Don't Miss the Black Friday Book Sale!

Are you ready for the most wonderful time of the year?  It's nearly time for the Black Friday Book Sale!  The time when a couple hundred indie authors (including me) put some or all of their Kindle books on sale for $.99 or FREE!  From Black Friday through Cyber Monday, you can stuff your Kindle full of amazing indie books at ridiculously low prices.

I'm marking all six of my Once Upon a Western books down to 99 cents.  Same goes for A Noble Companion.  And all the authors of Follow the Lonesome Trail agreed to lower its price to 99 cents for the weekend as well!  

This price drop is part of the massive indie book sale showcased at blackfridaybooksale.com, a site run by the wonderfully organized Perry Elizabeth Kirkpatrick.  My books are mainly in the Historical Fiction section, except for A Noble Companion, which is in the fantasy section.  A lot of other books in the Cornerstone Series (which ANC is part of) are part of this sale too.

All of the books included on that sale site are clean, which means they do not contain smut, the violence is non-gory, and any cussing is kept to a below-PG-13 level.  There are a couple hundred authors involved in this, which means hundreds and hundreds of ebooks available at their lowest price possible!

It looks like the price for my books has already dropped even though it isn't Black Friday, so if you want to go shopping a little early, go right ahead ;-)

Alan Ladd and My Writing

It's Alan Ladd's birthday today :-D 

This year, to celebrate, I'm going to share about the ways that Alan Ladd has shaped my writing and my books.

When I write fiction, I see and hear the story in my head like a movie.  I can replay scenes, move the camera angles, rewrite lines, and so on -- I see and hear it all in my imagination, and I write it down from there.  Because I love movies, I tend to use actors and actresses as a kind of jumpstart for my imagination, and often "cast" specific stars in different roles.  Eventually, the characters step a bit away from who I have cast as them and come to life in their own ways, but it's a good way to get a book started, for me.

(If you're ever curious about exactly whom I have cast as different characters in my books, I have Pinterest boards for all my books with character choices, pictures of setting and clothing and objects that I have saved as I research, and so on.)

I fell for Alan Ladd hard back in February of 2016.  At that time, I was working on rewrites for my Sleeping Beauty retelling, The Man on the Buckskin Horse, which had won a contest and was to be published in the anthology Five Magic Spindles.  I didn't actually recast any of the characters as him, since they were all very much themselves by that point, but he did help me out with one scene.

One of the changes the editors had me make after I won the contest was to give my "handsome prince" character, the gunfighter Luke Palmer, a backstory.  And I needed to write a scene where Palmer explains his past to Miss Emma, my "fairy godmother" character.  I banged my head against that scene for the longest time because Palmer Did Not Want To Share His Trauma.  At all.  Not a bit.  And I finally threw my hands up in disgust, booted my usual actor for him out the door, and tried running the scene in my head with Alan Ladd in the character instead.

And the character sat down, got a little quiet, and then reeled off this heartfelt speech about how his experiences as a Civil War surgeon had led to his present job as a gunfighter for hire.  One writing session.  Bam.  Whole scene, perfect and complete.  And, when I reread that book (because, yes, I do reread my books -- I write them because I want to read them!), I see and hear Palmer as his tall, dark self... except for that scene, where he flips into quiet and fair Alan Ladd.

Well, I had such a good time working with an imaginary Alan Ladd in my head while rewriting The Man on the Buckskin Horse, I knew I wanted to write him again.  So, when I was casting my Little Red Riding Hood retelling, Cloaked, I put him in as the woodcutter character, Hauer.  And Hauer absolutely stole my heart.  This is Alan Ladd in his 50s, which he never quite reached in real life, and I loved getting to imagine him a bit older and with a lot of life ahead yet, even if only as a fictional character.  (Hauer would obviously be a bit older than in the photo above, but it captures the Hauerness of Hauer too well to use something else.)

I even dedicated Cloaked to Alan's memory, and a tradition of dedicating my Once Upon a Western books to a Classic Hollywood actor or actress was born.

It's pretty easy to know which character I cast Alan Ladd as in my Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling, Dancing and Doughnuts, if you know his full name is Alan Walbridge Ladd.  I gave Sheriff Gideon Walbridge that last name as a placeholder because I didn't have a name for him initially, and it stuck.  Sheriff Walbridge is Alan in his 40s, wise and starting to mellow, but still sharp and ready for trouble if it comes his way.

I was so giddy when I realized that Hauer could show up again in One Bad Apple, my Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs retelling.  It takes place a decade before Cloaked, and I spent a long time scrutinizing the personal history I have for Hauer to make sure he could be there in Missouri in 1873.  I tried not to tell too many people ahead of time that he was going to show up again in it so he would be a fun surprise for initial readers, and the reactions I got to his return were everything I hoped for.  

Because I love Hauer dearly, I am especially pleased that he got to be the first character to show up in more than one Once Upon a Western book.  The little ties and crossovers will keep coming as the series lengthens, I promise!

Dan McLeod in my Beauty and the Beast retelling My Rock and My Refuge is the kind of friend we all should have.  He's had so many sad things happen in his life, but he never lets them get in the way of being a good friend to those around him.  I love his quiet dignity, his determination to do anything rather than lose another son, and the fact that he is both soft and resilient.  I want to write more characters like that.  

I have loved the last name McLeod since I was a kid and first saw the movie El Dorado (1966), in which John Wayne's character has a frenemy named McLeod.  I only heard it pronounced, I didn't see it spelled, and thought it must be spelled McCloud, which seemed to me like the absolute coolest name ever.  I even gave it to a character in a story I was writing at the time.  I was super disappointed to later learn how it is actually spelled... but I still love the way the name sounds, so I used it here for a character with lofty ideals and a high moral character, who lives high in the mountains.  Like a cloud.

If you look at the Pinterest board for A Noble Companion, my Ugly Duckling retelling, you'll see lots of photos of a young Ewan McGregor, and not one of Alan Ladd.  That's because Alan was my original casting for Javier Moncada, the love interest.  I wrote the first couple of drafts with him in mind, but then switched Javier to Ewan McGregor because he was a better physical fit for what the character as I was writing him.  But I still hear all of Javier's dialog in Alan's voice when I reread the book.  I loved finally getting to write him as a younger character!  

And then I went right back to writing him older in my short story "Safekeeping," which is in the anthology Follow the Lonesome Trail.  He just has a bit part, and barely any lines, as the weary Dr. Masterson who drinks too much.  In a way, that's me kind of addressing Alan Ladd's own struggles with alcohol, which is also something a lot of people I know have dealt with.  It's not a big focus of the story, but it's there, and my own headcanon involves Dr. Masterson eventually moving away from town and getting (and staying) sober with the help of his daughter-in-law.  

Those last two books are not part of my Once Upon a Western series, but the book I'm about to start writing is!  It's a retelling of The Steadfast Tin Soldier, it involves a Civil War veteran amputee, and Alan Ladd is once again playing a supporting character in it.  I think his character is in his late twenties, a bit older than the main character, and again something of a mentor, because I just really love writing him that way, I guess!

Beyond that?  Who knows!  Will I one day write a book without Alan Ladd in it?  I mean, yeah, it could happen.  It probably will, one day.  But for now, you can expect to keep seeing characters show up in my books who look, sound, and behave like characters he often played.  Because my imagination isn't tired of him yet :-)

Black Friday Indie Book Sale!

This weekend, the Kindle editions of all four of my novels are marked down to $0.99 for Black Friday, and will be through Cyber Monday!  They are usually $2.99-$3.99, so this means you could theoretically get all four of them for less than just one ebook copy of My Rock and My Refuge.

And not only that, but my books are part of the annual Black Friday Indie Book Sale hosted by author Perry Kirkpatrick, which includes more than 500 ebooks all priced under a $1.  Check out her website to browse the complete list of books that are included in this sale, and start reading some great books this weekend!

Here are direct links to each of my Kindle books that are on sale on Amazon, just to make life easier for you:

Cloaked

Dancing and Doughnuts

One Bad Apple

My Rock and My Refuge

Happy reading!  And, happy Thanksgiving!

Introducing Once Upon a Western MUGS!!!

Wait, did I say mugs???

I did!  It's true!  The inestimably talented Vanessa Rasanen has collaborated with me to bring lines from my books Cloaked, Dancing and Doughnuts, and One Bad Apple to you on these gorgeous camp mugs.  You can buy them today from Crabapple Books and More! (WARNING: her shop is full of amazing bookish mugs, shirts, notebooks, and more. You might become addicted to her products the way I am.)

Want a closer look?  I am happy to oblige!  (Thank you for permission to share these, Vanessa!)

From One Bad Apple:

Available here

From Dancing and Doughnuts:

Available here

From Cloaked:

Available here

I think they're simple, elegant, and completely wonderful.  I hope you do too!

I had a really great time finding just the right lines from my books for these, and I can hardly believe how gorgeous they turned out.  Thank you so much, Vanessa!

The Fairy Tale Tag

Fairy Tale Central has created their first-ever tag!  You can find the original here, along with a link-up so you can find other people who have answered it!

It just so happens that I sent off the revised version of One Bad Apple to my editor at the end of last week, and so I am footloose and fancy free for a few days, and this blog tag about fairy tales is exactly what I'm in the mood for.  I hope you are too.

(All photos are mine from my Instagram)

– What’s an obscure fairy tale you love? 

I really love The Tinder Box, which is this weird one involving a kind ex-soldier who helps an old woman who then gives him a tinder box that he can use to call these three giant dogs to help him.  I keep trying to figure out a way to retell it without magic so it could be part of my series because it's so dear to my heart, but so far, no luck.

– If you got to choose Disney’s next animated princess movie, what fairy tale would you choose to be adapted? 

The Twelve Dancing Princesses, because it's my favorite.  And just think of all the merchandising opportunities with that many princesses!  Come on, Disney, get with it!

– What is the first fairy tale you remember hearing when you were a child? 

I had a whole lot of Disney story books that came with records you could listen to while following along in the book.  I had them for Cinderella and Snow White and Mickey and the Beanstalk, so those all kind of tie for the first one I remember.

– If you were to embark on a fairy tale quest, what necessities would you pack in your bag? 

A pistol with lots of extra ammo, strong rope, lots of protein bars, a couple canteens, and a spare charger for my phone.  Also, a good camera.

– What’s your favorite fairy tale trope? 

Overlooked, ordinary person saves the day.

– If you could be any fairy tale character archetype (the princess, the soldier, fairy godmother, talking animal, mischievous imp, wise old woman, evil stepmother/sister, etc.), who would you want to be and why? 

A fairy godmother!  I'm already practicing :-)

– What animal/mythical creature would be your sidekick for fairy tale adventures? 

I'd like a flying horse, please.

– What is your favorite historical era, and what fairy tale would you love to see in that setting? 

I love the Old West, and as it so happens, I have a habit of setting fairy tales there!  So far, my Once Upon a Western series has book-length retellings of Little Red Riding Hood (Cloaked) and The Twelve Dancing Princesses (Dancing and Doughnuts), plus (FREE) short story retellings of Scheherazade, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and Three Billy Goats Gruff.

(All those links just go to Goodreads pages, btw.)

Also, my first retelling, which was of Sleeping Beauty, is called "The Man on the Buckskin Horse" and is available in the Five Magic Spindles anthology.  Next up is my Snow White retelling, One Bad Apple, which I'm hoping will get released late this spring.

After that, I have book-length retellings planned for Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, and The Steadfast Tin Soldier.  Plus there will doubtless be short story retellings in there too.

– If you could change a fairy tale’s villain into a hero, who would you choose and why? 

On a whole, I'm not a huge fan of twisting up fairy tales so the villains are the heroes and the heroes are the villains.  But I think Maddie Morrow did a marvelous job doing exactly that with her Snow White retelling "Red as Blood," which is in the Five Poisoned Apples anthology.  So let's stick with that.

– Do you prefer fairy tales with happy endings or sad/tragic endings? why?

Happy!  I prefer happy endings for everything except very specific stories like Hamlet.


And that's the end of that!  I hope you have a lovely Monday :-)  It's dreary here, but the rain has stopped for a little while, at least.

My FREE new short story, "Gruff"

I took a little break from working on my Snow White western, One Bad Apple, and wrote a quick short story to celebrate the beautiful autumn we're enjoying right now.

Like my last two short stories, this one continues the adventures of characters from my Once Upon a Western series of fairy tale retellings.  Only instead of following a main character, it focuses on one of the side characters from Cloaked.

Three Billy Goats Gruff... reimagined. 

Deputy Christopher Small is running out of time. He doesn't want to disappoint his little brothers by neglecting to play the annual autumn prank they're anticipating, but he needs to get himself all slicked up for dinner. Why? His parents have invited Miss Mary Rose O'Brien, the girl he's sweet on. Will he have time to do both?

Find out in this new short story that follows both the book Cloaked and the short story "Blizzard at Three Bears Lake," all part of Rachel Kovaciny's Once Upon a Western series of fairy tale retellings.

+Get a FREE Kindle copy from Amazon
+Get a FREE Nook copy from Barnes and Noble
+Get a FREE e-book copy from Kobo

Add it to your to-read shelf on Goodreads here.

I hope you enjoy it! 

Interviewed at Fairy Tale Central

I'm so excited to share this with you!  I've been interviewed by the charming folks at Fairy Tale Central about my book Cloaked as part of their focus this month on Little Red Riding Hood!  You can read that interview here.

Also... keep an eye on your inbox for my author newsletter this week because I'll be announcing something special and fun in it.  Not a subscriber yet?  Sign up here!

Presenting "Blizzard at Three Bears Lake," a FREE New Story!

It's true!  I've written a new short story, and you can read it for free right here on my website, www.rachelkovaciny.com!

"Blizzard at Three Bears Lake" retells Goldilocks and the Three Bears as a western, with Mary Rose O'Brien from my book Cloaked as the heroine.  But you don't have to know Cloaked to enjoy this story, though obviously it does kind of give away who survives to the end of Cloaked.

Adventurous, imaginative Mary Rose simply wants to explore a little more of the Wyoming mountains around her grandmother's ranch. She knows that once winter arrives, she'll be stuck at the ranch for months and months. She seizes her chance for one last autumn outing and heads for a beautiful lake her new friends have told her about. But a blizzard descends while she's out riding alone, trapping her in a cabin inhabited by three fierce and furry strangers.

Subscribers to my mailing list got this story for Christmas.  If you want first dibs on stuff like this, but you haven't subscribed to my mailing list yet, you can do that on my website too!

Once you've read "Blizzard at Three Bears Lake," I'd love to hear what you think of it!  You can tell me here on my blog or leave a review on Goodreads.

Happy New Year!

Well. How 'bout that.

My book Cloaked was Peacemaker Awards finalist!  I just found out today when I got the above certificate in the mail.  I'm so excited!

For the complete list of finalists and winners, go here.

Winners of the Annotated-by-the-Author Giveaway!

Congratulations to these four lucky people!  We will be contacting you today to get your mailing info so we can send you your prizes.

Cloaked by Rachel Kovaciny -- Kendra L.

October by J. Grace Pennington -- Faith B.

Before it's Love by Michelle Pennington -- LaNique D.

With Blossoms Gold by Hayden Wand -- Mikayla H.

The Annotated-by-the-Author Giveaway!

Are you suffering from the post-holiday blahs?  Did you just not get enough books in your stocking this year?  Do you love getting stuff in the mail?  If you said 'yes' to any of those, then have I got news that's sure to excite you!  FOUR authors (including me) are each giving away one copy of their latest book (plus some other goodies) -- and annotating it personally (and that means in person).

What do I mean by annotating?  I mean they're basically providing the equivalent of a director's commentary track, only for a book instead of a movie.  Each author is writing down all kinds of nifty stuff about their book on sticky notes and putting them inside the pages of their book, wherever said nifty stuff relates to the text.

What kind of nifty stuff?  Oh, things they learned while doing research, why they named their characters what they did, how they came up with different ideas for the story, anything cool like that.  The kinds of stuff you always wanted to ask an author about, in other words.

Not only that!  I mentioned other goodies, right?  Each author is also going to put a couple of cool little surprises in the package with their book, so that each lucky winner will get a few things that are somehow related to the book they won.  Kind of like a personally curated subscription box, but without the subscription.

Four books, four authors, four winners.

Here are the books we're giving away, with lots of info about them and their authors.  The giveaway widget is at the very bottom of this post.

Cloaked by Rachel Kovaciny  

website | Goodreads profile | Facebook page

Little Red Riding Hood... re-imagined. Mary Rose feels uneasy around Mr. Linden from the moment she meets him on the stagecoach ride to her grandmother's ranch in Wyoming Territory. But he works for her grandmother, so that means he's trustworthy, doesn't it? Everyone else seems to view him as honest and respectable, and Mary Rose wonders if she's overreacting. She tries to ignore her suspicions until one night, she discovers his real reason for being at the ranch. Now, if she's going to save her grandmother -- and herself -- she's going to need to run faster than she's ever run before.

October by J. Grace Pennington  

website | Goodreads profile | Facebook page | Twitter

For Emily Baxter, life is simple. Her world is made up completely of school, church, and the community in the small farming town she calls home. All that changes one fateful Sunday, when a new girl shows up at Pleasanton Baptist—a girl unlike anyone Emily has ever seen. A girl with long red hair, crystal green eyes, and style and posture like royalty.  A girl named October. The months that follow are filled with magic—the magic of ordinary things, of finding pictures in the stars, of imagination and a new sense of beauty. But as time goes by, Emily begins to sense that her enchanting new friend may have secrets that could break the spell. Is October really all she seems to be?

Before it's Love by Michelle Pennington 

website | Goodreads profile | Facebook page

"Just Friends" was harder than they thought. Moving to Arkansas is hard for Lauren, but it’s worth it to be near her boyfriend and pursue her art degree. That is, until she meets Jake, the guy her roommate is in love with. Now she’s stuck on a merry-go-round of love triangles, and someone is going to get hurt. Jake is focused on juggling his two careers and taking care of his feisty grandma. The last thing he needs is a serious relationship, so when Lauren moves in, it's okay that she's dating someone else. Until being her friend is no longer enough. 

With Blossoms Gold by Hayden Wand  

website | Goodreads profile | Facebook page |  Twitter

She never wanted to leave the tower. He never wanted to rule the country. Nella has lived quietly in her tower in the woods for over a decade. After dangerous accusations drove her and her grandmother away from their village, they escaped deep into the forest where no one would try to harm them. Now, after her grandmother's death, Nella is alone, and she is determined to stay that way. She has no patience for a world she deems judgmental and ignorant. Or so she tells herself. In reality, her paralyzing fear prevents her from stepping foot outside of the tower. Prince Benedict Allesandro is an adventurer- a rescuer who prides himself on saving the weak and unfortunate. When he hears rumors of a beautiful damsel trapped in a tower, he rushes to her rescue...only to find a woman who most definitely does not wish to be saved. But when war breaks out, this reckless prince and reclusive maiden are faced with overcoming their deepest fears in order to determine not only their own fate, but that of their entire country.

Enter via this widget:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway runs from today (January 1) until January 10.  The Rafflecopter widget will choose five winners on January 11, and we will then notify the winners that they won.  When we notify them, we will also ask them for their mailing addresses so that we authors can send you your prizes!

This giveaway is open to people will US mailing addresses ONLY.  Sorry, friends in other parts of the globe -- we're mailing these out ourselves, and we're all indie authors with very little spare cash.  No purchase necessary, void where prohibited, yadda yadda yadda.  If a winner does not respond to their notification email by January 17, they will be disqualified and a new winner will be selected for the prize they would have gotten.  So be sure to use an email address you check frequently when you enter your info into the widget!!!

Happy New Year!

The End of My Autumn To-Do List 2017

My Christmas tree is up and decorated, and I'm working on sending out with this year's batch of cards, so I'm declaring autumn basically over.  Time to see what I did and did not check off my Autumn To-Do List for this year!

~ Publish Cloaked  Check!  You can now buy it from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

~ Read House of Living Stones by Katie Schuermann  Check!  You can read my review here.

~ Read 5 other books from my TBR shelves  Check!  I read Luther: Biography of a Reformer by Frederick Nohl, Flashes of Splashes by Elizabeth McCleary, Film Noir: Light and Shadow edited by Alain Silver and James Ursini, The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis, and A Sidekick's Tale by Elisabeth Grace Foley (review to come).

~ Read 3 books from the library  Check!  I read The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer, Frames by Loren D. Estleman, and As You Wish by Cary Elwes.

~ Watch 5 movies from my TBW shelves  Check!  I watched Ivanhoe (1997), Jackie Robinson (2016), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939), Daddy Long Legs (1955), and Hell on Frisco Bay (1955).

~ Go see Thor: Ragnarok  Check!  In fact, I've seen it three times now.  I reviewed it here last week.

~ Make "Baked Oatmeal Bars" from this recipe.  Check!  My kids and I quite loved them, and I'm sure I'll be making them again.

~ Finish the skirts and cape I'm sewing for my kids  Semi-fail.  I did sew one skirt, but the rest are still languishing on my to-do pile.

~ Finish my Newt Scamander scarf  Check!  I finally finished my scarf! It is super-duper long, down past my knees on both sides.  It goes perfectly with my long black coat, and I've already worn it a couple of times.  It may have taken me almost a year to knit, but it's done!  (By contrast, I crocheted a scarf for my daughter in three days last week.  I crochet soooooooooo much faster than I knit.)

~ Repair/update the "mouse house," which is this playhouse I made for the kids out of an old sheet that I cut and sewed to fit over a card table.  Fail.  Total fail.  Never touched it.  Sigh.

Well, I have WAY more checks than fails on this list, so yay!  I'm pretty happy with how much I accomplished over the past three months!  I'll be posting my winter list of projects and goals soon.

How about you?  Did you have any goals for this fall?

"Cloaked" Kindle Giveaway!

It's true.  I'm giving away three Kindle copies of my book Cloaked right now!  Click here to go to the Amazon giveaway page and enter.  No purchase necessary, void where prohibited, and only open to US residents because that's what Amazon allows, I'm afraid. 

The giveaway runs through November 14, and three winners will find the e-book automatically added to their accounts on November 15.

Need something to read while you travel to visit relatives for Thanksgiving?  Looking for something to while away those homework-free hours during your fall break?  Or want something to amuse you while people nap in front of a football game after the big meal?  This would work well for all three!

AMA Answers #4: Rose and Cordy

Here we are at the end of the AMA answer posts!  This has been very fun, at least for me :-)  One last vlog at the end.

Rose

Have you ever read a book that changed your view on the world? Which one?

I've read quite a few books that changed my view of specific aspects of the world.  Sixguns and Society: A Structural Study of the Western by Will Wright really illuminated for me why I like specific stories, what I dislike about others, and how to improve what I write.

What are some books everyone should read to call themselves cultivated human beings?

See vlog for answer :-)

What is your dream travel destination?

Alaska!  I've been wanting to go there since I was probably ten years old.

Coffee or tea?

I drink both, but I drink coffee every day, and tea only now and then, so there's your answer :-)

(Source)

What's your favourite movie genre?

Westerns!  No question at all.  My heart seems to live in their stylized, dreamy version of the Old West.

Cordy

What are five things on your bucket list? 

1. Go to Alaska
2. Go to New Zealand and see where they filmed the LOTR and Hobbit movies
3. Go to the Alamo
4. Go to Australia and see where they filmed The Man from Snowy River
5. Go to Germany and see all the cool Martin Luther sites

(Source)

What are some of your favorite character names that you haven't used yet? (Unless they're too good to share and then choose secondary favorites. ;)) 

Hmm.  I don't tend to come up with character names before I have characters.  It's the other way around, really.  I get a character in my head, and then I figure out what their name is.  I don't keep lists of names like some writers do, waiting for a character to come use them.  I don't even always name them, exactly -- some characters simply have names, and I have to wait for them to tell me what they are.

That being said, I've got this character named Cortland for a YA western that is NOT based on a fairy tale, and I absolutely love his name.  I want to write him, I just don't have quite all the pieces of the story put together yet.

If possible using your phone or iPod (or whatever you may have), put it on shuffle and tell us the first four songs that play. (I didn't come up with that question...I saw it somewhere and thought it sounded cool). 

Answered in the vlog!

What's your favorite music to listen to while you're writing...that is, if you listen to music while writing... 

I listen to a lot of Bobby Darin and a lot of movie soundtracks.  Every writing project demands its own music, and sometimes it takes me a while to figure out what music a story needs.  Other times, I'm finding music for a book long before I start writing it.  For instance, I've got this idea for a story set in post-Civil War North Carolina that has about five soundtracks that work for it already, and I've only kind of dabbled around with writing the opening scenes.  But I know exactly what music goes with it.

A while back, I shared some of the music I listened to while writing Cloaked, if you want to read this post for a more complete answer.

(Source)

What color do you use the most when you're enjoying your coloring books?

I'm very drawn to to blues and browns and greens.  Also reds, but I often can't achieve exactly the shade of red I want, so I've been shying away from them of late.

THE VLOG

That's all, my friends!  Thanks again for all the awesome questions -- I had so much fun answering them :-)  I'll put links in a comment to the songs I mentioned in the vlog (if I can find them on YouTube) so you can hear them in their entirety.

AMA Answers #3: Jessica Prescott, Natalie, and Gabby A.

Time for the third batch of AMA answers!  Once again, there's a vlog at the end of this post in which I answer one question from each of these participants.

Also, again, if you want to ask me any questions, you have ONE MORE DAY to do so.  Anything asked after tomorrow (11-4-17) won't get answered in a post and vlog, it'll just get answered in the comments.  Ask your questions on the original post, please.

Jessica Prescott

What's your favorite color to see in a movie? As in, what's one color or shade (of scenery, clothing, sets, whatever) that makes you REALLY happy when you see it on-screen?

This is not something I've ever thought about before!  Hmm.  I'm very attracted to deep blues, purples, and reds.  Also deep browns.  So my eye is drawn to any of those, but I can't say there's any one color or shade that makes me feel happy to have it in a movie, in and of itself.

What is your favorite thing about fall? 

How my creative energy surges!  I get so tired and sort of worn-out during the heat of summer, but when cooler weather arrives and I can feel the world around me begin changing, that's when my creative juices flow faster and freer again, and I feel the urge to write and create much more strongly again.

Which character in The Chronicles of Narnia do you relate to most, and why?

I think probably Peter Pevensie, though it's been a really long time since I read the, so I can't say for sure.  Edmund was always my favorite.  Well, favorite human character, anyway.  I think Bree is probably my fave character over all.

Meat for breakfast: yea or nay? (that'll be a 'nay' from me ;-) )

I wouldn't say yea, I'd say "yay!" if you offered me meat for breakfast!  I adore bacon and sausage, and quite enjoy livermush too.

What do you wear on your feet most often? Sneakers, or dress shoes, or just socks, or what?

Absolutely nothing!  I am almost always barefoot.  Cowboy always says that he knows it must be Very Cold Indeed if I'm wearing socks in the house.  I also go barefoot outdoors whenever I can -- I really hate socks and shoes.

My feet

How do you name your fictional characters? Where do you tend to get the names from, in general, and how do you figure out which fits with which person?

I'll answer this in the vlog below :-)


Natalie

Do you have a favorite fantasy animal? (Unicorns, dragons, etc.)

Probably a flying horse like Pegasus.  I love horses, and then if you can add flying to them, how amazing!  They don't get used a lot, though.  I find centaurs pretty fascinating too.

If you could, would you rather meet a fictional character or a real-life historical person? Who would it be?

See vlog at the end of the post :-)

Which author's books do you prefer: Charlotte Bronte or Jane Austen?

Oh, that's tough!  Charlotte Bronte wrote my favorite book ever, Jane Eyre, but I've never read anything else by her.  Whereas I've very much enjoyed all of Austen's works.  Judging by who I read more about, I guess I'd have to say Austen.

A little known book you love that you think deserves more popularity?

I don't know anyone else who has read House of Living Stones by Katie Schuermann, and that's just nonsense because it was such an enjoyable read.

Do you like musicals/Broadway shows?

I do!  I love them, in fact.  Old ones, new ones, stage-musicals-adapted-for-the-screen, musicals written specifically for the screen -- love 'em.

Would you rather have a week-long, all-expenses-paid trip in the American West or in New Zealand?

I shall choose New Zealand because a week is far too short a time to spend in the American West, but I think if I had a week in NZ, I'd see pretty much everything I want to see.

What would you rather be (hobbit, elf, dwarf, human...) if you were a character in Middle-earth? If human, would you rather be from Gondor or Rohan?

A human!  I'd like to be one of the Rohirrim.  Even if I wasn't a Shield Maiden of Rohan, I'd still get to be around a lot of horses and out in the wide-open spaces of Rohan.

(Source)

Gabby A.

What do you normally eat for breakfast?

Most days, I have a protein bar, half a cup of orange juice, and a cup of coffee.  We live it up on Saturday mornings, though.  Cowboy makes breakfast on Saturday, and all bets are off.

What is a memory that makes you laugh?

See vlog below :-)

Is there a characteristic about people that really attracts you (eg. witty humour, good with kids etc)?

Kindness.  I very much appreciate and gravitate toward kind people.  And, conversely, and repelled by unkindness and unkind people.

What 3 words would you use to describe yourself?

Helpful, happy, and busy.

How tall are you?

I am 5'7" -- the same height as Alan Ladd, according to his Army enlistment record.

(Because I just had to stick a reference in here somewhere.)

What does being a Christian mean, for you, on a daily basis?

Making a conscious effort to see that everything I do, I do to the glory of God.  Thanking him for blessings, asking him for help, and thanking him again throughout my day.  Showing his love and forgiveness to everyone around me, especially my husband and children.

That's my goal, anyway!  Do I succeed at living that out on a daily basis?  Not even close.  I'm a sinner in daily need of repentance and forgiveness.

What book changed your perspective on life (whether big or small)? (The Bible is a given. ;))

Jackie Robinson's autobiography, I Never Had it Made.  It really opened my eyes to how little freedom some people still have here in what is supposed to be "the land of the free."  And his insistence that "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives" really reminded me that I need to be mindful of my actions and how they affect those around me.  As a Christian, I am charged with showing God's love to everyone around me, and my success or failure at doing that can really make a huge difference to others.

THE VLOG

That's it for today!  Happy Friday :-)