A FABULOUS AWARD -- A SPLASH!!

Imagine my surprise to get word about this fabulous (and sparkly!) award, gifted to me from Ryan, at Wordsmithonia.

Ryan describes it this way:

The Splash Award is given to those blogs you find alluring, bewitching, impressive and inspiring.


Following those guidelines, it is difficult to narrow it down to just a few, since there are so many fabulous blogs out there!
 
But I will begin with the following:
 
Shellie, at Layers of Thought
 
The Betty and Boo Chronicles
 
The Dame at Penniwig's
 
Catarifics Blogger Backgrounds
 
So, thanks again, Ryan, and thank all the above bloggers who are alluring, bewitching, impressive, and inspiring.
 
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MAILBOX MONDAY

This Monday meme is hosted by Marcia, at The Printed Page.

We talk about the books we received in the mail, or books we bought during the week.

Well, sadly, I only received this one.  But it looks like a good one!  I've actually added it to my reading list for the week.  Alice in Thunderland:  A Feminist Fairytale, by Maeve Kelly, and I received it from Amazon.

It's part of my Alice in Wonderland Challenge, over at Take Me Away, and when I'm done, I'll be posting my review at MOONBEAMS AND RAINBOWS, my go-to site for this challenge.  On the back of the book, we read this titillating description:

"Alice in Thunderland is a hilarious feminist fairytale, a satirical look at male-dominated society, cocking a snook at the apparent logic of the structures that underpin our lives."

Now that sounds fascinating to me!  If you're only going to get one book, it's great that something like this is in the mailbox, don't you think?

Or maybe not.  Would love to hear your thoughts, so stop on by, leave your comments and links, and have a great week!

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IN SEARCH OF EUPHORIA -- A Short Story

In a tale of addiction, we explore one young woman's journey toward recovery.


Through the slatted blinds I could feel the persistent slivers of sun, reminding me that I hadn’t croaked after all. On a scale of one to ten, I’d surely racked up a “fourteen” in my efforts to achieve Nirvana. But, as always, in my quest for the ultimate high, I’d gone too far, earning points instead for “most idiotic” or, at the very least, “self-destructive ass of the century.”

Groaning at the nagging reminders of the night before, I thanked the gods for the blessed miracle of the blackout, thus relegating some of my most humiliating moments to that trash bin in my memory banks, hopefully never again to be retrieved.

When I could no longer avoid the inevitable, I slowly tested my sea legs. First one, then the other, I found myself erect, after a fashion, and tottered disjointedly across the darkened space. In my efforts to stay upright, I stumbled and almost tripped several times. My floor seemed to have turned into some kind of obstacle course, littered with all kinds of stuff.

Someday I’m going to organize things!

For the rest of the story, CLICK HERE:


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MAILBOX MONDAY

In this meme hosted by Marcia, at The Printed Page, we share information about the books we received (or bought) this past week.

It's been awhile for me, so naturally I was excited to receive The Accidental Bestseller, a contest win from J. Kaye's Book Blog.

Here's what the Amazon page says about this book:

Once upon a time four aspiring authors met at their very first writers' conference. Ten years later they're still friends, survivors of the ultra-competitive New York publishing world. Mallory St. James is a workaholic whose bestsellers support a lavish lifestyle. Tanya Mason is a single mother juggling two jobs, two kids, and too many deadlines. Faye Truett is the wife of a famous televangelist and the author of inspirational romances: no one would ever guess her explosive secret. Kendall Aims's once-promising career is on the skids-and so is her marriage. Her sales are dismal, her new editor detests her work-and her husband is cheating. Barely able to think, let alone meet her final deadline, Kendall holes up in a mountain cabin to confront a blank page and a blanker future. But her friends won't let her face this trial alone. Together they collaborate on a novel using their own lives as fodder, assuming no one will ever discover the truth behind their words.

No one is more surprised than they are when the book becomes a runaway bestseller. But with success comes scrutiny and scandal...as these four best friends suddenly realize how little they've truly known each other.
 
There are a few other books wending their way toward me, but this was the first one I received.

And then I got this Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass book from Amazon.

So with this rather modest "haul," I'm still excited and off to a great reading week!

Please drop on by and leave your comments and links.

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SLEEPWALKER -- A SHORT STORY

In this short story, a young woman begins therapy to uncover the secrets from her past.





“Phoebe Welch?”

Glancing up from the magazine I’d been nervously skimming, I stand cautiously, as if trying to get my bearings. Then, rather shakily, I move toward the doorway and the beckoning voice; but then I hesitate for just a fraction of a second. As if I’ve somehow shored up my courage, I resolutely follow the receptionist down the corridor to Dr. Holmes’s office.

I had started these therapy sessions a few weeks ago after I’d ended an especially disturbing relationship…unable to understand how, at the supposedly mature age of thirty-nine, I could so compulsively self-destruct on such a regular basis. Especially since I’d reached a modicum of success in other areas of my life.

Today the hypnosis would begin.

“How are you feeling, Phoebe?” Dr. Holmes, a woman in her mid-fifties, sits behind a desk piled high with files and against a backdrop of walls lined with books placed helter-skelter, with no logical design. My curiosity about her office arrangement is probably more of a function of my own compulsive tendencies than an indictment of her messy habits. Noticing my sweeping glance, she smiles as if she can read my mind, and then peers at me quizzically over her half-glasses; her forehead creases with her ever-present look of concern.

I shrug and squirm around in the chair for a moment, feeling like a child brought to the principal’s office for some misbehavior. Being on this side of a desk always makes me feel subordinate, even when I’m not on the hot seat.

For the rest of the story, click HERE.
 
 
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NEW CREATIONS -- "DEFINING MOMENTS"

Here is an excerpt from my current WIP, a new novel that explores life's defining moments.



As she stood poised on the threshold of her life, in the moments after everything changed, Jillian Michaels would look back and think “a-ha, those were the defining moments.” Those junctures that distinguished her life before and after the choices she had made.


Meeting Evan Thurston had been one of those turning points. At the time, she hadn’t thought so. What did she recall about her meeting with Evan Thurston? Especially now, all these years later.

She’d been a college sophomore and had already decided what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. First, she would be an English teacher, probably in a local high school. But always, in the back of her mind, there had been her very real and fervent desire to write one or more novels.

There was nothing in Jillian’s life that had prepared her for the possibility that her dreams would not come true.

Adored by her parents from the moment of her birth—probably because she had been a late-in-life gift for them—Jillian knew what it felt like to be at the center of someone’s universe.

George and Jocelyn Michaels were forty-seven and forty-three respectively when Jillian entered their world.

Instead of feeling as if they had been caught off guard, or even blindsided, they rejoiced. What better gift could anyone wish for?

She basked in the glow of that love from her earliest moments. In a big old farmhouse outside of Sacramento, CA, Jillian woke up every morning with a heart full of love and a head full of dreams.


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A THANKSGIVING TALE

With the Thanksgiving season approaching, I thought it relevant to excerpt from my short story "Family Values," an offering on the Amazon Shorts program.  In this tale, a family gathers to celebrate the season, but unexpected drama ensues.


They huddle around the table like so many crows perched on a fence, all in their own little worlds. At the head of the table and assuming his rightful role as patriarch, Father dictates the flow of the platters, gesticulating and grunting, but otherwise ignoring the assembled family members. To his left, the mother of the four adult children watches and waits, assuming her role of keeping glasses of water filled and platters of food replenished.


The eldest son, Irving, has taken up his position at the opposite end of the table, while, on his left, his sister Skye’s children sit across from their mother, their Aunt Sara, their Uncle Sidney, and their grandmother (when she isn’t hopping up and down to serve!). Back home after two years away filling in for professors on sabbaticals…one in Canada and another in Hawaii…he feels like the conquering hero in some ways. Resting on his laurels and sitting back to receive the long-awaited kudos for his prestigious new job in Southern California…A permanent professorial position this time. Now Irving Franklin is basking in the holiday ambience, just waiting for the long-anticipated praise from his parents and siblings for his accomplishments. After all, he has a Ph.D., the first family member to earn post-graduate degrees.

For the rest of the story, download HERE:

 
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