Saturday, October 7, 2017

Bittersweet beginnings #OurAuthorGang

How do I get through the tough stuff?  I write.
by Grace Augustine


As I reflect on the loves of my life, (there have only been 4--2 husbands, a fiance and a very special man) I find I've been "in" love two times. Once was in the 1980's with a redheaded Scottish chiropractor. We'd seen each other for months and talked of marriage. He attended an out of town conference and said when he got home we'd discuss it more. He didn't get home. I received a phone call from his office manager telling me that he had committed suicide. The family was making arrangements and I'd be notified when services were.  Oh, the pain! The anger! The loss! I was friends with a radio station disc jockey and we were to have had dinner that night.  I phoned and told him what had happened. He of course was working and couldn't leave the station,but he encouraged me to write. I wrote what I titled "A Eulogy for Philip" and put down my pen for good...or so I thought.


An Eulogy for Philip
I love you with a love so deep
My days are filled with pain
The nights do not hold sleep.
My head only beats in anger
My heart is an empty shell
I’m numb, void of feeling
For today from life you fell.
I remember many dinners
Late night moonlight walks
Singing and playing music
And quiet heartfelt talks
I remember Halloween
The masked bandit and the clown
Laughing and dancing ‘til 3 am
And all the love we found
I remember the day we met
I thought you old and gray
Then deja vous got in our way
You loved wispy pastels and long flowing hair
We made quite a pair, you and I
You came to Sunday dinner in a three piece suit
Portraying some big winner
You saw me during good times
Counselled me in bad
Held me during rough times
Loved me when I was sad
Animals seemed to love you
Children did, too.
You played the piano and we sang ‘til dawn
I still can’t believe you’re really gone
Gone from my life
And all that is real
We sat on your roof
Counting the stars
Dreaming our dreams
I never thought you’d leave
Be gone forever
And I’d never get the chance to say good-bye
I wonder where you are
Are you sitting on a star?
Sailing a ship?
Singing love songs in my ear?
Have you passed through the Gate?
Are you clothed in sparkling white?
God, I feel you so close
My heart beats in tune with yours
As it always did
I loved the curls of your soft auburn hair
The twinkle in your beautiful eyes
Every time you smiled.
Your closeness warms my heart
My dear, dear, Philip
We will never live our dreams
We will never be together
We will never be each other’s soulmate
I’ll never hold you again
Feel the warmth of your touch
The passion filled kisses
The plans for marriage
For a lifetime together
All gone in the blink of an eye.
I love you, darling
Someday, someday
We will have our second chance
We will have a brand new start
Until then
Fly with the angels
Brighten the night sky
I’ll forever hold you in my heart
I’ll see you soon
I’ll never say goodbye
--5/21/81



It seems my batting record with romance is a big fat zero! Don't get me wrong, when I love, I love with every ounce of me. That may be my biggest downfall. After an unfortunate set of circumstances I could no longer overlook, or be part of, six years ago I ended a relationship with the man I felt was my soulmate. This person taught me what I wanted from love, taught me how to love completely with no reservation, and taught me how to grow. To say I was devastated was an understatement! I was angry...seeing red, snorting bull angry... that he didn't seem to understand why my decision had to stand.

So, as I had in the past when adversity struck, I pulled out paper and pen and wrote down my thoughts and feelings. Tears poured down my cheeks and onto the paper. My head soon was on that wet surface as I grieved for what I'd lost. Soon, I'd written 30 pages...front and back...and a story was forming. Little did I know at that time, it would be the first book of my Acorn Hills Series... Bittersweet.

It's amazing the stories we can weave when we are uspet, betrayed, unloved, or so elated we want to shout to the masses from the rooftops.

I hope you enjoy reading Bittersweet. It is book 1 of The Acorn Hills Series and is free on all platforms.

Excerpt from Bittersweet:
     "One of Jake’s major problems was that he loved women. Not just some women, but ALL women.  Sure he knew that he brought it all on himself, but damn it, he just couldn’t help how he felt.  He loved how they looked, how they smelled.  Hell, he could even tell which ones were ripe and in “heat” when walking by them! He loved the curves of full breasts, whether they were a B cup or a double D! He loved the sight of a tight ass as it walked away in front of him; the perfect sway of those hips with each step.  Ah, yes, women!  His pet word for them was “PITA” which stood for Pains in the Ass.

        No two ways about it, Jake WAS charming.  He knew how to get what he wanted from just about anyone.  He was a master at putting his spin on the truth.  People seemed drawn to him like the Pied Piper. Maybe the spin came in a look or in his dazzling smile or in his deep commanding voice. It was different for each situation.
         Little did people know that once in his lair, it was hard to get away and more difficult to escape the charming smoke screen that enshrouded the situation.  That didn’t mean he got off scot free, though. Women loved him, men hated him, business associates tolerated him, and family, for the most part, was very disappointed in his choices. He let out a breath of exasperation.  Life as he knew it. 
        Jake reflected on the conversation from earlier that afternoon. Jillian had told him to come get his things. Well, it certainly wasn’t going to happen right now. He had to think about this, had to plan what was going to be the best for him with this whole thing. 
       His condo wasn't ready to move into and he really didn’t want to spend the money to stay at a hotel. His only choice was to stay at his office. After all, he had spent millions on renovations and it would accommodate his needs for the present time. He would go home and pick up his things in a couple days. He just couldn’t do it right now. The reality of those words pierced his heart…Jillian’s was no longer his home. It was HER house, her home.  He didn’t have a “home”.
        A vision of Jillian plagued his mind. Jillian Halloran wasn’t “just another woman.” She had been THE woman in his life for the past three years.  Jake remembered thinking how “wholesome” she appeared when they met at that Chamber of Commerce luncheon. She wasn’t a striking beauty, and in fact Jake would categorize her as “nothing special,” but Jillian was definitely bright and funny and caring and compassionate and loving and just simply beautiful from the inside out. 
      She had extremely expressive eyes, those big, lash-fringed, doe-like eyes that you just couldn’t resist. Yet when she was angry her eyes turned to these pools of liquid amber that threw daggers at the opposition.  God, he just simply got lost in them every time their eyes met. And, her nose. How he loved her nose…it was just the right size to kiss and suckle.  Her breasts fit so well in the palms of his hands. Her fragrance, sometimes fruity, sometimes spicy, but always fresh.  He fell hard for her the day they met.  It was like fireworks and a tilt-a-whirl mixed into one daring ride.  Yet, now she was saying it was over?  Who was she to call the shots?  Who was she to say when it was over?  And why couldn’t she just deal with the fact that his passion was women?"






Friday, October 6, 2017

Vorn the Onyx, Book 2 of the Aglaril Cycle

By Rich Feitelberg

Evan Pierce, a demon hunter and priest of St. Michael, must match wits with the witch of Martingis when she abducts four orphan girls and attempts a fifth. The witch has been terrorizing the locals for months. Evan, who is on his way to Wrightwood, talks to the town manager about the situation and he charges Evan to rescue the orphans and break the witch’s hold on the town. Events become bleak when an orphan boy is murdered and the fifth girl is finally taken. Evan and his companions must now find the missing girls and free the town from the clutches of the witch before she can complete her evil scheme.

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Chickens Teaching Kids by Erika M Szabo at #OurAut...

A Small Gang of Authors: Chickens Teaching Kids by Erika M Szabo at #OurAut...: Chickens Teaching Kids Well, let me tell you a true story about that Read preview: http://tinyurl.com/yatgkjhx   Amazon print: ...

Chickens Teaching Kids by Erika M Szabo at #OurAuthorGang

Chickens Teaching Kids
Well, let me tell you a true story about that


Online stores eBook: https://books2read.com/u/4EW9KE 

A friend came over for a short visit with her two kids. The boy is six and his little sister is four. The kids fought over who will sit where at the dining table, and then argued about who got the bigger slice of cake and whose hot chocolate had more whip cream.

My friend looked at me apologetically and said, "You told me to be careful with painkillers, but now you can see why I have to take Advil all the time. These two are the reason for my frequent headaches."

I had a thought, "Let me read them a story," I said to my friend.

"Sure, go ahead! See if you can get their attention for more than two seconds..." she said with a sigh.

The kids clapped with delight, sat next to me on the couch and I started reading. By page six, the little boy turned to his sister and said angrily, "You're just like this chicken! You always want to do what I'm doing."

"Am not!" argued the little girl.



I waited... and waited... after a few minutes shouting, they settled down. I started reading the story from the beginning.

"You've read that already," said the boy, obviously annoyed.

"Well," I replied quietly. "If you too keep arguing and interrupting the reading, I'll lose the place in the book and I will start the story over."

"Okay, I'll be quiet," he said.

"Me, too," the little girl said and they both started laughing.

I continued reading and both kids were glued to every word looking at the pictures. When the eagle attacked the chickens, they both yelled, "Run Spike, run Penny! Hide in the bushes!"



I continued reading with the only interruptions when the kids pointed out something they liked or found funny in the pictures. By the time we got to the last pages, my friend standing by the door mouthed to me without making a sound, "You're a child whisperer!"



When I said, "The End," the kids looked at each other and the little boy said, " I love you, Penny."
The little girl smiled at her brother and replied, "I love you too, Spike."

There was about five seconds silence as the kids got up and hugged each other. My friend and I sniffed back tears, and then the magic was broken. The kids couldn't contain their pent-up energy any longer and started chasing each other throughout the house.

"Wow!" my friend said laughing. "You managed to give me fifteen minutes peace and quiet, and they both seem to get the message of the story about the importance of family and loving each other. Amazing! Kids can learn more from chickens than from people."

Amazon eBook: http://tinyurl.com/yatgkjhx 
Amazon print: http://tinyurl.com/yb6a7qg3 
Online stores eBook: https://books2read.com/u/4EW9KE 


Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Movies Playing In My Mind by Toi Thomas #OurAuthorGang

Hi there, Toi here. I’m new to this group and so excited to share a little bit of my creativity and knowledge with all of you. Aside from being an avid reader of books and comic books, I’m also a bit of a cinephile. To be honest, I appreciate a good story in any format, but that’s a topic for another day.

Since I was a kid, it always seemed like I had movies playing in my head. For a short time, what I saw on TV and the big screen was a filter for how I saw the world. Luckily it didn’t take too long for me to come to grips with reality and see the world for what it really is. Still, there were always movies and TV shows playing in my mind, until one day when a movie started to play in my mind that had no outside source material.

Pexels.com
I remember clearly seeing myself as a Lost Boy in Neverland (yes, I know I’m a girl 😉), fighting pirates and playing games with Peter Pan. As I got older, other movies played out in my mind, and soon my head was filled with original characters I’d never met, but who all seemed so familiar. At that point, I wasn’t in these films at all, yet I felt so connected to them. It would be years before all of this made any sense to me, but when it did finally all come together, my life changed.

About ten years ago, I began to have a reoccurring dream. It was unlike any dream I’d had before. For one thing, I could actually remember parts of it. My sleeping dream, for once, played out like so many daydreams had in the past, like a movie. The story was vivid while I slept, but when I woke, I could only grasp bits and pieces. So, I decided to start writing down what I could remember.

After a few weeks, I had this amazing story, that once on paper, played out in my mind like a movie. The star was a gray-skinned solemn man living in isolation, waiting for the day when the light would come. The light of understanding is all this man wanted from life. He was different and knew he didn’t fit into this world and when the light finally came, he transformed into an angel and ascended into heaven as the sound of harps played in the background of a pink sky with yellow rays of light guiding his path.


It was a really great, but also really short film. Having caught the writing bug, I decided to use that story as inspiration for what ended up becoming my first novel, Eternal Curse: Giovanni’s Angel. During the development of my first book, I realized that all the strange, good, and even evil characters I encountered in these cerebral films were, in some way, a part of me. All the stories and movies that played out in my mind were always, in some small way, a reflection of what was going on in my life.

I don’t know if any of my work will ever make it to the big or small screen, but I’m happy for now, just having them play out so perfectly in my mind.

Find Eternal Curse: Giovanni’s Angel here: Amazon 

Want to dive more into the inspiration that brought about the Eternal Curse Series? Try 40 Days and Nights of Eternal Curse (the companion guide): Amazon 

Find out more about me, my work, and my inspiration at the following links:

Amazon | Goodreads The ToiBox of Words | YouTube | See a list of my other posts here.

#cursescanbebroken, #dreambig, #booklover, #film, #fan, 
COMMENTS

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Toi Thomas

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly
 
So happy to be here today sharing, "Movies Playing In My Mind".
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Mary Anne Yarde

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Great meeting you, Toi ~ welcome to the gang!
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Hi there.

Derrick Ferguson

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly
 
And if you want to know even more about Toi Thomas, here's an interview I did with her a few years back. Enjoy!
http://dlferguson-bloodandink.blogspot.com/2014/11/kickin-willy-bobo-withtoi-thomas.html
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Thank you so much for sharing that Derrick. You are the best!

T.C. Rypel

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly
 
You're not alone, Toi---I tend to see stories as "interior movies" first, also! A lot of writers probably do. It helps keep those characters and scenes as living entities on the stages of our imagination, I think.

And that can be helpful to your style of expression. We live in a very visually oriented culture. It likely helps to cast our prose in a sensory flow that includes a sort of "streaming hyper-fantasy." We PROJECT that movie in our minds for the delectation of our reading audience. My fiction is often cited as being very "cinematic," and I've always counted that as a compliment.

Don't change a THING about your method, channeled through that mysterious conduit from those Muses---those GODS!---who inspire us as storytellers!
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Thank you for your words. I like how you explain the feeling of seeing my work in my head. Glad to know I'm not alone; glad to know others have this much fun with their writing.

Joe Bonadonna

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Welcome and congratulations on your first post, Toi! Great job! I get this big time: my ideas play out like little films in my head, and I also get inspired by old movies, like 1930s and 1940s movies. (I shared on Facebook and Pinterest, but had trouble with Google + so I copied and pasted over there.)
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I haven't even gotten around to how actual cinematic releases have inspired my work, yet. That may be a series of posts. I will say that I too have an appreciation for old movies.
 
+Toi Thomas -- Very cool! A number of my past posts about writing and my books, including my current 5-part blog talk about what movies inspired me, and how Alfred Hitchcock was the key to everything. I hope you do a series of posts. I will look forward to hearing about what films inspired you. 

Stephanie Scott

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly
 
I always wished I could take a dream and turn it into a story! Very cool.
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It really is. After about 8 years, it happened to me again, but that's WIP. Perhaps I'll write about that experience one day.

Erika M Szabo

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Great post Toi! That's how I rite my stories too, seeing it in my mind as a movie before I start writing :)
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Pretty cool huh?

Grace Au

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Welcome, Toi, to a great bunch of authors. We are varied in genre, but we all have the characters who won't keep quiet until we write their stories. It is so nice knowing your writing background. Looking forward to more!
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Thank you. I love the variety of this group and am so happy to be here.

Rich Feitelberg

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly
 
I do this; visualize the story or scene in my mind before I write it. It usually needs revision after that, but it's a start. You need clay on the wheel before you can shape it.

Welcome!
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I like that, "clay on the wheel". :D

Rick Haynes

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly
 
A warm welcome to the club, Toi. A good imagination is a wonderful thing to have, and if you don't dream, how can any dream come true.
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Ruth de Jauregui via Google+

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Oh my goodness, this is great. I have a movie running in my head too -- especially when I read.
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Ruth de Jauregui

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Wow, that's great. I also have snippets of my story running in my head. And when I read, the story runs in my mind like a movie. Yeah, I'm also a very visual person.

Great post!!
 
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Joe Bonadonna via Google+

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Today on A Small Gang of Authors, Toinette Thomas​ makes her debut with a nice blog about "the movies that play inside her head," and how they inspire her writing. Please take a look and leave a Comment and/or a Like. We support indie authors and we appreciate your support.
https://asmallgangofauthors.blogspot.com/2017/10/movies-playing-in-my-mind-by-toi-thomas.html
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Rich Feitelberg shared this via Google+

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