Looking Ahead to 2019

There are still housekeeping items to get through before the new year. 

Still 2019 looms. What should I focus on? Poetry? Recipes? Fiction? I am still debating. 

This year was complicated by technical issues. I fixed the problems. The site is up and running again, but I feel out of my rhythm.  That doesn't help. 

So I guess 2019 is when I get my groove back?

I am searching inside myself for that next character I will fall in love with and want to write about. Funny thing about love. She loves me; she loves me knot. 

Maybe I it is not a character I need to fall in love with, perhaps it is taking the time to fall back in love with myself. 

That is where all the creativity springs from and this year has been rougher than others in the recent past. Hope. Friendship. Fear. Betrayal. Loss. Wunderlust. 

Life is stranger than fiction... mine seems to write itself. 

What are your plans for 2019?

-~o0o~-oOo-~o0o~-

If you like this image, please visit my Celtic Heritage series on Zazzle through Sonoran Dawn Studios. 

The Classics Never Get Old

As a disabled American, I cannot afford much on a fixed income. Internet is a medical necessity but overpriced as a luxury service. Not when I would pay sixty-five dollars in town for the same supplement bottle I buy online for under thirty. The internet ends up paying for itself. 

A tight budget means no cable. I cannot watch any of my favorite shows. The current fodder plastered on the small screen is chalk full of psychological manipulations and political pageantry. None of it is very satisfying and definitely more psyop than entertainment. I turned my set off for the summer. 

That was until Antenna TV began airing the Johnny Carson Show. First the network had the show on at 10:30pm. Great, I don't have to listen to the unfunny people of the other current late night talk shows. Then Johnny got switched to an hour later. 

All the shows I did not get to see because I was too young to watch; I had school the next day are now available to me. Well, every day except Fridays when I would catch a view from time to time. 

This old show from the sixties to the nineties was insightful, informative, and entertaining. The combination that is lacking in entertainment nowadays. From film to television, to reality shows, Hollywood is too geared toward teaching me how to sit and beg like a dog instead of having a real dog do the tricks. 

I surf by show after show that has gays, lesbians, or interracial couples. That's fine to see a mixture of people. We are the United States. The line I see entertainment crossing is social engineering us to think or feel one way or another.

Everything is about balance and our entertainment should represent our cultural wealth, not just a few segments of society. I'm still trying to find that richness, which is not celebrated on the screen.

I am a crazy person. I believe people should marry out of love and not because a film or show made it cool. A couple will not last long if they don't have anything in common. Love sometimes is just not enough. 

Even though in my stories, love is rewarded. I write in the Jane Austen school of thought where every woman should marry for love and always marry up. That is what makes a good story. Will s/he find their match in [insert character name here]? 

We are innately attracted to the romantic archetype. We also have other structures we love to watch. Performers performing to make us laugh or cry. Sometimes performers perform for the sake of a smile on another person's face.

Vaudville antics with interviews and comedians is a wonderful combination. I wish I could find more of that type of goodwill today. I turn on the television and receive a guttural dose of social justice warriors gone wild. 

And mad. These people seem very angry over every little damn thing. Everything is a personal mission. A boycott. A vendetta. 

Bored now. 

I like entertainment. 

How can I order that to be played instead of all the divisiveness?

Nocturnal Redemption Moves Into the Final Edits Phase

The final push until the January 31st release has begun!

Nocturnal Redemption:

When Ryan is attacked by werewolves, she is rescued by the hidden Regent of the Vampire Nation, Jeremy Hampton. This event sets a domino effect in motion that Chloe could not foresee. The future of the vampires lies on a knife’s edge: matters of the heart.

Could the love that betrayed the gypsy witches into cursing the vampires three hundred years ago be the one thing to end their immortal suffering and bring peace between these two ancient factions?

Love is always In the Eye of the Beholder.

Visit the Nocturnal Redemption page for more great information! 

Happy New Year... Let's Make 2018 Memorable!

What have you always wanted to do? Write a book? Have a poem published? 

Well... what are you waiting for? 

Here at Undawnted, I believe that imagination is Fearless. So I would like to keep on that journey with all of you. 

I am grateful for the support this year. I have had my health and life challenges. Some downright scary, but knowing my readers were out there rooting for me helped keep my outlook positive and bright. 

So I wanted to say a big: Thank you! to everyone and have a Happy New Year! 

 

 I love you all dearly.

Keep those positive vibes coming this way. 

Have a great and wonderful 2018!

Reimagining Robin Hood for the 21st Century

That is a tall order!

I have always wanted to write a Robin Hood inspired story. There are a few revisions I would like to make to the old, tried and true mythologies of our modern age. Robin Hood is just one of them. 

I want to do some reimaging to the likes of Dorian Gray, The Raven, Pride and Prejudice, and Taming The Shrew to keep me busy for the next decade. 

This year the muse descended on Robin Hood. I have to take modern themes and ideas to formulate a new and exciting version no one has ever seen before.

So what is out there?

I do love the Kevin Costner version from the early 1990's. Funny how I took a noncredit script writing course through a community college at the same time that the film was released. The Hollywood screenwriter helped my classmates and I breakdown the scenes, characters, and story lines. I learned so much about storytelling during those six weeks than in any creative writing class I have ever taken.

So do not pass on noncredit courses! You might be happily surprised the knowledge you receive. 

When I was sketching out some dialogue for my take on the classic tale, the main character pretty much told me his story. Scene after scene, I could tell that this type of Robin Hood was going to be a mesh-mash of elements from the original story and a few others from external sources. 

I cannot wait to get it all finished. 

I hope I can keep up the momentum and get this origin story edited for an autumn release. 

As long as the characters keep writing the story themselves, I do not see why not. Stranger things have happened.   

Have a great and wonderful day.

First Print Mockup for In the Name of Blood is on the Way

As I have been creating new marketing materials, I decided to create the back page for my novel. 

I have had the item on my to-do list but I have always had some other task before it. Not that I crossed off the other tasks, I just made the move to finish what I started a year ago. Now the back page jacket looks pretty good. 

What do you think? 

In the Name of Blood Official Full Book Jacket

After it was done, I then added a table of contents to the book itself. That as they say was that! I had created the full version of the print edition to In the Name of Blood. I will also update the ebook to have a table of content as well.

I have put in an order for the mockup. When it arrives in the mail by next weekend, I will be able to correct any issues that may have arisen. Then I will begin to offer my ebook in print form. 

Hooray!

It is about time I hold my handiwork in my hands. I have a place on my bookshelf for my creative fiction and poetry, but being disabled makes my timetable a little longer than most. Plus the lack of funds does not help my timetable either. 

Now, more positive routes are in motion. It's not the destination, but the journey. Mine just happens to be in the slow lane.

Have a great and wonderful day! 

Happy New Year's Eve

This day is a time for reflection and gratitude. 

2016 was a year of ups and downs. At first, the year seemed lost to the negative funk, but then turned around at the end of spring. 

Then the year ended with a mix of highs and lows.  

So today is about releasing the negative and accepting the positive into our lives. To do that, make a list of what you are thankful for.

I wanted to take this moment and thank all of my readers, customers, and fellow writers. Your support and encouragement has been warmly received. I only hope to aspire to greater heights to entertain and inform in this next coming year. 

Thank you. I appreciate every good vibration sent my way. I am grateful for the opportunity to write for you. 

Have a great and wonderful day!

Quick Write Competition Submission

I am excited about this 1000 word or less story. What can you write that is clean in less than that word count? So I decided on a children's slant. I am surrounded by my fur friends so I wrote about my black and white cat: Jack. 

The story is cute full of mystery and suspense. A wizard appears to a little kitty who is trapped in an attic. A good wizard who grants Jack a wish. 

I  am very pleased with how the write turned out. If I win or no, I believe I will create a book for Magic in the Night. 

What are you writing this winter recess? 

Have a great and wonderful day! 

Just Leaving It Hanging

A fellow writer had brought up the subject of using cliffhangers for novel endings. 

My response was to use cliffhangers if you are going to answer the question in the next book of a series, but if you only write one book, then make sure to resolve everything by the end. 

My stories are not long as a full length novel. I write shorter novels, but not less complex ones. 

I make sure there are subplots and character developments. In the end the stories are completed and the reader feels they have taken a journey with my protagonists. Yet, to spur on interest for the next book, I give a little taste of what is to come... with a cliffhanger in some, but not all cases. 

Someone reacted indignant to this use of cliffhangers as disrespect to readers and to yourself as a writer. I do not agree. If you have everything pretty much sewn up and there is a last minute act or realization, then the reader can decide if the next book will be for them or not. 

I am upfront that I am writing a book series, not a stand along book. So the reader has to expect something to cross over into the next story line. Or why would it be a book series? 

So In the Name of Blood had the main character, Riley Austen, have an epiphany at the end of the book... to be carried on in Book II. Will this series go to Book III? I am letting the characters decide. Many times the characters also decide the end of the novel. Riley sure did. That ending even surprised me!

With Nocturnal Redemption, I can go either way: a clear cut ending or a cliffhanger... 

As writers, should we not tease our readers a bit? 

Have a great and wonderful day! 

Love is in the Eye of the Beholder

When you have written a novel, editing the story into manageable parts can be a challenge. 

I am working on two different novels but I will only publish one this coming February. I haven't decided on which one yet... but I bet you have already guessed it these are loves stories. My stories have plenty of action and drama but Nocturnal Redemption and Gibbous are driven by the relationship of these people instead of a crisis like in book one of In the Name of Blood. 

One is pretty much done for a first book release and to finish the rest of the story episodically in a series instead of all at once. Trouble is the story is under 40K words. I like my novels around 45K words. 

Gibbous is done at 60K words but I want to expand the story so the adventure is smoother and the characters are perfected. 

After worrying all this time about releasing a novella instead of a novel, I remembered: I am the publisher! I can do whatever I want. Then all the stress and worry dissolved. 

I feel much better now.

...but you will have to wait to see which one I publish in February 2017. Is it the vampire, supernatural romance of Nocturnal Redemption? Or the werewolf saga of Gibbous?

Who wants to guess?

Have a great and wonderful day!  

History of Valentine's Day

Celebrating ancient pagan rituals for over three thousand years:

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday. 

Ghost in the Hallway

I have had my fair share of haunting experiences in my life.

I have been on ghost/historical tours. I have ventured out and did my own ghost investigations. I have channeled and done mediumship. I have read for others. I have done tarot and rune readings. I work with crystals.

The universe is a concerted mirage of vibrations. When we leave our bodies to the next plane of existence, we too become vibrations. So the idea of another vibration in my house is not daunting to me. 

I am rather curious, but firm. I do stand my ground.

I was in my bathroom brushing my hair when a movement caught my attention. I turned and saw a human form shadow on my hall wall across from me. There was no way I was making that shadow. I observed it rock back and forth then disappear. The shadow person was on the other side of the wall next to me and their consistency was manifesting a shadow across from me.

I knew it was not my imagination when my Bombay cat, Riley, ran into the bathroom and hid under the shower curtain. She came from that room and was scared out of her mind. She only runs and hides like that during thunderstorms.

So I said in a loud voice: "Only Love and Light are allowed in this house." I spewed some more stuff to let beings know, my house is a safe house for light workers and light beings. Evil, exit, stage left. 

I guess I have another outline for a scene or short story. Plus now I have to smudge!

What is your paranormal experience?

Have a great and wonderful day!!! 

Melted Chocolate Dreams

Chocolate, how could you do it?

You broke my heart. I loved you. I worshiped you. I enjoyed you. 

How did you repay me? You repaid me with GMO crappy, store bought cocoa. How could you? 

So in my efforts to make sure my diet is clean and healthy, I am switching anything I find that is not healthy over to the better quality version. Chocolate is no different.

GMO free chocolate that I buy is through an online source. So of course, I had to have some shipped with my regular items on one of the hottest weeks of the summer. By the time I opened my package, the chocolate was liquid. 

I could swish the chocolate back and forth in its little baggie. I laid the bag flat on the highest shelf in the refrigerator to see if I could make a chocolate bar out of the melted chips. A few hours later and I have a candy bar. Yay, me! 

Even though you broke my heart with your corrupted DNA, I still love you, chocolate. I am hooked. Now I have a new version to love you by. A version that will not lead to illness or inflammation.

Love me, leave me... or just buy GMO free!

Have a great and wonderful day!!!

Alls Fair in Love and War

Obviously whoever said that phrase never got the wrong end of the stick.

I sure did today. A shipment from a carrier had to be postponed by a day, which mean three since the next business day is on Monday, because of a mechanical failure. Awesome. I was counting on that supplement supply to be here today.

 It could be worse, I suppose. 

I just hope this situation isn't an introduction to the rest of the weekend.

I got tasks to do.

Have a great and wonderful weekend!

Bob Ross: Christmas Eve Snow

Bob Ross.

The name invokes paint and PBS in the memories of those who loved to watch him paint every week. He left us many, many gifts of joy on canvas. Here is one for Christmas Eve:

For the video and the article to this image: visit the VDP Gazette.

The rest of us can reimagine a world with him in it. Miss you, my friend.

Have a safe and wonderful holiday season.

The Holiday Reminder

It’s the holidays again
and you are feeling blue
There are no presents
There is no tree
There is nothing around for you
The bitterness is not from the cold outside
but from your endless empty heart
Hopelessness has taken hold inside
Instead of sitting there wishing
for objects that do not matter
Be thankful for what you do have
for it is probably more than most
Look around and invite friends over
and raise such a clatter!
Drink with a merry toast to all
You do not have to have what is material
or need to feel discontent
As long as love and good cheer
is in everything you do everyday
So open your heart with happiness
and brighten the holidays with a smile
All you need is there for the taking
It is real and alive and waiting
but only if you believe in the goodwill
of all the inhabitants of the Earth
It’s not about religion
It’s not about money
It is the idea that we are more
than a shell of flesh and blood
we are so below as above
spirits with an abundance of love
so throw off the yoke of taking
and begin to receive what is yours
The holidays are not about things
It’s about if you care more for others
than what can be purchased at the stores.

 ---~o0o~---oOo---~o0o~---oOo---~o0o~----oOo---~o0o~---

 Publication Credit: Villa de Paz Gazette. December 24, 2014.

Hummingbird Graduation Day

It's Graduation Day at the my house.

Baby hummingbirds are taking their first flights this morning... awww! 

I did take some pictures this weekend of the babies because they were getting too big for their nest. I knew their time to investigate the wider world was not far away. Today was that day.

So I went out and all the babies were gone from their nest. As I stood around the gazebo, the last of the babies buzzed up to me. She wanted to show me she got her wings. I put my hand up for her to land and she decided to go another direction... which she smacked into my six foot fence wall. 

She bounced a few more times until she hit the ground. Irene, my outdoor cat, pounced on that stroke of good luck and proceeded to get the baby in her mouth... but Irene listens to me. I kept repeating NO! until my cat released the baby bird. It must have been quite the mental struggle for Irene to let go of such a tasty treat, but she did.

Even Ivanka, my indoor calico who gets a free pass to the outdoors a few times a week, wanted to capture the baby hummingbird. It was such a scene of me yelling and running around to save that baby bird from two feisty felines. In the end, I was victorious.

I gathered that little bird into my hand and made sure she wasn't bleeding anywhere. Then I moved my wrought iron loveseat so I could bring down the planter with the nest in it to my level. I placed the baby back in the nest and hung the planter back up so mother hummingbird could take a look for herself... 

Boy, was she concerned. I think more that I touched her baby then about the cats. Anyway, the baby is good, being refueled by mom, and encouraged to take another flight. I am staying inside as to not create another incident. The baby's wings got tired too easily when confronted with a challenge.

I'll just watch from my glass security door... but those first few seconds of "look human what I can do!" was priceless and to make me apart of their Graduation Day was sweet of them.

See what happens when you help out your fellow creatures? You get rewarded in ways that are too emotional for words. I hope tomorrow is a better day for the baby hummingbirds and that they spend a few more nights in their nest. 

Sometimes saying good-bye is such sweet sorrow. 

Look, Dawn, No Paws

One of my outdoor felines is a big, beautiful, and sweet Bombay.

She has this loving heart that just melts you with her serene glance. For an outside cat, spayed, but ready to rumble when necessary, she is really nice. She seems to adore me.

She also seems to disappear on me every once and a while. I don't know why. I don't know why... She usually returns with a few pounds shed and very happy to be home. 

Yeah, let's make me crazy screaming for you three or four times a day!

It's either that or she gets trapped inside a garage or takes an unexpected ride in a vehicle. I don't know. I'm just glad she is home safe. 

When a cat disappears on me, I always wonder if they went to die alone and I didn't catch the signs. Or if one was harmed in another yard and has expired. I know it's their way to go die alone, but I rather have them die in my arms. It's just my way.

At least I know they were well taken care of and they can be cremated with dignity at the local vet. And, no, I do not keep the ashes. I cannot do it. It would make me mourn too much. So I let them go with their friends. 

If a kitty wants to come back to me in their circle of reincarnation, I always let them know they are welcomed back. Right now, I believe I have two reincarnated kitties with me. One is a gray tabby with cream calico markings.  She reminds me of my childhood cat, but this go around, there is no anger in the house, so she is very sweet-natured. The other one is my lynx colorpoint shorthair. He loved me on day one. The first week I would take the kittens out of the bathroom while their mother slept to get them acclimated to a human household for adoption. Well, he never screamed or begged to be taken back to mom. He would spend thirty minutes or more cuddled on my chest until he was hungry again. He reminds me of the Himalayan that died of the same mold illness I struggle with everyday. Since he could not be on the bed with me, he would sleep directly beneath me on the floor under my head and talk to me. 

The day he was put to sleep because of his illness shattered me. My sister took his paw prints, from the vet's crematory practice of sending a card with the prints to the owner, without my permission. That can never be forgiven. That's just cruel. 

Now that I'm all wet. The two cats I believed are reincarnated are here with me. The calico on my pillowed lap. The lynx on my foot watching me type. It's so nice to have my little family to comfort me when I am upset. 

Oh, boy, it's late. Dinner in ten. 

Before I go to sleep later, I'll have that reoccurring thought that will make me smile: I wonder what the cats will do to make me bat shit crazy again tomorrow? I know in their way that's amore! 

I hope whatever type of pet you have that you love them as much as they love you.

Nighty night, Cyber friends

Life Would Be More Fun, If We All Had BoxesTo Play In

I received my online order today, a few days earlier which I am grateful for, and the cats are just loving it! The box, not the content. I'm sure if they could use DVDs and dehydrated mashed potatoes, they would love those too!

I went and did my grocery stopping today. I rather buy organic red potatoes but it's just too much money for me. Plus I have to eat them NOW! or they go to waste after a week. So I found these packets of potatoes at my health food store... so worth it! I wish they were organic and red potatoes but beggars cannot be choosers sometimes.

I need to back up my files on my system. I broke down and spent some money on DVD media. Now I can get organized, well, digitally anyway. 

When I returned from the store I could not find one of my eight month old kittens... I even called a friend for advice because I tried everything: calling her, handing out treats, banging the food can... nothing! I waited two hours for her to show her furry buttsky! 

I nearly had a nervous breakdown. These are inside cats. They are not hunters. 

Don't get me wrong, they do hunt in the house: bugs, the bath tub stopper, my drinking straws, my activated charcoal mask, and my plastic stirring sticks. They do a lot of hunting while I am asleep. 

But it's not food. 

I on the other hand am a successful hunter. I hunt my food where it is: the grocery store. And, I am good at it!

I did all right at the store with my mask on. A cute little boy whispered to his grandmother why was I wearing the mask. So cute. I took the mask off and showed it to him. I told him it was all right to ask. I explained that my lungs cannot be around smoke or perfume or cologne so the mask keeps me from having asthma attacks. He looked to be around 5 to 7 years old. I hope he was okay with that. 

Then I got into a cab that the driver just ate a peanut granola bar. The smell about suffocated me. My asthma kicked into high gear and my throat started closing in. Not a fun experience trying to get home.  i toughed it out and drank my vitamin c packets on the way home but it was a close one. 

If you work in the public, don't eat peanut butter when you are going to be in direct contact afterward, it would save at least ten percent of the population from anaphylaxis.

Actually, I believe one of my old friends will not come to see me because she lives on peanut butter. That's fine and all but there's a fungus in peanuts that attacks the liver. I know it's cheap but is it worth your health in the long run? Almond butter is so much better for you. 

Plus it doesn't set my immune system off. 

I think the B Complex 50 is helping in that arena. I didn't totally have a panic attack in the cab. I had a partial one and my reaction was more subdued than usual. That is a good thing.

I was never allergic to peanut butter before I got sick. I told my mother never to bring into the house especially after the black mold exposure because of the fungus in peanuts issue. I would wonder why my face and neck would swell up inside, my breathing would become dangerously tight, and my body would just collapse in on itself... until one day I caught my mother eating peanut butter in the house. I told her no more. So she did it again and again, and again. Now, my body equates the fungus in peanut butter with black mold exposure. Thanks! 

 I have to be so careful now. I cannot eat out in restaurants even in an emergency. I have to stay away from any place that uses peanut oil. It's just a mess. 

What a wonderful way to support your daughter and thank her for buying a house and keeping you off the streets. Such a gem. 

Okay enough drudging up the past for today. I have my mashed potatoes, my kitties, and my television show coming up here in a moment. I may have black memories of the past that still affect me today, but I can chose to talk about them and then move on. I rather be grateful I have all my babies safe here with me than spend anymore energy on that peanut situtation.

Well at least for today. 

Because you know I'll have to go out in a cab and meet the public soon enough and brave the dangers of a society that does not see what it is doing to itself or others. 

What a bummer.

I think I too need a box of my own to play in. 

Outgrowing the need for love? It's exhausting

That vitamin powder must be working, I vacuumed and swept today while I had a load of towels and dishes going in the other rooms. I like days like today. Once and a while, chronic fatigue takes a sick day and I am able to be a normal person for a few hours. 

Then, of course, I end up in bed for a few days recovering from the sudden burst of energy. Even the positive days become damned if you do or damned if you don't, but that's what happens with chronic illness.

I have a new cat outside and here I am trying to adopt out some eight month old, spayed and neutered kittens. Lovely bunch, but too much for me to handle any more, physically and financially. Sometimes I think the universe likes to play sick jokes on people in an vain attempt at cosmic humor. Dude, I'm not laughing... I have plenty of cats already. Stop it.

This is supposed be an old folks home, not Cattery 101. 

I guess the universe knew I needed some love and a family of my own. I love them all very dearly. Unfortunately there comes a time when the babies must leave the nest. I'm afraid mine have all outgrown my place and need somewhere of their own. 

Like all caretakers, if you love them, you must set them free. I'll have to begin the depressing process of finding homes for my little creatures. Then I will have empty nest syndrome after the house goes quiet.

I'll mope. I'll cry. I'll wonder why I am unloved and alone...

Then the universe will send me a new batch and you know I cannot say "no" to baby kitties.

What am I ever going to do with myself? 

Have a great and wonderful evening!