Category: Writing

Posted on by Fern Brady - No Comments on Lost Stories

Lost Stories

One of the worst things that can happen to an author is to lose files. The pace of life today makes working digitally from the beginning the most productive path. This leaves you vulnerable when the technology breaks down.

When I was younger, I wrote mostly by hand. I used composition books which I decorated with cut-out pictures from magazines, stickers, and hand-drawn sketches on the covers. Later, I started writing in beautiful notebooks with lovely covers that I chose not to mess with, so I added the pictures and stickers to the inside pages.

The process of writing by hand gave me a chance to slow down the creative flow. Since I’m a very good typist, word-processing the work is always faster. Going from a handwritten story to typing it up allowed for revisions as I went. This first revision during the word-processing was an integral part of the writing flow for me.

As life became busier, I had to move away from writing my whole first draft by hand to straight up typing it into the computer. I don’t think it really affected the quality, especially since I have powerhouse critique groups, feedback writing communities, and amazing developmental editors. However, it did leave me vulnerable to technology failures.

Back in June of 2024, the external hard drive I had been using as my primary back up system fell from my table. I thought nothing of it, but when I went to access it, the files wouldn’t load. Apparently, the thump with the floor messed up its insides, and now I would need to take it to an expert to see if we can recover any of the items stored therein. Haven’t had time to do that yet.

The tragedy of this, of course, is that I had not thought of putting all the files into the Microsoft Enterprise server I use for Inklings Publishing. We have super amounts of storage as part of our business subscription and it would not have been a problem, but I just didn’t think of it. So much was lost on this drive.

Among the items seemingly gone was a story I had been writing about a University of Houston history professor who goes back to Viking times and brings a bunch of them here to the new world. The ripple effects being that Native Americans don’t end up wiped out by European colonization later on, because the Vikings who arrive integrate with the natives and fortify them. Vikings were known for their willingness to assimilate new things into their culture, which is why so much of their culture ended up a victim of christianization. (As a Christian myself, it pains me to say that, but religious institutions are never true to the heart of the spiritual belief they represent)

Anyway, I searched for it but couldn’t recall the file name so I believed it completely gone. This past weekend, however, I remembered what I had given it as a title. I did a search and it popped up on one of my smaller thumb drives. I was so pleased to see how much of the story was recovered, that I spent this long weekend finishing the tale.

So, my Viking time travel alternate history romance is off to developmental editing this week and who knows… might be a great release for 2026/2027.

Posted on by Fern Brady - 2 Comments on A Hallmark-esque Christmas Tale

A Hallmark-esque Christmas Tale

I have a subscription to Freedom With Writing, which sends out a newsletter every week. In it the team that hosts this service compiles contests, calls for submissions, editorial pitch requests, potential work in a vast array of writing related jobs, conferences, and other cool information aspiring writers can use.

One of the latest editions contained a call for submissions entitled “The 12 Knights of Christmas.” The publisher, Button Hall, is relatively new on the market. They are looking to produce an anthology of romance stories set at Christmas time that have the making for the next great Hallmark movie. It would release Christmas 2025.

What caught my attention was the title of the submission: Knights. Well, I happen to have a knight or two in my world. And there is one in United Vidden who already has a bit of a romance thread laid out for him — Sir Andross. So, naturally, I decided to make this the focus of my Galveston Winter retreat writing with the full intention of submitting it.

Now, I had to do some research to make sure I understood the qualities that make a Hallmark holiday movie great. I spent an evening watching a couple films with my dear friend, Violet Shelton. We also read summaries of the top 25 films in the genre. Here’s what we gleaned:

Successful lady living in the big city has to make a trip to quaint picturesque small town. There she rekindles her romance with an early love or meets a local man and falls in love. She learns the importance of simple life and the meaning of Christmas.

There’s also the version where successful male professional is having to drive through quaint picturesque small town. Something happens and he is stranded there for the holidays. He meets jovial successful local lady and falls in love. He learns the meaning of Christmas.

Another version is where successful attorney lady is fired from her high stress law firm after some backstabbing by others. She meets a successful doctor who has come up from Florida (by the way Florida is mentioned a lot in these films — not sure why) to convince his elderly grandfather to retire there. They meet at a pub and she takes a temp job as bar tender, but it turns out that the bar owner is the grandfather. In the end, both forgo successful careers as doctor and lawyer to marry and run the pub. They learn the meaning of Hannukah. (yes, they have jewish versions of this as well).

After that exhaustive and somewhat mind numbing research, I decided to go with the following for my story:

Continent of Vidden
Planet Jorn by Araceli Casas

Lord High Marshal of the realm is notified of sheep farmer dad’s death. Returning to small town to deal with the estate he reconnects with the only woman he ever loved. In the past, she refused to marry him because she is a medicine woman and wants to serve a small town community. She is now living in his old hometown. After they uncover the horrible way a large corporation is taking over farms, the two rekindle their love. He is offered a chance to run a prestigious military academy in the community and so they both get to have the careers they want and still be together.

Oh… and they learn the meaning of the Festival of Lights, basically planet Jorn’s version of Christmas.

No mention of Florida though. Hope the omission doesn’t ruin my chances.

I’ll let y’all know what happens with the submission. Wish me luck!

Posted on by Ellen Seaton - No Comments on Getting to Know Your Literary Characters

Getting to Know Your Literary Characters

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 as portrayed by local artist, Shirl Riccetti.

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.……

Posted on by Fern Brady - 2 Comments on Shifting Gears in the New Year

Shifting Gears in the New Year

Ellen’s world features grim reapers and the lore behind these fascinating characters.

Ellen and I met up to enjoy a lunch and talk shop. There are many fun projects we work together and so much to discuss for the coming new year. One of the topics was this blog. RoadBroads has had a journey of its own since its inception. Now, it may be time for it to take a new path once again.

This blog began with a trip Ellen and Melanie took to Boulder, Colorado for June Retreat. This was pre-pandemic and every year Max Regan of Hollowdeck Press hosted two 10-day sessions to get your project growing. Ellen and Melanie decided to drive up from Houston. The drive birthed the idea of a blog for traveling women — RoadBroads.

My stories are set in an intergalactic alliance of planets called Thyrein’s Galactic Wall.

During those first years, Ellen and Melanie wrote about an array of trips they took, some by car, others in various modes of transportation. They hosted guest bloggers, like me, to talk about their own trips. I remember writing up Rental Car Hell from my trip to Italy for the blog.

Then COVID struck. Ellen and Melanie decided that the focus of the blog should shift. They began writing about a creative woman’s life journey. When Melanie stepped away from the blog, Ellen brought me and Rachel on board. This created an interesting dynamic of the life of three female creatives at very different stages of life’s journey.

Now, as Rachel has stepped back, and life begins to shift once more, Ellen and I discussed the future of this blog and what we want it to be moving forward. One consideration we discussed is our desire to grow the blog’s audience. In researching blogging, we found that the strongest blogs have a narrow topic focus.

Both Ellen and I are speculative fiction authors with unique worlds that our characters live in. Ellen has her grim reapers. I have Thyrein’s Galactic Wall. We have both had short stories set in these worlds published as a result of contest wins and anthology submissions. While Ellen is still working on her first full novel in her world, I have two novels out for mine.

The world’s we create are a blend of fantasy and science fiction with tinges of horror and humor built in.

In view of this, we have decided that in 2025 this blog will focus on our worlds. Each post will discuss some element of our respective story universes. We might write about the setting of a particular scene or short story, or we might share tidbits of character’s backstory that can’t go into the book proper. In the midst of this, we will discuss our writing process as well as share insight into what makes our creative juices flow and why we work in these genres.

Of course, there will be blogs on creative life in general, such as when we do readings or enter contests, as well as conferences and retreats we attend. In fact, I’m writing this post from Galveston, Texas, where I’m on a short writing retreat with some friends now.

We hope that by sharing our writing, our worlds, and the journey of being a working author, you will enjoy and follow not only this blog, but our publications as well. And, maybe it will help us to grow the consistent audience of this blog. One thing is for sure, we enjoy collaborating and that’s not changing any time soon.

So be ready this year to learn all about Willow, the Paladium, Grim Reaper Headquarters, Dragonborn Kings, Intergalactic Alliances, Gortive Offensives, Rajin Masters, their Elmalin counterparts, and a whole host of other beings and places from the wild imaginations of Ellen Seaton and Fern Brady.

Ellen and I wish everyone a wonderful and prosperous new year and hope you enjoy the journey RoadBroads is about to take!
Posted on by Fern Brady - 1 Comment on Art Show Excitement

Art Show Excitement

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.

There is one artist, however, who I have a contract with for producing her art coffee table book, and that’s Violet Jen. When I saw the painting of the bird putting on her make up, I fell in love with Violet Jen’s work. This image spoke to me on so many levels.

Then this amazing artist showed me more of her incredible works. The bird merged into the human form held a fascination to me, as well as to her. We decided to work on a book to bring these images, and the inspiration behind them, to readers. It has been a long road in the making.

First, the artist had to decide on the number of paintings she wanted to produce. As the work continued, she came to realize that the bird series was not going to be finite. That, in fact, it was a subject she would work on for the rest of her life. So, we decided to create a series of books chronicling the time periods of her life as reflected in the birds that populate them.

This concept is incredibly intriguing but not new in the art world. Artists life’s are often chunked up by the works that they produced during certain periods which reflect the influences on them. The first set of paintings has now been determined.

While the actual book is still in the production process and won’t be out until winter of 2025, the paintings that encompass this part of Violet Jen’s life are going to be displayed for the first time in an art gallery show all her own. The show opens tonight and will run until the end of the year.

Here’s where the paintings will be:

I hope you have a chance, if you are in the Houston and Montgomery areas, to drop in and take a look at these amazing paintings. Share with me in the comments what they speak to you, both the images here that I’ve shared and if you see them in person. I’m leaving you with the playlist the artist compiled that she listened to while working on these and which inspired her.

https://music.apple.com/profile/violetwatr

Posted on by Fern Brady - No Comments on Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween

Usually, the Halloween post would be done by Ellen. She is the queen of Halloween. In her home, she has skeletons that remain in place all year long. She has figurines and all manner of cool ghostly decorations. But, she’s been doing all the posting lately, so it’s my turn.

Halloween is one of my favorite evenings. I love the idea of dressing up and going door to door. In times when communities were safer and tighter knit, this tradition was a wonderful way to touch base with neighbors and build closeness.

Then somewhere along the line, people started doing nasty things to candy. Children started getting hurt by the nasty people. Instead of simply opting out and not giving any treats, people gave out poisoned goodies or some with needles in them. It became dangerous to go out and ring doorbells dressed up as your favorite character or ghoul.

Today, you don’t have as many kids out trick or treating. Communities have shifted to having private Halloween parties. Churches, those that don’t take it as an evil holiday, host some as well. It is sad to see this moment of community building leaving our world.

I remember having the opportunity to dress up at school when it fell on a school day. When I first started teaching, I dressed up as an evil witch and read ghost stories. Then they started trying to control even that part of our lives. First, it was decreed you could only dress up as a character from a book. Happily, there are tons of witch characters to choose from.

Me in my favorite pirate costume.

In my new school, dressing up can only be done if your costume represents a science vocabulary word from the school provided word bank. Some kids came dressed up like a cloud, or prey, or a predator (not my favorite predator though). I considered being a black hole. You know, wearing a black skirt with a round puff ball representing the star I was slowly eating. But that word was not in the approved word bank.

So, today, I just wore a lovely black skirt with some skull decorations on the sides and a red top. I still read them some Halloween inspired stories. We enjoyed the poem “The Spider and the Fly” as well as the picture book “Bats in the Library.” We read the humorous “Velcome” and I shared my Witchy Christmas story. We also used “The Mysteries of Harris Burdick” to inspire our spooky quick writes.

By the way, I will be reading my Witchy Christmas story at this year’s Haunted Holidays readings on November 9th. Come out and join me and Ellen as well as the other amazing authors who will be there at Brazos Bookstore this year.

It’s purple… had to use it!

Would love to hear how you see the situation with Halloween celebrations and some of your outfits this year, so please take a moment to comment. Oh, and, Happy Halloween everyone.

Posted on by Fern Brady - No Comments on Awards!!!

Awards!!!

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.

The Literary Global awards stand out as the most inclusive international literary competition worldwide. Unpublished manuscripts, micro presses, small presses, academic presses, self-published books, indies from any size publishers, large presses, and even the big 5 are all welcome to enter the LGBAs! By entering a single category, the book or manuscript becomes eligible not only for a category prize but also for the prestigious title of “Book of the Year.”

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.

The timing could not be better. War Rising will be releasing this fall. My team and I will be putting together a publicity campaign around the many wins United Vidden has had as a buzz builder for the follow up novel.

Mostly though, this just makes me happy.

Posted on by Fern Brady - No Comments on A Poetry Sandwich for Authorpalooza

A Poetry Sandwich for Authorpalooza

The Houston Writers Guild will be hosting our Authorpalooza conference the weekend of October 4–6. 2024 at Rice University’s Student Center. We are excited at the line up that is coalescing for this year’s event. It is one of the best parts of my job as head of the Guild.

Last year, we ended the event by hosting a Renga contest. However, the participants were not familiar with creating Renga and we were all very tired at the end of the main conference day. So we just created a single Renga about our conference together. You can see it posted on the HWG website’s Writer’s Room page (www.houstonwritersguild.org).

Deborah D.E.E.P Mouton is an award-winning writer, director, performer, critic, and the first Black Poet Laureate of Houston, TX. Praised by the NY Times as an artist who “defies categorization”, her genre-bending works span from stage to page, and everything in between.

This year, we will kick off the event on Friday night with the incomparable Deborah D.E.E.P Mouton leading participants in a group poetry activity. Friday night is when the Guild celebrates the book launch of the anthology collection of winning entries from the collaborative short story contest we host in conjunction with Women in the Visual and Literary Arts and produced by Inklings Publishing. There will be readings from the authors in the anthology and some light refreshments. But to start the conference weekend off, D.E.E.P will have those present work to create a poem and perform it. 

If you have never met this amazing poet and talented writer, you are in for a treat! Deborah D.E.E.P Mouton is an award-winning writer, director, performer, critic, and the first Black Poet Laureate of Houston, TX. This amazing lady has written and performed poetry but, beyond that, she has written and produced plays and operas including Marian’s Song with the Houston Grand Opera. She has an upcoming children’s picture book and just released her memoir Black Chameleon which examines Black womanhood through afrofuturistic mythology. She is working on various projects including film and stage adaptations of her work and is a former Resident Artist with the American Lyric Theater, Rice University, and the Houston Museum of African American Culture.

The samurai were expected to be fully well-rounded, excelling in the physical as well as mental and spiritual arenas. Most of the earliest Japanese writings were done by samurai authors.

After kicking off the conference with D.E.E.P, we will close the event on Sunday afternoon with a Renga competition. Yes, I’m not giving up on the idea of bringing this ancient Japanese event to life here in Houston! The Renga has a very simple form of alternating stanzas with 3 lines and 5 lines. The triplet stanzas take the form of Haiku with the 5–7‑5 syllable count and the cinquain stanzas use the form of Tanka with 5–7‑5–7‑7 syllable counts.

Traditionally, Japanese samurai poets would meet and compete to form the best Renga by taking turns each adding a new stanza. The poems content would meander from topic to topic as the poets added their verses spring boarding from one idea of the previous stanza. Sadly, most of these poems are lost since it was a game and no one thought of preserving the work. There are Renga in existence and during the final session of the conference on Sunday I will share more about the history of the art form and lead participants in a competition of our own.

If you want to learn more about this year’s conference event visit the HWG’s website at www.houstonwritersguild.org and consider purchasing your ticket to be a part of this exciting event now during the early bird pricing time.

Posted on by Fern Brady - No Comments on Trouble in Paradise

Trouble in Paradise

For many years, Nanowrimo has been an integral part of my writing year. The camaraderie and the goal setting aspects of the program have helped me shape my writing journey. But things are not as they should be in the Nano World, and I must step away from the organization.

The main reason for this decision lies in the wording of the new Municipal Liaison contract. As ML, you are a volunteer and you are hosting write in and other events to encourage participants of the program to meet their goals. Unfortunately, after having faced a regrettable situation last year which they handled poorly, the organization has knee jerked and passed the buck of liability to the MLs. Having my own company to protect, I cannot take the risk and continue to be a part of the program.

One of the cool things about Nanowrimo is the the website they host. It allows you to set goals — in word count — every month and it has very nice graphics that show your progress and give you stats on your writing practice that you can use to be more introspective and purposeful. While I don’t discourage anyone from enjoying the organization’s offerings, I am greatly disappointed in the attitude and handling of the MLs and their concerns by the headquarter personnel. So I decided to do a little research on potential sites that could allow me to set and track goals just as Nano does.

Here are two interesting options I found:

  1. myWriteClub hosts a very simple site but it gets the job done. It looks like they may be adding to it and working on bolstering it up. Currently, it allows you to set goals for the month and track them. Graphics are not as cool, but it’s effective.
  2. Pacemaker is another site that hosts a wider array of methods and options for tracking your goals. There’s the free version and then there’s the premium option which adds bells and whistles.

During the month of April, I am going to use both of these to see which one I like best at this time. I may use different sites next month to compare. Once I find a site I like and that meets my needs, I will let y’all know all about it here and on the Facebook page that used to be our Houston Nanowrimo group. We now call it Write-in Central. There, myself and the other former MLs will continue to encourage writers and offer opportunities to gather both via zoom and in person for group writing time.

It’s sad to see the end of another season in my life. But it goes to show the importance of not getting hung up on people, organizations, or places. Life is about continuous change and growth. Goodbye to Nanowrimo and hello to new adventures as my writing journey moves forward.

Posted on by Fern Brady - 1 Comment on Writing Kickoff for 2024

Writing Kickoff for 2024

The year of the dragon opens and I’m ready to push forward more of my universe’s stories.

Each year in January, Max Regan hosts two weekends of writing intensives. These four days, with their small and large group sessions, create an opportunity to begin the year focused on your work as a writer. To benefit from the opportunities of these weekends, you need to put aside other things that call your attention and put your identity as a writer up front and center.

The first of the intensives found me with a writing space that was completely topsy-turvy. My mom had all our rugs cleaned and to do so they had to move all my things about and unplug my stuff. They supposedly put everything back ‘where it was,’ but in reality they just moved the heavy objects to more or less the general area of the room where they thought they had originally been. Needless to say, it was a hot mess.

Arya is not happy to see the decorations go down. No more Christmas doggie treats!

So the first session, I took time to re-organize the writing space. I also had the opportunity to share my conundrum. I have one book that needs minor tweaks and is then ready to head out to copyediting — War Rising. I have another book with a significant amount of already written chapters and a clear outline toward finishing — Gortive Offensive. I also have Love’s Flame, the second book in The Dragon and His Kitten Series outlined and needing a first draft. So what should I do first?

Well, as I went through the first weekend, I made some strategic decisions. War Rising, book 2 of Thyrein’s Galactic Wall series, was the one that needed to be on my desk first. Clearly, the gap between book 1, United Vidden, and this one has been too long, even though fans of the universe got a chance to learn about Nichamir and Denipia in Love’s Call last year. That book is not the follow up of United Vidden and so War Rising is essential to move forward.

I am working on a short story for this contest. I think it’s okay to enter since I don’t have too much to do except oversee the process and the judging is blind.

So, when the second intensive weekend came along, in spite of the fact that I had not finished actually re-organizing ALL the space of the room, I decided to use the sitting area section that was open and available and begin the final read through of War Rising. I also had the opportunity to work various short stories in the groups and place them into contests. I even submitted some poetry, though I don’t really think my poetry is that great. But then if you don’t submit, the answer is always no. Maybe I’ll get a yes on some of this?

The book’s preliminary cover is drafted. Of course, tweaks are needed but I am so inspired by Verstandt’s artistry!

Anyway, this month is all about getting War Rising ready to go to copy edits. By the end of the second intensive, I was half way through the novel. Last weekend, I had to stop and put away the Christmas decor before my HOA sent us a lovely letter about it. I’m committed to pushing this book out to the next phase of production by end of January, so this weekend is the final push. Wish me luck!