"Stories to Write and Books to Read"
December 16, 2010, 11:17 a.m.

I have a laptop and I have a desktop. �My desktop feels ancient and takes for-absolutely-ever to get into. �The thing is so slow, I hardly use it anymore. �Today I had to forebear my frustration to be able to access the desktop for something I needed. �In doing so, I came across a file I have filled with some of my writing. �There were several short stories in the folder along with a few poems and a couple of drafts written on 10K-in-a-Day events.

Photo of Saoirse Ronan�

I�read one story I wrote on a 10K day, called The Sandy Beach and was surprised that I didn't remember it. �This was a short story about a quiet book-reading fifteen year old girl who discovers a passion for the theater at a time when her best friends are being boy-crazy and self-absorbed. �She finds herself being separated from her friends by the choices they make, and learns the value of what true friendship means.

The other story is called The Mirrored Shawl. �It is about an intercultural relationship. �It's a story about Marci, a girl who grew up a baptist on a ranch in Texas and who is now living in Houston as a photographer. �She meets and develops a relationship with Yousef (Joe), a naturalized citizen, a Pakistani muslim man who is a NASA aerospace engineer at Johnson Space Center (think Reese Witherspoon and John Abraham). This is the story of their relationship. Each have their own social, religious and cultural expectations which become challenges. �Can their relationship and their commitment overcome those outside influences?

Reese Witherspoon

John Abraham

I need to flesh out these stories and complete them along with the others I have partially written. �But here's the thing - I also have a stack of books waiting to be read and I find so much delight in reading, and it is so very easy to do, it's no wonder there are so many more readers than authors in the world.

Hellforged by Nancy Holzner

On that note, I have just discovered another author whose books I want to begin reading immediately.�Nancy Holzner is the author of the Deadtown urban fantasy series. �Hellforged is the second book in the series which is due to be released December 28th. �

I enjoy reading all different types of stories, and frankly I have no idea what urban fantasy is and I just learned what steampunk was three days ago, but it doesn't matter, I like a good story with interesting characters regardless of the genre, just like the Mabigonian tales of Ceridwen which is evident in the Deadtown chapter excerpt. How cool is that?�

What's my point? My point is I think I might have a bit of a girl-crush on the main character, Victory Vaughn! �I say that because it took me less than two sentences to grow a big goofy grin on my face while reading her story. The words made me smile and I wanted to keep reading more about Vicky, Tina, and Aunt Mab. �I feel like I just got teased! I have got to read these books! �

I learned about Nancy Holzner because she was the guest author on J. R. Turner's blog�yesterday and it was very interesting reading, I recommend it. �You can also read the first chapter of Deadtown here and the first chapter of Hellforged here.

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