Sea Witch Freebie!

There's always been one fantasy of mine.

To take a totally different tack for my life. Hop in a sail boat and leave for wherever my heart desires. There really doesn't even have to be a particular destination.

Of course the hottie coming along for the ride with the romance that goes along with it is also a big part of the fantasy ;-)

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All formats available, get your sailing adventure and romance for the summer.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/174884

Cauldron (a writing experiement)

The caldron sat ready on the table next to the open spell book. Its leather binding and parchment pages were well worn from the years of its usage. Shadows were dancing on the rock walls in time with candles flickering flames.

Carefully consulting the spell that was written in some ancient script Brandolyn double checked the ingredients. After she was satisfied she had the right ones she began to create the spell. A bit of this and a bit of that was thrown into the caldron.

Waiting for a reaction that didn't seem to be happening she frowned as she peered into the caldron. A little greenish glow then began to appear from within the depths. It became brighter until the glow began to shine light like a lantern, the shadows on the walls disappearing.

Tendrils of greenish threads that were almost smoke like began to escape from the caldron. On the table they began to puddle and form into a shape that was quickly getting larger. While the glowing threads began to take the shape of a human, Brandolyn began to laugh. Her cackling echoed off of the rock walls enclosing the space. 

On writing fiction

Since I've changed what I'm writing I've learned some new things about myself, things I never really expected to find out. I'll be sitting on the porch writing a rough draft on my Blackberry Curve and I become totally immersed in a scene. It isn't like just being lost in thought, I'm all of a sudden in the middle of whatever it is that I'm writing about. If I wrote sci-fi I suppose it would be much like entering a video game on a PS3.

I'm sure some of those people back in the 1960's that took LSD would have loved to experience something like that. I've talked to a few other authors and they seem to experience the same kind of thing while they are writing.

Well, in a few minutes I'm going to go to the porch and get to writing again while I enter that virtual world that I will be experiencing. Hopefully, I will be able to bring something new to a readers life.

Have a great day.

Happy 4th

I hope that everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July. Me, I'm off to my day job.

Fear (writing experiment)

Ignorance and prejudice and we walked hand in hand ~ Witch Hunt by Rush

September, 1672

Margaret was out digging up Valerian root for a pregnancy pain concoction that she was making early that morning. June Ludlow had been suffering through the carrying of her tenth child and the town doctor didn't seem to be able to do anything for her. Then again, maybe it was general attitude that if a woman died in childbirth had pregnancy that it was God's will. As a result, there were always women coming to her for help with childbirth.

The early morning chill seemed to sink into Margaret's bones. To ward off the chill a little she drew the felt cloak closer in around her. Using her digging stick she soon had the root out in the open and she was able to extricate it in one piece. She opened her little carry all satchel and placed the root in it.

Noticing a nearby Elm tree she decided that she should get some bark also for a pain and fever reducer. It would be necessary apparently all the way through June's pregnancy. This one definitely wasn't going to be easy.

Seeing the rooftops she realized that in her search she had wandered too closely. Her eyes got wide as she desperately hoped that she hadn't been spotted. While the women willingly went out of their way to consult her, the men weren't the same way. Some of them called her a witch and many times she had heard the scripture quoted, "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live".

Margaret sneaked around behind a tree she made her way directly away from the town until she reached the grove of trees. Once there she felt that she could breathe a little easier. She could make her way back to her little hovel the rest of the way without being seen.

Making her way through the grove she had to keep ducking brambles that had grown up large. They would hook on to her cloak and tear it if she wasn't careful. With winter coming on soon she wouldn't be able get another one easily either.

Finally, she made her way to the other side of the grove into the opening. After the chill of the grove it felt quite a bit warmer so she removed the cloak's hood from over her head. Her brown hair was now free to cascade down her back and shoulders. Absent-mindedly she reached up and moved any stray hairs to join the others away from her face.

Reaching the hovel she entered the opening that acted as a doorway. The curve of the roof and the outer wall was created by the bent samplings that were ingeniously woven together. Bits of moss and skins helped to insulate the walls from the outside.

In the middle of the floor was the hearth with a cast iron pot and still glowing embers from the fire of the early morning. The stones in a ring around the hearth were blackened by numerous fires over the years. A few of them had broken when the hearth was heated up extra to warm the hovel quickly.

More to come….

Growing Things update

As of the 24th Growing Things will also be available on Smashwords as it will no longer be Amazon exclusive. I've been wanting to make that book available to more people on more sites for a while now. To make certain that its ready I've been looking at the formatting of the book.

In January I'm also planning on making the 2nd edition available and there's a good chance I'll be doing a paperback version at that time. I kind of wanted to stay away from making a paperback edition for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is pollution as I don't like polluting the environment. If you've read the book you will notice that underlying concept.

At the same time, a garden manual by it's very nature should be printed. Many times I've carried gardening manual out to the garden. Of course, it's fairly easy to bookmark several important places and see the page in bright sunlight.

On to a more personal suggestion, get rain barrels if you have not done so already. Not only will you keep all of that wonderful chlorine away from your garden but you'll help lessen the drain on city well water. There's some places also that have high sulfur content in the tap water which you also don't want on your garden if you can help.

If you do need to water from the tap make sure you are doing it some time between sunset and sunrise. The cooler the air is the better so it makes more sense in many places to do it early in the morning. But, because of scheduling issues you may have to at night. I know I worked a schedule for a long time that was late nights and a lot of others are. If you must water during the day make sure there are clouds overhead. With the sun shining you'll have quite a bit of the water getting evaporated instead of to the plants.
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The week

It's been a really good week and I've been busy. Had a book launch of Facebook and I've been busy writing From Afar. I also have been beginning to get Growing Things ready so I can upload it to Smashwords on the 23rd when it comes off of Select.

I would like to give an estimated date for the release of From Afar but I can't yet. There is a huge amount of story to tell yet and I've reached about 15,000 words in the rough draft.

I hope that your weekend has been filled with a lot happiness and joy. May you discover many new things also in the coming week. For those of you who follow this blog I would like to thank you. For those of you who have read my books I would also like to thank. I'm writing new ones as fast as I can, believe me.
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