Teaser Tuesday #2 from The Willow Elves

Hey guys, this is a direct continuation from my first tease in this WIP and is the completion of chapter 1. Hope you enjoy and I look forward to your thoughts.



Tears traveled down Autumn’s cheeks as she imagined what her father might do to Becky now that she had run away. Would he seek revenge and take the life of her horse—torture an innocent and defenseless animal?

If she had just had time. If she had known that her father would attempt to cross such lines, she would have been better prepared.

But there was no time. She was too scared. She didn’t even have time to run up to her room and grab the emergency bag she had packed months ago and hidden under the lose floorboards behind her bed. Only now, when it was too late, did she realize that she should have hidden her runaway bag somewhere downstairs or in the shed, or under the bushels of hay outside. But she didn’t and so she leaves behind everything—everything except the torn clothes on her back, the bruises on her face and body, and the one thing more sacred to her than anything—her virginity.

It doesn’t belong to her father and damn him for trying to rape it from her. Autumn has always believed that her virginity belongs to only one person—her true love. Whomever that is when someday she finds him.

As she looked ahead, the vast woods that neared spread from as far east to as far west as she could see, serving as a divider between her world and a world beyond. A world completely unknown to her. One that she has heard rumors and stories about her whole life—tales of a magical and dangerous kind of folk that live deep within its borders. Most of the kids from her small town had always laughed and scoffed at the stories told by the older generations. It became the big joke. The I-dare-you-to-walk-a-mile-into-those-woods-alone kind of thing. No one ever ventured too far into them, and if they said they did, everyone knew they were lying.

But here Autumn stood, at the edge of the field, staring into the sea of thick, dark woods. It was eerily quiet. The silence filled her ears with the sound of her own pounding heart. Her hands shook. She clenched and unclenched them several times attempting to gain courage and control.

Whatever lies ahead couldn’t be any worse than what she was leaving behind, she decided and with that, Autumn closed her eyes, took a long deep breath, and then without looking back, she entered Trulien Forest.

Movie Review Monday: Resident Evil: Afterlife (3D)

Summary: While still out to destroy the evil Umbrella Corporation, Alice joins a group of survivors who want to relocate to the mysterious but supposedly unharmed safe haven known only as Arcadia.

WOW FRIGGIN' WOW!!! OMG, YES!!!!! and THANK YOU!!!!

Okay, got that out of my system. I guess from that, you can figure out that I kinda liked this movie :-) This film was total awesomeness on so many levels. Besides the fact that dh, my step son and I have been ginormous fans of the Capcom Resident Evil video games since the first one came out back in 1996 (damn, it was that long ago???), this movie more than met my expectations. The story line--excellent. The casting--wonderful. The special effects--unf'nbelievable.

Okay, let me back up a step and just say that I was very, VERY hesitant about seeing this movie. I have loved all the other movies in the R.E. series, but this was the first one I was seeing in 3D. In fact, this was the first 3D movie I've since way back in the day when 3D movies involved paper glasses with one side green and one red. hahaha...yes, I know. That's a long time ago. What the hell was I thinking in avoiding all these recent 3D movies? I'm seriously kicking myself in the ass for missing so many great films (ahem Avatar ahem) because I refused to go see them in 3D. Well, now I know. 3D movies FRIGGIN ROCK!

So on to the movie itself. Yet another kick ass movie with Milla Jovovich. This woman NEVER disappoints. Kuddos to her and her agent because she continues to choose films that totally kick ass, but more importantly, her performance in her films continue to kick ass. And once again, she kicks some serious ass in this film. Ali Larter (Claire Redfield) totally keeps up with Mila as her side kick, and Wentworth Miller...sigh...need I say more? This movie was full of action from the very get go with an amazingly choreographed fight scene that could easily compete with Neo and Trinity in the office building lobby in Matrix. ALL the fight scenes in this movie were nothing short of fantastic.

Besides the fact that this film was in 3D, the special effects, sets, blue screen technology, cinematography, producers, directors (can you go wrong with James Cameron?), editors, music composers, costumes designers, make-up department and on and on, were top of the line.

My rating system:

1=hated it, just wasted an hour and half of my life and I want it back damn it!
2=meh, not the worst I've ever seen, but I don't ever need to see it again
3=entertaining, maybe I'll watch it again when it comes to Netflix or cable
4=pretty awesome, I'll probably buy the DVD when it goes on sale
5=OMG, this film was kick ass awesome, it is pre-order from Amazon worthy, add to my list of favorites

I give Resident Evil Afterlife (3D) a 5

If you are a fan of science-fiction action-horror, this movie is TOTALLY for you. Not only will I buy this movie when it comes out, it makes me want to own the entire movie series. GO MILLA JOVOVICH!!!

To Outline or Not to Outline? That is the Question.

I have finally come to the conclusion that I'm not going to try and force something that is not me. I'm just going to be me and isn't that the way it should always be? You see, I had this idea that for my next novel I would do all this research and figure out how to do a successful outline because God knows in school (way, way back in the day), I was NEVER any good at them. I don't know why I couldn't seem to do them. Perhaps I was trying to force my brain to organize information in a way that wasn't natural for me. Maybe it's because I'm left handed and therefore right brain dominated? No. That's not it because truth be told I'm ambidextrous (well, to an extent, I eat, write and throw with my left hand but do EVERYTHING else with my right. Strange, I know. Guess that's what happens when you're young and the foster family taking care of you tries to force you to be right handed when you're naturally left handed. Sigh).

Anyway, so about outlining. Yeah, not for me. It has never worked before and rather than spend weeks or months trying to prefect the art of outlining, I will stick to my method which is a combination of winging it mixed with bulleting type notes that help me remember the things I want to happen. I often do some chapter bulleting, but I don't do it for all chapters. I do it when I need to organize my thoughts or don't want to forget an idea I had. For the most part, I wing it. It comes to me as I write and I like that because sometimes I don't know what's going to happen until I get there and to be honest, that's why writing to me is so much fun. It's surprise after surprise after surprise. Even when I take notes on what I think I want to happen, it often changes because as I'm in the moment in a scene, something else comes to me and the scene happens differently than I originally envisioned. I guess in the acting world, it would be like someone who only follows a script vs. someone who does a lot of improvisation (Jim Carrey and Steve Carell are notorious for this).

For those who outline, kuddos to you. Seriously. I think good outlining is an art in itself and if you have perfected it and it works for you that's awesome. It's just not for me and I don't think that makes me less of a writer than someone who does. I'm just me. And I kinda like me the way I am. :-) If my method aint broke, why try to fix it?

What about you? Outline, wing it, or do you do your own thang? Just curious (in case I change my mind one day then I'll know who to go to for lessons haha).

Funny Friday (youtube video of the week)

How funny is this??

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Seriously, it never ceases to amaze me the things that come out of my 4 year old girls' mouths. Yesterday, I asked my daughter, Arwen, to put daddy's Pooka shell necklace away. She jumps off the bed and puts it back in daddy's drawer and says to me, "Mommy, daddy will be really impressed that I cleaned up!" Of course I'm thinking to myself, actually, daddy will be really impressed that you used the word impressed! 

Another day, the girls misplaced something and we were looking and looking for this toy and we couldn't find it. I said, "Sorry guys. I just don't know where it is," to which Lorien replied "It's a conundrum." hahaha...I love it.

I taught my girls the word famished and it's so cute to hear them say, "Mommy, I want something to eat. I'm famished."

Just goes to show, if you use these words with your kids and teach it to them, they will learn and use them. Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell wrote/illustrated a really cute book called, Big Words for Little People. I like knowing that my girls will grow up with a rich vocabulary. I think it's kinda cool.

BTW, if you haven't read any of Jamie Lee Curtis's children's books (and you love children's books), you must. They are so wonderful. Here's a link to her sight. http://www.jamieleecurtisbooks.com/
I own several of these and hope to be getting more of them as soon as the funds roll in :)

These are some other books of hers that I absolutely LOVE.

All of her stories have such beautiful messages and bring out the most precious of emotions. I swear I can't read Tell Me Again About the Night I was Born with out getting teary eyed. The illustrations are so sweet. Jamie and Laura make a great combo.

Teaser Tuesday

This is one of my stories on the back burner that I will be working on next. It has been SCREAMING at me to write, write, write. Now that my other ms is complete, I can finally start to do more work on this story. It is currently titled, The Willow Elves. NO ONE HAS SEEN THIS (not even my most trusted writer friends in the whole world--you know who you are :-)), so I'm extemely nervous about how this will be received. It's also my first attempt at a story that is not written in first person and not paranormal. It is a YA Fantasy/romance.  This is a rough draft, so it could possibly change (especially if it isn't hook-y enough for a beginning). I have an idea to possibly start the story a little before this, but as you will see, that would mean some horrific stuff happening. Let the fingernail biting begin.

Chapter 1

     Autumn ran as fast as she could. The rustling sound her feet made as they smacked through the dry blades of grass became louder and louder as the sounds of her shouting father trailed further and further behind.

     At the age of sixteen, Autumn was much faster than her half a century old, out of shape father. There was no way he could ever catch up to her. Especially with the bum knee he received only moments ago when she struck it with the fireplace poker.

     She knew there was no turning back. Not this time. Her father had gone too far. It wasn’t the drinking or constant screaming and berating she received night after night that forced her to leave. It wasn’t even the beatings he gave her that often followed those times. All of those things she had learned to tolerate—even ignore sometimes. But if there was one thing she would not allow, it was to have her innocence and virginity incestuously taken from her.

     With a mother too afraid to protect herself, let alone her only offspring, Autumn realized she had no choice. Leaving was her only option. And leaving meant she could never return. Having done what he tried to do to her, and knowing it was wrong, her father vowed to kill her if she ever said anything. Autumn knew that by remaining silent, she would ultimately be giving him permission to try again.

     She would never allow him to try again. Never.

     As she continued to run, her father’s screams and shouts soon became nothing more than harsh whispers floating on the wind. For all she knew, it could have been crows or some other animal that made the now distant sounds. She couldn’t bring herself to turn around and look. Not because she was afraid to see her abusive, pedophile father, but because she knew she was leaving behind her home and the farm she grew up on. She was leaving behind the animals she had spent her entire life caring for and loving. And she was leaving behind her best friend, Becky—her beloved mare.

     She knew that Becky would never receive the care and love she needed without her. Her father hated Becky and constantly threatened Autumn to “butcher the damn thing.” It was another reason she had tolerated her father’s abuse for as long as she had.