Star Crossed Rascals

My latest manuscript is a chapter book called Star Crossed Rascals. It was inspired by my antics as a child, growing up with my best friends. I was an innocent looking child, so not everyone knew what a rascal I really was, including my parents. The story is fictitious and is only inspired by things that I did. Here is an excerpt from the story and a couple of photos from my childhood.

Excerpt from Star Crossed Rascals

That did it. Auntie Mabel's eye twitched. She grabbed the back of my T-shirt and dragged me towards the bathroom. My heart thumped and my legs couldn’t even keep up with her. I was running in mid-air. What had I done wrong?

She squeezed a blob of paste on my toothbrush and shoved it at me. “Now, clean your teeth!” she odrered. “You weren’t brought up that way. You could get sick doing that?” she shouted. “It was bad enough when you picked that toffee off the ground, and it turned out to be mouldy dog poo.” She folded her arms and tapped her foot on the tiles.

“But I didn’t swallow the dog poo,” I said. “I spat it out as soon as it burned my tongue. It tasted horrible like the chillies in Daddy’s garden.”

She banged her hand on the sink. “Why did you pick it up in the first place?”

I giggled. “’Cause it looked like one of Granny’s cocoanut toffees.”

"It's not funny," yelled Auntie. "I should wash your mouth with soap."

Yipes! Not soap! I brushed my teeth real fast. As I rinced my gums, I peeked at her out the corner of my eyes. She was still scowling. Why did she have to come and stay at our house? Mum and Dad should have taken me to Granny’s with them. Too bad for me, 'cause Auntie was no fun. Plus, I didn't dare tell her my giant gumball was stuck to my bed post.

Photos from my childhood that inspired me to write this story:

My Mother's Day Photography Inspirations.

I snapped these photos on Mother's Day. They've inspired me to write two more stories.

The Beautiful girl with the horse has inspired me to write a Y/A fantasy love story.

Of course, she's my beautiful daughter.

I took this photo of our bonfire and it's inspired me to write an MG Fantasy about a dragon of course.

It really is a fire dragon isn't it?

Pictures of Velvet Ball and The Broken Fairy

Here's an excerpt from one of my MG novels. Hopefully, it's ready to submit to agents.

Velvet Ball And The Broken Fairy.

Velvet ran down a dirt road towards the forest, then stopped to catch her breath. What a bunch of meanies. She took a drink from her water bottle and wiped the sweat from her forehead. If only her eyelashes and eyebrows would grow back, then sweat wouldn’t drip in her eyes. Her stretchy headband helped, but those poo-heads had taken it.

She grabbed a large stick to swipe at cobwebs and tramped into the woods along a well-worn animal trail. It was so peaceful in the forest and no one to bother her. When she reached a clearing, she adjusted her hat to avoid the hot sun, then squated on the soft green grass to pick purple wildflowers. She smiled as little wrens of many colours fluttered all around her. Velvet loved their tiny chirping songs and stopped to listen.

“Help!” cried a squeaky voice. “Help me!”

Velvet jerked and looked around, but didn’t see anyone. Then she heard it again.

“Hey, you! I’m up here! My foot’s stuck, and I can’t get down.”

Shielding her eyes with her hand, Velvet stared at the treetops.

A long-legged fairy doll was hanging upside down from the bough of a tree. Its mouth moved as it spoke. “Are you gonna help me, or not?”

Velvet squinted. Her heart skipped, but she felt rather silly. Was she seeing things? Maybe one of them mean kids was playing a silly joke on her.

The doll spoke again. “Little girl, are you deaf? Or blind? You can’t just leave me here to perish.”