Tag Archives: Wildflower

Where There’s A Will, There’s A Writer

08 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by in Books, Dialogue, Empowerment, Faith, Inspiration, Reality, Wildflower, Women of Strength, Writing Craft

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There are aspects to a writer’s career that we have no control of. When we publish, one side of the conversation is finished, and we let go, placing the possibility of an on-going dialogue in our reader’s hands.

Other aspects, we can control. Learning the craft, writing the best story we can, letting our baby out into the universe, and repeating the process.

I accept that there is only so much I can do to make releases catch on with readers. I embrace the notion that writing the next book is really the only promotion that is in my control. And yet, my production is like a double-parked car idling in my path, making not much more than a bit of noise and a great big stink.

Am I doing all I can? Or all I can get away with?

This slug writer found inspiration in this interview between CJ Lyons and Debra Webb. Regardless of vocation, I think you will, too. Click to read Inspiring Warrior Woman. Enjoy.

What You Wish For

30 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by in Book Launch, Books, Heroine, Inspiration, Mystery, Mystical, Psychological Sizzle, Short Story, Sixites, Sizzle, Superstition, Suspense, Television, Travel, Wildflower, Women of Strength, Writing Craft

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If there is one thing writers have in common, it is this oft-asked question: Where do your ideas come from?

Most writers, including moi, will say something along the lines of, “I dunno.”

When the idea, that magical moment of inception, occurs is often as difficult to pinpoint. Often, but not always.

The plot line of What You Wish For came to me on a long, winding drive through northern Ontario. The drive itself had little to do with antique markets, typewriters, or wishes, though the winter view was magical.

Image by Sherry Isaac

Image by Sherry Isaac

Otherwise, the only other common denominator I can detect–and I oughtta know, being the author and all–is the unchartered twist at the end, a slippery slope not even I saw coming.

So, if not on the highway lined with frost-laden pine trees laden, where did the seed for What You Wish For emerge?

Inspiration, imho, was a culmination of every subtle twitch of Samantha Stevens’ pert nose, every cross-armed nod from Jeannie as she granted Master Tony’s wish. These Wildflower Heroines of my impressionable youth captured my imagination. Sam and Jeannie possessed powers beyond their magical gifts. Colour me Awed.

What You Wish For is a fun, suspenseful, psychological twist of a tale, and yet, for me, there is a message that delves a little deeper beneath the surface, like a pond in winter, waiting for the snow to melt enough to reveal its beauty.

Not fate, nor magic, rather, the choices we make, control our destiny.

What You Wish For.001What You Wish For is the first of ten short stories made available for digital download over the course of 2013. I hope you’ll give the story a read. If you do, you’ll be all set to play!

The crossword puzzle is a feature of Sweet Dreams, the next short to be released in this 10-story series.

The first five people who successfully complete the crossword crafted from clues in What You Wish For will receive a digital copy of Sweet Dreams when it comes available later this month.

True, you have to buy, then read What You Wish For in order to complete the puzzle. Think of it as a 2-4-1 deal. Buy What You Wish For, solve the crossword on this post, and you just might win a copy of Sweet Dreams.

Yay!

BUT (a huge but, not to be confused with my huge butt)

Do NOT post your answers in comments. Posting your answers in comments gives the answers to your competitors. Answers to the puzzle should be entered by email to:

~~sherry dot isaac at yahoo dot com~~

So my server doesn’t confuse your answer with SPAM, please type CROSSWORD in the subject line of your email.

The first five contestants to correctly give the solution to all 12 clues in the crossword, by email, will be winners. Winners will be announced in this blog’s April 17, 2013 post.

WYWF Crossword Blank.001.002

And now, the clues:

WYWF Crossword Key.003.003

Trouble reading the puzzle image or clues? Click on each image to make it larger!

Trouble answering the clues because you don’t have a copy of What You Wish For in your library? Click on the book cover for the handy dandy BUY links!

Remember, no answers in the comments. Send your solution to the puzzle by email to sherry dot isaac at yahoo dot com.

Good luck, and may life bring you What You Wish For!

Wildflowers in the Wind, Featuring Guest Author Jessica Aspen

13 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by in Empowerment, Guest Post, Inspiration, Wildflower, Women of Strength, Writing Craft

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Jessica HeadshotJessica Aspen writes paranormal romance near the foothills of the Colorado Rockies. Her books are full of elves, were-wolves and sexy men who walk on the dark side of the knife. She loves dark chocolate, walking the dog, hiking and is obsessed with new electronic writing devices. Jessica is also obsessed with writing, learning about writing and is currently hard at work on the third novella in the Twisted Tales: Come Into the Woods series, Goldi and the Bear available Fall 2013. She is a member of RWA, CRW, FF&P and PRO. You can find Jessica most days during the week at JessicaAspen.com, on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter.

~*~

I attended a recent meeting where an author struggled with the idea of a strong heroine. She asked, “if they are already strong, where is the character arc? Shouldn’t they start weak?” It was a great question and got me started thinking about my own characters’ arc. Do they start weak? And is getting to strong the journey?

For some characters it’s that obvious. They are weak and vulnerable, scraggly thin weeds with shallow roots, and they grow into strong vibrant sunflowers. But I don’t think that’s true for romance, and I believe the reason is that our heroines are women with an inner strength. Their roots are strong from the begining. The key for the weak to strong arc with an already strong character is that they need to realize their own potency.

The ability to be a strong woman, to open one’s heart and expose it to love is a theme that runs through many a romance. For example, in my current release Snow and the Seventh Wolf, Snow is a tough girl who has been persecuted by her step-mother for years. She can stand on her own, but she lacks the ability to be vulnerable and open because for years she’s had her shields up and at the ready. Her arc requires learning to partner with a lover and that requires a strength all its own and the courage to open one’s heart to pain.

This is how romance authors have strong heroines and yet still are able to show growth. What other ways can you have a strong inner core and yet be weak? Lack of confidence, lack of maturity, lack of spirituality. There are so many ways that an author can help their characters grow and yet still start off with a strong inner core. Self-discovery takes many paths.

I believe that romance also has a second job, when it comes to character growth. My romances all have the theme of growth between partners. That’s the romance part. Yes, this series is spicy and there are definite hot scenes, but that’s not the important part of the romance. The important part is having the hero and heroine find that they are better together. Stronger.

Would she be okay on her own if it weren’t a happy ever after? Of course. She’s strong. She’d get up and move on. But it wouldn’t be a romance without a HEA. To me romance is at its best when a heroine realizes her potential because of the actions of the hero, and his growth follows that arc too. This type of mutual realization doesn’t dilute her strength, or make her a clinging vine, instead it helps her realize her own potential and strong roots so she can blossom in the sun with her partner.

We’re all wildflowers in the wind, women who have an inner tensile strength, but still have a long way to go. We grow all our lives through adversity and support and the love of others. When we read romance we recognize those women who are like us and we identify best with those heroines who plant themselves no matter what the soil. Those heroines who scrabble and survive and succeed despite the odds and bloom in uncertain corners with little water and too much sun and as they discover love, also discover themselves.

~*~

Jessica is giving away an e-copy of her recent release in the Twisted Tales: Come into the Woods Series, Snow and the Seventh Wolf to one lucky reader. Leave a comment to enter and good luck!

SnowandSeventhWolf_200Exiled for attempting to kill his sister’s lover, the last thing Seth needs is to be saddled with a human. But Seth can’t turn his back when he discovers Snow fleeing from her avaricious step-parents murder plot. Isolated in a cabin in the woods, Snow attempts seduction and Seth discovers even werewolves are vulnerable to passion’s temptation. Seth’s angry struggles against his desire drive him away, but his over-protective alpha nature won’t let him abandon a female in distress. With Snow in danger again, can Seth overcome his prejudices in time to save Snow from her step-parents’ evil plan?

Snow and the Seventh Wolf, available at: Amazon, Passion in Print, Barnes and Noble, All Romance

Jessica book cover

~*~

Discover Little Red Riding Wolf, the first book in the Twisted Tales: Come Into the Woods Series. Available at: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Passion in Print, and All Romance.

Betting on Bionic

06 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by in Childhood Memories, Dreams, Empowerment, Faith, Inspiration, Memories, Reality, Television, Wildflower, Women of Strength

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Who did I want to be when I grew up? Jaime Sommers.

Electrical Yin to Steve Austin’s mechanical Yang.

Working through Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, childhood reflections drown my dreams and distract my days. The spotlight shines on the likes of Barbie, Samantha Stevens and Cindy Brady, but it is the Bionic Woman who takes centre stage.

No Artist’s Way task would be complete without thorough examination. Why Jaime? What did I think becoming the bionic woman would get me?

Trading my identity for hers, what pay-off did I hope to gain?

Leave Freud be, the answer isn’t hard to guess. Jaime was pretty and soft-spoken and confident. Even before her bionic enhancements, she was physically fit. She came through a traumatic accident, limbs replaced by computer parts, memory lost to the wind that ripped her parachute.

Jaime was a survivor. A wildflower, blooming in the Ojai desert.

At 11, I didn’t think of Jaime in survivor terms, I only saw her immediate onscreen presence. Jaime’s bionics made her different, and in her unique loneliness, I found kinship.

I was different, too. But Jaime’s brand of different was cool, exceptional, acceptable. My brand of different was just…

Weird.

Awkward.

Shy.

And dressed in hand-me-downs.

But to trade in and trade up my difference? Well, that would get me attention. Respect, love, admiration.

I wanted what Jaime had, the regard of her peers and unfailing adoration from the really cute guy who wouldn’t give up… though I wasn’t keen to fall from the sky.

I watched every episode, but if you asked me to share just one scene that made the most impact on my impressionable mind, I’d name Jaime’s first day back teaching, when, as the newbie, she was assigned to the class of unruly youngsters no teacher with seniority wanted. The scene where Jaime stressed the value of a strong teacher/student relationship based on respect and trust… all while tearing a little big black yellow book in half.

Synchronicity in action, for when I typed ‘bionic woman’ into the search field in youtube, that’s the first scene I found. Hello, Jaime, old friend. Thanks for guiding me through the roughest years. Like you, I survived a treacherous fall. I’m standing, stronger than ever.

Damn What You Need to Damn

05 Saturday Jan 2013

Posted by in Books, Movies, Romance, Wildflower, Women of Strength, Writing Craft

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Unimaginable to live in the Western world and not know something about Gone With The Wind, Margaret Mitchell’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel set that played witness to the end of an era, a southern state burned to rubble, and a nation torn apart by civil war.

More unimaginable still is the blockbuster movie without the four-letter word 1939 Hollywood did its damnedest to censor.

Until last month, I hadn’t read the book. Once upon a 1970′s wood-panelled rec room, the movie served as background noise while I played Barbie and Mom fantasized about Clark Gable.

I recall my great puzzlement over Scarlett’s acceptance of George Hamilton’s proposal when her heart clearly belonged to Ashley Wilkes — my lesson in the term, spite. To my young would-be writer’s mind, spite was an awesome concept that rocked my Barbie world.

Poor Ken.

IMG_3165Having paid a visit to Atlanta, having knocked on Tara’s front door, and knowing a thing or two about crafting a romance, Gone With The Wind is a banner, and if the soft cover weren’t so damn heavy, I’d wave my 75th Anniversary Edition in the face of those who write the rules of romance.

Damn the rules! 

True, Mitchell created complex, enduring characters and riddled the romance with complication. Scarlett’s marriages to men she did not love made mighty fine hurdles for hero Rhett. Blind devotion to a teenage crush made it impossible for Scarlett to see a future with Rhett. Social propriety and class expectations made it impossible for Scarlett to speak her mind.

In the midst of civil war, Scarlett lost her mother and her father and almost lost her home. Left alone to guard and care for her rival, she helped birth a baby. In defence of her beloved Tara and those dependent on her, Scarlett faced down a company of Yankees.  She fled Atlanta with flames snapping at the wheels of a stolen, lopsided wagon. Though she barely stomached the loyalty of a woman she could not stand, she was made to rely on Melanie’s support. Scarlett buried two husbands and one child, withstood poverty and survived starvation…

Mitchell did all this and more to Scarlett, thereby earning a gold star in the ‘make-it-worse’ school of writing, and then,

Mitchell damned the biggest rule.

When I settled in for the monolithic read, I knew there would be no HEA–happily ever after–for Rhett and Scarlett.

Confessions of love came too late. We’ve all been blind to what’s right under our noses, we’ve all been proud when we should have practised humility, and so, we can relate to Rhett and Scarlett when they take these faults to the umpteenth power.

I yearned for the HEA. I knew what was coming and wanted to slap Rhett and Scarlett silly and shout down Atlanta with a lungful of Fiddle-Dee-Dee!

Mitchell robbed me of the HEA, took away the expected, did not honour the romance guarantee.

But, Mitchell did give me hope. Tomorrow is, after all, another day. Scarlett’s a survivor, Scarlett has gumption. Hovering, perhaps, in the curled smoke of burned manuscripts, there is a version where  Rhett and Scarlett embrace, kiss, close the bedroom door behind them and fiddle-dee-dee till the sun comes up.

Mitchell also gave me a lesson. A lesson as a writer, and a lesson in life. It is fine to be proud, a great thing to survive, but there is a thing or two to be said for humility, for baring our soul when love is on the line.

I believe Rhett and Scarlett’s romance endures, because in the end, in the final chapter, even when love was lost, Rhett and Scarlett said what they needed to say.

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