Lavender Blue

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Michelle Crystal’s debut novel is one I would recommend. You will find yourself laughing and crying as you turn page after page. It is a story of one woman’s journey from tragedy to recovery through her connection with the past. It is wonderfully written, painted with beautiful metaphors, and an easy read. Now all I need are recipes! 🙂

Lavender Blue Cover

Lavender Blue By: Michelle Crystal

From Amazon:

We’re Murdocks. We can do hard things.
Rachel Tate enjoys an idyllic life and attentive, handsome husband. Three healthy, beautiful sons, and a comfortable lifestyle, but when disaster strikes, she stands to lose it all. Rachel, a former lawyer turned stay-at-home-mom, struggles to make sense of her new life, find a path to happiness, and gain peace of mind.

Attempting to heal her familys deep emotional wounds proves more difficult than Rachel ever anticipated. Surprising repercussions follow their insurmountable tragedy, leaving Rachel drowning in grief, self-pity, and doubt.

As a favor to her mother, Rachel assists in cleaning out her ailing grandmothers home. There, she stumbles upon journals from the late 1800s, authored by her great-great-grandmother, Anna Murdock Pierce. The two women exist centuries apart, but seem to live nearly parallel lives. As Rachel grows in the knowledge of her ancestor, she begins to accept herself. But will learning about the past bring insight to Rachels presentor will the daunting trials she faces get the best of her?
Past, present, and future collide on Rachel’s journey to understanding.

 

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Full Disclosure: I read this book as it was being written. I am friends with the author and part of a writing group with her. My copy of the book was purchased (both paperback and Kindle versions).

What Season is More Productive?

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I have never had this question posed to me. When do I write the most? I have never paid very much attention to my productivity in the past, but I can say that this year I have written more the first half of 2018 than any other time I can remember.

The first burst came in February for the 28 Days of Writing Challenge. It is hosted by Leap into Writing and your’s truly, me. I started this challenge about three years ago because I liked my sanity…NaNoWriMo is in November. Really? For me, this is one of the worse months of the year. I can easily say that November and December are zero-productive months so NaNo was out.

On the other hand, February is one of the most boring months of the year, and it’s short. Leap into Writing was born during the last Leap Year, along with 29 Days of Writing. (Obviously, every other year is 28 days so I renamed it the next year). This challenge is to write every day of the month. No days off allowed. Write as many words as you can and you’re golden. We also do weekly challenges (Word Wars is my favorite) to get the word counts up, along with writing prompts to get the creative juices flowing.

A second burst came in April with the A to Z Writing Challenge. This just finished up a couple of days ago, and I now have 26 blog posts more than I would have had without it. I enjoyed trying to come up with a blog subject based on a letter of the alphabet, and I hope you enjoyed reading them too.

Last, a big inspiration for this time of year is Pikes Peak Writer’s Conference. PPWC is always an inspiration and a great way to kick off the summer to write. If you are a writer, I encourage you to attend a writing conference near you (or take a vacation and travel to one far away). Here are just a few suggestions:

I’m sure there are many, many more. If there is a conference you love to go to please list them in the comments below.

For now, I am in the most productive stage of my writing career. I am excited! What about you?

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This post Inspired by:

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Our amazing co-hosts for the May 2 posting of the IWSG are E.M.A. Timar, J. Q. Rose, C.Lee McKenzie, and Raimey Gallant!

It’s a Blog Hop too! https://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=103850

Z is for Zoo

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I can’t believe that this is the last day of the A to Z Blog Challenge! I hope you enjoyed reading about the Isle of Man and are as excited as I am about The Manx. On this last day I want to share one last bit about the Isle of Man and it’s zoo.**

Currahs Wildlife Park is located in an area of wetland in the north-west of the island. It houses meerkats, pelicans, mongoose, lemurs, big game, primates, and much, much more. It was founded in 1963 and formally opened in 1965

In the 1970’s there was a grand escape of a couple of wallabies. One would expect to see wallabies wandering freely in Australia or Tazmania, but the Isle of Man? Believe it or not, they now have a feral population of about 120 wallabies.

How do they survive so well in a place so different form the warm temperatures of their native Australia? There are no predators and plenty of food. Wallabies thrive on the grasses, and are beneficial to the environment. Until the great escape of the 1970’s, cattle were brought in periodically to graze the grasses back. Now, they leave it to the wallabies.

They are pretty shy too. You are considered lucky if you spot one. Maybe it’s the start of a new Manx folklore…The Luck of the Wallaby.

**It is actually a wildlife park and not a zoo. What can I say? I needed a word that started with ‘Z’ so I cheated a little bit. [she grins and is joyous to finally reach the end of A to Z].

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This post inspired by – Z

Wrapping it Up

Y is for YOY? (Why Oh Why?)

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Tonight I am asking myself, Why oh why did I wait until 10:00 at night to write this post?” I could have pre-written it, put up it on the scheduler, and had it automatically post today. But did I do that? No. So, here I am, 10:00 at night (yes I know, that’s not late to most people) writing my ‘Y’ post for the A to Z blog Challenge.

Why did I wait? I blame it all on the Pikes Peak Writer’s 2018 Conference – #PPWC2018. What an awesome event. Pikes Peak Writers hosts an annual conference where they bring a few hundred writers together, throw them in a hotel for three days with authors, publishers, editors, and agents who teach all these writers an amazing amount of writerly things.

I have come to PPWC for the past four years and love it. I have not only gained a wealth of knowledge from the facilitators, but I have made some lasting friendship as well. Each year I leave PPWC with my mouth hanging open and my brain bursting from all of the amazing things I have learned. WOW.

This year, I was not disappointed. Just to list a few classes I attended:

  • Perfect Placement – Debbie Maxwell talked about where to put the power words. When power words are at the end of a sentence, scene, or paragraph this compels your reader to keep reading.
  • Busting the Block – MB Partlow guided us through ways to overcome writers block. My favorite ideas were to have one of your characters pull out a gun. Even if that action isn’t relative to the story that’s ok. It is an excersises to get the creative juices going again.
  • WordPress for Writers – Kristy Ferrin took us, step by step, through the process of setting up WP. Even though I have been on WP for several years, I finally found out how to use some of those “things” (like what the heck is a plug-in?).

Over the course of three days there are over 60 workshops to choose from, panels, queries, critiques. Then there is always Write Drunk, Edit Sober. This prompt driven writing session is very popular too.

So, here I am, sitting on my bed in a hotel room, computer in my lap, and I’m no longer wondering Y-O-Y did I wait to write this post? I’m glad I did. I’m glad I could share just a little bit of this wonderful weekend with you. Next year, you all will be here too!

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This post inspired by – Y

Z is for Zoo

X is for X Words

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We are getting down to the last letters of the A to Z Blog Challenge. Through the challenge I have been writing daily about the Isle of Man where my book, The Manx, takes place.  Besides all the wonderful characters and the folktales, I also included posts about visiting the island and some of the basics about the Isle of Man.

Now we come to the letter X. In my 1932 edition of 20,000 Words there are only three words listed that start with X: Xanthippe, xenon, xylophone. None of these really relate to my book so I have been at a loss as to how to make X work for the A to Z Challenge.

Next out is Roget’s International Thesaurus, 4th Edition, 1977. There are a few more words listed which are: X (as in a cross), Xanadu (remember that movie?), xenophobia, xerography, Xerox, X Ray, xylography, and xylophone.

An X is also seen as a symbol like a railroad crossing, a mathematical symbol, and a signature. Love letters are signed with an XO for kiss and hug, or XXXOOO for lots of kisses and hugs.

The X is Gebo (Gifts) in Futhark Runes. The gift as in the sense of both generosity and sacrifice indicating balance and all things relating to exchanges, including contracts, personal relationships and partnerships.

Why is the X always pronounced like a Z? Why have the X at all? Just turn all the X-words to Z-words. Except, if that was done than an X-Ray would become a Z-Ray and then you have a weapon that shoots death rays rather than a camera that shoots death rays. Wait…..what? Yeah. That’s what goes on sometimes with my grey matter. It gets a little weird up there.

Have an X-cellent weekend!

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This post inspired by – X

Witches of Slieau Whallion

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Slieau Whallion is a hill located on the Isle of Man near St. John’s just off of Gleneedles Road. It has a grisly history of being the execution place of accused witches. They would be put into a barrel with spikes driven into the sides of the barrel, pointing inward. Then the barrel, with the accused witch inside, were rolled down the hill. Murderers were also punished this way. Quite a cruel way to die.

In my book, The Manx, Slieau Whillion is actually the name of a witch who befriends our heroine, Kaitlin and her side kick Donal. My Slieau Whillion does not take on the gruesome traits of the hill she was named for. She is a mix of Mrs. Whatsit, from A Wrinkle in Time, with a little bit of Dr. Who (think Peter Capaldi), and a dash of Winifred Sanderson (Hocus Pocus). She is eccentric with all the bells and whistles, plus a few added quirks that I have yet to discover. 

I am looking forward to finishing Kaitlin’s story so I can write one starring Slieau Whillion. She will be a blast to write.

Until next time!

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This post inspired by – W

X is for X

V is for Vampire

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Vampire Grave in Malew churchyard.
~~Photo courtesy of: Peter Killey, Manx Scenes Photography

In a churchyard in Malew parish, Isle of Man, there is a grave that is said to be that of a vampire. It is eerie to look at photographs of the strange grave, and not surprising that a vampire legend would be born from it. It is interesting to have the juxtaposition of a vampire buried in a grave on consecrated ground in a parish named for a saint (Saint Moluag).

The person buried here went by the name of Matthew Hassel. It is said that after he was buried wails and other odd noises could be heard from his grave. It was declared he must be a vampire so his grave was opened, a stake driven through his heart, then reburied. The grave was covered with a slate slab and chained off to prevent him from rising from the dead. His wife Margaret is buried with him.

In truth, as best as history buffs can find, it is thought he may have committed suicide. If that is the case then he would not have been allowed to be buried on consecrated ground, but instead was interred by way of the wall at the head of the grave. There doesn’t seem to be a reason why they went to such lengths to bury him in the churchyard, but I’m sure it had something to do with saving his soul. Suicide was (and still is) considered a mortal sin.

The story that he was a vampire is fun for any writer. We look for those odd things that make for a good book to send shivers across our reader’s back. I am tucking this story into my “Idea” file to look at for a possible short story. Until then, let’s hope Mr. Hassel continues to rest peacefully.

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This post inspired by – V

W is for Witch of Slieu Whallian