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Beginnings and Endings: #TankaTuesday

4/26/2022

33 Comments

 
Hello dear blog friends! Today is Tanka Tuesday and author Colleen Chesebro invites us to respond to a new prompt, a theme selected by Yvette Calleiro. The theme is Beginnings and Endings.

My tanka is a reflection on time. I hope you enjoy it.
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​Maybe you'd like to join in the fun and submit a poem as well. If so, just click on Colleen's name, and you'll travel to her site where you'll find helpful information.

​Have a wonderful week! 💗
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#TankaTuesday - Finding Joy

4/19/2022

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Hello blog friends, author Colleen Chesebro has another poetry prompt for us. Using the beautiful photo below, chosen by writer D. L. Finn, we are invited to create an Ekphrastic poem (a poem inspired by a photo or painting). 

My response is a 
mirror cinquain, syllables 2-4-6-8-2-2-8-6-4-2. I hope you enjoy it. 
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sometimes

sorrows cluster

but a burst of sunlight

makes our heart leap in ecstasy
 
freely

we swim

dancing in the waters of life

through shadows and unknowns

till we find joy

our home

​
​

I hope you have a truly wonderful week, filled with moments of bliss. 💗
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GUEST AUTHOR C. S. BOYACK #NEWRELEASE

4/13/2022

54 Comments

 
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​Hello blog friends. Today I have a treat for you. Author C.S. Boyack is celebrating a new release, and he is visiting to tell us a bit about it.

If you've read any of the books in The Hat Series, you know that they are full of intrigue, delightful imaginary characters, and they tell a story you won't forget. I'm eagerly looking forward to reading the fifth book in the series, Good Liniment. 

Early reviews sing the praises of Craig's latest. "A fun and imaginative tale," reports one reviewer. Another mentions that she is "impressed with Boyack’s creativity, his humorous dialogue, the cringe-worthy actions and quest of the zealot, and the intriguing mystery." 

Sounds great, doesn't it? Let's hear from Craig ...

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                                                                     ~  ~  ~  ~
Thanks for having me over, Gwen. I’m here to talk about Good Liniment, the newest publication in The Hat Series. This is not a series where you have to read in order to keep up. I designed them to be stand alone stories using the same characters and environment. They’re also short novels, which are so useful in the modern market. You can read one in an afternoon.

These are dark humor involving a regular girl, Lizzie St. Laurent, who came across a magical
being in the form of a hat. They form a symbiotic relationship that gives them more abilities than
a normal person would have. By using her fingers, the hat plays the upright bass. Lizzie sings,
so they formed a small cover band that helps bring in a few extra dollars.

They also fight monsters at night. Dark humor to me means while there is blood and death in
the stories, there are tons of snark and situational bits of humor to balance it.

At the fifth book in the series, people might start wondering what’s next. I can tell you that book
six is a finished manuscript at this time. I have three more roughed out in my mind, there’s the
one with gremlins and national security, one involving the Kentucky Derby and a very specific
monster who doesn’t like animal abuse, and one involving a talent competition in combination
with the possible end of the world. There are loose ideas involving a demon moth, a trip to the
actual crossroads, and something involving a gravedigger who might merit a story, or he could
show up in one of the others.
​
My point is I have a lot more coming. Good Liniment involves the local witch’s coven asking Lizzie and the hat for help with someone who is  murdering witches. I’ll glance off quite a few new characters that I can use in subsequent books. As an example, the next title will be called The Midnight Rambler. It involves a member of the coven who goes missing and his “son” needs Lizzie’s help. All this goes down while the hat’s ancient enemy, The Midnight Rambler, is looking for him to exact some revenge.

I think Lizzie and the hat have a lot more mileage in them, and things just keep coming together. I found a news blurb out of Japan that I can pirate into a way for my moth demon to show up, and other inspirations keep finding me. In the same vein, humanity just keeps providing me with crazy things to work into the humorous side of these tales. People fix their hair with Gorilla Glue, spread conspiracy theories, and more.

Give Good Liniment a chance. I think you’re going to have fun. I made sure it’s available for Kindle Unlimited so members can read it for free.

BLURB
Someone is murdering members of the local witches coven. They turn to Lizzie and the hat for
their unique skills that might help eliminate the killers.

A religious zealot might be a monster, but is still a human being. This task isn’t the same as
staking vampires or shooting zombies. It isn’t the usual project Lizzie takes on for her night
work.

This all takes place during a recovery period for Lizzie. She needs to keep her cover band
together and find a new way of getting them gigs. More bands and less venues are making
finances tight. The hat didn’t make things easier during her absence, by spreading rumors about why she took her sabbatical.

Someone killing others over a point of view insults Lizzie’s sensibilities. She has secrets to
keep. Her employers have secrets, too. It doesn’t make for a comfortable working environment,
but she agrees to do what she can.

Convincing her strong willed employers to stay indoors during all this poses another problem.
Can she keep them alive long enough to finish her task?

Good Liniment
is full of magic, magical creatures, and an entire underground community living
amongst us.
​
The Hat Series consists of short novels that can be read in a single afternoon. They’re full of
snarky dark humor and can be easily read out of order. Below are the first four:
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PURCHASE LINK:
Amazon

​SOCIAL MEDIA CONTACTS:
 
Blog   My Novels   Twitter   Goodreads   Facebook   Pinterest   BookBub
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54 Comments

The Sovereignty of Hope: #TankaTuesday

4/12/2022

46 Comments

 
Hello blog friends. Today is #TankaTuesday, and author Colleen Chesebro asks that we write a TANKA PROSE poem.  This form has two parts - a preface and a Tanka of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables. I hope you enjoy my simple attempt. 

​THE SOVEREIGNTY OF HOPE
​Two years ago, COVID traveled across the planet, seeding fear. Many of us lost sight of hope. We forgot that each day holds a promise because we only experienced the darkness. Often just the simplest act can open our hearts.
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​Have a wonderful week! 💗
46 Comments

Flashes of Silver -- a #TankaTuesday poem

4/5/2022

38 Comments

 
Hello blog friends, it's Tanka Tuesday and author Colleen Chesebro has a new prompt. She asks that we choose a color and feature it in a syllabic poem of our choice. Mine is a simple Tanka (5-7-5-7-7) and my color is silver. If you've watched waves break, I know you'll understand. 

Have a wonderful week!   cchoose your own syllabic form and a color to feature in your syllabic poemhoose your own syllabic form and a color to feature in your syllabic poem
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Photo from Canva
38 Comments
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Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. ―Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning


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