Seeing this, what appears to be a rose, all alone in front of a house in a neighborhood in which many of the homes resemble small castles, I thought of my favorite fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast.
There are many versions of Beauty and the Beast. However, the common theme is that a Prince is transformed into a Beast as punishment. In one version, even his castle looses its glamor so to not be attractive to others. The Beast must find someone to love him and to love them in return. He must do so before an enchanted rose he was given, dies. Belle, a plain but beautiful girl, always has her nose in a book. Her father, in one version, is an inventor. He gets lost in the woods and stumbles upon what appears to be a deserted castle where he seeks shelter to wait out a storm. There, he meets the Beast who holds him captive. Belle goes out in search of her father and finds the castle in which he is being held captive. For her fathers freedom, Belle offers herself as a prisoner instead. It does not take the Beast long to fall in love with the beautiful Belle. He offers her beautiful clothes, fabulous food, the company of his servants, and of course, a library of books. It is not horrible to be held captive in this massive castle. Overtime Belle gets homesick, missing her father. The Beast agrees to let her go home with her promise to return. When Belle returns, the hunter from the village who loves her, follows her. He hurts the Beast and Belle acknowledges her love for the Beast. Beast survives and not only is he transformed back into the handsome Prince, but the castle returns to its glamorous state. Belle and the Prince, or Beast, live happily ever after. Being one who grew up always with her nose in a book, who has always dreamed of living in a castle with a library, this fairy tale is naturally my favorite. My strength, and maybe sometimes also my weakness, is to always see the good in people. Just as Belle saw the good in the Beast. I asked on Twitter, what other fairy tales are favorites. One person said Beauty by Robin McKinley which is actually a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. And, another person said The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. I have added both of these to my Read list on GoodReads. What is your favorite fairytale? Please leave a comment below or on my Twitter or my FaceBook. As always, thank you for your support.
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After a six year break, I am back! And back with a vengeance. Or, at least, a plan. One of the things I learned on this journey of being a writer is that you have to find your balance. You have to look at your life and set your priorities. Like many writers, I can’t afford to quit my day job to be a full time writer. And so, balance is key. I started this journey in 2011 when I accepted the NaNoWriMo challenge at the recommendation of a friend. I surprised myself and completed the very first manuscript of “Candle Lake” in that one month. I then spent time revising it and then sending it out for queries. Feedback I received was to build my author platform and to do some more revisions on my manuscript. And so I set forth with the idea to get my name out there and started to build my platform. I networked with many talented writers. I felt great. However, I quickly learned, I had no balance. Working a full time job, being a mom to four very active, young children, volunteering as a Scout Leader and Group Commissioner, and partnering with my husband to run a household, all while trying to become a published author, I simply could not find enough hours in my days. I wanted to do it all. And do it all well. Better than well. Sadly, in 2015, after a devastating car accident and another injury that my eldest son endured, my life as I knew it came crashing down around me. I left the social media world and closed all of my writing projects. Even my art journals. I have spent the last five years trying to make sense of the accident and incident, recovering both physically and emotionally, and focusing on raising strong and healthy kids. So, why now? Simply put, writing is my passion. I have stories I need to tell. To be an author whose books are at the public library is my dream. Following my dream is teaching my kids that one should never give up. What makes this time different? Well, for starters, my children are not so young. I no longer volunteer, although I miss it dearly. I have switched companies for one that fuels my passion in my profession. It’s amazing how working for the right employer makes your work seem less like work and therefore doesn’t drain your mental energy force. Most importantly, I have a plan. Because, the truth is, I am no less busy or in demand today than I was six years ago, the demands are just different. I have made the edits to Candle Lake and currently it is with a reader. While it is off, I am working on resurrecting, and finishing, Cold. If you are a returning visitor to my blog, thank you for coming back! You may remember, Cold was my Serial Saturday Series (I love alliteration). I have pulled all but the first chapter off the blog and am working on finishing this piece. When Candle Lake comes back, I will do the last set of edits and send it out for query. Follow me on this journey that can be sometimes discouraging but oh so rewarding. I also have books on their way to me so that I can do some reviews for fellow authors. I hope you will read those and show some support to them as well. From time to time I will invite you to give me writing prompts so I can practice my craft. I will share adventures with you, my readers, of the great city I live in and various places in Western Canada. There is some beautiful scenery here that everyone should experience once in their life. My notebook is filled with ideas of blog posts and social media posts to share with you as I make my way through this journey. I am ready to make adjustments as I go along because finding balance is a life long project. What are your struggles and how do you find balance? Please leave a comment below or on my Twitter or my FaceBook. As always, thank you for your support.
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