Archive for guest blog
Reblog: AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: ARMAND ROSAMILIA / NECROMANCE
Posted in Armand Rosamilia, guest blog, horror, Necromance with tags armand rosamilia, guest blog, Necromance on October 9, 2017 by Armand RosamiliaReblog: “The enemy has to be nearly invincible” – Necromance by Armand Rosamilia
Posted in Armand Rosamilia, guest blog, horror, Necromance with tags armand rosamilia, guest blog, horror, Necromance on October 2, 2017 by Armand RosamiliaReblog: Necromance Book Tour & Giveaway
Posted in Armand Rosamilia, Darkyrie, guest blog, Necromance with tags armand rosamilia, guest blog, horror, Necromance, supernatural on October 2, 2017 by Armand RosamiliaGuest Post: Brent Abell
Posted in guest blog, horror with tags Brent Abell, guest blog, horror on July 27, 2017 by Armand Rosamilia
The Music of Our Literary Worlds
Brent Abell
Every movie has a soundtrack. Each scene is brought to life by the tunes playing in the background during a fight, a love scene, or the climactic ending. Books can be the same in that regard. When I write, I have my headphones on and I’m rocking out to whatever metal song comes out of the shuffle. There may be some rock, but metal is my poison.
When I wrote The Calling, I had to step back and think about the time period I was writing in. The novella isn’t set in the present, so I had to try to go with what the sounds of the time were. Most of the year was dominated by pop and the birth of Nu Metal, but here are the ten songs I put on a track list and why they helped me to set the mood for The Calling.
- Aerosmith – Living on the Edge: I love Aerosmith and I felt this was a good song to listen to in the book’s opening chapter. Ashley has to come face-to-face with the entity she’d been running from, living on the edge since she escaped it the last time.
- Soundgarden – Fell on Black Days: I miss Chris Cornell already and this song is Frank Hill during the entire book. He never seems to be in a good spot as White Creek’s sheriff and the events of the book really fit with the vibe of the song.
- Slayer – Serenity in Murder: Something is killing people in White Creek and when I got to places where a death was about to happen, I put this on to set my mood. I can imagine the killer would like this song too. It is dark and moody with a good kick to the teeth.
- Tom Petty – Mary Jane’s Last Dance: There is a scene with some death and this is the song I heard playing in the car as people died. There seems to be a theme here…
- Nine Inch Nails – Hurt: This is another song I had in mind for Frank while he sits alone on Thanksgiving Day. Over all, I wanted the reader to feel the isolation and responsibility Frank puts on himself to protect White Creek and how those same feelings influence his decisions later in the book.
- BlackHawk – Every Once and a While: Telly’s sits on the outer edge of the town and is really a blue-collar bar where the workers of the town go to drink beer and listen to some country music on the jukebox. This was a song from around the same time and brought back all kinds of high school memories.
- Garth Brooks – The Night Will Only Know: This was the other song I picked for Telly’s and if you listen to it the second time Carl visits the bar, you get a sense of where things are heading. While released in 1993; this song was a favorite of mine too because of how dark the song is and really nobody has a happy ending in it either.
- Queensryche – I am I: The guys from Queensryche are another of my favorite bands and this song is a perfect one for the book. Who are we? Well, I am I and I can be nothing else but I. The book deals with identity and how we can only be what we are intended to be in the end. We can run and hide from our true nature, but somehow, the real us comes out in the end.
- Warren G featuring Nate Dogg – Regulate: When I imagined Prater being out on patrol in the book, I heard him listening to this song and trying to rap along with it. Of course, he does a horrible job, but it helps him get through those cold nights in White Creek.
- Megadeth – A Tout Le Monde: When they released this song in 1994, the video was banned from MTV because they thought the song represented suicide. The song is more about coming to the end of your life and saying goodbye with dignity and respect for those being left behind. There are many journeys ending in The Calling, but for Frank Hill, his life is only now beginning. I felt this was the perfect song for him to have playing in the background when he says his last goodbyes in the end.
So, if you have some of these tunes handy, listen to them while you read the book and see if you agree with how they were used in my head. Maybe someday we’ll be able to watch the movie adaptation together and listen to the same songs on the big screen. I like soundtracks…
The Calling – Brent Abell
Carl Volker has a problem. After waking one morning with a hangover to find his wife gone, he notices a crow stalking around his yard. As days go by with no word from his wife, more and more crows gather.
Frank Hill is sheriff in the seemingly pleasant town of White Creek. Up until recently, his job has been fairly mundane but after a recent spree of murders, bodies are beginning to pile up and Frank has no clue as to who the killer may be.
White Creek has kept its secrets hidden well over the years but the sins of its past are coming to light; the town harbors an evil and the bindings that keep it in check are beginning to unravel.
As Frank and Carl’s friendship is tested and their destinies are revealed, the dead accumulate while the crows watch and The Calling begins!
Available on:
Amazon: US| UK | Canada | Australia | Germany | France | Spain | Italy | Japan | Mexico | Brazil| India | The Netherlands
Amazon Print: US | UK | Canada | Australia | Germany | France | Spain | Italy | Japan | Mexico | Brazil| India | The Netherlands
CreateSpace (Print)
Brent Abell lives in Southern Indiana with his wife, sons, and a pug who sits around eating the souls of wayward people. His stories have been featured in over 30 publications from multiple presses. His work includes his novella In Memoriam, collection Wicked Tales for Wicked People, and novel Southern Devils; which are available now. He also co-authored the horror-comedy Hellmouth series. Currently, he is working on the second book in the Southern Devils series and the next book with Frank Hill in the White Creek Saga.
Facebook: Brent T. Abell
Twitter: @BrentTAbell
Reblog: Armand Rosamilia Interview for ThrillWriting
Posted in Arm Cast Podcast, Arm N Toof, Armand Rosamilia, dying days, fiction, horror, interview, personal, podcast with tags arm cast podcast, armand rosamilia, dying days, fiction, guest blog, horror on July 3, 2016 by Armand RosamiliaFiona Quinn interviews me about podcasting and books and stuff!
http://thrillwriting.blogspot.com/2016/07/podcasting-information-for-writers-with.html
Following The Living – Guest Post by Jay Wilburn #WeAreAllHaunted
Posted in Armand Rosamilia, authors, fiction, ghost story, ghosts, horror, jay wilburn with tags armand rosamilia, authors, fiction, ghosts, guest blog, horror, jay wilburn, the enemy held near on March 28, 2016 by Armand Rosamilia
Following the Living: Telling Ghost Stories
We find ghost stories familiar because they have the touchstones of every type of literature. We as writers and readers are looking over characters’ shoulders as they carry on their lives. We watch from above or we enter their minds and read their thoughts. We watch the action through their eyes as we passively possess their bodies. We are the ghosts looking down on the pages from outside their world trying to get into it.
The ghosts in a ghost story are representatives of our position from within the pages. Sometimes they reach in deeper and influence the action. Even when they are invisible and we are watching the unexplained events with the living human characters, we get the sense of being watched and influence from outside the world of the story. When they become something that can be seen or spoken to, it is as if both sides of the world of the story have been allowed to interact in a way other literature does not get to do.
These interactions have meaning for us. The past informs all our choices either with pride or regret or any of a thousand other emotions. We make leaps of faith or we fail to do so out of fear. We stand by our principles or we fold up in the moment of testing. Those experiences though dead and gone in the past haunt us. They fill us with fear when the same pattern of conditions rise again for another test or another leap. Even when we went through it all before and survived, we are afraid of those ghosts when they appear in our lives again.
The things we know about our family and friends both good and bad linger with us even once they are out of our lives. The things we suspect or wonder about them do too. Their hidden motivations translated into actions played a part in shaping our lives and setting our paths. We might only begin to put the pieces together later during the haunting of memory to see a fuller picture of the light and darkness behind the people who were once in our lives and may still have a cold, ghostly hand on our souls in the present. No one haunts us as deeply as those that were supposed to love us whether they succeeded at it or not.
Armand Rosamilia and I wrote a ghost story together called The Enemy Held Near. It explored a spiritual manifestation of this family haunting in the lives of a troubled family and a strained marriage. We were attempting to tell what would be considered a traditional ghost story and haunted house story set in the modern South. We wanted it to be innately tied to the struggle of the characters experiencing the haunting. We ended up creating a story that included the hauntings of addictions, past mistakes, fear of failing as a parent, family prejudices that go back generations, and the way we hurt the very people we would have once died to protect. Because in the end we are all flawed and we are all haunted.
If we could see all of the picture of the generations that came before us, the darkness might be too much for us. The weight of that might be crushing to our spirits. Our heroes would be further fallen than they are now and our monsters would become uglier in the most unexpected ways. We would be tormented by seeing our own failings reflected back at us from the villains in our ancestry. We might be robbed of any hope of changing our course, if we really saw how many tried and failed in the line before us. Death and silence can be a gift when the farthest generations back step off the stage and leave the scene allowing us our brief time with the script to make our best attempt at a worthy performance.
This is the real horror to be found in a ghost story. Those actors dismissed from the stage step back on. The hidden darkness is revealed as the shadows take on the characteristics of life. That baggage from the past is laid at the feet of the living. The weight of the motivations of those that were supposed to love us come to bear once more in a manner that is much more threatening than mere memory or unsettled fear. It all comes back in a haunting.
Our ghosts in The Enemy Held Near are a manifestation of past mistakes. They reveal how regret and loss would fester if they were allowed to continue on after the release of death. The novel explores how the inability to let go can become destructive in life and after death if ghosts are in the picture. Sometimes the living and the dead are called on to make sacrifices and will suffer from a lack of forgiveness.
If you are looking for a great ghost story, there are a lot to choose from. We think you’ll enjoy The Enemy Held Near for the characters and for the haunting. Consider haunting our story and characters for a while.
Reblog: We Are All Haunted by Armand Rosamilia
Posted in #amwriting, Armand Rosamilia, fiction, ghost story, guest blog, haunted house, jay wilburn with tags armand rosamilia, fiction, ghost story, guest blog, horror, jay wilburn, the enemy held near on March 24, 2016 by Armand RosamiliaI posted over at Jay Wilburn’s blog. We wrote a book together. It is good.
http://jaywilburn.com/we-are-all-haunted-by-armand-rosamilia/
Guest Post: Barun Chanda
Posted in Armand Rosamilia, authors, fiction, guest blog with tags armand rosamilia, fiction, guest blog on October 14, 2015 by Armand RosamiliaAbout the Book:
“Can you help me, please?”
Pradipta wheeled around.
Standing behind was an unusually attractive lady. She wore a dark blue, chiffon saree which set off her fair complexion even more. Other than a thin gold chain with a tear-drop pearl pendant on her neck, she wore no jewelery. Her lips were pale pink, with no lipstick. Only the dark make-up on her eyes made her look even more unfathomable.
“You’re talking to me?”
Thus begins Coke, with this chance encounter at Kathmandu airport. But the plot thickens when the lady requests him to include her suitcase as part of his checked in baggage and then does a vanishing act, once the aircraft lands in Calcutta. What follows is a riveting page-turner, replete with unexpected twists as you encounter gangs warring over narcotics, policemen, functionaries, and a sinister master-mind who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. The furiously paced narrative takes you from the sleepy airport of Kathmandu to the packed streets of Calcutta, a mysterious mansion on the outskirts of town and an unforgettable chase-sequence through New Market.
From the author of the acclaimed Bengali novels ‘Kidnap’, ‘Shaaper Jhaanpi’ and ‘Robibar’ comes a high-octane thriller that’s seriously addictive and keeps you hooked till the end.
Read an Excerpt:
At the first ring, Rustam picked up his mobile. It showed Bob’s number on the screen. He put the mobile to his ear and listened.
“I’m speaking from the loo…there’s news for you.”
“Why from the toilet?”
“Because no other place in the house is safe to talk to you,” Bob whispered back.
“When can we meet, then?”
“In the evening, after my duty’s over.”
“Didn’t you say you have day-night duties from now on?”
“They are letting me go for now in the evenings. But not at your place. It’s too risky.”
“Okay. So, where and when?”
“Hello, someone seems to be knocking at the door.”
The phone call ended with the roar of the flushing toilet.
At eight-thirty sharp, Rustam met Bob at Girish Park.
“Why didn’t you get in touch with me the last three days?”
Rustam looked sharply at Bob.
“There were problems.” Bob let out a thick cloud of cigarette smoke.
“It’s getting increasingly risky to come out and meet you like this.”
Though they stood in close proximity, their faces looked away in diametrically opposite directions. Unless you looked carefully, it was difficult to make out they were actually talking to each other.
Rustam idly looked at the snarling evening traffic, his hands on the railing of the park.
“So, what’s the news?”
On a bench inside the park, a young couple took advantage of the darkness to get cozy with each other. Bob simply couldn’t take his eyes off them.
“The red suitcase…”
Bob’s voice trailed off as his eyes were riveted on the frenetic activities of the couple on the bench, their bodies wrapped under a shawl.
“Yes, what about the red suitcase?”
Rustam cast one sharp glance at Bob, before looking away.
“I know where it is.”
Bob’s face got hidden in a cloud of smoke.
“Good.” Rustam’s voice sounded relieved. “In which room?”
“Upstairs, in boss’s bed room.”
“What makes you so sure?” Rustam’s eyes narrowed as he watched Bob’s face intently. For some inexplicable reason, he had never been able to fully trust Bob right from the beginning.
“One of the middle rooms on the first floor…was kept under lock and key all this while.”
Bob’s eyes were still very much on the couple on the bench.
“Bob…why aren’t you saying anything?”
Rustam’s voice sounded impatient.
The couple’s bodies were locked in a tight clinch under the shawl.
“Bob?”
“I saw one of the sentries take the suitcase away from the middle room to boss’s bedroom.”
Rustam kept his eyes on the Central Avenue. A traffic jam was forming near the crossing, adjacent to the park. An eccentric man, with a wooden stick in his hand, was trying to regulate the traffic, in the process, making things much worse for everyone.
“Did you get to see where he hid it inside the bed room?”
“No.”
Bob watched fascinated what the couple was doing on the bench, underneath the shawl.
“Niyogi shut the door after entering boss’s bed room.”
For a while both stood facing away from each other, in silence.
At long last, a cop appeared on the road and was seen trying to control the traffic. Inside the park, the couple was still locked in a tight embrace. Bob puffed at his cigarette and blew another cloud of smoke from his mouth. Rustam fanned with his hand irritably, trying hard to keep the smoke away from his face.
“Anything else?”
“Yes, there is.”
Bob looked directly at Rustam for the first time in the evening.
“I think Harry is going out of town very shortly.”
“Outside Calcutta, or outside India?”
“How should I know that?” Bob answered irritably.
“Somebody came from a travel agency with a sealed envelope. I signed and received it.”
The traffic at the crossing had eased by now. The couple on the bench sat still, exhausted.
Rustam noticed Bob smiling at them.
“What are you smiling at?”
“Nothing.”
Bob took one last puff from the cigarette, flicked the butt end casually towards the footpath and walked away. After a while Rustam came and sat at the bench in the park. The couple got up from the bench and walked away, each in a different direction. Rustam watched them leave, took out the mobile from his pocket and started speaking into it in a low voice.
About the Author:
In so far as the pursuit of any true vocation is a life in itself, Barun Chanda – advertising guru, actor and writer, may be said to have had three. Born in Dhaka, he did his Masters in English at Jadavpur University. Following a brief stint as a lecturer in English, he embarked upon a career in the creative department of advertising that spanned more than 30 years, won him numerous awards and culminated in his tenure as Creative Director at Clarion McCann.
Acting occupies the second of his three worlds. In 1971, he scorched the big screen as a high-flying executive, playing the protagonist in Satyajit Ray’s ‘Seemabaddha’, and winning a special President of India Award for his performance. After a hiatus that lasted over two decades, he returned to the screen during the 90’s, and has since then acted in numerous TV series and more than 35 movies. Tackling Bollywood and Tollywood roles with equal aplomb, he has distinguished himself in films such as Lootera, Roy, Chotushkone, Aborto, MIshor Rohoshyo, Nayanchampa-r Dinraatri , Bela Sheshe and Jogajog. Chorabaali, where where once again he plays the protagonist, is his latest venture.
Barun’s third passion is writing. A regular film reviewer and contributor of articles to major dailies, in the last eight years he has published four highly acclaimed and successful novels in Bengali. His work has played a major role in establishing the adult thriller genre in Bengali literature.
Coke is his first novel in English.
Guest Post: Michele G. Miller
Posted in Armand Rosamilia, authors, fiction, guest blog with tags armand rosamilia, fiction, guest blog on October 13, 2015 by Armand RosamiliaiTUNES EXCLUSIVE BOX SET RELEASE!
FROM THE WRECKAGE
by Michele G Miller
Follow high school seniors, Jules and West, as they put their lives back together after a tornado changes their world.
This box set includes all THREE full-length novels in one – From The Wreckage, Out of Ruins, All That Remains – PLUS special bonus scenes (over 10k words) from West’s POV that have never been seen before.
From the Wreckage, book one:
“In a matter of minutes on a Friday night, I lost my school, my identity, the security of my first love, the personality of my sweet fearless brother, my best friend, my town, everything as I knew it. Everything changed.”
“Minutes – that’s all it takes to change your entire life. How do you deal with that?”
For high school senior Jules Blacklin surviving the storm is only the beginning. Faced with the new reality of her life, she must find a way to rise From The Wreckage and answer the question – how do you get back to normal, when everything that was normal is gone?
Out of Ruins, book two:
“Guilt. A painful, lonely feeling. It seeps into your pores slowly as you go through life day by day. Like a disease, it blackens your heart with thoughts and memories of what you did, or in my case, what you didn’t do.”
Surviving the storm was only the beginning for Jules. Surviving the guilt? That is something only love can help her overcome.
All That Remains, book three:
Fear, guilt, and jealousy all rear their ugly heads as Jules and West strive to figure out what they want now that they’ve emerged from the wreckage of the storm.
A year has passed since the night Jules Blacklin and West Rutledge were thrown together by a tornado.
Now college freshmen, they’ve worked hard to overcome the tragedies of their pasts to start anew.
As they embark on their future, there is one last obstacle standing in the way of them finding complete happiness: themselves.
iTunes: http://apple.co/1P4M3ZJ
MEET THE AUTHOR
Michele writes novels with fairy tale love for everyday life. Romance is always central to her plots where the genres range from Coming of Age Fantasy and Realistic Fiction to New Adult Romantic Suspense. She is the author of the bestselling From The Wreckage series.
Having grown up in both the cold, quiet town of Topsham, Maine and the steamy, southern hospitality of Mobile, Alabama, Michele is something of an enigma. She is an avid Yankees fan, loves New England, being outdoors and misses snow. However she thinks southern boys are hotter, Alabama football is the only REAL football out there and sweet tea is the best thing this side of heaven and her children’s laughter!
Her family, an amazing husband and three awesome kids, have planted their roots in the middle of Michele’s two childhood homes in Charlotte, North Carolina.
FACEBOOK | WEBSITE | NEWSLETTER | TWITTER
Guest Post: Rasheedah Prioleau
Posted in Armand Rosamilia, authors, fiction, guest blog with tags armand rosamilia, fiction, guest blog on October 13, 2015 by Armand Rosamilia
Title: Everlasting: Da Eb’Bulastin (Sa’Fyre Island Series Book 1)
Author: Rasheedah Prioleau
Self Published Horror
Release Date: 10/31/2014
Pages 177
Format – eBook (mobi or epub) or Paperback
Buy Here: Amazon Barnes & Noble CreateSpace
Synopsis:
After another incident of sleepwalking, Aiyana Gamelle wakes up lying under the stars on the Beach of Sa’Fyre Island, an island off the cost of South Carolina with a rich Gullah and Native American history.
Knowing these incidents of sleepwalking have something to do with her long awaited transition into queen of the island, Aiyana shrugs them off as little more than a nuisance to be expected since her lineage leads to a mysterious African goddess.
Aiyana moves forward with plans to host a week long festival that will end with her succession to the island throne, but the murder of an important guest and the passing of her grandmother bring the festivities to a screeching halt. Aiyana learns that the transition involves an unwanted possession and the revelation of a dark family curse.
Rasheedah Prioleau is a Southern African American writer with an eclectic range of writing and ghostwriting credits. After an unfulfilling stent in the corporate world she started over from the bottom as an unpaid intern at the age of twenty-six and never looked back.
“I love to write because there are no limits. All it takes is a finite space of time and I can create a story from infinite possibilities.”
Writers who have influenced her include: Judy Bloom, Jude Deveraux, V.C. Andrews, Octavia Butler, Stephanie Meyer, Charlaine Harris, Joss Whedon, William Nicholson, Shonda Rhimes, Quentin Tarantino, Tyler Perry, Mike Kelley, and J.J. Abrams… just to name a few.
Rasheedah Prioleau currently resides in her hometown of Washington, Georgia.
Guest Post: Ginger Voight
Posted in Armand Rosamilia, authors, fiction, guest blog with tags armand rosamilia, fiction, guest blog on October 10, 2015 by Armand Rosamilia
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1Mvv0SN
By all appearances, Coralie Cabot seems to have it all. Pedigree? Check. Money? Check. The right boyfriend, a ‘nice’ guy hand-picked by her father? Check.
Everything is going along according to plan.
There’s only one problem.
It’s not her plan.
Coralie’s safe, predictable life has all but been decided for her, and that leaves her itching to take a walk on the wild side.
Enter Devlin Masters, an elite male escort whose sole purpose is giving Coralie whatever her heart desires. As though he knows her down to her core, Devlin says and does all the right things—far better than her so-called Mr. Right back home.
Hello, Mr. Wrong!
For a price, she can sow her wilder oats with this sexy ‘bad boy,’ no strings attached.
Pretty soon the question isn’t, “Should a good girl have sex with a naughty hottie for hire . . .”
It’s, “Will she ever want to stop?”
In Book One of a sizzling new saga from author Ginger Voight, MASTERS FOR HIRE blends the line between fantasy and reality with all the drama, angst, sex, and romance that made THE GROUPIE and FULLERTON FAMILY SAGAS beloved amongst her fans.
Intended for readers 18+ for graphic sexual content.
Ginger Voight is a
screenwriter and bestselling author with over twenty published titles in
fiction and nonfiction. She covers everything from travel to politics in
nonfiction, as well as romance, paranormal, and dark, “ripped from the
headlines” topics like Dirty Little Secrets.
screenwriter and bestselling author with over twenty published titles in
fiction and nonfiction. She covers everything from travel to politics in
nonfiction, as well as romance, paranormal, and dark, “ripped from the
headlines” topics like Dirty Little Secrets.
Ginger
discovered her love for writing in sixth grade, courtesy of a Halloween
assignment. From then on, writing became a place of solace, reflection, and
security. This was never more true than when she found herself homeless in L.A.
at the age of nineteen. There, she wrote her first novel, Chasing Thunder,
longhand on notebook paper, while living out of her car. Fittingly, this book
will be the first released through a traditional publisher in 2015.
discovered her love for writing in sixth grade, courtesy of a Halloween
assignment. From then on, writing became a place of solace, reflection, and
security. This was never more true than when she found herself homeless in L.A.
at the age of nineteen. There, she wrote her first novel, Chasing Thunder,
longhand on notebook paper, while living out of her car. Fittingly, this book
will be the first released through a traditional publisher in 2015.
In 1995, after
she lost her nine-day-old son, she worked through her grief by writing the
story that would eventually become The Fullerton Family Saga.
she lost her nine-day-old son, she worked through her grief by writing the
story that would eventually become The Fullerton Family Saga.
In 2011, she embarked
on a new journey—to publish romance novels starring heroines who look more like
the average American woman. These “Rubenesque” romances have
developed a following thanks to her bestselling Groupie series. Other titles,
such as the highly-rated New Adult series, Fierce, tap into the
“reality-TV” preoccupation in American entertainment, which gives her
contemporary stories a current, pop culture edge.
on a new journey—to publish romance novels starring heroines who look more like
the average American woman. These “Rubenesque” romances have
developed a following thanks to her bestselling Groupie series. Other titles,
such as the highly-rated New Adult series, Fierce, tap into the
“reality-TV” preoccupation in American entertainment, which gives her
contemporary stories a current, pop culture edge.
Known for
writing gut-twisting angst, Ginger isn’t afraid to push the envelope with
characters who are perfectly imperfect. Whether rich, poor, sweet, selfish,
gay, straight, plus-size or svelte, her characters are beautifully flawed and
three-dimensional. They populate her lavish fictional landscapes and teach us
more about the real world in which we live simply through their interactions
with each other. Ginger’s goal with every book is to give the reader a little
bit more than they were expecting, told through stories they’ll never forget.
writing gut-twisting angst, Ginger isn’t afraid to push the envelope with
characters who are perfectly imperfect. Whether rich, poor, sweet, selfish,
gay, straight, plus-size or svelte, her characters are beautifully flawed and
three-dimensional. They populate her lavish fictional landscapes and teach us
more about the real world in which we live simply through their interactions
with each other. Ginger’s goal with every book is to give the reader a little
bit more than they were expecting, told through stories they’ll never forget.
Guest Post: Tina Shelton
Posted in Armand Rosamilia, authors, fiction, guest blog with tags armand rosamilia, fiction, guest blog on October 10, 2015 by Armand Rosamilia
Guest Post: War of the Worlds
Political posts on Facebook are enough to make you grit your teeth, aren’t they? There is always the chance that once stated, the genie is out of the bottle and a flame war is on. I try to avoid the trap of stating my political beliefs. It’s a self-defense mechanism honed from growing up liberal in a conservative area. Every political post has potential for great discourse, but let’s face it. It’s probably going to devolve into name calling.
And I realize – there’s two kinds of people, and they don’t fall along political lines. They fall along the lines of a fixed mindset, vs a growth mindset. Fixed mindset people are raised to believe that they only get so much to start with, and they can’t change after they’ve reached a certain point. They think that’s all the intelligence they’ll ever get. They get what they’re born with and no more.
The growth mindset, meanwhile, embraces difficulty as a chance to learn. They see failure as a stepping stone to success, not a personal affront. They see challenges as something to try against, not something to run away from. And that is the crux of communication problems in America today.
These two states both live inside the political divide. Growth mindset appears in both conservative and liberal camps, as does fixed. It’s the fixed mindset that is causing the problem, in my opinion. I was raised in a fixed-mindset. There is something comforting about feeling in control of your life. Whenever challenges to that stability occur, it tends to rock the boat to the tipping point. People freak out when their ideas are threatened. They don’t want to entertain new ideas, because change is anathema.
Growth mindset accept that shit happens, and not only that, but they rise to the occasion when instability rocks their boat. They can hold two opposing opinions in their mind without threatening their security. They don’t take failure personally, and they respond positively to challenges.
This is a new concept for me, but I have seen people living the different mindsets without realizing it. My husband’s family come from the growth mindset. They are giving, caring people who have staunch beliefs but are not afraid to have them challenged. They are gracious, kind, and polite to all manner of people. They don’t gossip. They don’t judge.
Growing up in a rural area, I came into contact with a lot of judgmental folks. They were aggressive when challenged and did not want to give out chances. I felt isolated growing up, and I couldn’t figure out why I was seen as a threat by these people. My childhood was marked by schoolyard bullies and ostracism. I believed that I was as smart as I was ever going to be, and that I’d never amount to much.
I’m happy to tell you that the best part about a fixed mindset, is that it is capable of changing over into a growth mindset. I have been working to believe in myself. This means I’ve learned to trust that I have a voice. It also means I’ve learned to not take things so personally, and to not be so judgmental of others. I just had to learn to believe in myself, which sounds easy on paper but is a lot of work and soul-searching. I’m not crowing about this because I made the switch, however. I’m crowing because if I can do it, anybody can do it. Which means this terrible divide that we’re experiencing in politics and in our society can be healed. I am a firm believer in a better future, and this to me embodies hope. It is my wish that other people can read this and see the hope, and give a growth mindset a chance. Fair warning. A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.
Tina Shelton is the author of The Corsican and Bento Box. She attends college and takes care of her 8 year old son, with the love and support of her husband. She loves science fiction and movies and all things geek but there just aren’t enough hours in the day to keep up with it all. She prefers spending time with friends or sitting down and creating worlds for people to enjoy. If you’re interested in her writing, here’s the link to Amazon, both the e-book and print version of her book. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Z7Z2UBA, or just drop by the blog at http://tinashelton.com.
