Sara C. Snider's Blog

Magic in the Mundane: Iron

I remember reading about fairies when I was younger and thinking how interesting it was that they were repulsed by iron. I think its because iron is such a common thing to us in this day and age. Forged iron is also, in my mind anyway, antithesis to nature. Its a man-made thing, and I think I was enchanted by the idea of nature-faring creatures who cant abide man-made goods.

A gift from the stars

Of course, iron wasnt always such a common thing. Rather, its probably more accurate to say that...

Leap year: A year of free clothing

Hello, you.

Sorry for disappearing. Writing has been hard lately for a while. Like, I-want-to-enjoy-it-but-can’t-why-do-I-feel-dead-inside hard.

Wow, things went dark fast.

Seriously though, it’s been a struggle, and I’ve had to really work at finding my way back to writing joy.

Sally with weird potholder thingie

Good things: I’ve been spending more time reading, which makes my heart that little bit happier. I’m also teaching myself to knit, which is something I’ve been wanting to do for...

Magic in the Mundane — Houses

There’s something about household magic that I find particularly pleasing. Such magic was the inspiration for the Hearth discipline in Hazel and Holly. There’s just something about it that seems so… cozy. Familiar. Like freshly baked bread but with magic glitter and maybe a tricksy pixie or two.

So when I saw there was a ton to write about with magic and houses, well, I knew I had found my next Magic in the Mundane topic.

Symbolic houses

Houses are important. They provide protection from...

A Bit of Creepy Lore and Audiobook News

In celebration of Halloween, I thought it would be fun to share some creepy folklore tidbits. These are actually posts I shared on Facebook over at Crossroad Reviews when I was a featured author for a week, but I thought it would be fun to share here too.

Mara

Mara (sometimes spelled Mare and is where the word “nightmare” comes from) is a Scandinavian hag that sits on the chest of sleeping victims, stealing their energy that both suffocates and paralyzes them.

It’s not certain where a Mara comes f...

Celebrating the Witching Season at Women’s Radio

I don’t know about you, but I always get excited when this time of year rolls around. September means it will soon be October. And October means falling leaves, misty mornings, and all the wonderful creepiness that comes with Halloween.

To celebrate this wonderful, witchy time of year, the lovely gals over at Women’s Radio Network had me as a guest on their radio program to talk about Hazel and Holly. This was a first for me, and it was pretty exciting. The interview is fairly short, so be s...

Twitter Takeover with YEM

So, hey. Tomorrow (Aug. 29) I’m going to be taking over Young Entertainment Magazine’s Twitter account for two hours between 2-4pm EST. That’s 8-10pm Swedish time. Which is totally past my bedtime and interferes with my watching Star Trek the Next Generation episodes for the billionth time. But I guess you’ve got to make sacrifices sometimes, right?

Topic of the evening (or day if, you know, you’re not watching Star Trek reruns) is firsts in the writing industry, which is kind of funny since...

Magic in the Mundane — Geese

Summer has come and gone in a bit of a haze for us. Remember back when we bought a plot? Well, we’re planning on building a house to go on that plot, and there’s about five billion different decisions to be made on just about everything. So that was my summer. Deciding on door handles, door styles, faucets, sinks, etc. It’s pretty exciting, but it’s also overwhelming and kind of scary.

So that means it’s time for some magic.

Golden Geese

Not gold as in metal, but as in the sun. Geese are bot...

Five Reasons We Need Whimsy in Our Lives

Just a short and sweet update today featuring a couple of things.

Whimsy!

When life gets too heavy, it’s whimsy to the rescue! I wrote an article about the importance of whimsy in our everyday lives. Everything is made better with some whimsy, right?  You can find the article over at The Spa Insider.

Author Q&A

There’s also an author Q&A I had with the folks over at Review Fix where we talk about Hazel and Holly and a little bit of me as a writer.

If you’re needing a healthy dose of whimsy in...

Hazel and Holly is Out in the World

I don’t know about you, but for me it feels like this book has been “coming soon” for basically forever. But now it’s finally here! Hazel and Holly are out in the world causing mischief and mayhem with their wild and witchy ways. I can’t really express how happy this makes me.

And I do have to say I think the decision to delay the release was worth it. I managed to get a fair amount of early reviews, including having the book reviewed by Booklist, which was pretty cool! I also teamed up with...

Military Balloon Joy (and H&H News)

So I found this article a while ago about the first woman pilot balloonist, Sophie Blanchard of the late 18th century. And while it was interesting learning about such a unique woman (even though things didn’t go well for her), honestly the part that stood out to me the most was the part about Napolean. Partly because Napolean had made her his Chief Air Minister of Ballooning (I’m sorry but that’s just epic), but also because apparently Napolean had wanted to invade Great Britain with balloon...