Romantic Writer's Holiday Spirit Blogfest

First, I want to thank everyone for all the wonderful anniversary wishes!  You guys are super!  We had a fabulous evening taking the kids out to dinner and enjoying some great family time.

Now on to the main event!  

I'm participating in the Romantic Writer's Holiday Spirit Blogfest today, hosted by Denise Covey and Donna Hole.  I decided to write a flash fiction. Hope you enjoy.

ALONE

I handed Ellie her bags.  “Hey, you’d better get to the taxi or you’re going to miss your flight.”

“Are you sure you’re going to be all right?” she asked scrunching her eyes up.  

“I’ll be fine, now go and have a Merry Christmas in snowy New York.”

“Ok, call me.”  She  hugged me and hurried out the door.  

I told her I’d be ok, but as the door closed and our little apartment fell silent, a lump formed in my throat.  I couldn’t believe it was Christmas Eve and I was spending it alone.  When John dumped me two days ago, Ellie asked me to join her, but I didn’t want to barge in on her family’s Christmas.  I would have loved the snow though.    

My parents were off somewhere in Rwanda studying mountain gorillas.  I was proud of the important work they were doing, but I longed to see them.

I slunk down on the worn pea green sofa and water flooded my eyes.  I stared at the twinkling lights on our miniature Christmas tree.  At least Ellie had insisted on decorating it.

The colors blurred with my tears.  I was pitiful, but I couldn’t help it.  I let the lights bathe my mind in their soothing warmth.  

A noise at the door startled me and I slowly sat up.  A figure appeared in the doorway.  I shook my head.  It couldn’t be.  Standing in her favorite pink Chanel suit was Grandma Liz.  Impossible.  She died three years ago.  

I was devastated by the loss, we had a connection that Mom and I never had.  

“Trish, come on let’s go out on the town.”  She tapped her gold watch like we were already late for something.  

My mouth hung open.  

“It’s me, come on grab your jacket and let’s get some food,” she said.  

I did as she asked, grabbed her outstretched hand and we were suddenly in the old Italian restaurant she always used to take me to.  

We sat and talked for hours.  It was lovely.  She took my hand and said, “Trish, you have to move on, find someone who appreciates who you are.”  Tears threatened the corners of my eyes.   “You are never alone, I will always be with you...looking out for you.”

Then she was gone, and I was in my apartment gazing at the twinkle lights again.  I got up to clear my head.

Outside, big fluffy snowflakes fell from the sky.  Snow, here in South Carolina?  I smiled.  Grandma Liz had sent me snow.  She really had come to visit.  I felt the warmth of her spirit and I decided I would not spend this Christmas Eve alone.  

I grabbed my jacket and headed for the local soup kitchen.  I could at least help bring joy to others tonight.   

****

Check out all the other great entries here and add your link to participate.

Kathy:)

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!

Feeling Thankful

Thanksgiving is my favorite time of year.  I love the crisp fall days, the crystals of frost coating everything, and  the plethora of people that swarm my house.  Every year we host Thanksgiving because our house is the most central location for everyone coming from N. Carolina and Michigan.

For four crazy wonderful days, we have 17 people in our house.  Of course there is not really room for that many, so all the kids "camp out" together on our family room floor.  My girls are the oldest of the group so they have fun leading the pack and their cousins simply adore them.  This year Alyssa is planning on leading the kids in lots of fun activities like the Sweet Baking Club and Story Time (where they are going to write short stories together and then act them out).  It's a great bonding time for all the kids (and allows us parents to catch up).

This is the one time of the year where our entire family, including my husband's parents, can get together and just enjoy each other.  Despite all the hard work, I feel extremely thankful to be able to have everyone together and I'm thankful my husband enjoys it too!

I probably shouldn't be sitting here writing, I should be planning this year's menu and running to the store.  But I wanted to let all of you know how thankful I am for you as well.  You are what makes all this hard work of blogging so rewarding.  It seems the older I get the more grateful I am for all the wonderful people who have touched my life.

I hope all of you have a Thanksgiving holiday filled with love and of course great food. (I may not be posting again until after turkey day as I'll be in the kitchen!)

****

As far as exercise goes this week for the Healthy Writer's Club, I did my usual skating practice. Then the kids and I decided we needed a little extra workout so we ran up and down our stairs about ten times.  It was fun but my legs felt like jelly afterward!

Don't forget today is Alex Cavanaugh's, Oh I Miss You Blogfest. I didn't officially sign up for it because most of the people I've met blogging seem to post more than I do.  But I definitely notice when someone is absent for a while and I miss their witty posts and comments.

Also coming up are blogfests hosted by L'Aussie Writer and Stephen Tremp  along with some of his buddies.

I'd also like to ask people to send positive energy or prayers to Jess's best friend Kate who is having heart surgery today.

Kathy  


    

Thanks! and Phantom

First of all I would like to thank everyone who stopped by earlier this week to check out Denise Covey's interview.  Everyone had such wonderful comments.  You guys are great!  And thanks Denise, it was lovely getting to know you better! Don't forget to check out her Romantic Friday Writers. 

On to the Phantom

I love Phantom of the Opera!  When it came out 25 years ago, I was enchanted by both the story and the music.  I would listen to the cds over and over again in my room, probably driving my mom bonkers. But she let me do it anyway.  Thanks Mom!

Last night we watched on Netflix the 25th anniversary special of the Phantom at the Royal Albert Hall in London.  It was a spectacular production of the entire musical filmed at a live performance.  The cast was filled with top performers and the sets were fabulous.

If you like Phantom, I highly recommend this version.

*****


 DL Hammons is hosting WRiTE CLUB, but were not supposed to talk about it so go check out his blog for all the info and sign up!


Hope your week is going great!


Kathy :)
     

Interview with Denise Covey

Knocking on Hemingway's door in Paris

Today I have the pleasure of introducing Denise Covey, one of the winners of the Knights of MicroFiction.  She has three fabulous blogs you should check out, L'Aussie Writer, Pichets in Paris, and Romantic Friday Writers, but first let's learn a little bit more about Denise.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer? 

At a very early age. I began winning writing competitions when I was eleven. Then as I got older I kept thinking I didn't have enough life experience to write anything worthy, so I went out to get it. University degrees, Creative Writing courses, High School teaching...travelling. I started novels, researched novels, but always felt too immature to tackle the issues I wanted to write about. It's only in the last few years that I've wanted more from my writing than writing flash fiction online, and short stories, travel articles and profile pieces for magazines and newspapers.

Hmm, I still feel too immature.

I know you love to travel, what is the most amazing place you've ever visited?

Ah, that is a hard one. My favourite country to visit is France (have been there countless times!), but the most amazing place I've ever visited is Morocco. It is so different from our slick culture. It's like living in Biblical times with produce being moved around by donkeys, hurried along by men in jallabas waving sticks. The medinas, where the Muslims live, can house up to 20,000 people, and are endlessly fascinating to visit (accompanied by an Arab guide, I suggest.) Riding camels in the Sahara Desert, driving through the Sahara following the old Caravan route through the mountains, seeing oases over 80 kilometres long, and poking around abandoned red mud casbahs was like turning the pages of some of my favourite books - The Moor of Marrakech and such and songs like Marrakech Express.

At the highest point of the Sahara Desert in Morocco with my Toureg guides

Wow that sounds fabulous. I would love to ride a camel through the Sahara.  
I'm sure all your travels give you plenty of ideas to write about, but what inspires you the most?  

That would be 'who'. People. I don't just thirst for travel just to see different things. Meeting the locals is my favourite part. But the more countries I visit, the more people I meet, I understand that humans are basically the same with similar needs and aspirations. Landscapes inspire me. Literature inspires me. I find life inspirational.

Beautiful sentiments.
I see you have a couple novels in progress. Which one do you spend most of your time on? Can you tell us a little bit about it?

Yes, I have three novel in progress. I had to decide which one to finish first or I'll never finish any of them, so I've chosen my first novel, Ruby. All my novels include other cultures, issues, and things I've learned from my travels. Ruby is a contemporary romantic novel whose heroine is a young French girl who has come to Australia to follow her dream of owning her own hotel, a dream inherited from her father. The hero, Michael is an Australian sea captain who takes tourists whale watching, but his dream is to assist in the whale hunt, but on the side of the Sea Shepherd crew, whose aim is to inhibit the Japanese whalers in Antarctica. Conflicting dreams make this story. 

What a great way to share your experiences. It sounds like a wonderful story. I'm looking forward to reading more.

Speaking of reading, what books have influenced you the most?

My favourite genre is literary fiction, but my tastes are eclectic. I love to read just about anything, really. As far as the most influential, Ernest Hemingway, Papa, has been my favourite since I moved beyond Heidi as a young girl. Maybe Hemingway's stories fed my urge to travel and my tendency to observe people. (I wasn't influenced by his hard drinking, lol!) 


That's good! He did love his drink.

Last year I finally got to Pamplona in Spain, where he set his The Sun Also Rises. Can't explain the thrill of seeing the things he saw. I even blogged about a walking tour around Paris I took, Moveable Feast in hand, to see his Paris apartment and the square where he liked to eat and the coffee shops where he went to drink rum. I think the best writing advice ever, comes from Hemingway - write all morning, then go and rub shoulders with authors and people watch all afternoon and night. Read his Moveable Feast for that and other writing gems.

I just finished A Farewell to Arms, but I'll have to add A Moveable Feast to my list. I wonder if blogging counts as 'rubbing shoulders with authors'.

You have three great blogs. How long have you been blogging and what is the best part about it?

I started blogging in 2007 when I saw a competition for the best travel blog post. Five years is a long time in the blogosphere, where bloggers burn out in an average of three years or decide other social networking groups are more efficient. But blogging is my favourite, although it's very time consuming. 

I agree with you, I'd rather spend my time blogging than on Facebook or Twitter.

The best part of blogging is the people I've met and the things I've learnt about writing. Knowing how I love to travel, I have invitations from bloggers from all around the world to come and stay. Who can beat that? Currently I'm spending 6 weeks in Fiji, courtesy of blogger Nas Dean, who I met online years ago and formed a strong blogger friendship. Another favourite blogger, Charmaine Clancy, recently moved to my hometown, Brisbane, and we've hit it off so well we now have our own Writing Group and are collaborating on our first epic fantasy novel in between doing writing courses at the Queensland Writers Centre, the best one in the country. Can't beat the blogosphere!

That's for sure. There are so many wonderful people blogging! 
But 6 weeks in Fiji! I'm a little jealous.  

What do you like to do when you're not writing or traveling?

I like to run, to read, try a new restaurant, go for coffee, watch television and movies, and spend time with family and friends. Pretty ordinary. That's when I'm not checking out Lonely Planet.

Is there anything else we should know about you?

Well, I'm a political animal and a news junkie but I usually keep quiet about that as in these PC times, you aren't supposed to talk about politics. I can probably blame Hemingway for nurturing my strong political opinions as he wrote so much about war. I especially enjoyed his novels that explored the Spanish Civil War. I always have the 24-hour news on at home, so I usually know what's going on in most places around the globe, or at least the sanitised version. No listening to music while I write! It's a wonder my stories aren't pessimistic, but they're not. I'm a very optimistic person.

You're also very inspiring. I can't wait to get out and travel again myself. Well we're out of time for today. Thank you Denise for stopping by, I really enjoyed getting to know you and good luck finishing Ruby.

Thanks so much.


*****


SO that's it everyone. Be sure to check out all of Denise's blogs and stop by Jess's blog to see her interview with our other winner Ahsna Banga.


Kathy :)

KoMF Winners!

First of all Jess and I would like to thank everyone that participated this time.  We had a number of great entries that were a lot of fun to read.  After much deliberation we have chosen....

Denise Covey and Ashna Banga!  Congratulations ladies!

Head on over and tell them "Hi".
As a prize, Jess and I will be featuring them on our blogs in the coming days so make sure to stop by later this week.

*****


In other news, I took all the advice you guys gave me on my last IWSG post and dove right back into my WIP.  I'm happy to say that after a couple difficult days I was able to get back into the groove and just yesterday I hit 60,000 words!  YIPPEEE!  It's not finished yet, but now the finish line is within reach.  Thanks so much for all your encouraging words and support.  You guys are awesome!


Kathy :)