Monday, July 30, 2012

Ways of Love

Read all of my short story, Ways of Love, on  

A short introduction below
  Ways of Love
Beth Herrick was the proverbial spinster daughter. She'd left her job in a solicitor's office to help her mother look after her father when he was ill. Her other siblings, married with families, said Beth was the logical one and already lived at home.
Beth didn't tell them about the young man at the office who was showing an interest in her. Reluctantly she refused his invitations to the movies, knowing she had to be a bulwark for her mother. The young man, timid and reserved like Beth, faded away.
When their father died two years later, the family decided Beth should stay home with their mother to look after her though Clarissa, their mother said she was perfectly able to look after herself. Beth should go back her old job and get into the world again.
There's no need for Beth to work, the family said. Their late parent had left his wife and youngest daughter substantially well off but during the years since her father's death, the inheritance had shrunk. Beth found it hard to make ends meet. She thought of returning to work but time had moved on since she'd worked in an office. She'd forgotten half her shorthand and hadn't used a typewriter for years. She thought about taking a refresher course but now there were computers and systems her nephews and nieces spoke about with ease. Christopher, Beth's youngest nephew, was amazed Beth didn't know about a byte though he'd told her over and over again.
Beth, who loved poetry and reading, thought she'd re-train as a librarian but she'd lost her confidence. So she put what spare time she had into babysitting nieces and nephews for a few dollars and doing a bit of cooking and cleaning for the woman down the road who had a high powered job in the city and who continually told Beth she'd give anything to stay home for a few days and sleep.

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 Download The Rainbow Children from www.kindlebooks.com
Jenny, an only child, meets the Rainbow Children and has an adventure.
Plus other stories suitable for children 4-10

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Books to Buy


Check out these books at http://wendylaharnar.blogspot.com.au
And where they are available - MuseItUp at http://museituppublishing.com 

Invaded - The Darkest Day/Chronicles of Caleath - Rosalie Skinner
Concilium/the Concilium series  - Michelle K Pickett
Darker Than Night - Erick Burgess
Murder By Design/The Tito Prescott mysteries  - Joyce Holland
Set Up - Cheryl B Dale
Revelations/The Fireborn Chronicles - Mary Andrews
Entity/The Spectra series  - Joanne Elder
Island Danger - Margo Sorenson
Soul Bound/The Twin Flames series - Alix Richards 

Fantasy, romance, horror, thriller, mystery, sci-fi, paranormal, adult, young adult 

A book here for every reader.  

Following my Barrens Beach theme of my last blog, here is another photo of the beach complex.
Looking northwards from the beach to the Fitzgerald River National Park. The walk path is a depiction of the Park's coastline.




Friday, July 27, 2012


Visiting Hopetoun WA!
Check out the new complex at Barrens Beach at the foot of East Mt Barren and see my poem on a plaque there. 
Cry of my country.
              To Eileen Turle 

She said
have you read Edward Thomas
and lent me a book
of his poetry. 

He spoke of English things
of meadowsweet
the first primrose
the blackbird song at evening
and English lanes
green and white in their season.
These things she remembered. 

My road runs wide and long.
Through the shimmering heat
the red dust dances
beyond the horizon
and from a Tallerack
by the creek
comes the harsh call of a crow.  

For those readers who are interested, Edward Thomas was one of the doomed WW1 poets








Saturday, July 21, 2012

A Winter's tale


I first thought of making The Winter's Tale into a short story. It could almost be the basic for a novel. How many lifetimes does a writer have? Instead it became a poem.
The poem was first published in The Small Press Times, then I published it in my short story and poetry anthology, The Japanese Grandmother. 

A WINTER’S TALE  

They met in the rain
Outside the coffee shop.
He had come from visiting
his newborn son.
She was on her way
to collect her daughter
from ballet lessons. 

 They were together in Paris.
He had an offer
Of a top job in London.
            She had to return
to this antipodean city
where her mother was dying. 
He saw her to the airport.
She promised to return
but her mother
took a long time dying. 

He took her arm
And led her
into a coffee shop
across the way.
He ordered coffee
holding her hand
as he caressed the rings
another man had placed there. 

Silently she cried as
he kissed her cold fingers
With lips wet from the rain. 

She gave him a last anguished look
Before rushing into the rain. 

At his feet was the cup
She had knocked from the table.
Broken in two. 

Picking up the chit
He went to the check out.
They added
the price of the cup
to his bill. 

He picked up the change
And went into the rain. 

 www.smashwords.com 25% discount during July.
Miss Emma Napier helps her friend, Abby, escape from an unwelcome marriage. She meets Lord Desborough who is looking for a temporary wife. He thinks Emma could be the perfect choice.


Tuesday, July 17, 2012

I'd read about mysterious circles in grain crops and decided to write a short story about such a happening.
Coming of Hippolyta won second prize in an Esperance short story competition and was published in ARM, another outlet for creative writers which has stopped publishing. 

Coming of Hippolyta

Madge Kelly went onto the back verandah to empty the teapot on the hydrangea growing in an old tub by the wooden steps. In the darkness, she visualized the plant's lush blue flowers. To her, it was an old friend.
She'd bought the plant as a cutting in a jam tin from a stall in town the year she married Ern. She'd propagated it many times but the parent plant meant more to her than its offspring growing around her garden and in the neighbours' gardens.
She glanced to that part of the evening sky where the planet Venus usually appeared.
Below the planet, another bright star suddenly materialized. Madge thought it was the light of a jet but it moved too fast. To Madge's startled gaze, it grew larger and brighter while she watched and seemed to land beyond the strip of bush in the north paddock.
Ern, her husband, called from the kitchen, "Hurry up, Madge. We're waiting for our tea."
Madge backed away from Venus and tripped over the doorstep into the kitchen. "I think I've just seen a spaceship land."

Read the rest of the story at www.authorsden.com/laurellamperd

Download The Japanese Grandmother at www.smashwords.com 25% discount during July
Short stories and poetry

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Creative Connections


People of Western Australia
Looking for somewhere to go?
 Visit the Creative Connections Art and Poetry Exhibition.
Buy a painting if you are so inclined, or an anthology or two of the paintings and poetry.
Or just enjoy yourself.


Monday, July 9, 2012

Butterflies


I wrote this little poem many years ago after a friend told me about her friend who had an operation for a cancerous breast. When it had healed, she had a butterfly tattooed on the place where her breast had been.
The poem was published in Pandora, a women's magazine. 

Butterflies            

Creatures of sun and light
And dewy mornings.
Brilliant coloured wings fluttering
among flowers in my garden
giving pleasure
to my friend and me
as we drank tea
on the verandah. 

She had a breast removed
and a butterfly
Tattooed on the spot.

            *               *             *

Download Rainbow Children from www.smashwords.com
Jenny, an only child, meets the Rainbow children who live at the end of the rainbow and has an adventure. Plus other short stories suitable for children 4 - 10

Sunday, July 8, 2012


Are you wordy? Recognize the signs
Scan your writing for the following symptoms of wordiness:
  • Being” verbs. You’ll have to use them sometimes, of course, but they often slow the pace of a sentence. Compare “still, dustgreen trees” to “trees that are a dusty-colored green.”
  • Passive constructions. Passive voice, which occurs when the subject of the sentence receives action rather than performing it, inevitably clogs sentences. Compare the flies that “are killed by the impact” versus the flies that simply “die.”
  • Filler words. We writers love words…maybe a little too much. Are all of our words necessary? Play a game with your WIP: take a few sentences and try to rewrite them to be half as long, a third as long, even just an eighth as long. Experiment with what words you can cut without losing meaning.
  • Read the rest of the article by Sarah Baughman at Suzannah's site at wrap http://writeitsideways.com
  • However. And this from me. You must be careful not to make your book into a synopsis of the story you tell and your characters cardboard people. The reader still needs to know how your characters think and feel, their despair and joy, to enter their minds so the reader becomes one with the character and to the reader that character becomes a person.  

                  *                    *                    *
Danny and Will Hennessy are off to fight in WW2, leaving their father, Jack Hennessy, to manage the huge Walara sheep property.
Download Journey from Walara from www.smashwords.com 25% during July

Friday, July 6, 2012

Calamity's Corner July 2012


July's Calamity's Corner is now available. For your free download, email Calamity at calam@live.com.au
This month's author is Kim Walters who writes for Harlequin's Love Inspired series.  Kim says she considers setting is important. A good setting captures the imagination and sets the background of the story. Kim likes to place her stories in a small town setting.
I must say if nothing else, the book covers of Kim's books would sell her stories. They are absolutely lovely: so bright with colour that one just wants to be there.
Check out Kim's beautiful book covers at amazon.com
Among the book and movie reviews: Deborah Cannan considers the movie, Royal Affair, the best movie she's seen this year. The film is based on the true story of the very young English Princess Caroline who is sent to marry King Christian VII of Denmark. The beauty of the movie is added to by the sumptuous gowns and setting.
Do you want help as a writer? Check out Calamity's Resources and Promotion web links.
See how smart you are by trying Calamity's quiz. This month's theme: Distances.
Want to see yourself in Calamity's Corner? Send in an unusual event/activity. Write about your pet and send photos.
And much much more in Calamity's Corner.


Download from www.smashwords.com discounted 25% during July
Detective Matt Allenby arrives in a small town in Western Australia to investigate a murder. He thinks it will be a straightforward case then he finds he is fallng in love with one of his suspects

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

The Japanese Grandmother


Many readers have thought this story was part of my family history. But it is fiction. I wrote it because there really were Japanese prostitutes in the small mining community of Western Australia on the edge of the desert country in the early nineteen hundreds. It spurred my imagination. 

The Japanese Grandmother  

We were always in awe of our Japanese grandmother, so tiny and delicate in comparison to her great clodhoppers of grandchildren who took after the Australian side of the family. The only thing we inherited from her were our sloe black eyes.
To her grandchildren, she always remained an enigma. "Tell us about where you came from?" we'd beg her.
"I came from Japan," she said, her black eyes smiling.
"But where in Japan?" we'd cry, especially me, who had a greater interest than the others in our family history. "We know grandfather's family here in Melbourne but where is your Japanese family?"
She smiled mysteriously and fluttered a fan made from rice paper in front of her face, using it like a mask as she gazed at us over it, her eyes inscrutable in their darkness.
We tried to guess what grandmother's life might have been in Japan. Had she been a princess or highborn Japanese lady?
One of the younger grandchildren was sure grandmother had been a fairy. We bigger ones scoffed, sending her fleeing to grandmother for comfort.
"If you say I was a fairy, then I must have been," grandmother said. "Look, little one." Grandmother opened her fan with its exotic design. "See the crane contemplating the tree. What is he thinking?"
"He wants to build a nest and lay some eggs," my small cousin said, getting her genders mixed.
Grandmother folded the fan and placed it in my cousin’s chubby hand. "For you, little one." Sixty years later, my cousin still has it.
As we grew older, we queried grandmother's history less, that is, all except me. I suppose it was why grandfather left me the letter to be opened after my grandparents' deaths. He knew I would become an historian.
Read the rest of the story at my website www.authorsden.com/laurellamperd

Download Crossroads at Isca from www.smashwords.com at a discount of 25% during July.
Two British girls meet two young Roman tribunes from the great fort on the plain and their lives are changed forever.