YA Indie Carnival ~ Blast From The Past and Forever Excerpt

I have the children off to school...so now I can do my post. :)

Our theme this week is about sharing our high school writings with you. Sorry, folks, I don't have any of that because I was more into art and photography back then. My past writings just don't exist any longer. But, art is still very important to me, and it's a huge reflection of who I was in high school. So today, I would like to share some of that with you.

In Fateful, a drawing like this is described:

      "Creating another sad painting, she decided it made her feel a little better. But only a little. This time a distraught fairy emerged from her pencil. The little sprite sat curled up under a brown mushroom, her arms wrapped around her bent legs, her cheek resting on her knees, and desperate tears trickled down her tiny cheeks. Even her little wings drooped sadly. Danielle understood how she felt as she filled the fairy in with the wash of soft watercolors."

As you can see, the description was based on a real piece I'd created. This was a very sad time for me. Obviously, I didn't have the same reason Danielle did for creating it, but I had been betrayed by a very close friend. I'm pretty sure I was crying as I drew and then painted it. I do feel very close to this sad little fairy because of that, and she will be framed and hung in my new home.

Here is another just for your viewing pleasure. This one hasn't been painted yet:

If you hadn't noticed, I love fairies and they have made their way into all of my finished writings so far. I don't expect that they will be in everything I write.... If you don't like fairies, then don't read the Fateful Trilogy.

In the very near future, just in time for Christmas, I plan on opening an Etsy store where you can purchase handmade items that relate to my books. These things will include: replica art, like the one above, replica jewelry, like Danielle wears in the story, bookmarks, and even an apron like Sophia's.

Of course my top priority is finishing Forever...so to treat my readers who are waiting patiently, here is another excerpt:

Chapter Two

The Things of Nightmares

“What do they eat?” Danielle asked tucking her feet beneath her and setting her untouched plate of cake on the nightstand next to the bed. She couldn’t stomach even chocolate right now. Werewolves were creepy enough and now Lucas was one of them? If they were like wolves it might not be so bad, but these things were nightmarishly frightening with distorted human faces semi-cloaked beneath a wicked-looking mask of a beast. A shudder rolled up her spine and she looked at Ethan to see if he’d noticed.

Apparently he hadn’t. He seemed really distracted, like he had the weight of dark and wicked things on his shoulders. A little sigh blew past her lips, because he probably did. Staring straight ahead like he was, she could see his profile perfectly. His golden eyebrows were drawn low over his straight nose. Wire-rimmed glasses were perched there and Danielle’s mouth wanted to smile at how handsomely adorable he was with them on. She preferred him this way, slightly blind, and completely normal.... But her smile never made it to her lips because his mouth was pursed with deep thoughts—thoughts that were likely tormenting his peace of mind. His usually calm, blue-eyed gaze reflected the distress within. Again she wondered if he regretted the return to weak-mortal-ness, even though he’d been the one to first partake of the candy before prompting her to follow. He dragged a hand through his blond hair which needed a trim and hung into his eyes until he pushed it back. After a long pause, Ethan finally answered her question. “During a full moon? Flesh ... probably.”

“You don’t know for sure?” she asked, trying not to let what he just said totally freak her out.

His eyes shifted to hers. “No. Their kind is even more reclusive than fairies are.”

Danielle turned away from the upsetting things she could see within his expression, and nudged the plate of cake out of the way as she reached for her tea. Maybe that would help settle her stomach, because it was churning at the idea of Lucas with a whole mouthful of pointy teeth instead of just a pair of fangs. He’d been scary enough as a vampire, and now he was something she knew very little about. A sip of creamy peach liquid filled her mouth and then slid down her throat as she swallowed. “Then how can we fight them?” she asked. Danielle decided the tea was helping a little and took another sip, watching the little rosebud painted inside it disappear as she rocked the cup level again.

“It doesn’t seem like they can do anything to vampires. We’ve fought them before, as you know, and none of us were affected adversely. I suppose it could be due to the fact that the curses were placed by different sorceresses.”

“Hmm,” she murmured as she drank, again watching for the pink rosebud with green leaves inside her cup.

“I love watching you do that.”

Startled by the sudden change in topic she looked at Ethan, who was smiling. “Do what?”

“Watch for the flower.” When she wrinkled her brow at him, confused, he added, “The one inside your teacup.”

While rounding, her eyes swung back as the flower in question disappeared halfway below the liquid line. “You noticed I do that?” Had she even noticed she did that?

He popped a few pieces of popcorn in his mouth and said around it, “I noticed that, and the fact that you’re not really paying any attention to the picture.”

With eyes returning to the television, she figured it had been playing for a while and she had no idea what was going on. Is that what he’d been so focused on earlier? Somehow she doubted it. On a sigh she said, “I need to know more about them, more about what to expect from Lucas now.”

Until next time, my friends! But before you leave, check out my other amazing YA Carnival friends:

1. Laura A. H. Elliott author of Winnemucca & 13 on Halloween, Book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series
2. Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3. Heather Self
4. T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series
5. Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga
6. Darby Karchut, author of GRIFFIN RISING
7. Lexus Luke
8. PJ Hoover, Author of SOLSTICE, Blogging at ROOTS IN MYTH
9. Cheri Schmidt, author of the Fateful Trilogy
10. Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog
11. K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
12. Patti Larsen, The Hunted series and The Hayle Coven series
13. Courtney Cole, author of The Bloodstone Saga
14. Amy Maurer Jones, Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy
15. Dani Snell's Refracted Light Reviews
16. Fisher Amelie, author of The Understorey
17. M. Leighton, Blood Like Poison Series, Madly, The Reaping
18. Abbi Glines, author of Breathe and The Vincent Boys
19. Kimberly Kinrade, Bits of You & Pieces of Me, Forbidden Mind
20. Madeline Smoot, Missing, Summer Shorts, and The Girls
21. Cidney Swanson, author of Rippler
22. Nicole Williams, author of Eternal Eden, Falling Eden
23. Gwenn Wright, author of Filter