Once upon a time, I started writing a novel. I had the basic story line, the location, most of the characters, the beginning and three possible endings. It’s a real fun story about a historic art deco building located somewhere in the downtown area of some-city, USA. Then I decided to take a break from the inevitable problems a writer comes across when making the characters interact with each other. Some of my characters are human in nature and living every day on a regular earthly plane of existence. Some of them are “good guys” and others are “villains.” Then there are also groups of other characters that involve ghosts, invisible monsters, grim reapers and such. Getting the different groups to interact and move the plot forward can be a bit tricky. One of my solutions to work out these difficulties came about as I started writing a series of short stories. Other worldly abilities are explored. Personalities develop through motions, dialogue and actions. My favorite character and the focus of many of my stories and tales is a grim reaper. You might remember this picture from Fern’s latest blog post. This is how most people see grim reapers.
Just because they remove people from this earth and their current lives, some people seem to think that they are mean and nasty creatures. The more I wrote about my grim reaper, the more she developed a much more complicated personality. Yes, she is a female reaper named Willow. It turned out that she could be mean and stern when she needed to; however, there are many other aspects to the personality and interactions with both other humans and ghosts. Since she is made up of her skeletal frame wearing big black robes, one of my first problems was to demonstrate that she was a female.
Willow is just one of many grim reapers that work all around the globe. She is not just yanking some poor human out of an earthly life. She helps to guide them to the next stage of existence. What is the next level or stage? It could be many things ranging from a bright white light, to Heaven, to Hell and many other places in between. As I discovered more aspects of my favorite character, I began to see her better within my imagination. At one point I made arrangements for a local artist, Shirl Reccitti, to create some scenes based on some of my plot points and characters. Here is her rendition of Willow.
In viewing Willow, I began to think about the details of her appearance. Just how big is her scythe? Is it better to show her face or keep parts of her in the shadows of her big billowy robes? Sometimes she uses her scythe in a heavy-handed way (when necessary), but the other times she just barely passes the instrument between the almost deceased human and earth. Then the spirit is free and ready to move on. Does the size of the scythe make a difference? If it is too large, does it get in the way? I have also started developing the differences and purposes of all of the character groups. Ghosts have much more latitude, but that will have to wait for a future blog. Also, if grim reapers are supposed to escort the newly deceased, then why are there ghosts? So many questions. So few hours in a day.
Until next time.……
As a publisher, I have the joy of working with amazing creatives in the process of putting together their books. We publish fiction because the world needs a place to escape the harsh realities of life as well as a safe space to explore tough issues.
One of the things that makes a book stand out is receiving awards. Competition is fierce, especially in the award programs that are the most prestigious. So when I woke up to an email declaring United Vidden the winner of the Science Fiction category in the Independent Author’s Awards by Literary Global I was over-the-moon happy.
Now, this is not the first award that United Vidden has won. My debut novel has won a couple silver medals, several five-star reviews from professional reviewers, and an endorsement from the Dr. Who official franchise site. But this is the first time it is the number one winner in its category.
Mostly though, this just makes me happy.
Well, it is time once more to start a new notebook. A Writer’s Notebook is a term coined by Ralph Fletcher. In his book by that same name, he describes how authors all have notebooks in which they collect seeds for possible writing pieces. Of course, it also includes writing pieces and design documents.
Some of my oldest notebooks are covered in pictures of movie stars. Bruce Willis, Tom Cruise, and Denzel Washington have made many cameos on my covers. Also found there are the Prince of Monaco as well as King Felipe of Spain. Needless to say, there are only hot males. No ladies.
Maleficent is always there. I adore that character. She is the epitome of a strong confident woman. Yes. She’s evil. But she knows who she is and embraces herself fully. Naturally, I’m referencing the cartoon movie and not the live actions.
Recently, I have moved from composition notebooks to the cute notebooks that you can buy in stores. Although these already have cool designs, I still add a bit of my own flavor on the covers judiciously and on the inside flaps. Some that are just solid colors I can decorate fully.
If you are a writer and have some amazing writers notebooks, I would love to hear from you. Feel free to post on Fern Brady, Author on Facebook some of yours notebooks and let me know how you use this tool. Even if you are not an author, and just enjoy journaling, or scrapbooking, please share some of your wonderful creations with me. 
Before I was a writer, I was a writer. I wrote as a child, making up all kinds of stories and performing plays for my family. I even charged my mom 10 cents for the popcorn she prepared for us.
And then, one day, I understood that I was not only a writer at the very core of my identity — that my voice and the stories that sought to come forth from me were in fact who I am — but that I wanted to be a working writer.
Towards that goal, I have spent the first two weekends in January doing an intensive retreat to kick off my writing year. I’m also ready to enjoy and learn at the Houston Writers Guild’s Love Your Writing Seminar. It will take place on Saturday, February 18. Check it out if you are a writer. It’s a great place to get started on the 2023 road to birthing a legacy in words. 
