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Showing posts from April, 2014

Quoting Secrets

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Seven Sages Seven Seals Seven Secrets Soon Sinister Steals --The Pixie Priestess A gathering of quotes from the upcoming epic fantasy, Secrets of the Sages .  Book 3 of the World In-between Series. “Our destiny is the product of what we chose to do with our innate abilities.” “I’ve pinned my husband to the wall in under five seconds.   And that was with only one crossbow.” “This world is full of things we have forgotten, things we do not understand and things well out of our control.” “I’m afraid the walls have ears.” “I believe that people have the right to defend themselves, their families and their villages.   If someone chooses to fight for the opposition, then so be it.   People must do what they feel is right in their hearts.   Those who make that choice do not need to learn from us.   If the Empire must teach a person self-defense, then that is because there is an opposition.” “Your brothers can lea...

A Writer's Outing

On Saturday, I participated in a Writer's Salon.  A topic is chosen beforehand and we set out writing about the subject. At the Salon, we read our musings, then we discuss. Our topic was Creativity and Substance Abuse Being Synonymous.  We were to write about 500 to 600 words. Six of us read.  One was a poem.  Another was a play where the writer coerced other writers to be actors.  One other wrote a short story about muses and the remaining two wrote about personal experiences (not always their own).  It was a fun afternoon of musings, discussion and food. When I thought about Hemingway's quote, "Write drunk, edit sober," I wrote the following: (By the way, I don't condone drinking and writing.  Only drinking after writing, if you must.) The Secret of my Success IE Castellano What is the secret of my success as a writer?   I get asked this question in many interviews, especially after I say that I do not suffer from wri...

Making the Cut

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I love writing to the rhythm of a spring rain.   Sitting in my bedroom, the pitter-patter of raindrops on the roof place a spell over my pen.   To the April music, I finished my ghostly short story for Moon Shadows , a +Laurel Highlands Publishing Halloween anthology. The Hunt clocked roughly a thousand words heavy of the 5,000 word upper limit.   It was time to cull my pretties. When I write, I fall in love with each and every word.   I choose them carefully.   I string them together with precision.   How can I possibly eliminate one word, let alone whole lines or *gasp* entire scenes? Brutally. Although pressing the delete key pains me, sentences shortened.   Mind you, tightening of the story would happen during editing anyway.   However, a few words here and there do not lighten the word load. I pruned two scenes.   As lovely as they were, they had to go.   The deleted scenes setup fo...

Wanna Know a Secret?

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The cover reveal for Secrets of the Sages! Book 3 of the World In-between epic fantasy series is coming soon.