Nara's Nook

The Never-ending Story

2011-08-23T06:01:00.000-07:00

Was there a beginning--
a time when that scratching,
papery scurrying wasn't?
A time before ideas
feeding in the shadows
were lured in with scattered crumbs
and incantations,
spun onto a page,
then shredded.

Ceramic clinking--
mortar and pestle
grinding frail symbols to dust.
Blended with sweat and tears,
forming the paste,
binding the thousand bones
that frame a tale.

Bubbling black broth
consumes:
one eye of critic,
six toads and a frog.
A pair of princes
and a rogue plot bunny
tossed in for spice.

Watching the plot thicken.
Chanting.
Stirring.
A mist rises,
glittering metaphors
clinging to bones like dew.

Alchemy
adds flesh,
breathes life into form.

Dragons are slain.
Damsels rescue princes.
Princes find the magic amulet.
Spells broken.
Kingdoms freed.
People rejoice.
The fire goes out.
The gate clangs shut.
The drawbridge drawn.
Tale Told.

Time to say goodbye.

No!
It needs a touch more something...
Hair of dragon?
Rose petals plucked by the light of a moonbow?

Was there a time when this tale wasn't?
Will there be an end?

This post was written in response to this week's Carry On Tuesday Prompt. Click here to see what others have written or to join the fun yourself.

Where is Big Door

2011-08-03T13:26:00.001-07:00

There should be a Big Door Tool Bar at the bottom of this blog

Making Promotions Fun

2011-08-03T13:08:00.000-07:00

I'm working on ways to do promotions that won't leave me feeling as unwelcome as a vacuum cleaner sales rep and won't send potential readers into hiding when I mention I'm an author with a book for sale. My plan is to build a game around my next book release. There will be mysteries to solve and adventures to take. Reading excerpts and watching trailers will be something readers engage in voluntarily and urge their friends to do. At least that's my hope.

I'm testing the various points tracking interfaces here at Nara's Nook and will launch the real contest the first week of September.

If you want to help me test the contest interface, sign in with your Facebook ID. (It's Okay. I don't get any of that info, nor would I use it to spam you.) When you interact on my blog in various ways you'll earn points. At the end of testing the tester with the highest point total wins my help in designing a game around a promotion they want to do. Let's make promotions something authors and readers can enjoy.

Blogging Tips for Beginners: A Web Browser for Busy Authors #writetip

2010-07-05T17:18:00.001-07:00

Flock Browser - Flock Art

To be an author is to be a blogger. Not all writers are as enthusiastic about that new aspect of our profession as I am. I love geek stuff. I love playing with new ways to express myself, and I really love the possibilities blogging can bring to stories.

So why isn't every writer enthusiastic about blogging? I think the biggest barrier is a technological hurdle. So, that's the blogging issue I'm going to address first. You need more than a web browser to get this job done right. If you are trying to muddle along with Internet Explorer or Firefox, with no enhancements for blogging, you are wasting too much time trying to put your posts together. And that is one of the biggest complaints I hear: Blogging eats too much time.

While you can install add-ons that will improve the blogging experience with IE or Firefox, I'm not even going to waste your time trying to describe how. It's better to use the browser that was designed for blogging and all the social networking you do: Flock. All the tools you need are built in and they are fantastic.

I have been using Flock since the first release around 2005 and I started mainly to see how it functioned as a browser. Flock made a blog reader out of me and then a blogger. Here's a snip of a five-star review for Flock at CNET (snip made automatically by my Flock browser).

Flock is designed to streamline and emphasize how you interface with social networking sites, RSS and media feeds, and blogs. Because it's built on Firefox 3, its behavior will feel familiar and it supports most--but not all--Firefox extensions. And yes, the "awesome bar" is part of the latest version.

Flock Browser - Free software downloads and reviews - CNET Download.com

I know you're saying, but I'm not good at all this technical stuff. You don't have to be. When you want to quote another blogger, you highlight the text and it's a right click away from appearing in your blog post properly attributed(see the quoted text above -- just a highlight and a click ). When you want to add an image to a blog post, it's a right click away. You can keep Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace open in the Flock sidebar and get your social networking done while you blog. Are you juggling half a dozen blogs and webmail accounts? Support for that is built in too.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be going over the basics of blogging for beginners and I'll explain how to implement these techniques with Flock. If you're already using a blogging tool, you're ahead of the game. If not, go download Flock. It's free.

Get ready to love your blogging.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Author Spotlight Kelly Jamieson

2010-03-11T13:19:00.000-08:00

Here’s an excerpt from Kelly Jamieson's 2 Hot 2 Handle

Abby looked back and forth between them, at the sincerity and open desire on both their gorgeous faces. Despite her confession about her somewhat wild past, she’d never had a threesome with two men. She’d always been the third with another couple, a male and female couple, like the two times with Melina and Gavin. Two special people who’d so generously shared each other with her.

Eric and Jett were special, too.

She liked them both so much. Her feelings for Eric were growing to slightly scary proportions, and yet the attraction she felt for Jett smoldered below the surface.

She could have them both. Hot ménage-a-trois sex. No strings attached. Just like she wanted. Because they were already a couple.

A twinge of regret pinged inside her, but the lust heating her overrode it.

“I’m sure,” she said. She held out a hand to Jett, who moved closer and took her hand, lifted it to his mouth and kissed it. The gesture had her heart turning over in her chest.

She shifted in Eric’s embrace and looped her arm around Jett’s neck. She’d never kissed him. She wanted to kiss him. And yet…she hesitated, flicked a glance back at Eric.

He nodded, eyes burning hot.

She went on her toes and turned her mouth to Jett’s, and he met her in a scorching kiss, his mouth firm and warm and delicious. Her breath sighed out of her, her breasts rose and swelled, nipples aching.

Eric’s arms around her waist, Jett’s mouth on hers. Heat exploded in her, burning her up.

“This is crazy,” she whispered against Jett’s mouth, leaning her forehead against his. His chest rose and fell with his rapid breathing.

“Then we’re all crazy,” Jett said, voice dark and rough. “Abby you have no idea how much I’ve wanted you…”

Her tummy did a little flip. “Oh.”

“Tell me you want me, too.”

It was hard. It was so hard to let go of convention and all her traditional beliefs—that if she admitted her attraction to another man it was like cheating on Eric. Once again she turned to him, laid a hand on his cheek.

He covered her hand with his, moved it to his mouth and kissed her palm. His eyes met hers. “I want this,” he said in low, taut voice. “Truly, Abby. I love Jett.” Her heart fluttered. “I want this for him, and I want this for you. I want you to make each other happy. But make no mistake…I want you, too.”

Burning up.

Could she do this?

More Than That

2010-01-05T08:24:00.000-08:00

This is who I am

A woman who never felt womanly
I wanted to be one of the girls.
I wanted to feel elegant, dainty.
I never found the key to their club.
I remained a goose among the swans.

I had one overwhelming feminine drive.
I wanted a child, motherhood.
The depth of longing as vast as the oceans.
Even my womb wouldn't recognize my womanhood.

He didn't care.
He loved me as I was.
He said you're more than that:
Not woman but female,
Untamed, unchained.
More powerful than you know.
Turns out he was right.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox said,
"We laugh, we weep, we hope, we fear."
I say: We fear our true selves most of all.
Your passion is your power.
Dare to be who you are.

~Marie
Therian shapeshifter from The Tiger's Tale by Nara Malone

Don't you hate it when you turn the last page on a great story? I've always wished I could bring certain characters into the world. And while I don't have that kind of magic, technology makes it possible to bring them into a virtual world. Some people find the idea of characters blogging unnerving. Others embrace it. I use it as a tool to help me know them better. The above is not a passage from my book, but my character's response to this week's prompt from Carry on Tuesday. See what other bloggers contributed here.

Monday Poetry Train: My Editor

2009-12-21T07:07:00.000-08:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpovey/ /CC BY 2.0

My Editor

1. The Letter

I don't know how long it had been there, hours perhaps. A subtle change in a browser tab: new mail - 1.

With one sentence I'm snatched from the world of forms that need filling and pages that need proofing -- penetrated, imprisoned in the woman I'd forgotten I was.

Another sentence binds me, the words like metal links drawn tight, cold steel pressed against warm skin. No give. No escape.

2. The Rewrite

He fills my empty spaces. He dips into the well, leaving his marks, bold strikes, corrections in my course. Our dialogue arcs through demands, pleas, moans, sighs.

He proofs me: exposing the places I try not to see, insisting I grow with the thrust and cut of his editing tools -- leather, steel, flesh, teeth. He strips me naked, parts my seams, exposing the essential prose of who I am.

3. Revised Copy

He leaves me trembling like pages in his hands, rewritten between the lines and margins. A framework in black and white -- now accented in purple, blue, and red.

Now he holds me, smooths my bent corners, eases sting with praise. He runs a finger over his favorite bits. I quiver in response, wriggle in the tight fist of his chains, knowing this was only round one.

Write me again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's been a long time since I wrote my last 3-6-9 poem. I have been focused on getting a novel accepted for publication and now that I have that goal behind me, I have time to enjoy writing some poetry as the year draws to a close. This is for the Monday Poetry Train. Visit other poets riding the train today.

The great Cellphone Novel Experiment

2009-07-10T09:13:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, I started blogging a road trip romance, Greyhound Summer, as an interactive novel experiment. At the same time, I was posting segments of the story at Textnovel.com as an experiment with writing a cellphone novel. Well, I'm three weeks into the project now and this is how it's going:

I was having a blast even before the editor recognition. This has been a great exercise in writing tight and writing often. It's also an interesting experience to have feedback from readers as you write the story. I have to admit I've done a lot of rethinking the original story plot because the audience is more diverse than I expected. In fact, the big decision that will lead to HEA has been placed in the readers hands. I can't wait to find out how I'm supposed to make the story end.

If you want to see the textnovel version of Greyhound Summer, you'll have to create an account at the site, but I think it's worth it to see some of the fine examples of cell phone fiction on display. If you do drop in there to have a look around, a vote for me would be appreciated.

Black Fruit

2009-06-29T09:06:00.000-07:00

Flickr Photo Download: Garden of the moon

The seeds are locked away in vault,
in an icebound cave,
and there they will stay,
until there is time,
until there is courage.

Your seeds are the germ of desires
too secret, too dark to share,
and so they are left on ice
never to blossom, go to fruit, go back to seed

It's a shame.
You could have sown those fantasies
in me.

Changing Things Up

2009-06-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

I'm changing things around here at the fiction playground to make the content easier to sort through. Portions of the Greyhound Summer project involve choosing your own content and I'll need space here to make that happen. Bond is anxious to get back to his blogging and there are a few other characters in the wings waiting to contribute. I'm working on a tabbed blogging hack, so if you drop by and find things a bit skewed, it's just me tinkering under the hood.

Going Greyhound for the Summer

2009-06-14T15:28:00.000-07:00

Creative Commons Search cfarivar on Flickr

Today is the launch day for my road trip novel, Greyhound Summer. You'll be able to read it right here on my blog as segments are moblogged by the main character, Arie Moon.

Arie should be posting her first blog at some point this evening. She hopes to meet lots of people and make new friends on this summer trip, so feel free to talk to her in the comments of her posts or email her. She uses gmail. The user is arieandmatilda.
I'm crossposting here until I can get the RSS problems on my Wordpress blog worked out.

Missing

2009-03-04T13:51:00.000-08:00

would I were real

2009-02-15T09:07:00.001-08:00

My Flash Romance: Owned

2009-02-11T17:23:00.001-08:00

My flash romance Owned (which you can get free by clicking this download) is now available as part of the Romance Diva's 2009 E-book Challenge.

Waiting

2009-02-04T05:59:00.000-08:00

It's seed catalog time. Don't those pictures make your mouth water? They make you dream.This year my seed catalog has an RWR on the front. Pictures of new book covers make me as hungry as those of dew-drenched strawberries. They make me dream.

I've tilled and sowed and weeded and watered. I know the aches and pains that come with this dream's labor. I look out over my garden, rows newly seeded, rows with new seedlings. There are lean young plants and strong mature ones. There's even a flower or two, blossoms that promise. One has a blue ribbon draped over its limbs.

I'm waiting for fruit. Any day now, I think. Any day now I will taste success. I look for it in the mail, in the e-mail, on the caller ID. Any day. One day. But watching the sun go down and the moon take its place, I realize it's not this day.

Nara

MaslowskiStanislaw.WschodKsiezyca.1884.ws.jpg (JPEG Image, 800x446 pixels) - Scaled (95%)

Spice Your Life

2009-01-30T10:02:00.000-08:00

January, she is the dark heart of winter. It is easy to go flat, blah, and feel like the sun will never be back. The wait seems endless when we're shut inside with the ice storms and howling wind rattling the windows. Have heart. We are at the turning point, yes? The light is on the way back. Monday we celebrate the waxing light, the returning sun. Let's use the day like a good spice to kick out the winter blues.

Even us kinky ones get weary and flat and have no energy as the winter grinds on. Now in the dungeon world, festivals of waxing, celebrated with candles, this makes our hearts leap. So today we talk about the spice. How to take the simplest thing and bring it to life with the unexpected.

Let's start with the name. Here in America you call it Groundhog Day. Mon Dieux! Rodents are not sexy, mes amis. I suggest you go back to the old ways, the Celtic Feast of the Waxing Light. Wax is sexy. Candles are sexy. Groundhogs? Mon Dieux.

So, to the feast. In the old times, cupboards went bare this time of year. Some flour. Some sugar. It's hard to make a feast. Small wonder we celebrate the feast of lights with pancakes. The round cakes were cooked to golden, little gold orbs to honor the sun's return.

I know you shrug. You think, blah. Only blah if you choose, mes amis. Only if you choose. It is true of cooking. It is true of writing. It is true of love. There is always a secret thing, a little something you can add to turn ho hum into mmm.

We keep it simple, because who has the energy for lots of ingredients and sifting this into that. So, take an ordinary box of the pancake mix you just add water to. Here is the secret: don't use water. Use eggnog. You can get the ready-made. No need for big troubles here. And really, here is the other secret, that eggnog taste comes from the spice, the nutmeg. If you want to put milk instead of eggnog, you could. But, no skimping the spice.

Get whole nutmeg. Ah, the scent of the nutmeg when you grind. You breathe and you taste it. This alone will chase some gray from your day. You don't need a fancy nutmeg grinding tool. A little Microplane® like from your tool chest would do. Handy little toy. Keep an extra one in the toybag, a little lover's footplay and peppermint lotion...sigh... Sorry. My mind wanders.

So, I like to put the nutmeg, just a sprinkle on top, after I pour batter on the griddle. What is it about watching hotcakes on a griddle that soothes a Dom's soul? And the scent of the nutmeg as the heat reaches her is heaven. It is supposed to be an aphrodesiac, the nutmeg. I believe this. Yes. I believe.

When they are just right, turn them. Make a big platter filled with cakes. This is a feast.

Now we have one more ho hum to bring to life. The syrup. Get real maple syrup. We splurge here, but even so it needs more. It needs something to make the eyebrows pop up on the first bite, yes?

Bourbon. Warm the syrup, then add a splash of bourbon. You will know what's right. To your taste. This little nip will warm her right to her toes. No popsicle toes in the bed tonight.

Now fill your plates, light candles, look across the table into your lover's eyes. Winter is for loving, yes?

Get extra candles, mes amis. They make good play when the meal is done and the feasting begins. The scent of candles, the sound of the match strike, drips that fall like velvet rain on your lover's body, her sighs. Welcome the sun, mes amis, but embrace this last bit of winter together.

Bond
The Dungeon Gourmet

Sixty-niner Threesomes

2009-01-27T11:05:00.000-08:00

Taking Bond's complaints under consideration, I tried three different versions of the 3-6-9 Flash Fiction form. In the first two I stuck to the rules. In the last, I broke them all, posting it as a three part serial that didn't apply the sixty-nine word limit. It has been fun and I think I may be addicted to the form. If you're interested in learning more about it, you can read an article by Bruce Holland Rogers here.

My 69 Threesome Stories are here: Sixty-niner Threesome, this is not about that

I'll blog the rule-breaker story as a series next week.

Bond Master Welcome

2009-01-25T06:24:00.000-08:00

Cook Naked !

2009-01-19T08:54:00.000-08:00

on Flickr - Photo Sharing! Picture from Miss Barbara, used under a creative commons license.

Ah, I know what you were thinking. This is not about that. Not cooking unclothed. You have the dirty mind. Cook Unencumbered. Cook without rules. Abandon restrictive procedures.

I see some cooking instructions: "Beat 200 strokes." Ridiculous!

Absolument no measuring. Numbers, they are for reproducing! Not creating. Not the way to perfection. And perfection, perfection is only perfect at one instant in time. What worked then must be tweaked into a new perfection for next time. You can't reproduce. You can rediscover.

Yes, sometimes I write numbers when I talk about cooking. They are training wheels. A place for the timid to start.

Nara and I we argue. She is so stubborn. This week she insists on writing by numbers. Bah! I say to her: "I paint with flavor. You paint with words. Using a number recipe for your writing is like saying to a painter to paint only in blue."

She said, "Picasso."

I said, "Brat."

Really, she agrees with me. She just loves the conflict. But she insisted she wanted to try this 69 threesome recipe for flash fiction. Not what you think. If it were, I might have more interest. She means the flash fiction style: three parts, 69 words each part (not counting headings). So she will end up with 207 words. What if the story would be better with 225 or 300 words?

But her first effort, viewable at the dungeon, lifts my eyebrows (and other things). Not that she is right. I stick to working naked, using all the senses to feel your way through what you create. Nara, the challenge inspires her, the obstacle to be overcome. In the end we both feel our own way toward our perfections.

Go cook something up, mes amis. Take the chance. Be bold. Discover your perfection.

Bond

Unleashed

2009-01-12T04:03:00.000-08:00

I'm a romance writer. Welcome to my playground. I bumped into this statement in the comments over at Pixelvixen's site that sums up what my website is for me:

As human civilization expands to fill every nook and cranny on the planet, we need new space, a new way to expand that enriches us, a new way to communicate, find friends and express ourselves.

User-Created Users » PixelVixen707 in comments from: Henry Harris

This is where I want to let my imagination run off the leash and test possibilities. My muses and story characters speak uncensored. It may look chaotic. It might not all be proper or politically correct. I hope to discover new ways to communicate and to stretch the boundaries of what a character, a story, a blog, and a writer can become.

Current site projects:

Chatbot: I created a chatbot on another site that I will link up here as soon as possible. She is supposedly teachable and it will be interesting to see what she might learn chatting with visitors. You are allowed to talk dirty to her.
Flash Fiction: serialized flash, sixty-niner flash and sixty-nine menage flash (69 and 69 menage are forms not sexual positions), reader plotted flash
Experiments in immersive fiction
Experiments in story form
Experiments in blogging form
Giving characters a life beyond the book
Giving muses a life outside my head (shudder)
Making new friends :)