The Order of Winter

Hello all! I would like to welcome only my second guest post on this blog, from another fellow author, Lisamarie Lamb! Now, regulars may remember that Lisamarie hosted me last week on a post about the Tube. You all can read that here if you missed it.

But today, it is time to read not about an Underground rail network. Today, we are going down to the deep, dark woods. Over to you, Lisamarie. . .

I write all sorts of things; flash fiction, poetry, short stories, novels… And these pieces of writing are in various genres; horror, romance, children’s, literary fiction, mystery… With over one hundred different projects, either completed or in process, I like to think that I’ve managed not to repeat myself when it comes to plot and characters.

I try not to anyway.

But there is one thing that I do mention a lot, and I’m completely aware of it. It’s not always intentional (although at times it is integral to the plot), but whether I mean it to be there at the start of a story or not, ‘the woods’ often pops up.

What do I mean? I mean actual, literal woods. Deep, dark places full of trees and animals and scary things. Or peaceful places full of beauty and clearings of dappled sunlight and twinkling, tinkling streams that lead on to adventure.

I love to read about them. When I was younger, The Faraway Tree was one of my all time favourites, and the two poems that are stuck on the wall by my writing desk are “The Listeners” by Walter de la Mare, and “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost.

I love to write about them too. Sometimes my stories are set within the trees. My current work in progress, a children’s horror entitled The Waldgeist of Wanderal Woods, focuses the entire story in the magical world below a lush, green, leafy canopy. Another of my short stories is called “The Woods Today”, and is about a rather nasty teddy bears picnic. And another, “Miles To Go” details the shock and confusion of a man who awakes naked in a snowy wood.

Equally, some of my stories just touch on the woods. In “Fairy Lights” the protagonists camp by the edge of a wood, not daring to enter. “One Man and His Dog” has the eponymous man looking towards the woods, but eventually going in the other direction. “Careful of the Castle” involves a woman sitting on a hot, sandy beach; but she wishes she was wandering through the shaded woods of her home town.

There is something so fascinating, so elemental, so mysterious and exciting about woods, inside or out, that I find myself drawn to them. Of course, it helps that I’ve lived near one for almost all of my life. Or rather, near a few of them. The very first house I can remember backed onto woodland. I have a distinct memory of playing in the garden, sitting on a swing that my dad made and which hung from a big old apple tree, and staring, hard, hard, harder, over the back fence and into the woods. I wanted to see something move. I never did, unless wind-waving leaves counted.

A few years later we moved, and this time the garden was bigger, and at the bottom of this one was a large meadow on which horses roamed. That was nice. That was fine. But it was what was beyond the meadow, just on the horizon, that delighted me – a patch of trees that I was happy to call a wood. I even climbed over the back fence on a few occasions and ran across the field, dodging manure, to reach the trees. But fear of what (or whom?) I would find forced my back home. I never did go in.

The house after that, the one in which I spent my teenage years, had an even bigger garden, and this time woods came with the land. Just a little bit, but my excitement was at intense proportions, and I spent a lot of time at the bottom of the garden, just inside the woodland, daring myself to go further.

I still dare myself. My parents still live in the house. Every time I visit, I think about it. Maybe one day I’ll venture in.

When I married, we moved to a pretty little end of terrace in a village. And yes, right outside our front door, was a patch of woodland. It was beautiful, but we outgrew the house and had to move, and now I live in a new build in a place with hardly any trees. At the end of my back garden is someone’s garage. Out the front are more houses.

No woods.

But then, if I had them, would I go in? Or would I leave it up to my intrepid characters, as I usually do? Maybe that’s why I write about the places so much – my stories let me do the one thing I’ve always wanted to do, but been afraid to actually go through with.

One day, though. One day…

Links:

My latest release is Over The Bridge published by Dark Hall Press: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Over-the-Bridge-ebook/dp/B00A93ENIS/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1358350839&sr=8-4

“The Woods Today” can be found in the Angelic Knight anthology Terrifying Teddies: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Satans-ToyBox-Terrifying-Anthology-ebook/dp/B009UWZUXG/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1358350621&sr=8-16

“Miles To Go” can be found in the Brazen Snake anthology Cold Feet: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cold-Feet-Brazen-Bites-ebook/dp/B00APSQ934/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1358350671&sr=8-18

“The Listeners” by Walter de la Mare: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-listeners/

“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-road-not-taken/

A nice busy weekend for guest blog posts, this one. It does mean another relatively short one on here as my main purpose is of course to direct you elsewhere at the moment.

But on the plus side, it will also mean more hosting of guests for me at times. 

First up, my post on Lisamarie Lamb’s page, which you can find here. Readers of my Facebook page or Twitter followers may well have noticed that I’ve had quite a few links up from Transport for London with their celebrations of the 150^th anniversary of the London Underground. If you’re wanting to know why it’s been such a big thing for me, have a read!

Lisamarie’s contact details can be found below, if you would like to get to follow her writing progress. I’m also excited to say there will be a guest post from her going up next week which is also about favourite things: the Deep Dark Woods.

Also, I’ve had the privilege of being a guest author on the Xchyler Publishing page. It’s a different post altogether, a post on the writing community and the value of our followers to us writers. It’s always great to know who’s dropped by for a read, and even better to know that word is getting out there. Your intervention, dear reader, is vital. But more on that here.

I shall be springing up in some other places over the coming months, and I’ll let you know where and when too! If you would *like* me to spring up elsewhere, perhaps on your website or blog page, then give me a shout. I’m enjoying the challenge of coming up with new and hopefully interesting things to say.

Anyway, that’s all for now, or you won’t have time to read those two, will you? I’ll be back soon.

It has been drawn to my shamefully neglectful attention that the London Underground is 150 years old today. Now there would have been a different blog had I not actually already started one yesterday for a guest blog post that is coming soon. I’m very happy with it, and I don’t want to be re-treading too much old ground, so rather than putting it here, I’ll be pointing everyone at that on the day it is released.

However I would be remiss if I didn’t at least give the significance of the day a mention, as the existence of this world-famous transport system provides not one but several scenes in Oblivion Storm.

So here are a few useful links for any who want them, and look out for my guest post which I shall link as soon as available!

Transport For London Twitter: https://twitter.com/TfLOfficial

TFL Website, on the Anniversary and planned festivities, souvenirs and art: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/25979.aspx

News Centre. Probably of most use to frequent Tube users: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/26727.aspx

First, I’d like to wish everyone a wonderful 2013. I hope the year brings everything you need it to.

This brings about a brief review from my side of things. I’ve looked back to the beginning of the year to try and remember where I was. To attempt to recall everything that has gone on this year will be tricky. But one thing I do know I said last year was that I was setting myself goals rather than resolutions.

Before I started last year, confidence was very low and I wanted to do something to get myself straight again. I knew I wanted to do something with this manuscript I had sat on my computer for a long time in some capacity or other, and I know I wanted to finish at least one short story I was happy with. Well, if you’re reading this, I’m sure you know I got to the end of the year having ticked both of those boxes off my list. It was a strange feeling to have read Becoming Tabitha, my submission to the Crime Net anthology, again earlier in December – this time, purely for leisure. It was a contrast and a real moment of, ‘I can do that!’

And then another such moment. I was sitting around gaming and one of my friends pulled out a copy of Oblivion Storm and asked me to sign it! It was so exciting that there were pictures just to prove it happened. And do you know what? I got to do it all again on Christmas Day, this time for family. It was a real Christmas highlight, and one for which I’m very, very grateful to have been able to put forward.

Yes, in that regard, this year has been surreal, and in a really good way. Markers have been set on the writing side.

There have been downsides – I’m not at the right side of any regular income at the moment, and that has been the story of the year. It’s a specific thing I’m looking for improvement on in 2013. But it’s just one I’m going to have to keep going with.

And that’s the thing really. The stuff I’d like to see more of requires me to press on. The stuff I would like to see less of requires me to be pressing on with other things. Either way, to make 2013 work is going to require hard work on my part. I’m prepared for this in either case.

So I’ve decided Project: Shadowlondon has been an overall success. It culminated in Oblivion Storm, and my Crime Net contribution, a new computer, the completion of a talk and involvement on the production team of a LARP system. From where I was at the end of 2011 to now, I’ve got to be happy with that.

But 2013 requires something new. Fresh projects and goals.

Project: Warrior!

As with last year, I haven’t done a series of resolutions; instead I have set myself a series of goals I wish to achieve. I will share some of these when things are back up and running on the Day Zero site (at time of writing, I cannot get on) but share some of the ones I can immediately mention now.

It’s a given that with Oblivion Storm being ‘The Grenshall Manor Chronicles Book One’, that I at least have the desire to see to a Book Two. I had actually started something along those lines a while ago, as anyone who has followed this blog since the start will tell you. However, with the many changes I’ve made to what ended up as Oblivion Storm since my first draft, and having just sat around for long enough to be dangerous, I’ve been coming up with new stuff. So I will hope to have that upon the world as soon as I can.

Similarly, now that I have at least temporarily held off my fear of writing short stories by getting one out, I am on a mission to get a few more out this year. But we shall see.

Third: I want to ensure even more regular blog posts on here. I think this is perfectly possible, so do let me know if you believe me to be slacking. Also, expect me to be guest posting on a number of blogs over the course of the year. I’ll ensure there is a reference point on this blog, but the important thing is that you can read it.

And finally, The Million Word Challenge. You can read more about that particular mission here. I can tell you this: I was both terrified and massively impressed by Colin when he told me he was doing it, and I promised I’d help to publicise this at any opportunity I could. This admiration grew to a nagging thought that even if I fell short, if I just let this one drive by, I would almost certainly regret it. So here I am.

With the hope that I can get on and do a couple more talks this year, expand my writing portfolio and along the way, entertain a few people, I have high hopes for 2013. This is where I want to take all the successes from 2012 to a new level – and to leave as much of the rest firmly in 2012 as possible, without looking back.

I look forward to meeting many new people this year! Good luck with anything you have set yourself about doing this year, and may you all be up to the challenges you have set yourselves. Keep at it, and let me know how you are all getting on!