SOMETHING WICKED and WEP GHOST STORY.

  

Today I'm combining two blogfests for Halloween; 2 Krista's Something Wicked bloghop, and Write..Edit..Publish GHOST STORY. As you know, Halloween has also been named All Hallows Eve/All Saints Eve and Samhain in cultures other than the USA. I'll leave those two links and allow you to do your own research on Halloween, if you're interested. Usually for Halloween I'd write something totally creepy/bloody/puke worthy/offensive.

This year I'm going for subtlety. Don't want to be too predictable, ya know, with this new blog. For Write..Edit..Publish Ghost story, I'm submitting a different kind of ghost, more commonly associated as a muse, guardian angel, or demon; and hoping it also fits the 2 Krista's category for most suspicious (although I'm over word count at 634). My interpretation of both blogfests is a twist in mythology, Judeo-Christianity, and the occult.

Oh, and I do realize the writing is recycled from my former blog. I had a reason for this, hopefully something better than I just didn't have time to create something new (beta reading, researching agents to query my novel, re-reading old works to see what to start writing on, job hunting) but I forget what the reason is . . .
***

The Daemon Azazel tipped the flask of never-ending draught to his lips and drank deeply of Valhalla mead, ignoring the incessant knocking at his cell door. He’d experienced the temerity of Lilith for ages, sometimes partaking of her sexuality between assignments. Lilith had been indisposed on a secret mission when Azazel had failed with King Arthur, and an eon had passed Earth side as he contemplated his purpose in the universe.

“You cannot hide from me forever Azazel. I will sit here, singing your praises, until you admit me.”

“Spare me your false accolades.” Azazel waved away the wards barring entrance to his sanctuary.

Lilith flounced through the entry as if she feared his good will would end before she could enter. Azazel smiled at her attempt at deviousness. He was sure she could have blasted through his simplistic wards with barely a thought, especially since she was the one being he never seriously wanted to keep out.

Lilith was created by Samael to be a lover and guide for Adam when the youngling El set himself up as the one God and changed his name to Yahweh. Such arrogance was unheard of in the Realms, and Azazel was as surprised as most that the Elder Gods had abandoned Earth and did not intervene to stop Yahweh’s madness.

The Daemon Chieftan Samael became the voice of opposition to Yahweh’s claim to sovereignship. Although he had not openly chosen sides in the debate, Azazel silently supported Samael’s campaign to dislodge the arrogant, fledgling God.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of your company, Lilith. Last I heard you were influencing the Queen of Sheba to corrupt Solomon.”

“Yester year’s news Azzy, Joan of Arc is so much more interesting a subject. Do try to keep up.” She conjured bread, cheese and fruit on a low table and situated it between them as she sank onto a velvet divan.

Azazel grunted as he floated a juicy papaya into his hand. It was rumored among the Daemons that Yahweh himself spoke to the child, leaving an imprint that even Lilith’s considerable talents of deception could not dissuade.

“What do you want of me?”

“My master wishes only for you to continue your neutrality in the Free Will debate between himself and Yahweh. They have agreed that certain scientists will remain ‘off limits’ to both, as long as you have acknowledged your mentorship of the scientific philosophies the individuals were born to invent.”

Even in his sabbatical Azazel sensed Samael and Yahweh’s distress at the Renaissance phase of humanity. Every Daemon in the Cosmos had been alerted to the birth of Leonardo da Vinci, but as a resident of the 7th Realm of Heaven, only Azazel had known of the prodigy’s existence prior to his birth.

“What’s the catch?”

To his surprise, Lilith opened her mind to his extensive probing. As the first demon created by Samael, Lilith wielded considerable powers, in many ways rivaling Azazel’s. When she chose to mentally protect her secrets, she was extremely effective. She allowed him to witness the agreement between Samael and Yahweh; and he garnered acceptance from both entity’s.

He thought of the possibilities of infusing scientology to human beings. Minor nudging’s against the concept of heaven and hell would be all that was required. He could indulge his natural inclinations to observe to draw him back into the Earthly Realm.  And if the boy occasionally heard voices, or reported messages in his dreams? Well, it was the age of enlightenment on Earth. After much consideration, he spread cheese on a slice of bread, and washed it down with a healthy swallow from his flask.

Lilith laughed around a hunk of pineapple as he tasted goat milk instead of mead in his never-ending flask.

“Time for you to return to the haunting work you were created for Azazel.”

***
Happy Halloween everyone, thanks for reading. Be sure to visit Write..Edit..Publish, Krista McLaughlin and Krista Wayment for links to more Ghost and Wicked stories, or to submit your own writing to the linky's.

3rd Annual Spooktoberfest

My contribution to Cover Girl's, Jackie Felger and Dani Bertrand's, 3rd Annual Spooktoberfest isn't really scary, but maybe slightly creepy will qualify. I got this idea while researching for another story concept, and a little word-play later this is what came about for the five prompt words: chill, cocoon. commotion, curse and virus.

The final lines of the criteria states: Your flash fiction piece can be scary, comical, romantic, or whatever you choose, just be creative! You can use pictures to set the scene and/or a song to set the mood. The winners will be posted on HALLOWEEN, Oct. 31st!

“Melvin, where ya goin' with that ax?”

Melvin ignored his nosy neighbor and kept walking up the lane, the ax resting comfortably on his right shoulder.

“Melvin?”

Samuel caught up with Melvin in two strides, his towering shape casting a chill over Melvin that he couldn’t shiver off. Melvin looked up, feeling a strain in his neck as he searched for his giant-like friends face. The man seemed to be taller than he remembered, and a trick of fading day lit Samuel’s skin like eyes from his head to his unclad feet.

“Ye’ve made quite the commotion over your intentions in yon tavern. Are ye set fer sure on this wicked course?”

Melvin’s steps faltered as he leveled his sight on a hidden cove three leagues up the coastline. “The she-witch has stolen the souls of too many of our bairns. She must be stopped.”

The eyes that dappled Samuel’s skin seemed brighter, compelling the fearful truth from Melvin. “Many o’ young un hast died of an unnamed virus within fourteen days of birth over the last decade. Te only surviving babes have been delivered in a cocoon, a sure mark o’ the devil. The midwife smothered me son, as she’s done with all such births. I aim to rid us of this witch, and deliver the souls of our children.”

“Foolish mortals,” Samuel roared, growing with such speed that Melvin lost sight of the beings knees and ankles in a matter of seconds.

The Earth quaked and the wind roared as Samuel spread blindingly white wings. Snakes of every kind slithered from crevasses so deep the fires of Hel lapped at fertile fields.  In a voice heard by all in the land of Eire, Samuel pronounced his doom.

“The caul was my mark of protection, delivering them from Lilith’s dominion. The devil shall truly take thee now.”

****

Click here to see all the criteria and the list of participants at the Cover Girls site. 

SURVIVE AND THRIVE BLOGHOP

Today is the SURVIVE AND THRIVE bloghop, hosted by Alex J Cavanaugh, L Dianne Wolf, Michael DiGesu, and Stephen Tremp.

The blogfest is meant to bring awareness of disease prevention and early detection regarding medical conditions that may be averted or treated if caught in the early stages. Our desire is to motivate people to go in for early screening, and if a condition is caught early and treated, then our world just became a little better place to live.

The topics are wide open. You can post about a particular cause you support. Or you can share a personal or family experience that is near to your heart. What’s great about this Blogfest is you can inspire people to take care of themselves and their loved ones early enough to make a difference in their lives.

I've chosen the simple topic of preventing multiple childhood diseases through immunizations. Immunizing your children can - and does - prevent the spread of deadly/debilitating diseases such as polio, pertussis (whooping cough), mumps, measles, diptheria, pneumococcal, hepititis A and B and yes, even the mostly harmless chicken pox that later causes painful shingles in older adults. (google any of the listed diseases to see the severity of symptoms)

During my work in social services I encountered many many parents - especially very young parents - who opted not to immunize their children for various reasons; the least common due to religious affiliation. Most cited that it was not worth the 1/whatever-hundred-thousands risk of death that taking the vaccine for diseases that have been eradicated in the US may cause.

The Canadian based VRAN.org has several articles  that state VRAN:  knows many cases of children severely damaged or dead due to vaccinations. In the 1980’s, paediatrician Robert Mendelsohn, MD voiced his concern: “There is growing suspicion that immunization against relatively harmless childhood diseases may be responsible for the dramatic increase in autoimmune diseases since mass inoculations were introduced.

This article by the CDC disagrees: Like any medication, vaccines can cause side effects. The most common side effects are mild. On the other hand, many vaccine-preventable disease symptoms can be serious, or even deadly. Even though many of these diseases are rare in this country (USA), they still occur around the world and can be brought into the U.S., putting unvaccinated children at risk. The November 11, 2013 Boston Globe health and wellness article also reflects the CDC opinion with:

While there are rare side effects, medical researchers say the risk of not vaccinating is much greater. Other than smallpox, which has been eradicated, most diseases unseen for decades in the United States — from measles and mumps to Hepatitis B and rubella — still exist somewhere in the world. In October, the United Nations identified an outbreak of polio in Syria, where UNICEF reports that 95 percent of children had been vaccinated before the civil war started in 2011. In the past two years, hundreds of thousands of children have gone without immunizations.
“They’re only a plane ride away. And every year the number of kids getting exempted (from vaccines) grows,” said Dr. Lawrence Madoff, director of Epidemiology and Immunization for Massachusetts. “When immunization rates fall, it doesn't take long, even in a developed country, for diseases to resurge.”

A recent ScientificAmerica article reports: 

Last year 10 children died in California in the worst whooping cough outbreak to sweep the state since 1947. In the first six months of 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 10 measles outbreaks—the largest of which (21 cases) occurred in a Minnesota county, where many children were unvaccinated because of parental concerns about the safety of the standard MMR vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella. At least seven infants in the county who were too young to receive the MMR vaccine were infected.
These troubling statistics show that the failure to vaccinate children endangers both the health of children themselves as well as others who would not be exposed to preventable illness if the community as a whole were better protected. Equally troubling, the number of deliberately unvaccinated children has grown large enough that it may be fueling more severe outbreaks. In a recent survey of more than 1,500 parents, one quarter held the mistaken belief that vaccines can cause autism in healthy children, and more than one in 10 had refused at least one recommended vaccine.
This sad state of affairs exists because parents have been persistently and insidiously misled by information in the press and on the Internet and because the health care system has not effectively communicated the counterarguments, which are powerful. Physicians and other health experts can no longer just assume that parents will readily agree to childhood inoculations and leave any discussion about the potential risks and benefits to the last minute. They need to be more proactive, provide better information and engage parents much earlier than is usually the case.

My kids are mostly grown and I'm a grandmother now, but when I was starting my own family in the

1980's I read everything the doctors handed me on the risks and side effects of immunizing my child. I also read all the information about the risks of not taking the immunizations. There wasn't a vaccine for the chicken pox when my kids were young, and even though I don't see that one as life threatening, who knows how the virus strains have changed in the intervening years with all the influx of immigration from countries that do not typically immunize their children.

I'd advise my daughter to give it to her kids, if she had not made her own decision to immunize. I guess my personal philosophy is I'd rather my kids (and grandkids) take the minimal risk of death (or have a severe reaction) from the vaccine than get infected with a preventable disease, and possibly infect others. Immunizations save immensely more lives than they take.

Thanks for reading my contribution to the SURVIVE AND THRIVE BLOGHOP. If this post, or the idea of the bloghop itself, has inspired you to write your own post, or to visit other participants, check out the linky here.

BALANCE: READING AND WRITING

I've gotten out of the habit of reading, and writing; and I miss both activities. When I finished my FATE trilogy and began submitting to agents/publishers, and got rejections, and a few short words of writing advice, I started collecting books on writing. Those helped me hone my writing abilities. Working with critique partners and writing book reviews also helped. Yes, oddly enough, reading for another writer with the intent of constructive feedback made it possible for me to objectively look at my own writing (occasionally at least).

With all that writing, and reading for writing, I've lost the ability to just sit down and read a book for the enjoyment of getting lost in another world. Well, over the last couple years I have read some books that pulled me right in to the story, and then writing the review was a little more difficult because I didn't keep notes of the exciting and intriguing segments of the book, and I despise writing a review that simply says 'what an awesome book, couldn't put it down' even though its totally true.

During my first week of unemployment I indulged in a book not written by any of my author friends.
Stephen King is still, and will likely forever remain, one of my most favoritist authors. I've had his novella THE WIND THROUGH THE KEYHOLE for a couple years, and finally read it. What an awesome start back into pleasure reading; I loved reacquainting with the characters from the DARK TOWER series, and even meeting new characters in this three-short stories-in-one  novella style. The head hopping was a little annoying, but not so much it pulled me out of the story. A good example of a writing no-no that was done well.

Now I'm reading Dean Koontz 77 SHADOW STREET, its harder to get into due to the large cast of characters, but I'm sticking with it because I know I usually enjoys Koontz's writing, and I am sure the story plot will pay off when all the characters are inevitably brought together to deal with the monster. The characters are interesting enough for me to keep connected to the story; but I'm sure many readers would find it hard to read all that back story and character development. For now though, I'm constantly putting it down to do other things - house cleaning, watching TV, checking on blogs.

Notice how I'm still procrastinating wring my own stories. I'm a week late in turning in my chapter re-write to the my online writer's group (at time of this writing, hopefully by the post date it will be turned in and I'm starting something else). Unlike many writers who sit down to the computer ready ready to dive back into their WiP, I need some warm up time by reading something writing related, or even writing some comments on blog posts to get my fingers a typing workout. Sometimes that leads me to write a blog post. Yay me, I'm updating my blog!!

This isn't even the post I started out to write when I logged into my blog. I started off this morning checking my e-mails, and since I'm trying to get back into writing, and reading things related to writing, I decided to read some of those Writer's Digest and Quora Digest articles I have sitting unopened in my inbox.

As writing articles tend to do, there wasn't much new from the WD articles and I didn't even click on the "read more" link. But Quora had some interesting reading.

The first eye catcher written by Marcus Geduld was on whether you should start a paragraph with "however." He summarized his grade school experience with an English teacher who taught him all sorts of rules, which he discovered he could effectively break when he became a writer by explaining: "However, when I got older, I realized that the writers's job is to infect the reader's brain. He should use any means at his disposal to make readers experience. The only rules worth remembering are ones that help that process." This brought a smile to my soda-stained lips and brightened my writing desire with a "true that!"

I should have turned immediately to writing then, but just below the article was an intriguing title  WHAT IS THE POINT OF WRITING by Ellen Vrana. She advised writers: If you are defining success as "being popular" you really shouldn't be a writer. She listed some attention seeking authors who enjoyed the light of media, and some successful but not so popular authors who are reclusive and shun the public. Both author types had one thing in common though; Writers - professional, amateur, Quorans - write because they cannot not write. They have something inside of them that has to get out: characters, a story, a tale, wisdom, knowledge, opinions, viewpoints, questions, fear, frustration, answers, love. That statement made me think a about my own ability to procrastinate at writing, so I scrolled down a bit for some extra writing inspiration.

Marc Bodnic caught my attention with WHAT NOVELS HAVE THE BEST OPENING LINES OR OPENING PARAGRAPHS. He listed many of the classics you'd predict in his top 20: Moby Dick, Pride and Predjudice, Anna Karinna, Lolita, 1984, Tale of Two Cities, you get the drift. I was looking for my favorite first liner which comes from Charlotte's Web: "Mama, where's daddy going with that ax?" I didn't find it. I never read the story Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, but I'm pretty sure that 145 word run-on sentence for a first paragraph would have turned me off the book completely. Maybe not if I lived in 1759 . .

I read a couple more, a very good flash fiction that made me laugh, and a question on whether you need to be a good reader to be a good writer, and what what you can learn by reading effectively, even fiction, and of course this brings me back to me decision of whether to read today - that fiction novel I'm having a hard time dedicating to or some writing tutorial - or whether to sit down with this first chapter re-write and finally get it off my to do list. My deadline is quickly approaching.

You see I finally opted for writing a blog post. Its over a thousand words - thanks for reading this far, if you didn't just skim to the end - and I'm considering using this post as my daily word count. LOL, I'm hearing the collective gasp even though I'm scheduling this post a week from this writing. However, one of my greatest strengths at the day job has been my ability to prioritize, and I woke up this morning with the intention of completing, editing and submitting my chapter re-write before going to bed; so that is what I will do. I'm sure.

I'll let you know how well I did in the comments when this post is up.

Do you have a writing and reading schedule? How well do you stick to it?

NOBODY KNOWS book tour, Kyra Lennon

Title: Nobody Knows

Author: Kyra Lennon

Genre: NA Romance

Type: First in Series (Razes Hell Book 1)

Cover Design: Najila Qamber Design

Photographer: Lindee Robinson Photography

Release Date: November 3rd 2014

 

It's not easy be

ing friends with rising rock stars - especially when you're the glue that holds them together.

Razes Hell has taken off in the charts, and Ellie can't believe her childhood friends, Drew and Jason Brooks, are on TV and drawing crowds after years spent playing in dodgy bars. From obscurity to overnight success, Ellie soon realises life in the public eye isn’t all it’s cracked up to be as dark secrets become headline news and old conflicts are re-ignited. When a fake feud meant to boost the band’s popularity threatens to rip the boys apart for real, Ellie finds herself torn – a position which only gets more uncomfortable when her loyalty to Jason collides with her blossoming relationship with Drew.

Nobody knows how deep their issues run; nobody but Ellie. With friendship, a music career and a new love on the line, can Ellie keep their tangled pasts from ruining their futures?

AmazonUS | AmazonUK

 

Kyra is a self-confessed book-a-holic, and has been since she first learned to read. When she's not reading, you'll usually find her hanging out in coffee shops with her trusty laptop and/or her friends, or girling it up at the nearest shopping mall.

Kyra grew up on the South Coast of England and refuses to move away from the seaside which provides massive inspiration for her novels. Her debut novel, Game On (New Adult Contemporary Romance), was released in July 2012, and she scored her first Amazon Top 20 listing with her New Adult novella, If I Let You Go in November.

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IWSG: New Inspirations

Wow, time flies when you're sitting around doing nothing. Well, not totally nothing, catching up on all those domestic duties that I never had time (or inclination) to start.  For this months edition of Insecure Writers Support Group, hosted by the dreamy Alex J Cavanaugh, I'd like to re-introduce myself and then pimp out our illustrious host and the IWSG website.

My insecurity this month is a fear of starting all over again. I deleted my original blog at A WRITERS LIFE IN PROGRESS early in September, in hopes of saving my day job. The intent was to quit blogging and writing as it was deemed 'inappropriate' for a social worker to be that public. Skip to later in the month after losing my day job anyways, and I'm hoping there is a way to remain in my daily profession (once I'm employed again) and still satisfy my desire to be a published (and public) author.

Maintaining balance in personal and public life will be a priority mission for me in developing this new blog.  An extremest by nature, this should prove a challenge for me in any personae. I'm taking my time getting this new home up and running, so stay tuned to see if my usual sarcasm can keep itself in check through the process. Thanks to all of you who have already shown me your support and encouragement by re-following.

For all of you who have started over with anything in your lives - career, marriage/family, relocation, hobbies, or that creative outlet of writing, music, art - I commend your courage and resilience, and hope you succeeded to your own satisfaction.

Congratulations to the IWSG Website on its one year Anniversary. In honor of the site's success, the moderators are compiling an anthology and invite all bloggers to submit their best tips in their blog post today.

The purpose of the book is to assist other writers on the journey, so we are looking for tips and instructions in the areas of writing, publishing, and marketing. It can be inspirational in nature as long as you provide a solid benefit. We’ve already received a lot of great entries–mostly in the area of writing–so looking for some good tips on publishing and marketing. Be sure to state which category, add a one line by-line, and permission for us to use it in the book.

Once you have posted on October 1, go to this page at the IWSG site and enter your link. Deadline for submissions is October 2.

I don't have any tips to contribute, but I'm sure I will appreciate all of  your submissions.

Have a good week/weekend everyone. Be sure to visit Alex's helpers: Kristin Smith, Elsie, Suzanne Furness, and Fundy Blue.