Courtney Wendleton's Blog, page 20
November 30, 2016
Soulmates
He was my kind of gorgeous; sweet, funny, great singing voice, protective and a little good looking. Others thought differently with his jerk nature I tended to overlook, tad overweight (just more to love), controlling habits and he was a bit immature. Still he was my soulmate and I was his. I loved everything about him, but every time we were together things would go wrong. Little things that all couples go through, so we stuck it out. That is until things went really wrong. I came home one morning, from working nightshift at the hospital, to find another man in my waterbed. Normally I would be ok with this, I’m weird like that, but the poor man was black and blue, tied to a hook in the wall above the bed and looked terrified. “Leo, what’s going on?” I asked tentatively. “I needed release, you weren’t here like always. He showed up to deliver a package. I don’t have preference.” He grunted out, still buried deep inside the postman and thrusting. “He took a bit of persuasion but he is better than the corpses in the basement.” “There are dead bodies in the basement?” I tried not to freak out. That would explain why I’m not allowed in the basement. “I shouldn’t have said that. Now I’m going to lose the only person that has been able to keep up with me. When you’re home that is.” He kept going, as if in a hypnotic state. “You know they didn’t start out like that. I just couldn’t have them screaming when you are home.” Mentally I thought of all the places I could run, but he has alienated me from all my friends and family. The cops would think that I was in on it because God only knows how long it has been going on. There is nowhere for me to go.In order to save my life, I knew what I had to do: join him. I stripped my clothes and eased down on the unnamed postman’s appendage, facing Leo. “Think of all the fun we could have together.” I said hoping to entice him. Matching him move for move, I rode them. At the right time, I arched back to the bedside table and grabbed the dagger I keep for protection.“Rose!” He called out and I plunged the knife deep into his heart. “That is for thinking to kill me.” I pulled it out and went in again, loving the feel of his warm blood coat my body. “That is for not sharing.”
Source: Soulmates
The Loss of a Great Grandfather (A Short Story)
Those damn bagpipes haunt my dreams, every single night. While the horned version is heard throughout the town every afternoon at seventeen hundred hours. That tune signals the end of the day and that the fallen have returned home. It has to be the saddest song in the world, in the history of music. A the song blasts through my hearing, I can see him. Thin and frail, his tattered uniform resting, folded neatly on his chest, my family had opted to put him in a white t shirt and overalls for the great-grandchildren to recognize him. The funeral home tried their best to put a soft smile on his face, but it did not turn out quite right. His full head of white hair was combed perfectly to represent the gentleman he was, even if it was against Army regulation length. I haven’t felt much of anything since the day my dad received the phone call from the hospital telling us that my great-grandpa had past away. I remember having to ask two or three times for him to repeat the message, because I couldn’t believe it. I had just seen him two days before and he was fine. Well maybe not that fine, he did say something about great-grandma being there next to me and the best friend he lost in the war was looking out the window saying something about “the U-boat’s about ready Jackson.” He was having one of his bad days, but not so bad that he didn’t recognize me. I was grateful for that moment.At the funeral I did okay up to the point of the graveside service. Beautiful summer day, what would have been his 88th birthday, and the nameless preacher prattled his “ashes to ashes” speech that I didn’t listen to…or don’t remember listening to. My eyes were glued to the dark brown casket draped in the red, white and blue flag. I couldn’t get my mind to move past the thought that this man had survived D-day at Gold Beach, shrapnel from enemy fire and the loss of his childhood sweetheart, to be brought down by the flu.Again all was fine until they played that blasted song and three men, just three men, pulled their trigger seven times. Even though they aimed for the open sky, each shot was a fresh wound in my heart. My body trembled with every bang, until I couldn’t take anymore and had to walk away. They presented my great-uncle, the jerk of the family who hadn’t seen him in the five years before his death, with his flag. And just like that, my great-grandpa’s life was officially over. The family scattered like roaches in the light of a fridge before he was even lowered into the ground.Now no one ever talks about him. What he did for his country or family. If it wasn’t for pictures and fading memories, no one would know he even existed.
Source: The Loss of a Great Grandfather (A Short Story)
November 29, 2016
13 Things Mentally Strong Writers Don’t Do
As y’all know I do a ton of reading and this includes lots and lots of blogs and articles. Over the holiday I ran across one article that just had me jumping up and down and yelling, “YES! THIS!” The Business Insider article “13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do” is based off Amy Morin’s book (which I highly recommend).
It doesn’t matter if we strive to have a healthy marriage, strong kids or a killer career, these tenets cross-apply to all areas of life. Mental toughness is a key component to being successful. Yes, even for writers.
So I figured I would tinker with this and make it more directly apply to writers and what we must do (or not do) if we long to do well in this career. Thus, today we are going to discuss 13 Things Mentally Strong Writers Don’t Do.
#1 They don’t waste time…
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The Problem and Solution to Writing Book 2 of a Trilogy
by Teagan Berry
I don’t know why, but for some reason when writing a trilogy I find the second book the hardest.
Book One is simple. Introduce the characters, establish their working relationships with one another, and tease the big, BIG conflict which will happen two books from now.
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November 28, 2016
#Love&Drugs #Sale!
November 28-December 3rd
Magdalene is a senior in college, preparing for a trip to Europe and finally got the girl of her dreams. She has a perfect job working for a flower shop (that isn’t your typical flower shop) and not a care in the world. But Magdalene has a couple of pretty big secrets, that she wants to keep. However, the most dangerous of secrets walks in on the first day of school.
Her ex-boyfriend is back in town and ready to violate his restraining order, as well as mess with her job. So she calls in her favor to The Family, and all hell ensues. In the end only one will survive, but who is going down?
Nov 2016 Day 27 (Special)
Working on my NaNo word count this morning, but wanted to get this post up because I am super excited about it. I wrote this piece yesterday before reposting part one of it. I wrote it in about 10 minutes. Yes, when the inspiration strikes, you don’t question it – you just do it. You get those words out and on to the page and watch it all form into something you feel is wonderful.
I hope those of you who have taken a liking to part one of this story enjoy this second part.
Please read and feel free to comment! I included the link to the original post just for those who haven’t read part one.
Enjoy!!
https://niume.com/pages/post/?postID=141636 (original One of Three post)
Two of Three
It had been a few years since he killed the puppy. It was fascinating to him. Over the weeks since he…
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Top Writing Tips Posts of Fall 2016
Hello everyone! Winter is pretty much here, so it’s time to take a look back to check out the top writing tips posts of this past fall. Feel free to click any of the links below to take a read. Results are calculated by page views.
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November 27, 2016
How to Set Your Writing Priorities
by Christopher Slater
I would be completely shocked if I am alone in saying this, but I am way too busy! I mean completely, totally, don’t-know-how-I’ll-ever-get-caught-up busy. As a parent, a husband, a teacher, and a writer, I have found myself with far too many projects, requirements, requests, and desires to do all of them, or even most of them. Obviously, the things that I need to do for my family and my career have to come first. That leaves me with a very limited time for writing. So how do I prioritize what I write?
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November 26, 2016
Tomorrow’s Last Chance for #NatLuna #Sale
Naturally Luna $0.99
November 24-27th
Amily Trisdent is 17, looking forward to graduation but has a problem. Her whole family are wolves…except her. For some reason she has not been able to shift, but she has all the other abilities of a werewolf. Her senses are superior to Morts, but that’s it. Then one day everything changes. She is not a member of the pack, she faces problems with the pack leader, and new rogues come to town to throw their own chaos to the mix. Amily is not sure if she can handle everything she has to do.
November 24, 2016
#NatLuna #Sale
Starting today, until the 27th, Naturally Luna is on sale for $0.99
Amily Trisdent is 17, looking forward to graduation but has a problem. Her whole family are wolves…except her. For some reason she has not been able to shift, but she has all the other abilities of a werewolf. Her senses are superior to Morts, but that’s it. Then one day everything changes. She is not a member of the pack, she faces problems with the pack leader, and new rogues come to town to throw their own chaos to the mix. Amily is not sure if she can handle everything she has to do.
