A belated day of loss

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IMG_20131229_185204The day four assignment for Writing 101 was to write about a loss.  I’ve had a lot of loss in my life, from my parents and grandparents to my first marriage and more.  Loss is part of life, though not necessarily the most fun part.  And sometimes, what we gain more than makes up for what we’ve lost.

Take sleep, for instance.  I have children, therefore I do not sleep.  Or to be more precise, I no longer sleep as much as I would like.

I no longer have my evenings and weekends to myself, because I’m taking care of little people and shuttling slightly bigger little people to sports practices and piano lessons and birthday parties and all those other fun things that kids like to do.

185305_10150254569193575_7730199_nI no longer have the luxury of privacy, because Cricket and Thumper believe me to be their servant, created solely to give them whatever they want five minutes ago.  Apparently when I became a mother, I also became a clairvoyant genie.  Who knew?

Despite the sleep deprivation and the loss of my privacy, I wouldn’t trade my kids for anything.  I’ve gained so much by knowing them, watching them learn and grow and question, and I love them all so very, very much.

If there’s anything in life more precious than the love of a child, I have yet to discover it.  And I’m not sure I want to.

(c) 2014.  All rights reserved.

WIP Blog Hop

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Basically, this blog hop involves answering seven questions about my current work in progress, tagging five new participants, and linking back to the person who nominated me.  I was nominated by the lovely Tricia Drammeh, and you can find her post here. 🙂

Vegin Artwork by Hazel Butler

Vegin
Artwork by Hazel Butler

1. What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person?
Vegin is the Crown Prince of Lokana and very much a figment of my imagination.

 2. When and where is the story set?
The story is set in the kingdom of Lokana in the present day, but present-day Lokana looks very much like the Middle Ages.  Eventually there is a small detour to Arkona, a mythical world based on our own that looks very much like present-day eastern Iowa.

 3. What should we know about him/her?
Vegin is an idealist.  He wants to improve living conditions (among other things) in his kingdom, but feels powerless to change anything.  He’s headstrong and naïve, charismatic and caring.  He tries to do the best he can with what’s at hand.

4. What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?
 In Book One…

Photo Friday: The best friends edition

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Well, Friday certainly snuck up on me this week.  I’m still trying to catch up on all the blogging fun I’ve been so lucky to be a part of this week, and I completely forgot about choosing a theme for this week’s Photo Friday post.  Whoops.

As I was trying to decide what to post, I remembered that it’s my best friend Jenny’s birthday today.  After wishing her well a couple different places, I decided that friendship would be the perfect theme and, since I have a bunch of pictures of my friends and me over the years already posted, why not collect them all in one post?

So, in no particular order, below I give you a dozen pictures of my besties and me over the years, from high school, through college, and beyond.   I hope you enjoy my little picspam…

Summer Reads Blog Tour

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Summer is the perfect time to catch up on all the reading you’ve been meaning to do but just haven’t made time for.  After all, what could be more relaxing than kicking back in a hammock with an ice-cold glass of lemonade and a shiny new book?

But there are so many books out there – how do you choose?

That’s where we come in!  My friend and fellow author, Lisa L. Wiedmeier, has put together a 13-week blog tour to recommend a bunch of great books.  In her own words:

I’m so excited I can hardly contain myself!! Sam, Carrie and I wanted to provide for you, my avid readers, a way to not only meet new authors, but also books you might not have seen or heard about. A way to expand your reading list for the summer.

Over the next 13 weeks…

Writing 101: The tunes

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Gaelic Storm at the Englert Theater

Gaelic Storm at the Englert Theater

I can’t even begin to count the number of songs in which I can find meaning, or the number of songs that I love, that hold inspiration for me, that have shaped the person I’ve become.  The first three that popped into my head, though, are “A Way Back Into Love” and “Dance With Me Tonight” from the Music and Lyrics soundtrack, and “Walk Through My Door” from Gaelic Storm’s album, Tree.

I listened to a lot of Gaelic Storm during my teen years, and their first three albums in particular can send me back to fun times with great friends in seconds.  While I love all their music, “Walk Through My Door” always reminds me of a certain person.  The song itself even inspired a short story, one that I’m told wasn’t half bad.

But, as inevitably happens, I graduated high school and got married (to someone else).  And when my marriage ended, I listened to this song again…

Transporter room, this is the captain speaking…

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In case you missed it Monday, I’m participating in the Writing 101 challenge this month.  Thanks to Thumper, who insists he’s big enough to dispense with daily naps (he’s two, so he’s not), I went from having an afternoon to catch up on some blog-related affairs to having about an hour to catch up on everything, and this is one of the things that was left undone when I finally collapsed into bed last night.  Day two’s prompt asked where I would like to go if I could be transported anywhere, and I added the extra twist of anytime because I’m not sure that Europe would count for this (but in case it does, I want to start in the west and work my way east, exploring everything on the continent).  So!

If I could be transported anywhere (and anytime), I’d stay right where I am, but 150 years in the past, when our farm was first homesteaded.  Back in the 1860’s, Iowa was still covered in prairie grass and, compared to today, more sparsely settled.  We’re talking Little House on the Prairie-type stuff here, and I LOVED that show…

Chasing Azrael

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Hello!  Me again.  I’ve finished two books quite close together, so I’m back with another review for you.  Today, let’s take a look at Chasing Azrael by Hazel Butler, archaeologist, artist, and fellow member of the Alliance of Worldbuilders.  From Amazon:

When Andee Tilbrook’s husband died, her preoccupation with death turned to obsession. Thanks to her unique ability to commune with the dead, her husband remains all too close, yet never close enough. Mired in grief, she clings to James’s spirit, slowly losing touch with the world, her friends, and any desire to continue living.

But when her friend Josh becomes the target of Natalya, a jealous, capricious and violent Russian beauty, Andee somehow finds the strength to free herself from her misery long enough to help him. They soon discover that Natalya is wanted by the police for her involvement in a series of grisly murders, and Andee is dragged into the inquiry by the same man who investigated her own husband’s death.

Torn between new feelings for Josh, and fear that he might be involved in the murders that seem to threaten anyone who comes close, Andee must face the realities of her life, her past, and her very nature-and do it all in time to save her own life.

I could not put this book down.   I stayed up past the witching hour…

Writer’s hardship, a guest post by Alisa Sibrova

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Today I’m happy to have Alisa Sibrova here with a post on the hardships faced by writers.  She was kind enough to host me at her blog on Sunday, and I’m happy to return the favor.  So, without further ado, here’s Alisa!

I am a very bad writer.  An honest confession, and I know that. The moment I sit down and pick up the pen (yes, most of my writing I put down in ink on paper) nothing seems right enough to create stories worth reading. Benjamin Franklin once said: “If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do things worth writing”. That’s what I believe moves most of us: endless memory, historical footprints, eternity pressed into the hardcover book. Partly, it is my motive as well, of course, we are social beings and we do things in order to receive feedback and society’s approval. But, that is far from being the main trigger, at least for me.

Imperfection moves me. Understanding that there is always some room for development, realizing that you can always strive for better, creative, smoother writing. But it is also utterly agonizing: no one becomes a great writer in one day, it is a long way filled with troubles and missteps. I have my own writing troubles…

Ideas sometimes whisper

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I tried to come up with a quick short story to post today for the first Writing 101 challenge.  I’m really excited to be participating in another Blogging University event, especially one that’s geared toward writing!  Normally all I have to do is just look out the window for just a whisper of an idea, and then I’m off, my hand (and pen) gliding swiftly over the page, seemingly of their own volition.

But not today.

For whatever reason, I’m unable to concentrate today.  The only thing to be heard at the moment is the song “Frankenstein” by the Edgar Winter Group, which is currently blaring from the office radio.  Soon enough, it will be something else, something which is sure to be be equally distracting.  I mean, it’s a good song, but when I’m trying to focus on characters and setting and plot, it’s too…

Review time!

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cotsI’ve been reading again the last few weeks, something I really should do more of.  I used to always have my nose in a book, but now trying to find time to escape into another world so completely when there are so many other demands on my time is just exhausting.  I really do need to make more of an effort, though, because reading more (and widely) is one of the best, easiest, and most entertaining ways to improve my own writing.

With that in mind, behold the glory that is City of the Sun by Juliana Maio.  This fantastic book is set in Cairo during WWII, which is one of my favorite periods to study, the Holocaust in particular.  I love reading accounts of what it was like living under Nazi rule because it’s so different from what I know, and it terrifies me to think that people can be so horrible to each other.

But this book is a work of fiction; while real people appear in it, and similar events did take place, the author used them for her own purposes.  From Goodreads:

Ambitious American journalist Mickey Connolly has come to Cairo to report on the true state of the war. Facing expulsion by the British for not playing by their rules, he accepts a deal from the U.S. embassy that allows him to remain in the country. His covert mission: to infiltrate the city’s thriving Jewish community and locate a refugee nuclear scientist who could be key to America’s new weapons program. But Mickey is not the only one looking for the elusive scientist. A Nazi spy is also desperate to find him–and the race is on. Into this mix an enigmatic young woman appears, a refugee herself. Her fate becomes intertwined with Mickey’s, giving rise to a story of passion, entangled commitments, and half-truths.

Once I started this story, I couldn’t put it down.  Well, okay, I could, obviously, or it wouldn’t have taken me so long to finish it, but when I wasn’t reading, I was thinking about it.  Mickey and Maya wouldn’t leave me alone; they demanded I finish reading to see what happened.  The romance was captivating, and the tension just kept ratcheting up the further I read.  I noted some parallels between what happened in the Middle East 70-odd years ago and what is happening there today, which made the story all the more intriguing.

If you like historical fiction, and you like a good love story, and you’re looking for a thrill, then check out City of the Sun.  It’s got all of that and more!

(c) 2014.  All rights reserved.

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