Write About Seasons and Timely Events

 

This blog post is more about things to write about than it is encouragement for writers. Perhaps in addition to some encouragement, the writers out there could use ideas for things to write about, as well as a little inspiration on where to find ideas.

 

I love the fall season. The cooler weather, the colored leaves, pumpkin everything, fall-scented candles and the promise of a fun day to dress up and eat candy. It is my first favorite season (winter is my second) and so, of course, I am often inspired to write poems, short stories, articles and essays just from indulging in favorite fall activities.

 

The new season can give you ideas for things to write, too. Even if you are not much of an “autumn person,” take the time to observe the changing season. Notice how nature changes and adapts to the change in weather. Watch people participating in Fall Festival activities and try some out yourself. Go for a walk and observe the changed landscape all around you. (I got an idea for a poem just from looking at a pine cone!) Take all of it in and see what kind of ideas for things to write this inspires in you.

 

Aside from seasonal writing, you can also write about current events. Today is the last day of Banned Books Week. I could remember very well my own experiences in reading banned books. Articles and essays about banned books have been everywhere. People have also posted pictures and memes about banned books on social media.

 

What does Banned Books Week mean for you? What sort of thoughts does it inspire? How does Banned Books Week contrast with the current flood of book banning going on in libraries and schools right now?

 

These are all ideas which can inspire you to write.

 

Of course, let’s not forget Halloween! I know that I mentioned it earlier, but Halloween is my favorite holiday. Halloween is a part of the fall season and it’s definitely the one day of the year that inspires writers everywhere. So many writers have written stories, poems and even movies based on their love for Halloween. It definitely can inspire many fiction ideas.

 

Not only does Halloween inspire Halloween-themed stories, but the day itself is a day for horror fanatics. I know some writers of horror who love Halloween and they spend months or all year planning for the big day. My forthcoming book of stories, Bad Girls: Five Tales of Twisted Teens, is YA horror. (Yes! Kids and teenagers alike love to read horror! When my older sister was a teenager, she was obsessed with reading Stephen King novels. I know he writes horror for adults, but there ARE teenagers out there who love to read horror. Thus why we have the YA horror genre. There is even middle grade horror and horror for kids. Goosebumps, anyone?)

 

Of course, with horror accompanying the Halloween season, there are calls for Halloween and horror stories popping up A LOT this time of year, as well as horror novels and horror story collections being published in October (when Bad Girls will come out).

 

If you like horror, why not write it? Especially now, when Halloween is fast approaching and editors want those kinds of stories for their October issues. (Note: This will work for online publications. Print publications plan issues several months in advance.) Take advantage of the season and write horror to your heart’s content.

 

Or write about Halloween.

 

Or the fall season.

 

Or about Banned Books Week.

 

No matter what you choose to write, the changing seasons, holidays and current events are all good material for finding something to write about. Take the time to observe, play around with ideas and see where your inspiration takes you.

Ghost Stories for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day: The GHOST Group Three Provides Tales of Young Ghosthunters on the Case!

 

IT’S BACK!!!!

 

Guess what I went and did? I brought my middle-grade paranormal mystery series back to life!

 

That’s right. After being on hiatus for almost 10 years, this series of young paranormal investigator stories written just for kids is back in the game!

 

And the GHOST Group is better than ever!

 

The GHOST Group, Book Three: The Ghosts of Calliope the Cat and The Fiery Viking, contains the fifth and sixth stories in this 12-story series. Each story includes a holiday for each month of the year – although I am not entirely certain if Friendship Day (for August) counts as a holiday. Even so, you’ll find ghost stories related to the theme of a holiday in some form or another!

 

This time around, however, the story I wrote for Mother’s Day doesn’t have a ghostly mother-and-child relationship going on. More of a mother-and-furbaby!

 

When I was working on the book, BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL: How We Survive as Writing Parents, I got a lot of emails from pet parents asking if they could be included in the book. Sadly, I had to turn them down. However, that has always stuck with me. I used to be a pet parent myself (my dog was my WORLD!) so I know and can understand just how important that bond is with our furbabies. (And these days, I am a pet grandparent! LOL)

 

So, to honor this bond, I decided that, for the Mother’s Day ghost story, the ghosts included would be a pet parent and their furbaby! In this case, a woman who is the pet parent of an adorable and devoted kitty cat named Calliope!

For the Father’s Day ghost story, one thing I have noticed as a writer of haunted locations (for other books) is that a common paranormal event would occur when a house or restaurant is renovated or changed in a major way. Usually, the activity that flares up is not altogether pleasant! I thought I would spotlight this trend in the GHOST Group Book Three, in which you’ll find a story of how a son who inherits his deceased father’s restaurant begins experiencing negative activity after renovations begin.

 

I had fun writing, rewriting and editing to death these stories (ha!) and I am thrilled to be back to work on The GHOST Group!

 

Thank you to my publisher, Gypsy Shadow Publishing, for not only supporting this effort to get the remaining GHOST Group stories out there, and thank you also to Manon Daniels for creating amazing cover art for these books! Thank you, Denise Bartlett and Charlotte Holley – the muscle behind the magic at Gypsy Shadow – for all of your hard work and tireless efforts!

 

And thanks to those of you who have shared about the book and shown support!

 

Here is information about the book. I hope you enjoy reading it!

 

There's something different about Sarah Town. It's brimming with ghosts-and some of those ghosts need help! That's where the GHOST Group comes in-the Ghost Helpers of Sarah Town. The GHOST Group is made up of five 11-year-old team members: Jesse, Jenny, Ryan, Trent, and Cassie.

 

The Ghost of Calliope the Cat is one of Sarah Town's most famous ghosts, and everyone is used to seeing her at one location. But what happens when Calliope appears in two different places? What does it mean when the famous ghost cat all of a sudden makes unusual appearances to members of the GHOST Group?

 

The Ghost of the Fiery Viking has the young paranormal investigators checking out a haunted hotspot in Sarah Town. The Fiery Viking is a haunted restaurant with a ghost that suddenly starts acting violent, and it's up to the GHOST Group to find out what's causing the dangerous activity.

 

AVAILABLE HERE:

 

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Book Two in The GHOST Group series is now available!

When it comes to a series, readers can usually look forward to one book in the series coming out each year. Last year, the first book in my middle-grade paranormal mystery series, The GHOST Group, was published. And now the second book has just been released by Gypsy Shadow Publishing! Yippee!!

In this book, there are stories 3 and 4. The third story, The Ghost of the Irish Setter, was written for St. Patrick’s Day. In the the fourth story, The Ghost of the Missing Hiker, my characters play jokes and pranks on each other for April Fool’s Day! There’s even a ghost in this story who decides to get in on the joke-playing fun.

I am very excited about the release of this book. The stories were fun to research as well as write!

I got the idea for “The Ghost of the Irish Setter” years ago when I came across the carcass of a dead dog in the street. This dog was not an Irish Setter, but something about this poor dog’s neglected body had me thinking, This is a story. The story I ended up writing could not, of course, be what that poor dog must’ve gone through, but I wrote this story because I felt it was important to show that a dog’s spirit would not be at rest if its body was left neglected – just like with people. Thankfully, someone DID finally collect the carcass and hopefully dispose of it more properly, so I am grateful for that. I also wanted this story to show how our animal friends are still with us even after they pass away. I strongly believe this to be true. My dog visits my dreams sometimes and it’s always a comfort to see him again, even if it’s just in a dream.

I was inspired to write “The Ghost of the Missing Hiker” ever since I saw the book, Haunted Hikes of New Hampshire. I just saw that book and thought, Hm, what kind of hiking-related ghost stories could there be? I did not dare read this book yet, because I didn’t want it to influence me in any way, but I eventually came up with a story of a hiker who suffered a fatal fall during a hike. I have read many such stories in the news, so I felt this could likely happen. I also wanted to show how sometimes, we don’t know we’re dead, so we end up “stuck” in a place and unable to cross over. This is what happened in the hiker’s case. I also felt it was time for my character, Jenny, to come to terms with her abilities as a sensitive and open up to her friends about how she sees and hears things that other people can’t.

Needless to say, the stories prove that the GHOST Group can help the ghosts of both people and animals!

I hope that readers enjoy this book. Thank you to Denise Bartlett and Charlotte Holley of Gypsy Shadow Publishing for their support, guidance and dedication in getting this e-book published!

Like the first book, this one is only available as an e-book. But later in the year, stories 1-4 will go into a print book.

Meanwhile, I’m busy getting stories 5 and 6 ready for next year.


BLURB:

There’s something different about Sarah Town. It’s brimming with ghosts – and some of those ghosts need help! That’s where the GHOST Group comes in – the Ghost Helpers of Sarah Town. The GHOST Group is made up of five 11-year-old team members: Jesse, Jenny, Ryan, Trent, and Cassie.

The Ghost of the Irish Setter is a “ghost dog” story where team member Jesse must come to terms with losing his dog, Lolly, after she ran away. A ghost dog that is an Irish setter seeks Jesse’s help, but when the rest of the GHOST Group join the case, it becomes a matter of life or death after Cassie and Ryan are kidnapped! Can the GHOST Group help the ghost dog? And can Jesse find out what really happened to Lolly?

In The Ghost of the Missing Hiker, a day of April Fool’s hijinks turn into another mystery for the GHOST Group. Meanwhile, the group's helper ghost, Adam, has some bad news for the team, and Jenny realizes she must accept her special gift and learn how to use it so she can help other ghosts in Sarah Town.

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Books published in 2013

Today is the last day for the year 2013. Aside from book stuff, I had two gigs this year: PR and editing. The PR gig was my dream job: I worked for a publishing company. I got that gig near the end of last year and I'm so grateful I had a chance to work in that position. It's true when they say that being a PR rep is a 24/7 kind of job! You really can't turn that stuff off. There were times I was emailing clients late at night and struggling to keep my eyes open. I don't regret resigning from that job and I am grateful for that experience. 

The editing gig, unfortunately, is not exactly a well-paying one, but I'm happy that at least it brings in SOMETHING and have enjoyed working in this capacity. At the end of last year, I was ready to say goodbye to editing forever. I only took this gig because the client insisted he only wanted ME to edit his book. I am glad, too, because I have enjoyed the work. So I am not saying goodbye forever to editing!

A decision does NOT have to be set in stone.

Now, as far as the books are concerned, this year was a good one. This year I wanted to do one poetry book, one nonfiction book, one children's book and a novel. And, thankfully, that happened. Hooray! But I also had an extra “fiction book” come out this year, which was a nice slice of awesome!

The first book to come out this year was my first attempt in self-publishing, Hunter’s Upcycling Adventures. I managed to get this one out in time for Earth Day. Woot-woot! My daughter, Jennifer Wilson, illustrated this book. You can read more about this children’s book here.

Next came the poetry book my daughter and I collaborated on, Satyrs Are Cool: Poems of Mythological Creatures. Last year, Jen and I collabed on our first poetry book together, and this time ‘round it was her turn to put a theme for our next book. A fan of Greek mythology, she wanted to do a book on mythological creatures. She also illustrated it. Read more about Satyrs here.

The next book to come out was the first two books in The GHOST Group series, The Ghosts of Sarah Travers and The Crying Valentine. This one was released as an ebook only but we have plans to combine editions for a print book every so often. I was thrilled this book came out. This series was a long time in the making! I was also happy it got a good review. Check it out here.

My poetry book for this year was the autobiographical collection, Touched by Fire. I felt it was important to do a poetry book about being a burn survivor, but there are also poems in there about being deaf. It was edited by Denise Bartlett and the cover was designed by Charlotte Holley – both very talented ladies in their field! Read more about this book here. 

And, yes, my novel came out this year. HOORAY!! I was so thrilled to finally see the release of my dark fantasy novel, Shadow of Samhain. It was quite some time for me to write the book, get it edited, rewrite it and everything else involved before it finally came out. I am so grateful to everyone who helped make this book possible, including Denise and Charlotte at Gypsy Shadow Publishing! THANK YOU! Read more here.

And the last book of 2013 was … the nonfiction book! Thanks to my co-author, Martha Jette, for all of her hard work in getting Terror In the Night edited and released! I am very excited about this book and grateful to Martha for taking me on board for it! Read about this book here.

So it seems that I managed to get one of everything published this year. Yay! That is 6 books I had published this year! Not bad. I am so grateful for these accomplishments and to all of the people involved who helped to make it happen.

Next year will be different. It seems there will be “two of everything” in 2014, except there won't be a novel next year. More on that coming soon.

Here’s to a busy 2014!