Did you participate in last week’s #WritingWednesday post? It was all about Dreams. If you haven’t posted your response, click HERE so you can do that now. Then, make sure you check in here ~ every Wednesday ~ for the latest #WritingWednesday writing prompt! Now, back to today’s regularly scheduled post…
Remember, #WritingWednesday is an EASY, STRESS-FREE, weekly writing challenge.
Read the writing prompt below,
Spend 5 minutes writing (in your own voice or the voice of a character you’re writing) whatever comes to mind,
DON’T EDIT what you write! IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PERFECT!
The goal is 5 minutes of creativity.
Today I am writing in the voice of Tanja, a character in one of my current ‘WIP’ manuscripts.
Today’s writing prompt:
THE UNOPENED BOX
A coffin is just a box. A box we fill with the bodies of our lost loved ones. A box we fill with tears at the passing of friends and family. A box designed to keep out unwanted pests and vermin, vandals and thieves. A box not to difficult to unlock, from the inside, even when buried six feet under. All it takes is a little magic and a talented guide.
I am that guide!
I learned the ritual from my mother and my Aunt Clara when I was only ten years old. Although they were well known throughout our community and thought of as true practitioners, they had only scratched the surface of what it really means to be a necromancer.
By the time I was eleven, my mother was gone, sealed in a pine box and buried six feet below the earth’s surface. For the last six years, I’ve been salting the earth, above her body, weekly to protect her remains from those who practice the black magics. She was powerful, maybe not as powerful as I, but powerful enough that others might want to steal an ounce of blood, a sliver of skin, a lock of hair, or even a bone or two in an effort to intensify their own magic. It would work too. That’s why I salt the earth. That’s why I’ve never left New Orleans. That’s why, when Operation Atlas came knocking on my door I insisted that if I were to work with them, I wouldn’t be one of their pets, locked in a cage… or cell… or wherever they kept them at the corporate offices. When I showed them what I was capable of, they agreed to let me stay in my home in New Orleans. Not that they really had a choice.
Alright, now it’s your turn. I’d love to see what today’s writing prompt [THE UNOPENED BOX] inspires in you. So, if you are willing, go to the comment section below and start typing. Take 5 minutes and let’s see what you come up with!
What books have made your March 2020 reading list? Comment below and let me know! Then, click on the links below to check out my latest post for the New York Times Top Ten Lists and see which books you’d like to add to your reading list!
It’s been a while since I’ve done a #WritingWednesday post because I’ve been knee deep in my 397 page manuscript. Yeah, its a doozy, and I can’t wait to release it and find out what you guys think of it. But, I’m back and ready to get back to my regularly scheduled posts, so make sure you check in here ~ every Wednesday ~ for the latest #WritingWednesday writing prompt!
Remember, #WritingWednesday is an EASY, STRESS-FREE, weekly writing challenge.
Read the writing prompt below,
Spend 5 minutes writing (in your own voice or the voice of a character you’re writing) whatever comes to mind,
DON’T EDIT what you write! IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PERFECT!
The goal is 5 minutes of creativity.
Today I am writing in the voice of Nigel, a character in one of my current ‘WIP’ manuscripts.
Today’s writing prompt:
DREAMS
I can’t always remember my dreams, but when I do, they are significant.
This morning I woke up, in my small ten foot by ten foot room, and I couldn’t breath. It wasn’t the confined space, I’m used to that. No, it was the smoke. It surrounded me, blurring my vision and clogging my lungs. The only problem was that there was no smoke in the room.
I tried to call for help but was unable to find my voice. I could hear people all around me, but couldn’t see them.
“Are you alright?”
“What’s your name?”
“Are you in any pain?”
They kept asking me questions, over and over. Finally, I could feel scrapping all down my back, as if someone was dragging me across a bed of rocks or glass. That’s when I realized I wasn’t in my room. The first glimpse of my surroundings came moments later with a wall of fire lifted the smoke in the distance. There was a car, burning on the side of the road in a town I’d never seen before. Locals stood a safe distance away, just staring at the car and back down at my broken, bloody body.
“Ma’am, are you alright?”
“Ma’am?” I asked. Was she talking to me?
That’s when I realized I wasn’t actually awake. It was my first subconscious, dream induced, precognitive vision. My first, but not my last.
Alright, now it’s your turn. I’d love to see what today’s writing prompt [DREAMS] inspires in you. So, if you are willing, go to the comment section below and start typing. Take 5 minutes and let’s see what you come up with!
What books have made your March 2020 reading list? Comment below and let me know! Then, click on the links below to check out my latest post for the New York Times Top Ten Lists and see which books you’d like to add to your reading list!
My university degree is in the performing arts; a dual major in Theatre & Communications. Acting has been my passion for a very long time. After college, I moved to Los Angeles, like so many other hopeful young actors, to make a go of it. I booked a few low budget films, a dozen commercials, and a handful of indie-films, but my big break never happened.
Eventually, some life changes took me away from Los Angeles and my dreams of becoming a professional actor. Don’t get me wrong, I did NOT give up on acting. I still do the occasional play, every now and then, when I can make my real job line up with rehearsals. Although, it isn’t the same.
I’ve been away from Los Angeles, and my dreams, for over 15 years now and I still find myself overcome with sadness every time the Academy Awards are on.
How’s that for honesty?!
Truth be told, I have a great life and a family I adore. Plus, I’ve been lucky enough to have found other artistic outlets that bring me true happiness; theatre of course, but also writing.
Last night, while I sat with my son while he watched an episode of Liv and Maddie (Season 2 Episode 2) I found inspiration in something the father said to Maddie, “Just because you can’t do something you love, doesn’t mean you have to stop loving it.”
For the last 15 years, I’ve felt guilty for missing Los Angeles. As if leaving my dreams behind meant that I had to give up that passion. I felt like the ‘move’ was supposed to be easier and that there was something wrong with me because I wasn’t able to just let go of the goals I had been working toward for so long. Last night I realized that it’s ok to hang on to that passion, those goals, those dreams. It’s okay to embrace them not only through theatre but also through other forms of art such as writing.
So, whatever your passion is, know that you don’t ever have to give it up – not fully.
Not all fairy tales start with Once upon a time. Not all fairy tales have a happy ending. Not all fairies fly around like Tinkerbell with fairy dust.
COMING SOON!COMING SOON!COMING SOON!COMING SOON!
Austin discovered at the young age of ten that fairies aren’t exactly what Disney made them out to be and that blood tastes a lot like honey. Now, as an adult, he struggles to balance his public life with the one he’s so desperate to keep hidden. With the death count adding up, will he be able to keep his secret or will his world come undone? In this exciting interactive adventure, you’ll get to decide who lives and who dies. The body count is up to you, are you ready?
Sign up below to be notified with updates on THE BEAST WITHIN’s progress and release date!
Walt Disney said, “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”
We’ve all suffered from procrastination at one time or another. We make excuses. We tell ourselves things like, ‘I just don’t have the time right now,’ ‘I’ll get to that later’ or ‘I have other, more important, things to do right now.’ In reality, we are letting our fears of failure stop us from achieving our full potential. As authors, we do this a lot.
Today, I stopped talking and began doing! I let go of my fears, dropped the excuses that I knew were only holding me back, and sat down with my WIP (Work in Progress). I had finished the first draft during NANOWRIMO November 2018 and have since been putting off the much needed edits/re-writes.
Today, instead of putting it off for another day… week… or month, I decided to dedicate two hours this evening to writing. I made it through ten chapters and discovered a burst of creativity I’ve been longing for. I’m motivated in a way I haven’t been for quiet some time. Instead of dreading my next writing session, I’m looking forward to it. Instead of being worried I wont have anything to write, I can’t seen to turn my brain off. Sometimes all it takes is a little coffee and a bit of self-encouragement.
Write a quick love story. The story must end badly.
“It isn’t love,” I tell myself, mumbling as she walks away. “You don’t love her. Don’t follow her,” I say, as I stand and start toward the door she just disappeared through. “Wait, Sophie, please don’t go.”
I watched as her steps slowed and finally stopped, but she didn’t turn around.
“I… I can’t lose you too,” I said, instead of the words I knew she wanted—needed—to hear.
Her back stiffened. She rounded her shoulders and held her chin up high as she gripped her car keys in her fist. I could imagine the look on her face, strong yet sad—broken yet determined, but she never looked back.
The car beeped twice. She had unlocked the door.
I’m losing her, I thought. I reached out, started to call her again, but she didn’t give me a chance. She took the last few steps toward her car door and climbed in. The door slammed shut with a load echo that reverberated off the building behind me and a shutter shot through my body. I crumpled to my knees as I watched her car drive away.
“I love you.” It was only a whisper, one she would never hear, yet they were the truest words I’d ever spoken.
Alright, now it’s your turn. I’d love to see what today’s writing prompt inspires in you. So, if you are willing, go to the comment section below and start typing. Take 5 minutes and let’s see what you come up with!
Write a quick love story. The story must end badly.
What books have made your November reading list? Comment below and let me know! Then, click on the links below to check out the December 2019 New York Times Top Ten Lists and see which books you’d like to add to your reading list!
Remember,
#WritingWednesday is an EASY, STRESS-FREE, weekly writing challenge.
Read the
writing prompt below,
Spend 5
minutes writing (in your own voice or the voice of a character you’re writing) whatever
comes to mind,
DON’T
EDIT what you write! IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PERFECT!
The goal
is 5 minutes of creativity.
Today I am writing in the voice of my turtle, Elle.
Today’s writing prompt:
Look around you and choose an object in the room. Now write
something from the point of view of that object.
There she is, the one who feeds me. My human. I don’t know
what to call her, she hasn’t told me her name yet, but she calls me Elle, or
Elle-belly which I really like. Especially when she sings to me. I may not know
her name, but I do know how to make her smile. She likes it when I swim laps. I
start at the soft tentacle covered plant that sticks out of the side of my cozy
little room. Then, I climb onto my sunbathing rock and run across it to dive
into the water. From there, I spin around and shoot myself through the water,
as fast as I can, until I end up back at the plant. I could do it over and over
for hours and she would just giggle and smile the whole time. I like making her
happy.
Alright, now it’s your turn. I’d love to see what today’s writing prompt inspires you. So, if you are willing, go to the comment section below and start typing. Take 5 minutes and let’s see what you come up with!
Look around you and choose an object in the room. Now write something from the point of view of that object.
What books have made your November
reading list? Comment below and let me know! Then, click on the links below to
check out the November 2019 New York Times Top Ten Lists and see which books
you’d like to add to your reading list!
In this New York Times bestselling thriller from the author of Lock Every Door and Final Girls, a young woman returns to her childhood summer camp to uncover the truth about a tragedy that happened there fifteen years ago.
Two Truths and a Lie. The girls played it all the time in their cabin at Camp Nightingale. Vivian, Natalie, Allison, and first-time camper Emma Davis, the youngest of the group. But the games ended the night Emma sleepily watched the others sneak out of the cabin into the darkness. The last she–or anyone–saw of them was Vivian closing the cabin door behind her, hushing Emma with a finger pressed to her lips.
Now a rising star in the New York art scene, Emma turns her past into paintings–massive canvases filled with dark leaves and gnarled branches that cover ghostly shapes in white dresses. When the paintings catch the attention of Francesca Harris-White, the wealthy owner of Camp Nightingale, she implores Emma to return to the newly reopened camp as a painting instructor. Seeing an opportunity to find out what really happened to her friends all those years ago, Emma agrees.
Familiar faces, unchanged cabins, and the same dark lake haunt Nightingale, even though the camp is opening its doors for the first time since the disappearances. Emma is even assigned to the same cabin she slept in as a teenager, but soon discovers a security camera–the only one on the property–pointed directly at its door. Then cryptic clues that Vivian left behind about the camp’s twisted origins begin surfacing. As she digs deeper, Emma finds herself sorting through lies from the past while facing mysterious threats in the present. And the closer she gets to the truth about Camp Nightingale and what really happened to those girls, the more she realizes that closure could come at a deadly price.
You probably
recognize the author’s name, Riley Sager. I recently reviewed his book Final
Girls, which I loved. It was the first book in a while that I actually gave a 5
out of 5-star review. Well, he did it again with The Last Time I Lied. It was
amazing.
STORY (★★★★★): This story follows Emma, who at the age
of 13 goes to summer camp at Camp Nightingale and bunks with three other girls
who end up going missing and the camp is shutdown. This book takes place 15
years after that event and Emma is now an accomplished artist in New York City who
secretly paints the three missing girls into all of her paintings, hidden under
layers of paint. Basically, she suffers
from anxiety because of this tragic event that happened during her childhood
and she uses her art as a form of therapy.
During
her art show, at the gallery, Franny the owner of the camp shows up and asks
her to return to camp for the camps re-opening. She wants her to come and be an
art instructor at the camp. Emma eventually decides to go hoping for closer,
and also hoping to maybe do a little investigating and find out what happened
to the three girls.
WRITING (★★★★★): The pace of this story is great.
It’s a very fast read, I think I finished it in just a few days.
The structure is
interesting, it jumps back
and forth between the past and present a lot. This allows us to not under
understand what Emma is going through today but also what she experienced 15
years prior and how that colored her world as she grew up.
This
book was so much fun to read. Sager is great at putting suspicion on so many of
the characters making it hard for the reader to trust anyone. Usually I can figure
out ‘who done it’, but with this one I didn’t know the end until the twist
happened and the answers are given.
I
really like how Riley Sager writes and I love his vivid settings and
descriptions. He uses a lot of similes in his comparisons that just paint a
wonderful picture for the reader. I love his plot twists and the big reveals –
like in Final Girls, the reveal in this one really surprised me.
I
love how Riley Sager is able to tie up all the loose endings by the end of the
book. It makes for a very clean story with no plot holes, which I like when it
comes to single story books as opposed to series. In a series, I want to be
left with a cliffhanger until the last book.
CHARACTERS (★★★★★): There are so many characters that I wanted
to trust, but couldn’t. You even find out things about the lead character,
Emma, that make you question whether or not she is the “good guy” or the “bad guy”.
Since this book is told from the perspective
of a female character, there are a number of scenes where the author, being a
man, could have really messed up. However, Sager is really good at writing from
the female perspective and capturing the emotions that come along with the
events that happen throughout the story both in the past as well as present day.
APPEARANCE (★★★★): The cover, designed
by Alex Merto with photograph by Aaron Smith, is beautiful and haunting,
although the photo doesn’t look like the character of Emma.
FAVORITE
QUOTES:
“Sometimes the only way out is through.”
“My future is quite literally a blank canvas,
waiting for me to fill it.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Riley Sager is the pseudonym of a former journalist, editor and graphic designer. Now a full-time author, Riley’s first thriller, FINAL GIRLS, became a national and international bestseller and was called “the first great thriller of 2017” by Stephen King. Translation rights have been sold in more than two dozen countries. His second book, THE LAST TIME I LIED, was a New York Times bestseller. His latest novel, LOCK EVERY DOOR, which is currently on my TO READ LIST, was an instant New York Times, Publishers Weekly and USA Today bestseller. A television adaptation is being developed by Paramount TV and Anonymous Content.
A native of Pennsylvania, Riley now lives in Princeton, New Jersey. When he’s not working on his next novel, he enjoys reading, cooking and going to the movies as much as possible. His favorite film is “Rear Window.” Or maybe “Jaws.” But probably, if he’s being honest, “Mary Poppins.”
Check out my YouTube channel and the video
review below… and make sure you hit subscribe so you never miss a video.
Disclosure: When you purchase a book using a link on this site, I earn an affiliate commission.All commission earnings go back into funding my books; editing, cover design, marketing, author events, etc.
Remember, #WritingWednesday is an EASY, STRESS-FREE (which is why I’m not stressing that this post is a day late), weekly writing challenge.
Read the
writing prompt below,
Spend 5
minutes writing (in your own voice or the voice of a character you’re writing) whatever
comes to mind,
DON’T
EDIT what you write! IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PERFECT!
The goal is 5 minutes of creativity.
Today I am writing in the voice of Tanja, one of the characters in the novel I’m currently outlining. I’m not sure if this will be a selection in the novel, or just part of my character development journal.
Today’s writing prompt:
Describe one odd item you always carry with you, in your purse, your wallet, or just a pocket.
I was young when my mother died, but before she did, she
shared the secrets of our lineage with me. She didn’t want to, but having
watched as she and my aunt raised my grandmother’s body from the grave, she
kind of had to. When she believed I was ready, or maybe just because she knew
her time was coming to an end, she gave me her sacred ritual knife. It was an
ivory white, alligator jaw bone boline-athame-knife. It was razor sharper
and as strong as any knife I’ve ever seen. The blade is only three inches long,
but it doesn’t have to be long when you’re only using it to slice into the palm
of your own hand, or that of a relative of the dead you’re trying to raise. Since
my mother died, I’ve kept that blade with me without fail. She had used it
since she was a child, learning her craft. It felt like a piece of her was
always with me, guiding me, and protecting me.
Alright,
now it’s your turn. I’d love to see what today’s writing prompt inspires in
you. So, if you are willing, go to the comment section below and start typing.
Take 5 minutes and let’s see what you come up with!
Describe one
odd item you always carry with you, in your purse, your wallet, or just a pocket.
What books have made your October reading
list? Comment below and let me know! Then, click on the links below to check
out the October 2019 New York Times Top Ten Lists and see which books you’d
like to add to your reading list!
Remember, #WritingWednesday is an EASY, STRESS-FREE, weekly writing challenge.
Read the
writing prompt below,
Spend 5
minutes writing (in your own voice or the voice of a character you’re writing) whatever
comes to mind,
DON’T
EDIT what you write! IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PERFECT!
The goal is 5 minutes of creativity.
Today I am writing in the voice of Phoebe, the main character in PURSUIT (Book 4 in the Blood Angel Series)… BONUS – She also makes an appearance in my upcoming novel The Beast Within!
Today’s writing prompt:
Do you have a tattoo? What is it and why did you get it?
I’m a tracker. I work for the High
Council. Unlike most trackers, I wasn’t born with the blood. My sister was; she
was naturally talented. I had to learn the skill, through the taking of the
blood ritual. To be honest, blood tastes disgusting. The first time I tried
it, I nearly vomited. But that isn’t want you want to know about. You asked
about my tattoos. Yes, I have them. Many, in fact.
Most are runes. They are mostly along my arms, but I have a few on my back and my upper thighs. They help protect me from the evils I encounter while I’m hunting. They also help remind me of my roots, where I came from and where, someday, I might return.
In my family, I was always the most
artistically inclined. That earned me the privilege of branding those that came
after me with our family’s mark. I won’t share that with you, but I will tell
you this; there is power in my bloodline and those that recognize the mark
respect it. It gives me strength and courage. Its my moral compass.
Alright,
now it’s your turn. I’d love to see what today’s writing prompt inspires in
you. So, if you are willing, go to the comment section below and start typing.
Take 5 minutes and let’s see what you come up with!
Do you have a tattoo? What is it and why did you get it?
What books have made your October reading list? Comment below and let me know! Then, click on the links below to check out the OCTOBER 2019 New York Times Top Ten Lists and see which books you’d like to add to your reading list!
Nina Soden 