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Other Cool Blogs: Magical Words December 9, 2015

Erin Penn

Book Cover for How to Write Magical Words

Cover from Amazon

Fictional Holidays

I love Magical Words as a reader, writer, and editor. Member bloggers include self-published, small house published, and big house published individuals. And they know their craft.

For example, Gail Z. Martin’s December 9, 2015 post on world-building. (see http://www.magicalwords.net/really-i-mean-it/world-building-with-holidays/ 

Adding the layer of Holidays to your world can help define the values of your world, what they spend money on, and how they celebrate.

WRITING EXERCISE – After reviewing the above blog, create a fictional holiday for your world and/or work-in-progress.

My present work-in-progress, Cons of Romance, is set in contemporary America and actually has some world-building based on holidays. A lot of conventions cluster about holidays, because the long weekends allow people to take time off. I tried to tie my fictional conventions to real American holidays, which made added an interesting twist for my world-building.

The first convention is located in Maryland during March. I will come back to it.

The second convention, “GearFest,” is set in North Carolina during June and is only a two-day convention because it doesn’t fall on a holiday weekend. I specifically wanted this to be a short convention.

The third convention, “Tea Party,” is set over the July 4th weekend and is located in Boston.

The fourth convention, “WyvernCon”, is located in September over the Labor Day weekend and runs nearly five days. 

Again all conventions are fictional and created specifically for this romance novel.

Back to the first convention. I had decided the convention started life on the main character’s, Tara Miller, college campus and was tied to a holiday in Maryland. I wanted the convention to happen before June but after the weather started to get warm. Something that wouldn’t interfere with finals but warm enough people wouldn’t get snowed in. Low and behold Maryland Day is March 25th. Thus my fictional “ConButtony” (a Cross Buttony appears on the distinctive flag of Maryland) was born.

YOUR TURN – Comment below about your use of holidays in a work-in-progress or, if you are a reader, a book you enjoyed specific for the holidays such as Hogfather by Terry Pratchett.

Flash: Their Bench

Erin Penn

Park Bench Stock Photo

Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

The November sunset reflected shades of reds from the treetops below. Julia sat down on Their Bench and waited. The bite in the air made her draw the jacket closer.  The leaves rustled in the trees and tumbled across the ground in the slight breeze. Darkness snuck into the park through lengthening shadows.

Eventually, a brief touch on her hand gave away the second arrival. “Has it been a year already?” asked the masculine voice she loved for so long.

Carefully keeping her eyes forward Julia responded. “Yes.” She paused, enjoying the quiet moment. “Your son took a couple classes over the summer. He will be graduating come Christmas.”

“I wish I could see it.”

“So do I,” Julia said with a misty smile. She turned her hand over and felt the finger clasp hers. The warmth made her glad she hadn’t given into the urge to put on gloves earlier. His other hand reached up to tuck some stray hairs behind her ears. Julia made her eyes bore into the cement pad in front of the bench.

“He brought home a friend he met at college.”

“A girlfriend?” Came the prideful response.

A laugh escaped Julia. “Oh, he has had several of those. No one special yet.” The soccer field lights started to wink out as the park closed. “No, this friend was older. A graduate student who had been tutoring him. … We hit it off.”

“Oh.” The whisper escaped the other.

Julia waited for more. Eventually the question she knew he would ask followed. “Does he make you happy?”

“Very much.”

“Does Leroy approve?”

She nearly turned her head to watch his reaction, but caught herself. “He gave me the same speech I gave him when he was 16, complete with the condoms. Be careful, be safe, and be kind.”

Together they sat as the night aged.

“You won’t be coming back…next year,” he stated sometime after midnight.

“It’s been fourteen years.”

“So long, it’s been so long” he sighed. “I will miss you.”

A gentle brush of lips and wetness touched her cheek.

“I will always miss you.” she returned.

Dawn found the park bench empty of all except a touch of frost.

(368 words – originally published on 11/14/2012; republished in new blog format 1/3/2016)

Art Projects: Calligraphy

Erin Penn

Painted B illuminationPosting two examples of using a pre-printed “B” and experimenting with Celtic spirals. Painted B - Illumination exampleThe Flash “Scriptorium Mediation” is based off of personal experience – at least the painting part.

More posts about calligraphy and illumination will follow as projects are started and completed

Blog: New Year 2016

Erin Penn

Gone Writing

Image stolen randomly from the web

A new year, 2016!

Time to write again. Life grabbed me and beat me soundly about the head the past couple of years, but I am coming back.

This year’s goals:
1. Restart the blog
2. Start a newsletter
3. Start a website
4. Get a new self-published novel (or two) out.

Basically kick my writing back into gear.

To that end, the blog is going to undergo a severe facelift. Some things, such as the cross-reference of stories and characters, will be moved to the website. Everything else is going to be burned to the ground and restarted.

The new production schedule shall be:
1. Sunday – A flash story  (initially about half will be repeats)
2. Tuesday – Book Reviews, Author Spotlights, Writing Exercises, maybe an editing rant or two, and every so often a little look at my calligraphy and embroidery … because it is pretty
3. Thursday – Links to other people blogging about writing..

Hope you like the new Erin Penn’s First Base.