Poe is Over Taught

Anyone who knows me (or my writing) I crave Gothic literature. It is my bread and butter and the air I breath.

For the last month, I've been teaching English at the local high school. As of this week, I am officially a teacher for the remainder of the school year.

Dance with me?!

Today, I get to teach my number one all time favorite subject! Gothic Literature. However, I am a little cranky because I have to do it through Edgar Allen Poe. Let me rephrase, I have to do it through "The Raven" and "The Fall of the House of Usher."

How boring can that be. I say Poe and everyone in the classroom groans. You know why?! Because he is over taught. Why can't we use some of my favorite short stories like "Wake not the Dead" or "The Mysterious Stranger" or even John Polodori's Vampyre? I know, I know. It's because they are not American. Honestly, the students are going to read them and be more interested because they are new!

Please, don't misinterpret what I'm saying. The school I work for is absolutely amazing. I'm sure the principal would be fine with me teaching it however I wanted as long as they get the material and understand the concepts. I am blaming our American education system (and now you are rolling your eyes) for being written by people who don't always take the time to understand the subject matter or the audience. Or that there may be more than one way to teach something.

Let me explain it another way. Our goal as educators is to build well rounded people who can walk out our school doors and be wonderful functioning adults that continue to grow into the best people society has to offer. It is exciting to see that we are teaching all ends of the language spectrum, but why hasn't the creator of this educational system noticed the blatant redundancies? If a student does not like a subject, a topic matter, an author... they are not going to get the  most from it. Let's shake it up a bit and include some other writers from this genre!

I guess I may just be a little more upset than necessary because I'm not teaching Gothic Lit from a vampire view... On that note, I think I am going to order 60 copies of "Dracula's Guest."

PDF of Dracula's Guest

Gilmore Girls Planner!!

With the Gilmore Girls Revival just a few weeks away, I thought I would completely neglect my children, my husband and basically the whole world around me and make a fantastic coffee/Gilmore Girls centered planner pack! Well, it's fantabulous! I love it! Check it out!

I have just released it to Etsy as a digital download. Sadly, I am still unable to print these stickers myself as my printer absolutely hates me. I finally bought ink and sticker paper, but the paper just feeds in the top and shoots back out the bottom. Yes, Murphy's Law is truly biting me in the ass this week.

Anyway, hop over and check it out! don't forget to use the blogger coupon code for 25% off!

BLOGGER25OFF

Muggle Force Coupon!

As is typical in the life of Tori, I have found a new distraction in what I am loosely terming graphic design. Yes, I am creating designs on my computer but I feel that I am shaming the world of true designers by labeling myself as one.

Makenzie says OH YEAH. mean kid!

I know. I know. Point please? So with this new Etsy store and my obsession, I have been tied to my computer in a way that makes readers sad. To make it up to you, I'd like to offer a coupon! 

No catch, I just want you to love my designs as much as I've loved making them! Though I would not be upset if you shared your use of them with me on Instagram!!! 

www.etsy.com/shop/MuggleForce

Coupon Code!!

BLOGGER25off

 

I have set the code to expire next Monday night! Head over and see what's what or wait a few days for new things to appear! Happy Shopping Nerds!

Muggle Force

The last time we lived in Pennsylvania, I tried my hand at an Etsy shop. It wasn't such a bad deal. I sat at my sewing machine for a few hours a day sewing dresses and sold them online. I was even able to make a few dollars at it.Then my three children and I moved back to Texas leaving the husband behind. With everything I had going on, it was just too hard to keep up the shop and within a few weeks, I disbanded it.

Now, I'm back in Pennsylvania and (not so patiently) awaiting transcripts that will allow me to get back to work. With three kids in school, I thought I should open a new shop and add some of the prints I have floating around my computer to it. We will see how it goes, right?

Muggle Force on Etsy

 What do you think of the name? It's a play on two of the biggest Fandoms that exist in my home. That being said, the first item posted is Dr. Who related! Please, check it out and tell me what you think. I promise, there will be plenty to come!

Welcome to Northeastern Pennsylvania!

My family has moved back to Pennsylvania! I'm so excited that I don't even know where to begin.

It's been a rough month, I can tell you that. After weeks of readying a house for sale, we packed up our daily essentials into the camper and made our way from Kansas to Clarks Summit, PA. We did stay at Lackawanna State Park for a few nights as we re-acclimated to the area before moving the camper to a trailer park a couple miles away. Can I just say, living in 360 square feet with four other people and a cat has made me drastically reconsider the size of my next house! After five weeks living in extremely close quarters, we made the decision to move into an apartment. Not because we wanted to give up the dream of living in a house but because my children were going to kill each other if we didn't do something soon!

It is my greatest hope that being here will mean the end of restructuring Taken -because we all know that has been a ridiculously long task- and the beginning of book two! I will be able to visit Bannerman's Castle in the Hudson. I can hop in my car and drive the two and a half hours to

Woodbury, CT and visit where the Cole Hunters have made their home. I would even like to walk to the streets of New York City to see how Francesca would have spent her days! The opportunities are endless! 

Keep an eye here to see my many adventures as I continue to build a world around Landon and Katrina! For quick snippets, find me on Instagram!

If you don't mind, I have work to do!

Happy Reading!

Fahrenheit 451

***This post contains spoilers for Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. ****

My family is readying for a HUGE move. The last month has been a roller coaster of finishing projects, appraisers, realtors and inspectors. To make things better, we are moving back to the Clarks Summit area of Pennsylvania. I am giddy to be moving out of this god awful sea of wheat and returning to the east coast! Green mountains, lakes, trees... You get the point. If you have read even a day of Taken, you know that Northeaster Pennsylvania is the setting. That means, I should be able to write book 2! 

Ok, to the point. 

Because of this move, Makenzie now how a summer reading assignment as she prepares for Freshmen Honors English. The reading list is quite heavy for the few short weeks before we move, but the nerdy kid can do it despite the fact that she is not a fan of the particular books she will be reading. I will give her kudos for managing to squirm her way out of reading Jane Eyre. Mark my words kid, you will read it someday!

And we have arrived to Fahrenheit 451, a book she despises and I absolutely love.

It was suggested I read it a few years ago after on conversation about censorship and where our children are going to end up if we continue to omit books such as To Kill a Mockingbird from the educational canon. I won't climb that particular soap box today! I haven't quite finished my reread, however, there is a line that caused me to put my book down and come see your beautiful face!

"' I hate a Roman named Status Quo!' he said to me. 'Stuff your eyes with wonder,' he said, 'live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic that any dream made or paid for in factories. Ask no quarantines, ask for no security, there never was such an animal. And if there were, it would be related to the great sloth which hangs upside down in a tree all day every day, sleeping it's life away. To hell with that,' he said, 'shake the tree and knock the great sloth down on his ass.'"

Here, I raise a question. What is Ray Bradbury trying to say? Society needs to read? Or, as a society, have we put knowledge to the torch? Or is it as Sparky Sweets said, is technology putting more of a gap between individuals? It is even possible to suggest that Beatty was a true representation of a man with too much knowledge. As a character who burns books for a living, I am always surprised to hear how well read he is, though it was his cause of death. He goaded Montag into killing him, did he not?

The quote above can be used to support any of these theories. Of course, society needs to put down the remote and pick up a book. Each show that comes out is a bigger insult on our intelligence, but that's just the opinion of a woman who watches very little television. As our TV grows in size and the shows decrease in tact, each individual becomes more and more like Millie, the outside world flushes away and the people on the screen become our family. 

Bradbury may not have been commenting about books directly. The book itself, in my opinion, was just a vehicle for a deeper understanding of where society will end up without the individual ability to think and decide for oneself. Imagine how grotesque Fahrenheit 451 would be if the Firemen were burning brains instead of books. What an image! 


My youngest daughter came home from a smoothie date with her friends yesterday and says, "You know how bad it is to be sitting at a table with people who are all on their phones?" That's were our society has gone! You don't take a trip to Niagara Falls to see a waterfall. You take a trip to Niagara Falls to show the world what you saw there. Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Musically, Google Plus... We are looking at the world through a lens!

I will admit, I'm just as bad as the rest of the world. As I sit here typing this post, the electricity around me is flashing on and off. I have even succumbed to connecting the internet here to the hotspot on my phone. I can tell you what the top photo is on my Instagram feed and I have already posted at least twice on Facebook. Hell, I let my husband buy a camper just so we could go away for the weekends and I could hide everyone's electronics including my own. Forced interaction with the world!

Let me ask you. When you are no longer a daily facet in this world, what will you have left behind? Are you just the guy who mows the lawn or the person who the gardener who created something to beheld? Put down your electronics. Speak to  the person beside you. Make a name for yourself!  


 
 

Finished... Well, almost.

Six years. Apparently, that is the time it takes for a person such as myself to finish a book. It started with a little idiom: curiosity killed the cat. What if the cat were a mortal sixteen year old girl, Katrina, who got mixed up with the wrong crowd of vampires and was turned into one? From that idea, Katrina transformed into a vampire hunter with a rocky past and Lady Eleanor was born.


I know what your thinking. What makes this story so much different from the thousands of female prophecy stories. I most definitely did not rip off Buffy! The difference is the vampire involvement and the mythology behind it all.

Ahhh, did the mythology pique your interest? We do live in a literary period developed by Stan Lee. Here is the disclaimer on the mythology. It does not open with a glimpse of Odin or Thor, but the mythology is there. There are subtle references and underlying hints throughout though it builds throughout the next two books in the Lost and Found Series. I have spend many of the last six years studying the Poetic Edda. I have read the Prose Edda and the Saga of the Volsungs multiple times. I have downloaded different translations and even worked to translate a few lines myself. All of this in an effort to stay as true to the original meanings as possible with the help of Maria Kvilhaug, better known as The Lady of the Labrynth. No where in my story lines will you find Freya refereed to as the goddess of love because that is a modern notion!

As my curiosity about the mythology grew, so did my hunt for true historical events and people to take on the major roles of the upcoming wars. You will find that Felipe Castillo came from a true battle on the Iberian Penninsula. Francesca is the fictional daughter of a true king. John Cole Knight of Agincourt truly existed as well. And Joseph's wife- Well, you'll have to read to find out!


The battle scenes. I will admit, they are my weakness. The action and the bloodlust dances around in my brain. When it comes time to pull those scenes from my head and draw them in yours, it all runs flat. There is no glory or gore for that matter. I rewrote the ending of Taken a dozen times at least! I resorted to googling the best battle scenes in literature and was surprised by the results. In the end, I just read a lot of George RR Martin's battle scenes and drew diagrams and made charts. Honestly, I resorted to methods I would have used while working on my English degree. The end result was well worth the trouble! Enough to get the point across yet not enough to turn readers away!

Updated ebook versions have been synced to Amazon, Smashwords and Barnes and Noble. A permafree version is available through MineEye as well. I encourage anyone who has downloaded a copy from Amazon over the last five years to stop into MineEye for the new edition as Amazon will not allow you to repurchase. For that, I am truly sorry and I am working on a way around the system!

If you are interested in a physical copy, I am still working on that. Once the proof arrives and is approved, it will be available through CreateSpace or Amazon. I will also order and offer signed copies for $20, though they will be minimal.

Happy Reading!!! I am off to work on the sequel. Hopefully, it's not six years in the making!

An old book for a new year

Today is the day the world is rejoicing a new year. I've seen many pictures such as this one here all over social media. The truth is, I'm stuck in the past. I'm writing a book that seems to never want to be complete.  I know I am a bit of an overachiever and perfectionist, but this book is sucking the life right out of me!

Alright, so here is my struggle. I've been working on the same damn book since Fall Semester of 2010. Yes, that's right. I have long surpassed the six year mark on ONE BOOK! It's ridiculous! At one point, I thought it was "good enough" to be published. I had many people warn me not to, but I did it anyway and this review is what caused me to really take another deep look at it. Since then, I have pulled it back and revamped it multiple times, still not truly happy with the results. This last time, I have taken a few of that horrid reviewers comments to heart and looked even deeper.

Now, lets discuss some of the bashings, shall we?

• It loses 3 stars for poor grammar and multiple spelling mistakes. Not much to say there. Spell check? DUH! He says something about repeatedly repeating the same words repeatedly. I found 617 time I used the word just. Excessive much?
• Humans can't become vampires until they are 18. Oh here is a grave of one who is 8. Well, it really wasn't that hard to clean up the writing so that the fuzzy points made more sense. The vampire itself was taken as an adult and the grave it was burying in was 8 years old. Just needed to reread and clarify... A LOT!
• Vampires can only be killed by one of six daggers and no one will reveal their locations. I can't comment much here because it is a major plot point. Simply know, it is not a storyline to quickly graze over. Every point matters. Some points are even tied directly to literature of ages passed. It's called allusion.

A [16 yr old] girl meets a boy and marries him after knowing him for 2 weeks, thereby making them both immortal. Here is the one point of that review that I am having a big problem with. Truth be told, this is where I am in this current edit. It is a key part to the entire series (yes there will be more) and it can not be removed. 

I will not lie to you, it does bother me that they must be married. It seems some how archaic and wrong, so let's take it out of the modern day societal influence and put it back into a much earlier time. A time when life spans were shorter and people were often married with a slew of children around them in their late teens. This is the time and place our story begins. Lady Eleanor was born in Scandanavia around the year 0. Her family worries about her when she doesn't have a husband at the age 20 and begins making plans to rectify the situation. Lucky for her, it never comes to this.

Let's bring to light the story of Francesca. She ran off with her love to become a vampire in an effort to escape betrothal and marriage to a French prince at the age of fifteen. That doesn't seem to bother readers because it is true to the time period.

It will all work itself out in the end, I promise, and readers will see that it wasn't as simple as a dewy eyed school girl crush gone wrong. However, I can totally understand how unrealistic it may seem to readers... Children being raised by vampires and old ladies mixing effluvium and elixirs in a cauldron in the middle of New York isn't realistic either. It's fantasy. Seemingly realistic people living lives that couldn't ever happen. Fantasy. 

This is where I would go on a rampage about how wizards could never live alongside us muggles and therefore the whole premise of Harry Potter needs to be rethought, but I will spare you the nerdist rampage. 

First sentence of the review: It gets 5 stars for having an interesting story idea.
Last sentence of the review: Not sure what book the other reviewers were reading, but it either wasn't this one or we have drastically different expectations for our reading material.  

My goal for January is to finish a book that will make this review obsolete. Touch back with me February first and I shall be working my tail to complete the ebook!  
 
 
 

Win one of three copies of  Dragon of the Month Club by Iain Reading.

Middle Grade Fantasy and Adventure! Read Book-Attic's review at Dragon of The Month Club. If you love it, there is more to come!! winners will be chosen November 7th!!!

Good Luck and Happy Reading!

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Fun Home: my view

It's time for a soap box rant...

I mean, it's time for a well educated blog post about literature. Before you go any further, read this article.

Done? Let's move on.

First and foremost, I would like to thank Brian Grasso for actually taking the time to look through the book a bit before denouncing it. Woohoo! Many strongly convicted people would not have even gone that far.

Fun Home really is an in your face account of Alison Bechdel's life. Maybe it is more of an account of how everyone else's views affected hers... Either way, it is dripping with sexuality of all natures, gruff parenting strategies and her road towards accepting who she is as well as who her parents have become. In my eyes, she's an inspiration. She filled these pages with more private information than any other piece of literature I've read. And yes, I blushed as I read most of the book during Thanksgiving Break.

That's not my point here. This paragraph here is what I'd like to touch on:

I don’t believe my position will limit my exposure to essential lessons in history, philosophy or literature. I assume that having to view graphic images of sex for a class will be rare. If it does happen, I will avoid any titillating content and encourage like-minded students to do the same. And I believe professors should warn me about such material, not because I might consider them offensive or discomforting, but because I consider it immoral.

 Again here's the link to that article written by Brian Grasso himself. 

Does he truly believe he will make it through four years at Duke University without having to view such material? Maybe it is my English degree speaking or my moral compass speaking, but I believe he is sorely mistaken if he believes otherwise and I went to school in Texas!

I was raised in a very open minded home and I have worked diligently to raise my children in such an environment. I have one child who spats with her father about LGBT topics that even he doesn't wholly understand  and another child who sat and watched Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief last night while telling me how the movie can't be right because the one true God isn't in it. 

I guess what I'm saying is this poor boy has been blindsided by the real world on his first week of university level classes and he's just a freshmen. What is he going to do when he doesn't have such an understanding Professor and he's handing M. Butterfly and told to read it or take a failing grade? Or when he steps into a German History class and he's told to read The Men with the Pink Triangle? Or when a teen lit class teacher assigns Forever? He says he doesn't believe by opting out of this literature he will miss out on the lessons to be learned, however, this isn't high school anymore. It's time to step out of your comfort zone and take in some other worldly views. 

Am I wrong?

Here's the devils advocate before you jump on it for me. He says, "It's not about being uncomfortable. It's about being asked to do something that I think is immoral." I can see how Bechdel's Fun Home can cross the morality line for some people. Really, I get it. And I'm not saying run out and make a pornographic book of your own. I'm just saying, there is a difference between "looking at a woman lustfully," and reading a well thought out piece of literature. I believe if a person's moral code is going to be so stringent as to keep them from learning the material as the professor has planned out, it would be a good idea to look further into the past syllabi's of each and every professor before making a class schedule.

So, back to my own children. I'm not saying that everything I teach them will be dripping in sexual nature. I'm not saying that before they exit my home, they will have read any of these books (as I keep them under lock and key).  I'm just saying that they will be prepared for the syllabi they will be assigned before they get there. The world is not full of puffy unicorns and brightly colored rainbows! And if you do not face material that you find conflicting in nature, you will never grow out of the box you've placed yourself in. 

Do not raise your children in the dark!

In true Victoria Allred nature, I have rambled on for much longer than I planned. Please, comment below. I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject. And as always HAPPY READING!

Fun Home

http://dykestowatchoutfor.com/ 

M. Butterfly

The Men with the Pink Triangle

The Lightning Thief

The Harvesting by Melanie Karsak

 This post from Book-Attic

***

The Harvesting by Melanie Karsak (#1 in The Harvesting Series)  

Genre: Post-Apocalyptic  

Published: January 8, 2014 by Clockpunk Press  

First edition: September 13, 2012 by Steampunk Press 

Interest Level: 13+

     Layla Petrovitch hoped she would never see Hamletville again. However, when she gets a desperate call from her grandmother, she is forced to return home. With an epidemic sweeping the country making infected people turn cannibalistic and danger at every turn, can Layla survive? With the help of whats left of the town they finally escape, but is it worth the risk?

    
      "Melanie Karsak is the author of the Amazon best-selling steampunk series The Airship Racing Chronicles, the award-winning horror/dark fantasy Harvesting Series, and The Saga of Lady Macbeth. She grew up in rural northwestern Pennsylvania and earned a Master's degree in English from Gannon University. A steampunk connoisseur, white elephant collector, Shakespeare nerd, and zombie whisperer, the author currently lives in Florida with her husband and two children. She is an Instructor of English at Eastern Florida State College."-Melaniekarsak.com


     I give The Harvesting 5/5 stars for great writing and a unique plot. It had me gripping the edge of my seat. With a variety of paranormal creatures, from vampires to shadow creatures, and a unique twist on zombies, no stone was left unturned. Many people classify it as zombie story, but it's so much more. It's vampires, post-apocalyptic, and could even be considered a coming-of-age story. In the end, I got so much more than I expected. I can't wait to read The Shadow Aspect the second story in The Harvesting Trilogy. 

*Review for Midway coming soon.*

    

 

Raising children???

My husband and I, even after thirteen years, are very much like night and day on every subject possible. I think the only thing we can agree on at all is our love for our children. That being said, he does make me a better person. When he criticizes, I may give a sarcastic, quick witted answer, but I also ponder those words.
   

While watching an old episode of Criminal Minds last night, he says, "You should watch this episode. Maybe it will give you some inspiration for you book." I looked up from my iPad and shrugged. He says, "I guess you aren't really writing it anymore" and goes back to watching quietly. 

That seemingly innocent observation stung like a wasp. A big red one! 

He's right, I have not been devoting much time to writing. Instead, I've been paying attention to my children! Landon and Katrina tug at my mind a good majority of the day. They want their story written just as much as I yearn to write it. However, my children are alive and real (forgive me for using the r word) and they need me to continue to mold them into people. Landon and Katrina can be put on hold. I promise someday I will get to finish their story. I just feel that I have more important things on my plate right now.

 

 

 It may be safe to say, I have a self inflicted writer's block. I have allowed my children to block my characters from speaking to me! I also blame George R.R. Martin. If he would have written shorter books... Let's just say, I am loving his writing! 

Short and Sweet! Happy Summer!

I am so happy to announce that my summer begins today! It's been a long six weeks of daily swim practices, sometimes biweekly baseball practices not to mention games, meets and gymnastics to boot. Ok, now that I've written that all out, I realize we still have two days of baseball and gymnastics lasts another two weeks. Either way, swim team is over!

Who cares? Don't be shy; I know that's what you're thinking. 

I care. That means I can sit in my little prison of a writing room and do just that WRITE. Well, for a few hours a day. Summer does still mean kids and kids are only little once.

Wait. So why am I wasting my time here? Not that I have anything but love for the token few who are even aware I have a blog, I need to write so I can bring you the next chapter in Landon and Katrina's life! I know, I know. And Draco and Emily. And all those other pairs who are fighting for both each other and to save the world... (see what I did there? Now, you're curious to know who these people are, aren't you!)

Read for Free! 

Off to Write I go!!!

Where are the lazy days of summer?

Last night, as I walked through my own bedtime routine, I realized my house is trashed. I don't mean there were a few toys on the floor and some dishes in the sink. No. My counters are completely covered with dirty dishes to the extent that making coffee this morning was a task straight out of MacGyver. There are bags containing various sports equipment blocking the front door. And laundry, well, let's not go there.

What I planned to do this summer.

Suffice to say, we are a month into summer vacation...

Hold on, I'd like to backtrack a few decades. Do you remember when summer vacation meant just that, a vacation. It was a  break from school and all the running around A time when children laid around their house whining about being bored and parents planned trips places just to keep them entertained? It meant week long movie marathons and staying up late to eat ice cream and catch fire flies.

Are you deep into memory lane? Let me pull you back.

My summer reality

My life is crazier this month than it has ever been in the school year! Daily swim team practices, three day a week baseball practices/games, gymnastics, musical rehearsal, princess camp, home improvement projects... Yesterday alone, we had a five hour swim meet with the oldest and double header baseball games with the youngest. Dinner didn't happen until 9! You get the point?

Ok, so summer vacation is a third gone. I had planned to take this three months break from school (and work) to write a book. You know, that book people have been hounding me to work on. I think I have written maybe 3,000 words in the last month. There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day!

It looks like about the middle of July sports will be over and things will begin to wind down. That means I will have approximately six weeks of lazy days. Granted, we have a family vacation scheduled in the middle of that and two kids planning long weekends in opposite directions. Maybe I will have to step back a few decades as well and start writing pen and paper style!

Have a happy summer and enjoy those rare moments!

Nine hours later: I'm not going to lie. I just took a two hour nap and I don't feel the list bit guilty about that! Now, to catch a few hidden minutes to work on a book.

A June Post!

So, I realized this morning that I haven't posted in a while - almost a month to be more precise- and I was just hoping you didn't miss me too much. Almost a month ago, my kids started their ridiculously long summer vacation and I've been trying to focus on them. Summer means a push to read more and unplug. In other words, it's quite a bit of screaming and yelling. They don't understand why they can't be on some kind of device all day and I don't understand where my creative, fun-loving children went.

Yesterday, we started our new summer technology plan. All devices and remotes are to be deposited into a basket at 10am and are not to be retrieved until 7pm. Of course, everyone yelled about it for roughly thirty minutes, but what happened afterwards amazed me! One kid asked to go the park and another read a book. I haven't seen all three of them in the same room and not screaming at each other in months either!

I'm not going to climb on my soapbox about how a little technology goes a long way especially since we purposely moved to a school district that pushes the envelope. I will simply say, too much of anything is a bad thing.

My point is, I don't really have a lot of time to blog lately and my brain is a little fizzled out when it comes to interesting subjects as I spend my days at swim team practices, baseball games, gymnastics lessons and just entertaining three children. What little time I have to sit at the computer, I use to write. That doesn't mean I'm not around. While my kids are forced to unplug completely, I still have a phone stowed away everywhere we go! You can find me on twitter (@toriLallred) and instagram (@torilallred) and Facebook.

UPDATE

No electronics from 10 am to 7 pm... Have you wondered how that worked out? It didn't. It lasted about three days. I would still say it's been productive. The kids now know I have the ability and the will-power to take the electronics away so they make a little extra effort to do other things and I've learned to set aside things like cleaning the house to spend the rare free time we have with them. 

On writing

When I first picked up my pen and started scribbling about a man who'd taken a girl to bed and woke up in the morning to find her decapitated head on his nightstand, it was easy. The words flowed like water allowing the characters to jump from my imagination like true people in the world. Then all at once, it stopped. I hit a wall and just couldn't figure out how to pass through it so, I gave up. Then I wrote 30 pages about a boy chosen to protect the world from and evil scientist but when he crossed into a new dimension, I couldn't find the right words and I quit again.

I can continue through the dozen or so stories gathering dust in my documents folder, but we don't have that much time. The truth is I always believed writing to be an easy (an well paying) job. You sit down to a computer, pound out a hundred thousand words and make millions. That's all there is too it, right?

WRONG!

Writing is the hardest thing I have ever done and I'm raising a hormonal over achieving middle schooler, a strong willed pre-teen and a destructive monkey boy. They're cake compared to Katrina and Landon and all the vampires surrounding them. I've found that the trick is in the determination and open mindedness. No matter the storyline, there are going to be hiccups along the way. A writer must disregard social stigma and allow ideas to flow onto paper and those pesky writer's blocks will not be so frequent.


In the four year process of writing Taken, I realized a few things. First of all, writing is debilitating and invigorating all at the same time. You create these characters and these worlds and think you have utter control over them but, you're dead wrong. A strong creation will build their own personalities and take control of the story without you ever realizing. A good writer is simply a typing tool. Katrina is no longer my creation but a strong person herself.

Right now, you think I've fallen off the deep end. I haven't. Katrina was never supposed to be a Hunter and Landon was never supposed to fall in love with her. He was supposed to be turned and she was supposed to die at his hand!

The other, and most important, thing I've learned is that writing does not manifest itself into dollar signs. Simply sitting here and pouring my heart and soul onto paper will not make me a millionaire tomorrow. Don't write for fame and fortune. Write because you love it. Write hard and pray.

Let me return to my point. Writing is hard. You start with an idea that grows with vigor and ease. You type like the world depends on your words per minute. Then, unexpectedly, you find yourself stuck and staring at a condemning cursor blinking insults at you. Determination is the only thing that kept Taken from become an inactive member of the documents folder.

Read for FREE!

Bannerman's Castle

Hudson Valley Photography

If you read Taken, you remember a brief mention of a castle at which Joseph arranged a meeting of the Cole Legacy. This location was my first inspiration for Lady Eleanor and Kol's home in the new world. I sometimes regret that in the three years since, I have chosen a new home (a topic for another day) though the Castle still resides in my dreams. In my writing, it still remains unnamed. In the real world, it goes by the name of Bannerman's Castle and rests on Pollepel Island in the Hudson River.

I remember vividly the day I was researching possible meeting places for the Legacy. Joseph said he would summon the family to the castle and all I could think was four days was not enough time for Lady Eleanor to travel to her homeland. Growing up in New England and having often crossed the Hudson River, I knew there were huge houses and wonderful castles littering the Hudson Valley, so I started googling.The photos posted on the Hudson Valley Photography website were so breathtaking that I knew right then and there I had to use them in some way.

As you can tell, the castle is in ruins giving me free reign to design the inside as I see fit. In my imagination, Lady Eleanor, bent over her cane, hobbles up the grand front staircase with the help of her youngest son, Joseph. A bird's eye view captures her white hair in it's typical tight bun and a long dress covered with a black cloak. Beside her, Joseph's brilliant ginger hair stands out against the darkening surroundings. Once inside, they hand their jackets over to the evening's hired servant and step forward through a set of grand french doors to the head of a large staircase to be met by the gleaming blue and green eyes of the Legacies children.

Photo by Neil Caplan via bannermancastle.org

 

When I designed these scenes in Taken, the history of the castle didn't matter. I just needed a meeting place. As my writing builds, I find that I need to know the real history of the island. Without it, I can not weave it into the my own story as I have done with so many other true life events and locations.

The true history of Pollepel Island and Bannerman Castle are just as rich as that of the Cole Legacy. I will not attempt to summarize it here as I am just today grazing the subject. However, both  Hudson Valley Photography and bannermancastle.org have wonderful summaries on the subject!

That time when you shouldn't click publish!

It occurred to me this morning that I haven't babbled at my beautiful audience in quite some time. Did you miss me? Don't answer that. I would prefer to believe you can't live without me.

So here I was, staring at the computer screen. I wish that damn cursor would quit winking at me. It's hard enough to concentrate without it's mocking me. As usual, I have a million things running through my head. Why are there phantasms at Felipe's house? How will I use them? What color should I paint the bathroom? I have to work in three hours. You know, the typical random stream of thought of a frantic mom.

Sometimes those thoughts lead me somewhere wonderful and fantastic. Today, just a cursor.

Blink. Are you going to use me?

Blink. I'm getting bored!

Blink. Maybe you should just go nap.

And then, I find myself personifying the cursor. Which leads to me playing a whole lesson through my head about personification. Which leads me to considering college in the fall. (Gag)

It's not writer's block. My head is overflowing with awesome story lines and colorful characters. It's more of a preoccupation with the millions of things I have to do.

Do you feel like you just wasted five minutes of your time reading a pointless blog post? I sure feel like I wasted ten minutes trying to write one...

Free! Free!

Saturday mornings mean some kind of sporting event. Today is soccer. I can't really complain as it is the one sport my children play that doesn't leave me yawning and bored. And I've been told bringing a book to one of my child's sporting events is unacceptable. Only a true non-reader would say such revolting words. A book is NEVER unacceptable.

This brings me to today's topic. Books. Yes, I understand that the every day's topic is books. I don't need you to remind me. In fact, today's post is simply because I am to lazy to walk upstairs and grab my book!

She's such a cute volleyball player!

So, what aspect of books, you ask? Ebooks. They are everywhere. It makes transmitting the written word so much easier for us nerdy types who love to sit and ramble words into a computer, but let me ask you a question now. Do you feel that the fact that anyone can write and publish a book these days is hurting the book world?

Let me put it into the words of my favorite book reviewer over at Book-Attic. "I don't like to review indie books because they are usually so full of errors that I can't push through it. Sorry, no offense, Mom." No offense? No offense! What the heck. I would like to say I take offense, but I was just another one of the ill edited books in the ebook world for a while. I was in such a hurry to get my book out there and have the world fall in love with it so I could become J.K. Rowling rich that I didn't figure a few misplaced commas and grammar errors were a big deal. Then this happened.

It gets 5 stars for having an interesting story idea. It loses 3 stars for poor grammar and multiple spelling mistakes, repeatedly repeating the same word repeatedly and failing to maintain consistency. Humans can't become vampires until they are 18. Oh here is a grave of one who is 8. Vampires can only be permanently killed by 6 daggers that only one vampire hunter knows the location of (and is willing to die without sharing the location. After all, it isn't like that would be useful for a group of vampire hunters to know) but vampires are killed by getting their blood sucked out, shot, stabbed and impaled. The main character is uber important, but gets left with someone who is planning to kill her on her 17th birthday for 14 years. Oh and the same girl meets a boy and marries him after knowing him for 2 weeks, thereby making them both immortal. Not sure what book the other reviewers were reading, but it either wasn't this one or we have drastically different expectations for our reading material.                                                                    -Amazon Reviewer

Can you say ouch? When this review hit Amazon, I was dumbstruck. How could ANYONE be so hateful. I stewed for a few days. Made a few hateful posts on Facebook, then it hit me, this reviewer, though most of his reviews are not gracious, was right. So, I pulled it back and reread it and republished it. The only problem is now Taken is known for it's crap editing and repeatedly repetitive words.

So here, I offer it for free!!! All I ask is that you read it and review it somewhere online and comment back here with a link to that review. Good, bad or indifferent. Let me know what you think!

I will leave these links for 8 days, deleting them 4/19 at midnight. Share away!

Taken (.epub)

Taken (.mobi)

Now, you have something to read at your soccer games as well! 

Oh, silly me. My book has been right at my elbow this whole time! Off to read.

I know the title says Ramblings from the one and only Victoria Allred. Please forgive me, but I thought I would give Trent McNight a chance to shine. He recently sat down with Katrina Cole to discuss her view on a few points I touched upon in Taken.

Please beware as I have not yet read the interview. Trent McNight, while he has many dirt digging questions, does not always heed to the no spoilers clause. He has asked me to publish his interview in submitted form. He assures me he's looked over it more than once for errors, however, let's be honest. The man is all emotion and no logic.

Without further ado...

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An interview with Katrina Cole

Trent: First things first, did you ever get to actually sit down and watch Dracula.

Katrina: Yes, I did. What an event that was.

Trent: What did you think?

Katrina: If you hold the movie in the context of the time period, I’m sure it was a pretty scary storyline. A vampire out to steal a woman’s attention, from the man she is to marry. That’s scary stuff in such a straight laced society. If you hold it in the context of our world today, it’s hilarious. Landon wasn’t wrong about that. It’s Halloween decorations!

Trent: Is it at all realistic?

Katrina: Yes and no. Jean Claude is able to pull the girls from their homes with a simple thought. He was quite fond of terrorizing the French countryside with his summoning powers. But, no, vampires do not sleep in coffins, they can leave the soil of their homeland and they do not turn into bats.

Trent: What would you say to women today trying to protect them from vampires? Maybe a few tips to keep our people safe from influence?

Katrina: That’s actually much trickier than you would think. First of all, these fiends look like humans. You could be a vampire if I didn’t have the training to know otherwise. Second, they are faster and stronger than a human. If they chose you, chances are you’re done for. So no, protection isn’t truly possible unless you build yourself a silver suit of armor and wear it at all times.

Trent: That’s not reassuring.

Katrina: It wasn’t meant to be. Let’s be realistic. Vampires are everywhere. I guarantee you pass at least a dozen on the street every day. The good thing for you is that most vampires are just beings trying to live their life to the fullest. They live off blood donations, just enough to keep them animated. If the Cole Legacy put down every vampire we passed, it would cut our world population dramatically. 

Trent: (chuckling) Would that really be so bad?

Katrina: That is a conversation for another day, Trent.

Trent: How is your training coming along?

Katrina: I can hit a bulls eye with a throwing knife from fifty yards and I have learned how to make the effluvium myself. But the literature, that’s the tricky stuff. It’s so full of double meanings and deeper context. The death of a flower can either be just a flower or it can represent the youth of a young lady as she gives herself over to the gods to pass through her initiation rites. And just when you tackle and completely understand one poem, another is thrust your way and you find yourself questioning everything you believed up ‘til that moment. It’s exhausting.

Trent: I'm sorry to hear that. Let's switch gears. The readers of Taken have one very controversial question to ask you. What was it like to find out that your brother and only family member was—

Katrina: Trent, stop. I will tell you that it was heart wrenching and I would hate to see anyone have to go through what I went through with Edmond. I still have that dream of him saving me from the fire. The fact that he pulled me from a burning house and saved my life will never change and for that he will always be my hero. As far as the other stuff, he was brainwashed plain and simple.  

Now before we go on, I would like to remind you that many of our listeners today have not read my story and I would like to deter you from giving away too many details from the book.

Trent: My apologies ma’am. How is your relationship with Landon?

Katrina: It couldn’t be better. He is turning out to be the best choice I’ve ever made. Now, if only is dirty socks would make into the laundry basket and not onto the floor beside it. 

Trent: Children?

Katrina: We have two thousand years, what’s the rush?

Trent: If any of our readers here today have not yet read Taken, how would they go about doing so?

Katrina: From what I understand, Victoria has left quite a few places to get a copy. Smashwords is free. Kindle is 99 cents or she also has a Create Space store for paperback copies. 

Trent: And signed copies?

Katrina: Email her at victoriaallredauthor@gmail.com.

Trent: Thank you so much for being with us today, Katrina. I hope the future is bright for you.

Katrina: Thank you for having me, Trent. 

 Smashwords: FREE 

Amazon 

Paperback 

Trent McNight has been interviewing the stars for longer than he can remember. Everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Charlie Brown has sat across the table from him and answered the hard pressed questions. Without his expertise, the world would have no true insight into the inner workings of such individuals. It was his brilliance that first uncovered Jennifer Lawrence's food obsession! 

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Well, that was truly interesting. I really wasn't aware of the immense vampire population. I do, however, wonder if Lady Eleanor would have a different answer as to how a woman can protect herself from summoning. I will have to ask her and get back to you on that.