Michelle Franklin's Blog, page 44

Frewyn Fables: Part 3 #amreading #amwriting

The afternoon passed agreeably, spent in the happy throes of shoveling the caved-in tunnel, and with the arrival of gloaming came the rumbling of Miss Sniffle’s stomach. She had cleared the path enough to open the door and resolved on finishing the rest tomorrow, resigning herself to the comforts of a warm fire, rosehip tea, and acorn pancakes. The hearth was lit, the water was boiled, the batter was mixed, but she had not begun to cook the first of the pancakes when she heard a loud thump ou...

Frewyn Fables: Part 2

The Sniffles were prudent in removing to Lucentia before the winter began, leaving their fair daughter to be mistress of the hawthorn on Broadwood Lane. Upon their leave, they made her a generous present of the family portraits, their finest set of painted porcelain, and left her the best of the carpets, as where they were going they were certain to be met with the very finest satins and silks that the richest country on the Northern Continent had to offer. Miss Sniffles could very well do wi...

Frewyn Fables: First Look

Frewyn has many stories, legends, and myths, all of them compiled in a book called Frewyn Fables. Since many have asked me to write some of these stories, I began writing a children's series by the same name. Frewyn Fables includes stories from across the kingdom, tales from the smaller inhabitants of the Continents to legends of the Gods themselves. Here is a first look at one of the stories:

At the end of the Broadwood Lane, where the low boughs of evergreen were hung round with he...

Story for the Day: Maddie MacDaede

Parents, especially when wanting the best for their children, have no idea how much their habits and professions can ruin their relationship with their child. Many blessings to friends who had a mother like Maddie MacDaede. 
The clamp packed and patted with mangolds, Boudicca had nothing to do but begin on the potato clamp. She began digging the next hole and matting it with straw, and once she was satisfied with the depth and width, she turned to barrel wherein sat hundreds of potatoes f...

Story for the Day: Lucentiana

Lucentiana is the day that marks the fist day of the Lucentian new year. It commemorates the day that the elves came to the west in search of a new home after cities in the east were destroyed. They established themselves as a new nation, began a steady flow of commerce and trade, made alliances, and a thousand years later, they are the wealthiest country on the Northern Continent. Well done, Lamir.


The morrow came, and Lucentiana, the day commemorating the elves’ first arrival to the west, wa...

The Haanta Series venerates F. Scott Fitzgerald

Today is what would have been F. Scott Fitzgerald's 116th birthday, had he been privy to a drink from the fountain of youth. He lived in the glorious Jazz Age, a time when the fast life of the Roaring Twenties was at its peak, and his work thus reflected the dreamer's life he lead. His first book, This Side of Paradise, brought him instant fame, but the remainder of his works were not popularized until the fifties. His most famous novel, The Great Gatsby, which since its publication has...

Story for the Day: The Gardener Pt2

A tribute to Harry Dodson, foreman gardener
Mesmerized by everything that the king’s gardens had to offer, Brighel followed Harrigh into the adjoining courtyard. The illuminated flower beds and low trees, all tastefully arranged, opened upon her in an inundation of splendor, the various colours and shapes of leaves and petals, the differing textures of barks and stems, the whirling seeds and clusters of keys falling to the ground producing a sufficient foray on her senses, stunning her into si...

Story for the Day: The Gardener PT1

Harry, master of all he surveys.
From BBC's Victorian Kitchen GardenAs a writer, everyone to me is a character. I meet interesting people everywhere and put them in my books, usually as an exaggerated form of who they are. Everyone's little nuances get expatiated in a book, but certain people are so unique,
 there is no need for extra fabrication. Harry Dodson is one such person: head gardener at the Chilton Estate until he was in his 90s, Harry was a champion of gardening in the old style...

Story for the Day: Apple Picking P2

I was stung by a wasp last week. I hadn't been stung in almost twenty years. I had not remembered what a sting felt like, and I don't think I should ever like to endure that again.


She arrived at the line of trees to find the children filling their firkins with apples from the ground. “You realize that your father and uncle,” she said to the Little twins, “will insist on your washing these before any caramel apples are to be made,” but they could not hear her; they were laughing too much over...

Story for the Day: Apple Picking

One of my autumn highlights is apple picking. I never went when I was young, but that only allows me to enjoy it all the more now.


From the orchard near my house             It was not long before they reached the edge of Aiden and Adaoire’s plot that the children began racing toward the farmhouse. The twins, their dutiful wives, and their sons all hurried forth from the house the moment the party was descried from the window, and while they laid out warm tea...