This week I want to introduce you to a deadly bridge
It fits securely into fantasy. Probably a bit dark fantasy but fantasy nonetheless.
I can’t exactly remember what was the inspiration for this story but it was definitely from a time where I looked for the devil in all things and handed out judgement left right and center.
How far I’ve come…
We’re all just works in progress.
This story is playing a little bit with the Billy Goats Gruff story of the troll on the bridge and the goats passing over.
In this story the one doing the work gets to cross the bridge and the other one meets their, well demise.
Like my ‘Notebooks’ story, this is definitely also just a scene in a bigger story. Probably just a short story or maybe just a novella. I’ve been craving Christmas stories so maybe I can write my own dark Christmas fantasy!
Regardless, I hope you enjoy the story this Friday. Don’t hesitate to let me know what you think.
That’s it for now.
Until next time!
PS. The password to my Blog A Story(#BAS) posts are in my newsletter. Please subscribe to my newsletter to get it.
And now I know how Narnia was created, how Jadis ended up in Narnia and how the animals became talking and thinking creatures. It bugged me since the 1st time I watched the movies where all of this started. Loved this little book and I look forward to reading the 2nd book. Maybe next month…
This is a fabulous bundle of short stories. I’m so happy I finally completed this book. The stories are fantastical.
If I have to choose a story, it would be difficult. The Locust is sweet and The Woman Who Befriended Ghosts is enduring. Then there’s The Man Who Bottled the Sun which is a bit like an Aesop’s Fable with a gnarly theme.
It’s absolutely in the same imaginative style of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Rigs. Although this bundle of tales were authored by Millard Nullings, one of Miss Peregrine’s students.
This book is kinda on repeat through the YouTube version by Brian Scott. It’s a good book.
How to Write A Novel Using the Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermanson
Progress: 24 of 211 pages
This is a writing craft book that I learned about a few years ago. I’ve worked through blogposts and videos about this method of plotting, planning and outlining a book but didn’t quite get it right. So I decided to actually READ the book.
And what a joy! This book is so cute but I’m actually understanding how to do it now.
To practice this method, I’m using it to rewrite the 4th novelette in my Cape of Good Hope series. It would actually then be a brand new story I’ll be adding to my Blog A Story project here on my website.
In closing…
What are you reading?
Have you read any of these books?
I hope to finish more books this month.
Until next time, thank you for reading.
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This week I want to introduce you to my favorite short story I wrote.
I think I’ve mentioned the 12 Stories in 12 Months challenge before. Regardless, it’s a challenge to write a short story every month inspired by a prompt. This story comes from one of those challenges.
The prompt was ‘DELETE’.
And I thought some speculative fiction is the thing.
What do I have such a secret love for? NOTEBOOKS! Yeah, I love notebooks more than I can fill it. Even though I’ve made an agreement with myself to fill those I have first with whatever, burn them when full and start filling up a new one.
‘The horror!! What do you mean you burn them?’ That’s usually the reaction I get when I tell people, I burn my full notebooks.
It’s cathartic. You should try it. Maybe when I burn one again, I’ll tell you all about it.
Anyways back to the story.
Friday’s Blog A Story, is about the role notebooks played in an experiment that has the potential to have devastating effects. It’s playing the role of a sort of kill code.
‘Notebooks’ is a scene from a story that could probably be a proper sci-fi story and can go anywhere. I’ve never played with the possibilities before. I’m not sure I’ll do soon. But I could.
It could probably build into a sci-fi with romantic elements or it can keep to hard-core science. Who knows!
Look out for ‘Notebooks’ tomorrow as part of my Blog A Story series. Let me know what you think. Love it? Hate it? Do you think it could work as a bigger story?
Imagine if I can write it based on your suggestions. That will be fun.
Anyways…
That’s it for now.
Until next time!
PS. The password to my Blog A Story(#BAS) posts are in my newsletter. Please subscribe to my newsletter to get it.
This week I want to introduce you to a story I wrote after a friend’s husband died from pancreatic cancer a few years ago.
He was but 42 and his son was not even 10 years old.
His death shook me to my core. It reminded me of my husband that nearly died from cancer himself when my oldest was 2 years old. Let’s just say the experience was very much real to me.
I suppose this story was me, working through the cursed ‘what ifs’ that tend to either spur us on, or paralise us.
The story has a happy ending, keep heart!!
All I can say from this story is that it’s definitely not one of my best stories. But I want to share it regardless.
Please look out for Walking the Pages this Friday.
That’s it for now.
Until next time!
PS. The password to my Blog A Story(#BAS) posts are in my newsletter. Please subscribe to my newsletter to get it.
This week I want to introduce you to a story my dad told us as children.
He died earlier this year. 1 March 2022 to be exact at the age of 77 years old. I hope he rests now. The last few years he was less and less than the man I remember as my dad.
Anyways, enough of that.
He was raised in Reitz, a town in the eastern Free State. Other than one or two towns, most of the towns are a bit obscure.
In this town was a general trader. The man never married and had no family that my dad could remember. Being raised in the 40’s and 50’s in the time predating the Republic of South Africa, most people were frugal in their lifestyle.
This man however lived noticeably above the lifestyles most of his fellow townsmen did. And everybody, I mean EVERYBODY, was suspicious. And watched him closely. My dad loved calling him a ‘dandy’ or in Afrikaans a ‘laventel haantjie’. It’s quite patronising but it’s done now.
He had a distinct routine. Which elicited numerous rumors.
Just for clarity, the cars in that time seldom had a brake peddle that was stepped on or a lever that the driver pulled like we see in most old cars. Most drivers had to jump out of the car, run to the tires and prop a brick in front of one tire or 2 tires, depending on the vehicle. My character had a driver and this particular task rested on his shoulders.
Also, this story dates from a time where black people were employed as servants in South Africa and received the atrocious treatment common in those days. I wanted to keep the telling of the story the same. This does by no means represent my view point. If it’s inclusion offends you, I apologise. That is not my intention.
That is all I’ll say on the details of the story.
Besides, most are theories and rumors and we all know that it’s a 50/50 chance that the rumor is correct.
Please look out for Pebble In My Brick this Friday.
Are you a person who always seems to give others all your energy, time, ideas, and your being? Do you look at your dreams with yearning and just can’t figure out why it always lags? Then this is the book for you. [DON’T BE FOOLED: it’s not just women who love too much]
Description
The #1 New York Times bestseller that asks: are you a woman who loves too much? -Do you find yourself attracted again and again to troubled, distant, moody men—while “nice guys” seem boring? -Do you obsess over men who are emotionally unavailable, addicted to work, hobbies, alcohol, or other women? -Do you neglect your friends and your own interests to be immediately available to him? -Do you feel empty without him, even though being with him is torment? Robin Norwood’s groundbreaking work will enable you to recognize the roots of your destructive patterns of relating and provide you with a step-by-step guide to a more rewarding way of living and loving. If being in love means being in pain, you need to read Women Who Love Too Much.
What says I?
This book came at a good time for me. I learned a lot about myself. And best of all, it explained WHY regarding my habits
Patterns identified
We all live lives of patterns. Through an immense amount of examples from real-life people, the author guided me to identify patterns that have been part of my life, my whole life. And to be clear, drinking until you drop dead or bulimic habits are not the only harmful patterns in one’s life. Something as simple as helpfulness to the point of self-neglect or justifying neglect, are sneaky patterns.
Analysis of harmful patterns
The author did a great job to analyse and demonstrate the harm of the different patterns. They also illustrated the different faces of the same harmful patterns. At some point in the book, I felt irritated that she included one example after another example after another example of what seemed to me the same scenario. Only, it wasn’t. The same harmful pattern can come about from different trauma as well as the same trauma can cause different patterns.
Look and feel of healing
Many times in the healing process it feels as if nothing happens. In this day and age, we want to add water, shake and voila! Results! Healing and change take much, MUCH longer in reality. The author helped me see that some patterns in my life are in the process of healing. I can see the pattern is still there, but it’s leading to a different outcome. Not necessarily good for me, but not as damaging as the original outcome. It’s encouraging and so SO good for me to have learned that
Help is at hand
Healing is always your own journey. Nobody and I mean NOBODY can help you with it. Therapists, support groups, counsellors etc. are only facilitators and support. Nothing more. And for the love of all things wonderful, FAMILY and FRIENDS cannot and should not be your help! It’s harmful to them and harmful to you. The author gives a list of 10 steps for the healing process at the end of the book. That I appreciated immensely.
What says others?
Erica Jong referred to this book as ‘life-changing’. I concur wholeheartedly.
MentalHelp.net has a review with a lot more detail about this book.
I don’t think one can connect with the author directly. I only found her bio on a few websites such as KI-Agency and Simon and Schuster. It makes sense, my dad shared her birth year and he passed this year.
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