I count myself extremely lucky to have seen a bear and her two cubs on Saturday, when we took the dogs to Elk Island Park for a walk. A few minutes earlier or later and we wouldn’t have seen them. A fortuitous encounter indeed. I was totally surprised and delighted, as I had no idea bears were in the park! I thought bear sightings were just for the mountains. We have visited on numerous occasions and never seen bears. Bison, ducks, coots, hawks, eagles, pelicans and geese, of course, with the occasional deer, coyote, moose and once a fisher.
Escapes into nature are always good for the mind, body and soul and special events like this make them even more special.
In other news, I completed an illustration for a second prompt book launching in September. Yes, I do draw but not often. It was my creative craft of choice, when I was younger but writing has superseded it now.
Here is the book and my drawing. The prompt was dry leaves and humbugs. If you want the first book before the next one comes out, here is the link. https://www.wfscsherwoodpark.com/shop
As a frequent prompt user myself; some of which I successfully morphed into novels, I am always contriving stories in my head. As writers we have the ability to create ‘something from nothing’ a good deal of the time. This is one of the reasons writing is such fun. No matter what our minds construct as a character, circumstance or environment, it is feasible within a narrative.
I set a prompt every Saturday on my writing groups calendar, to refresh and inspire. http://www.wfscsherwoodpark.com – why not try one or two, just scroll backwards until you find one that appeals. Some use pictures, others are a list of words or a sentence to incorporate.
Has a prompt inspired a story for you?
Care to share it here?
I enjoyed this prompt – limited to 300 words or less from the starting paragraph.
It wasn’t like that before, Andrea thought to herself. The previous night’s storm had caused the tree to topple over like it had never been rooted to the ground. The hole it left in the wake of the storm-induced tragedy was enormous, bigger than she could possibly fill in on her own, especially with nothing but a broken shovel. Andrea walked to the large pit that was now the center of her front yard and peered in. What was that she was seeing? It looked like a…
skeletal hand pointing upwards. Andrea turned her head as she vomited on the grass. Wiping the back of her hand across her mouth she looked down again. Bile rose but she managed to swallow it. A body under the old tree? How long had it been there? Who was it?The shock of her discovery numbed her mind. What should she do first? Call the police? Call Dan?
A cloud moved away from the sun brightening the scene, a sparkle caught Andrea’s eye. There on one finger was a jeweled ring. Could she manage to climb down and get it? Wasn’t there a ‘finders keepers’ thing for buried treasure? Determined to reach the ring Andrea used her shovel to steady herself into the hole. Gritting her teeth she gripped the ring and pulled, it came off the bone easily. The gem was a large sapphire in a gold setting. There were words engraved on the inside. Andrea read them and everything was dark.
Dan called out as he entered the house. Andrea did not respond. He searched the house, the garage and the garden – no Andrea. A missing person’s report was filed. Andrea was never found. Underneath the tree roots the darkness slithered over the new body – a welcomed feast.
This week has my writing group hosting their AGM and my publishing company attending a book fair. This entails my time in planning for both.
As secretary of the Writers Foundation of Strathcona County, I am responsible for the minutes at the meeting but also to ensure notification and reminders have been sent to the membership, that we have copies of last year’s AGM minutes and an agenda. As well as ensuring the Bylaws and Policies binder is up to date and present for viewing. On Saturday, I spent time with the Treasurer, Linda J Pedley, creating the agenda and a President’s report. This was after I had driven to Leduc to record the inventory of Dream Write books in the Leduc Artisan Market and to pick up a Ockleberries to the Rescue promotional item. (See below). We will hold the AGM on Tuesday 16th September and begin another year – our 10th anniversary – with new vigor and plans for a writing conference on 2nd May 2015.
Once the writer’s group business was completed, we began planning for the upcoming weekend’s book fair. This event – Words on the Street – is Canada wide and well worth visiting in your location. You have the opportunity to meet authors and hear them read from their current book, purchase and have books signed, receive advice from publishers and find a writing group in your area.Dream Write Publishing will be in stall #17 – opposite the library entrance – so come along and say Hi and also meet the members of the Lethbridge writing group, The River Bottom Writers, who will be next to us.
All of Dream Write’s books will be available for sale and some for pre-order, such as my Ockleberries to the Rescue children’s chapter book. Immerse yourself in literary endeavors for the day. Hope to see you there.
I have been featured in the Makin’ It Happen article of the magazine from Be A Best Seller.com today. As this is a subcription only I am just highlighting my piece within it.
Makin’ It Happen
This week’s Makin’ It Happen author is Mandy Eve-Barnett, a freelance writer and regular contributor to the e-zine, Strathcona Connect,and the “Never Been Better” page in the Sherwood Park newspaper.
Mandy has been an avid reader her whole life, but it wasn’t until after promising herself an outlet for her creativity that serendipity took her to the Writers’ Foundation of Strathcona County, where the writing ‘bug’ took hold.
Now, Mandy is deeply involved with the Writers’ Foundation and its members as Secretary. Plus, she sets a writing prompt every Saturday on the WFSC website.
You can find Mandy’s writing in an anthology, Writing Prompt Journey. Plus, she regularly blogs about her writing experiences.
Additionally, Mandy has successfully completed four consecutive National Novel Writing Month challenges from 2009 to 2013 with the subsequent volume of work resulting in four novels.
Her children’s print book Rumble’s First Scare was published in September 2011. And in August 2012, her adult fantasy eBook, titled The Rython Kingdom, was released on Smashwords along with Amazon.ca and Amazon.co.uk and is now available as a POD through Create Space.
Mandy also collaborated to produce a ‘how to write your memoir’ workbook, called Your Lifetime of Stories, which was published in 2013.
Currently, the illustrations are being completed for Mandy’s fantasy children’s book, Ockleberries to the Rescue, to be released later this year. Plus, Mandy is in the midst of editing her cowgirl romance novel, Willow Tree Tears, which is also scheduled to be released later this year.
“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” Mark Twain
Today’s image and quote certainly inspire a writer’s imagination and reforces that no matter our surroundings we can always ‘escape’ into world’s of our own making. Inspiration can come from anywhere or anything and we need to remain open to the world around us.
Inspiration is, of course, subjective. Each of us could witness a scene and write completely different views on it. A book my writing group published confirms this fact. Writing Prompt Journey is compiled of prompts and the varied responses to them. It is intriguing to read another person’s slant on the prompt given.
Mandy Eve-Barnett's Blog for Readers & Writers 