Vashti Quiroz-Vega's Blog, page 40

Haiku Friday – Bird & Red

RonovanWrites Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge

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Hello everyone! Happy Haiku Friday! Today’s prompt words are Bird and Red.

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Writer’s Block

by Vashti Quiroz-Vega

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Red-eyed writers
A murder perches on your dream
Crows pick on muse’s flesh

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I don’t really believe in “Writer’s Block”––I believe in distractions.
Tagged: haiku, haiku friday, haiku poetry, poetry, RonovanWrites, The Writer Next Door, Vashti Quiroz-Vega, writer's block

Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Read, Read, Read

Today is Writer’s Quote Wednesday hosted by Colleen  from Silver Threading.

I’d like to encourage everyone today to pick up a book (or tablet) and read. I hear too many people say, way too often that they don’t have time to read. I know doctors, nurses, parents with multiple children, teachers, lawyers . . . who are avid readers. If they can make the time to read anyone can. And if you’re an aspiring writer, it is part of your job to read. Whenever I hear an aspiring writer say they don’t read, for whatever reason, the hairs at the back of my neck stand on end. Writers have to read––if they want to be any good.

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Tagged: quotes, read, Silver Threading, Stephen King, stephen king quotes, The Writer Next Door, Writers Quote Wednesday

Haiku Friday – Rise & Save

Hello everyone and welcome to another Haiku Friday! Today’s prompt words were provided by the charming Ron from RonovanWrites, and they are Rise and Save.

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Blue Planet

by Vashti Quiroz-Vega

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Rise up to the task
Everyday is Earth Day
Help save the planet

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Are you doing your part to help save the planet?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tagged: Bees, Earth, haiku, haiku friday, John Keats, poetry, RonovanWrites, The Writer Next Door

Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Easy Reading

Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog and Writer’s Quote Wednesday hosted by Colleen of Silver Threading .

I borrowed today’s quote from Karen Oberlaender’s blog series 3 Quotes . Check out Karen’s Book reviews and 10 Statements author spotlights on her blog, My Train of Thoughts .

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I chose a quote by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The quote is short and sweet and packs a mighty ‘truth’ punch.

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Writing is not easy. If it were easy to write everyone would write a bestseller and win a nobel price. It takes intelligence, skill, talent, patience, resourcefulness, tenacity, creativity, and most of all imagination to write a good book. The genre is irrelevant. There are literary masterpieces in all genres.

So what makes a book good? In my opinion, a good book is one that’s easy to read. What do I mean by this? Well, I don’t mean that the author should use kindergarden level words. A book that’s easy to read is a book that keeps me entertained, the prose flows beautifully, and one chapter easily transitions into the next. A book that’s easy to read is fascinating, interesting and a little challenging. It’s content is unique and it’s pace is like a Zumba class––there’s lots of rhythm and movement but with a few breaks in between, so that we may catch our breath. A book that’s easy to read is a book that’s well written and researched. I want most of my questions answered by the end of the story––not all––but most. And I want to feel like I know the key characters well.

So what kind of book is difficult to read? I struggle when I read books with too many typos and mistakes. I rarely finish books that bore me with long descriptions of mundane things or preach to me too often. I love well written descriptions but when a writer goes on for two paragraphs with a description of an end table––come on! I also enjoy reading books that teach me something but don’t interrupt the story to preach to me every other paragraph. It’s just painful.

It isn’t easy to write a book and it’s even harder to write a book that’s easy to read.

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List of book that are easy to read:
Finders Keepers by Stephen King
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins
Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas
Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
The Scarlet Gospels by Clive Barker

 

Tagged: 10 Statements, My Train of Thoughts, Nathaniel Hawthorne, quotes, Silver Threading, Stephen King, The Girl On The Train, The Writer Next Door, Writers Quote Wednesday, writing

Haiku Friday – Bust & Must

 

Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog. It’s Haiku Friday, and I must admit that this week’s prompt words, selected by Ronovan from RonovanWrites, have a fun and somewhat naughty tone. Well, Ron definitely knows how to challenge us every week with his selections. The prompt words this week are Bust and Must. Visit his blog and check out all the creative, fun, and cool haiku, and take part in his Haiku challenge. (New prompts every Monday)

I went back to my Horror roots for these haiku. I hope you like them.

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Amazing sculpture by Aris Kolokontes (BOULARIS -DeviantART)

Watching Me

by Vashti Quiroz-Vega

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It’s eyes track me
I must escape the red glare
Of the monstrous Bust

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Boxing Helena (Romance/Horror Film)

Mind of a Deviant

by Vashti Quiroz-Vega

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A face so fetching
Limbs and torso are not a must
Why not form a Bust

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Tagged: Boxing Helena, Bust, DeviantART, haiku, horror, poetry, RonovanWrites, The Writer Next Door, Vashti Quiroz-Vega

Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Help Others

It’s the middle of the week which means it’s time for Colleen’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday! Visit Colleen’s blog Silver Threading and become inspired to participate in this fun event.

 

The writing business isn’t what it used to be. The days when writers wrote books, sat back and watched the publishers do all the rest of the work are gone. Nowadays, with the advent of the world wide web, even a writer with an agent, who gets traditionally published has to do a great deal of the marketing and networking. Even the big publishing houses don’t have the resources to put so many people to work on each writer’s behalf. So, what do we do? We work our asses off and we rely on the help of others. Quid pro quo. We help others by visiting their blogs, re-blogging, commenting and liking their posts, sharing their work . . . and we hope that the kindness will be reciprocated. We need each other, because we can’t do it all ourselves. So in the spirit of writers and bloggers helping each other, here is my quote.

 

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Quote by John Wooden (An American Coach and Writer)

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John Wooden Wisdom

Another great quote by John Wooden.

“If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.”

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Tagged: coach-basketball, John Wooden, quotes, Silver Threading, The Writer Next Door, Vashti Quiroz-Vega, writer, Writers Quote Wednesday

Haiku Friday – Don’t Abuse Grandma!

Hello everyone! Happy Friday! Today is Haiku Friday but I don’t have a haiku for you. :( I got back last night from a mini vacation and didn’t have the time or energy to prepare one––sorry. My sister, Kathleen came down from NYC for a few days and since we both have birthdays this week we decided to go down to the Florida Keys. We had three marvelous days of swimming, kayaking, fishing, and generally celebrating our birthdays. We had a great time but I’m exhausted.  We have plans of continuing to celebrate our birthdays here in Miami until she leaves on Sunday. ;)

 

I wrote a guest post about elderly abuse a couple of months ago and I had plans to post it on my blog eventually, so that day has come. Today I will share that post with you. It’s an issue that I care about and that more people should be made aware of.

 

Elder Abuse

 

 

I’ve written on the subject of abuse and bullying on many occasions on my blog but I don’t think I’ve ever specifically addressed the abuse of the elderly. This is obviously an important subject that’s too often overlooked.

 

Words cannot describe how much I love my maternal grandmother. She passed away years ago but there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about her. I can’t imagine someone abusing my sweet, kindhearted ‘granny’ in any way. Sadly, there are plenty of grandparents being abused on a daily basis.

 

Elder abuse happens to men and women, in all ethnic, social and economic groups.

 

And while a lot of media attention has been given to stories of elder abuse by caregivers in private homes, the truth is that anyone can be guilty of committing elder abuse, including family members.

 

Elder abuse is generally divided into the following categories:

 

Physical Abuse

 

Sexual Abuse

 

Domestic violence

 

Psychological Abuse – The willful infliction of mental or emotional anguish by threat, humiliation, or other verbal or nonverbal conduct. This includes threatening to put them in a home if they don’t act the way you’d like them to.

 

Financial Abuse – The illegal or improper use of an older person’s funds, property, or resources.

 

Neglect – The failure of the caregiver, and that could be the spouse, son, daughter or grandson/daughter, to fulfill his or her care giving responsibility. Is it abusive to not call or visit your elderly parents for months at a time? I’d say yes.

 

We shouldn’t forget that every day we grow older. No one gets any younger and one day we will be the elderly. We will no longer have the speed, agility or strength we have now. Our bodies will grow weaker, our minds will become foggy, our vision cloudy . . . Would you like someone to take advantage of that? How would you feel if you were discarded because you were no longer young?

 

Elder abuse is a substantial subgroup of Family Violence. It may be more widespread than thought. Awareness of its occurrence is a first step in halting its progression.

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If you’d like to know the origins of this poem look here.
Have a great weekend everyone! :D
Tagged: cranky old man, elder abuse, haiku friday, poem, poetry, The Writer Next Door

777 Writer’s Challenge – The Fall of Lilith

Hello. I have been invited to participate in the 777 Writer’s Challenge by the lovely and talented Eloise De Sousa from Thoughts by Mello-Elo. Eloise is an author who dabbles in different genres of books ranging from poetry, children’s literature to adult crime romance. Her blog covers a variety of topics that include her experiences and opinions on different subjects, and from time to time, details on books she is working on.

Author Eloise De Sousa

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What is the 777 Writer’s Challenge?

The author/writer must go to the 7th page of a work-in-progress, go to line 7 on that page and share the following 7 sentences. The writer must also invite 7 other writers to take the same challenge.

It seems simple enough but for a writer, sharing a random piece of work, still in progress, is daunting. However, I accept the challenge and I thank Eloise for thinking of me.

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♦ My book, (not yet published) The Fall of Lilith is divided into BOOK I – Heaven and BOOK II – Earth, so I will do the challenge for both parts of the book.

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BOOK I – Heaven

Illustration for The Fall of Lilith by Jeff Brown

This was war and she had never seen anything like it––none of the angels have. Lilith’s body trembled and waves of nausea plagued her as the realization that she, like the angels torn to shreds, was not immortal and could end in the same way. A sudden rush of blood to her head made it throb. She panted as her eyes darted in every direction. These strange sensations tormented her as she stepped over the splayed bodies of warrior angels whose once celestial glow had been extinguished by enemy blades.
She had done this. She had caused all this to come to pass.

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BOOK II – Earth

‘Fan Art’ for The Fall of Lilith by Denise Spencer

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Lilith stared wide-eyed at her surroundings. Where beams of light shone through the trees, strange shadows danced. The jungle evoked memories of the terrors she had endured in the East and South Forests in Heaven. With each new noise, her heart leapt to her throat. Branches creaking, leaves rustling, birds squawking, hostile screeches from unknown animals, the beat of paws against the ground—these sounds created a symphony of fear.
“I must remain calm,” Lilith told herself in a low voice. “After all, this is Earth. I watched most of the event Creation, and I did not witness God create anything as menacing on this planet as in the forests in Heaven.”
Still, she knew much had happened besides creation during Creation.

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The Chosen 7
Olga – Just Olga
Marje – Kyrosmagica
Colleen – Silver Threading
Sarah – Lemon Shark
Mel – Melissa Barker-Simpson
Alana – The Author Who Supports
Serins – Serins Sphere

 

 

 

Tagged: 777 Writer's Challenge, author, Books, excerpt, fantasy-angels-series, Heaven, Lilith, the fall of lilith, The Writer Next Door, Thoughts by Mello-Elo, Vashti Quiroz-Vega, writing challenge

Haiku Friday – Five & Thrive

RonovanWrites Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge

Hi everyone! It’s Haiku Friday! Today’s prompt words came from RonovanWrites and are Five and Thrive. Every Monday Ron posts two new prompt words for his Haiku Poetry Challenge. You can join in the fun by clicking on the link above.

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Numerology

by Vashti Quiroz-Vega

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Convention bores her
Independent mind and soul
She’s a thriving five

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What is numerology? Answer
Tagged: haiku, haiku friday, numerology, poetry, RonovanWrites, The Writer Next Door, Vashti Quiroz-Vega

Writer’s Quote Wednesday – The Voices In Your Head

Today is  Writer’s Quote Wednesday hosted by Colleen from Silver Threading

I am quoting the author of The Crater Lake Series, Francis Guenette. I was visiting her blog the other day and read this quote which she wrote and I had to share it, because it is insightful and makes complete sense to me.

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“We owe our characters something that no one else can give them. So, learn the rules, read the advice and then throw it all away and listen to those voices in your head.”

~Francis Guenette

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I thought I’d post a small excerpt from my book, The Fall of Lilith which demonstrates some of my character’s personality traits.

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            “We should consume it.” Lilith licked her bottom lip.

“What? You cannot mean . . . ” Gadreel could not bring herself to say the words.

“We need nourishment to survive,” Lilith said. “The small animal’s carcass can provide us with a substantial amount of food.”

Samael stared at her, openmouthed. “But Lilith, consuming animal flesh is surely forbidden.”

“Why?” Lilith asked, without hesitation. “The rules we lived by in Heaven no longer exist here on Earth. We are different creatures now, and we make our own rules.”

“In Heaven we ate fruit and vegetables on occasion for the pleasure of it,” Gadreel’s said. “I understand that on Earth we need sustenance to survive, but we were taught in Heaven that animals should be cherished.”

“You forget we are no longer in Heaven.” Lilith stared at her. “We rule over these animals now and we shall do what we please with them.”

She strutted to the small camel’s carcass and lifted it from the ground. The large camel snapped at her several times, and finally latched onto one of her wings with its large teeth and held on tight.

Gadreel and Samael watched in horror as Lilith willed her serpent form and then struck the animal with her tail until the camel finally surrendered and retreated.

Lilith placed the stiff little calf on its back upon a flat surface of the cave. Her nails grew into sharp talons as they had in the jungle. She ripped the calf’s soft underbelly open and began to gorge on its insides.

Samael toddled toward her. Dark blood ran along the sides of Lilith’s mouth, and her neck and hands were coated in it.

“Are you enjoying that?” Gadreel became nauseated and dizzy watching her eat.

“No. It is revolting, but it fills my belly, and it strengthens me.”

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Tagged: author quotes, Francis Guenette, quotes, Silver Threading, the fall of lilith, The Writer Next Door, Vashti Quiroz-Vega, Writers Quote Wednesday