Denise Covey's Blog, page 3

#IWSG MARCH 2023. DO YOU EVER SUFFER FROM #AUTHORENVY?

 Hello fellow insecure writers. Is there any other kind? 

"As writers, we falter more often than not. We struggle to find narrative clarity, struggle with the purpose of why we write, struggle with beliefs that writing comes easier or more naturally for others, struggle with allowing who we really are to come through in our work, or that who we are, as we are, is enough. Sometimes words from other writers offer a lift."

And that, my friends, is the combined wisdom of best-selling authors of the ilk of Margaret Attwood, John Grisham, George R.R Martin et al from the inaugural Santa Fe Literary Festival (above). If these guys struggle, what chance do we have to be secure in our writing career? (If you have advice for me to the contrary, please drop it in the comments! I'd love to hear from you!)

So, peeps, it's April already. April is so busy with the A - Z challenge where writers gamely write every day. No thanks! Used to, but those frenzied days are over. I admire each and every one of you who succeeds. If you also write for WEP, you can find a way to combine both challenges.

The awesome co-hosts for the March 1 posting of the IWSG are Diedre Knight, Tonya Drecker, Bish Denham, Olga Godim, and JQ Rose!

  Be sure to visit the
Insecure Writer’s Support Group Website!!!

March 1 question - Have you ever read a line in novel or a clever plot twist that caused you to have author envy?
Are you kidding?????

I am a super voracious reader, and always make time for it no matter how frenetic life is and it's more than frenetic atm, so I am full to overflowing with author envy and magical words that feed my soul. Those who're waiting for a review may understand me more. Sorry. That phrase you wish you'd thought of, that word, unique, (Pat Conroy is the master!) or that plot!! I'm especially devouring thrillers atm (along with womens' fiction and vampire books) and plotting in thrillers, especially, must be sooo hard unless the author has reached the level where they appear to use a formula and repeat it with different characters and settings. Readers don't mind, do we? Well, maybe sometimes. I don't read certain authors anymore as they so obviously repeat themselves. But usually when we admire an author they can't shoot out those books quickly enough for us. I hope I'll reach that level one day! But I'm definitely a sloooow writer. How about you?
I don't like to just mention one author/plot twist that still has me thinking months after I finished the book when there are several, too many to mention. Oh boy! But I Let You Go  by one of my fave thriller writers, Clare Mackintosh, has left the biggest impression on me and obviously a lot of people. Just saw she's got over 40,300 reviews! Crikey! I'm struggling to reach double figures). I'm shivering just thinking about her plot twists. Spoiler alert! Stop now if you're going to read it on my rec.
Amazon link 
Somehow the author convinced the reader (or was it just dumb me?) she was talking about one person, but as the book rushes on you realize she's talking about a completely different person. (You're aware of them both.) That's pretty hard to pull off! It did me in. There is this vicious person out to kill one of these people. Shiver. Shiver. Police finally come to the starkly remote creepy beach in England where most of the story takes place. (I've noted in thrillers that the police are painted as pretty useless so the hero has to save themselves). Yeah, after a terrifying tussle she's already killed the killer by the time the cops arrive (girlpower!) - but the last line of the book has you asking - has she really? 
The killer has tracked her down where she's been eking out an existence writing and photographing Hallmark-type cards in the sand. Hmm. With him dead, finally she can reclaim her spot of beach without shaking in terror. So after she returns from hospital after being bashed to within an inch of her life by the killer - she finds -

"Jennifer - (her name of course)...
The sea doesn't falter. The next wave breaks over the marks in the sand, and they are gone. A gull gives a final sweep of the bay as the tide comes in, and the sun slips beneath the horizon.
And then it is dark."
I've already re-read to see where I missed the clues, but can't find it. Clare Mackintosh has done a great job. Author envy!!!!!


Have a great month, everyone! We at WEP have just finished our Gone With the Wind first challenge of the year. Currently on our blog the 3 winners are announced and have received their Oscars - Damyanti Biswas, Beth Camp and Dolarah (formerly Donna Hole).

You could receive an Oscar next. We'd love you to write for us in April ... check this out ...

Get IDEAS HERE!
Leave a comment and I'll get back to you!
Denise 

#WEP #fEBRUARY POST - #OPINIONPIECE - #GONEWITHTHEWIND and #CANCELCULTURE

 Hello all!

WEP is back! After some kerfuffle, Team WEP has come together again. We temporarily lost a team member, Laura, but gained one in Sonia Dogra. This year is going to be Bigger, Bolder, Better! We thank Alex J Cavanaugh, IWSG Ninja, for promoting our first challenge for the year and will continue to do so, and C Lee McKenzie from the IWSG for her Facebook promo posts.

Olga Godim, badge maker extraordinaire, has been busy since December, dreaming up badges and creating a new header for our new-look website. 

All team members have been involved in many creative discussions regarding how WEP will look going forward. Read all about our changes and new structure HERE. 

This enduring supportive online writing community contest is here to help writers hone their writing muscles by regularly writing to prompts. Bring us your WIP, your non-fiction, your poetry, your flash fiction! Get instant feedback on your writing or if you're the outright winner for a challenge, you receive a critique from an editor or published author. February's prize is a first chapter critique from IWSG's L Diane Wolf. Also, bonus - all three winners each prompt will be invited to submit to a WEP Anthology of the Best of WEP, 2023. 

So, today we get this year-long party started. This is the Year of Movies at WEP. 

As it's Valentine's month, our first prompt is based on the movie, the controversial Gone With the Wind. If you'd like to submit to the challenge, go HERE for ideas. You've got until February 17 to post an entry.

So, here is my entry, an op-ed, something different to my usual flash fiction. 

From deepest darkness comes enduring light.

Gone With the Wind - Love and loss, a nation mortally divided, a people forever changed.

 

A sign in my local library says – “A truly great library has something in it to offend everyone”. That is true of the novel, Gone With the Wind (GWTW). Some find it offensive, some find it wonderful. At its core, it is a turbulent love affair between a manipulative, brave, woman, (Scarlett O’Hara) and a rogue, (Rhett Butler) against the fiery backdrop of the American Civil War.

The author Margaret Mitchell lived in Atlanta where at one time, 1 in 5 residents were slaves. A journalist passionate about American history, over ten years she gathered war stories from the Civil War. The result? GWTW. In its first year, it went through 31 printings and sold over a million copies – that was 60 years ago. For decades it has trailed only the Bible on best-seller lists, so it endures like Scarlett O’Hara.

For this WEP prompt, we’re using the film version, the biggest grossing movie of all time (adjusted for inflation), and Academy Award winner for 1940. Producer, David O Selznick, faithfully followed the book's premise - not to yield, suffer or be beaten down.

I will survive, says Scarlett.Getty Images

GWTW is one of my favorite films. There. I. Said. It. A blogger once attacked me for my view, citing its glorification of slavery. I thought, hang on, it doesn’t glorify slavery, rather it has shaped popular understanding of the American Civil War and Reconstruction. It is never okay to buy and sell human beings, but the book and movie reflect a time when not everyone shared this view.

A handbill advertising a slave auction in Charleston in 1769 - courtesy of Weekend Australian newspaper.

That blogger wasn’t alone in her view. 80 years after its release, the “Woke Ness Monster” arose from the deep to announce GWTW, the movie, had given slavery a cinematic gloss-over and should be "canceled". No. We learn from the past; we can’t just erase it. GWTW opens a window to how things were in America at the time of writing. The North against slavery; the South passionately for it. Generally.

Slavery. What word describes such a blight on humanity?

Evil is one word that comes to mind. Impossible not to make comparisons with the Holocaust which saw over 6 million slain, yet today we have a movement denying it ever happened. Cancel culture at work. It is believed that 12 million Africans were abducted as part of the slave trade and few deny how hapless human beings, if they survived the trip, were used by white settlers themselves enslaved … by greed.

But from deepest darkness comes enduring light.  

We’ve seen in movies how the plantation slaves sang Negro spirituals, songs like He's Got the Whole World in His Hand, to motivate them. Life on earth sucked, but they believed in redemption.

As did one white British slave trader.

Did you know that John Newton, who penned most everybody’s favorite hymn, Amazing Grace, was part of this vicious trade in the 1700s? Thankfully, his carefree acceptance of slave trading waned; his guilt led to good and his journey to redemption. He studied for the priesthood, and in 1773, gave the first rendition of the world’s most readily identified hymn. “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me…” he intoned in his ordination sermon. The song stemmed from his third and final voyage servicing the Triangle Trade where he decided without doubt that slavery was evil.

We know slaves were used as free labor on cotton plantations, sold and put to work across long days with avoiding brutal punishment and starvation their only motivation. Slaves on the Tara plantation were generally happy and loved their masters. This was not altogether uncommon, with many slaves reluctant to accept emancipation at the end of the Civil War. 

Getty Images
Mammy, (Hattie McDaniel) who won Best Supporting Actress, was certainly the boss of Scarlett!She famously said - “I’d rather play a maid for seven hundred dollars a week than to be one for seven dollars a week.” 

Understandably, many African Americans took offense at the image of happy slaves and brought their protests onto the streets in front of theaters where GWTW was playing. 

Credit - Afro American Newspapers

Back to Newton. On his redemptive journey, he worked tirelessly to have the slave trade abolished in Britain. In the words of Prime Minister William Pitt, “The greatest stigma on our national character which ever yet existed, is about to be removed!” Newton achieved this, along with peers like Wilberforce and Pitt, in 1792.

Newton died months after Britain abolished slavery, but his redemptive song endures.

Meanwhile, in America, abolition was not so easy. The issue of slavery drove four bloody years of Civil War. The last Confederate slave was not freed until 1865. The Civil Rights bill was not enacted until a century after the war, but equality still eludes many black Americans to this day.

A dozen years after the Civil War, Edison invented the phonograph, and Amazing Grace was recorded. A thousand versions followed, unifying the music and the words, twice reaching million-seller status.

But perhaps the most famous rendition was begun by Barack Obama in 2015 as he gave the eulogy for South Carolina senator Clementa Pinckney, the youngest black man to be elected in that state – some believed he might one day be president – who was shot after he pleaded for police to be fitted with body cameras after the brutal shooting of black man Walter Scott. Overwhelmed by the sadness and waste, Obama twice spoke the words “Amazing Grace”. His mellow baritone then intoned the five notes that make up those words and the audience rose as one to complete Newton’s 1773 sermon. I saw it on live television and will never forget it. So recently we had the eulogy for Tyre Nichols, who, despite police body cameras, was brutally slain, this time mainly by black police. Is equality gone with the wind? Or can we believe and hope that somehow out of darkness can come a thing of beauty.

WORDS: 1009

FCA - have your say!

 FURTHER READING:

The Long Battle over Gone With the Wind – New York Times

Gone With the Wind: Is it really Nostalgic? – The Saturday Evening Post

Song of Redemption - the Weekend Australian, January 7 - 8, 2023

I hope you weren't offended by my article. I'd love to have your opinion.

If you're enjoying the February WEP, consider joining us in April. Get ideas HERE. If you do the A - Z, you can merge it with the day's letter. Plenty have done this.

Thanks for coming by!
Denise

#IWSG February post - Book covers

 Hello all!

Our second posting for the year already. Hope you're all diving into 2023 with renewed vigour and hope.

February 1 question - If you are an Indie author, do you make your own covers or purchase them? If you publish trad, how much input do you have about what goes on your cover?
The awesome co-hosts for the February 1 posting of the IWSG are Jacqui Murray, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Pat Garcia, and Gwen Gardner!

  Be sure to visit the
Insecure Writer’s Support Group Website!!!

The question for the month of February is pretty simple - BOOK COVERS.

As a self-published author, I listen to my much-published friends who variously offer advice on what has worked for them.

Fiverr is cheap for beginning authors and a bit dodgy, so it helps to have recommendations. I admit I'm not overly happy with any of my Fiverr covers, but once I find my author feet I'll redo them all. 

I settled on designrans on Fiverr for my vampire novels.

Continued with pro-ebook covers on Fiverr for my first three books of short stories.

But found it difficult to find an illustrator for my Paris Dreams women's fiction novel. Finally, through a friend, I happened upon Kim Killion of The Killion Group.

I'm super happy with her cover and will use her again for my next Paris novel with the working title - Le Petit Paris Kitchen Cookery School. And as a bonus, you can pay for a blurb. Read some examples HERE.

All my covers can be seen HERE.

We're told ad infinitum that the book cover is super important as yes, we do judge a book by its cover. A good cover should reflect the genre. This is enhanced by the right fonts. I look for a great tagline which tells the buyer so much.

Next most important. Flip over to the blurb. Most of us find the blurbs excruciating to write. I get a lot of help with mine and am still unhappy with all of them. But the blurb needs to sit nicely on the back, whether there is an image in the background or colors to match the front cover, the text needs to be clear. At times the blurb gets lost in the back image.

Anyway I'm no expert, but I hope there is a little takeaway within my ramblings. Looking forward to reading what you have to say.

And if you lack funds for cover artists, there are free Canva and other programs. I'm a little too impatient and find Canva a bit annoying, but I did rush one for a Book Funnel promo of a short story. My story had hundreds of downloads which added to my newsletter list, so the amateur cover didn't put readers off too much. But I won't repeat the experience as I believe even a free book deserves a professional cover. That said, I know authors who use the paid Canva option to create amazing covers and a wide variety of clip art for formatting the inside. Go you beautiful  people!

~*~*~

WEP (Write...Edit...Publish) starts today with a bang! Please join us this Valentine's month for the first of our 2023 prompts based on a favorite movie of each Team WEP member.

February's prompt is the controversial film:

Details are published on February 1 on our new-look website. Come across and have a sticky beak!

Posting of entries is between Feb 15 -17.

Submit Flash Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry and Photo Essays

Winners this month receive a critique from the IWSG's own L Diane Wolfe ... and ...a DRUMROLL ... place in WEP's anthology of the best of WEP in 2023, published early 2024.

Here is a mock up of a cover, simply used as a placeholder. 

Until next time!
Denise

#IWSG POST - MY WORD OF THE YEAR!

 Happy New Year everyone! I wish you every happiness in 2023! May your insecurities disappear and your securities grow! 

This is a short post. Don't get much time to open the laptop these days, but hoping that will improve soon!

January 4 question - Do you have a word of the year? Is there one word that sums up what you need to work on or change in the coming year? For instance, in 2021 my word of the year was Finish. I was determined to finished my first draft by the end of the year. In 2022, my word of the year is Ease. I want to get my process, systems, finances, and routines where life flows with ease and less chaos. What is your word for 2023? Why?
The awesome co-hosts for the January 4 posting of the IWSG are Jemima Pett, Debs Carey, Kim Lajevardi, Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre, and T. Powell Coltrin!

I saw the question and right away decided my word was  -  

Persevere 

Some of you know that we had a bit of a discombobulation at WEP toward the end of 2022 where it seemed each of the team members had life issues that were impacting on their ability to run WEP. Due to life throwing me lemons, I felt I had no choice but to give up my baby, but I didn't want to see it disappear as I believe WEP serves an important purpose - a creative corner of the blogoverse where  members can write 6 times a year and improve.

So when our first plan for a takeover tanked, Team WEP brushed themselves off and decided to continue despite issues, some with a lesser role, but with a strong core to ensure WEP continues to offer writers a chance to participate, to imagine, to create and to surprise themselves each challenge.

So, Persevere I say. Decide what to prioritise and go for it. Life will always throw us lemons, but we can make lemonade instead of collapsing in a heap.

And I just posted an article, #How to become a novelist by our December 2022 winner, Pat Garcia, at the WEP site. Her writing is going ahead in leaps and bounds.

And for all past, present and future participants in WEP, here is our first challenge in February 2023.

Remember, it's all about what inspires you:
GWTW can be the springboard for a million ideas- civil war, love, the definition of beauty (‘Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful but men seldom realized it..’), racism, slavery, strong women, gun violence, plantations, breaking conventions, the bond between fathers and daughters, mothers and daughters, the love for a piece of land, a lament for a vanishing society…alternatively, even an essay on the stars or the film director or the author Margaret Mitchell or some aspect of the making of the film...endless opportunities for creativity.
Post-February 15 to the 17th 2023

#WEP 2022 DECEMBER CHALLENGE - MY #FLASHFICTION - YOUR FACE, YOUR FACE, YOUR FACE.

 Hello there!

For the WEP challenge this month, I've edited the scene from my 'women's fiction with romantic and suspense elements' Paris Cookery School novel where my two main characters meet. It's over the limit at 1053, so sorry, but it fits the prompt perfectly, especially with reference to Roberta Flack's song. 

Something has been lost in the editing process, but hey, I might use this shorter version in my WIP. 

To pre-empt comments, I'm a member of the FB group, Ask a Book Editor, (highly recommended) and I was told the latest preference for foreign words is to italicise the first usage, thereafter don't, as italics get annoying after a while. I drink to that.

Angélique runs a cookery school. Charlie is a new student. Thus begins the romance which is the heart of the novel. 

TAGLINE: More than cooking goes on in the kitchen.

Your face, your face, your face

 

A very dishy dish stands at my kitchen door – handsome, tall, and very English. After lugging his suitcase up five floors, his cheeks are flushed. And those eyes – I’m lost. They’re the color of the sea on a cloudy day, pale green flecked with gold. Mon Dieu. So hot.

 

His charcoal pin-striped suit is too dressy for my cookery school. Although with his glossy black hair, groomed hipster beard, and devastating smile, who am I to judge?

 

“Entrez.” I sweep my arm in a gracious lady-of-the-manor gesture. “Welcome to Le Petit Paris Kitchen Cookery School. I’m your host, Angélique Ravello. You’re Charlie Byron?”

 

His mouth is luscious and with that quirk at the edge, he’s permanently smiling. He holds out a hand. “Yes. Enchanted, I’m sure, Angélique.” His phone pings. “Pardon.” He reaches into his pocket, silences it.

 

There's that hand again.

 

His fingers are long and strong like a piano player’s. If his smile turns my legs to water, what will happen if I touch him? Sucking in a breath, I take those fingers in mine. I swear the earth moves in my hand.

 

We both laugh. Did he feel that powerful surge of electricity? Or am I going mad?

 

“Enchanté, Charlie.” Neither of us breaks the grip. His fingers tighten on mine. When did we move so close? It’s like our bodies are magnetized. Now I can fully appreciate his handsome bearded face with cheekbones to shame a supermodel. And his délicieux cologne duels with délicieux cookery smells.

 

His smile dimples his face. “Thank you, or should I say merci?”

 

Behave yourself Angélique. I break the grip. Rub sweaty hands down my thighs. “English is fine, unless you prefer—”

 

“English then.”

 

His eyes rove my face. “You look like Amélie from that fabulous film everyone watches before coming to Paris.” He slaps his head. “No doubt you get that all the time.”

 

“I do.” My heartbeat whooshes in my ears. I won’t risk my cookery school’s reputation by flirting. I’ve already disgraced myself with my over-the-top reaction to his gorgeousness.

 

He inhales rosemary lamb while he gives my kitchen a good going over with those goldy-green eyes. “Uhmah. Something smells good.”

 

And something looks good. I’m lit up inside, my veins thrum. I haven’t felt like this since I met Alexandre at lycée.

 

“Everything okay?” His head tilts to the side while I check him out with one side of my brain while the other tells me to behave.

 

I drag my eyes from his face. “Oui, oui. Parfait.” I’m trembling like a leaf shaking in the Mistral in the South of France.

 

“So, what’s the verdict on my kitchen?”

 

He frowns like it was the last question he expected. Well, my man, it was the last question I expected to utter.

 

“Hmmm.” He raises a perfectly-groomed eyebrow, no stranger to a brow bar.

 

“Well, Charlie, you’re a BBC presenter, interior designer, and builder of bespoke kitchens. How does mine rate?”

 

“Right.” He scratches his beard. “I’m surprised to find such a modern kitchen here.” He drops his leather man bag on his luggage, kicks it to the side, steps forward for a closer look.

 

At me? Or the kitchen?

 

He rubs his hands together. “This is one beautiful kitchen.”

 

“Thanks.” Not as beautiful as you. I let go of the counter and surprisingly don’t drop to the floor. “I couldn’t afford an interior designer. How did I do?” That’s me, digging for compliments. Shameless.

 

“You did great.” He quirks his lips in a cute smile. “Your expansive workspaces are state-of-the-art. Those picture windows and balcony doors let in so much natural light it’s magical. Your furniture is sympathetic to the baroque window moldings. And I appreciate what you’ve done with color.”

 

“You like the color?” My voice squeaks. My maman and I pored over a thousand paint catalogues to recreate the warmth that sharing a perfect meal brings.

 

“I do. To use a food reference, those walls are raspberry macarons dipped in custard cream.”

 

Yum. This Englishman totally gets the vibe. “Exactly. What I aimed for.”

 

“You achieved it. Those rosy walls are a perfect foil to your blue and white Moroccan floor tiles, Italian marble workbench, and top-of-the-range Lacanche cooker. Brilliant.” He’s on a roll. “You’ve achieved that lived-in, much-loved feel rarely found in London kitchens. But I must say, those cooking smells beat all …” He kisses his fingers.

 

I’d like to hug him for his generous critique, but of course I don’t. He’s from London, I’m from Paris. Nine days of rubbing shoulders and he’ll be gone.

 

I smooth my chignon to keep my hands busy. “Thanks. A welcome drink, Charlie? Champagne?”

 

“Just the ticket. Do you mind if I nose around?” His phone chirps again. He glances at the screen, frowns, silences it.

 

“Not at all.” I lift a bottle of Champagne la Maison Garnier from the ice bucket and am tempted to plunge my face into the chill. While he opens cupboard doors, checks out Grand-mère’s antique china, watches the street theatre, I fill two crystal flutes. I breathe deeply to get control of myself, join him on the balcony, hand him a frothy glass, drown in his dreamy eyes, “Salut, Charlie.”

 

“Salut, Angélique. Hmmm. Del-ic-io-us.” He watches the bubbles fizz. “Like the view.” His voice is as smooth as his silk  scarf slung oh-so-casually around his neck.

 

“I’m aware of how lucky I am with what I have.” And nearly lost when Maman died.

 

“Bloody hell! Uh, excuse my French. The Eiffel Tower.” He leans forward, eyes aglow. “How cool to have people come from all over the world to share this view while they learn to cook. Epic.”

 

“I agree.” I gulp my champagne faster than I should. My head spins. Fizz tickles my nostrils. Is my frozen heart thawing like the snow which fell in Paris this winter? No matter. My new mantra – ‘be always professional.’

 

“So,” Charlie says, “who else is coming?”

 

Merde. I’d be happy to stand here for the rest of the night and breathe him in. “Three women - from Ireland, Australia and Alaska.”

 

“Brilliant.”

 

It’s a tight squeeze on my balcony and I deliberately push my hip against his. He brings back memories of happy times I’ve spent here with Alexandre.

 

But Alexandre is gone.

 

~*~~*~~*~

In my latest novel, out in 2023, drama, romance, and passion are layered, flavoured, tasted and left to simmer, not unlike the traditional French recipes scattered throughout the book.

WORD COUNT: 1050

FCA

Anyone a whiz at choosing book titles? I'm struggling with this one. Here is what I have so far ... can't move forward with the cover until I settle on one.

1. Le Petit Paris Cookery School 

2. The Taste of Love

3. A Feast of Food and Love

4. The Cookery School of Second Chances

5. The Recipe for Second Chances

5. Other?

 That's it for 2022. It's all over bar the shouting! It's been a great year for WEP with some beyond fabulous writing. Thanks to my wonderful team, and all who participated, either by posting entries, reading entries, and supporting Team WEP. And a big thank you to Nick Wilford for his judging expertise. 

Raspberry macarons with custard cream - yum! Can't wait to taste them again!

Denise

#IWSG post - NOVEMBER 2022 - #NANOWRIMO - To do or not to do that is the question.

 Hello there!

Here we are again. Another month gone by, chock-a-block with writerly activities for many of us. 

The awesome co-hosts for the November 2 posting of the IWSG are Diedre Knight, Douglas Thomas Greening, Nick Wilford, and Diane Burton!

  Be sure to visit the
Insecure Writer’s Support Group Website!!!

I'm sorry I didn't get back to those who commented here last month, but unfortunately my husband had a bike accident and ended up in hospital with a broken back. Not fun. He is slowly recovering, but our lives have certainly been disrupted and will be for some time. 

So, I'll answer the suggested question today - November is National Novel Writing Month. Have you ever participated? If not, why not?

I was an enthusiastic NaNoWriter years ago, but no longer do it. I mean, the  idea used to be that you cranked up the laptop on Nov 1st, and started writing, preferably without a plan. Since then, writers use it more specifically to finish a book, edit a book, plan a book etc etc rather that what the original expectations were. That's all fine. Many things start off one way and end up being something else.

Yeah, this was my whaling novel, Ruby. Had a look at it the other day ... and cringed.
I have a total of 5 rubbishy books I penned in a frenzy in my early NaNo days. I doubt I'll ever get back to them. Maybe I could take the story ideas from them, as the ideas are good, but the writing is what NaNo writing was once supposed to be - rubbishy first draft.

So no, no more NaNo for me. The only thing I remember fondly was it was a great excuse to hit the laptop every day and pen over 1,000 words. And connecting with other writers. But I can do that without NaNoWriMo.

Have a great month.

Oh, and while you're here, WEP finished an awesome October challenge and is primed to have their final challenge in December. Join us if you feel like following our dreamy prompt -

Denise

#WEP OCTOBER 2022 CHALLENGE - MICHAEL JACKSON'S "THRILLER" - MY #FLASHFICTION

 Hello there!

It's time for the WEP October thrilling challenge where writers are asked to respond in any way they choose to Michael Jackson's "Thriller". The options are there for those who resist reading or writing horror in any form, so some entries might be 'thrilling' in other ways. Myself, I'm rather attracted to vampire stories, so of course that's the direction I took my entry. 

For the second half of my entry, I incorporated lyrics from the song, mindful that there is copyright on lyrics, so I changed them. No copyright on titles, thankfully. I also had some useable pics in my picture folders that I hope enhance the 'thrilling' experience.

I hope you enjoy my 'thrilling' entry:

 “Run, Sadie, Run.”

Sadie slithered down the freezing drainpipe, and bam, her ballet flats hit the ground. Creeping cold seeped through her shoes, her toes turned to ice. She slapped her face. Got the blood flowing. Idiot! She should have worn that ugly sheepskin coat her mother gave her, but she wanted to show off her milky white shoulders in her red silky dress. To whom? She was about to find out.

Lucretia, her BFF at her new school had told her about a ceremony happening at midnight deep in the woods. How could Sadie miss that?

She shivered along the snowy path into the wood behind her house. Should have worn a cloak, not this thin shawl. "Yes, Mom, I'm a stupid cow."

“We moved here to get you away from those weirdos in Washington State. But you never listen. Don’t whine to me when disaster strikes.”

“Don’t go walking in those woods at night”, Lucretia had warned her, “especially on Halloween”.

“Especially under moonlight.” Her new boyfriend Xavier added on several occasions while they made out in her room. As he spoke, his eyes gazed at her soulfully, eyes flecked with red which sorta scared her. “Never, never, never enter those woods.” He thumped the pillow. “Evil lurks.”

Sadie had almost laughed. Xavier was so quaint of speech, like he was from another age. But she wasn’t doing trick and treating with the class like she was some stupid little girl. She was going to be a scientist. Scientists don’t believe anything they can’t prove.

She passed an abandoned shack by a frozen stream. She was close.

 

Full moon. All Hallow’s Eve. Pagan festival of the dead. Her favorite time of year. Ghosts, vampires, ghouls, zombies and what the heck else come out to toy with humans. She wrapped her arms around herself; snowflakes teased her bare shoulders. Her hair whipped into her mouth, her eyes. Was that ghosts she heard ooh-ing and aah-ing? Turn back, freak, she told herself, but no, she was determined to see if the stories about creepy creatures had merit.

Close to a grassy glade, a circle of trees. Then … she saw it, a sight that almost stopped her heart. Horror hooked her between the eyes like an arrow from a gifted archer. She opened her mouth to scream, but terror stopped her voice.

Black-clad figures wearing white gloves, sang in falsetto while they gyrated, their movements strangely elegant, “Thriller, thriller.”

My God. Who were these copy-cats singing Michael Jackson’s biggest hit? Her heart hammered so loudly her ears throbbed. Were her weird new friends playing tricks on her?

The fake-Jacksons swiveled, booed her, like they saw through the huge tree where she hid.

“Come out, girl, we need your sweetness.” They sang, clapped, made Michael Jackson moves, bodies jerking. “You’ll be thrilling, thrilling, our lips will drip with sweet, sweet blood.” They high-fived, smacked their lips, whirled in the air so many times it made her dizzy. How long had they practiced to get that right?

Some friends, she thought. Ugh. How could they scare her like this?

“Run, Sadie, run.” A familiar voice. A familiar touch. She spun around. No one.

The dancers shot their hands in the air, their claw-like fingers spasming.

“Come to us, little one.

We need your sweetness.”

“Run, Sadie, run.” An awakening fear nailed her feet to the ground.

“We crawl in search of blood.

You are the one we crave.”

A cold hand wrapped around her neck, sharp fingernails pinched her bare shoulders. A creature. Behind her. These creeps were real! She’d read Twilight; she knew what came next. Razor-sharp teeth would rip her apart.

“Midnight is so close at hand.

Jaws of death are in the land.”

Oh, no, no, no. Cold dread crept throughout her body. Then … pfft … maybe … if she opened her eyes, she’d be in her warm bed in her warm room in her warm house with her cold parents.

But no.

“We demons, we’re closin' in on every side.” Voices now deep baritone, they formed a ring around the tree, her prison. In time to the words, they stomped their feet, flew into the air, their robes flapping around their bodies.

“Darkness falls across the land.

Thriller, thriller night.

We will take your sweetness.

Take you to a better world.”

Woodland creatures squawked and squawked, wolves howled, then suddenly stopped, adding to Sadie’s terror.

Deep baritone voices seared her soul. “We will possess you.” And they did, their hands all over her, imprinted her body with ice. “This night we'll open your eyes to the knowledge you seek.”

Sadie couldn’t see their hooded faces, but she smelt foul breath, felt rough tongues, teeth, huge, monstrous, grazed her shoulders. Her knees gave way; she fell into a heap.

“Your body shivers, twitches, but your cries are feeble. Give up the fight.”

“Leave me alone,” Sadie cried, wrapping her hands around her neck. “Go scare someone else.”

“Stand and face we hounds of hell.” They tugged at her hands, exposing her neck. “Let us hold you tight. Thrill us on this thriller, thriller night.”

They hauled her to her feet like she was made of air.

She kicked and screamed, but fingers tore her skin.

“Give in. Give in.

This is the end

we commend.

No mortal can resist our evil.”

“This mortal can.” The familiar voice again.

The foul stench screamed a collective falsetto, ‘Ooh-ooh-ooh’, backed away.

 “Xavier.” Relief coursed through her. “Save me.”

“If I don’t take you, they will.” He stabbed a finger at the demons, their white gloves circling the darkness, their falsetto voices creeping her out big time. “Ooh-ooh-ooh, oh Master.”

WTF? “Master? Xavier?” She tried to pull out of his arms, but they felt like iron bands.

His eyes sparkled with red flecks. “Stay away from these woods, I said, but you didn’t listen. If I let you go now, you’re dead. I’ll change you; you will live with me forever.”

Sadie felt woozy as Xavier’s teeth bit her neck. Oh the exquisite pain of discovering the truth. She heard falsetto voices: “Ooh-ooh-ooh, please give us a go.”

Mom, you were right. I am a stupid cow.

 

WORDS: 1039

 FCA

 STOP PRESS!

For this challenge, WEP is offering Amazon Gift Cards to three winners to the tune of $20, $15 and $10. If you have a story that meets the guidelines, join us!

I hope you enjoyed my ghoulish story. Please click on my sidebar to read more entries.

While you're here, I'll tell you about WEP's December challenge. We'll tone it down a bit from this month. 

Roberta Flack said -  I think it's the kind of song that has two unique & distinct qualities: it tells a story, and it has lyrics that mean something....Because of [its meaningful lyrics] the [song] can be interpreted by a lot of people in a lot of different ways: the love of a mother for a child, for example, or [that of] two lovers. 

Go HERE for more inspiration.

Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to read and comment on my post.

 

Denise  

#IWSG OCTOBER POSTING - What I like about my 'favorite genre.'

 Hello all!

Welcome to the October IWSG. Hope you've had a good month - writing, reading, collaborating, selling books, advertising books, promoting books, blogging, facebook-ing- whatever is your jam. 

My month has been busy as always, what with trying to fit everything in - by everything I mean I just want to write new copy, but there are so many other demands on my time. How about you? How do you prioritize your writing?

Anyway, onto the October question - What do you consider the best characteristics of your favorite genre?

This is a rather long post for IWSG, so just skim, pick out points of interest. If there are none, my bad, but I hope you can find something!
I don't want to confuse you, but I have eclectic tastes both in books and music. Sometimes in music I'm into Beethoven and classical music, at others, U2, Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams and others of their ilk, then there's my fascination with Abba which never wanes.

Same thing with 'favorite genre'. My 'favorite genre' varies over time. I'm a voracious speed reader who often DNF a book if it doesn't get going. If a day goes by and I don't read ... oh, well, don't think that's ever happened since I was like 6 years old.  I go through phases - 

* Nora Roberts type Romantic Suspense. Why? I like to be intrigued. Jemi Fraser does this well, too. 

* Feel good women's fiction set in Cornwall and gentle England, but I'm done. A flooded market. 

* Classic vampire tales of old, like Dracula. Sure, I've read the modern, sparkly ones, and those set in a modern office, but give me an old-fashioned blood sucker any day. 

* Classic books by the likes of Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen et al which probably wouldn't be published today.

And I could go on, but I'll cut to my current 'favorite genre'...

RIGHT NOW ... and for several months, and off and on all my reading life, I choose Thrillers, especially Psychological Thrillers over any other genre. Why? Along with intriguing settings, it's because the Title, the Tagline, the cover/and/or the blurb hook me in. With this genre, you always know what you're getting and you're getting a good read, a page-turner. And it's dastardly difficult to write. I know. I'm trying.

Forerunners were series like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, by Steig Larsson and standalone Smilla's Sense of Snow, by Peter Hoeg, but moving along ...

I just grabbed a few of my recent favorites off my overflowing new bookshelves my hubs built me ...

* "Can you save her? Will you survive?" - Harlan Coben's Run Away - he's the king of twisty thrillers. Think I've read all his books and watched on Netflix those which have become series (16 so far and more to come).

* The Ice Twins, S.K. Tremayne - "Unbearably gripping and suspenseful." (An understatement if ever there was one!!!). "Beautifully paced, teeming with psychological shivers." This could describe the Murder series by Yolanda Renee (((shiver, shiver)))

* Clare Mackintosh, I Let You Go. "A past you can't escape." I challenge you to ever find a creepier ending. "Chilling ... with a killer twist." Yep.

* Cross Her Heart, Sarah Pinborough. "...it's about three interesting women and some nasty men." Got me right away.

But when it comes to psychological thrillers, I'm reading my way through those set in Scandinavia and deep into the night when I'm too tired to write, I watch Netflix sub-titled scandi thrillers set in those frozen lands which seem to lend themselves to bleak, scary, witchy stories. Probably the best to me is The Killing, on Netflix and all 3 books by David Hewson (a fave writer of crime thrillers set in Rome). Let's just say, I love Scandi-noir at its powerful bleakest. Currently reading my second by Camilla Grebe, The Hideout, "A razor-sharp, complex mystery." (I loved her The Ice Beneath Her).

Want to know more? Join the Psychological Thrillers Readers Group on Facebook where there are tons of recommendations. I hope someone recommends my first thriller one day. It's half written! Yay!

The awesome co-hosts for the October 5 posting of the IWSG are Tonja Drecker, Victoria Marie Lees, Mary Aalgaard, and Sandra Cox!

  Be sure to visit the
Insecure Writer’s Support Group Website!!!
And talking of thrillers, WEP is about to be swamped by thrilling stories starting October 19, based on Michael Jackson's THRILLER. Can't wait! You're welcome to join us! Share in the fun!

Thanks for visiting. I'd love to hear your comments.

Here's an excerpt from my thrilling story for October's WEP - I'm definitely  influenced by those Scandinavian settings!

Sadie slithered down the freezing drainpipe, and bam, her ballet flats hit the ground. Creeping cold seeped through her shoes, her toes turned to ice. She slapped her face. Got the blood flowing. Idiot! She should have worn that ugly sheepskin coat her mother gave her, but she wanted to show off her milky white shoulders in her red silky dress. To whom? She was about to find out.

Denise

#IWSG September 2022 - Best and worst genres to tackle - IWSG Anthology, First Love, with pictures.

 Hello all! I might be a bit early for the IWSG post, but here I am, ready or not! I have some GREAT NEWS! (We're already halfway through Wed, 7th Sept Down Under!)

The awesome co-hosts for the September 7 posting of the IWSG are Kim Lajevardi, Cathrina Constantine, Natalie Aguirre, Olga Godim, Michelle Wallace, and Louise - Fundy Blue! Please visit them if time permits!

Welcome to September's IWSG. A pretty exciting month for some of us with the publication of First Love, the latest IWSG Anthology. The writers have been participating in blog posts on the IWSG Anthology Website which has helped keep us focused while we waited for what seemed a long time to see the Anthology come into fruition. 

So it's related to the September 7 question - What genre would be the worst one for you to tackle and why?

Ever since the IWSG Anthology was first announced by Alex J Cavanaugh back in the day, I've been waiting for a romance genre collection. There seemed to be a focus on sci-fi and fantasy which I have no interest in writing. I guess my Paranormal series is a fantasy, but it's not how I think of fantasy. That's just me. Sci-fi or fantasy would be 'the worst one for [me] to tackle'. Why? No offense, but I don't enjoy reading them as a rule, so no point writing them. I'm sure there are many who have an aversion to some genres - I'm not interested in military stories, cars (Fast and Furious) stories, erotica and so on and so forth. Which is good. Leave those to the experts in the field and concentrate on what each of us enjoys reading and writing.

I always knew a romance IWSG collection would be popular. I was told it had the most entries of any of the contests. Not surprised, seeing over half the books that sell are in the romance genre or sub genres of the same. Let's hope the IWSG's First Love Anthology sells well and many romance readers find hours of enjoyment in the pages.

My story, Marmalade Sunset, was set on Santorini in the Greek Islands. I just received an email from someone who just read it, and here is an extract: 

" It has been MANY, MANY, MANY years since I visited the Greek Islands and while reading your story, I was instantly transported back there again; walking up and down those graveled hills, viewing the whitewashed and blue buildings, and appreciating the bright pink bougainvillea against the azure blue skies. Sigh. I wish I was there now."

With love from Santorini, that blessed gem of a Greek isle. How could I not be inspired?
So grab yourself a copy. It's finally published!

I bought copies for family and friends. Here are two of my daughters proudly reading/holding their copies.

~*~

And of course there is a blog tour. To learn more scintillating titbits about the anthology, here is the list:

TOUR DATES:

 9/1 – IWSG Anthologies Blog, http://iwsganthologies.blogspot.com/

Book blurbs

 9/5 - Kelly F Barr, https://kellyfbarr.com/blog/

Interview

 9/6 - Kelly F Barr, https://kellyfbarr.com/blog/

Review

 9/7 – Diane Burton, http://dianeburton.blogspot.com

Interview

 9/7 - Cathrina Constantine, http://cathrinaconstantine.blogspot.com/

Book feature

 9/9 - Sandra Cox, https://sandracox.blogspot.com/2022/09/your-weekend-read-first-love-anthology.html

Book feature

 9/12 - Elizabeth s. Craig, https://elizabethspanncraig.com/blog-3/

Article - Working on an Anthology

 9/14 – C. Lee McKenzie, https://www.cleemckenziebooks.com/blog/

Interview

 9/16 - Louise M. Barbour, https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com/

Review

 9/19 - Susan Gourley, https://susangourley.blogspot.com/2022/09/first-love-art-of-making-doughnuts.html

Interview

Links:
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/First-Love-Art-Making-Doughnuts-ebook/dp/B09QH3Z28P/
Barnes & Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/first-love-insecure-writers-support-group/1140884369?ean=2940165751301
iTunes https://books.apple.com/us/book/x/id1605240999
Kobo https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/first-love-the-art-of-making-doughnuts
Scribed - https://www.scribd.com/search?query=9781939844897&language=0
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60198262-first-love

~*~

                                                                         

It's a far cry from sweet First Love stories, but the WEP is approaching its horror fest for Halloween, in the form of the challenge, Thriller, based on the Michael Jackson song. Everyone's welcome to join our writing contest; horror is an option only.

 Denise

#WEP August challenge - #Moonlight Sonata - #photoessay - Tonga underwater volcano.

 Hello friends!

Here is my entry in the WEP writing contest for the prompt, Moonlight Sonata. Many ideas ran through my mind when I saw the prompt, but the image inspired the following, a photo essay. 

MOONLIGHT SONATA

Sonata form is a (musical) structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle of the 18th century.

Sounds like the structure of a story to me – an exposition (beginning), a development (middle) and a recapitulation (denouement).

SUNRISE. SUNSET

“The 15 January blast sent shock waves around the globe and defied scientific expectations.” (nature.com)

Exposition

The spectacle we’re seeing in our Australian skies begins and ends each day on a grace note. Every morning and evening during our unaccustomed-bitter-cold-flood-prone winter, there’s a gift to be had if we look upward, an astonishing beauty that offers a time to reflect in those few moments between dark and light in the morning and light and dark at night.

Australia and the Pacific Islands
Where did these spectacular daily shows of outstanding beauty originate? In Tonga. Tonga? Yes. The undersea volcanic eruption that devastated the little Pacific Island and surrounding islands on 15 January 2022 lasted 11 hours and cost precious lives. It was the most powerful explosion in more than 30 years, with an equivalent force of 100 Hiroshima bombs. Scientists have not yet worked out exactly what happened during the cataclysmic explosion — and what it means for future volcanic risks. The eruption is forcing scientists to rethink their ideas on the hazards posed by the many submarine volcanoes that lurk beneath the waves of the Pacific Ocean.

The volcano, full name Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha‘apai, erupted before dawn, 492 feet (150 meters) below the ocean's surface, when the island was bathed in moonlight. It sent a plume of ash soaring into the upper atmosphere and triggered a tsunami that destroyed homes on Tonga’s nearby islands. Theplume of ash and dust reached higher into the atmosphere than any other eruption on record and triggered more than 590,000 lightning strikes in three days. Reverberations from the eruption circled the globe multiple times, but probably most of us knew nothing about it.

The extraordinary power of the blast, captured by a range of sophisticated Earth-observing satellites, has challenged ideas about the physics of eruptions. Researchers are finding it hard to explain why the volcano sent a cloud to such heights, yet emitted less ash than would be expected for an eruption of such magnitude. And the shock waves that rippled through the atmosphere and oceans are unlike anything seen in the modern scientific era.

The eruption threw up vast amounts of ash, sulphates and water vapor into the stratosphere, three times as many aerosols as usual contributing to …

The development …

…what we’re seeing in our evening skies. Particles in the atmosphere provide a surface on which to scatter light which results in breath-taking sunrises and sunsets. It provides a vast show-off moment in the battle of the realms, earthly versus heavenly. There are moments like this in nature – consider the mythical swansong of that silent bird who sings so sweetly just before death.

Each night, I stand at my bedroom window and watch nature’s magnificent dance, the colors pale, then bright, then intense, before fading into the night. Those wondrous blazes of fiery warmth cause me to gaze at the sky, remember loved ones who have passed, loved ones who live nearby, loved ones living on the other side of the world. Definitely a spiritual moment.

I’m not up early enough to watch every sunrise, but when I am, I’m glad I’m present for the show. Not as spectacular as sunset, but spectacular all the same. That bright ray that promises another day is born, a day to do what you will, to make good choices or bad, to love or hate. (I always am thankful that the brightness I’m seeing isn’t from missiles, bombs or nuclear explosions. It’s just nature sharing its giggly joy at coming back for another show).

 The recapitulation

As the morning begins with the orange orb pushing upwards on our horizon or the night curtain is drawn on another day, don’t we all hope that it will last a little longer? By the time we rush for our cameras, it’s gone. Then we remind ourselves that nothing lasts forever.

Summer is coming; the bitter cold that has clenched Australia for months while our brothers and sisters in the Northern Hemisphere have sweltered through heatwaves and fires, this too will pass. But on a bright note, the Tongan-inspired sunrises and sunsets will linger for another year.

The sunset sky is to me like an artist's canvas, filled with skilful brushstrokes of reds, purples, oranges and yellows. As the sunset fades, the sun gradually melts into the sky like paint into canvas, like a person waving goodbye and walking into the distance, far, far away; and darkness settles in and night closes around us, softly, like a fading musical note at the close of a symphony.

TAGLINE: There are more things that nature has wrought than humans can ever imagine.
808 wordsFCA
I hope you enjoyed my take on the entry. Click in my sidebar to read more entries in our writing competition.
I'm On The Road Again as of this morning, the 17th, hauling my caravan northwards to hotter climes in the tropics. We are in the grips of, to us, a freezing winter. 
I'll answer comments as soon as I'm able.
And if you want to join the fun and are ready to be creeped out for Halloween, consider writing something for us in October - Thriller!!!! 
After a hiatus, Renee is back with a vengeance. She has treats galore in store for you! She really loves her horror-fests. And as a prize for the best entry, Renee offers a beta read/critique of your WIP. Go for it!!!
If horror's not your thing, go HERE for other ideas.

Thanks for reading ...

Denise