Caroline Walken's Blog: What attracts you to a book?

Happy April Fools day to us all, for those who anticipate spring but get snow instead. To writers like myself, who swear today is the day you pound your heart away on a keyboard but find yourself doing the laundry instead. To those inspired enough to turn over a new leaf, only to find themselves facing the same brown underside!

Chin up...it is just a day, your spirit is intact, and you can embrace those changes at any moment, don't let April fool you!

Caroline Walken

Caroline Walken

For many of us, winter is a slow time in our lives. After the holidays rush, January crawls into February, and life around us freezes as hard as the ground. It is especially challenging if your work life is also your home life. For those whose commute equates to walking into your bedroom office, this period can seem endless.

However, time slowing to a crawl is not the end of enjoyment. Instead, this can be the birth of enlightenment and rebirth. We are shamed into believing that we are only making progress if we are running at a dead pace. This misconception is not true; the most significant growth often comes from hours of sedentary study. Just like nature becomes dormant then springs forth much stronger, so can we.

During these long quiet days, invest in your growth. Take the time to reflect and stretch, gaining strength in newly planted confidence. In time, you too will blossom stronger as the Sun warms our world again.

Each year, I read the comments that everyone post -this year, I will exercise more. This year, I will take more risks. This is the year I write that novel, finish my degree or build that home.

You don't need a date on the calendar to have permission for change or growth. You can do this anytime; you can try something new or end a bad habit. Don't wait until January 1st.

Let's try this instead; for 2022, we should look at every day as a first of the year. Make those changes, take that challenge and improve your life. You have 365 days in which to do so, making this the best year of your life.

Caroline Walken

In Hiding

She struggled to keep her feelings in check, but the emotions won out. She turned away, staring ahead out the barn door to the black woods. Images from her nightmares replace the landscape. The surveillance video etched in her mind rewound freely—the masked men rifled through the jewelry and the cash drawer, stuffing the loot in black backpacks. In the center of the store, her parents huddled together, they tried not to look at the robbers. Deliberately the larger man walked around until he faced them; then he removed his mask. His cohort distanced himself from the event; escaping from the camera's frame. In the grainy recording, her Dad broke down as he begged the stranger to spare his wife. Her parents clung to each other as John Michael Grand raised the pistol...KATE squeezed her eyes against the ending, but it didn’t stop the vision from rolling forward. Nothing ever did. Wayne’s voice sliced through the hallucination.

“Revenge isn’t justice.”

KATE spat back, “What do you know about it, bounty hunter? Justice failed them!”

In Hiding was a winning short story, the 1500 word entry refused to remain a single chapter. This book was the third in the Drunken Druid Awards and is now a contender in the UK base Page Turner Awards.

https://pageturnerawards.com/book-awa...

Thank you, Book Reader Magazine for the opportunity to speak with you!

Featured Author Caroline Walken https://bookreadermagazine.com/featur...

In Hiding

I am excited to announce that In Hiding is an entry in the UK based Page Turner Award. Wish me luck!

https://pageturnerawards.com/book-awa...

Hearing the door close either gives you a sense of peace, adds to your stress, or at times it does a little of both. We view doors differently throughout our lives.

When you are younger, doors represent containment; we can’t play outside or leave our room. The classroom door keeps us in our studies and away from the sunshine.

As we mature, we see doors in a new light, behind them stand to wait for our prom date; before them, we experience our first kiss. In anger, we'll slam them and, in curiosity, peer out from behind them.

As you run more fully into your life doors are where you isolate yourself, they keep others from invading. For the first time, you may even consider locking a door, going as far as to bar it forever.

However, it is only a door. It swings both open and shut and contains no emotion towards us at all. It is both closure and adventure in one.

It is up to us to decide which.

My desire is that you to fall in love…
I want to write words that bring that rush of emotion to the surface.

I hope to instill passion for life in you, evoke excitement and wander lust.
You honor me if my words cause you to cry or feel the bitter tang of rage.

Meet me in places that exist solely in my mind.
Know that I will age and change, there will come the day when I leave this earth.

I pray my words however, remain ageless.

Feeling Excited! Wish us luck!

Behind the Fan is a finalist in the 2018 Wishing Shelf Book Awards! Learn more about all the finalist at the Wishing Shelf site -
http://www.thewsa.co.uk

Very proud to be included with these wonderful writers!

#indieauthor
#thewishingshelfbookawards

I have to adult today but it hasn't started just yet. Enjoy a nip with Maggie and Adam Levine.

https://authorcarolinewalken.wordpres...
#indieauthor #iamwriting @adamlevine

Nowhere on the Map