Tag Archives: A to Z Challenge

A to Z Challenge – H is for Heart

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Okay, so this is another obvious one, but for me if a work, no matter what kind, does not engage the emotions or doesn’t touch someone in some way, then it fails as art. Every book, every play, movie, performance, sculpture and painting needs to have heart. It has to touch us in order to move from just another painting or book into what I consider art. This is probably on my mind because we were discussing this today in the Theatre class that I teach.

Even if it’s a negative emotion, even if someone hates the story or characters, the artist succeeds by virtue of eliciting that emotional response. That still doesn’t make the attempt great art. There are all sorts of levels of success within the emotional parameters. But this is my first question when I look at a sculpture: does it make me feel anything? And from there I can decide if I like it, don’t like it, etc.

Of course, art is always in the eye of the beholder, along with beauty. Or as that other cliche states: one man’s treasure is another man’s trash. But even if it’s trash, if it makes you feel something, then it could also be art.

 

What will tomorrow’s word be? Come back for the letter “I” in the challenge.

Be sure to check out the rest of the cool blogs in the challenge!  A to Z Challenge.

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A to Z Challenge – G is for Genre-bending

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Because that’s what I do in my series! I love Fantasy and Sci Fi and a ton of other genres. Somehow, little bits of some of those other genres made it into my series.

I originally thought of The Thulukan Chronicles as my Urban Fantasy series.  After others read it, they mentioned some of the other genres to me. Of course, I already knew about the Paranormal aspect since I had ghosts in it. And I could understand Mystery because I had detectives, albeit paranormal ones. But Thriller? Sci Fi? Cozy?I hadn’t even realized I had those elements in there. At least not until someone pointed it out to me. Some of the things that happen in Portals, (Book 2) are very Sci Fi-ish, once I thought about it. So yeah, I can see Sci Fi and completely embrace it.

While it’s obvious to me now, I was so lost in the series when I was writing it, I didn’t realize all the different labels that could be applied to it. And I love that! It’s like getting surprise presents.

So, yay for genre-bending!

 

What will tomorrow’s word be? Come back for the letter “H” in the challenge.

Be sure to check out the rest of the cool blogs in the challenge!  A to Z Challenge.

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A to Z Challenge – F is for Favorite!

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Today was a little tougher to decide because, you see, there are all these fabulous words. I decided on “favorite” so I can share some of my own personal faves.

Favorite colors – Shades of purples and blue. Especially when the two are together. But you probably guessed that form my website, right?

Favorite music – Soundtracks, but I like almost every type. Of course, there are songs within those kinds that I can live without.

Favorite flowers – Gardenias and honeysuckle.

Favorite food – Ice cream, particularly chocolate, caramel and coffee. I also just love food in general, but I’ve been on an evil diet for a long time and most of my faves got cut. Oh, how I miss potatoes! I get a low carb ice cream, though so I still have that.

Favorite movies – Fantasy, sci fi, action, adventure…okay, so I really like a lot of different ones. What can I say? My tastes are very eclectic.

Favorite books – Way, way, too many on my list, but some of my top pics are A Song of Ice and Fire and the Harry Potter series.

Favorite authors – George R.R. Martin, JK Rowling and a zillion others.

Favorite animal – Dogs! Hey I don’t want to get bit, and I’m not entirely sure Chloe doesn’t get on the computer at night while I’m asleep. And who knows what she’d post.

 

What will tomorrow’s word be? Come back for the letter “G” in the challenge.

Be sure to check out the rest of the cool blogs in the challenge!  A to Z Challenge.

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A to Z Challenge – E is for Ellysian Press

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Welcome back to Day 5 of the A to Z Blog Challenge. So far, I’m having a blast doing this challenge because the letters have been super easy.

Ellysian Press is a new venture that my editor, Jen Ryan, and I have undertaken. Taking our inspiration form the ancient Greek Elysian Fields, we wanted to create a small publishing house to nurture talented authors. We’ve learned so much about what to do, and more importantly what NOT to do, in publishing as a small press over the last few years. Now we’re ready to share that knowledge with others and help them realize their dreams.

We’re accepting submissions for the following genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance and Horror. You can find out more about Ellysian Press here.

 

What will tomorrow’s word be? Come back for the letter “F” in the challenge.

Be sure to check out the rest of the cool blogs in the challenge!  A to Z Challenge.

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A to Z Challenge – D is for Dead

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This was another easy (and obvious) choice for me. Each of the novels and stories in my series The Thulukan Chronicles contains the word “dead” in the first sentence. In Relics, it was as simple as wanting that first sentence to be intriguing. I like juxtaposition and thought the idea of a frightened dead person was interesting. After all, what would the dead fear?

When I started writing Portals I continued the trend. By the time I wrote the rest of the series, it was something of a signature for me to use the word “dead” in that first sentence. So, here are all the first sentences from the series…including the one from my newest novel Magics, which will be released this summer. I hope you enjoy them.

Relics, Book 1 of The Thulukan Chronicles: When the dead are afraid, you know there’s a big problem.

Portals, Book 2 of The Thulukan Chronicles: Being dead has its disadvantages.

“Ghost Memory,” A Thulukan Chronicles Story, #1:  My misery wasn’t in the mood for company, especially the company of some old, dead guy.

“Unwanted Ghost,” A Thulukan Chronicles Story, #2:  The dead woman bounced off the walls like a demented dervish, shrieking and moaning.

“Ghost Dancer,” A Thulukan Chronicles Story, #3:  “I need you to save my dog,” said the young dead girl who had materialized in front of our desks.

And from the not yet released Magics, Book 3 of The Thulukan Chronicles:  The dead girl jumped as the series of explosions rocked our office.

 

What will tomorrow’s word be? Come back tomorrow for the letter “E” in the challenge.

Be sure to check out the rest of the cool blogs in the challenge!  A to Z Challenge.

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A to Z Challenge – C is for Cacophony

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“Why cacophony?” you may ask. Because it describes several aspects of my writing process, and does it on so many levels.

That’s how it feels sometimes when I’m really on a roll writing a book. The ideas can come so fast that feels as if the characters are trying to outshout each other to get their stories told.

And that’s pretty much what I end up with on the screen until I sort through all the typos made by fingers never properly trained to type. A cornucopia of errors. The typo queen hard at work. I do go back and fix them, but sometimes I’ll read a sentence and have no idea what I meant. Consulting with the characters helps with that.

I also like cacophony because I have all these books I need to write. The ideas fighting with each other to be next. “Oh, pick me, pick me!” Right now I have five other projects in various stages of completion because I had to placate each of them a little bit.

And finally cacophony because it pretty much describes my entire writing and publishing career thus far. But  mostly in a good way. Yes, I think there is such a thing as a good cacophony. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

What will tomorrow’s word be? Come back tomorrow for the letter “D” in the challenge.

Be sure to check out the rest of the cool blogs in the challenge!  A to Z Challenge.

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A to Z Challenge – B is for Books

Were you expecting anything else? 🙂

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Well, of course “B is for Books!” And also of course, there needs to be more than one. I first began  to read when I was about four. One of my first books was Sleeping Beauty, put out by Disney in conjunction with the film. It had beautiful scenes from the animated movie. I probably had other books, but all these decades later, this is the one I remember. Probably because of the fairies. Small wonder I would return to Fantasy at nineteen.

I went through many phases though. I had a Nancy Drew phase that lasted for some years and I read a lot of mysteries after that. Agatha Christie was a fave. I discovered Shakespeare and still have my leather bound volume of The Complete Works, which I received for my sixteenth birthday.

When I was in my twenties, I read four to five books a week. I usually went to the library once a week to stock up and devoured thrillers and mysteries, sci fi and fantasy. That continued until I discovered gaming and I cut back to two to three books a week.

I still read as much as I can, although not nearly as much as years past. But books are an important part of my life. A constant that I simply cannot imagine being without, even if I am slower at finishing my current reads these days.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for the letter “C” in this series.

Don’t forget to check out the rest of the cool blogs in the challenge!  A to Z Challenge.

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