Motivation Monday: Writing Blues...

 I've been AWOL since NaNoWriMo, and I wish I could say it was due to being terribly caught up in my writing endeavors.

Sadly, not.

Life throws me a lot of different curveballs since I began caring for my elderly parent. Naturally, that flows into my writing time, crafting time, whatever time. So I typically go off and do whatever I can to wind down and destress, which is my gaming, my go-to for escape.

When it gets like this, I get a little down because I can hear my voice in my head telling me I need to be doing something other than sitting around playing World of Warcraft or Conan Exiles. But, what can you do?

Getting motivated seems like a monumental task, sometimes. Right around NaNoWriMo, my characters were screaming in my head, my stories were overpowering my senses and my muse was smacking the backside of my head, like Gibbs. I just jumped right back into it, sat down and got busy. A wonderful feeling, to be sure, but not my modus operandi.

Blogging helps a lot more than I realize. Reading helps a lot as well. I've decided to start reading classic literature that I was never able to, before, or didn't have access to, before. My first choice out of the box is "The Count of Monte Cristo".

Definitely an inspiring piece, one that gets the creative writing juices flowing. For now, I will have to settle with blogging every so often, so if I am ever absent, these days, at least you know why.

What are your go-to's when life gets in the way of writing? How do you motivate yourself to get back on track? Writing or reading, or both? I'd love to hear your comments. You know where to leave them!

5 Books That Left A Mark, Part Five...

This is it! This is the number one book of my top 5 countdown! I hope you've enjoyed this series of posts. You get to know a little more about me with each one. And if you've left comments, I get to know more about you, as well!

Here we go!

Author: David Eddings

Book Title: The Belgariad (series!)

Why it left a lasting impression on me:

Oh my, again, like with Elf Quest, where to start? Again, another author I discovered in high school. I couldn't read these books fast enough, but never wanted to read TOO fast, because that meant it would all end. Garion and Pol, they were like extended family. The world Eddings created was a rich environment and painted many a great picture in my mind as I read.

I have tried to maintain having all of these books in my library as well, even if I did have to get rid of them to move, I always got them back. This is a series I love to read over and over. I don't usually do that. Once I've read a book, I don't typically pick it back up. But these, I do.

I think it was Eddings, more than any other author, that inspired me to write fantasy. I wanted to create a world just as enticing, characters that felt like family, and when the story was over, you felt as if you were saying goodbye to familiar friends until the next time.

Leave me a comment and tell me about the books that left a lasting impression upon you! I'd love to hear from you!

5 Books That Left A Mark, Part Four...

Ooh, we're getting down to the wire, here. I'm counting down the top 5 books that left a lasting impression on me, and we're now at #2!

I won't kill you with a ton of commentary, we'll just get right to it.

Author: Melanie Rawn

Book Title: Dragon Prince (Series!)

Why this left a lasting impression on me:

I love, love, love this series. I stumbled upon Melanie Rawn all on my own, again, in high school. I took to her stories like a duck to water. such an intriguing story, unique spell-casters, and of course, DRAGONS!

You become part of the story right from the beginning. You follow Rohan and Sioned's lives intimately (no, not THAT intimately!) and watch as they grow as a couple, as rulers, as parents. Then you are drawn into the lives of their children as they grow as well.

These books stuck with me so much that I have bought the entire series, had to get rid of said series, then bought it all over again, just to have it. It made me sad when she started her new series, Exiles, didn't complete it, and has since gone on to other things. According to her website, though, the last two books of Exiles should be nearing completion.

Aside from all that, the Dragon Prince series will remain in my library.

Tell me about a book that has left a lasting impression on you in the comments!

5 Books That Left A Mark, Part Three...

I'm back again! Trying to keep a good pace going with the blogs. That's why I chose to do a Top 5 list and just sort of stretch it out.

Hope you all have had a good week so far! Let's get to the list!

Book Title: Elf Quest

Author: Wendy and Richard Pini

Why it left a lasting impression on me:

Oh my, where to start? I got into these books in high school. I think my Freshman year. I had just moved to a new district and was the "new girl". I didn't know anyone and all of these people had known each other since grade school. It never takes me long to make friends, but still. I didn't talk much, I didn't interact with people all that well. My parents were divorced, I was the youngest of four kids, but practically raised as an only child. You get it, right?

I met a girl named Melissa, too. We hit it off right away and she's the one who introduced me to Elf Quest. After meeting her, I met a lot more people and after reading Elf Quest, I sort of felt like I had found my clan. Melissa wrote fan fiction of Elf Quest and a few other things, as well, but it was kind of a kick when she brought me into it. She gave me a character, and we bounced ideas off each other all the time. I think that is when the writing bug really hit me, but I went the direction of drawing and working on art more than anything. It was something that stuck with me for so long, and we're still friends to this day.

The story of Elf Quest was just as amazing as the art work. I'd spend hours just looking at the pictures after reading one of the graphic novels. I even used a picture of Cutter that I drew in my portfolio to get into art school. It was one of the main reasons I wanted to become a graphic designer. It still sticks with me now.

So tell me about a book that has left a lasting impression upon you!

5 Books That Left A Mark, Part Two...

Hi gang!

I'm continuing on this week with my top 5 books that left a lasting impression on me. I gave fair warning last week, that some of the books that impressed me were part of a series. This is true!

Without further ado, here is #4 on my list as we countdown!

Book Title: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings

Author: J. R. R. Tolkien

Why this book left a lasting impression on me:

Oh, so, so many reasons! First of all, let me explain that I never read these books until just before the second movie came out. Yes, yes, I know. I've gotten a lot of flack about that over the years. I mean, seriously, I'm a gamer and touted about writing fantasy and never read these books??

Yes.

One of the biggest reasons these books left a lasting impression on me, is my mother in law. She's passed away a few years ago, but I always think of her when I think of these books. She gave me "The Hobbit" to read. She knew I was writing a fantasy story, asked if I had ever read them and didn't give me grief when I said no. She simply handed me her copy.

After she returned from vacation, she mailed me the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. By then, the movies were out and all of my friends and my husband were so excited to go see it, so I went as well.

I swear, I sat through the whole thing with my jaw dropped the entire time. How? How had I never read these books?!? I kept asking myself.

By the time the second movie had come out, I had read the entire trilogy along with "The "Hobbit".

The richness of the stories, the writing, the world that was created and cared for, it blew me away. I think I will always cherish these books no matter what.

So leave a comment and tell me what book left a lasting impression upon you!

5 Books That Left A Mark...

As writers, we hope that our books will make someone's top 5 or top 10 list of books that made a lasting impression. As readers, though, we have our own list. I'll be posting each week, my top 5 books that left a lasting impression on me.

I might cheat a bit... lots of the books that inspired me were in a series.

So on that note, we're going to start with #5 right off the bat!

Book Title: Pet Sematary

Author: Stephen King

Why this left a lasting impression on me:

Stephen King, without a doubt, was one of my go-to authors when it came to horror way back when. Up until I read Pet Sematary, I had read "Christine" and "Carrie". Sure, those were great creepfests, but they didn't impact me like Pet Sematary did.

I could NOT sleep!!! It scared the ever loving beejeezus out of me. Seriously. I was nineteen when I read the book. When I was through, not only was I thoroughly freaked out, but I was inspired. I wanted to write a horror story!

I did attempt to write one, but gave up. I thought, I'll never be as spooky as Stephen King. However, I think that is about to change! I've lately been dipping my toe... ok, my whole right leg, into the horror pool.

So thank you, Mr. King, for giving me inspiration, nightmares and a genuine love for horror!

Leave me a comment and tell me one of the books that left a lasting impression.

Sweet Treat, Sneak Peek!...

All right! I'm at the point where I am allowed to share snippets of my book with you all until it is released. And possibly even after to keep up interest, of course.

So I thought, hmm... what could I do to make this a bit more interesting? Well, since Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas are creeping up on us fast—Cookies!

I'm going to share a cookie recipe and a snippet. So you can make a sweet treat after I give you a sneak peek at my book.

Sound fair? All right, then, here we go!

I'm going to start with this recipe I found in the Better Homes and Gardens Ultimake Cookies and Bars magazine. I have yet to find another special interest issue like it.

I figure this would be a good cookie to pair up with my character Nightshadow. She's pretty spicy and she loves her blended herb cigarettes.

~Spicy Molasses Cookies~

1 3/4 Cups all purpose flour     1/2 Cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon     1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground ginger     1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves     1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper     1/2 Cup softened butter

1/4 Cup shortening     1/3 Cup granulated sugar

1/3 Cup packed brown sugar     1 egg yolk

1/2 Cup dark molasses     1 teaspoon vanilla

In medium bowl, mix first 9 ingredients. In another bowl, beat butter and shortening for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar and brown sugar. Add yolk, molasses, and vanilla. Beat until combined, then slowly add in flour mixture. Chill for one hour. Roll into 1 inch balls. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

And since you were so patient through that long list of ingredients, here is the snippet! Enjoy, both the cookies and the sneak peek:

~Nightshadow~

Nightshadow sat up in her room inside the massive mansion Nikkolani had taken over when he first came to Moordigan. This home had been abandoned, overrun with vines and weeds, matching the state of the rest of the city when Nikkolani first arrived. He fixed it up to suit his tastes and used more of the king's coin rather than his own. When he built up his D'raetus Pastiniir, he rewarded his finest assassins handsomely and in different ways based on performance. Being the best at her profession gave her some perks, but it also gave her some heartaches. She worked up the courage to speak to Nikkolani at some length during the night about Farrehn, who now lay in the Healer's Guild because of her. The discussion had been very heated, so much so that she decided to wait to tell him about Sorcha and the agreement she had made.

Dressed in loose leggings and a tunic belted at the waist, Nightshadow now sat before the window, absentmindedly braiding her hair. When she reached the end, she tied it off and stood just as a soft knock landed on her door. She slowly crossed the room, not expecting anyone, and opened the door.

“Nikkolani would like to speak with you,” a young girl told her.

“I'll be down in a moment.”

“I'll let him know.” Nightshadow shut the door and went over to her bed to pull on her boots. As she left her room, she locked the door. Living with thieves, it would be a matter of moments before they picked the lock but she certainly was not going to make it easy for them.

Book Review: Brood of Bones by A. E. Marling...

Title: Brood of Bones

Author: A. E. Marling

Publisher: Aether Publishing

Pages: 364 (Print), File size: 1,417 kb

Page Number Source ISBN 10: 0984022317 ISBN 13: 978-0984022311  ASIN: B005QQ3H7G

Purchase: Amazon

Summary from Amazon.com:

One unexpected pregnancy is a drama; fifty thousand is citywide hysteria.

Cursed with endless drowsiness, Enchantress Hiresha sleeps more than she lives. Since she never has had a chance to raise a family, she sometimes feels like every woman is pregnant except for her.  This time, she is right.

From virgin to grandmother, all the women in her city have conceived.

A lurking sorcerer drains power from the unnatural pregnancies, and Hiresha must track him by his magic.  Unfortunately, her cultured education in enchantment ill equips her to understand his spellcraft, which is decidedly less than proper.  The only person uncivilized enough to help is the Lord of the Feast, a dangerous yet charming illusionist.  Associating with him may imperil Hiresha's city, yet refusing his help will allow the sorcerer to leech godlike power from the mass births.

My thoughts:

This is a well crafted, intellectual piece of High Fantasy. I feel that my review might clash with the intellect level with which it was written. A. E. Marling has created a very unique fantasy world, at least from my viewpoint, and well thought out characters.

Elder Enchantress Hiresha is a powerful magic user, but with many flaws. The largest being her inability to live in the waking world. She has been gifted twelve gowns and her station requires she wears them all. That alone would make me exhausted, but what causes her drowsiness is not the physical activity, but the magic.

The Lord of the Feast is a very interesting chap and I could see he and Hiresha marrying. (If he were not a damned being.) His cryptic humor as he aids the Elder Enchantress helped keep the story moving forward.

I really enjoyed this book. I can't give too many details without giving the entire story away, as much as I would like to prattle on about it. The world was well thought out, the characters were well rounded and flawed deeply. The story itself flowed well and progressed at a decent pace. Most stories you read where a lot of sleep is involved are usually boring, but Marling presents Hiresha's problem with wakefulness in an interesting manner without putting the reader to sleep as well.

Did I mention I LOVE the cover?

Very clean, well written, highly intellectual... I have to give it:

5 out of 5 skull and crossbones.

How I Write Fantasy...

I'm going to be writing up some posts in the next several weeks in regards to my views of writing fantasy and more importantly how I write fantasy. Things I have worked on, things that took me a long freakin' time to create. Now, this may or may not help you if you are a fantasy writer, time will only tell. Most fantasy writers take so long in writing their work because of all the world building they have to do. Others just wing it.

So what, first of all, does world building include? Well, that depends on how far you want to get into it. Here is what my world building included:

* Magic

*Kingdoms

*Laws

*Creatures

*Characters

*Money

*Gods and Goddesses

These are just the main things. In each of those categories, there are numerous sub-categories. I had to make lots of decisions regarding the list above.

In making decisions on my world, in general, I had to start out with some pretty mundane stuff regarding the sun, moon, stars and so on.

Might sound silly to you, but in writing fantasy, you're here to think outside of the box. I literally came up with several choices on those basic things and rolled the dice. Not kidding! I used to play Dungeons and Dragons, so I pulled out all my dice. Six sided, four sided, twenty sided and I rolled, baby!

My world has two suns. If you think this might be a hot climate, it isn't really. The second sun is really, really tiny when you look at it up in the sky of my world.

I have one moon in my night sky and of course, my stars make up their own constellations which had to be written down in folklore and the like. I even have a story about the moon. I'm still working on the constellations and the stories associated with them.

So, over the next several weeks, I'll be posting things about my world and choosing from those categories above. Bear with me, as I worked on this world for well over ten years and it still isn't done or is it perfect. I'm constantly adding to it and changing things, but most of what I have is set in stone and is here to stay. So I hope you enjoy what I have to share!

Guest Post: Kiera Kroft...

Thank you so much Mel for letting me talk about the most exciting thing in my life...my books.

A quick little bio about me :)

Keira Kroft carries a vet assistance degree. Her love for animals is as great as her love of people. She gives a percentage of her personal book sale profits to the animal welfare league. Residing in a quiet suburb in the outskirts Chicago with her husband and daughter she spends any spare time she has working with her cats Scamper and Sawyer, to achieve total world domination, one shared Twinkie at a time. Her passions include Reading, Writing, Football, Comic Books and nature.

Keira’s Books  

Coming Very, Very Soon.

Have it all, do it all, and be it all! Do it now. Pick up this book and change your life forever. From someone who has been from one end of the spectrum to the other.

Coming Soon

Synopsis for Death’s Reject.

Driven with fear for her husband’s life, Constance seeks the aid of federal protection for Mafia Don, Carlo Conti. When she realizes that the FBI has used her, setting a trap to turn her against her husband, it’s already too late.

Carlo Conti is faced with no other choices than to murder the love of his life or disappear. He packs up his family and flees to the beautiful country of New Zealand. After realizing that the “family” that he left behind in Chicago is being wiped out in brutal mob war, he has another tough choice to make…

If he stays, he may lose it all. But if he goes back, he will lose the only love he has ever known…his wife.

Coming ~ Late summer

Inamorata is the first Novel in the “One Bloody Night Series”.

They are supposed to be low key and get their nightly fix from a bag. But what if they could spend a cozy evening eating an old fashioned meal and then when they were done they would simply set the place on fire and walk away—no one would be the wiser?

That’s the plan when a group of rogue Vampires has poisoned the entire security staff at a Christmas Eve party at a mall in Chicago and proceed to take over for the evening and feast upon their own kind of tradition, four house keepers, a maintenance man, a girl who lives in the mall, a lonely late night worker and a couple who have escaped to the department store where she works so their spouses wouldn’t be privy to their affair and some other delightfully unexpected guests.

Everything goes exactly as they expected until the group leader Lucius Sturdevant, and second oldest Vampire to date, realizes that the woman that lives in the Comic book store that is trying to figure out how to kill him is the reincarnation of Laura, the love of his life, that died in his arms of old age, because he didn’t have the heart to turn her.

On Sale Now

Did somebody call a fireman? What about a rugged, yet gentle and very good looking fireman…anybody call one of those? His name is Jake Gilroy and he is about to change Corey Nolan’s life.

Synopsis

Determined to be out from under her mother’s ruling and away from a no-good soon-to-be ex-boyfriend, Corey Nolan exercises her independence. With a place to call her own and a job that doesn’t pay well but makes her happy, her life is full and her young daughter is content. There is no room for distractions, until she meets a local firefighter—who stirs an immediate forbidden attraction. In need of control, she tries to ignore Jake Gilroy, but circumstances bring her closer to him when someone is hell-bent on destroying her.

Dutiful playboy Jake is known as the smoking hot fireman. The first time he sets eyes on Corey, he knows he wants her. But when threats and strange occurrences start to happen, he finds the need to protect her and give more than he’s ever given any other woman.

Being together becomes more than they bargained for when their desire for each other becomes a matter of life and death….

Excerpt

She is a toddler, right? Like four or five years old? Her jaw dropped. A chill overwhelmed Corey, and she knew it didn’t have to do with the night air from the open bar door. “How do you know that? Have you been watching me?”

On Sale Now http://www.amazon.com/Glow-in-the-Dark-ebook/

Synopsis

Auntie Em has made a deal with the devil. She gave up her niece, Dorothy’s soul in exchange for a plentiful harvest. Em was smart and worked a clause into the contract. Satan could only have Dorothy’s soul in death, but she must also agree to meet the dark lord himself and shake his hand. Everything is going splendid until…

Dorothy unaware of her untimely demise or any satanic contract embarks on a journey through the Land of Oz, seeking the great Wizard in hopes that he will return her safely home. As she unwittingly marches through hell, she begins to notice that nothing and no one is what it seems and there is no turning back…

There is indeed a bad moon rising over Oz.

Excerpt

As Dorothy walked away, unbeknownst to her, the flowers turned to ash, and the munchkins had turned into little demons with ugly, red faces. The road behind her was now paved with broken bones and crushed human skulls. The sun had turned to black.

Buy it Now! http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Moon-Rising-Over-ebook/

Also Available

This thrilling assortment of carefully hand selected horror can only found together in this fine collection. Each story can be purchased separately at other outlets. This features Bad Moon Rising Over Oz and three other spine tingling stories.

On sale now http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Reads-Collection-Volume-ebook

Hugs,

Keira Kroft

www.keirakroft.blogspot.com

Friday Favorites, Fantasy Art & A Funny...

Well. Your views have spoken! I seriously didn't realize until I took some advice from Jamie over at Mithril Wisdom about your old blog posts, just how many people like my Friday Favorites posts. I mean, 4 out of 5 of the most popular posts were linked to these when I added that little popularity gadget to my blog. Who woulda thought?

So with that in mind, I'm going to give my best effort to maintain these posts.

Favorite Books/Authors:

I have to say, I love the Harry Potter books. I love the series as a whole, but loved The Deathly Hollows more. Not just because it was the last! But because of the answers it gave to all of those questions I gathered from reading all the previous books. J. K. Rowling hit the ball out of the park with these books. As in any series, though, there has to be at least one I didn't like and for me that was The Order of the Phoenix. Don't get me wrong, it was a very good book, but really kinda slow.



Favorite Movies:

On the subject of Harry Potter, my favorite movie of the series was The Prisoner of Azkaban. I'm a huge Gary Oldman fan. Although, I swoon over Alan Rickman more. I don't know exactly why I liked this movie so much. Maybe because Harry finally had 'family'?

Favorite Music:

The Rumjacks! No, this is not a drinking game. It is a band. My son introduced me to them recently. He loves this style of music and loved when I introduced him to the likes of Flogging Molly and the Pogues.

Fantasy Art:

Aaaand the Funny...

Hehe! Have a great weekend everyone and don't get too bored!