A Classic Now in Kindle Unlimited

Car Pool is now in Kindle Unlimited for the first time. As a new review says, it's a sweet romance. With a lot of life's mess. I wrote it because NOT letting the mess stop you from choosing love is how we survive and have survived. They pile on the ugliness and we love anyway.

Spoiler alert: the same theme emerges in my 2021 novel, Simply the Best. Because life's mess and the people who prosper from it want us to despair. We love anyway.

Construção de personagem #01

Eu sempre quis escrever algum livro. O problema é que eu nunca tentei de fato, e sempre fiquei ensaiando para fazer isso. Na verdade, minha síndrome de impostor sempre me impediu, e eu desistia antes mesmo de começar. Quando escrevia algo, julgava horrível e descartava. Nem usei os rascunhos para aprender com meus erros, ou os mantive para progredir.

Mas, como estou perto dos 30 e decidi não me deixar mais levar pelas circunstâncias (apenas quando for realmente necessário), resolvi voltar a escrever, nem que seja aos poucos, por puro exercício.

Aqui, vou manter esses registros de construção de narrativa e de personagens. Como ainda não sei muito bem o que quero escrever, achei melhor começar com pequenos esforços, pensando em alguma personagem hipotética, que eu gostaria de ter em minhas histórias.

Personagem 1:

Inspirando-me em mim mesma, porque creio que seria mais fácil começar assim, pensei em escrever sobre uma mulher de 30 anos, que está em uma fase conturbada da vida por enfrentar incertezas e inseguranças, sobretudo sobre a própria carreira.

Essa mulher é casada, não tem filhos, é formada e sempre foi influenciada a seguir uma determinada carreira, ou estilo de vida. Mas, marcada por traumas e questões do passado, como uma mãe controladora e baixa autoestima, ela sente muita dificuldade em compreender quem ela realmente é e do que ela gosta. Muitos tem sonhos, mas ela ainda não consegue enxergar quais são os próprios desejos e aspirações, e trava essa luta em busca de autoconhecimento.

Acredito que isso é um começo.

Mas, e a trama?

Motherhood: Body Scape

My nine year old said, 

“I’m really thin, but you’re not Mom, you’re fat.”

This conversation has stuck inside my throat,  choking me,  for a few weeks now. 

Oh, I handled it well.  I know I did,  we talked about what people look like,  and how that is the least important part of a person.  We talked about how sometimes we use words to describe people,  I asked her what other words she would use to describe me. 

“Mom, you’re kind,  artistic, funny,  loving,  comfortable.”

All of those are true.  I told her,  I am fat. 

I see myself every day in the mirror,  I know what I look like little owl.  I know how my body has shifted to make room for you,  for your brother, for your two sisters.  I carry the grief of losing my Dad and my friend in my mid section,  the pounds tell a story. 

She accepted this, moved on. 

I have not. 

I don’t tell her how my clothes don’t fit, and how much money I have spent trying to find clothes that don’t make me feel bad for the pounds.  I don’t tell her how when Daddy is driving and my hand is out the window how I see the creases in my arms.  I don’t tell her about bat wings or bingo wings or how I don’t like to wear anything right now that shows my arms.  I don’t tell her that some days, I don’t look in the mirror, the scope and sequence of my body something I don’t know or recognize.  I don’t tell her how exhausted I am, or how much I wish I was more self-disciplined and worked out more. 

Those things are for me to know,  they are not for her yet. 

Maybe one day my daughters bodies will grow babies who they love and cherish. Maybe one day they will embrace motherhood the way I have, 

Maybe they won’t. 

Either way, I will not tell my daughters that they were not worth the sacrifice of my body. I will not shame their lives by diets and less than and fat being the only label I take on. I will fight it for myself now, so I am prepared to welcome them when it is their turn. 

Though the body scape has changed and moved and eroded and gotten bigger and stretched, the heart and the mind and the soul in it are still beautiful and worthwhile. 

I allow myself the thought, My hand out the window of the car,  playing in the wind.  I look at my arms,  and let the thought flow away. 

I am more than a body. 

"She seemed to walk in an atmosphere of things about to happen." LM Montgomery

Books and quilts always look wonderful together! Especially the quilts inspired by amazing authors.

This literary quilt features quotes from LM Montgomery, Emily Dickinson, Louisa May Alcott, and Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Ready to brighten up your home this Fall, in our Etsy shop at VictoriaGDesigns or www.victoriagleasuredesignss.com

Happy Women Writers Day!

Any clue who is the illustrator? Thank you.

WILLOW FANFIC

Willow Fanfic Story

Voici Dark Elora et Dark Graydon

Tenues réalisées avec l'aide de Elodie DragonMistic

Here are Dark Elora and Dark Graydon

Outfits made with the help of Elodie DragonMistic

“Sometimes writing a single line is enough to save your own heart.” ― Clarice Lispector, A Breath of Life

Thanks, Oblong Books, for including us in this AMAZING #womenshistorymonth collection of recommended-reads! Reposted from @oblongbooks CHALLENGE: Read a book by a woman in history... written by a woman. 🚨 History books are often dominated by white men and their stories, but there's so many incredible women to learn about—and so many incredible women authors to read! Here are just some to get you started. Which one will YOU be reading? 👀 -- #amreading #womenshistory #womensstudies #ahauntedhistoryofinvisiblewomen #womenshistorymonth #tbr #womenwriters #History #nonfiction #hauntedhistory #readingchallenge https://www.instagram.com/p/CpwHLudISkN/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

some recent thoughts, observations, and realizations led to the expression in the form of a letter. sometimes, just the presence of your diary or notepad/note app being there to welcome your wonderings without any filters also helps calm down and release, isn't it? 🌷

No sooner had my excited squealing at having a story accepted for the HUSH, DON'T WAKE THE MONSTER anthology subsided, than I received this picture of the cover from the editor, which totally set me off again 😊😊😊. I realize I'm biased, but I think it looks amazing. Also amazing is the list of contributors... some truly outstanding female horror writers. I can't tell you what an honor it is to be joining them. This is the blurb...

A collection of new and exclusive short stories inspired by and in tribute to, Stephen King.

Stephen King is a seminal writer of horror, whose influence transcends the literary sphere, having also taken the cinematic world by storm – and ultimately delivering nightmares to generations for almost five decades.

This fourth anthology of the Women in Horror series edited by Azzurra Nox brings together a diverse group of female writers who contribute their personal twist to the works of Stephen King.

Featured authors include: Andrea Teare, Rachel Bolton, Marnie Azzarelli, Lauri Christopher, Kay Hanifen, Hannah Brown, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, L. E. Daniels, Andrea Slye, 👉Christabel Simpson👈, Alisha Galvan, Rebecca Rowland, Cheryl Zaidan, Amy Grech, Jane Nightshade, Trish McKee, and Azzurra Nox.

💀

The book isn't due to be released until March 2023, but it's available for pre-order at Amazon now if anyone is interested. This is the link...

So excited!

read this and loved it sm

may i be the one to see u? i mean, truly see u. may i be the one to explore the parts of u that u have silenced in fear of being judged; may i know the thoughts that swirl through ur mind in ur most silent moments; may i learn the lines of ur favourite songs so that we can sing them together as we drive with no destination in mind; may i learn ur favourite snacks so that when u are feeling too much or not enough, we can eat and talk, or eat and silence, whichever one u prefer. may i become ur pillow; may my chest feel like home and a place for u to rest ur head to relieve urself of the weight that life has placed on ur shoulders; and may i help u untie the knots of experiences that feel too difficult to deal with because u have had to do it alone. may i. may i love you in ways that u didnt think were possible because u havent been shown real love? may i enter ur life and show u that yu can be vulnerable and everything will be alright? may i love u as u deserve for the rest of our lives? may i.

Getting a Lesbian Story on Medieval Romance Bestseller List

It's wide release day for my sapphic medieval romance - and the response has been great! There are only 6 non Kindle Unlimited titles in the top 100 Lesbian Romance in the US, and Knight of Nights is #4.

Even better for my feminist little heart, medieval romance is a niche within a niche, and it's a TRIP to see my strong woman knight on the medieval romance best seller list next to hulking men "mastering" tiny women. To see a story about the women taking control of their lives next to what seems to be a lot of stories about male conquest and debatable female consent.

It's a good day. THANK YOU! Though, as usual, it's disheartening to see how many authors misuse the classification system trying to game their book into a top 10 slot for a less traveled category that their book doesn't even fit. Like putting contemporary romance into drama/plays (a nonfiction category). As if the rest of us don't see you...

Entrances

Further away from my door,

Away on a moor,

They tie me to currents

For them to me subdue

Prosaic such pain

The machine beeps

The sun stops shining

I’ve given up on sleep.

That is my greatest fear

That if, if I lost control

Or did not have control

Things would just, you know

I would be fatal

"Somebody gets me" "Do you like it?" "It make me sad. The fact that she gets me makes me sad". "Why?" "What's there to be happy about a pitiful soul recognising another, what's there to be pleased about two lonely souls finding each other. Is it , " I like how you are broken just like me", " I like that you find life boring just as me", " I like how you hate life as much as I do".No.. I would rather be sad than be happy about somebody's misery." "Do you like her?" " Sometimes words don't do justice to what you feel for people. It's better unsaid, unexplained." "Then?" "Strangely, it comforts you. No matter who the person is, having somebody by your side comforts you . Somebody telling you, " It's not a big deal" when the world around you is in ruins. May be that's all we need." "It doesn't make any sense. How could you feel comforted by a person who makes you sad?" "Don't you think life works in strange ways. You feel what you feel. Trying to find logic in everything doesn't make much sense either." "So?" "Let's just find solace in things and people without much thought or reason. Let's just let life take control for once. Let's just live." "What if you finally lose the person?" " Still the fact that I was comforted once doesn't change. I will be grateful, grateful for everything I have felt once. And I will just leave if that's the right thing to do". "It sounds sad." "Depends on how you take it. May be it is beautiful too. What if the warmth lets you live on and have hope. What if you finally get warm yourself. Isn't that happy enough." "May be". "May be ." 📸 : Pinterest ( Kdrama - My Mister) Inspired from My Mister #writerscommunity #writersofinstagram #writer #wordporn #womenwritersofinstagram #womenwriters #wordpornoftheday #thoughts #thoughtoftheday #life #mymister #parkdonghoon #kdramawriters #kdrama #kdramaworld #kdramainsp #kdramaworld #mymisterkdrama #mondayblues #monday (at Some Were Under the Sky) https://www.instagram.com/p/CkYM4veJsx7/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Untitled Swifty

Sometimes I only want to read Supercorp fanfics and listen to Taylor Swift, what has become of my life?