Liz DeJesus's Blog, page 42
November 13, 2012
Shattered Frost
Alice on the Forest by ~MysticSerenity on deviantART
Birth by ~waterspirirtjess on deviantART
11026 / 50000 words. 22% done!
November 12, 2012
Musa Author of the Week
by Patricia Yager Delagrange
How many times have I seen an Amber Alert on the news which ends in the child’s death? How many times have I been driving down the freeway and read about another child kidnapping in yellow lights across a billboard? How many times have watched on the news that another child has been murdered?
Too may times. One time is too many.
And each time this occurs I wondered how in the world do the parents make it through such a tragedy? How do they go on? How can they return to work? How can they face interacting with family and friends after their child’s death? How do they go on living?
This question had burned in my mind for years and I wanted to write about it. People have asked me how I can write about something that’s never happened to me. I counter with: I write fiction. All fiction writers tell a story they’ve made up in their heads. But they imbue that story with their own feelings. Which is what makes a good book. And I have a wealth of feelings that I used when I wrote Moon Over Alcatraz. I have two children. I know what it’s like to love two human beings unconditionally, with no reservations. My kids often ask me, “Do you love me, mom?” And my answer is, “Always and forever.”
So I took a happily married couple, excited to have their first child, placed them in the delivery room, and had the umbilical cord wrapped around the baby’s neck, which produced a still birth.
And that’s pretty much what happened to that couple - their lift stood still. They didn’t know how to move on from there. Instead of looking to each other for solace and renewal, they turned away from each other. Both of them, unbeknownst to the other, dealt with their grief in a way that broke them apart, instead of pulling them together.
Losing a child is devastating. And each person deals with that emotional turmoil in their own particular way. I’d go so far as to say that no one can predict how they would act in that circumstance. Emotions can be unpredictable, surprising even to the person who’s experiencing them. This is what happens to Brandy and Weston. You have a difference in their emotional upheaval. One character is the mother who carried her baby to term, and the other is the father who didn’t have that same physical experience.
BLURB:
Following the death of their baby during a difficult birth, Brandy and Weston Chambers are grief-stricken and withdraw from each other, both seeking solace outside of their marriage; however, they vow to work through their painful disloyalty. But when the man Brandy slept with moves back to their hometown, three lives are forever changed by his return.
EXCERPT:
Three days later we were standing at the edge of a hole in the ground at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Hayward, the silence so thick, the insides of my ears buzzed like a distant swarm of angry bees. Mr. Peralta and another gentleman stood off to the side while Weston and I held hands next to a tiny casket.
Weston had chosen a simple mahogany box with gold handles, a bouquet of white lilies graced the top of the small box. I knelt down and laid a kiss on the smooth wood then wiped off the tears that had fallen on top. Weston joined me, placing a single red rose in the middle of the lilies.
He helped me up and we stood side-by-side in silence, my guilt over her death like a stone in my empty belly. I missed everything I’d dreamed would be happening right now, yearned for all that could have been.
Weston nodded at the man standing next to Mr. Peralta and our baby was slowly lowered into the gaping maw. She reached the bottom, and a bird landed on the rich brown dirt piled next to the grave. It pecked around, chirping a little song then flew off - as if saying goodbye. My heart squeezed inside my chest.
I picked up a small handful of soft dirt. “Goodbye, Christine,” I whispered, throwing it on top of her casket.
Weston wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me in close to his side. Why her? Why my baby? Was this supposed to make sense? And, if so, to whom?
We drove home in silence. No words existed to express my grief.
BUY LINKS
Musa Publishing
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Learn more about Patricia Yager Delagrange on her website and blog . Stay connected on facebook and .
November 11, 2012
Craziness
I'm trying to schedule a few book signings in the area where I live because I figured I could take advantage of the holiday season and sell a few books. I emailed the local B & N (still waiting to hear back from them, I will dutifully go to the store and annoy the living crap out of someone until I schedule a book signing) and I called a local indie bookstore (that shall remain nameless because I'm not that crass). Anyway, I called and told him my name and the reason I was calling. He explained that their store was too small to hold any events. Which surprised me because what's the point of having a bookstore if you can't invite some local authors (Delaware has a few writers that have been in the NYT Best Seller list, wouldn't you want to have them in your store? Seriously?). Anyway I gave him the ISBN for The Jackets and he said that it's not in the warehouse they order from (which is weird) and I was about to ask him a few more questions when he totally brushed me off and hung up on me. As in...click. Buzz. The End.
I couldn't believe it. I still had questions. Questions that will remain unanswered because I'm never going to call that jackass again just so he can hang up on me again.
What if I brought some copies of my own and had them in the store under consignment?
Do you have a bulletin board so I can share some of my business cards?
Can I bring some postcards so you can display them by the cash register?
I had questions dammit! Sigh. But this sort of thing happens.
But there is some good news. Thanks to facebook and everyone who follows me in my misadventures. I got another indie store, Between Books to call me and schedule a book signing for me. I love the owner. He's always been incredibly kind and incredibly helpful to all local authors. I called him months ago but things didn't go as planned. Hopefully things will run much more smoothly this time around. And now I'm on a mission. I'm going to get at least three different book stores to host my book signing. I'll be sure to keep you all posted.
First Frost teaser
Mother and daughter looked into each other’s eyes for a brief moment. She felt ready to fight alongside her mother and actually be of some assistance. Bianca wanted to argue with Rose, but instead she reluctantly obeyed and went upstairs. She made it as far as the top of the steps.
“Come out, you coward!” Lenore shouted.
If there was one thing Bianca knew for sure, it was that her mother would never, ever back out of a fight. She slowly inched her way down the stairs. Rose stepped out of the house and was far away from the safety of her wards. Bianca tried to call as little attention to herself as humanly possible. She duck-walked across the living room until she was directly underneath the broken window. She peeked every now and then to watch her mother in action.
“Where’s the book?” Lenore asked.
“Where is my husband?” Rose demanded.
“How about we make a trade? Your husband for the book,” Lenore said.
Rose remained silent. Bianca knew that somewhere in her mother’s mind she was seriously considering trading whatever book Lenore was talking about for her father.
“You’re not getting anywhere near that book,” Rose replied.
Lenore snarled and contorted her face in anger as she created a fireball and threw it at Rose.
She created a wall of water around her, and the fireball vanished with a hiss. She then used the water that surrounded her and attacked her adversary.
Lenore used an ice spell and froze the water, and caused it to crash all around her with soft clinks.
“You have to learn to control your brat. I can smell her better now that she’s downstairs,” Lenore said and then cackled.
“You shut your filthy mouth about my daughter,” Rose shouted.
“Want to come out and play, little one?” Lenore taunted.
“Bianca! Stay inside the house. Do you hear me?!”
“Mom, let me help,” Bianca pleaded.
“You do as I say!” Rose snapped.
Bianca’s heart skipped a beat as she ducked underneath the window. She knew she was safe inside the house because of the wards. Bianca risked a peek at the battle, and the witches were fighting viciously. They were both putting everything they had into their spells and doing everything in their power to destroy each other.
Lenore had Rose trapped in a small tornado. Bianca could see her bright red hair whipping in every direction imaginable as her mother struggled to counter the spell. It was enough time for the dark witch to reach in and take something out of her pocket. Lenore pulled out a tiny glass vial and drank a black potion that swam inside the container.
What is that?
Lenore flashed her sharp yellowed teeth at Bianca and then turned her attention to Rose. Bianca turned her gaze to her mother and saw that she had finally countered Lenore’s tornado spell. Lenore took a deep breath and then blew black fire at Rose. The dark flames took on the shape of a sinister dragon.
Bianca gasped; she had never seen anything so menacing in her life. The dragon’s yellow eyes zeroed in on Rose. It chuckled as it looked upon her. It launched itself at her mother and wrapped itself around her body. The dragon pried Rose’s mouth open and shoved its clawed hand down her throat.
“No!” Bianca shouted. The blood in her veins froze, her stomach dropped, and her heart leaped to her throat. She watched in horror as her mother did everything she could to fight off Lenore’s monster…and failed.
“Mom!” Bianca dashed to the front door and stopped herself from running into the front yard.
Lenore had kicked Rose in the stomach and grabbed a fistful of her red hair. The smoke dragon took away Rose’s voice. She was now mute. She looked like a fish out of water as she tried to cast a counter spell, but it was no use. The damage had been done. Her mother had lost her voice and the battle. Rose turned her green eyes to Bianca.
“There, now we can have a little chat…no interruptions. Come on out here and sit with me a while,” Lenore said. The false saccharine in her voice was obvious.
Rose shook her head violently. Bianca knew what her mother wanted her to do. She wasn’t sure she could obey Rose’s request to stay inside the house now that she was in danger of losing her life.
I can’t just sit here and do nothing. God…what do I do? What do I do?
“Come here!” Lenore roared as her face contorted with rage, making her look uglier and older than she actually was. Lenore yanked on Rose’s hair so hard she opened her mouth as though she were screaming…except no sound came out of her lips.
© Liz DeJesus 2012
Purchase a copy of First Frost at Musa Publishing, Amazon.com or BN.com
November 10, 2012
Bianca Frost
My good friend J.F Posthumus made it for me this week. It took several tries but she got it just right. At least now, Bianca isn't just a person in my head. At least now I have a visual of her and it'll be easier for me to imagine her as I write her story. :D YEY!!
November 8, 2012
Shattered Frost
Anyway without further ado here's today's awesome picture(s) and word count. Enjoy! ;)
Some no mai... by ~moka107 on deviantART
Lady by ~Elestra on deviantART
Weapons - Random 001 by *IntroducingEmy on deviantART
Just wrote a scene where Snow White gives Bianca a sword made out of ice and snow. It looks a lot like the fire sword 'Pyrorapier' at the bottom. Just picture it in iceberg blue and that's exactly what I have in my book. :D
10314 / 50000 words. 21% done!
November 7, 2012
Shattered Frost
through my Looking Glass. by *ShadyBlues on deviantART
Through the Looking Glass by *ElenaKalis on deviantART
Looking-Glass Queens by ~jasminetoad on deviantART
9746 / 50000 words. 19% done!
November 5, 2012
Shattered Frost
Queen of Hearts by *Bethem on deviantART
Alice's Labyrinth by ~foxwriter on deviantART
WoNdErLaNd by ~asyenka on deviantART
8892 / 50000 words. 18% done!
