Connie Cockrell's Blog, page 63
October 16, 2015
Flash Fiction Friday Story: Three Times Flame
Phoenix by FleetingEmber via www.deviantart.com
Speckles glided to a perch on Liken Mountain. The jagged crags gave her a view of the entire valley. The young dragon was pleased with herself. As the first of this year’s hatchlings to master flying, it made up for the embarrassing hatchling name given her. It was her goal to reach maturity before any of the rest and choose her adult name. She also hoped the dark red spots on her otherwise emerald hide would fade away.
A herd of antelope entered the northern valley. They were grazing in a slow motion along the grassy bottom. Speckles craned her neck to view the sky. It was clear; no other dragons flew overhead. The antelope were hers. Her tongue, a delicate pink, flicked out to test the air. The wind brought the scent of the antelope and… something else. What was that?
The young dragon opened her wings and flapped twice to warm the muscles. The antelope could wait. She wanted to investigate this new smell. In a dive from the crag that made it look as though she’d been flying for years, she gained altitude, the better to see both sides of the mountain. She circled to the south, exploring the valley as it widened. A trickle of water cascaded from the nearby ridge. As it flowed south, other streams joined it until it became a small river.
There. What is that? Spread along the north side of the river she spied a herd of… something. Four-legged and two-legged beasts and things, nests? Some of the four-legged beasts were pulling devices that looked like wood but moved. How curious. She circled lower to get a better look, her shadow now visible, racing along the grasslands ahead of her. As she passed over the strange herd, shouts and calls rang out. The four-legged beasts panicked, rearing and screaming. Two-legged creatures fell from the devices or the backs of the others and they ran, too.
This was more fun than the antelopes. Speckles chuckled, a sound like boulders grinding in the spring floods. She came around to fly over again. This time there was less running, and that was disappointing. Some of the two-legs lined up across her flight path. They held something in their front paws. As she passed over them, sticks flew up, one ripping through her left wing. Speckles shrieked—the sound echoing off of the canyon walls behind the herd.
What happened? She flapped to gain altitude but the hole in her wing made it hard to rise. She flew north, away from the herd and back home. It was difficult to gain the height she needed to reach the nest but after a struggle, she made it, collapsing with near exhaustion.
“What happened?” Speckles mother, Fire Queen, a glorious ruby red dragon, nosed her daughter’s wing.
“A strange herd, mother.” Speckles held the wounded wing out. A hole the size of a rabbit gaped in the membrane between her third and fourth digits. “I flew over them twice. The second time sticks flew up and one hit me.”
Fire Queen roared. “Men! You found men. Where?”
“South of Liken Mountain, next to the river. What are they?”
“Killers,” her mother hissed. “They claim everything. They hunt us down. They killed your father.” The dragon roared her wrath and grief. Loose rocks below the nest broke loose and cascaded down the mountain. “Let me fix your wing.”
Fire Queen gently laid her daughter’s wing flat on the floor of the nest and pulled the ripped edges together. With great care, she blew a tiny flame against the edges, sealing them. Speckles cried out with pain, tears rolling from her eyes but she didn’t move. Her mother kissed the young dragon’s eyes. “There. That should hold.”
Speckles sniffed. “Thank you, mother.” She looked down the mountain. “What about the men?”
“We need to destroy them before they destroy us.” Fire Queen wrapped her wing around her daughter. “Have you been trying to breathe fire?”
“I have.” Speckles sighed. “Just a little smoke.”
“Keep trying. We’ll need all of the dragons we can muster to fight the men.”
Fire Queen brought the youth all manner of foods high in sulfur and coached her daughter in breathing techniques. The fourteenth day, Speckles blew a tiny flame. She roared her joy, her mother with her. More boulders tumbled from the mountain. “Good, my daughter. Rest today. We’ll try again tomorrow.”
Speckles barely sleep that night. Her wing was healed and now she could breathe fire. If she could do it again in the morning, she would join the adults and attack the man herd. At first light she was awake, standing on the edge of the nest, watching the sun come up. The clouds turned pink, then red. She roared and a blast of flame appeared.
“Well done, daughter. We fly to the attack tonight.”
The dragons found the men miles north of where Speckles had been hit. They flew high to avoid the men’s sight, but the men were revealed by their campfires. Twenty dragons circled the camp. Fire Queen whistled a signal. The dragons dove. Again, Speckles opened her mouth and blasted the ground in front of her. Tents and wagons burst into flame. Horses ran screaming. Men hacked at them with long knives and shot more sticks at them but the dragons were fast. Soon the light of the fires showed all the men dead. Horses ran through the night. Some even managed to escape the dragon’s hungry jaws.
The next day the dragons met on a high, flat topped mountain. Speckles stood in the center of the ring. “You have three times flamed,” Fire Queen told her daughter. “You may choose your adult name.”
Speckles looked around the ring. She was the first of her year to reach maturity. “I choose to be called Night Flame.”
The dragons roared their approval. They had a new member of the group.
The End
992 Words
Find more of the Forward Motion Flash Friday Group here: http://www.fmwriters.com/flash.html
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October 12, 2015
Monday Blog Post: Happy Columbus Day
At the book signing
The vacation has gone well. After Missouri, we headed to Canada to meet friends and spent two nights there. Reg and Maureen have a lovely home just outside London, Ontario and we had a wonderful time there. Thursday we drove to Northville, N.Y. Mom is now staying with my second brother and has already reconnected with her old friends.
My book signing in Gloversville, NY at the Mohawk Valley Cooperative was a big success. Several people I grew up with, went to school with or worked with in 4-H came by and we had a chance to catch up. It was lovely.
I did get my phone to work, finally. For some reason, the wifi was turned off. After much button pushing and experimenting, I finally found where to turn it on. Yay! Phone service.
TONIGHT! I’ll be on the January Jones Sharing Success Stories this evening at 5pm Eastern time. (2pm Arizona time). It’s an hour show and I’ll be on with my author friend, J.A. Marlow. It should be a fun show. Here are some links so you can tune in.
Talk4Media.com
w4cy.com/radio-shows/january-jones-sharing-success-stories/
iHeartRadioTalk – Clear Channel Communications
1.5+ million listeners to date
http://goo.gl/bEbU3L
http://www.iheart.com/talk/
BlogTalkRadio.com 24/7 Featured Host
Over 2.2+ million listeners to date
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/januaryjones
January’s Books Now Available at amazon.com
www.januaryjones.com
Connect at LinkedIn
Follow on Twitter
Be a Friend on Facebook
No Author Shout-out today since I’m on the road.
So, I’ll still be on vacation next week but I’ll post a short blog on the 19th, just to keep you all up to date.
I’m totally up on conniesrandomthoughts.com. I’ve put a notice up on my WordPress blog so my readers can find me. Be sure to follow me at my new website. I stopped posting to the WordPress site (www.conniesrandomthoughts.wordpress.com) after Friday August 7th.
Thanks for stopping by my blog today.
I published my September newsletter. Did you miss it? Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I make special offers to my newsletter people that I do not make on the website blogs. If you like the content, please encourage your friends to sign up, too. Don’t delay. The October newsletter is coming out soon. Sign up now so you don’t miss out.
Mystery at the Fair released July 15th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, , Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today! You can also see all of my books on www.ConniesRandomThoughts.com, Books tab. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote the books on their sites. Thanks in advance.
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September 28, 2015
Monday Blog Post: Prepping for Vacation
We're getting ready to drive across the country to my old hometown of Northville, NY. We're stopping along the way to visit with some friends. We should be in Northville by the 8th. I'm looking forward to this. It's our first vacation in two years. Also, we haven't been back to Northville since we moved to Arizona five years ago. We're way overdue for a visit.
While we're in upstate NY, I have scheduled a book signing in Gloversville, NY at the Mohawk Valley Cooperative on Main Street. That's a picture of the store front at the top of this post. I'll be there Saturday, October 10th from 9am to Noon. I hope to see you there. Bring one of my books or buy it there and I'll be happy to sign it.
Author Friend Boost! Margaret McGaffey Fisk. Her newest book is, Gifts, The Steamship Chronicles Book Three. Here's a description.
Sam has never been happier than aboard this merchant ship in the middle of the ocean. Most of the crew accepts her despite knowing about Sam's Natural abilities. They tease and scold as if she were one of their own, even letting her listen to their tales. She'd do anything to stay, but the captain has made it clear: Come the next port, her voyage is at an end.
Sam's presence has cost Nat so much, but he'd do anything to have her stay. Still, Nat knows the captain made the only possible choice in these circumstances. The sailors view Sam as a good luck charm now, but as soon as something goes wrong, they could turn on her. Transforming Sam into a boy and giving her Nat's share of the profits means she'll have a decent chance on shore as long as she stays in control. Nat likes neither image of her future so struggles to come up with a better plan.
You can find more about Margaret at: http://margaretmcgaffeyfisk.com/
Writing progress: I've made some progress on my Zoe Ohale outline for NaNo. It's still a long way from finished. I did get another chapter written on Mystery in the Woods. It's moving, albeit slowly.
Marketing: As an indie author, I'm responsible for marketing my own work. It can be a challenge, but I keep my eyes and ears open for new opportunities to tell people I'm out here and have some stories they might like to read.
One great opportunity is that my author friend D'Elen McClain (wickedstorytelling.com) has started a new website to connect readers to authors. It's called Indie Books Direct at http://indiebooksdirect.com/. The site, free to readers, has a tab that lists all of the authors on the site. The reader just clicks on the author's name and a link takes them directly to the author's website or sale page. If you want to find authors in a particular genre, click on one of the several genre pages to find authors that have stories in that genre. It makes things so easy for readers! The site is still under construction, but we'd love to have you come browse. Let us know how you like the site. Official grand opening is November 1st!
On Saturday, I found a promotion that will start right after Halloween is over. It's called Santa's Authors Christmas 2015 Giveaway. On 1 November, the party starts. I'll give everyone the details for signing up to win free books and prizes. Mark your calendar because you won't want to miss out on this. The below picture is my promo ad for the event. What do you think?
Christmas Giveaway Poster
I have finished writing the Friday Flash stories for October. There are five new stories all scheduled and waiting to post. The theme I wrote to is Halloween. I just had to do it. LOL! I still must get my October Chicklets in the Kitchen post written and scheduled. Last Thursday I attended the Strawberry Author's group meeting and gave them an overview of CreateSpace and how it works. They liked it so much they've asked me to come back the end of October and talk about editing. Hoo, big fun!
I'm totally up on conniesrandomthoughts.com. I've put a notice up on my Wordpress blog so my readers can find me. Be sure to follow me at my new website. I stopped posting to the Wordpress site (www.conniesrandomthoughts.wordpress.com) after Friday August 7th.
Thanks for stopping by my blog today.
I published my September newsletter on Saturday. Did you miss it? Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I make special offers to my newsletter people that I do not make on the website blogs. If you like the content, please encourage your friends to sign up, too. Don't delay. The October newsletter is coming out soon. Sign up now so you don't miss out.
Mystery at the Fair released July 15th! I'm pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today! You can also see all of my books on www.ConniesRandomThoughts.com, Books tab. If you've read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it. It's a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote the books on their sites. Thanks in advance.
August 23, 2014
Pre-Order is Available
The first book of my new series, The Brown Rain series, is titled First Encounter and is now available for pre-sale.
You can check it out here.Get your's today! http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MW8AYOK
It's due out mid-September!
July 22, 2014
Finalizing Revolution
I've also began a new series. I call it the Brown Rain series. It's a dystopian story about 2 young women, one a healer and one a protector who are roaming the damaged planet, trying to heal the damage caused by a toxic rain nearly 20 years earlier. The first novella in the series is drafted and the second is being written now as part of July's Camp National Novel Writing Month.
Stay tuned for all of these in the upcoming months.
I've also turned on the author questions part of the page. Go ahead, send me your questions.
May 21, 2014
Published
I've been working like crazy on my books this month. Today, I got my 3rd Gulliver Station book, Hard Choices, up on Amazon (ASIN: B00KEVWYHW) and Smashwords (https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...). Distribution to other distributors will take a week to two weeks to accomplish. I've decided to give my readers a deal. Sign up for my newsletter and I'll reward you with a free copy of Book 2, The Challenge. Sign up here. Use Control, Click to access the link. You all are getting this offer before even my newsletter people. Hurry, offer ends Sunday the 25th!
This month I'm continuing the writing habit with my writing site's May Story a Day. I've written seven stories so far in addition to working on my 2YN novel, well on my way to 10 stories this month. In addition, I've challenged myself to write at least 1K of words per day in new writing five days per week. I'm doing well with both challenges.
My blog has been undergoing a makeover. My friend Brianna Jill Soloski, has given the site a face-lift and fixed my Books page. See it on www.conniesrandomthoughts.wordpress.com. If you like what she did, she's ready to hire at: (http://girlseeksplace.wordpress.com/h...). Blogs, Etsy pages, whatever you need in editing and a whole lot of other things.
The weather has been fine and we're now up into the 80's. I don't expect any more frosts. I put in seed for Serano peppers, Rutger's tomato, summer green and yellow squash, a bird house gourd, butternut squash, peas, green bush beans, green pole beans and yellow beans. Potatoes, herbs and swiss chard are already growing on their own. I'm going to buy more tomato, basil and pepper plants. I'm lazy and didn't get seed started in time. I put my bay leaf tree and lemon tree out in the yard. So far they're fine.
The town has been a hive of activity again this weekend. For the fine arts people, a classical piano recital by a 13 year-old girl was held on Saturday night. I didn't go but friends I walked with on Sunday morning said the young lady was quite accomplished. She even threw in some Gershwin, just to keep it interesting. On the other end of the scale, the Spring Rodeo was in town on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. People both local and from far away traveled into town to see the riding, bronc bustin, and ropin'. Saturday is a big yard sale day. My hubby and I picked up a nearly new oak dining room table and six matching chairs for an amazing price. The yard sale people even delivered it. Yay! There's something for everyone in my little town.
Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Please sign up for my newsletter where you'll get first dibs on any promotions, book announcements, and other information. Want to know how to get a free copy of each new book? Go to the button on the right side of the blog or go to my Newsletter tab to sign up. Or sign up here. Use Control, Click to access the link.
I have an in depth interview on my Smashwords Author page. You can read it here. Don't see information about me you'd like to know? Leave me your question in my comments and I'll try to answer it.
Hard Choices: A Gulliver Station Story, released May17th! I'm pretty excited about it. You can buy at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!
February 8, 2014
New Year, New Series
Check out A New Start here on Goodreads or any of your favorite ebook vendors.
November 22, 2013
Last Release of the Year
I love Christmas stories so I wanted to end the year on a bright note. I'm happy with the stories and hope you will be too.
Merry Christmas to you all and I hope to see you here next year.
September 30, 2013
It's Release Day!
There are 5 stories in the book, all a little creepy, a little funny and a couple are thought provoking.
I hope you enjoy them.
April 4, 2013
Hello GoodReads Members
Some author friends encouraged me to check out GoodReads. What a wonderful site. I hope to follow up on several interesting books to read and find new authors for my own reading pleasure.
I post a Flash Fiction story every Friday on my blog: www.conniesrandomthoughts.wordpress.com.
Please feel free to check it out.
I have two books up on GoodReads now, The Bad Seed and A Trio of Animal Tales. I hope you have the time to find them and enjoy reading them. They are in both ebook and paperback formats.
Thanks for welcoming me to GoodReads.
