Randomness Friday

April Kelley and I are starting something different, instead of blog swapping we will be answering questions along with sharing bits of our research into 2nd BonyDee Press challenge; click name for rules

Please, after reading below, go and check out April’s Post

April’s on Holidays, for the week, so let’s have some fun, and by fun I mean an excerpt of my upcoming release Being That for You.

 

(please excuse mistakes, it’s still in edits)

Christmas in July

“Do you think I’d ever lie to you?” Jake asked.

“We lie the most to the ones we love.”

“Maybe, but it’s those we love who see right through us. I know you see through me. I guess, more than anything, it’s about trust. Do you trust me, baby?”

Mike sighed, sinking into his chair. “That’s just it. I’m not sure if you deserve it anymore.”

“What! Why?”

Mike waved his hand, brushing the air. “It’s… little things. I think… shit.”

“What things? Tell me. What have I done?”

Mike sighed again. “I don’t know how to say it without sounding like I’m bitching. It’s nothing big. I’m just… I guess I’m… it’s just that—fuck it! It’s nothing. There’s nothing. I trust you, I have since I started falling for you, and unless I walk in on you fucking him I’ll keep trusting you.” With that he got up and walked out the door.

“What the fuck was that all about?” Jake muttered to himself. “And who’s he?” he yelled after his lover, but it was too late, Mike was gone. Even if he had heard, he wouldn’t have answered.

Fuck. Jake didn’t know what the hell was going on with his man. Things between them hadn’t been at their bubbly best lately. Hell, wasn’t until recently, when he’d realised their anniversary was coming up, that he’d finally admitted to himself things weren’t going so great. But they weren’t terribly bad, which almost made it worse.

Jake stood with a sigh and started getting ready for work. It hadn’t been easy at the centre either. A new shipment of boys had arrived after Detective Martins busted a massage parlour for using minors to give happy endings. Since they’d started providing rehab his job was ten times harder. Which was the reason he was heading in to work again tonight. He had to go talk one of the younger boys into calming down.

Jake gathered his courage, which he trembled on the edge of losing, and thought back to his conversation with Mike. They’d been cuddling on the lounge, like they did almost every night, when Jake realised they were stuck, that it has been a long time since Mike started anything between them. He just rested in Jake’s arms, making small talk and yelling at the TV screen. He always used to initiate things, and the lack of interest was a huge indication something was wrong.

He missed his Mike, missed the man whose idea of relaxing involved water fights in the kitchen or couch wrestling matches that ended with them naked and sweaty. He wondered where that man had gone, why Mike had changed into a subdued version of himself. Then his phone had started to ring and Mike heaved a sigh so loud Jake heard every word Mike wasn’t saying.

The call represented his work, his dream, his life— but it was turning Mike into someone who didn’t want to start anything, ‘cause Jake had gotten called away and left him hanging too many times. Jake knew that, they’d even had a few small blow-ups over him leaving, he just hadn’t really been listening. Mike hid his hurt in self-mocking quips, said with a smile and an edge of laughter. It was a tone Mike had perfected long before Jake had met him because, even though Mike was a large man, he didn’t particularly like confrontation. Yeah, he got in your face if you pissed him off, even yelled back if he thought he needed to, and was quick to defend people he loved, but when it came to standing up to Jake he was oddly shy. Almost like Mike though he might walk out on him if he got to angry, and Jake didn’t want that. At least, Jake hoped that was the case, and Mike wasn’t just waiting ‘til he’d saved up enough money to leave. Jake wasn’t sure what he’d do if Mike ever left him.

“You okay?” Mike’s voice broke through the heartache the thoughts bouncing around Jake’s head caused, and he smiled sadly. Mike still sounded pissed. It wasn’t a tone he used all that much, and if it’d been anyone else Jake knew there would’ve been pillows waiting for him on the lounge when he got home ‘cause he wasn’t welcome in bed. But that wouldn’t happen with Mike. No matter how upset he was, no matter how much they yelled at each other, they always ended the day in the same bed and woke up in a tangle of limbs. It was how he knew they were perfect for each other, that this was the real deal.

“Jake?” Mike reminded him.

“Yep.” He leaned over the back of the lounge and kissed Mike softly on the lips. “I’ll try not to be too late—”

“But you probably will be,” Mike finished with a resigned half-smile Jake realised he’d been seeing more often than his usual smile.

“You know I love you, right?” Jake asked, hovering above his lover’s face, his low back aching slightly from the angle.

Mike’s smile turned sweet. “’Course. Love you, too.”

They kissed softly, a slight dampening of lips, before Jake pulled away and Mike turned his attention back to the telly. The instant flicking of channels made Jake’s chest tighten around his heart. “You better go before the place burns down,” Mike laughed that laugh. He  hated that fucking laugh.

“Yep. See you when I get home,” Jake half-questioned, swallowing down the pressure pushing at the back of his eyes.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” Mike countered, smiling at Jake over his shoulder, his eyes sad. “Hope everything goes well, babe. Call if you need help.”

“Will do,” Jake said as he walked out the door, absently rubbing at the ache in his chest as he got closer to his car.

SHAMELESS PROMOTING

Randomness Friday

April Kelley and I are starting something different, instead of blog swapping we will be answering questions along with sharing bits of our research into 2nd BonyDee Press challenge; click name for rules

Please, after reading below, go and check out April’s Post

Growing Up? Family?

I’m one of those extremely lucky people who had a family that was … well, perfect is too strong a word but I’ve known some dysfunctional families in my time as well as see some really crappy ‘parents’, that if there was a “perfect” type of family mine would have come pretty close.

I lived in the same place until I had a family, and though depression as a teenager put me in a position to make some to do things I probably shouldn’t have, but the things in my friends did worse I just, well, stayed in the tent (I’m still not sure what I would have done if they didn’t make it back). What I’m trying to say is though I did some things my parents didn’t particularly like, I never rebelled. I didn’t have to. My parents raised me in a way that allowed me to do 90% of what I wanted, all they wanted to know was where I was and how to reach me.

So I grew up with a mother and father, a younger brother and sister. We lived in a place that was very sheltered, honestly we had one parents of a friend die when we were really young and 1 divorce, which is pretty impressive considering that we were a pretty decent size community.

My family unit are pretty close, surprisingly I remember my niece mother said once. She was talking to my brother and asked him what he’d do is something happened to one of either me or my sister, or one of my kid and he simply said: I’d kill the bastard. She was shocked at that. I wasn’t, I’d do the same thing, or go and help him bury a body. I also know if I were to ring him for something he’d be there as soon as he could. My sister and I are closer, we have dinner once a week, and every so often have dates, these are mostly when there’s a movie either of us want to see (aka Spy), or I just need out of the house. And when she has her kids I will end up at her house or going out with her and her kids once a week.

My parents are still as sweetly in love as when they first hooked up which was when they were 16 and with some story about a CB radio, my mum big breasted friend and my dad’s shoe. They are one of those couples we all want to find, and growing up you learn what can be. What’s out there?

I have a larger family, aunties and uncles, less on my dad’s side as they only have 3 kids. My dad had 2 older sister, and the story is that the only reason dad was born was because my Nan got drunk on night. They are very strongly opinionated strong woman. On the other hand my mother came from Northern Ireland, they immigrated over here when she was, I think, 8 (being in the younger group of siblings) and they got another brother while over here. My dad’s from Yorkshire, his family immigrated over to Australia when he was 13 or something.

I’ve been lucky, it’s only been over the last 10 years that I ever went to a funeral for a family member. I’ve lost 3 of my four grandparents and 1 aunty. And before that I only went to 2, one for a friend, who was a part of a horrible accident, and 1 more in moral support for a friend, I can’t remember her and I’m not sure I did until the school week after the funeral.

So like I said, nothing in my life was anything. It was sheltered, though we knew bad things happened. It was nice and easy in a relative way and it makes it hard to bitch about anything, especially when up again my brother’s new girlfriend who didn’t have quite a nice life. She kinda had the opposite of what we had.

Anyway, hope you’ve learnt something about me, and that you wanted to, because I talked a lot more than I thought I would.

SHAMELESS PROMOTING

Randomness Friday

April Kelley and I are starting something different, instead of blog swapping we will be answering questions along with sharing bits of our research into 2nd BonyDee Press challenge; click name for rules

Please, after reading below, go and check out April’s Post

Where do you live and what’s it like?

I was born and raised in the Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia, and now I’m raising my own children in the same area.

 

It’s a beautiful place, like yeah I’ve been here for so long I’m of the type of mindset that if you’ve seen one lookout you’ve seen them all, which is actually the truth or semi truth because it’s more like, if you’ve seen 2 lookouts you’ve see them all – three, maybe…

The Blue Mountains is, as you’d guess a mountain range that has the gross valley on one side a national forest on the other and the plans on what’s left. So as you can guess that’s pretty much all you see whenever you got to a lookout. And we have a shit load.

So clearly where I live is pretty, it’s a tourist trap for a reason, and therefore it’s quite boring for a person to grow up around. That to and the trains run hourly if there on time (generally not) and you want to get your licence as early as possible.

But beautiful. Truly. See the pictures I’ve provided.

I grew up with learning problems that didn’t really effect my life until I hit high school, where I made certain I got rid of the only friend who would have seen my depression and been sad at my passing and became friends with some of the worse people around.

Okay, that’s not true. They were just bitches. We were bitches. I gave as good as I got.

I was shy, maybe a little awkward, though mostly unique in a way I could never hide and I’m not sure I every truly made an effort. I’m very good at not seeing what I didn’t want to and a lot of what I was seeing settled in deep.

I started smoking in year 6 (primary, around 12) and really started at the beginning of year 7 (high school, 12). Drinking started at the end of that year and steadily got worse.

Did I tell you how boring the area I lived in was?

Now I might have been shy but I stood up for myself, I didn’t back down and may or may not have been called a crazy chick. I’m not sure on these facts as far as I remember it never happened to my face.

It was and still is very white. But this is the place that was in a way founded by bikers and hippies. Though I’m sure there are a lot of church nuts and I do believe a cult of some sort lives at the top. I use to go to the pub chopper read would visit one his way over the mountains. It might be sad how proud we are of that fact but we are (or were in my time).

It’s a quiet place to live, close to a point that someone knows someone who knows someone. When I started dating my partner we had that fun of my dad knowing someone who knew him and probably learnt things he didn’t need to know about him. But that didn’t stop him from welcoming him into the family, so maybe it wasn’t that bad.

I guess it was a good place to live. I only ever went to 2 funerals of teens I knew that died. One closer than the other. Which was a plus, believe me, as we tried our best to skirt the edge of death. Pushed as far as we could. Though I was lucky that I didn’t get into one of the groups that found themselves in jail (though I know a far few people who visited the lovely place as inmates).

My look back is that I was bored and a bitch. That’s my teen live living where I did, however I was lucky. So much luckier than most as I didn’t have anything in my past other than boredom and for the fact was that we were very sheltered. I only know one person whose father died and one who got a devoice up until I hit high school and no as much was known about those people.

Anyway, that’s what me, maybe you learnt something, maybe not, I’ve never kept my past a secret. 

SHAMELESS PROMOTING

Randomness Friday

April Kelley and I are starting something different, instead of blog swapping we will be answering questions along with sharing bits of our research into 2nd BonyDee Press challenge; click name for rules

Please, after reading below, go and check out April’s Post

WIP, the Ups and the Downs

I’m going to choice Different for this question, mostly because the only other thing I have written this year is a short start to a book coming out in November, and I can’t very well say, “the downside is that my birthdays coming up and I’m excited” so I’m going a little older. Plus I’m meant to be editing the book so going back into it isn’t a bad thing.

Different a book written by my alter ego McGee, it’s a YA adventure, I think we can call it, and I first write it back in 2011 and then re-wrote it between Feb – Mar 2016.

Cons: hm, mostly with this book has been the self-doubt. I’m not just talking about this re-write…actually I think this re-write was were the doubt came in. was the story good enough? Was there a reason? Did the reason I wanted the story to hold come through? Did I take too much out? Did I put in the right things?

The first time I write this book in 3 months. Which back in 2011 was a pretty good stretch for me. The re-write was about a month of solid writing, but I had a block of time where I couldn’t write and that pulled it out.

The thing is the idea came easily. It’s not original, not really, it’s a lot of things all sawed together and that’s fine. You know how hard it is to come up with something completely original?

The secondary plot reason for it to be there fit well, it was more pushed in the first telling then the second. So that was something that made things harder. The second was the romance, as in the first was littered in it in a way I never wanted the book to be. Therefore taking that out made me wonder if there was a story there after it. If it was interesting enough. If I could pull off that word count.

Lastly I had a problem, the one that made me stop, when I was nearly crippled with the doubt that the book didn’t even make sense. That it wasn’t worth reading.

Pros: I love this book, I loved it when I first wrote it, and I love it now that it’s done. It’s one of those stories I think holds a lot of nostalgic for me, but I think I’m able to pull it off

The points that are above are the ones I mentioned above because being able to figure then out was one of the happier moments of the whole re-write. I’m still not 100% sure if its worth reading or it its truly good but the fact that I finally finished one of my favourite books is more than I could have hoped and has given me the best boost in…whatever you’d call it.

It may not be the best things I’ve written but it’s finished and to me that’s more than enough.

SHAMELESS PROMOTING

Randomness Friday

April Kelley and I are starting something different, instead of blog swapping we will be answering questions along with sharing bits of our research into 2nd BonyDee Press challenge; click name for rules

Please, after reading below, go and check out April’s Post

What’s your fav book April Wrote?

Until recently it was A Tarnished Strength it was one of the best books I’d read in a long time, everything about it was wonderful and I have judged every book she’s written with that one (honestly, ask her).

But now… now she has this new book out and it was better. Okay, no, yeah it’s the best book she’s written so far. It’s just wonderful, full of emotion, of personality, of world building. Its so sweet. Making me tear up and everything.

What’s this book, It’s The Journey of Jimini Renn which is a dystopian romance and honestly it’s a must read. It’s not so very character driven like every other book of hers so if the ‘dystopian’ aspect is something you sigh away from, you really shouldn’t. it’s a journey and that’s what the book focus’ on. It’s the MC who the story is about, about growth and his understanding that there’s more to life. It’s about the idea of what the world had turned into and the wonders of the one that came before it. It’s about friends, love, and family and it’s got one of the sweetest, nearly unapologetic naive and that’s what drives this story, it’s what makes it so much more.

And to end here’s the info, it’s available on the 10th of May

In a world without surface water, Jimini Renn wants nothing more than to live inside the protective walls of Adam City for the rest of his life, but his little brother has other ideas.

As far as Jimini is concerned, Adam City has everything he needs. It has a well that provides much-needed water, food, and safety from the dangers of the outside world. When his bookworm of a brother leaves to chase waterfalls, Jimini must follow even though he knows it will probably mean his death. When the first person he meets on the outside pulls a gun on him, he’s proven right. No one who calls himself a slaver and has a gun has Jimini’s safety in mind, even if he is sexy. The journey Jimini expects isn’t the one he gets.

BUY HERE

SHAMELESS PROMOTING

Randomness Friday

April Kelley and I are starting something different, instead of blog swapping we will be answering questions along with sharing bits of our research into 2nd BonyDee Press challenge; click name for rules

Please, after reading below, go and check out April’s Post

What Your Fav book you wrote?

Hm… this is a hard one. I’m tempted to go with exactly what I wrote on ManLove Fantasy blog but that seems a bit…I don’t know, easy. It’s all true though and so it wouldn’t be that I’m laying it. That book holds it’s head up high, but the reason I love that book is because of the reason I wrote it. Because of the subject matter. But is it my fav in the plan way that a book just becomes that.

I’d love to say the next release of mine is my favourite. And I do love it. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever written. And that comes after saying Outside Sanity was a well written book, at least it’s the best I’ve done so far.

And the thing is I’ve loved all my books, still do. I’m not pushed anything that I haven’t wanted to stand behind. But my favourite? I don’t know. and it’s not a ‘don’t know’ in the way of not being able to pick. It’s honestly I don’t know. I tend to write and then bush it all aside and move on. I end up getting to a point where I never want to see the effing thing again and that makes it hard to choose a favourite because am I choosing it as a favourite of is it the only one that’s come out the other side of the dog house?

I love Loved By A Werewolf, even though it’s horribly written. There are holes everywhere and it just…it’s not a good read. It’s enjoyable if you can get over all the problems with it, but on a whole there are just so many of them. I love the series in full, I love the idea and want to get back into it, but that’s a story for another time. the thing is after writing book 5 I got…it became complicated and I lost sight of the story, the adventure. It became a series I’d think of with dread, because I had to write another and another when I had no passion left.

I then tend to forget books, I forget the fun ones I wrote for other people, like Ben’s Wolf Surprise, or A Road Worth Travelling. I’d forget the ones I wrote to challenge myself Running Scared, Love Without Knowing It, Outside Sanity.

I forget about how I got caught up in the buzz of excitement that continued on, My Outside My Inside, The Way Life Turns.  

And then, because those hold a meaning outside itself. I forget the ones I did just because. Because the story hit, the idea was interesting and didn’t need much from me. Gotta Start Somewhere, Hunted, My Kevin

And then all this gets pushed aside because of what’s coming. because of the new and exciting. Being That For You, The Next Challenge, Greenbelt Wolves, Irritating Outsider.

The thing is as I look back over the blog I think I got everything that’s needed. I don’t have a favourite of my books, I like them all, I loathe them all, and I would kill someone for them *wink* and that’s okay. There my books and I should feel this way about them all. I’m allowed, just as other authors are allowed to pick just one. there’s allowed to sit back and say, yes, this is the best one I’ve ever written, and maybe if I had one that I could do that with this post would have come out a lot differently, but until then I will allow myself to like them all and wait. hope that I’m able to write a book that stands on it’s own and say, “yes, this the best you’ll ever write, the best plot you’ve ever come up against, it’s quite simply the best” and I’ll smile wide, grateful that I have something to say flat out. Until then, this is my blog and I’m not forced to choose one over the other because that’s all you’ve got time for so I’m going to take it and run

SHAMELESS PROMOTING

The Way Life Turns by April Kelley & Bronwyn Heeley

(A BonyDee Press Challenge)

Contemporary Romance

What happens when two men are in very different places in their relationship?

Almost from the start of their relationship, Jonah was in love with Scott. Scott doesn’t share that same sentiment. Jonah finds out exact how Scott feels about him the hard way, when he sees Scott in a compromising position with someone else. How they react becomes the challenge two authors have set out to solve. Will there be forgiveness or misery as Jonah reacts to what Scott has done?

Amazon ǀ ARe ǀ Smashwords ǀ Barnes&Noble ǀ Kobo

Goodreads

Randomness Friday

April Kelley and I are starting something different, instead of blog swapping we will be answering questions along with sharing bits of our research into 2nd BonyDee Press challenge; click name for rules

Please, after reading below, go and check out April’s Post

What did you read as a child that inspires you now?

I didn’t really read as a child. Not really. I had bad reading difficulties, which made life difficult for me going through school, but also weary of books in general. Honestly when I was a early teenager did I start reading Baby Sitters: Little sister and Paul Jennings. They were the only books I could read.

So really I wouldn’t say books as a child inspired me to do anything. If anything they push me away from wanting anything to do with them. anything that wasn’t watching them at the movies or on telly (as Round the Twist was Paul Jennings stories, which is why I liked his, as I’d watched them, making it a whole lot easier for me).

I honestly can’t really tell you what inspired me, though books would have. At least once I really started I was at a time when I knew it was something I could do. Hell, it was something I could do, making up stories, and writing them down, a hell of a lot less embarrassing then what I was originally doing to get them out of my head.

SHAMELESS PROMOTING

Randomness Friday

April Kelley and I are starting something different, instead of blog swapping we will be answering questions along with sharing bits of our research into 2nd BonyDee Press challenge; click name for rules

Please, after reading below, go and check out April’s Post

Research: When, How, Why

In fairness I’m not sure what this question means either. It’s why I’ve not got a true question just a rambling of words that all match up.

So research.

In all honesty I generally don’t research anything. I haven’t had much that needs research to have to research… did that make sense? No. yeah well it’s true. A lot of my books are completely made up world or the ‘research’ is about what I’ve read in my life or seen.

There’s only been two times I’ve gone ‘researching’ the first was when I was writing the Moonlit Wolves series. I set it in a setting that was so close to me, and I wanted to actually see the place (wasn’t the best thing I did, and yet…it helped greatly).

Anyway, researching a place, this can be tricky or easy. For me easy as it’s about an hour, hour and a half away from where I live and so one Sunday avo we decided to take a family car trip. It’s something the partner and I use to do when we were dating, but hadn’t really since having the kids. Anyway. We decided to go and have a look and, yeah, I got some good thoughts on what the area really looks like even if I’ve taken some liberties.

The other one I researched was Love Without Knowing It, which deals with prostate cancer. I went onto the Movember site; I read all the medical facts about it. Then the stories. While researching the facts I went into other links and looked up words of things that I didn’t know which led me to learn a lot and helped me write the story. learnt things I didn’t know, and though many people don’t seem to know that much about prostate cancer (which was actually the thing that surprised me most), I had heard and I did know a bit. So it was interesting to learn more.

I also made sure I kept the links and went back to the stories over and over as I wrote the book and I think that helped flavour the story even though he was much younger.

To round this all up, I don’t really have a problem with research but I don’t really like doing it either. I tend to…get bored easily. I know with this new series, research is needed, big time, and I also know that I’ll end up doing all the research first, for all the books, before I even start writing. or at least enough that all I might need is fact checking when I get right down to writing it. as you have to let the story flow. You can’t predict everything.

SHAMELESS PROMOTING

Randomness Friday

April Kelley and I are starting something different, instead of blog swapping we will be answering questions along with sharing bits of our research into 2nd BonyDee Press challenge; click name for rules

Please, after reading below, go and check out April’s Post

Here’s the thing, I think it’ll be too hard for April and I to do something specific to this challenge each week. It’s too much, especially since we have others things--(okay, April has other things. I should have all 4 written by the end of this year)--To do through the year and coming back to this every week could be too much. So instead, we’ll take a day out of the month in order to focus on this. to answer questions about researching and the challenge as a whole if you have any you wish to ask.

What First?

The first thing that caught my eye when I was researching was Walpurgis Night, which isn’t quite….Beltane and yet it’s just not the Celtic version of May Day, which in the Celtic countries they call it May Day.

It’s called “Witches’ Night” which really how could I not jump at the opportunity. It happens a little earlier on the 30^th of April and is believe to be the night the witches’ meeting on the Brocken, the highest peak in the Harz Mountains. A range of wooded hills in central Germany between the rivers Weser and Elbe^.[source]

This is about all I know of it as I haven’t really done deep research. But it made me excited. It gave me a reason to start the series. To have them be there. To have it be paranormal.

I’m not going to go deep into the heritage of Walpurgis Night. oh, I’ll research it, but I’ll be having all my MC’s come from deep Celtic roots and therefore are just using this night, this site because they need it in order for B1 MC needs it.  

yeah i know sideways

Because we must deal with the Holiday in general I’ll be going deeper into Beltane, because I’m not really sure I can call in May Day being as in the southern hemisphere this joyous day happened the first of November.

Saying this I am second gen Irish, Northern Irish. If I remember correctly my grandfather’s family came from a direct line of Celtic, it’s a reason I have my pixie ears. I remember, when I was younger, that my family would celebrate May Day. We’d go to my uncle’s house, all the family and we’d have a massive bonfire. I have good memories, even if they aren’t solid of this yearly event. Thinking on it, I believe we had to stop this more because of our countries strict fire laws as a no fire ban generally goes into play at the beginning of October.

I, for obvious reason, won’t be staying too strict to this myth, as it’s kind of hard to do when you’re on the wrong end of the seasons. even if I choice to have them fly over to Germany it wouldn’t be the same because once I went into the northern hemisphere the season changes as it isn’t Beltane anymore it’s Samhain. It will honestly be one of the big challenges I will face.

Lastly I’m going to leave you with this. as I want to remember it, but am too lazy to write it done, lol

Historic Beltane customs

Beltane was one of four Gaelic seasonal festivals: Samhain (~1 November), Imbolc (~1 February), Beltane (~1 May) and Lughnasadh (~1 August). Beltane marked the beginning of the pastoral summer season, when livestock were driven out to the summer pastures. Rituals were held at that time to protect them from harm, both natural and supernatural, and this mainly involved the "symbolic use of fire". There were also rituals to protect crops, dairy products and people, and to encourage growth. The aos sí (often referred to as spirits or fairies) were thought to be especially active at Beltane (as at Samhain)and the goal of many Beltane rituals was to appease them. Most scholars see the aos sí as remnants of the pagan gods and nature spirits. Beltaine was a "spring time festival of optimism" during which "fertility ritual again was important, perhaps connecting with the waxing power of the sun"

SHAMELESS PROMOTING

Randomness Friday

April Kelley and I are starting something different, instead of blog swapping we will be answering questions along with sharing bits of our research into 2nd BonyDee Press challenge.

Please, after reading below, go and check out April’s Post

Challenge has been set; click here to see the rules

First thoughts?

Ok so technically this was our first thought up challenge, as…well…anyway. April had this great idea to so the solstice. I think it was around Halloween last year and could have come from the fact that I was wondering, loudly, if Halloween would still be what the world see it on my end. because, well, it’s not Samhain ion the southern hemisphere, which is also why Halloween will never be as big as they wish it would be as for us, it’s Beltane, which isn’t all that different and yet it is.

Anyway, she thought, how great would it be if we did that? If we took the solstice and did them in how they were for our own cultures. And of course I thought that was an awesome idea. Cause really who doesn’t want to research the solstice’s? But first we needed to do what is now seen as our first challenge (with a special watch-this-space, added to it)

Fast forward to now and we realised the solstice wasn’t really what we wanted, what we were looking for. Which had a different set of problems, lol.

Here’s the thing, we might work BonyDee as if we aren’t the two people working it but we are, how we set up challenges is set very much how things would work better of us.

So where the sun sits which is what the solstice really is so we went further out. We didn’t want to hit too hard on the Wiccan side of things “Wheel of the Year”, this is mostly because we aren’t in that lifestyle (and I’m not sure if that’s right either so my apologies) and we don’t want to offend anyone. We also didn’t want to be so…I’m not sure what word I’m looking for, but we wanted to be able to be creative and not have the same idea done twice especially as we are doing the same 4 holidays.

Then we hit Celtic holidays and walla, we had our challenge.

I’m excited to do the research. I’ve done a lot before but not really the same. Celtic is my heritage (my grandfather’s family traces back to Celtic, it’s why I have my pikkie ears). so there that, saying this tho, and it’s not what I’m getting into this week, I don’t know if any of my myths or holidays I’m using will actually be traced full Irish Celtic. However, I don’t know this for sure. I’ve only really looked up one part that I really liked and have come to the series plot with. As well as another one that I’ve excitedly wanted to write about ever since I read about them.

But all that next week.