40 year career in which he served as a teacher, Dean of Discipline, assistant middle school principal, high school principal, and superintendent. He is currently writing novels and serving as a public speaker / organizational consultant.
He has long had a passion for writing, has published poetry, authored a regular newspaper column, and has recently published his first fiction novel, Contrition, with JournalStone Publishing of San Francisco. As with most writers, witnessing the human condition has been utterly fascinating… a bittersweet communion of heartbreak and inspiration. “Due to the extremely unusual, transitional circumstances of my life and the many odd experiences it has thrown at my feet, writing has been cathartic for me,” says Hirsch. “We as feeble humans are often swept into the rushing tide of circumstance, and are consequently forced into making decisions that violate our core principals… and thus begins that inner struggle that so hauntingly lingers within the brackish backwaters of our conscience.”
*
And now from the author himself:
My writing delves into the cerebral aspects of the personal reflection that arises as we confront challenge and conflict. More specifically, I like to examine and expose the impact that previous failures, collapses, and misdeeds have had upon my characters, and how those past experiences affect the psyche of my characters as they grapple with the obstacles I have placed before them within my plots. I have determined by now through both personal experience and observation that regardless of our individual successes and victories in life, we each inevitably leave behind us a wake of damage as we plod forward through life. Often this damage to others is created through no malice or intent of our own, but comes about as a result of being swept into the currents of circumstance. Whether the damage done to others is deliberate or incidental, however, the end result is the same… hurting others. This may be of little consequence to the malevolent, but the decent soul is profoundly affected by the effect of his/her own errant actions upon others. And thus begins that parasitic inner struggle that slowly eats at the “good heart” as he/she struggles to navigate through the see-saw of the conscience.
In my novel, Contrition (JournalStone Publishing, August, 2012), the placid existence of a small coastal community is disrupted by the brutal murder of a ten-year-old girl within the attic of the house of the Brothers of Holy Cross who run the local Catholic school. Within the web of shock, mystery, and horror that begins to unravel as the crime is investigated, the disconnected lives of five characters begin to converge in an unanticipated communion of personal contrition as the murder of the young girl forces them individually to return to the pillory of their own guilt for things that occurred earlier in their lives. Contrition crosses genres (suspense, mystery, crime, horror/supernatural), but remains true to one simple theme… the human heart’s quest for atonement. Though the human heart is the wellspring of great strength, courage, and perseverance, it is also fragile… and once broken, can force the strongest of souls into the bottomless depths of depression, defeat, and inner collapse. The heart, then, is the very core of our humanity, and there is no medium in existence that can so effectively and precisely convey the struggles of the heart better than the written word of fiction. Solid writing entangles us within the lives, aspirations, and fears of the characters placed before us. Good writing sweeps us into plots and storylines, regardless of themes, settings, or time. And this, I find, is the exciting challenge of writing… imagining and creating emotion.
I have just completed two more novels, Promise of the Black Monks and Hammer of God, and have just this month sent them off to my agent (Loicano Literary Agency, Texas). These two novels form a prequel-sequel package and, unlike Contrition, are purely of the historical fiction genre. They cover the abandonment and subsequent upbringing by Benedictine monks of a ten-year-old boy during the political and spiritual turmoil at the close of the 11th Century, just preceding the First Crusade. Again, despite the complete left turn from Contrition in terms of setting, genre, and time period, my driving theme in these two books is the human heart and how it navigates one through both internal and external adversity.
**
Robert’s novel, Contrition, can be ordered through JounalStore.com, Kindle, Nook, Barnes and Noble, and Books-a-Million. More information and musings by Robert Hirsch are available at his website: robertehirsch.com.
***
If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog (the spotlights are option (a)) or email me for details.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, Robert E Hirsch, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the eleventh in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month while I write a story a day for Story A Day May 2013.
Today’s prompt was to write a story for submission to a particular market. Micro fiction is incredibly popular and whilst I won’t submit this one, especially because anything published online is deemed published, my very first published (by Woman’s Weekly) piece was a 60-worder. So below is my 60-worder for today…
*
Dating paradise
The Brington Chronicle’s lonely hearts advert read ‘gentle giant 40s sought for romantic picnics and cinema visits by petite blonde late 30s, reply to Box 147’.
Eve waited for over a week for replies to trickle in but by the second week she’d had fifty.
She sifted through them and found her ideal man, Adam… a match made in heaven!
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and twenty-ninth, is of novelist Panos Nomikos.
Panos Nomikos was born in 1961 in Athens, Greece. During his carefree, youthful years, he roamed the idyllic islands of his home country having fun on the golden beaches under the sun with his friends and lovers. Later, he studied for a Ph.D. in the UK and started a career in Information Technology in the maritime sector, roaming again across the world on intercontinental business trips in faraway places in Asia, Europe and America. In the course of his career he has authored numerous essays and articles in professional publications.
He maintains a blog at http://panosnomikos.wordpress.com writing about his favorite themes related to his beautiful home country, Greece, its position within the world-wide socioeconomic transformations, and its current upheaval in the midst of the worst financial crisis that we are experiencing here. He writes especially about ordinary Greeks, those living within the country, but also those who live and distinguish themselves around the world, trying to understand their vivid pulse and their feelings of belonging to the worldwide Greek diaspora.
Similarly, he has always aspired to share all those views and experiences and his quests to discover his own ‘true meaning of life’ by writing books. His first novel, ‘Fateful Eyes’, narrates the story of Peter, a busy professional who travels constantly around the world trying to solve a perplexing puzzle that has upset his life, whereas his affectionate lover tries to fend-off the threat posed by a mysterious antagonist in his heart.
*
And now from the author himself:
People around me have always been telling me that I am a “good writer” and that I should use my talent one way or another, someday… Since childhood (since I was ten years old) I have kept a diary, a habit that I have maintained continuously for the past forty years. Although, of course, nobody else has read my secret diaries, whenever I am revisiting my past pages, I am glad to notice that I am amused and entertained, not by my uneventful and ordinary past life per se, but by the way that I had been expressing my inner feelings and emotions.
Later on, during my professional career, I have written dozens of essays and articles in professional publications and magazines in my industry sector. The readers of those articles, and the editors of those publications, gave me a very heartening feedback, truly enjoying my pieces and my style, and encouraging me to write something “bigger”.
Thus, I decided to follow their advice. Witnessing first-hand and participating in the rapid socioeconomic developments that characterize the final decade of the previous century and the first years of the new millennium, from my professional standpoint, I wished to share all my observations and my opinions about the world-wide developments, one way or another. Moreover, the acute crisis that occurred recently in my home country, Greece, that again I am witnessing first-hand as it evolves around me on a daily basis, gave me an additional insight on how things can go terribly wrong, for a whole nation. I do maintain the position that, what has happened so far in Greece, is not unique to this country and, if the appropriate lessons are not learned by the educated world-wide elites, the intellectuals, the professionals, and the masses themselves, and if risk mitigation actions are not taken now rather than later, then I will not be surprised to see the same phenomena repeated again and again all over the world, including today’s richest, industrialized countries.
But how to “spread the word” about what has happened in my own country, and about what can go terribly wrong elsewhere? I wrote a novel, “Fateful Eyes”, where the protagonist, Peter, is a cosmopolitan Greek who grew up in Athens but who migrated to the UK. As he wanders around the globe trying to solve a mysterious puzzle that is tantalizing his life, he is unwittingly entangled in the rolling thunder of the world’s upheavals that characterize the beginning of the new millennium. His adventures give him a lot of stimuli to ponder on what has gone wrong in the global affairs, and what lies ahead for all of us.
A sequel of “Fateful Eyes”, the second volume, is already in the works, plus one more, shorter novel that will complete a trilogy. I hope that you will join me in this fascinating trip and that you will enjoy it.
**
I certainly do. Thank you, Panos. You can find more about Panos and his writing via…
Fateful Eyes is a story about a life spent searching for love, accomplishments, and true fulfillment, within the world upheavals that, unfortunately, characterize the beginning of the new millennium. In his own life, Panos Nomikos (the author) has traveled in many continents, has been acquainted with many different people from different cultures, and he has also humbly attempted to comprehend the dizzying pace of events that are unfolding in such a frenetic tempo around us.
Panos aspires to share those experiences by narrating the story of “Peter”, a cosmopolitan who is traveling around the world at several exotic places, trying to solve a great puzzle, trying to locate a mysterious lady who came from his distant, youthful, and lustful past, and upset his life and his relationship with his affectionate lover. All the while, she is trying to fend-off by the threat posed by that mysterious rival in his heart.
Yet, the puzzle itself is not the essence of this novel. The puzzle is only a “pretext” to justify the exposure of Peter’s tortuous and twisted path in life, as well as to narrate the lives of everyone around him, as they all become unwittingly entangled into the rolling thunder of the world’s current upheavals, terrorism, wars, and economic crises. Like a modern Odyssey, the real essence of this novel is Peter’s long and tormenting journey towards his destination, towards the completion of his mission. Notwithstanding the mystery, the problems, and the upheavals, this story also celebrates love, affection, optimism, and the enthralling beauty of marvelous life.
Fateful Eyes can be found on Amazon www.amazon.com/author/panosnomikos in paperback or e-book formats.
***
If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog (the spotlights are option (a)) or email me for details.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to Flash Fiction Friday and the eighty-sixth piece in this series. This week’s is a 483-worder by Caron Allan. This story will be podcasted in episode 30 (with two other stories) on Sunday 28th July.
The Blue Dress
“They’ve found something, sir.” A young policeman spoke through the car window. Inspector Smith heaved himself forward on the seat and got out of the car. Seemed like these days he was always tired. Time to quit, go fishing, get away from all this. He’d given them thirty-five years, they’d had enough.
“Is he still alive?” He asked the constable. He looked too young to be a copper. Looked like he should still be in the Scouts. They all did, with their degrees in Criminology and their fresh faces, still with acne, some of them. The constable shrugged.
“The paramedics are still working on him. It doesn’t look too good, sir.”
Inside the funeral parlour, the assistant who had raised the alarm watched as a couple of paramedics laboured over the undertaker. The scrawny white chest was bared for the use of the defibrillator. Smith turned away, the image frozen, a moment in time, imprinted on his mind – a few greying hairs in the middle of the chest, the prominent ribs supporting the pale skin.
“How did you know this wasn’t just a routine call?” The constable was at his side, and the question was a welcome distraction. As Smith responded, they turned about and headed for the rear door. “I mean, we were called out to a robbery gone wrong, and straight away, you knew. It was like magic, sir.”
Smith halted in the doorway and looked at the youngster.
“There’s no magic in this game, son. As soon as we went into the flat upstairs, I saw the dress.”
“I saw it too, sir, but it didn’t ring any warning bells with me.”
Smith looked at him. “You didn’t find it a bit odd that an elderly bachelor should have a blue dress hanging on a mannequin in his bedroom? A blue dress that clearly dated from the 1950s, and was the size of a girl of about 12 to 14 years of age? It didn’t make you wonder if the undertaker had a secret? You didn’t find any of that at all unusual, constable?”
The constable flushed, and looked down at his feet. “Well, I suppose …”
They headed into the back garden. There was a concrete area set aside for client parking, beyond that a tall hedge enclosed a private garden. Some men in plastic all-in-ones had dug up a small patio area surrounded by climbing roses. In any other time or place, a beautiful bower of contemplation. One of the men got to his feet and beckoned the police officers over. He pointed into the shallow pit.
Smith looked. A cold hand clutched momentarily at his heart. He nodded and turned away. The constable was at his elbow like an eager puppy. “Sir? Do you know who it is, sir?”
Smith nodded again.
“Jessie Flynn. 13 years of age. Missing since 1958. The owner of that blue dress.”
*
I asked Caron what prompted this piece and she said…
The inspiration behind this short story came mainly from your (Morgen’s) online novel-writing group daily exercises featuring a photo of a blue dress on a mannequin. In the end I changed the kind of dress it was to suit the story, but the visual clue set off my imagination. I wondered who the dress might belong to and why it was on a mannequin. I could visualise it standing in the corner of an old dark room, a room no one visits apart from an elderly man. I could imagine him stretching out greedy arthritic fingers towards the soft stuff of the dress. It was a symbol, a reminder of a terrible act he had committed in his past. This was a secret that wouldn’t be discovered until he was dead. The prompts also indicated a character who was always tired and this led me to my jaded detective who has seen too much over his years as an investigating officer. Thank you Morgen for the brilliant exercises!
You’re so welcome, Caron. Thank you for doing something (and great somethings) with them!
**
Caron Allan was born in Kent and has lived all over the south east of England, and also spent five years in Brisbane, Australia, which has provided plenty of material for writing novels and short stories, mainly in the mystery / crime genre but Caron also writes fantasy fiction.
Married with two grown up children and now living in Derbyshire, Caron has previously worked as a railway ticket clerk, a classroom assistant, a secondhand bookshop assistant, an archivist, and a University administrator.
When not plotting how to kill people, Caron can be found trawling the aisles of her local grocery store in pursuit of everyday items with lethal potential. Other interests include history and family tree research and chatting on Facebook. Caron self-published her first eBook, Criss Cross, on 1 January 2013, and is currently writing a sequel, which at the moment has the working title Cross Check.
Caron’s novel is available via http://www.amazon.co.uk/Criss-Cross-Posh-Hits-ebook/dp/B00BM9AJ3Q and http://www.amazon.com/Criss-Cross-Posh-Hits-ebook/dp/B00BM9AJ3Q.
***
If you’d like to submit your 1,000-word max. stories for consideration for Flash Fiction Friday take a look here, or up to 5,000 words for critique on my Online Short Story Writing Group (links below).
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the tenth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a third-person omniscient story. I was going to continue on from the previous three days but fancied doing something different and although the first section is only third-person limited (one character’s point of view) I’ve taken the literal ‘God’s view’ of omniscience. The second section is connected and is omniscient. Below is my 1,048-worder.
*
Death & Life
Death
Wonder how long would it take me to reach the ground if I jumped? Ted thinks as he swings his legs in the light breeze. How many bones would I break? Which part of me would hit the sidewalk first? He won’t of course, would have thought about it a year or so ago but he’s turning his life around, working hard, getting off the booze. This is his last bottle of old JD. Mr Daniels and Ted go way back. JD was there when he needed him or thought he needed him but instead of going to the liquor store, he’s started going to the café next door. Hadn’t even noticed it before, in a world of his own, but it’s real cute, a real homely atmosphere with damn fine cups of coffee.
He sits looking at his colleagues, eating their lunch next to him on the girder, chatting away, not a care in the world and thinks, They’re lucky – probably have swell homes, loving wives… gals who make their lunch pails and kiss them off to work. Someone to meet them, hold them, have their supper ready on the table when they get home, someone to care for them… think about them when they’re not there. The ‘old’ him would have felt all bitter and twisted, but he takes a good hard look at them then at himself, and sees they’re no different; just men trying to be happy, getting through life as best they can.
Things on the outside are improving too; the Depression’s easing and the mayor’s got big plans for the grand city of New York. “Do something about the smog,” he says – breathe it in and it chokes you – gonna be a thing of the past. “Look to the future” he says. More high-rise buildings as far as the eye can see, right up to the clear blue water of Rhode Island and out to Martha’s Vineyard. So the city is on the up, literally, and that’s gonna keep Ted in a job, so he’s all for it. Maybe he’ll even get out of the Bronx and move to Queens… and one day Manhattan!
So they’re constructing the great Empire State Building. Making a new piece of history – John Raskob’s vision – he reckons there’ll be a million bricks by the time they’ve finished. Had to be higher than Walt Chrysler’s Building. That Raskob fella must be mad, Ted thinks, doing all this just to outdo his rival. Hey, maybe one day I’ll even be able to buy one of their cars.
This girder is boiling – Ted feels like his arse is burning. Fred’s got the right idea, bare chest and all.
Ted looks down, at all the people, the worker ants, crawling about their business, never talking to their neighbours. Up here, they’re a world away. Ted then spots his apartment block. Could do with a lick of paint.
His mind wanders to the girl in the coffee shop yesterday, thinks maybe he’ll speak to her tomorrow. “What? Yeah, Joe, it’s a fantastic view. Thanks, I’d love a cheese sandwich.”
*
Life
The hospital doors fly open and a woman is screaming out “where’s my husband? Where’s Matthew?”
Twenty blocks away a man kneels down and takes a picture. Little does he know that this innocent snap will be famous worldwide for many years to come. Right now he’s thinking about getting the job done before he rushes home to his expectant wife. Their first child is due any day and he can’t concentrate. So he continues staring through the viewfinder, hoping for clear shots before getting his equipment together and going home. He looks at the people that compile his picture. Eleven ordinary men but with nerves of steel. He marvels at how they could sit on a tiny, narrow ledge hundreds of feet up in the air. He expects them to look fragile – as if a gust of wind could carry them over at any point – but they’re as strong as the girder they sit on. His eye, then lens, focus on a solitary figure at the end. Although he’s sitting next to his colleagues, he seems detached – a bit of a loner – and a liquid lunch it would appear. Looks like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. The photographer wonders what the man is thinking. He puts down his camera and sighs.
The heat of the day hits him. He had thought that it would be cold so high up but it’s baking. The white vested guy manages to look cool, clearly used to the heat. Apart from the outsider, the rest of the group seem very relaxed. One lights up a cigarette for a colleague, two others shut their lunchboxes and get to their feet and all but four head back to their site office, casually strolling back along the solid iron tightrope as if they were part of a trained circus. The four remaining men chat for a while, then to the photographer’s amazement, swing round to face each other and lay length ways along the girder and go to sleep! He carefully takes more pictures – the shutter sounds deafening as it closes. Today has been one of the best of his life.How many people have the opportunity to see life so raw. Up, natural above the clouds? He feels privileged. Here he is…over a thousand feet off the ground, witnessing the building of the eightieth floor of a planned one hundred and two. As he watches the men nap, he realises that he’ll have little sleep from now on but he can’t wait.
As his thoughts drift, his wife is going through the early stages of labour.
Senior nurse, Bertha Albright, applies a damp compress to her patient’s forehead and holds her hand while a colleague tries, again, to get hold of the father-to-be, willing for the day when people will be able to carry telephones with them. Bertha has assisted in numerous births but the moment a baby arrives still amazes her. She is sure that tonight would be no different.
A visitor in the next ward talks to her friend about a customer in her coffee shop the previous night and hopes that she sees him again before too long.
*
Footnote: The Empire State Building – highest building in world until 1972 – was built by John Raskob, Creator of General Motors who wanted to build a building taller than a recent building created by his rival Walter Chrysler.
***
Picture above courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunch_atop_a_Skyscraper.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Maria Bradley has worked at a variety of professions but has never released any of her writing for publication until November 2012. Her First book ‘Four’s a crowd’ was published by Feedaread in paperback and as an eBook on Amazon Kindle a couple of weeks later. She writes primarily for Teens and frequently states that her three young adult children are her inspiration. Although she is not primarily a poet, she has recently been placed as one of the runners up in a poetry competition with her poem ‘Manchester’; a cheerful rendition about her home town in England and it’s appallingly wet weather.
I have always been a fan of Vampire novels and thought it would be interesting to write about a vulnerable teenage girl living secretly in a vampire-dominated world. Being a teenage girl is difficult enough without the added danger of being discovered and ‘eaten’ at any given point within your nightly life. Aecia carries this burden alone until her desperate loneliness creates ‘Amica’ a blonde, blue eyed and carefree human friend whom she writes to in her diary. When she becomes involved with a real friend ‘Garok’ her life takes a disastrous turn for the worst but as her terrifying fears are realised she discovers that maybe she is not alone; with each catastrophic morsel of her life exploding into chaos she finds that her own birth has been the catalyst to events that will shake the foundations of the tyrannous vampire world forever.
My first project is called ‘Four’s A Crowd’ and began with someone I met many years ago when my own life was in a very dark place. ‘Chairman’ was an elderly gentleman who had absolutely nothing. He occasionally lived in a boarded up house and sometimes slept on an old mattress in the back of a rusty old van; not the kind of person you would expect to speak with a ‘Made in Chelsea’ accent, but he did. He was also extremely charming, polite and very content with his life. I will never forget his optimism and vigour. ‘Jack’ is a mixture of all the wonderful special needs children I have been fortunate enough to meet and work with. Nature has a way of affording particular and spectacular gifts to those who might be disadvantaged in another way. ‘Sky’ is my daughter, plain and simple; spirited, fiery, impulsive, stubborn, beautiful and kind.
