Reblogged this with immense gratitude! When an author you admire as much as reads your book, you are humbled. When they like it, you are… almost passing out:)
Writer’s Gift 4U from Phoenix Rainez
To end this challenging year, there is nothing like having a guest over. A romance author with a kind heart, Phoenix Rainez will make this transition from 2017 into 2018 smooth and gentle! Here she is, sharing with you some of her latest poetry:).
AUTHOR : Phoenix Rainez
GENRES : Romance, Erotica, Poetry
BOOKSITE LINKS : http://www.amazon.com/dp/1501022539
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1515302156
SOCIAL NETWORK LINKS : http://www.facebook.com/phoenixrainez2
https://phoenixrainez.wordpress.com
https://twitter.com/phoenixrainez
1. Do you have a favourite winter holiday story?
No favourite winter holiday story, but my favourite holiday film would have to be LOVE ACTUALLY. I have so many books in my collection still to read, I honestly don’t have time to re-read any of the books I’ve already read.
2. Which character from a holiday story would you like to be?
I think I’d love to be Elsa from Frozen.
3. What is your ideal way to spend Christmas Eve this year?
Curling up with a good book all day in my pj’s and a steaming mug of hot chocolate.
4. If you could travel anywhere this winter, where would it be and why?
I’d love to visit Lapland during a winter holiday season.
5. What would you like to ask your readers?
I’d like to ask my readers if they think a companion novella is a good way to introduce other characters in the story.
Do share a sneak peek into your current work in progress.
My present work in progress is my poetry book.
Give us a riddle to your wip.
When you need to share a secret quietly you ….
Where can we follow your progress?
http://www.facebook.com/phoenixrainez2
What’s the blurb for your work in progress?
No one asks to fall in love, but sometimes it happens, and the timing is all wrong. So, they wish upon stars for a love they can’t hold, and whisper their love on the wind, across oceans that keep them apart.
Sneak peek, please?
1st poem from my new poetry book:
You’re the whisper on my mind
Wrapped around my heart
I see you in my dreams
And touch you when I sleep
Your love is like a whisper
From a time so far away
Caught in a moment of silence
On the tail of a shooting star
We dare in dreams to share
A whisper of love so soft
Like the feathers on a breeze
Of a lover’s dream in thoughts
Sailing those intimate waves
Of a secret love lost in thought
We touch only in dreams
Our love just a breath
A whispered I love you
MY HOLIDAY WISH for my readers is that they find the time to read all the books they want to, not only over the holidays, but all year through.
Thank you, dear Phoenix. May your 2018 be a happy beginning to a new adventure!
May it be. Make it so.
May 2018 be filled with kindness, smiles, fun and challenges. May our hands be busy with creativity, our ears caressed with quality music. May our eyes rest on wonderful sights and may our souls be filled with friendship and the joy of our loved ones. Happy 2018!
The Power of Words
The power of words has always fascinated me. There are limitless possibilities in the use of only one of them, because its power stems not only from its lexical meaning but its historical connotations and changes, its previous contexts, media and user, its audience, location and timing. And, as is always the case with a superpower, it can be used for good or evil, and alas, misunderstood or misused as well. But whatever the effect may be, the desired one or its complete opposite, effect takes place, and it makes a change or a difference, or both.
It never ceases to amaze me how many emotions and ideas can stem from just one word. When you see it, hear it or say it, regardless of whether its effect is immediate or delayed, it is simply unbeatable and irresistible. It’s like magic, and I do like magic, just like any other child trapped in an ageing body.
One such word, hidden within a bundle of other wonderful and horrible, yet all impressive words, as I read it in one of my all-time favourite stories, grabbed my attention instantly. It was ‘threshold’. Mind you, in the story I was reading, it was completely unimportant, and simply denoted the entrance to a house in a description. But to me, it was that word which stopped me from reading and forced me to pick up a pen and write this story.
As soon as I started writing it, a new world opened up before my eyes, like in those science-fiction TV-series, when a starship goes into warp and everything changes at light speed. The world becomes different and bigger, and you are transported into a place so far away from home that it seems you will never go back. Till the story is finished and you warp your way back, with the merciless blow of disappointment at your story being over, and still, quickly psyched up again over another new word and another adventure, beyond our world, yet so much part of our world.
The Threshold is about change, which is different for everyone, no more or less than we deserve. The change is eventually always consistent with our decision on how we choose to react to that change. The threshold is always open, but what we choose to do with the door is our choice, and ours alone.
(From the foreword of The Threshold)
Reading with Children
To parents, friends and educators reading to children
The actual process of reading, sitting down with somebody you care about, whether it is your child, grandchild, student, or even an adult, is a wonderful experience – you share time, place, dreams, worlds… Children are especially open to gratitude. After a busy day, having their parent sit down and set this time aside only for them… there is nothing better than this! There is no better gift that you can give your child than your time and attention.
Of course, if you read and comment along with children, ask for their opinion and challenge them to think, it is even more worthwhile, but it is not always necessary. Sometimes you are tired, you skip words and they correct you, they stop you with questions, and you really don’t feel like reading at all. But their questions, their corrections, their hillarious comments, all this will just magically wipe away your stress, make you smile and forget about everything else.
It is the love they share with you in those moments.
The same goes with reading to and with adults. If you read with your partner, to your mother or father, to people who can no longer read to themselves, remember – we are all children at heart! Stories have that mysterious power of waking up that honest, non-constricted, free and imaginative child, dormant but present within us.
I have seen the magic of reading stories to all age groups, and would never trade in its power and positive effect for any technological device there is, much as I respect and use them in my teaching. Reading awakens playful freedom, sets emotions free and channels them, challenges the mind into critical and creative thinking, and lets us grow, develop and express ourselves.
So yes, children, meaning all of us, associate books with love and affection, because this is what we share when we read together.
And if you are ever lucky enough to have your child read to you, relish every second of that love.
(From the afterword of Mimi Finds Her Magic)
Charity – when you give what you can to those who cannot
These are the three charity anthologies I have been invited to join with some of my stories, poems and illustrations. Sadly, Teaching Children from the Heart is no longer available, but Inner Giant (anti-bullying) and Looking into the Abyss (animal protection) are still around. Inner Giant features the stories, artwork (photos, cards & illustrations), poems, essays and worksheets by so many hard-working educators from around the world, in an attempt to inspire inner strength of spirit. Looking into the Abyss features short stories about rhinos (from various points of view) by some prominent authors from the independent community.
#charity #stories
A Treasure Chest of Children’s Stories
It has been such a treat for me to participate in this latest anthology of children’s stories. I hope you find some magic in each of them!
Watch out for First-Grader Angel, Diana the Daring (both by me) and Unicorn Rider by my goddaughter – Helena Čačić! If I am not mistaken, there is a story for each month of the year:). Thank you, Plaisted Publishing!
#children #stories
Snow
Snow covered the footprints,
Lulled the sounds to sleep,
And made things seem simpler, purer and calm.
#winter #Croatia
Filling the Void
The paper is empty.
It looks at me blank.
I feel I have nothing to give.
Then letters come pouring.
Stories unwind.
The book people begin to live.
The canvas is white.
It looks like a shroud.
Will my colours help it survive?
I pick up a brush.
The strokes reveal all.
Emotions and dreams are alive.
The room is so silent.
It haunts me to pain.
If only a sound helped it heal.
My thoughts echo sounds.
My lyrics are true.
I know what I want and feel.
(Image source Pixabay)
Anita's Haven 