Category: Writing

Posted on by Fern Brady - No Comments on Holiday Time!

Holiday Time!

Well, we finally are on holiday. I rather like the school calendar CyFair has more than the one we used in Alief. We let out for the winter break on Thursday but we don’t return to work until Monday, January 8th. It’s nice having those days post New Year’s to get things done rather than extra days during the hectic pre-Christmas time.

I have to say I was very proud of my students this past week. Many classes were acting up and being squirely but not my kids. They were focused on finalizing work and finishing our sports book club. We had a lovely day on Thursday as we completed an art project and did some writing while listening to music and enjoying snacks.

The one bad thing about the calendar is that we don’t get a day of work before the kids arrive. January 8 is the first day back for everyone. So there’s no time to be in our rooms and prepare. The school will be open on Friday January 5th and I will go early and do a morning of cleaning out the old and being ready for the new.

For now, it is time to clear the mind of that part of my life and focus on other things. During the holidays, I will need to reorganize my work study at home. We had the carpets cleaned and so everything is just topsy-turvy in there. It will be good to go through my files and purge and organize again.

Plus, now that I have a better handle on the time I need for school work, I can plan the time allotments for Inklings, Houston Writers Guild, and my own writing time much more realistically. It has been hit or miss with that this semester and it has added stress as I toggle from one thing to another in a disjointed manner. I hope to start 2024 with a more streamlined agenda — you guys remember my post about how I do my time allotments, right?

Right now, as I write this I am enjoying some quiet holiday rest. The house is set for Christmas and it is Christmas Eve. We are hosting at our home. And, starting yesterday, we are on a Terminator Saga binge watch. Seems appropriate to choose that series this year…

This will be our final blog post for the year. Ellen, Rachel and I will be back the first week in January. Hope everyone’s holidays are full of love and laughter. See you in 2024!

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Haunted Holidays is Coming

Saturday, November 18, starting at 6pm, writers from Houston Writers Guild and Women in the Visual and Literary Arts will be at Brazos Bookstore for the annual Haunted Holidays Short Story Reading. This event began as the brainchild of the amazing ELLEN SEATON.

This year’s flyer, which you can enjoy here, was designed by Melody Locke. Her hauntingly beautiful artwork has given the event a whole new look. The partnership with Brazos Bookstore was originally for Haunted Winter Stories but last year the event was expanded to include any holiday tale with a haunted twist.

If you are a writer and would like to read a story that evening, there are still some spots available. You can register on the information page on the WIVLA website: https://www.wivla.org/calendar-from-mw#!event/2023/11/18/haunted-holiday-readings

The truth is that this year I will be reading a slightly revised version of the first story I ever read aloud for this event. Last year, I made up a whole new holiday for Thyrein’s Galactic Wall because… well I do love world building. But with my new full time job and my second novel waiting for me to finalize the edits from my editors I just didn’t have the time to do a fresh tale.

Original artwork from previous years.

The first year I participated in this event, it was held via zoom because we were mid-pandemic. So it will be nice to see how this winter witchy tale does to a live in person audience. Since I first read it, the characters have, as they often do, taken on a new life of their own. There’s a backstory now of the lady that leaves the cottage to the protagonist of the tale I will read next Saturday at Brazos Bookstore. I am certain that if I’m not careful this could become a whole new series of novellas. Not that I could keep them from blossoming if I sat down in earnest and wrote on it. They might well end up epic novels.

Just because I won’t write again until after the coming Thanksgiving break.

But, I must keep them where they are now — short tales. I have to get the two connected series I already have books published on out before I go off into yet another story line.

Posted on by Fern Brady - No Comments on Nanowrimo 2023

Nanowrimo 2023

On top of everything else I’m doing, I’m still one of the MLs for Nanowrimo Houston.

Well if it isn’t November already. Wow, the year does fly by. So now that we are here, it’s Nanowrimo season. November is National Novel Writing Month. The challenge is 50,000 words in 30 days.

And already, I’m behind. I didn’t start on November 1st as I have in the past. Usually, I wait up until midnight on October 31st and then I start writing my nano project. But not this year. I’m working so I couldn’t stay up that late on a school night.

So I haven’t actually started a project yet. I do have two books outlined and ready to write. Love’s Fire is book two of the Dragon and His Kitten series. I should work on that one as it is the next one that needs to release after War Rising.

This is the outline for Love’s Fire, which will be book 2 of the Dragon and His Kitten series.

Which of course brings me to the fact that War Rising, book two of the Thyrein’s Galactic Wall main line series, is waiting for the final edits. Max Regan, editor extraordinaire, has sent me the feedback and I need to make the final tweaks so it can go off to copy editing. AND I need to start working with my designer on a cover for it.

But that won’t do for Nano. You can’t successfully complete 50,000 words on a revision draft, least of all if it is pretty ready to go. SO, Love’s Fire is waiting for me. Then again so is Gortive Offensive.

Ah, yes. That was supposed to be book 2 for Thyrein’s Galactic Wall and the sequel to United Vidden, but the preparations for war took so many words (nearly 127,000) that we had to cut it off and create War Rising.

Here is the outline for Gortive Offensive. This will be book 3 of Thyrein’s Galactic Wall series of which United Vidden is book one.

I have Gortive Offensive mapped out as well. To be honest, I even have a nice start on it because of the chapters that didn’t make it to War Rising which had already been written and which are being shifted to GO, which is now book three.

So, as this weekend, the first in November, kicks off and I host my first write ins, which book will I work on? I honestly don’t know. I guess when I sit down later tonight during the first write in I’ll see which one decides to speak to me.

All in all, this is a good moment for me. I’ve been so swamped with keeping Inklings going and full time teaching, not to mention Authorpalooza conference and the release of the Journey into Art volume for Houston Writers Guild and Women in the Visual and Literary Arts, that I haven’t written anything since August. It will be lovely to get myself back into my projects and back to my writing soul.

Posted on by Fern Brady - 1 Comment on Author’s Professional Growth

Author’s Professional Growth

As a writer, it is important to stay abreast of what is happening in the publishing industry. Many things have changed and when you are serious about having a career as an author, you must stay informed. Author conferences are a wonderful place to network and learn about what is happening in this vibrant industry.

The Houston Writers Guild is hosting an in person conference the weekend of October 6–8, 2023. There will be many amazing sessions to select from as well as lunch as a group on Saturday. Here’s a few things the Guild is offering this fall:

The venue is both comfortable and ideally located for a wonderful view of Houston.

The conference venue is the beautiful Hilton Houston Plaza/Medical Center Hotel located at 6633 Travis Street I Houston, TX 77030  Friday night kicks off the weekend with a session on how to use anthology and journal publications to build your author platform followed by the celebration of the winners of the Journey Into Art short story contest. The compiled anthology features the authors that won this contest sponsored in collaboration with Women in the Visual and Literary Arts as well as local publishing house, Inklings Publishing. (yes my company)

Saturday is the main day and starts with a powerhouse keynote by renowned fantasy author Kevin J Anderson. Sessions offered during the day include: Tips to being a freelance author; legal issues for authors; several sessions on different types of editors and when you need which; using writing to bolster your personal and professional life; a magnificent panel on writing diversity into your books; effective kickstarter campaigns; writing for radio; marketing tips for authors; using critique groups effectively; and even an old-style Samurai Renga Poetry competition.

Sunday the weekend closes with a wonderful session by Kevin J Anderson on how to maximize your productivity.

In addition to the presentations, the conference offers add ons such as pitch sessions with agents and aquisition editors of small presses looking for new voices. Plus, an opportunity to have a one-on-one session with a social media expert. Aimee Ravichandran of Abundantly Social is an award winning influencer who can help authors expand their reach and build audience. This is a golden chance to have her look at your platform and give you specific tips to improving your reach.

If you are an author, I strongly encourage you to check out this conference. It will be a great event and offers many oppotunties for authors to grow professionally. Here’s the link to the website for a more complete description of the offerings as well as a chance to get your tickets. While you are there, consider joining the Houston Writers Guild. It is a volunteer run organization that truly seeks to help ALL authors succeed by offering many different programs. You can check out the membership benefits at the link below.

Link to conference information:

https://www.houstonwritersguild.org/writersroom

Membership Page for HWG:

https://www.houstonwritersguild.org/membership

Posted on by Fern Brady - No Comments on Shifting Gears

Shifting Gears

An actual picture of me recalibrating my carefully managed life. LOL

There are moments in life when you need to stop and assess. Life has a way of pushing you forward, the ebb and flow of it moving you in an inertia that never stops. If you are not purposeful, you end up living life by default rather than by design.

In order to be purposeful, you need to intentionally build in the habit of stopping and assessing. There are some good moments in the year for doing this that seem almost built in for it. The end of the year and the beginning of a new one in December-January is one good moment for introspection. Though the holiday season can be a very emotional time as well as very busy for people with families, it can be difficult to carve out time to spend on evaluating how your life is going, where it’s going, and what if anything might need to change. Never-the-less, taking a few days to stop and see what the year that is closing results are and planning some goals for the one that is opening is a good habit to get into.

My new classroom. Excited to be back on the front lines of learning.

Another moment for introspection is the summer which can be a time to refresh and evaluate, especially for those who work in education or who have kids. A school year ending, and then a few months later, a new one starting can provide a great moment to stop and evaluate things.

For me, the end of this school year brought an awareness of many things that needed to be recalibrated in my life. The fiasco that occurred with the parents that went against Writers In The Schools, and me being caught in the cross hairs, brought into my awareness the reality of my work with WITS. The fact is, I was devouring what amounted to a full time job, in terms of hours on campus due to class schedules, while not actually being paid for all those hours. Because the program pays only for the hours you teach, the down time in between when you can’t go anywhere else or really do much else is unpaid.

Still needs a lot of work, especially decorative pieces for my walls, but it’s getting there.

Looking at the economic growth Inklings Publishing has made from the set backs of the pandemic these past three years has made me very happy. Yet, as I look at the new marketing options before us, I realize that continuing to take a salary from the company might not be the best option. I can take that money and invest it into growing it with new avenues of advertising and marketing.

So, I made the decision this summer to apply for a full time teaching position. I will basically be spending the same amount of time in a school, only this time I’ll be working the whole time and getting paid a full salary with benefits. This frees up my salary with Inklings to be used to grow the company. Some might argue against reinvesting my pay from the company. But, I have found, that this path worked well for us in the beginning years, when I did not pay myself and lived off of my other work.

Hmmm. Gotta think of some anchor charts and displays.

Am I going to be exhausted? Yes. But then again that’s not really new. Will I need to redo my handy-dandy time budget so I can stay balanced and get my writing out within the scope of time I have been planning? Absolutely. If you don’t know about my planning process, check out some of my first blog posts I did here. I laid it out for anyone who wants to follow it.

Back to School Time is Here!

Posted on by Fern Brady - No Comments on A Writers Notebook

A Writers Notebook

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.

When I was young, I started the habit of creating a collage for my writers notebooks. Over the years, it has been fun to decorate the covers of my notebooks. It has also been a great way to see, in part, my evolution.

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.

If you look at covers of those notebooks that are after I had married, you will find that there are no more hot males. And while there are significant differences across time in what appealed to me, what images showed up on these covers, there are some constants.

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.

Other images that have remained across the years included: Barbie, Hello Kitty, dogs and wolves, sharks, and dragons. Some newer images that have come along in more recent years include swords and cigar rings. I love putting the various rings of the cigars I smoke on my covers. Since I like a variety of cigars, the rings are a kaleidoscope of colors and brands.

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.

Another new development is sticky notes. I’ve started labeling the items within the pages with sticky note tabs. This came about because I was sure I had already written the birth scene of Verena’s son but I couldn’t find a computer file with it. So I considered I might have written it by hand and it could be in a notebook. Since I was already scanning them for content, I stated tabbing the general topics and pieces so in future it would be easier to find what I might be looking for.

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. https://www.facebook.com/fernbradyauthor

Posted on by Fern Brady - No Comments on Beach Time

Beach Time

There are moments in life when it becomes necessary to take yourself off somewhere and reflect. My trip to Brownsville proved an amazing time of refreshing. The last day I was there, I visited South Padre Island.

As a child, we would often go to S. Padre to hang out at the beach. It is barely twenty minutes from Brownsville and the sand is so beautiful. My godmother had a condo at the Bahia Mar. She put us as authorized users so we would go there and hang out for the day.

During my recent visit, I took a day to enjoy the time by the ocean. There’s something about water that brings on a deep sense of peace. Listening to the waves, feeling the salty breeze on your body, the kiss of the sun’s rays on your skin, all this makes for a great time of meditation.

There was a lot to process that weekend. The attack by a parent group that is pushing for puritanical cleansing of education was high among these. My name was smeared by them as if somehow my author persona made me unworthy of working with kids. After being a teacher for 23 years, my identity was called into question.

I won’t lie. It shook me deeply. But as I sat there, on the beach listening to the waves and praying, I felt God’s presence in my life. He is my vindicator. I felt sorrow for these people. Their lives are so full of hate and insecurity. They can’t stand seeing others living a full and happy life.

As kids, my brother and I would sword fight when we went to Blackbeard’s.

How dare I enjoy writing science fantasy romance? How dare I enjoy smoking my cigars? How dare I not conform to what the evangelical lifestyle says a woman should be?

Well, I won’t conform. I will continue to be me, unabashedly and unashamedly. I’ve worked too hard to like myself to allow small minded people to come in and try to stick me back in the box that never fit to begin with.

There’s an interesting verse int he bible: I’m making something new. A woman shall encompass a man.

Their seafood is delicious but I always order the avocado burger. To die for good.

God called me to do great things. He is the author of my faith and of my journey. He is well able to finish the work He began in me. So I will continue my journey and I will let go of the hurt these people caused. I hope He is merciful when he deals with them. But I know He will give me justice in the end, for He despises those that try to shed innocent blood — and the tongue is an instrument of death with these kind of people.

After the time by the sea, I went to my favorite eatery not he island: Blackbeards. As a kid, I always called it black birds. I think because it has birds not he sign. Whatever you call this spot, it has the best damn burgers anywhere in the world. I challenge anyone to find better burgers.

Me enjoying my last cigar of my personal retreat time.

If you go down to the Rio Grande Valley, be sure to check out S. Padre and Blackbeard’s. You won’t regret it.

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Glady’s Porter Zoo

Giraffes are my favorite animals.

When I was a child, every summer my mother enrolled us in the Summer Safari program at Glady’s Porter Zoo. I loved going there and learning about the animals. We would do many different activities and walk the zoo. It was literally the best part of my childhood.

The Glady’s Porter Zoo is in Brownsville TX. It is considered one of the best zoos in the country. The zoo has a strong conservation program and they have seen the birth of many wonderful animals over the years, helping grow endangered species’s populations.

The aviary lets you walk among the birds. Scary.

One of the best parts of the zoo, is the way that the animals are housed. Unlike many zoos, Glady’s Porter designs the enclosures to mimic the animals’ natural habitat. The zoo has a large spread of land which it can use and has been given more by the city.

As a child, my favorite part of the zoo was the giraffes. I still love giraffes. I don’t know why they are my favorite animal, but they are. I love wolves and I love sharks and others as well, but the giraffe is the best. They are so peaceful and tall, and ungainly. You wouldn’t think they were beautiful when you look at the oddness of their body shape. Yet they have grace and poise and kind faces. Maybe, thinking about it now, that’s why I connected with them.

This is where we hosted one of my birthdays growing up.

Glady’s porter has an aviary. It’s kinda frightening going in there. All those birds, flying free, all around you. Very Hitchcockian. But it is also pretty cool. I don’t know how recent the changes have been, but they added a butterfly enclosure. Filled with flowers and free flying butterflies, it is kind of like a wonderland area. They also added a new activity center where they display some fossils that were excavated in the Rio Grande Valley area. It even hosts a playground zone now.

Since my birthday is in July, we had several parties at the zoo. As I walked it during my recent visit, I stopped at the area where we would have the celebration. It is still an eating spot.

I was sad to see that the polar bears are gone. I don’t know why. I remember one summer, as we walked past their enclosure, we caught them swimming. I have always been a fan of bears. Though they seem cuddly, they are actually very dangerous. The dichotomy of it appeals to me.

Glady’s Porter has a strong conservation program to help breed endangered species.

I didn’t see the elephants during this visit. I recall that the zoo had some issues when I was younger with the male elephant. He apparently had tried to kill the baby that was born to them. I remember seeing how they had built a wall to separate him and how the female and baby would come lean against it while he was leaning on the other side. There’s something about that which stirred me and even recalling it now gives rise to sadness.

My biggest regret is that my family moved to Houston during the summer of my sophomore year in high school. This meant no more summer safaris. But more than that, it meant not being able to be a part of the conservation side of the zoo. Only the junior and seniors who participated during the summer, and even during the school year, got to be in the baby zone and work with the staff on that part of the zoo’s program. Wish I had been able to stick around for that. But, I can enjoy going back and seeing all the work the zoo has done. If you are ever in the area., you definitely should visit the Glady’s Porter Zoo.

The zoo is spread out over a large area of land which allows it to form beautiful enclave habitats for the animals.
Posted on by Fern Brady - No Comments on Brownsville Trip #2

Brownsville Trip #2

During my last blog post, I wrote about the quick trip I took down to Brownsville with my parents. The weekend after that visit, I returned having booked a nice Airbnb to stay there for a long weekend. It was a time of refreshing, healing, and writing.

I headed out onto the highway on Thursday. Of course, I had all manner of snacks along with me. It isn’t a legitimate road trip unless you are eating a bunch of junk food along the way. At least, that’s my philosophy. I have a strong bladder from having been a teacher all my life, so I made only one pit stop at Refugio. I was met there by a seagull who was most upset when I told her I had nothing to offer her.

Back on the highway, I drove along singing loudly in my car. You absolutely must have a good playlist when on a road trip. I have one I labeled as Karaoke and it is great for in car singing. The trip from Houston to Brownsville takes almost six hours without stops.

Arriving at the little studio I rented, the first thing I did after lugging the five hundred suitcases and bags I brought with me — okay maybe it wasn’t THAT many but it sure felt like it — into the space was take in the view. In Brownsville, the Rio Grande river has left behind during its lifetime pockets of river that have been cut off from the main flow over the years. The locals call these resacas. One of the prime real estate assets for property down here is if it has a resaca in the backyard. This little studio did, and it makes for a fantastic view.

This church is on the edge of Refugio. As a child when we would drive by it, I always imagined I might get married here some day.

I spent the first day in the studio. I enjoyed morning reflection and coffee with my cigar outside with that relaxing scenery. I bathed, put on one facial mask and some strong conditioner on my hair. I spent time just reading and reflecting on the very hard situations I’ve been dealing with for the past 3 years. After some time, I took those products off and put on a renewing facial mask. I used the time while it worked on my skin to list out all the people and situations that have been hurtful these past few years and any that came up even from before.

Sometimes you think you’ve processed something but it pops back up, so you have to deal with whatever lingered. After my final bath, I was ready for my Friday night writing group. It was lovely to catch up with everyone and set some intentions for the writing I was planning to do that weekend. Most of it centered on getting out emotions and viewing situations so that I could make better sense of where I was and where I am going. But I didn’t plan to just stay in doors and process feelings the whole time.

The view from the studio of the resaca. Sitting out on the patio to smoke my cigars and take in this natural beauty was a major part of the refreshing effects of this trip.

I made my preparations to head to the zoo and to the beach while I was there. I’ve run out of words in this post to share those experiences, but you can come back when it’s my turn again to post and you’ll find out about my zoo and beach excursions and about the writing and resolutions I came to during that weekend. See you next time!

Posted on by Fern Brady - 1 Comment on Hidden Treasures

Hidden Treasures

It always amazes me when I discover parts of Houston that I never even knew existed. There is so much happening in this city and I feel like most of us live secluded in tiny corners unaware of the breadth and depth of opportunities.

Take downtown for instance. How often do most of us go there?

For me the answer is nearly never. In the past, when my dad used to work downtown at the federal courts, I would go have lunch with him occasionally. Most of the time, I drove up to the building and picked him up. Then we headed over to a nearby hotel, usually the Double Tree since they validated your parking, and we would valet for lunch.

A few times, I was called in for jury duty and of course I experienced the area of downtown around the state courthouses. I even got selected for Grand Jury one time and that was fun. But, again the excursions were simply to attend the courthouse in question and, for lunch, I mostly brought my own or bought something at a nearby coffee shop or deli.

I was aware, vaguely, that there was a downtown tunnel system, but I never had occasion to venture there.

Now, my brother works at the federal courthouse. We decided to have lunch together. Instead of driving up and going to some eatery, he told me to park in the garage and we would get food at the tunnel. This peaked my interest.

I arrived and met him downstairs so I wouldn’t have to go through security. We then set out across the street to the building over one block which had the access to the tunnels. This made sense that the courthouse would not have an way to enter the tunnel system. It could be a dangerous access point for the building.

Once in the tunnel we walked a ways. I felt a slight concern being aware of the fact we were walking under ground and all. The tunnel is wide enough for many people to walk in both directions, but it still felt a little tight for me. Then we arrived at a juncture.

Before us lay a wide expanse of tables and chairs around which an array of eateries had storefronts. It reminded me of the mall food courts of my childhood years. There are maps posted at certain intervals. Sadly, I didn’t take a picture of them since I, at that moment, hadn’t thought to write up the excursion for the blog.

We walked further and found an area with loungers and sofas, ping pong and corn hole, and even a table shuffleboard option. Sadly, they had no wax, so we couldn’t throw any weights. Plus, it is a short version and not the 22 foot long that is the official length for serious shufflers.

As we passed this area, my brother pointed out a wide white wall and explained that during the World Cup Soccer, they projected the games there so people could come and watch while sitting in the comfy loungers and sofas. Eventually, we selected a food choice and took it to go. We went back to his office and ate there. If you go to a courthouse, by the way, don’t take scissors or lighters. They confiscate them and store them for you until you leave. Yes. I know from first hand experience.

Anyway, if you are curious and want to enjoy a fun adventure, head over to downtown, park, and do lunch in the tunnels. Buzz me and we can make a day of it. I’m not sure which building uses these Star Wars inspired elevators, but I plan to find out on my next outing.

Oh, PS. this is a picture of me and my brother. Isn’t he cute?