Great WordPress tips from Hugh at Hugh’s Views and Views. A must see.
#Blog Battle: The Sunken Statue
I’m taking part in Rachel Ritchey’s writing #BlogBattle this week’s theme is Head. Apparently this is Rachel’s 6th month of doing BlogBattles!!!
Week 25 Theme is Head
Date to Post: Tuesday, September 8th, 2015.
http://rachaelritchey.com/blogbattle/
This was the perfect prompt for me as I have been intending to write a short story about a visit I had to The Edinburgh Modern Gallery of Art, where a particular head greets you as you enter the grounds of the gallery. Here’s the link to my post: https://atomic-temporary-67364188.wpcomstaging.com/2015/08/26/edinburgh-festival-photographs-of-my-art-gallery-visit/
So I wrote this very quickly this morning, rush, rush, rush, so hope it meets with your approval!
Genre: Fantasy
The Sunken Statue
He hadn’t always been concrete. He had lived once, an ordinary life, nothing spectacular you understand. Art had been his life, he called himself a sculptor, a very poor one, unknown, and undervalued. He lived alone, had no pets, no friends, no family, just his art. It wasn’t surprising that he became bitter, angry that his works of art were being ignored. His favourite art gallery was in Edinburgh, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art on Belford Road, he went there often to fume. He was aghast when he saw the pathetic nature of some of the exhibits, the nonsensicalness of them. That particular day in August, he scowled as he saw the blocks of square colour that were meant to constitute art. Who were they kidding? A child could have drawn this.
That’s how it began, the answer to him seemed to be simple, a child, he needed a child to rekindle his child-like eye for art, to transport him to great heights of prowess. But how could he even begin to achieve this? He had no wife, no lover to provide him with a son or daughter. The seed of yearning planted deep within his soul he set out to find a child, an artistic child. Where better to look than the art gallery itself?
In the gallery the shop and the café provided him with the perfect place to find a child who had slipped past their parents’ watchful eyes. But how could he justify this? He didn’t consider himself to be a criminal. His conscience was like an uncharted piece of paper but surely what tiny remnants remained would not allow him to behave in such a despicable way? To snatch a young child from the loving hands of a parent? His justification had to be his love of art; art was his wife, his lover. He knew this action, if he carried it out, would be the ultimate heinous act, and though his heart was empty he sensed there would be a dreadful, most shocking price to pay.
He tortured himself for days and days drinking, smoking and ranting. Nobody heard him, apart from his own ears which devoured his angst and his forgotten sculptures, that sighed. Finally his anguished soul gave in. So with this terrible plan in place he went to the gallery, and waited and waited for an opportunity. The girl was pretty, her rosy cheeks, blonde hair and colourful skirt caught his eye. He imagined her as a watercolour painting, a rainbow of sun drenched colours. She kept wandering off from her mother, exploring, chatting to strangers, her mother didn’t seem to notice or mind. Perhaps she was used to it. This was the sort of girl who could not be confined; she was a wanderer, a free spirit, an artistic soul, so that knowledge more than justified his actions.
‘Hi, that’s a pretty postcard,” he said, standing beside her.
She smiled, a dimple on her innocent face winked at him.
“Yes it is thank you, but this is my favourite.”
She held up a postcard of a statue, an exhibit that he knew was outside in the gardens. A short walk away. How easy could it be? A gift. Not from God, but he was not a believer.
“Would you like to see it? It’s just outside in the gardens I could show you if you’d like?” he asked.
He hadn’t thought what her reaction would be. So when she smiled and said, “Yes please,” he didn’t show any emotion.
He left the art gallery with her by his side, he felt proud that he had found such a wonderful child, his artistic angel. Now he believed that his sculpting ambitions would be fully realised.
She appeared thrilled by the Miró sculpture. She ran her small hands around the circular top as if she was experiencing her own personal ride through life.
She stroked it fondly as if she wished to gain an insight into the artist’s mind.
He knew then without a shadow of a doubt that she was the one.
An opportunity presented itself to him, sneaking into the silent grounds, on tiptoes of devilment it crept. No other soul was about, to witness its wicked arrival. So he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the exit. She began to shriek. He hadn’t expected that.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, confused by her sudden change of sunny mood.
“You’re making me scared,”
“Scared of what?” he asked, frowning.
“You!” she replied in a small uncertain voice, trembling.
“I just want to take you across the road to the art gallery opposite; there are more wonderful exhibits there too.’
“No, I don’t want to go,” she said, tiny tears began to make a sad appearance on her rosy face.
He dragged her until they approached the crossing; he heard her cries but divorced himself from the monster that he was becoming. Then he stopped. It was sudden, the loss of sensation in his body, the terrible sinking feeling. Was this the price to be paid? He let go of her hand, he didn’t need her anymore. He had never needed anyone. Least of all a child. This was no price, this was the perfect solution. For the first time in his life he felt pure contentment. He was art, he was the Sunken statue. He would be seen and revered by all the art lovers in the world. Nobody would ever dare to forget him again.
© Marjorie Mallon 2015 – aka, Kyrosmagica. All Rights Reserved.
Rules:
- 1000 words max
- fictional tale (or true if you really want)
- PG (no more than PG-13) Content – let’s keep this family friendly!
- Your story must contain the word(s) from the theme and/or be centered around the theme in a way that shows it is clearly related
- Go for the entertainment value!
- State the Genre of your story at the top of your post.
- Post your story on Tuesday, by 11:59 PM PST
- Use the hashtag #BlogBattle when tweeting your story, put a link back to your #BlogBattle Short Story in the comments section of this page, and/or include a link to this page in your own blog post (it creates a “ping-back” which will alert me and our friends to your #BlogBattle post)
- Have fun!
I hope you liked my entry to BlogBattle, and it didn’t alarm you too much! Apologies to the woman and child in the photo I’m sure no harm came to you on your visit to the art gallery!
Do leave a comment I’d love to know what you think of my short story.
Bye for now.
Marje @ Kyrosmagica. xx
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My Kyrosmagica Review of The Lost And the Found, Cat Clarke
Goodreads Synopsis:
LOST.
When six-year-old Laurel Logan was abducted, the only witness was her younger sister. Faith’s childhood was dominated by Laurel’s disappearance – from her parents’ broken marriage and the constant media attention to dealing with so-called friends who only ever wanted to talk about her sister.
FOUND.
Thirteen years later, a young woman is found in the garden of the Logans’ old house, disorientated and clutching the teddy bear Laurel was last seen with. Laurel is home at last, safe and sound. Faith always dreamed of getting her sister back, without ever truly believing it would happen. But a disturbing series of events leaves Faith increasingly isolated and paranoid, and before long she begins to wonder if everything that’s lost can be found again…
Edinburgh Book Festival
I picked up a signed copy of The Lost and The Found at The Edinburgh Book Festival. Here’s my link to my post if you’d like to see my write up of their talk – The Disappeared and my photo with Cat Clarke and Kat Ellis!!! https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/edinburgh-book-festival-edbookfest-cat-clarke-and-kat-ellis/
My Thoughts:
Cover:
This is a very simple cover, and if I’m totally truthful I wasn’t particularly impressed. I must admit this little voice in my head kept on saying, couldn’t you think of something a bit more imaginative Cat ?!!!!!! It’s a bit basic, just words, and yellow tape? But having read the book, the cover seems to match the story inside, this is a novel primarily about relationships, and emotions, there are no fancy shenanigans going on, so a simple cover kind of makes sense. So first impressions are sometimes very, very wrong!!!
I bow down to your superior book cover knowledge Cat.
Snippet:
Cat read the following engaging snippet from The Lost and The Found at her Book Festival talk:
I don’t believe it. I won’t allow myself to believe it. Mum’s trying to stay calm too, but I can see it in her face – something I haven’t seen for years hope. She thinks it’s different this time. They wouldn’t have called her otherwise. They think this is it. After hundreds, maybe even thousands, of crank calls and false sightings and psychics claiming Laurel was living with goat-herds in the mountains of Uzbekistan.
Book Review:
The Lost and The Found manages to engage the reader in very dark subject matter, the return of an abducted girl that has been sexually abused, who now has to readjust to living in a world in which she has had little or no experience. Can you imagine being locked away for years and never been let out of captivity? How horrendous. Cat Clarke doesn’t take the obvious route, telling us Laurel’s story, instead she focuses primarily on Faith’s emotions. Making Faith the main protagonist of the novel instead of the more obvious choice Laurel, gives the story a much different, possibly more light-hearted feel. The novel tackles surface and deeply hidden emotions so well.
Faith, the seventeen year old younger sister, of abducted Laurel, tells us her story through her eyes. Of course she is beyond happy that her elder sister has returned, after thirteen very long years, but little by little we see tiny aspects of sibling resentment, and a ton of guilt creep into her emotions. A shocker, or what, The Lost and The Found doesn’t put a sugar coating on Faith’s response, instead it is an honest, and believable account of how Faith and her family respond to the return of her sister. Things are not the same any more, and Cat Clarke manages to convey this in well crafted plot ideas: the family have moved to a new house, her bi-sexual father is no longer married to her mother, and is now in a relationship with a Frenchman called Michel. Not surprisingly many changes have occurred after such a long time period, so how is Laurel going to adjust? From the mid-point of this novel we start to see hints that Laurel is damaged, she was bound to be. These strange behaviour revelations bring about a new dimension, a revelation, and mysterious aspect to the novel that is most definitely a plus, but no more about that as I don’t want to spoil it for you.
The characters are wonderfully crafted, all of them seem believable and engaging. I particularly had a soft spot for Faith, but Laurel’s step dad Michel deserves a mention too. He seems a bit left out of the loop when Laurel returns. Suddenly the original nuclear family of mum, dad, and the two girls bond together in a tight knit group. Again this is believable, so likely that this would happen when a much loved daughter returns after being abducted. But, Michel remains a rock of support and understanding for Faith. Also the relationship between Faith’s father and Michel allows a modern twist to the conventional nuclear family with the new dynamic of families with gay parents, and generally gives step-parents a better, more positive image.
I didn’t engage as much with Laurel as a character, but this was bound to be inevitable with the story resting firming in Faith’s hands.
The role of the press is an interesting aspect of The Lost and the Found. In Faith’s eyes they are portrayed rather like vultures, and each family member is either repelled, or fascinated by the possibility of public appearances, book deals, etc. Fundamentally we are all different, no two people will behave the same in these horrendous circumstances, and this gives the reader an insight into the characters’ personalities and motivations.
The Ending: (****Some Spoilers Below****)
I’ve been mulling over the conclusion to The Lost and The Found a lot. My initial reaction was, you’ve got to be kidding me, but then it hit me like a sledgehammer!
Certain aspects of the plot twists I suspected, others I didn’t see coming. Such a difficult book to conclude, where do you go with it? Whatever you do someone is bound to suffer, and in the end both families pay an equally dreadful price. The equilibrium of fairness is shared. Is it believable, or sustainable? Maybe not entirely, but I think Cat Clarke wanted to make a heartfelt point, and she succeeds in doing that: In prolonged media campaigns for abducted children it is always the kids from white, clean cut, (by this I mean – no drugs, no time spent in prison,) middle class families that are given the most press, and are cared about more. It seems to me that Cat wanted to add another dimension to the story by making Faith’s family a little different, a little off the run of the mill, by adding her father’s relationship with Michel – fuel for the media campaign, but not a reason for the press to lose interest.
Personally I think Faith’s final decision is fuelled by her understandable desire to keep the shocking revelation a secret, both to protect her family and the girl that has been abducted. Who can blame her? So a thought provoking ending, I’m still thinking about it as I write this review….. That can only be a good thing, books that make you debate certain aspects long after you’ve finished them are by far the best books in my opinion.
So would I recommend The Lost and the Found?
Absolutely, I’m so pleased that I read this! Go get a copy!! Great characters, emotions that you can really relate to, and a fast paced mystery too.
My rating:
It’s got to be 5 stars.
DISCLAIMER: “As of 13th September 2017 we are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.”
My opinions are my own and any reviews on this site have not been swayed or altered in any way by monetary compensation, or by the offer of a free book in exchange for a review.
Buying Links:
Amazon UK – Paperback – http://amzn.to/2xlISLg
Amazon UK – Kindle – http://amzn.to/2hlNjSJ
Amazon UK – Hardcover – http://amzn.to/2xTVfRT
Please do leave a comment, I love to chat about books.
Have you read The Lost And the Found? Did you find it engaging too?
Bye for now.
Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx
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#MondayBlogs: Camera Lucida Photo Challenge: Week 9 The Sign
I’m thrilled to be taking part again, this is only my second week! Bit of catching up to do. Hurrah!! What am I up to? Julia at My Red Page’s Camera Lucida Photo Challenge.
Here’s a link to her blog if you’d like to take part in this fun photo challenge: https://myredpage.wordpress.com/2015/09/04/camera-lucida-the-sign/
This week’s theme: The Sign
- an object, quality, or event whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else.
- a gesture or action used to convey information or an instruction.
- a notice on public display that gives information or instructions in a written or symbolic form.
For this week’s prompt I wanted to focus on doing a light-hearted post about funny signs rather than a serious photography post.
PART 1 : THE MYSTERY OF THE PARKING LOLLIPOP LIFEBUOY
My photos didn’t come out too great so with that in mind I thought I’d challenge myself to do this funny post. How can I make fairly boring photos interesting? Apply a sprinkling of humour, a bit of an adventure, a dollop of Tintin and Snowy mystery… Me hopes.. to spice up these photos.
My first photo to the left of the trio of mediocre-ness is odd, the yellow out of focused sign says: Have you paid for parking? Don’t worry it didn’t speak to me personally I just read it while I was waiting at the bus stop. Also that yellow STOP sign painted on the ground on that far right photo caught my eye. I think the other folks at the bus stop probably thought I’m a bit loopy taking photos of it and its neighbour a round circular object that isn’t a lollipop. The yellow parking sign is placed right beside a sharp incline with wild grasses and plants growing, no car park immediately behind or near it. Of course it makes sense if you know that you can park and ride at this site. So no real mystery after all or is there? Of course there is a mystery there has to be or else this post would be oh so dull. Here’s a clue: wonder of wonders there is a red lifebuoy next to it. That one’s specially for Julia, I know she likes the colour red. There is no lake or river here, and never has been as long as I’ve been in residence in Cambridge so why would I park my yacht, or possibly my rubber dinghy nearby, and then get a bus? More importantly why would I need saving? The Tintin and Snowy plot thickens. Don’t disappear meet them in PART 2 BELOW.
PART 2 Tintin and The Stone Wall To Nowhere.
Then I found the answer, I walked through the park to the other side of town looking for more strange signs and I came across this beauty for you dog walkers out there, apparently when your dog poos, fire comes out of its a**. That’s a revelation to me!! What have you been feeding your dog? Chillis, curry sauce, hot paprika? So that’s my answer to this peculiar mystery, I need saving from doggie poops that combust by themselves! Who needs fire lighters for BBQ’s, oops that’s getting a bit too much. Moving swiftly on. Let’s get serious now, be good citizens, don’t let your dog off its lead just in case it tries to sneak through a stone wall.
Back to the parking issue, and to my friends Tintin and Snowy my final photo’s caption is NO PARKING GOODS ENTRANCE. What? There is nowhere here to park your car, yacht, or dinghy either, just in case you’re wondering. There is just a solid brick wall, this does not count as an entrance for your goods. They’d have to be invisible goods to get in there. Ah magic and wizardry, perhaps this is a stone wall to nowhere. I’m so curious – what is behind those bars on that window? I hope there isn’t a prisoner in there …… Really there’s no way in, and no way out either. I’m not kidding, it’s kind of getting a bit Dr. Who ish…. Snowy would be relieved to know that even a little spider couldn’t get through those crevices, believe me, let alone you and your trusty dog on its lead. Maybe there is scotch whisky in there, now that would get Snowy on the trail, he like a little tipple. If Dr. Who is busy with his tardis lets get Tintin, and Snowy on the trail, this sounds like an adventure for a man and his dog. I loved those books as a kid, The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. I must re-read! We could call this Tintin adventure The Stone Wall To Nowhere, or just simply The Stone Wall, that sounds very Tintinesque.
Anyway, getting back to reality, (a bit,) I suppose you could smash a window and get in that way, but your dog and Snowy might not approve, he or she might think it is a very bad idea. Let’s face it he or she just wants to go to the park. To do a you know what…. Sensible dog… Fire extinguisher at the ready. Call the fire brigade!!!
Hope you enjoyed my wacky contribution to Camera Lucida, I enjoyed writing this so much!
It’s a bit of daftness to keep you entertained at the start of the week. Happy Humorous Monday, Folks….
Oh if you fancy writing a piece of flash fiction, or a short story about this theme do have a go, I think it would make for fun reading…… I might write one too….
Bye for now. I’ve got to get my shades on and play poker with my imaginary dog, see you later!
Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx
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WordPress Tip – Guaranteed You Will Get More Readers!
Great WordPress tip from Belinda Crane about getting all your post out there instead of just some of it…
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My Kyrosmagica Review of Blackfin Sky by Kat Ellis
Goodreads Synopis:
When Sky falls from Blackfin Pier and drowns on her sixteenth birthday, the whole town goes into mourning – until she shows up three months later like nothing happened.
Unravelling the mystery of those missing months takes Sky to the burned-out circus in the woods, where whispers of murder and kidnapping begin to reveal the town’s secrets. But Sky’s not the only one digging up the past – the old mime from the circus knows what happened to her, and he has more than one reason for keeping quiet about it.
Snippet from the book:
Silas’ spirit had inhabited the rusting weathervane for many years. From his perch on the school roof he watched the townsfolk of Blackfin through his empty eye socket as they buzzed through their lives beneath him, no more significant than the grains of sand piling up against the shoreline, clinging to the struts of Blackfin pier.
Doesn’t that just grab your attention? It certainly did for me!
Edinburgh Book Festival:
I picked up a copy of Blackfin Sky at the Edinburgh Book Festival, and was lucky to get a signed copy as well as Cat Clarke’s The Lost and The Found. If you’d like to see my photograph with Kat Ellis and Cat Clarke, and my write up of their talk, The Disappeared, here’s the link: https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/edinburgh-book-festival-edbookfest-cat-clarke-and-kat-ellis/
The Cover:
Do I judge a book by its cover? I have a tendency to do this to a certain degree as I think that well executed covers tend to give you a sense of the book. This one fitted the bill, I just loved this cover so much! It is so beautiful, and mysterious. Did the cover match the book? Yes in my opinion on the whole it did, Blackfin Sky had a lot to offer and was definitely mysterious.
My thoughts:
I was so excited about this book, that cover just had me trembling with anticipation but did it live up to my exalted expectations? Yes and No. I liked this a lot, but somehow it didn’t quite reach the ecstatic heights of loving it that I hoped it would. I think this was in part due to my not quite engaging enough with some of the characters in the novel, apart from the main protagonist, Sky, the others just didn’t seem to have enough depth to them. And the baddie with the amber skull, he just needed more baddie factor, I just didn’t really get him. At times Blackfin Sky seemed a bit confusing, and possibly a little too far off the believable line, (I do realise this sounds odd with regard to a fantasy story but even so the emotions sometimes seemed a bit dampened, particularly when Sky turns up after being dead, I just could have done with more feels. I know that Blackfin is meant to be a strange community but even so…..)
I think Kat Ellis tried to cram in a heck of a lot into this novel, (very ambitious,) which is something I like to do too, ah, makes me think possibly it is better to keep things a bit more simple? Maybe. Somehow it didn’t quite pack the four star/five star punch I’d hope it would, perhaps some of the plot threads could have been simplified…. to allow more time for secondary character development.
On the positive side it read extremely well, Kat Ellis can definitely write – no doubt about that, and it has a very imaginative fantasy setting, full marks for imagination Kat. I love the circus aspect, the Blood House, and the idea of pathfinders too. Yes, there are definitely aspects of this debut novel that really appeal to me, I think with a few tweaks it could easily have been a perfect read.
So would I recommend it ? Yes, I would. This is Kat Ellis’s debut novel, I do think she has great potential and amazing promise, so my recommendation would be to read this author and keep an eye out for her, I reckon her next novel might just pack that knockout punch.
By the way don’t forget to vote for your favourite debut author, Kat Ellis is one of the authors you can nominate for First Book Award, vote for your favourite, voting closes at 5pm on Friday 16th October: www.edbookfest.co.uk
My rating:
3.75 stars. Just short of 4, as I say with a few tweaks it could easily have been a 4 star read.
DISCLAIMER: “As of 13th September 2017 we are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.”
My opinions are my own and any reviews on this site have not been swayed or altered in any way by monetary compensation, or by the offer of a free book in exchange for a review.
Buying Links:
UK Kindle Version: http://amzn.to/2y1v7oe
UK Paperback: http://amzn.to/2fi605d
Have you read Blackfin Sky? If you have please do leave a comment to let me know what you think.
Bye for now!
Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx
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Ronovan Writes Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge #60 Bridge and Move
I’ve been out of the loop of Haiku challenges for a while as I’ve been up in Edinburgh looking after my mum after her operation. Luckily she’s as fit as a fiddle and bouncing back to health at a miraculous pace. She’s a regular churchgoer and apparently the congregation pray for those who are ill or in hospital, and in her case it seems to have worked, quite amazing, not much pain, just a bit tired as if she’s had a serious case of man flu or something.
So in between helping my mum out I managed to have a bit of a holiday in Edinburgh, taking in the delights of the Edinburgh International Festival, and the Book Festival too, you may have seen some of my recent blog posts.
Now that I’m back in Cambridge, I’m happy to be joining in this week with Ron’s weekly haiku challenge, here’s the link if you’d like to take part: https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/2015/08/31/ronovanwrites-weekly-haiku-poetry-prompt-challenge-60-bridge-move/
The prompt words this week are bridge and move.
My first haiku is about my experience on the train coming home from Edinburgh. I was sitting opposite a Chinese lady and her son. She was obviously hungry as she rummaged in her bag and pulled out a large chocolate cheesecake, (it looked like it served four people,) and sat there and ate the majority of it all by herself. Her son nibbled on a chocolate and in a short while finished off the last remaining crumbs of that cheesecake before polishing off a packet of crisps. This amused me no end. I know that Chinese people love their food, (my mum’s from Malaysia so I know this without a shadow of a doubt,) but I always thought they prefer savoury to sweet so this astonished me. In fact they were very entertaining to listen to, the lady started telling the people sitting next to her about all her travels in the Far East, so I got my eavesdropping ears on, (an absolute must if you have any aspirations to be a writer,) and had a jolly old-time. It ended up being a very interesting journey home.
So this haiku is an eves-dropping thank you for the Chinese lady on the train, and a celebration of her eating so much chocolate cheesecake in one sitting! I hope she likes cats, didn’t have an upset tummy afterwards, and will forgive me for being such a nosey parker.
Isn’t this picture cute?
A Sweet Bridge Too Far
Moving train journey
Kitty! Choc cheesecake delight
A sweet bridge too far?
And the next one, which I have entitled We’re Finished Lover, well I don’t know where this one came from!
Oh I tell I lie, whilst I was up in Edinburgh at the Book Festival I saw a little haiku book that caught my eye, it’s called Haiku for The Single Girl by Beth Griffenhagen, with wonderful illustrations by Cynthia Vehslage Meyers (Illustrator) so it inspired me to write this haiku:
We’re Finished Lover
Move an inch baby
Don’t dare cross that bridge sweetheart
We’re finished lover
Hope you enjoy my couple of haiku offerings this week. Haiku always make me smile, I hope they make you smile too.
Bye for now.
Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx
© Marjorie Mallon 2015 – aka, Kyrosmagica. All Rights Reserved.
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Blogger Recognition Award and Advice To New Bloggers
Thank you to Beaton at Becoming The Muse for nominating me for The Blogger Recognition Award: https://becomingthemuse.wordpress.com/2015/08/16/blogger-recognition-award/
It’s lovely that he thought about my blog, I appreciate it, it’s always nice to get noticed!
Especially when you’re only 5 foot 4 and tend not to stand out in the crowd. My husband is 6 foot 1 and makes me look tiny in comparison!
So my advice to new bloggers would be:
- To get involved, have fun, write or blog about what is in your heart, what inspires you. I’d like to mention a post I did about doing what you love: https://atomic-temporary-67364188.wpcomstaging.com/2015/03/19/a-writing-award-to-give-yourself-do-what-you-love/
- Join in challenges. There are so many to choose from, try out a few and see which ones appeal. Join in when you want to and don’t beat yourself up when you haven’t got the time.I usually take part in the following fantastic challenges:
- I love writing haiku so I’d highly recommend Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge: https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/category/haiku-prompt-challenge/
- There’s nothing like a quote to inspire you so I often take part in Colleen’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday: http://silverthreading.com/2015/08/26/writers-quote-wednesday-pure-inspiration/
- Recently I started joining in Rachael Ritchey’s Weekly Writing Short Story Blog Battle: http://rachaelritchey.com/blogbattle/
- This week I had a go at Julia at My Red Page’s Camera Lucida Photography Challenge: https://myredpage.wordpress.com/2015/08/27/camera-lucida-divergent/
- Try out new things, be spontaneous and adventurous.
- If you can write a Book Review then do, these nuggets of pure gold support authors so much. Or do Bookish posts and memes such as The Friday 56 via Freda’s Voice: http://www.fredasvoice.com/ or Book Beginnings, via Rose City Readers, http://www.rosecityreader.com/. I particularly take great pleasure in supporting new authors, that’s one particular blogging activity that is very dear to my heart. That’s why I love going to Book festivals, both here in Cambridge, and in Edinburgh, I love discovering new up and coming authors.
- If you do Book Reviews it is a great idea to have an A – Z list of all your reviews. Do this right at the beginning otherwise it is a lot of work to catch up with this. I’m currently compiling my A – Z list of Book Reviews and it’s taking me a long time to do this as I have 58 reviews on this blog and counting …….!!!! EEK!!!
- Don’t be afraid to be who you are, in fact being yourself is super important, if you pretend to be someone else it will probably show.
- Chat to people via comments, like and appreciate other bloggers posts, make it a community endeavour.
- Have a laugh, but be serious when you need to. Life is made up of both darkness and light so share both.
- Help and support other bloggers, this is a community so encourage others to fulfil their potential too.
- Get to know other bloggers if you can, meeting them in person at a blogger’s event is such a brilliant thing to do. But don’t meet up with random strangers, keep safe! I’d recommend this kind of organised event wholeheartedly, even if like me you’re intrinsically shy, push your boundaries. I went along to the Bloggers Bash in London on 1st of August and it was such a success: https://atomic-temporary-67364188.wpcomstaging.com/2015/08/02/the-bloggers-bash-oh-what-a-day/
- This blogging lark takes time, so be patient, developing a blog isn’t an overnight activity it takes a lot of hard work. I blog at all sorts of weird times of the day, forget to talk to my family, burn the dinner, done it all! Be aware that it is quite addictive!!!!!! No, that’s a lie it is 100%
quiteaddictive. - Remember to breathe, take in the odd bit of fresh air, watch the squirrels in your garden, don’t sit in front of your keyboard all the time! You have to experience life so you have something to write about.
- Don’t take it personally if people follow your blog and then seem to vanish into thin air, this happens. In fact in general try not to be too sensitive, just shrug it off. If people want to read your blog they will, especially if you write great content, so focus on that. That’s my no. 1 tip.
I’ve been very slow with this post, life has been extremely busy just recently, I’ve been helping out my mum up in Edinburgh after her operation, and taking in some of the sights of The Edinburgh International Festival which I’ve shared with you in my recent blog posts. So that’s my excuse.
To make up for my tardiness I’ll try to make this post as humorous as I can, I like a little giggle….
Blogging, well I never, over a year ago if you’d told me I’d be receiving awards for blogging I would have looked at you as if you were barking mad. I would not have believed it. Also I certainly would not have imagined that I’d end up going to a Bloggers Bash on the 1st August in London. No, I’d say stop teasing me, but yes I did go, and it’s been such an experience. What an adventure. Why didn’t I do this Blogging lark years ago? It’s a terrible setback being such a slow developer, ack, that’s life, have to accept that NOW is my time, and I’m lapping it up, loving each and every minute of this Blogging journey. Oh, a thought just occurred to me Blogging rhymes with Snogging. Random thoughts like this are always creeping into my mind. Have you ever noticed that before? No of course you haven’t, and even if you had you’d keep it to yourself wouldn’t you? There are some similarities between the two words I suppose, kissing is connecting with someone, on a personal level, and blogging does all of these things on a much wider platform…. That’s what I love about blogging you can say the most incredibly nutty things and get away with it…
Well, I hope I got away with it! I mean, please don’t unfollow me!! EEK!!
Awards are the icing on the cake, and a great way to shout out about great blogs. Hopefully the bloggers that I’m nominated accept awards – I know that many bloggers don’t accept awards due to time constraints. If I’ve nominated you and you don’t accept awards that’s fine don’t worry, I won’t turn up on your front door step, stand on my tippee toes, and and force you to join in! This Five Foot Four girl is a gentle soul so no cause for concern on that count. I’ll just smile and say, “No Can Do, No worries,” blow you a bloggy kiss and get going!
Right, where did all that randomness come from? Started off talking about my small frame and ended up having a bit of a moment. Well I’m writing parts of this while consuming a glass or two of wine, that’s my secret.
The other thing I like about blogging is the way that it encourages you to explore all sorts of creative activities and takes you on new pathways. When I started this blog it was mainly about books, and writing and now it’s kind of expanding in all sorts of directions: haiku, photography challenges, and general craziness, with a touch of magic. I called it Kyrosmagica so it was bound to happen. I’m casting a spell on you…. Beware!!
Here are the rules of the award which I’ve pinched word for word from Beaton’s blog:
The Rules:
- Select 15 other blogs you want to give the award to.
Do some digging if you must! Find those blogs. You cannot nominate yourself or the person who has nominated you. - Write a post to show off your award! Give a brief story of how your blog got started, and give a piece or two of advice to new bloggers.
- Thank whoever nominated you, and provide a link to their blog.
- List who you’ve nominated in the post.
- Make sure to also attach the award itself! (You can do this by right-clicking, saving, and uploading the image above).
- Comment on each blog and let them know you’ve nominated them.
- Provide a link to the award post you created.
- Provide a link to the original post on Edge Of Night. That way, anyone can find the original guidelines and post if needed, and we can keep it from mutating and becoming confusing!
Without any more jokes about snogging, casting spells, or yapping on about my lack of height, I’d like to nominate some wonderful blogs for this award:
This is quite tricky as I have nominated quite a few people before for various awards so with this in mind I’ve tried to come up with some new nominees, hope I’ve succeeded, if I’ve nominated you before well that’s my failing memory’s fault…
Here in no particular pecking order, (couldn’t resist that!) my nominees for Blogger Recognition Award are:
The lovely Erika At BookVentureLand.: https://errka220.wordpress.com/
Sharukh Bamboat at India Destination blog. I’ve always wanted to go to India but have never been, so this is my way to go there on a virtual visit: https://indiadestinationsblog.wordpress.com/
Annika Perry’s Excellent Writing Blog. : https://annikaperry.wordpress.com/
Kevin at The Screenplay of Life’s Chronicles. Kevin is a stand up comedian, freelance writer and an excellent photographer: http://kevinhotter.com/
A wonderful poetry blog: https://poemsandpoemes.wordpress.com/
Julia at My Red Page. A girl that likes the colour red, writing and photography. Her blog is very stylish: https://myredpage.wordpress.com/
For creative endeavours look no further than Wild Daffodil: https://daffodilwild.wordpress.com/
D. Wallace Peach’s wonderful blog, Myths of The Mirror: http://mythsofthemirror.com/
Ameena at Randoms by A Random, poetry enthusiast, and mental health advocate: https://randomsbyarandom.wordpress.com/
EmMakwall Explains it all, especially her passion for films, television, humour, and soundtracks: http://emmakwall.com/
Kayleigh, a Scottish lass who blogs about books, life, and everything in between. She is a fellow Edinburgh Book Festival enthusiast. You can find her blogging at Miserable and Magical: https://kayleighm8.wordpress.com/
Hugh over at Hugh’s Views and News, I met him at the Bloggers Bash in London and he’s a lovely bloke, most definitely one to follow: http://hughsviewsandnews.com/
I’m a devotee of holistic health so I’d recommend Holistic Health Consultant, Reiki Master, and Nutritionalist, Gina Briganti’s blog: http://ginabriganti.com/
Poet and Author Adam Gainer. Adam is very approachable, a friendly guy who shares my love of poetry. https://authoradamgainer.wordpress.com/
and a new discovery, check out Denis’s wonderful afghan hounds and his haiku at Haiku Hound:
https://haikuhound.wordpress.com/
Thanks for celebrating this award with me.
Do leave a comment I’d love to hear from you. If you found the advice to new bloggers helpful please do remember to share, thanks so much.
Bye for now.
Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx
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#Blog Battle: Ryder’s Feast of Unsuspecting Legumes
This week I’m taking part in Rachael Ritchey’s Short Story Writing Blog Battle. Here’s a link to her blog if you’d like to take part in this fun community of writers: http://rachaelritchey.com/blogbattle/
Week 25 Theme is Legumes
Date to Post: Tuesday, September 1st, 2015
This was a tough one, Legumes, huh, not the easiest of themes but I enjoy a challenge so why not?
The Genre of my entry is a New Adult Fantasy story, (for the purposes of this post I will try to keep it PG friendly!) This is a continuation of an idea which I have already started to develop on #Blog battle if you’d like to see the previous posts I’ve done then follow the following links: https://atomic-temporary-67364188.wpcomstaging.com/2015/08/04/blog-battle-week-21-writing-theme-eye/ and https://atomic-temporary-67364188.wpcomstaging.com/2015/08/11/blogbattle-week-22-time/
Ryder’s Feast Of Unsuspecting Legumes
The cupboards were practically empty apart from a few sorry almost forgotten tins of vegetables. Ryder picked them up, checked their sell by dates, and shrugged. A week or two past their sell by date wouldn’t kill him! He set them out on the kitchen counter and proceeded to open all of his flatmate’s cupboards looking for a large enough frying pan to create his imagined feast. He opened and shut the doors slamming them without any thought for his sleeping flatmates. He found a large wok that didn’t belong to him, but no matter, he decided that no one would notice if he borrowed it for this early morning feast. He set the flame to full throttle, flooding the pan with a cascade of vibrant vegetables, and loud legumes. The sizzling sound made him smile he loved the buzz of riotous noise in the silence of the early morning.
He waited patiently for the moment when someone would burst through the door and discover his antics and somebody always did, today was no exception. Olivia burst into the kitchen, a bleary-eyed look lay crumpled on her face. She scowled at him. Ryder couldn’t help but smile; Olivia was wearing her skimpy pyjamas again. Olivia must have clocked his lecherous look, but it was apparent from the dirty look that she gave him that she wasn’t in the mood for Ryder’s attempts at four a.m. flirting.
“What are you doing Ryder? It’s four o’clock in the morning, I’ve got a lecture at nine.”
“Making you breakfast,” said Ryder with a grin.
“Huh, that’s not funny, Ryder you’re driving everyone crazy with your early morning stir fries.”
“Oh, you’re too pent-up Olivia, you need to learn how to relax. Let me give your shoulders a rub.”
Olivia gave him a look that said that sounds about as appealing as a torturous Chinese burn. “Get lost Ryder, stop being such a creep.”
“I’m only trying to make it up to you Olivia, sit down, I’ll prepare you a very special VIP breakfast.”
Olivia looked at the legumes in the frying pan and pulled a face.
“I don’t eat out of date rabbit food.”
“Ah, but you haven’t eaten my rabbit food, trust me it will be amazing,” said Ryder, his eyes momentarily lifted their attention from the flambéed frying pan, and lingered on Olivia. There was something elemental in that look, Ryder knew it, it came naturally to him, he could turn on charm like a blazing uncontrollable flame.
Olivia’s barriers began to melt; little by little she began to return his look, now it was easy, all he needed to do was stare back, to penetrate the layers of Olivia’s resistance with his wicked eyes. He just hoped she didn’t faint, that would be annoying. He liked girls to be awake; they were far more interesting that way. He’d have to be careful not to employ too much Ryder charm, just the right amount of gentle coercion had to be used, a few words would help too.
“It’s not Rabbit food, Olivia it’s a feast fit for a king.”
Ryder set the food out on the table. It did not bear any resemblance to the simple dish of legumes he had just been cooking. Its centrepiece was an enormous, flat, round Indian delicacy resembling a chapatis pancake, and on the side was a bowl of richly spiced curry sauce with a side dish of fragrant legumes. The aroma would make you feel as if you’d been re-born in curry heaven.
Olivia gasped. Curry was her favourite, Ryder knew that.
“Sit down, Olivia join me,” Ryder said, his words gently caressing Olivia’s unsuspecting ears.
Olivia practically dived to sit down. She acted like she’d been on an enforced hunger strike and was now able to eat again.
But something stopped her from touching a bite. She just sat there staring at the food, her outstretched hand hung in the air as if she was about to pick up a chapatti. The reel of her life waited temporarily suspended for a second.
“Do help yourself,” said Ryder with a smirk.
There were no plates on the table, no cutlery, or napkins. Olivia picked up the chapatti, filled it with curry sauce and legumes and rolled it on the table as if this was the most natural thing to do. She downed that chapatti in a few ferocious bites and licked her lips.
“Don’t you want a plate?’ asked Ryder raising an eyebrow in mock horror.
Olivia blushed. It was obvious from her reaction that she was mortified by her own behaviour. This was so unlike Olivia. Olivia had a reputation for being neat and tidy, and would normally never eat off a table, particularly one in a messy student flat.
She glanced at the table, and her expression said it all. Poor Olivia turned a nasty shade of green, the exact colour of the curry that she had just wolfed down. She ran to the toilet to be sick.
As soon as she fled out the door, Ryder laughed. It wasn’t a nice laugh. He could hear her retching, but he did nothing to help her. When he stopped laughing a wretched feeling came over him, what had he done? He felt the crystal in his eye smarting, it was vibrating, sending spasms of guilt throughout his body. That wretched crystal, he wished he could dive a dagger into his eye and rip it out.
But he couldn’t do that, not without blinding himself, the crystal was there for keeps. He had no choice, the crystal fragment acted like a conscience making him want to help Olivia. So he tucked her into bed, and crept in next to her, she didn’t seem to mind. She thought he was a nice guy, but he and the the crystal knew otherwise. Afterwards he shed crystal tears; a deep feeling of disgust filled his being. He was tainted, a lost soul, blinded by the splendour of his own shadow, with no way of being saved.
© Marjorie Mallon 2015 – aka, Kyrosmagica. All Rights Reserved.
Rules:
1.1000 words max
2.fictional tale (or true if you really want)
3.PG (no more than PG-13) Content – let’s keep this family friendly!
4.Your story must contain the word(s) from the theme and/or be centered around the theme in a way that shows it is clearly related
5.Go for the entertainment value!
6.State the Genre of your story at the top of your post.
7.Post your story on Tuesday, by 11:59 PM PST
8.Use the hashtag #BlogBattle when tweeting your story, put a link back to your #BlogBattle Short Story in the comments section of this page, and/or include a link to this page in your own blog post (it creates a “ping-back” which will alert me and our friends to your #BlogBattle post)
9.Have fun!
I hope you liked my contribution to this week’s blog battle. Do let me know what you think. Don’t forget to vote for your favourite story.
Bye for now.
Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx
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#Monday Blogs: Camera Lucida Photo Challenge: Week 8 Divergent
I’m having a shot at taking part in Julia’s Camera Lucida photo challenge this Monday.
Do check out Julia’s blog it is wonderfully dressed in a most brilliant, sumptuous Red!
Here’s the link to My Red Page if you’d like to join in Julia’s Weekly Photography Gallery:
https://myredpage.wordpress.com/2015/08/27/camera-lucida-divergent/
Julia’s chosen theme this week is : Divergent
The definition of divergent is things that move in different directions or that are far apart from each other.Opposites, dissimilar, different, contradictory, reverse.
I decided to focus on shadows as the theme of light and shadow, and in particular good and bad characters, is one I like to consider in some of my writing. The photo below is one of my Country park photos that I took in the woods, I’ve cropped the image to make it seem more scary looking! I’m particularly pleased with this creepy shadow, what do you think?
The photo below is a striking shadow on the mottled ground, I’ve manipulated the image to make the shadows appear darker, thicker and more menacing. Creepy huh?
This is a gentler image of my shadow set against contrasting brightly coloured hexagonal paving stones. What am I up to? Is it really me? There’s no way of telling is there? That’s the fascinating thing about shadows they leave so much to the viewer’s imagination.
This is another photograph that I took at the country park, I’ve cropped the image to focus on this interesting pattern of lined shadows that caught my eye.
Thanks for stopping by, what do you think of shadows? Do they fascinate and intrigue you too?
Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx
M J Mallon YA Author and Poet 