Monday Morning Flash Fiction Challenge, Week 73 (the Tuesday edition)

Good Tuesday Morning!!

I was so busy yesterday with the Christmas clean up... it always looks like a bomb has exploded the day after Christmas... that I forgot to post yesterday. So sorry, and today with all the kids home and the hubs on vacation... I need to do another clean up, before I got started I wanted to post this week's flash, later today I'll post my response to last week's, it's been way hectic here lately, I've written it but never had a chance to post.

 

This week's image was one I found while surfing, and it felt alive, but anguished.  

Feels like the tree is bent with pain, at least to me, so I'm anxious to see how everyone else interprets it. 

The rules remain the same.... somewhere around 350 words and come back Friday to post your response. Have fun and let you creative juices flow!

Now, back to house cleaning.....  *le sigh*  I need a maid.

Promo ~ Amanda Hocking's Switched, Book 1 of the Trylle Trilogy

As many of you may remember, I discovered Amanda Hocking's books last winter and decided to give them a try. I can't rave enough about her talent! St. Martin's Press is re-releasing her Trylle trilogy with new bonus material, and I can't wait to see the changes! The new cover art is gorgeous!!

 

 (Release Date: January 3, 2012)

From the Cover:

Amanda Hocking is an indie publishing sensation whose self-published novels have sold millions of copies all over the world.  Switched is the book that started the phenomenon.  Prepare to be enchanted….

When Wendy Everly was six years old, her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. Eleven years later, Wendy discovers her mother might have been right.  She’s not the person she’s always believed herself to be, and her whole life begins to unravel—all because of Finn Holmes.

Finn is a mysterious guy who always seems to be watching her.  Every encounter leaves her deeply shaken…though it has more to do with her fierce attraction to him than she’d ever admit.  But it isn’t long before he reveals the truth:  Wendy is a changeling who was switched at birth—and he’s come to take her home.   

Now Wendy’s about to journey to a magical world she never knew existed, one that’s both beautiful and frightening.  And where she must leave her old life behind to discover who she’s meant to become…

As a special gift to readers, this book contains a new, never-before-published bonus story, “The Vittra Attacks,” set in the magical world of the Trylle.

Here's a gander at her new book trailer.....



Can't wait to see Torn and Ascend (Book 2 and 3 in the Trylle Trilogy)!!

(Release Date: February 28, 2011)

(Release Date: April 24, 2012)

Monday Morning Flash Fiction Challenge, Week 72

Good Monday Morning!

I hope everyone had a splendid weekend! Me, I finally forced myself to start Christmas shopping... while there weren't a lot of crowds, anywhere.... There was also a limited selection. Which brings me to the wonderful world of gift cards. I promise to start earlier next year....

So... since it was an epic fail at shopping, I might as well do the Monday Morning Challenge, right? I hope everyone finds time to participate. It's Christmas this weekend, so I'll understand if some have to take a pass. I'm going to try to find time.

Around Christmas time, I try to find an image that both makes me think of Christmas as well as capture the feeling of mystery that I attached of the holiday. I mean, what's more mysterious than a man in suit who travels all over the world a the stroke of midnight to touch each life residing on Earth? Along with the past and the future?

This year I chose something that gives the lingering feeling of Christmas, but also that desolate feeling of aloneness.... lost in a winter wonderland. It can mean anything to anyone. Maybe it's the long journey home for the holiday, maybe it's a holiday to be celebrated in lonilness, and maybe it's that first snowfall on Christmas, and you're the very first person to leave footprints in it, the very first person to lay in the snow and make a snow angel. Maybe you're a child gazing from a frost window out at the wonder of the new fallen snow. Or maybe it's something sinister....  It can be anything.......

The rules remain the same 350 words (or there about) and come back Friday to post a response.

I'm truly enthrall with the image, but it doesn't mean it will be easy to write for. After all, I have to challenge myself too....

Everyone have a great week, and if I don't heard from you before Christmas... Have A Merry One!!

(((hugs and be blessed)))

Monday Morning Flash Fiction Challenge, Week 71.... The Friday Post

I haven't had time to do a flash in ages it feels like, but this week is different! Since NaNoWriMo is finished, and editing is all I want to do, I'm making myself leave the story alone. I've read a couple of books and a couple of short stories that I'll be reviewing soon. I've really fallen behind with NaNo eating up so much time!! But, I hope I'm back to my regular blogging schedule.

I loved this image, and immediately knew what I wanted to write. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. Here's another peek at it! (and my flash that goes along with it....)

The Guardian

by Dottie Taylor

word count: 618

Nia balanced on the balls of her feet, it didn't help that two freaking wings had suddenly sprouted from her back. How did that happen? Why did that happen?

Ian turned, his eyes wide. “Do you know....?” He gestured over his shoulder, his eyes taking in the wings as they stretched themselves to their full length.

Nia looked at him like he'd grown a second head. “Of course I know!” She nearly shouted, as she tried not to lose her balance, attempted to fold them away. She just couldn't figured out how the make the stupid things work.

Ian circled her body, reached out a hand to stroke the softness of the long white feathers. “They're beautiful.” He whispered, his hands skimmed over the tops, across the bony structure, to their velvety tips. “Wow.” He circled around to face her. “What are you?”

“Cripes Ian, I'm the same person I was a few minutes ago!” She frowned at him, shooting daggers from her eyes.

“Come on Nia, regular people don't have wings growing out of their backs.” He stepped away. Awe colored his features. “You're like one of those guardian angels....” he said softly.

“I am not!!” She replied crossly. “Do something constructive, help me see if I can make them go away!” She twisted around, trying to find a way to make the blasted things disappear as easily as they appeared.

She turned back to face him. “Well, are you going to help?”

Ian's face held a blank stare, his eyes lost their focus, and he slumped to the ground.

“Ian!” She raced to his side to find a blossoming crimson stain covered the back of his shirt. “Oh Ian!” She cried, his life's blood covered her shaking hands, tears glistened on her cheeks.

She caught a glimpse of a shadow rising behind her, felt incredible pain as one of her beautiful wings floated to the ground. The crippling agony bent her and she screamed.

She lifted her pale face to her attacker, slowly dragged herself back to her feet. The nub of her gorgeous wing leaked blood. She reached up and held it, helpless against the monster before her.

He laughed. “Guardian, not so good at your job. Your charge lays at your feet.”

As she held her throbbing wing, a glowing silver sword appeared in her hand. She swung it around, the tip pressed against his neck, a welt of red blood already covered it. “Who are you?” She demanded.

“Merely one of the fallen, sent to eliminate your kind.” He sneered into her face, his own dagger laid upon the ground next to the fading wing.

Nia had no idea what he was talking about, she attended Franklin High School, she wasn't some supernatural being. Then, Ian groaned at her feet.

She squatted down beside him, covered his body with her own, and glared up at the monster. “Leave if you want to keep breathing.” She waved the sword, and it grew brighter. He vanished as quickly as he appeared.

“Ian?” She asked, and she held her hands against his wound. A shining bright light shimmered from her fingertips. She watched as his wound knitted together, her eyes round with wonder.

“Ian?” She asked again gently, she touched his face and he turned to gaze into her eyes.

“Guardian Nia....” He smiled, his eyes glided over her body, both wings whole again. “You're beautiful.”

She grinned back down at him. Someone had some explaining to do, and she figured she'd start with her Aunt Debbie. What the heck was going on in her life?



Hope everyone loved the image as much as I did! Have a great weekend!!!

((hugs))

Monday Morning Flash Fiction Challenge, Week 71 (the Thursday ed.)

OMG!!! I've been so busy with Christmas shopping, final exam schedules (and making sure the kids arrive on time to this weird scheduling thing their college does), and my son's Christmas concert (and ear splitting band practices - they're auditioning a singer tonite - the fun never ends), I completely forgot this weeks prompt!!!! I can't believe it!!!! Thanks B (Linda) for reminding me!!! OMG!!! So Sorry! LOL

Such is the life of someone who has gone full tilt up til today!

Anyway.... here's this week's prompt...

It's another of the images that Blodeuedd sent. Isn't it great!!! (though I'll understand if I didn't give everyone enough time to get the prompt done.... again, so sorry!)

The rules remain the same, 350 words or somewhere around there and come back Friday (I hope) to post your response!

And as always... have fun and let your creative juices flow!!

Ciao!

December 8th 1980, The Day I Grew Up

The Beatles came onto the world stage at a time when the desire for change had reached a pinnacle with the youth, though many others fought against it. It wasn't so much as a single age, but a generational age that spanned many years and many lives. A generation for hope, a generation with thoughts to end wars, a generation filled with the desire to make the world a better place. And it is my belief that this hope continues today. Then, Kennedy was president, though he would leave us too soon, as would Martin Luther King, Medger Evers, and Robert Kennedy. All voices for change, all taken by an assassin's bullet.

If you are part of "my generation", your life changed December 8, 1980. That's the day John Lennon was shot and killed outside his apartment building, The Dakota, in New York City by crazed fanatic Mark David Chapman at 11:07 pm. That was the day I realized my own mortality. It was the day that I grew older, the day I grew up. Never again would I dream of The Beatles and a reunion tour, something that everyone thought would happen as the "boys" grew older and more mellow with age. John Lennon lost his chance to age that day. I'm now older than John Lennon will ever be, but my dreams haven't died. John Lennon's words ring as true as today they did then, thirty-one years ago....

Imagine


Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world

You, you may say
I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will live as one


Just imagine... Join the ranks of the dreamer... It's easy if you try...

And it still rings so true... Imagine.


My children are the new face of Beatles fans, though they never heard John Lennon live, never experienced the mania of the Beatles. But, the hope lives on, as does the music.

Pre-Ringo Starr Photo, Pete Best on drums.

George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney (1957)

Classic Beatles

John Lennon - Happier Times

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Monday Morning Flash Fiction Challenge, Week 70 (the evening ed.)

Good Evening Blogosphere Buds!!

I've been exhausted since finishing NaNoWriMo... I think that illness I had wasn't quite ready to let me go. After sleeping most of the day, I'm feeling better!

So, my kids decorated for Christmas, and I made a wreath after I woke up this afternoon... it's not as fancy as the store bought ones, but it isn't nearly as gaudy either... If I could have found something simple, I would have bought one. I'm not a fan of glue guns, but they do have their uses, lol.

Since it's still Monday... it's time for another edition of....

Bloduedd sent me a parcel of images, and I loved them! Thanks B! So, today's flash is one of her images.

So many possibilities!!! Have fun, be creative! Looks kind of like a young adult image.... maybe start something new for YA readers!

Ciao!

NaNoWriMo 2011

Good Morning December 1st 2011!!

I'm so happy to see this day arrive! It was a long haul from November 1st until November 30th... I mean it was really long! For some reason this year, it was incredibly hard to concentrate, hard to put into words, it was just damn hard to write. Why? I don't know. Haven't the foggiest! Will I continue to compete in NaNo? Probably... Maybe... Possibly... at this point, all bets are off, lol.

Maybe it was having the flu in the middle of the month, or maybe it was just me and my complete lack of motivation, who knows, but I did manage to complete my 50k, and I have another MS under my belt (with LOTS of editing to follow...). Maybe my dream of publication is getting closer as well.

And to all my writing buddies out there, Congratulations! Whether you finished NaNo or not, whether this is your first time competing or not, you all deserve a big pat on the back. It's extremely hard to dedicate part of every day to writing, I know, I live there too. To those who managed to hit the goal of 50,000 words, woohoo!! Damn, I'm celebrating... doing the happy dance with you! To all my flash fiction buds who participated, I'm so happy you did. You've shown your ability to write quick little pieces, and have succeeded in something much longer, and I have to say much harder! Congrats!! I hope now that NaNo is over, we can all try participating in the flash fiction again... at least after a little recuperation time, lol. Right now, I think my brain is in a temporary no fry zone.

And well, I guess there's always next year!! (I also managed to add words to my YA MS that I'm working on, so November, any way you look at it was a plus for me....) Regardless, I wanted to share my newest certificate....which was much harder to achieve this year than the last two years. I have to say, I'm very excited and happy that I managed to finish on time!!

So, maybe someday, you'll see my name on a book somewhere and think.... I knew her when it was only a dream.... (or maybe I'll see yours....)

Thanks to all my cheerleaders out there, if it hadn't been for you, I might still be sitting in front of a blank computer screen, waiting for something interesting to happen. YOU ROCK!!