M. Larose's Blog: From the Meadow and the Tower

I wrote a few lines about inspiration, for the League of Vermont Writers...

Https://leagueofvermontwriters.org/th...

I explored a spooky old house. You can read about it here:
https://leagueofvermontwriters.org/ha...

When last I wrote this blog I was working on the sequel to The Flower Eater. That changed last May (2016) when some unseen, muse-like nature spirits swirled around me and cast the entire plot of a new story into my psyche.
I'd actually had the seed of this new story in my mind for several years, with no clear sense of what the plot might be. I just had one strong image of a fantastical being, a creature of the earth.
Then, last May, the story's plot suddenly unfolded all at once in my mind. In just a few days an intriguing plot had emerged from the dormant story-seed.
Well, I finished that story in eleven months, and am now doing some editing and getting the copyright. Then I'll figure out how to proceed with publishing.
This new story is another paranormal romance, but has nothing to do with The Flower Eater. This has a different heroine, with different inner conflicts, and the story is not set in medieval times. I'm not going to reveal too much right now, but I think the world of this new story is pretty intriguing and fun, and thrilling, too.
The sequel to The Flower Eater is still in the works, and I feel it calling me. Next winter I'll be focused on finishing that and getting the heroine, Trilla, out of her current limbo. She's stuck in a dilemma until I write her out of that, but it will happen. Stay tuned!

I was given some cut branches of flowering Quince over Easter, in a state more southerly than where I live. The branches are now blossoming in a vase full of water in my kitchen, further north. This is called "forcing" - this process. But I think it's really more of a "coaxing" - coaxing the flower-buds to open.
Now I must coax my imagination to bloom as words on the page and form the new fruit which will be the sequel to The Flower Eater!

I haven't written a new blog post for a while, but have been busy writing short stories and entering them in contests. One more short story to finish, then I'll be focused on the sequel to The Flower Eater, which has been on the back burner for a few months but is about a sixth complete.
Right now I want to share a fun interview I recently did with a UK blogger. To read the interview, follow this link: I hope you'll enjoy it!

http://indiescififantasy.com/author-i...

Happy Holidays!!!

My husband tells me that, at least in Vermont, once August 15 has come and gone the season is considered autumn. That may be. But it still feels like summer today and I'm happy about that. I do love fall, with it's flaming colors, and falling, swirling leaves, and that sense that something powerful is approaching. But I'm not so wild about what happens when autumn whisks away and winter settles in to grip and chill us for long, dark, dreary months.
I have come to appreciate the elements of winter, to an extent: the cold air and icy crystalin snow can be cleansing and bracing.
But right now it feels like summer, my soul still revels in the warm, dry sunlight that fills the air and lends a golden glow over the final, fading flowers.
Recent mechanical upheaval of the earth around our home has drained away the errant waters that were collecting in our basement. The mud is drying, and the pent-up, anxious energies have been freed from their dank prison below the house.
Likewise, my soul is now freed of that darkness, that primal worry over the keeping of a home. Like a butterfly or bee among the flowers, my mind now flits easily from one idea to another, rejoicing in the sunshine of contentment.
The garden of my thoughts feels sunlit again, in synchrony with the natural world around me. My mind is collecting the pollen of imagination. Soon I hope to mold the sticky golden substance into a honey of a story!

The other day I learned of a new t.v. show that's in the works: a type of reality series. The premise of the show will apparently involve following crime victims as they learn of the impending release of an incarcerated offender whose crime effected their life, or the lives of someone close to them.
This concept really made me feel ambivalent. On the one hand, such a series has the potential to educate viewers and raise awareness of issues related to the legal rights of crime victims within the criminal justice system. On the other hand, it feels exploitative, as the series is obviously looking to film emotionally-laden scenes that will hinge on the anxieties, anger, sadness, and hopes of victims and survivors of crime.
As a story-teller myself, I understand that emotions are critical to a story's impact. So the idea of this t.v. series made me wonder and question the nature of story-telling. Story-telling has always been part of the human experience, and is usually regarded as a noble effort. But is it nobler to invent fictional scenes of great emotion, than to document direct experience of such emotions? There are many powerful documentaries that educate and empower by revealing the emotional impact of events. Are those different -- somehow nobler? -- than emotions that are exposed and followed by tabloid media? Is one story mode "better" than another?
I do not have the answer to these questions, but find myself wondering about the role of the story-teller. What do you think?

I'm back to this blog after lapsing for a while. My writing has been hampered by technical glitches for the last few months. While I've struggled with home issues and pending excavation around our home, my writing has been dampened, as well: like a garden too waterlogged and sun-deprived to blossom. The buds of story have been compressed within my psyche like malnourished flower buds. Literally and figuratively, there's been too much rain, and I've felt bogged-down.
However, things are improving. My laptop has been purged of viruses and files that would not open have been recovered. Story scenes are forming and soon will find life on the page. Please bear with me if you follow this blog. Soon I'll write something more interesting!
Progress: My book, The Flower Eater, is being re-issued, with a much improved back cover which will now include snippets from the wonderful Kirkus Review I got. Also, the back cover will now have a briefer description and will give away less of the plot detail. I feel a huge relief to finally have the cover corrected! It will take 10-15 days for the new version to be available through the various outlets, but if anyone owns the book, you have a first-edition copy. Those copies may someday be worth something as collectors' editions. Here's hoping!
Also: my website has been in limbo, but I'm addressing that soon. Meanwhile, the plot of the sequel is forming unseen within my mind. The sodden earth is warming under the sun's encouraging rays, and soon those flower-buds of story will unfold again. My thanks to those who sometimes stop, in the midst of their own journeys, to view the garden of my words. You are like the sunshine!

I recently gave a friend the to-date pages of the sequel I'm writing, for her feedback. She was one of my first readers for The Flower Eater, and was always very eager to read more of that story, so I was curious to see what she'd think of the in-progress sequel (which I guesstimate is 1/6th complete at this point).
Good news: she likes the beginning of the sequel, especially the erotic scenes (good to know, because those are fun but tricky to write) AND she loves the last scene written so far, where the real drama begins. Encouraged by her approval, I'm hoping to amp up the speed of my writing. I've had some real-world distractions, but now that the snow is gone and the outdoor flowers are forming and flowering, I hope my imagination will push the flowers of the sequel out onto the pages to blossom properly.
I've also gotten some very positive feedback from a professional agent on the sequel's opening pages. Spring's optimism is in the air.

Well, my yard is still covered by a foot of snow, but temperatures have been warming and the sun is shining today. When I clambered out to check the gauge on the propane tank last week, my legs broke through the weakening crust of snow to reveal how thin and "hollow" the snow actually is. It's not as solid and daunting as it appears!
And beneath that hollow, snowy crust, I know the Lenten Roses in my garden must be stirring silently, pushing up the buds of their hardy, wax-like flowers. The picture I use on this blog and on the back of my novel, The Flower Eater, is of those Lenten Roses. I took the photo several years before I finished writing The Flower Eater, never imagining that I'd connect it with the book, but now it seems a perfect emblem -- taking that photo was one of several serendipitous happenings along my journey as an author.
Like the hidden yet uncoiling flowers of the Lenten Rose beneath the snow, a pivotal and dramatic scene in the sequel to The Flower Eater is forming in my mind and breaking through the crust of my subconscious to blossom on the written page. Today I'll be delving into my garden of imagination with heated attention, to continue the thaw and reveal that lovely blossom of scene in colorful, splendid detail. (With luck and the help of the flower-spirits!)