A to Z Blog Challenge: B is for...

Sketchbook 😉

Sketchbook practice is one of my favourite activities. There is no pressure to produce anything and there are no limits on what you can do or try.

I have several sketchbooks going, but now try to finish one, before starting a new one. With the ones I have currently going, I try to stick to a single (or a primary) medium per sketchbook.

When I do a mixed media page, one medium will dominate the exercise.

There are two exceptions: an A5 landscape sketchbook that I use to plan paintings, and an A4 landscape sketchbook for the challenges of an online art group that I belong to.

A few of my current sketchbooks: water-based marker, gouache, ink and watercolour,
and collage.

Until tomorrow!

🇿🇦💜 Linzé

A to Z Blog Challenge: A is for...

Acrylic markers

A favourite medium that recently came on the art scene. I like them because they aer easy to use, and work well acrylic paints, or on paper with water colours.

Versatile and a quick option that doesn't require any preparation to use - aside from shaking the brush pen, depending on the brand you are using.

Acrylic brush marker on an acrylic painted background - a tiny canvas painting made for the 100DayProject.

Until tomorrow!

🇿🇦💜 Linzé

CreativeLife update: the100dayproject, and a few more life issues 🤦🏼‍♀️

Hey there creative friend!

I really wished I could tell you that my studio is back in working order, and that I am painting to my heart's content. But as you probably guessed...it hasn't happened yet. How long can it possibly take for the insurance to make a decision? Let me tell you...one month! Yup, it took my husband many hours on the phone and many emails, and getting the complaints department involved. Then more phone calls...yes, even they had to be chased. What a freaking mess!

Acrylic marker on tiny canvas

But I am happy to report that we have the plumbers coming out tomorrow, to install the new geyser and fix the old pipes and stuff. Finally!

It is going to be a long day. Hubs decided to work from home, so that I can go to the lab to work. While I have to finish a report, and prepare for the next test, I already have another job going and I need to go in to finish the tests.

That's how life works for the self-employed 😉 So it's a good thing that I like the work.

You can see a few of my 100dayproject paintings, which I am managing to keep with. I am also writing a novel, and editing another. The editing is going well, and after I consolidate this edit, I have to work through it one final time before the manuscript will be made ready for publication. I am thinking early May. The next goal is to ask my husband to do the cover for me. I know what I want, but I need a Photoshop expert like him, to make it look the way I want.

Watercolour

Acrylic marker - colouring page

My next challenge is getting my car serviced, another expense although this one was planned for. I had to have my driver's license renewed as well, and now I am just waiting to hear from the authorities when it's ready for collection. I was nervous about the process, which we have to do every 5 years, but they were very professional and got the process done super quick.

I enrolled in the A-to-Z blog challenge starting on Wednesday, if you want to check it out. It is a daily post around a theme of my choice.

An if that wasn't enough, I also joined the #100tinytreasures quest. This is not a daily painting, but still making 100 paintings, albeit tiny ones, in one year does require some serious planning and commitment. They are fun though and I have done three already. But more about that next time.

Until next time!

🇿🇦💜 Linzé

BOOK FEATURE: Beautiful, Once by Mia Dalia

 SYNOPSIS

From acclaimed author Mia Dalia comes a propulsive, character-driven horror novel that’s a chilling blend of high-tech utopia, isolation, and catastrophic consequences.

When a controversial tech billionaire retreats from society, he constructs a private island designed to be the ultimate controlled experiment: a hand-selected population, sustainable systems, and a flawless model for humanity’s future. A paradise engineered to perfection.

But perfection breeds boredom.

Seeking recognition—and perhaps validation—he sends a message into the cosmos, broadcasting The Island’s triumph to the universe. One day, he gets a reply… and all hell breaks loose.)

Within hours, the community fractures. Neighbors turn on neighbors. A savage, insatiable hunger spreads. Civilization unravels.

Told through three gripping perspectives—the billionaire’s loyal assistant, an island mechanic, and a visiting investigative reporter—Beautiful, Once explores survival, psychological collapse, unchecked ambition, and the terrifying consequences of playing god.

Set in a near-future island enclave, this intense dystopian horror novel will appeal to fans of isolated community thrillers, outbreak fiction, and cinematically propulsive, speculative survival stories in the vein of The Island and The Crazies.

When paradise falls, who gets to live?

BUY LINKS  https://geni.us/BeautifulOnce

EXCERPT

Olivia pushed on, but she could see her words failing, falling to the ground like weakly shot arrows.

She had to go with the ace up her sleeve: violating the institution’s policy.

“I’ve brought someone here to see you.”

No reaction. But did Olivia see a flicker of interest?

The dog had no tag, no name. He was found along with the person, both survivors of the same ordeal. The dog was in much better shape, and after a brief recuperation, seemed strong and lively. He was staying with one of the people who found him, likely to be permanently adopted if the person he’d been found with continued to show no signs of recovery.

The dog, nicknamed Spark by one of the rescuers—aspirationally at first but now living up to it—came in tentatively, his eyes on the person in the chair. He didn’t approach and instead stayed by the door. Slowly, softly he began to growl, pawing at the floor.

“Spark, come on,” said the orderly under his breath. “Behave.”

Olivia watched the face of the person across from her. Watched their head turn toward the dog—an eerily robotic motion.

The dog barked sharply. It served as a slap, a bucket of ice water in the face. Suddenly, the survivor’s eyes sprung wide open, animating with something Olivia couldn’t quite read. It sent a stirring of alarm dragging a nail down her spine.

When those eyes locked on hers, Olivia thought she could see the flames flickering there. But surely, that was merely a trick of the light, only the sun pouring through the uncurtained window.

“There you are,” Olivia said gently. “How are you? How do you feel?”

The person opened their mouth, licked their lips, and closed it again, as if they had forgotten how to speak.

Finally, in a voice rusted out from disuse they croaked a single word: “Hungry.” Then, suddenly, with alarming speed and agility, the survivor lunged across the table at Olivia.

The dog began barking in earnest.

“Hungry,” the terrible voice repeated so closely to Olivia’s ear so that she felt the fiery heat of it. And then the feeding began.

BUY LINKS  https://geni.us/BeautifulOnce

About the author

Mia Dalia is an internationally published, Crime Writers’ Association–nominated author of all things fantastic, thrilling, frightening, and strange. Her short fiction appears widely online and in print anthologies and magazines, and has been featured in multiple narrative podcasts. 

Mia's stories were selected as one of Tales to Terrify’s Top Ten Stories of 2023 and shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association’s 2024 Dagger Award. Her work has been acclaimed by Library Journal, which “highly recommended it for gothic fiction readers and fans of Shirley Jackson,” praised by Kirkus Reviews for its “imaginative directness reminiscent of Stephen King,” and lauded by Booklist for its “beautifully detailed characters and a subtle slide into dread.” 

Mia is the author of the novels Estate Sale, Haven, and Beautiful, Once, novellas Alakazam, Tell Me a Story, Discordant, Arrokoth, and Do You Know the Muffin Man? and collection Smile So Red and Other Tales of Madness. 

Mia Dalia is represented by the John Jarrold Literary Agency.

Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing— Where Stories Come Alive!

Find Mia online:

https://daliaverse.wixsite.com/author
https://linktr.ee/daliaverse

CreativeLife update: the100dayproject, the A to Z blog challenge, and a near studio disaster

 Hey there creative friends!

  As I write this post, February is about to expire and a new month with new challenges and creative projects is almost here. Since I paint on wooden panels, they need a bit of TLC before I can start painting. I started the process a few minutes ago on three new panels.

  I bought 12 of them because they were a good price, and when inspiration strikes, I can't wait to start. For now there will be 3, but there could be more. I painted two panels in this style a while back, they were sold, and I loved the process, so I thought why not paint a few more?

  I already did a few sketches, and there are definitely ideas that make my fingers itch. I like it when that happens! 😁

  The original idea for the project was on the list of projects I made for my art group this year, but once it became time to send them the reference (not to copy though) the muse struck...and a series was born.

˜ ˜ ˜ The100dayproject - a few of my daily collages and paintings below ˜ ˜ ˜ 

    The plan was to start the first painting this week, but that was until I noticed the ceiling in my studio. It was wet around the closet where I store my solvents, and my completed paintings. To say that I had a light panic is an understatement.

   I removed all the paintings as fast as I could - I put them in the living room, along with my largest easel. I also had to move the finished sketchbooks stored on a shelf. Inspection of the inside of the cupboard made the news worse. The ceiling and the wood inside was wet.

 

   

My paintings are okay, although one sketchbook was damp, but fortunately sustained no real damage.

   I packed the cupboard with dehydrating things, and it looks like it will be dry in another day or so. I will fix the ceiling once the geyser has been repaired or replaced. We don't know yet what the insurance will decide.  It's a huge frustration and I hope it will be resolved soon.

When I logged in to start writing this post, I saw posts about the annual blog challenge coming in April. I don't know how many years I have been taking part, and this year will be no exception.

Blogging every day is hard work, but with advance notice, I can definitely make it work by preparing at least ten posts ahead of time.

It will overlap with the 100day project, and two more challenges that I have enrolled in, so planning ahead is necessary. 

My A-to-Z Blog challenge theme for 2026

And my studio is back to normal. 🙏

Until next time!

💜🇿🇦 Linzé

PS: Keep an eye out, if you love horror fiction, there is another exciting book launch coming the 20th!

BOOK FEATURE: Harmed and Dangerous by Jasper Bark

It’s a Southern Gothic, paranormal thriller, set in the steamy state of Louisiana. The plot involves time slips, small town horror and the mysteries surrounding an inscrutable serial killer.

It’s dark and deeply emotional and addresses LGBTQIA themes as well the intensely personal nature of father/daughter relationships.

BOOK LINK: AMAZON

COVER BLURB

Put yourself in Kyra’s place.

You're seventeen years old, lost and alone in a remote town in Louisiana. You're searching for the birth parents you never knew. The heat is crippling. The river often floods, washing houses away and lifting corpses from the ground.

The locals treat you with suspicion. You don't belong here. They're hiding something. All over town, in nooks and hidden alcoves, there’s evidence of a forbidden faith. They keep the old ways here, but no one will tell you what they are.

There's an intangible presence following you. Hiding in your peripheral vision. You can't see, hear or touch it, but you know it's there, waiting for its chance to claim you.

Then the episodes start.

Your vision goes and when it returns you're seeing the world as it was fifteen years ago. Physically you're in the present, but everything you see happened a decade and a half ago.

Suddenly you realize.

You’re seeing through the eyes of the serial killer who murdered your birth mother. He takes control of you, forcing you to watch as he stalks and brutally murders her.

And there’s nothing you can do to stop him. Because he died by lethal injection more than a decade ago.

BOOK LINK: AMAZON

Special essay from the author (Linzé - I love these!)

WHAT I LEARNED WRITING ABOUT REAL VOODOO

  Like all paranormal thrillers, my latest novel, HARMED AND DANGEROUS has a supernatural element. The people of Yeuxville, the small town where the novel is set, keep “the old ways”, a set of customs and magical practises that are older than their town, their state and even their country.

  In writing about these practices, I drew almost exclusively on Voodoo and other African diasporic religions like Candomblé and Santeria. Beliefs that date all the way back to the African kingdom of Benin. Beliefs carried over to the new world by the people captured and sold into slavery, who mixed their ancient beliefs with the Catholicism of the countries to which they were taken. This in turn created new religions which are some of the fastest growing in the world, even today. I have a personal and first hand experience of these beliefs and practices.

  When I was writing my fourth novel WAY OF THE BAREFOOT ZOMBIE, for Abaddon Books, rather than writing about the zombie apocalypse, I decided to go back to the origins of the zombie myth in Voodoo. But I didn’t want to misrepresent the religion in the way I’d seen so many writers do in the past. So, I did a lot of research and I reached out to some important practitioners. One of these was Simone Brightstein, who became a dear friend and practically a member of our family.

  I discovered that when you write an authentic Voodoo ritual that’s intended to summon one of the deities, who are called Loa in Voodoo and Orisha in Santeria, they can actually turn up. In your mind at least, which is where all the action in a novel takes place. Not only do they turn up, but they take over the story. When they appeared, I didn’t write any dialogue, I took dictation. The words spilled out almost faster than I could put them down. And the Loas decide what’s going to happen next, not the author.

  Toward the end of the novel, the Loa known as Papa Legba, who opens the way for all the other Loas, decided to change my story. He told Brigitte, a Mambo, or Voodoo priestess, that he wanted another of my characters, Tatyana, to stay on the island where the novel was set and become one of his followers. This completely changed what I had planned for my ending. But I knew enough at this point not to go against Papa Legba. Especially as he gave a little speech explaining why she should become his follower.

  About a week later, I was contacted by Simone, a priestess of Santeria. She said she’d been contacted by Elegguá, the Orisha equivalent of Papa Legba, with an important message for me. So important, he insisted she write it down, because he told her he wanted me to become his follower. She emailed me the message and it was so close to the speech Papa Legba had made in my novel that some sentences were almost word for word.

  I’d never had something like this happen to me before. I was quite shocked. As Elegguá instructed her, Simone had the altar she devoted to him packed up and shipped to me. I was to make regular offerings to it and be mindful of the Orisha. It sits in my study to this day, in fact, as I write this, it needs to be dusted. And yes, I make regular offerings.

  Papa Legba/Elegguá appears in the pages of HARMED AND DANGEROUS. His presence in this novel is more subtle, but no less powerful. You’ll meet him when you read the ARC. And maybe, he’ll change your life too.

˜˜˜

AUTHOR BIO

Multiple award-winning author, Jasper Bark is infectious – and there’s no known cure. If you’re reading this you’re already contaminated. The symptoms will manifest any time soon. There’s nothing you can do about it.

There’s no itching or unfortunate rashes, but you’ll become obsessed with his mind-bending books.

From the acclaimed Draw You In trilogy and the ground breaking Bark Bites Horror series, to graphic novels like Bloodfellas and Beyond Lovecraft.

Then you’ll want to tell everyone else about his visionary horror. About its originality, its wild imagination and how it takes you to the edge of your sanity. We’re afraid there’s no way to avoid this. These words contain a power you’re hopeless to resist.

You’re already in their thrall, you know you are. You’re itching to read all of Jasper’s bloodstained books.

Don’t fight this urge, embrace it. You’ve been bitten by the Bark bug and you love it.

LINKS

Website: www.jasperbark.com

FB: https://www.facebook.com/jasperbark/

INSTA: https://www.instagram.com/barkjasper/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXsjQ4vXFQzUOhK1oRLok9w

CreativeLife update: art, the 100 day project, and finishing the second draft

 Hey there creative friend!

This blog post was supposed to go out last week, but that week went whoosh before I managed to blink. I'm sure it happens to everyone, but it doesn't mean that I like it. When I lose track of the days, it means that I have been working long hours and not doing much on a creative project. Yeah, that is frustrating to say the least.

Small collages I made in January.

I did manage to finish the second draft of the Guardian of Dreams earlier in February. It is now hiding on my computer for another week or two before I tackle the next round of editing. Don't worry, the backups were made, just in case. 😉

I also managed to prep the two panels (I only paint on wood these days) that will be the cover for Grayson's Choice. Instead of using AI to generate the cover image, I thought to do the two paintings that are part of the character development path of the female MC myself.

Of course I can paint, but to make the paintings that reflect the pain and joy of her journey, is a definite challenge. So holding thumbs that I can paint what I am envisioning they should be.

Learning about an amazing artist: Ruth Asawa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Asawa

If you have read my blog before you will know that I did the 100 day project last year, and that it had not been easy. I foresee the same journey ahead of me for the 2026 edition, starting on 22 February. If you want to check it out, the details are on Substack

While I think it is aimed at artists and crafters, I also used the challenge to write. So writers, why not jump in too? Writing for 100 days will definitely get a book a good way towards finishing a first draft without the pressure of a daily word count.

I can write a 1000 words in an hour, but seldom have that amount of time available, but 500 words? Anytime. I suddenly feel the urge to write...

Philosophy - what I am reading next

The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius

And then a moth lands on my desk and makes a mess with its powdery wings, making me drop my mouse on the floor. 🤨 I am not a fan.

Keep an eye out for a post this coming Friday. It's another book feature if you're into horror fiction. I read the synopsis and boy, it will keep you awake for sure. 😳 

Learning about philosophy: Stoicism vs Existentialism

https://stoicismtoday.substack.com/p/stoicism-and-existentialism

Thank you for catching up with me this week. Next time I will share more about the art journal page I mentioned before. I changed it a bit, but that is okay, since it is still new to me and I am figuring it out as I go.

Stay creative until next time!

🇿🇦💜 Linzé