Book feature: MURDER MISUNDERSTOOD by Susan Bernhardt

M is for Murder!
A book in a favourite genre of mine. Check it out on Amazon

See you tomorrow for the post of the letter N!

💜 Linzé

Guest post: L is for Love + ... + ... + ... by Leenna Naidoo

L is for Leenna's
Love post 💖

You would think writing about love is easy. Everyone knows it. It’s a universal feeling—akin to occasionally choking on water or tearing when dust gets in your eye. You just can’t go through life without having some dramatic and automatic response to it: first love, love at first sight, love/hate, second chance at love, puppy-love, mature love... The range, range within ranges, and unpredictable twisting into new forms and equations, that’s where it gets complicated—just like all love relationships, no matter how simple they seem. Why?

Because Love + Two Hearts = Messy Stuff where Messy Stuff = misunderstandings + wild hopes + irrational thoughts and behaviour + jealousy + adoration + gooey feelings + outside intervention + ... + ... + ...

So, when writing a story, all plots and intentions for a love relationship (or what loved crazed, infatuated, manipulative individuals will do) tends to go out the window. Characters (good guys and villains) want their stories told, their behaviours explained, and their happy-ending—no matter the cost. They are all in pursuit of True Love (or its most durable facsimile) just like you. And unlike you, they can break the rules (and sometimes the law, or even the laws of physics) to do it. Why?

Because Fiction.

But a writer of romance, suspense, and sci-fi/fantasy with romantic bits, needs to write believable love fiction. Why?

Because Love is a process. If you don’t show or allude to the process and its stage, the story implodes leaving you and the reader with >0 (or less than zero).

I admit, I don’t always get the equations right, but when I do, it is hugely satisfying! I got close to getting it right in my first season of Quest For The Wholly Pale. I had not anticipated Silverbirch stealing Emrys’ heart while swigging beer in the student Ref. But she did, changing the path of the story. Lucky for me, that was in Episode 3 and I thought I foreshadowed their hidden feelings well. Sadly, not all readers picked up the clues. Why?

Because Subtlety-in-Love can = Invisibility to persons-concerned where: persons-concerned are oblivious or misunderstand or disbelieving. And Emrys and Silverbirch were very subtle, being friends first.

I got closer to getting it right in the series Settle Down Now. InUnsettled-The Prequel, I tried the following:

Falling in Love+Break-up = competition + attraction + misunderstanding + deception + jealousy + fear

I tried perfecting it in Settle Down Now (the novel) with the following:

Reconciled Love = maturity + proximity + danger + jealousy + sincere love + teamwork + communication

I think I got it right, but Love (as I said before) is messy with endless permutations. Then again, I was never good at Maths. Why?

Because Mathematics = Not Fiction (with the exception of Unreal Numbers).

Fortunately, Love is Real, even when it is fiction. No prior mathematical knowledge needed.

See if I got close to your right equation in Settle Down Now the series, No Distance To Run, and Quest For The Wholly Pale.

And let me know what is your equation for Love, in fiction and real life. Why?

Because: everyone loves a good Love story, even ones with strange equations.

About the Author

Leenna writes cross-genre suspense, romance and dabbles in sci-fi/fantasy. Her episodic fiction includes Quest For The Wholly Pale.

Her short stories have appeared in The Mad Scientist Journal, SciPhi Journal and Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores.

Her novels include No Distance To Run and Settle Down Now.

She blogs on www.leennanaidoo.wordpress.com and

www.leennascreativebox.wordpress.com.

Leenna’s most unnerving experiences include: looking a red kangaroo in the eye, flipping pancakes for the first time ever in front of her class, interviewing Alan Dean Foster by email, and teaching a hellhound how to share a biscuit. Sometimes she writes about these and other less nerve-wracking things; sometimes she doesn’t.

See you tomorrow for another post in the A to Z challenge!

💜 Linzé

A-to-Z Blog Challenge: K if for...kindle

As a bibliophile I love reading, but I only have so much space at home to store the paperbacks I read. To this end, I have decided to keep buying the paperback editions of the series (several of them!) I am busy reading. But if I find a new author or an author I like brings out a new series, to buy their book in e-format instead. And it's not just about space and saving a few rands, but also doing a little bit for the environment too.

My kindle - almost
10 years old too!

But today I am celebrating my kindle - I bought it on 22 January 2010, and while it is perhaps not the fastest device on the market these days, it still works perfectly. With 656 books uploaded, it better be because there are more coming!

Whether you love a paper copy or an ebook, I am sure that you will agree that nothing is as satisfying as a hot cup of coffee (or tea) and a good story to relax with for a few hours.

Want to see how many bloggers are taking part in the A to Z Challenge? Click here and be prepared to hang on to your chair!

A special guest post coming tomorrow 💟 until then!

A-to-Z Blog Challenge: J is for...journaling

Writing can be an intimidating activity, especially if the words end up in the public domain such as a blog post, or a published book. Many people want to write a book, few sit down to do so, and even less gather the courage to take it to its conclusion: publication.

But there is one type of writing where there are no boundaries, no editors, no critics, no readers. Journal writing. Even if you are not a writer, and have no desire to be a writer, published or not, keeping a journal can also be for you.

Journaling has many benefits, including things that have nothing to do with words. Some kinds of journals don't even use words, and yet the practice seems to be foreign to many. As a journal writer of many years experience, I have experimented with these styles - words and no words - and decided to write a book about it.

It is available as an ebook, and by subscribing to my newsletter in April, you stand a chance of winning a copy of the ebook. The winners will be announced in the May newsletter. Read a sample here if you cannot wait that long.

A-to-Z Blog Challenge: I is for...instinct

The Letter I in the world of words are usually associated with inspiration. Personally, I am tired of hearing it, reading about it, and trying to explain to new writers that inspiration is nothing more than an excuse not to write. So today the letter I is for instinct.

I started my writing life as a pantser (someone who writes without planning anything about the story), and I have to say that it worked well for me. There are some drawbacks, as there are with being a planner, but overall no problems for me.

But as I became more experienced, I realised that there is a golden middle way that eliminates some of the negatives associated with pantsing, it is called plantsing. Not too original I grant you, but it has added another level of creativity to my stories which I didn't expect at all: instinct.

Doing the planning around the setting and characters of my stories, allows those details to sink into my subconscious. The information is there, a part of my creative mind, and no longer requires the rational part of my brain to take such an active role in the writing process. I can now trust my gut, my instincts, as I write the words of my story. The details are embedded so the creative energies can flow uninhibited, without overthinking every word or detail.

Is this inspiration? Nope. People waiting for inspiration don't do anything until the muse whacks them upside the head. Instinct, to me, is more fundamental. I cannot not write, or be creative in some way since I also like to draw. Fundamentals don't need to wait for inspiration to act. It is in itself a driving force for the creative side of me to get its voice heard, and its desires to be acted upon.

Instinct or inspiration? I know which one I will listen to every time.

A-to-Z Blog Challenge: H is for...habit

As a word addict - reader and writer - I know that often it is our habits that drive our choices. But it is not only the things we choose to do, such as writing every day but also the things we have to do - like brushing our teeth. Personal care and wellbeing should be at the top of our daily habits, and yet they are often the things we neglect. Not the cleaning habits I think so much as the activities that require an effort from ourselves. Exercise? Meditation? Preparing healthy food? I wonder why that is. 

I write every day. I meditate five to six times a week. Since adopting a vegetarian diet, I am more aware of what I eat. I also have to cook at home more than I did before the lifestyle change, purely because the convenience of takeaway food is focused on people who eat meat. I am not a health nut, but it is my awareness of my longterm health that influences my choices now.

If we live healthier (mentally and physically) we are probably going to live longer and be more successful, so why the neglect? Is it pure laziness, or have we just become so disposable in our thinking as we have in the way we treat the things we own? New phone every two years, a new car every three to five years, new wardrobe every six months.

The list goes on, and I would love to hear your opinion: the general population don't want to die (we are going to, but that does not negate our fear of it) and yet we do nothing to enable us to live a better quality life until we leave this life. So why does the human species manufacture its own demise, one body at a time?

A-to-Z Blog Challenge: G is for...goals

Today my post is about goals. I have been reading about goals and why some work and some don't. The success or failure of the goals we set ourselves has more to do with why we set these goals than what the goals actually entail. If our motivation is external (outside of ourselves) the probability of failure is high.

If we are setting goals based on what drives us internally, these goals are important enough to us to make time for us to work on them to make them happen.

I often make a list of the books I want to publish every year, and most often that doesn't happen - at least not all of them get released. But I always, always make my word count target. For me, it is about writing the stories more than publishing the end result. Something to think about...