Cloud Nine Girl

[I wrote this post as a member of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group where we share our worries and also offer support and encouragement to each other on the first Wednesday of every month. If you’re a writer like me and you’re looking for a bit of support, you can click the link and sign up here]

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“All right. Have it your own way. Road to hell paved with unbought stuffed dogs. Not my fault.”

~Ernest Hemingway

The past three months I’ve sort of felt like I’ve been facing off with my characters and their messes, and then unsuccessfully figuring out the best way to clean them up. I wish I could say it wasn’t my fault. But I dreamed it up. I built my world, my characters, and gave them all sorts of emotional holes to fall in. I got through until the end. The conclusion sort of rocked my mind. It is my fault. I refused to change the scene.

Ever been there? Ever created the most impossible ending and nothing else you could possibly think of would do?

I couldn’t dig my way out. I scratched my head for months.

But today I’m here to say, finally! Hallelujah!

I can’t say it’s the best solution. I’m not sure yet. But I can say, it’s the only shred of hope I have to finish the manuscript at this point.

So this month, I’m keeping the post short and sweet. Just to say I’m here, I did it, and I’m sorry I’ve been such a stinking recluse and haven’t been around more blogs than I hoped to. Truly, as I’ve learned through my manuscript, the pace doesn’t matter. The steps do, and telling the right story with the right sequence of action driven events.

My last thought, and I’m sharing it because it really made me laugh is this:

“Nature gave men two ends – one to sit on and one to think with. Ever since then man’s success or failure has been dependent on the one he used most.” George RKirkpatrick

Today, I’m showing off a friend’s new book, Bellona by award winning author  Aoife Marie Sheridan. She’s a member of my writer’s group and I’m really excited for her.  So take a moment and find out a bit about  Aoife Marie Sheridan and her new release.

Thank you. 🙂

About the Book

Bellona is a young princess who grows up in a world of privilege. A world of servants, banquets, and power. To others, she has everything. But behind the castle walls and locked doors things are very different.

Bellona is a damaged, dark and broken girl. Her mother is her number one tormentor. Her words break Bellona, while her father prefers his fists. Hate grows thick within Bellona and the servants become her toys – ones she can break and replace.

In this harrowing tale, we watch Bellona destroy everything around her, yet Nierra, the man who will become her husband, is the only hope she has. But will he be enough to save her?

Redemption will be sought,

Deaths will be repaid,

And somethings can never be undone.

Step back into Saskia again.

How to Purchase the Book

Visit Amazon and download an ebook

• United States
• The U.K.
• https://www.amazon.ca/Bellona-Part-1-5-Saskia-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B01B1YQFAM/

Additional languages are also available.

• http://www.amazon.fr/Bellona-Part-Saskia-Trilogy-English-ebook/dp/B01B1YQFAM/r
• http://www.amazon.de/Bellona-Part-Saskia-Trilogy-English-ebook/dp/B01B1YQFAM/
• http://www.amazon.co.jp/Bellona-Part-Saskia-Trilogy-English-ebook/dp/B01B1YQFAM/

About the Author

Aoife Marie Sheridan has loved reading from a very young age, starting off with mills and boon books given to by her grandmother. Her love for romances grew; by the age of 14 she had read hundreds of them.
Aoife has a passion for writing poetry or in her eyes her journal entries. It was something she did throughout her teens and into her twenties. Aoife won first place for two of her poems and had them published at a young age of just nineteen.

Aoife’s first book Eden Forest (Part one of the Saskia Trilogy) took first place with Writers Got Talent 2013. Aoife continues to write tales of fantasy and romance.

To find out more about Aoife Marie Sheridan, here’s a list of her contact links:

Amazon Page | Facebook | Website |
Email | Blog |
Goodreads Twitter | Google Plus
Linkedin | Pinterest | Mailing List | TSU

[I wrote this post as a member of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group where we share our worries and also offer support and encouragement to each other on the first Wednesday of every month. If you’re a writer like me and you’re looking for a bit of support, you can click the link and sign up here]

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This month, I’m thinking about passion. My son sparked the topic. And the story goes something along the lines as this…

“I can’t do it.”

“It’s too hard.”

“Can I be done yet?”

Familiar comments I’ve heard my 7-year old son say more times out loud than I can count on both hands and feet.  From spelling, to pressure point lessons in karate, to memorizing piano stanzas, even triple digit subtraction problems he’s learning about in second grade.

“When can I be done?” He asks me, with those big brown pleading eyes.

I always stop and take a breath. I make eye contact. “Why?” I ask.

“Because, it’s hard mom.”

I remember the first moment we talked about it. I knew his fears were getting the best of him. He’s a perfectionist like me. He worries like me. And at times he’s more concerned in how everyone else is getting along with each other, than with him. My stance is consistent. It’s always something along the lines as, “Everything you start is challenging. You start it, it feels hard because it’s new, then you practice, and you practice some more. Suddenly it gets easier. Then something else harder comes along and you work some more.”

This spring he’s asked to play baseball. Inside, I was secretly cartwheeling. I encourage sports. I think it teaches teamwork, communication, and how we all have our strengths to share. And the fact that he asked to play this spring let me know something about the sport triggered a desire, a possible passion.

His first baseball practice came and went. I sat outside the fence in the grass watching the roaring wind blow dirt in his face. He ran the field, did push ups, jumping jacks and met each grounder with a little more stopping power.

A day passed. I picked him up from school and asked him, “Did you like your first practice?”

His eyes lit up. He said, “I loved it.”

‘What did you love the most?”

He said, “What the coaches taught me in practice. I liked learning all of those things.”

For once, he didn’t say, “Mom, it’s too hard. I can’t do it.” He said, “Mom, I love it.”

My son inspired me this week. Then I found these great words, toodling (not sure it’s a word) around on pinterest. I couldn’t find a quoted source, so I popped the words into a photo my fiance captured.

They seemed perfect. As a writer, I’ve had people tell me, what I want is almost too hard to do. True, I don’t have all the time in the world. Life gets away from me at times.

But also true is this:

What if the hard stuff makes you feel more alive?

Then I wonder, can you picture your life without it?

I can’t.

So that’s my post for today. I don’t really have a question, unless you’d like to share you’re turning point, that moment you knew writing made you feel so alive.

My words of encouragement are to just go for it. Do it at your pace, your time. And never let the words of others deter you from your own perfect path.

Before I go, I want to say thank you also, to this April’s Co-Hosts:
Megan Morgan
Christopher D. Votey
Viola Fury
Christine Rains
Madeline Mora-Summonte
L.G. Keltner
Patricia Lynne
Rachna Chhabria