It's a good day for a story! Here's my #BlogBattle FLUTE story. It's short for me! haha :) Melody of Memories
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Nothing could be more irritating than Cos’s terrible playing. Nothing. No, not even the honking of old lady Gleason’s pet goose was as bad.
Jemma looked at the sky in askance. “Please, Lord, let him learn to play that thing, or for my sanity, let that flute find a home at the bottom of the river!” A heavy gust of wind was her only reply, rustling her skirts and whipping loose strands of mahogany hair across her heated face. She smiled, smoothing them away and enjoying the brief respite from the languid afternoon heat. “Jemma! Did you hear? Did you?” Cos sprinted across the partially-tilled field as if he’d won the prize pig at market with his giddy laughter as the applause of the invisible audience. “Yes, Cos, and I think my head would be much happier for not.” The words escaped before she could stop them. Blast this heat and her tired, aching muscles. She swatted the handle of the till, not happy with herself for bringing that smile of Cos’s to a rigid halt at half-mast. “I’m getting better,” he said, his voice stunted and soft as his hand circled the instrument, pulling it close to his chest.
Jemma sighed and took off her glove to rest her hand on his shoulder. Instead, she pulled him into a hug. He was tall enough his head now rested at her shoulder. When had he grown so much? “You’re right. You are getting better. Father would be so proud of you. Now, you run off and keep practicing!” She gave him a slight shove and smiled bright.
He brightened, too, seeming to forget her brief lapse of restraint into honesty. It didn’t matter how much she hated it, that flute was Father’s last gift to him before he passed after a bad fall from the roof last autumn. Winter had been so hard, and the flute had been his only comfort.
Mother couldn’t bring herself to ask him to stop trying to play, and neither could Jemma. She waved him off, his smile now firmly back in place.
He dashed toward the barn. “Don’t forget to play for Nell! She always gives better milk when you do!” Join & read stories here: https://blogbattlers.wordpress.com
>>>Cover Reveal<<< Happy day to you! On the timeline, while I write, it is Sunday. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and a steady breeze rustles the pine needles. That trembling of branches and leaves, it always reminds me of the rush of a river, but in an ebb and flow that only nature could possibly know. It is both gentle and powerful. Both welcome when it cools heated skin and fearful when it threatens destruction.
How did we get from a sunny, peaceful day to destruction? Well, that's not easy to explain. But I can tell you that thinking about Beast of the Night by @eerawls_author while listening to the wind through the trees has definitely influenced my thinking!
Book Synopsis
A one-armed girl. A lord hiding a curse. A dark secret with the town’s fate hanging in the balance.
A Beauty and the Beast retelling with an Austrian twist and a new breed of curse.
When Rosen moves to Freudendorf—a secluded town in the Alps—with her dad, he vanishes on her and the debt collectors come to call: taking her into slave labor. As if that wasn't bad enough, just when all her hopes and dreams for a normal life are ruined, a frail zombie-like butler purchases her: taking her to serve Lord Varick, who currently resides in the forbidden castle near the salt mines, where the Beast of the Night is said to roam.
Varick is handsome, with an attitude that’s the exact opposite. The servants aren’t human, and the castle itself is an ugly wreck. But if Rosen cannot solve the dark secret spreading beneath Freudendorf, and the curse holding Varick's cold heart, then both they and the town will fall prey to a waiting evil—and worse, lose their memory of it.
Beast of the Night releases June 11th, 2020! You can preorder now:
https://www.amazon.com/Beast-Night-Fairy-Tale-Retelling-ebook/dp/B0877CVNLT/
And definitely add it to your Goodreads TBR:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53202576-beast-of-the-night
#BeastOfTheNight #AuthorEERawls #newbookrelease #fairytalebooks
#booksofinstagram
#bookcoverreveal
#beautyandthebeastretelling
FLUTE is our word prompt for #BlogBattle this month! Word players, what would be your take on this? How would you go in 1000 words or less? Dark, thrilling, sweet, chilling? All the info for participating in the #writingchallenge is on our blogbattlers blog (link info in the image)! https://www.blogbattlers.wordpress.com//2020/05/05/blogbattle-flute/
You've got the next 25 days to write some flashfiction and post it to your blog, and then share the link with us to read your story!
It might seem small and insignificant, but don't let its small size fool you. It's actually pretty expensive, and I lost this guy for almost a week! I dreaded the idea of having to replace him with a generic pen or shelling out the $$$ to get the exact kind, so I held off... but, I REALLY needed my pen for digital art projects! After tearing every space I'd used the pen in apart I was near to giving up. In one last-ditch effort to find my beloved digital pen, I found it hidden in the first place I looked (obviously I did a terrible job). What is the moral to this long post about a pen, you might ask? Let's sum it up to if you take better care of your stuff, you won't be as likely to lose it. It could also be: always look twice...especially before crossing the street. It might even be "...never get involved in a land war in Asia but only slightly lesser known: never go in against a Cicelean when DEATH is on the line!" but probably not...
A beautiful post. Carving out time to do what we love is important. Difficult sometimes, but important.
Like the audio recording of the post too. 🙂
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Great post! I completely agree that we, especially mothers, need to take time for ourselves. Taking time for ourselves only benefits our family in the long run. Unfortunately, I also struggle with the guilt of having “me time”.
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Thanks, Amanda. 🙂 I feel like as long as we don’t go to extremes by becoming self-obsessed or self-denying, it’s exactly right and good to take time for ourselves. That old adage comes to mind: everything in moderation. 🙂 Don’t forget to take some time for yourself very soon, pretty mama! 🙂
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