Of the Storm - Written Fireside Part V

I have never done anything quite like this but it was a lot of fun. The challenge was not really knowing where this story would end. But the suspense has slowly built and I can't wait to see how it all comes together. I thank all of the authors for the opportunity to participate. If you're just now finding this story, you will want to begin with parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 before reading my contribution. Links can be found here:

Part I - Of the Storm by Lori Connelly
Part II - Of the Storm by Aileen Harkwood
Part III - Of the Storm by Elise Forier Edie
Part IV - Of the Storm by Paty Jager

“You drive. I think it best we not use my transporting powers in approaching Blaike,” Bri said, his tone more serious than before.

“Oh yeah, right, Blaike would sniff out your magic in a heartbeat, powerful stench that it is.”

“Funny.” He tilted his head and a lock of silver spun hair slipped across his forehead before he opened the door and ushered her outside into the stormy elements.

Before she could retreat back into the house for a raincoat and umbrella, Bri swept his hand over her head, offering an invisible barrier against the pelting rain. Once again she was reminded of the differences between them and cursed the sudden attraction that kept her from giving her full attention to saving Makani and the torc.

They rushed toward her ten-year-old red Acura and slipped inside without so much as a drop soiling their clothing. A glance at Bri had her heart pounding with undeniable awareness. She shook her head in disgust and started the engine. Focus, Amaya. Get your lustful thoughts under control.

Tasaria’s messenger rode silent beside her as they sped along the winding road toward the portal. What would the Demon King do to her sister when he discovered the torc inoperable without the chant? What would he do when he found out Makani possessed no knowledge in making the torc work?

“We’ve got to hurry.” The words she muttered caused Bri to turn his head.

“Why? The Samhain Torc is useless in his hands without you.” He wrapped his long fingers over hers. “Please tell me you’re the only one who knows the chant?”

She reacted without thinking and tore her hand from under his, jerking the steering wheel. The car swerved to the right and hit a patch of oily wet pavement. To combat the sensation of hydroplaning, Amaya over corrected and her car plowed forward into oncoming traffic.

Bri swore aloud and lifted his hand. The vehicle slid effortlessly into the right lane. “Damn it, Amaya. We have to get there in one piece. Without you, we have no hope of retrieving the torc.”

“Without me,” she whispered, “my sister has no hope of surviving Blaike’s anger.”

Traffic thinned until they were the only ones on the road. The storm’s fury had settled into an annoying drizzle. The shimmering reflection of her lights along the solitary path played havoc with her imagination. Hazy shapes took form on either side. Tasaria’s armies or Blaike’s? Bri’s use of magic hadn’t done them any favors.  

“Blaike knows we’re coming.” She gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles paled. The protective amulet warmed against her skin. “Why now? Why did the queen send you for the torc now?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Ready for more? The talented Tracie Douglass continues this fabulous tale on her blog on October 7. Things really heat up with many twists and turns that has Amaya believing all is lost. So check out Tracie Douglass' blog for Part VI of Of the Storm.

Written Fireside - Of the Storm

I signed up to take part in a round-robin style short story. Written Fireside - Of the Storm is a paranormal story with twists and turns. How will it end? I have no idea. Only parts one and two have been written. I get to contribute by writing part 5. What a fun challenge and just what I need to get me out of "writer doldrums".



You can read part I here.  And when that's grabbed hold of your imagination, continue by reading part II here.

Part III is coming. Part III will be posted on September 16 on Elise Forier Edie's blog.

Thank you Lori Connelly for letting me be a part of such a fun activity!

Check out Lori Connelly's blog

Lori Connelly has a lot of fun things going on with her blog and today I had the rare opportunity to be a guest on her site. Every Friday, she hosts authors and asks them to either post a first fight scene or to authors are interviewed by her curious goat. All of these authors have one thing in common - they will or have participated in one her fireside stories. A fireside story is a short story written as a round robin by several authors and yep, I'll be one of the participating authors. I'm slated for the end of September but the story will start very soon so visit often. I'll let you know once the first segment is posted.

In the meantime, stop by and read the first fight scene from On the Silver Edge of Time.  Visit Lori Connelly's Blog. 

Ciara Gold jumps onto the World Blog Tour!!!

I'm honored to be invited to this World Blog Tour by Linda LaRoque who happens to be a fabulous writer with a great backlist of books to choose from. Please visit her blog at http://www.lindalaroqueauthor.blogspot.com/


1. What am I working on? I'm desperately trying to finish a sequel to the Keeper of Moon Haven. I finally figured out the ending so I'm excited about that. My goal is to have it completed and submitted before I go back to teaching in the fall. I'm also working on another historical western but I'm a tad stuck on the direction I want it to take. I figure my characters will lead me around in their own merry little time.

2. How does my work differ from others in the genre?

Well, I write in several different genres, but I think the thing that sets me apart is the ability to come up with fairly unique storylines. I try real hard not to use the typical plot gimmicks or if I do, I try to present it in a unique way. My characters love  to take twists and turns.

3. Why do I write what I do?

 Let's first examine what I do write. First and foremost, I write romance. I love historical western. I love reading it as it's my comfort read whenever I'm really stressed. But I love the creativity I'm allowed when I write outside the box like time travels, futuristic science fiction or fantasies (The Keeper of Moon Haven is a fantasy romance with a wizard, a troll, faeries, etc.)

4. How does my writing process work?

I'm a tried and true Pantser. Outlines are too restrictive for my imagination. If I write one, I rarely stick to it. My one and only writing partner, will attest to that. I recently co-authored a book with M. W. Davis (Big Mike as we fondly call him) and he drafted a pretty solid outline. My character just couldn't stay on that trail. She hiked all over the place so he was constantly readjusting. He was great to work with though and took it all in stride. The end result was Distant Obsession, a romantic suspense that should be available on August 4!!! You can find it at Champagne Books or Amazon on August 4.  But it's available now at All Romance EBooks.

Here's the blurb:

After years struggling to succeed as an artist, Lilah Randal accomplishes here dream, only to return from her first sold out exhibition to find her husband and his mistress in bed, murdered. For a year she’s persecuted by the cops and media, accused of killing the Senator, her husband. With no proof, only suspicious, the police give up, but not the news hounds, nor the discomforting phone calls or late night attempted intrusions into her home.

Reluctantly, Lilah stalls her career, assumes a different identify and begins fresh, hiding in a small town far away from the attention of DC. Her days are filled with new vigor as the serenity of the Cherokee Valley surrounding Watauga Lake feeds her creative muse under a fake alias, Carmen. Yet her nights remain hollow, like her marriage to the Senator, until she becomes obsessed by the allure of a stranger that glides by her cabin in his sailboat. Both his male form and solemn expression bleed into every painting, every midnight fantasy, until her new dream becomes reality. Lilah learns her future will remain corrupted by the past until she solves the secret behind her husband’s murder and explores her attraction to the mysterious sailor.

I've invited the several lovely authors to join me on the blog tour and I will add them to this list as they accept the invite, so please check out their blogs and the many wonderful stories they have to offer:

Susan Horsnell - western romance author

Going to the Zaanse Schans

Our third day on the Rhine River had us taking an excursion to the Zaanse Schans. We arrived there right when they opened so we had the park to ourselves for at least fifteen minutes before more folks filtered through the gates. We started our explorations with a short train ride that showed us only half of what the park had to offer. We got off in an area that housed the weavers house and the printmaker's house. We were only given about an hour and a half but I could have stayed all day. Several of the exhibits actually had working artisans to demonstrate various techniques from the 17th or 18th centuries.

Met a man who tended the boat builder's shop. He spends his off time in New York with an uncle who's a master landscape architect. Also saw the blacksmith and the washer woman. The wash house fascinated me as the agitators for three large wash tubs were powered by windmills. You can see my post on this at Cowboy Kisses complete with a short video of the agitators in action.

The last picture shows a bed in a cabinet. They would crawl in and close the doors for privacy but this bed cabinet was in the main living area of the house.

Trip abroad - Rhine River Cruise

So, on June 20, my mother and I as part of a group of twenty, flew to Amsterdam. Our first stop was a visit to the Van Gogh Museum which of course was an art teacher's dream. After that, the bus took us to the MS Gerard Schmitter, our home on the Rhine River for the next 5 days. Anyway, I'm going to post a few pictures of our first day abroad.

Yes, not the most flattering photo of me as the sun was in my eyes, but it shows our first glimpse of the famous windmills.

That night I experienced a rather interesting excursion where we took a smaller boat around the canals to see Amsterdam at night. My mother wasn't up for the excursion so I went alone. On board, there were 20 Americans, about 30 French, 20 Scandinavians and a couple from Argentina and one from New Zealand. Well, none of my group elected to go so I found myself among a group of French who spoke little if no English. The guide walked us to the boats and put me on one with the French. The tour was lovely but when we docked, the guide said she had to wait for the boat of Scandinavians before she could walk me back but I was welcome to go with the French.

A small group welcomed me into their midst. So, there was me, the couple from Argentina who only spoke Spanish, and the couple from France. The Frenchman spoke a little English and kept me company while his wife spoke enough Spanish to keep the other couple company, but we struck up a bond of sorts so we always said good morning each day.

Distant Obsession

This is a cover reveal and a bit of backstory on a book coming out in August. Whoop!

Summer before last, I co-authored a book with one of my writer buds. I always said I'd never co-author a book because I know me too well. I'm too controlling and I want what I want but somehow I found myself accepting the challenge. Big Mike (M. W. Davis) wrote the initial plot and then basically bowed to all my suggested changes. Wow. He's a plotter and I'm not. I go with my gut as the story progresses so it was quite a challenge to blend our two thought processes into one. Anyway, with the exception of one or two scenes, he wrote from the hero's perspective and I wrote from the heroine's perspective. The outcome proved a success.

The hardest thing about this was the genre. I don't typically write romantic suspense or maybe I do. I know I try to insert a bit of mystery or suspense in all my books but not to the point that it's the main focus. I surprised myself with this one. When we began, it was supposed to be the beginning of a series but due to time constraints, I had to bow out of project two. Big Mike is taking the reins solo on the sequel but I can tell he's most excited about it.

Here's the blurb:

After years struggling to succeed as an artist, Lilah Randal accomplishes here dream, only to return from her first sold out exhibition to find her husband and his mistress in bed, murdered. For a year she’s persecuted by the cops and media, accused of killing the Senator, her husband. With no proof, only suspicious, the police give up, but not the news hounds, nor the discomforting phone calls or late night attempted intrusions into her home. Reluctantly, Lilah stalls her career, assumes a different identify and begins fresh, hiding in a small town far away from the attention of DC. Her days are filled with new vigor as the serenity of the Cherokee Valley surrounding Watauga Lake feeds her creative muse under a fake alias, Carmen. Yet her nights remain hollow, like her marriage to the Senator, until she becomes obsessed by the allure of a stranger that glides by her cabin in his sailboat. Both his male form and solemn expression bleed into every painting, every midnight fantasy, until her new dream becomes reality. Lilah learns her future will remain corrupted by the past until she solves the secret behind her husband’s murder and explores her attraction to the mysterious sailor.

 

Why a note from a fan is so important

I've been in a writing slump for a while. Mainly because I've assumed more duties with my day job, but I received a note from a fan a few days ago and her words have encouraged me to try harder. I write each day even if it's only one sentence but one sentence a day won't get the book finished in a timely manner so I'm going to work harder at drafting much more a day.

 

She also asked some questions and I thought I'd share my answers here. First, she was interested in The Keeper of Moon Haven and if I had plans for a sequel. The Keeper is one of my all time favorites and when I drafted the story, I had plans for a whole series. A blue moon is a second full moon in one month. I wanted my story to coincide with Samhain so I chose October for the month with my blue moon. I then researched dates for occurrences of two full moons in October. For the most part, this happened every nineteen years but not always. My next plan was to have a book set in each year the blue moon happened in October. That said, I do indeed have plans for more in this series. In fact, I'm about 5000 words away from finishing the second book - Lucien's story, but I had trouble deciding how to end it so I put it aside to work on other projects.

 

I currently have five books in various stages of completion but I'm concentrating my efforts on two this summer.

 

So fans of fiction, if you really like a book, let the author know. Your kind words of encouragement might be all that's needed to help the author finish that next book.

A weekend with the Kingston Trio

Last weekend, my husband and I went to see the Kingston Trio in concert at the Dosey Doe in The Woodlands. It was a fabulous concert. The owners had torn down a barn in Kentucky and reassembled it in Texas and then had the architects create a building with nigh perfect acoustics. They have the tables in front of the stage set up "German" style. We had a seat right next to the stage. The food was outstanding as well.

We arrived early as we'd never been before which gave us time to enjoy the meal and visit before the group performed. They sang for about an hour and a half. Afterwards, they stayed and talked with everyone in a most relaxed and friendly manner.

When I was growing up, neither parent was much into music. We had a turn table in the living room and I think they owned all of 10 albums, but my father's favorite group at the time was the Kingston Trio. My girl friends and I would play dress up and dance to those tunes. Sometimes we'd switch and play Herb Albert's Tijuana Brass but mostly we played Kingston Trio songs. At the time, the rest of my friends were all talking about the Monkees and the Beatles. I had no idea who these groups were. I did buy a Cowsills' album with some allowance money and even talked my mom into taking my best girl friend and myself to a concert. Too funny.

Most of the songs were ones we sang at Girl Scout camp so hearing the Kingston Trio in concert brought a lot of good memories. Thanks guys for still performing.

Strange happenings in my author world

Yeah, so I've been buried in school stuff and should be working on it as we speak but I'm taking a break. My publisher sent out a query or survey regarding social media so I think - I've got a little time and I won't remember later, so I'll take the survey now. Hmm, enlightening.

First, when I do a search for my name, facebook doesn't even show. No surprise there, as I've had no time whatsoever to indulge in chatting on that site.

Amazon was a bit more puzzling. When I did a search for my name, my author page did not show. What? So - I log in and find my author page that way. It asked for any updates. I made a few changes and did a search again. My author page is not linked any more to any of my books and it doesn't show when you do a search however, it shows fine when you type in the direct link: amazon.com/author/ciaragold

Not only that, but several of my books that were in print are no longer showing as available. Have I been away too long? Probably. Can't do anything about it until March, though so ...

In the meantime, I will be writing again as soon as contest season is over.