Happy Families

Read my poem, Happy Families on www.authorsden.com/laurellamperd & http://laurellamperdwriter.weebly.com

Statistics say that one in four marriages break up.

A free read Short story The Wolf and the Riding Hoods

What happens to a wolf when he meet with two riding hoods.

Check the story out at

http://laurellamperdwriter.weebly.com
www.authorsden.com

Doctor and Patient

have time on your hands. Read my poem, Doctor and Patient, at my web sites

www.authorsden.com
http://laurellamperdwriter.weebly.com

What happens when you meet your doctor socially.

More poetry and short stories on the sites

CALAMITY'S CORNER DECEMBER

Another great Calamity's Corner is available as a free download from calam@live.com.au
For Readers, writers and Movie Buffs at Leisure.
Read Lyn Jug's great review of Colleen Mccullough's latest book, The Independence of Miss Mary Bennett, the least prepossessing of the Bennett girls of Pride and Prejudice. I always felt sorry at the way Movie and Television portrayed poor Mary.
See the books of authors featured as Author of the month during 2011. Enough reading for 2012.
Travel News this month features Battle Abbey in Kent. Those who follow Ruth and Country House Rescue on the ABC will be interested to see how the old Abbey is surviving in these modern times.
Plenty more in Calamity's Corner plus a little writing exercise for those who like to write.

  

The Rainbow Children

The Rainbow Children, a new children's book by Laurel Lamperd, is available for download on Smashwords and Kindle. Seven short stories suitable for 4 - 7 year old children.

In the title story, Jenny goes to stay with Great Aunt Gwendoline. Jenny's cousin, Jonathan, said that Aunt Gwendoline is a witch. Jenny thinks that Aunt Gwendoline might be a witch. She lives in a little higgly piggly house that looks like a witch's house.

Aunt Gwendoline writes and illustrates children's stories. She is writing a story about the Rainbow Children who live at the end of the rainbow. Jenny wishes with all her heart that she was one of the Rainbow Children.

With the help of the magic from the house and Aunt Gwendoline, Jenny has a wonderful adventure with the Rainbow Children.

Thanks to Wendy Laharnar, whose book, The Unhewn Stone, has just been published by www.museituppublishing.com for designing the cover for the Rainbow Children.

Old, but not out!

A lovely write up about two of my earlier books, Kitty McKenzie and it's sequel. It's so lovely to see when someone enjoys my stories!
http://aussiebookreviews.aussieblogs.com.au/2011/11/08/anne-whitfield-kitty-mckenzie-and-kitty-mckenzies-land-review-by-kelly-mclean/

Suddenly left as the head of the family, Kitty McKenzie must find her inner strength to keep her family together against the odds. Evicted from their resplendent home in the fashionable part of York after her parents’ deaths, Kitty must fight the legacy of bankruptcy and homelessness to secure a home for her and her siblings.

Through sheer willpower and determination she grabs opportunities with both hands from working on a clothes and rag stall in the market to creating a teashop for the wealthy. Her road to happiness is fraught with obstacles of hardship and despair, but she refuses to let her dream of a better life for her family die. She soon learns that love and loyalty brings its own reward.

 

Kitty McKenzie path has taken her from the slums of York to the inhospitable bush of colonial Australia. Yet, when she believes her dreams will never be attained, she is shown that sometimes life can be even better than what you wish for.

1866.

Kitty McKenzie is gifted land in the far north of New South Wales. Life at the northern property is full of hardships as she learns how to become a successful landowner.

However, Kitty’s strength of will and belief in herself gives her the courage most women of her time never realize they have. A decided thorn in her side is the arrogant and patronizing Miles Grayson, owner of the adjourning run. He wants her gone so he can have her land, but he wants her even more.

Available in paperback and Kindle from all Amazon sites.

http://www.amazon.com/Kitty-McKenzie-ebook/dp/B000R93D44/ref=pd_sim_kinc_1?ie=UTF8&m=A24IB90LPZJ0BS

Calamity's Corner

Another enjoyable Calamity's Corner, Wendy.
It was interesting reading about Rick Bylina whose books I had critiqued on Novels.com And to put a face to the man. I'm glad he's published his books. I enjoyed reading them as well as critiquing them.
Carole Sutton, another writer, I met on Novels, has an exciting story to tell about a pair of Maned Wood Ducks who managed to leave two of their large brood behind. Carole and husband, Bill, managed to unite the family.
I look forward each month to read the movie and book reviews. Your review about the old movie, The House on the Square featuring that heart throb of the 50's and earlier, Tyrone Power, and Ann Blyth. I wonder if you will like the film when you see it again. You'll have to let your readers know if you do.
Sometimes it's better not to return to old loves. I really loved Judy Garland's movie, Meet Me in St Louis when I saw it as a teenager. Seeing it on TV not so long ago I thought how awful it was.
Contact calam@live.com.au for a free download of Calamity's Corner

The Ten Worst Movies Ever Made - Page 2 - DivineCaroline

The Ten Worst Movies Ever Made - Page 2 - DivineCaroline

The Unhewn Stone cover is up for the October award.

I'm excited that not only me, but Tiger Matthews, the cover artist, and MuseItUp publishing have a chance to win the Cover Award at Alternative-Read for the month of October (17 days left to vote) but we need your vote, please. We are # 5. The Unhewn Stone at  http://tjbook-list.blogspot.com 

What to do with short stories

What do you do with short stories? They are fun to write but not many places to publish. And hardest of all to find a place to publish are the illustrated children's stories especially if one can't draw.

Even the books suitable for children, eight to twelve, have line drawings. Haven't I drooled over some of the Anne of Green Gable books and Gilbert Blythe, that romantic youth of my childhood. It was a little dashing to the romantic soul that he and Anne produced six children.

So instead of allowing my children's stories to moulder in a bottom drawer, I've decided to publish them with the help of Kindle, Smashwords and a few photographs. Maybe not the sales of the Anne books but nevertheless out there.

I pulled out The Rainbow Children who helped Edna Echidna find a new home. The Boy who told Fibs who couldn't stop telling whoppers before the event of a little brown man. Sam, a budding author, shocks his newfound friends, Sebastian and Emma, with the picture of a docodile. I even have a book cover created by my good friend, Wendy. So look out there among all the rest for my book.

Calamity's Corner October

Another good edition of Calamity's Corner, Wendy.

I loved reading Canadian author and poet, Nancy M Bell's article on the Power of Words in October's CC.

Nancy has kept many of her childhook scribblings: short stories, poems and even novels. She is in good company. The famous members of the Bronte family wrote when they were children. Their juvenilia was gathered together by a later biographer and published.

Being a writer has made Nancy many new friends. She calls it the Magic of words. Words are power and power opens doors. She warns that words should be wielded with care and compassion.

I enjoyed following Aussie travellers, Pam and Paul Thomas, around Montepulciano, an Italian town in romantic Tuscany.

Movie and book reviews, quick quiz, meeting Chirp, Taylor McGovern's well-named pet budgie who has just turned one year old, plus many more bits and pieces are all there in Calamity's Corner.

Send in photos of your favourite holiday and words to go with them to Calam, or feature your pet.

I must send my best wishes to dear little Spitzli, who dislocated her kneecap and will have an operation Tuesday. Three barks to you, Spitzli, and hopefully soon you will be running around on those four little legs.

Email Calamity's Corner and have Calamity's Corner delivered free to your computer.

http://laurellamperdwriter.weebly.com/

Meet Characters from A Thousand Glass Flowers

Meet Finnian Hero of a Thousand Glass Flowers
Prue's Character... Lalita.. another great interview.
Two incredible interviews with visual imagery courtesy of Richard Armitage. Nothing wrong with drooling is there? Oh, the words are pretty cool too. What terrific characters Prue has created.
The story is already on my MUST read pile, with images of Richard, I mean Finnian fresh in my mind, I have just switched A Thousand Glass Flowers to the top of the pile.

Thanks to Maria Grazia for hosting Prue's character  Finnian and Were, Vamps Romance for the Lalita blog post.

Calamity's Corner September

Another bright and interesting Calamity's Corner is now available as a free e-zine.

Rosalie Skinner's book, Exiled - Autumn's Peril, first of eight books in the Chronicles of Caleath series, available now as Kindle download and available from MuseItUp Publishing.

Another great book review from LJ Roberts. A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny.

Movie review of Red Dog. The very popular and successful Oz movie. Am I the only unlucky one who hasn't seen it.

Travel News this month features Brittany, France. A wonderful place to holiday and visit the famous Mont of St-Michel.

Pet of the Month are those peculiar looking animals, Bactrian camels. This pair are residents of the Berlin Zoo.

And from Spain, Carlo J Vella, author of Book of Secrets, presents photos of ruins, 800 years older than Pompeii.

All this and plenty more. Contact Calamity

Out there and bound.

And we are out there!!!

Yup, Touch of Evil is now live and selling on Lulu (print version) and Smashwords (ebook). Both versions are now selling and doing okay, print strangely enough a little better than I thought. With all the hooplah about ebooks outstripping print about a million to one, i sort of expected the ebooks to be downloaded a little faster but no. Most people I speak to still want the feel of paper under their finger tips. One person even remarked that she preferred to dog-ear her pages rather than press a 'bookmark' button.

Okay. Whatever floats your boat. But thanks to those who have bought the book. I hope you like it and enjoy it and tell your friends. The more likes I get, the better chance i have to revisit the TV show again.

But seriously, amongst us friends, and it will go no further than my next facebook post, who truly prefers paper books over ebooks? We've all read the reports. What's your fave and if you have a reason, why?? Is it sentimentality or a'feel' thing, ease or what? Let me know coz I am seriously interested.

But what next?

Well, a special hardback edition of my short story "Gone to Mum's" is going thru at the moment, with an afterword explaining a few things that aren't in there. Hoping to have it done soon, say three weeks. Sooner would be better. The usual hassle (acceptable cover) is the holdup, but having had another of my late-nite brainwaves, might have the second coolest cover in my life happening with the cutest goddaughter inn the world on there. That's cover number 2, not the second best. Wait and see. More when it happens.

Beyond that, getting into Transported Legends: Halloween. With luck it will be done Halloween Eve, with a big party here for the release. Looking to get the community involved with maybe a riverside spooky story competition and maybe danceoff or something. Not a lot of time to set it up, but the plan is starting to come together.

So much to do, so little time.

Thanks for listening.

PS, please excuse pun in the title. Out there and bound .... bound ...cover. book printing...bound. Geddit? 

okay. Sorry.

2^nd September 2011

Reviewer: Carole Sutton

Historical fiction at its best

The Unhewn Stone by Wendy Laharnar

The Unhewn Stone is a fantasy tale about a young man, Stefan Gessler who returns to the time of his ancestors in the 14^th Century. His primary task is to restore honour to his family name, destroyed by the William Tell legend, and secondly to learn how to change base metals into gold. Starting off as a callow youth, Stefan grows with the story to become an accomplished man.

Fantasy is not my preferred genre, but once I started this story I became drawn in to the plight of Stefan, as a modern young man, disfigured in looks, suffering from unrequited love, and bereft at the death of his dog. As the story progresses we venture into fantasy land, I continued to read, caught by the adventures of the 14^th C. Stefan and his ancient family. One fascinating aspect is that Stefan retains his 21^st C. outlook which at times contrasts sharply with those of his 14^th C. cousins. I enjoyed his comparisons. I found the magical elements were written convincingly enough that I had no trouble suspending my disbelief.

Stefan remains very human with his faults, his sometimes overbearing attitude getting him into more trouble than necessary. He grows with the plot. He builds a good relationship with his distant cousin Rolf and various friends. The tale is sweetened by the love of Rolf and Eva Tell. It kept me reading as it bounded from one adventure after another with Stefan and Rolf fleeing their enemies, both human and spiritual in the various guises of a sibyl who is determined to steal Stefan's half of his orb and thus prevent him from returning to his own time.

The ending built up into a page turning climax that satisfied this reader.

Publishing part 2

I've been putting off thinking about the print version of Touch of Evil for a few weeks, but then Tuesday nite thought stuff it. So eight hours later, after most of that time reformatting for print, buggerising around coz i was tired and getting more than a little frustrated, I uploaded the book to LULU, So yes, in about three days from now, Touch of Evil will be available in print.

This post will take several tangent. this is but one of them:

Touch has thusfar sold but 2 copies as an ebook. Strange. True I haven['t exactly been out there pushing it down people throats. Been focussed on a couple of other things. But still, with ebooks having a rise of 1024% in the oast year and print falling somewhat, where are the people (friends, relatives) who might buy the book. Dunno, but I am looking into it.

Once I got my head aroiund it, LULU was easy to get along with. A long while ago, my good mate Pip publisjhed a wonderful book called "Faces in the Street" a wonderful book about the life and times of Henry Lawson. He used LULU, and his book cost a fortune. (well worth the money, but steep if you were just looking). Touch came in at just over half the size of Faces, but where Pip's book was processed in Portugal and posted from there ($20.00 freight + $35.00 for the book) I can sell Touch for $14.95 with freight being less than $10.00 and still make a dollar per book!!! why you shout as you jump up and down in delight. Because they print and send for Oceania and SE Asia from Brizbane. So YAY for LULU. Plus they now list freely wit Amazon and Barnes and Noble and all them lot. Probably Angus and Robertson/Dymocks et al as well. Now makes self publishing a little more affordable for us.

So, in a couple of days Touch of Evil will be available everywhere. I have thought about a special edition hardcover. Maybe , maybe not. it will truly be a special edition, meant for me and a few choice people who have helped me in some big ways. also thinking about am audiobook, but the reader is the key there, and I only trust 2 people to read for me. we'll see on that score.

So now, I ask that if you like a little speculation in your fiction, a little thought in your light entertainment then please take a look at Touch of Evil. I like it, I think you will too.

Thanks for listening.

It's There.

Yup, it's true. After much too-ing and fro-ing, much soul searching, editing, revising, formatting, Touch of Evil is finally available as an ebook thru Smashwords. Imagine that moment, just imagine it. I've lived with some of these tales for over ten years. They've seen changes in character, direction, setting, you name it. But thanks to the faith and support of others, my friends and fellow Nitewriters, I've fought that inner demon that keeps telling me it's not right, it's not good enough. I've defeated that negative side.

That last moment, as i sat there waiting for the manuscript to pass through Smashword's 'meatgrinder' twice as formatting problems made me go thru for a second and third time then just waiting. 10%. 25%. Real slow at 50%. 80%. 99%. Then a long wait. Faith starts to evaporate about then, because time just dilates. The Eagles said 'The hours go by like minutes' in the song "Wasted time' but that time there, sitting, waiting for Mr 100% to tick over seemed like a second short of forever

Then it ticked over. Submitted, confirmed, accepted. By my own hand, with the help of someone I've never met, my ebook is now for sale on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, and a half dozen other sites.

I suppose if this were the Academy Awards, I'd be thanking God and a few important people. I'd like to thank my friends the Nitewriters, in particular Toni, Rosalie and Robyn for their writerly input, but all the others for their support. Writing can be the most singular pursuit a person can take on. Only you can write your book, but the right people can help you by suggesting, reading, encouraging. No writer is truly alone if one has friends and peers like I do.

So, I offer you my work. A large part of my life and sanity has gone into it. It's three dollars. If you read it and like it, please let me know. If you don;t like it, break it to me gently, coz i bruise easily. but still let me know.

With thanks to all.

Baz

The Unhewn Stone.

My son created the video and wrote the haunting music for it. Thanks Mark and Ryan for performing the instumentals. I'm a very proud Mum and G'mother :)

Wendy talks about Covers...

First Turning Point has an article by our own Wendy Laharnar.

We all know how stressful creating your own, or having your cover created can be. Wendy covers the topic well.

See what she has to say...
  The Book Cover: Vanguard of Promotion
 
I know how she feels... Covers can help you feel confident about your promotion, or they can leave you underwhelmed. I have had both experiences.
At least if you make your own, as others in this group have done brilliantly, and with success, you only have yourself to blame.
When you work with a Cover Artist, the waiting is difficult and often learning to live with your cover takes time.
I think Wendy can rest easy with her cover. :)

Don't forget, the Unhewn Stone is due for release on Friday 12th August.

Calamity's Corner August

Congratulations Wendy, on Calamity's Corner, another edition of your very entertaining ezine. Contact Wendy on Calamity's Corner for a free subscription.
I loved reading about romance author, Pat Mc Dermott's wonderful cruise from SanFrancisco to Alaska with bits of history mixed in as well.
Reviewer LJ Roberts has another great book review, a book I just know I'll have to buy. Books make great gifts too.
Best wishes to Wendy whose first book, The Unhewn Stone, will be published this month. A wonderful book for young adults. Set in the Switzerland in the era of William Tell - was he a mythical person or not - The Unhewn Stone is an adventure story made even more exciting with magic and the arts of the Alchemist who tried to change base metals into gold.
I've read The Unhewn Stone in draft and can recommend it as an exciting read. Look for it when it's published.

Completely Free
(as long as you pay for it)

Jacqueline George

I'm busy - busy constructing a web page for an upcoming book - Falling into Queensland. Not a naughty book this time, but a crime/adventure story set in the far north. You can find the web page here . The page sets out the background to the story, especially for people who have no idea what Queensland can look like. I have written a little about the story, but mainly I want to explain the context with comments and pictures. The page is changing hour by hour as I work on it.

The next step is to post an excerpt, and then I need some comments, or even a review or two. Any volunteers to look at it? Just message me below, or use the email link on my home page, and I will send you a pdf, epub, mobi or Kindle version.

©Jacqueline George All rights reserved.

Jacqueline George lives in Cooktown, Far North Queensland. She enjoys the relaxed lifestyle there, and finds plenty of time write books, some of which are far too naughty for her own good.

Jacqueline's home page

Dane Beesley "Splitting the Second: A photographer's journal" book launch

A cool timelapse video of a fellow Australian author's book launch.  "Splitting the Seconds, a photographer's journal". Launch venue was Metro Arts Building 109 Edward St Brisbane.
Available now. $65 (Aust)
For more information regarding the journal visit...
 Dane Beesley website  http://photodane.com/
 Splitting the Seconds, a photographer's journal...

Buy the book information...http://photodane.com/book/

Music in the video is by The FrickenHecks a Brisbane band.

Camera work is by Phillip Skinner a Brisbane photographer.

Wind from Danyari

I've just made Wind from Danyari, into a Kindle download. It is the first book in my saga about the Hennessy family and their sheep station, Walara.

Walara is set in the Carnarvon district of Western Australia. It begins with the wreck of the Dutch East Indiaman, the Zuytdorp, which was wrecked on the coast of WA and continues to the beginning of WWII.

When Joe Hennessy saw Alicia Pennington, the beautiful spoilt daughter of one of Perth's leading businessmen, he fell in love with her. But would she make a suitable wife to take to Walara, his sheep station in the north west of Western Australia.

Wind from Danyari is also available in a print version from various outlets online.

Touch Of Evil

This is it!!! This is the cover for which we have waited with baited breath. Just a quick blurb for the back, a few adjustments and Touch iof Evil will be available, first as an epub download, then a Kindle and then a fully fledged stack of paper pressed into an A5 book shape.

Ten years!!

Ten f@#$ing years!!!!!

I'll tell the truth. I have reached a point so many times where I've thought YES, I'm READY!! only to have something happen that just stuffed me and my project up. Faith was something that was fading from my life as a writer, despite the good things people I was being told by review readers.


This was the last Hurdle. Of course the picture killed Anton's computer. I would expect no less. But like the Hercules he is, Anton fought the twelve demons from Hell and got the thing done, better than I could have expected. It looks great. Everyone loves it so far. So, I sit here at the desk of pain and reset the clock for launch. My faith has returned, my enthusiasm now simmers back where it should be.


This is it.


Thanks for the patience. I've been talking about this for too long, but please bear with me just a short time more. 


Touch of Evil, coming real soon.


Thanks 

Crossroads at Isca

I have just published my Roman Britain novel, Crossroads at Isca, as a Kindle download.

Faine and Marella are the nieces of a British chieftain. When they meet two young Tribunes from the great Roman fort on the plain, their lives are changed forever.

A circle of men, their beards glistening with pork fat, and clasping beakers filled with wine and mead, watched the dancer, her golden hair flying around her as she leapt and turned around the fire burning in a ring of stones at the centre of the wattle and daub hut.

The men shouted their encouragement as the dancer completed the final steps of the dance to the beat of a drum covered with animal hide, the rattle of stones and animal bones, and the shrill trill of a pipe.

They burst into uproar when she stood poised like a statue, one arm raised above her head, her breasts rising and falling, her lips shining as she glanced across the heads of the audience.

The shouts of "More, more," echoed around Ceomin's hall.

His face flushed from excitement and wine, Tribune Lucius Acilius jumped into the circle and swept the dancer into his arms and danced with her in a whirl of skirts around the periphery of shouting men , his iron-studded sandals biting into the earthern floor.

http://laurellamperdwriter.weebly.com/

Calamity's Corner

Another great Calamity's Corner. Jacquie Rogers new book, Much Ado About Marshals, sounds a great read. Must look out for Body Line by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles new detective novel which is another good review from LL Roberts. The movie review of Heaven Only Knows, Mr Allison brought memories of when I saw it years ago. I liked the sound of Sally Odgers and Aaron Pocock's new book, Journey into Faerie. It sounds delightful. Thanks, Calamity, for bringing my attention to what other people are up to. Email Calamity for a free copy of Calamity's Corner.

Murder Among the Roses

Murder Among the Roses, my detective mystery romance, is now available as a Kindle download. $3.99.

When Detective Matt Allenby arrived in the hamlet of Taylors Crossing in the hills above Perth in Western Australia, to investigate a murder, he thought it would be a straight forward case. He didn't expect the locals to have secrets of their own which would conflict with his investigation. Then Matt finds he is falling in love with one of his suspects.

A story about people making a new life for themselves in a community where they have found friends when a murder threatens to destroy their new found peace.

Murder Among the Roses is available ina print version available from Amazon, The Book Depository, Barnes and Noble and other sources.

What He Taught Her by Anne Whitfield

My sexy short story, What He Taught Her has now been released in ebook. It does contain sensual love scenes.

Blurb:
Rob Healy has everything he wants, or will have once he’s built his new resort on a small island in the Pacific. A woman in his life isn’t planned at the moment, but when he sees Cassandra Kearns in the foyer looking stiff and out of place amongst the holiday makers his interest is spiked. What is a beautiful woman doing wearing a business suit and holding a laptop doing on an island resort, especially when there are no conferences booked that week?
Cassandra Kearns is fleeing New York and all that makes her comfortable for two idyllic weeks in the tropics. She’s stressed, overtired and close to breaking point. Her divorce is finalised, her daughter is grown and she’s realising that she’s on her own and dare she say it - lonely.
She needs to take some time and recharge her batteries. But how is she to do that? She’s worked 24/7 for years. Does she know how to have fun?
When Cassandra meets Rob she rejects the spark of attraction she feels. A man in her life, after the betrayal of Oliver? She’d rather eat broken glass!
Yet Rob is persistent, he’s funny and he’s gorgeous, but what exactly does he want?
Excerpt:
The music changed to a faster tempo and some of the couples got up to dance. Rob got them another bottle of wine and refilled her glass. Cassandra studied him as he secured the bottle back in the sand. Had she ever met such a man as him before? Yes, he was attractive, but he had something else that drew not only her attention, but the stares of other women around him.
There was magnetic quality about Rob, a mixture of a devil-may-care attitude and an inner strength of purpose which fascinated her. Desire grew inside her, igniting, and she felt a delicious heat in the pit of her stomach. It had been so long since she'd throbbed in need for a man’s body.
Reggae thumped out of the speakers. Rob stood and held out his hand. “Come on, let’s dance.”
“Really?” She stared, as he helped her to her feet. “You dance?”
“Don’t you?” He led her closer to the fire.
“I haven’t for a long time, and the men I know never dance, at least not to this type of music.”
He didn’t answer her as the music was turned up, and the Jamaican rhythm of steel drums and a Caribbean voice urged them to let themselves go.
Fired by the wine, the heat of the fire, and the music filling her senses, Cassandra was transported to another world, one full of sensual stimulus, of earthy primal urges: to eat, to frolic, to cavort. Nature’s way was very powerful, and she didn’t fight against it.
She raised her arms and swung her hips, dancing as she hadn’t done for a very long time. Laughing, Rob twirled her under his arm. The flames reflected off her gold shimmering dress. All the guests were dancing now, the music infectious, the atmosphere festive. Everyone seemed to just want to have fun, forget their problems and dance.
Cassandra squealed as Rob lifted her off her feet and spun her around. He stepped aside, grinning as a guy in his twenties came up to her and did a bit of dirty dancing with her, grinding his pelvis against hers, and she threw her head back and laughed. She felt young and completely alive. Within moments, he’d gone on to another woman, a young twenty something wearing hardly anything at all. The people around her were happy, and it had been forever since she'd felt this way.
The music changed to Salsa, and Rob took her in his arms and pulled her against him. Sexual need lit his blue eyes. He hungered for her. Her skin heated, longing for his touch.
Her smile melted away as the length of his body moved as one with hers, their steps not perfect, but instinctive, powerful. His shoulders muscles bunched beneath her hands. She ran her fingers down his back, and he tightened his hold even further.
They were locked in a dance as sexy and sensual as actually making love. Rob’s eyes never left hers, his mouth only inches from her touch. His hands cupped her hips, guiding them against his own. She shimmied, turned and, with her back to him, danced in a way she’d never done before. Every provocative movement was a gesture of intimacy, of want, of promise. Through music, their bodies touched, sending silent messages to one another. Rob flipped her around to face him again and slipped his thigh between hers. His hands slid down over her bottom, and she gasped at the ache throbbing inside her.
The music changed again, back to a pumping beat. Rob slowly released her, and she regained some of her sense and took a step back. Shocked at her wanton behaviour, her smile was perfunctory.
God, she hoped she hadn’t humiliated herself. She desperately wanted to sit down. What had gotten into her? She turned away from the bonfire and wandered away from the other dancers. Rob kept pace with her.
“Would you like to go for a walk up the beach?”
“No!” She jumped at the harshness of her refusal. “I mean no, sorry, thank you. I think it is time I went back to the beach house.” She gathered up her purse and shoes from the blanket, refusing to make eye contact.
“Cassie...”
“Please, Rob. I must go. Thank you for tonight. I had a great time.” She flashed him a tortured look, silently begging him not to say or do anything else. “Good night.”
As fast as she could run in the soft sand, she left the beach and headed up to the steps to the path. “What a mess,” she cried. Not bothering to put her heels back on, she ran along the shadowy path, away from Rob—wishing she could run away from the feeling he brought out in her, too.

Buy from Museit Up Publishing

The Streak

"* cue ray stevens and his song of the same name "

No, I am NOT about to strip to my bare nakeds and run about outside, at a cricket match or even a ping pong tourney. If nothing else, it's too Bloody cold. No. This is another type of streak. (Have written about this before, but I have a habit of harping on things ...)

Inspiration. It comes and it goes. Where and when, nobody knows. Maybe I'm a lucky one, because I can walk down the road on any given morning and have three good story ideas before I get home. In all probability tho, by the time I sit down I've also probably forgotten all of them, or the thread of them. It's a little annoying.

I remember once, a fair while ago, I used to walk six k's along the highway to work. On the way I wrote the perfect story, one I'd had in my head for ages but could never get it just right.

You know what I mean? It's there, it makes sense, but it's not
        quite
                 right.

It's called " The Cruise", and it's about youth in the country towns, the car culture that grows in small country areas because it's the only real route to freedom, and how some people build these cars, these wonderful, perfect pieces of automobilia and having spent their lives, their savings building what is - in their minds - the perfect escape machine, never going anywhere, except maybe around the block, or down the street, with a dozen others just like them on a Friday or Saturday night.

The story is beautiful. It has angst, pathos, feeling, heartbreak, you name it. And in that six k walk I had IT!! Did I write it down?
No.
Did I record it, at least?
No.

No. I still have the story, mostly complete, but what I have has no edge. It's not perfect. It's flawed. It isn't the story I told myself on that walk to while away the time before work, a story that just held me, and I was telling it to myself.

Back to inspiration.

I never feel at a loss for inspiration. Walking in a field one morning gave me a line. "The last of the summer spiders." All because where I was, the ground was covered in these tiny cone shaped webs strung between tall stalks of winter grass. Hundreds of webs. There was a story there, too, but all I have left is the line.

Ideas bounce through the hollow of my brain like dust motes, blown by a gale. I have tended to wait and see what takes root, what says a week. if it finds a home in one of the cob-webby corners of my brain, if it maybe grows a little, and if, only if it still grabs me after a week, it gets page space. sometimes it grows from there, sometimes it stagnates and just sits there, becalmed in a sea of ideas and thoughts and no wind of creativity to propel it further.

Sometimes it just gets forgotten.

Oh yeah, the streak.

In the past three/four weeks, I have written down maybe tw hundred bits and pieces that will maybe becoe stories. At the moment they are just germs, seeds waiting to burst forth and grow the roots I need in my mind to pay them some attention and nurture them  little more to fullfilledness (is that a word? should be!). I have had a creative streak that is second to none in the past three years. I can create anything I want anywhere. It is that good at the moment.

But have I done anything? Have I tended the garden of creativity and brought forth a bounty of stories to amaze and astound? Have I?

Short answer:    No.

I start, I stop, I move on to the next.

And I don't know why.

The House of Women released!

I'm so excited that my historical novel, The House of Women, is now released.

Blurb
Leeds. 1870. Lonely and brokenhearted, Grace Woodruff fights for her sisters’ rights to happiness while sacrificing any chance for her own.
   The eldest of seven daughters, Grace is the core of strength around which the unhappy members of the Woodruff family revolve. As her disenchanted mother withdraws to her rooms, Grace must act as a buffer between her violent, ambitious father and the sisters who depend upon her. Rejected by her first love and facing a spinster’s future, she struggles to hold the broken family together through her father’s infidelity, one sister’s alcoholism, and another’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy by an unsuitable match.
    Caring for an illegitimate half-brother affords Grace an escape, though short-lived. Forced home by illness and burdened with dwindling finances, Grace faces fresh anguish –and murder– when her first love returns to wreck havoc in her life. All is not lost, however. In the midst of tragedy, the fires of her heart are rekindled by another. Will the possibility of true love lead Grace to relinquish her responsibilities in the house of women and embrace her own right to happiness?

Excerpt
   Grace blinked to clear her frozen mind as her mother and Verity climbed the staircase. If Verity was here then was William here too? Movement at the door caused Grace to close her eyes. She couldn’t bring herself to open them and see the one man she’d longed for since she was sixteen.
    ‘Miss Woodruff?’ Doyle inquired at her shoulder.
   Startled, she spun to face him, but she was blind to him, blind to everything but the sensation of having William here. Crazily, she wondered if she would swoon like a maiden aunt.
   Doyle’s hand reached out, but he quickly tucked it behind his back. ‘What is it, Miss Woodruff?’
   Grace swallowed, feeling the fine hairs on her arms and nape prickle. He is here.
    'Good evening, Grace.’
   At the sound of William’s deep velvety voice, her heart stopped beating, only to start again at a rapid pace. Her stomach clenched and her legs felt unable to support her anymore. Slowly, she swivelled to gaze into William’s blue-green eyes and knew she was lost again. William smiled his captivating smile. He had aged, no, matured since their last meeting. He looked leaner, but broader in the shoulders. There was an aura about him, something that females of any age wanted. He made all other men around him seem insignificant. A magnetism, a mystical air surrounded him, catching Grace in its clutches once more.

Order The House of Women from Amazon.com, or The Book Depository, which has free postage and currently on discount.
http://www.bookdepository.com/House-Women-Anne-Whitfield/9780956790187

For more information about me or my books, please visit my website.
http://www.annewhitfield.com

Characters behaving badly

This may not be the place for this. If not, please let me know and I'll remove it at once. But if you like it then also, please let me know.

Wendy posted very recently about her characters not doing as she wants, which is often the characters wont. Characters are like children, and - strangely enough - exactly like the actors who will perhaps portray them at some future moment, usually when you are dead and your estate sells your back catalogue cheap coz they have no idea what REAL art is worth.

Having had a little to do with serious thespians, I find that like some characters, they are spoilt, lazy, ornery and at times idiotic. Treat them as equals. threaten the crap out of them. Bring in new characters who will work harder and cheaper and do what they're told (at least until they get known and become just like those they replace).

But on the subject of characters (and not multiple personalities), I offer this little piece I wrote a while back about characters. Please enjoy (I did say please :)  )

 THE WATCHER

You sit there, high above, looking across time and space it seems. Far below there are lives being lived, loves being lost, wars being fought, circles and cycles of life ever revolving. And up here, away from it all, above the clouds, where eagles fear to fly, you watch.

This world below you is an amazing place. Eons become seconds and moments last forever as you study them, the creatures below. They seem so much like you, almost a part of you, created in your image. Or have they created you in theirs?

You ponder this, this extension of the eternal chicken verses egg question, and for the briefest second - as a billion beings flare into brightness then die beneath you - you wonder who created who, and in that moment you hear them; calling to you, begging you, demanding, asking, questioning.

Praying.

Who are you?

Where are you?

What are you?

Are you Batman? Are you really there? Are you good? Who the hell do you think you are?

And most quiet of all: whispered, breathed.

Are you God?

That question catches you, holds you and for another moment where a sun goes nova, a new universe spins out of the debris and a new history evolves in a blink of an all seeing eye, you ask yourself just that.

Am I God?

Of course there’s no answer. How can there be? Up here in the dark, above the clouds, above where the highest mountains reach, where none but you can exist except in the mind and the imagination, who can answer?

Are you God?

You look at your hands, capable of so much. In but a moment you can create a world that is perfect, beyond beauty, and with a casual thought destroy it on a whim. You can give life to those who don’t have it, can take it from those who do. Creatures unseen on any world can be made in seconds, become extinct in the time it takes to exhale and resurface by the miracle of modern “science” as another sun flashes into existence in far off void in space. You can give truth to a liar, sight to those who are blind and love to even the most villainous with these hands. You are a creator, perhaps the Creator, but still it doesn’t answer that question.

Are you God?

You look up into the heavens, above even your own lofty heights, into the realm of the truly unknown, to that place where miracles come from, where divine inspiration flows eternal.

Is there more?

This question comes from your own heart and mind, spoken softly by your own lips. Those down below might mistake the sound for thunder in the distance, the more primitive wondering if the deity created in their own image is displeased.

Is the universe you watch and rule in fact part of a much larger creation; a multiverse, layered in dimensions beyond even your own understanding? Are you just a small part of a much larger machine, larger than even you, you who have created and sustained this reality for as long as you can remember can even conceive, or are you the sum total of All That Is?

Whispers.

Prayers.

Are you God?

Borders change. Mountains rise and fall.

Are you God?

Lives begin and end. Loves flare and die. Worlds come and go. Eternity in a hour, an hour gone in seconds.

 Are you God?

Good and Evil wrestle below in a battle eternal. You could decide the battle with a touch, the finger of God, your  power Almighty, your will be done.

 Are you God?

 In but a moment, all that you survey could cease to exist, erased at the touch of a metaphysical button. And in as much time it would take to erase, you could create another universe to take its place, the questions removed and all trace of doubt washed away.

This question for which there is no true answer.

Are you God?

There is an answer. You cannot admit it, though it would calm your heart, bring peace to your mind.

Are you God?

You know the answer.

 Are you God?

The answer is no. As god-like you might seem to those you watch over, no matter how awesome your power, no matter what you do or how you do it, you’re not god, or even a god. You’re some thing better, and more.

You’re a writer.