The Lady in Red

Image Credit to Whitebook @ DeviantArt, titled A Christmas Story for Rezzan 

As it so often happens to me, today's flash didn't start with a 'what are we going to write about Talbot's Peak today, boys and girls', but with a hoarse cry of 'help me out here peeps who wants to play this week'?  The friendly TP neighbors were deathly quiet this week.  Maybe they were busy, or tired or just comfy cozy dozing and playing with their partners that they didn't jump to answer my call, but I took the hint and moved on to my personal blog and worked on my Thursday Short Story Slam.

I figured something Talbot's Peaky would eventually show up...and I was right.  It did show up, just not how I thought it would.

Below is my Thursday post and after the whispered pleas from The Lady in Red to find a safe place for she and her love, it became my Friday post, as well.  I forsee a new pair making their way to The Peak, mates looking for help...

~~~

The lady in red waits beneath the gnarled old tree, sure her love will return one day.

The lady in red listens for his voice on the wind, sure she will hear it in time.

The lady in red watches the sky for his graceful glide; sure she will see it on the horizon.

He’d vowed to love her beyond his very last breath. 

He would be her champion in this life and onward into death.

The lady in red worries upon her knees, troubling is his late arrival. 
The lady in red weeps among the leaves, firmly entrenched—deep in denial. 
The lady in red withers below the branches, fearful he is lost to her.

She vowed to love him beyond her very last breath.

She would be his haven in life and in death.

The lady in red acknowledges the swift setting sun, their timing long gone.

The lady in red feels the oncoming change, their places to switch with nary a hitch.

The lady in red resolves to accept her fate, the moon once again rearranged the mates.

They vowed to love beyond their very last breath.

Be they in fur, or in feathers—in life or in death.

~~~

Stay warm, snuggle & play with your loved ones and have a wonderful weekend!

Serena

Steel Saber, A New Tabot's Peak Neighbor

Steel  Saber came down from the mount’n

And gazed at the really weird fount’n

It was a dog dish he was seeing

That’s why he felt like peeing

His prowess he felt like a flout’n

Of this town he’d heard stories

About shifters in all their glory

Some were cats and some were dogs

Some turtles and assorted frogs

Yet they lacked those with heads so hoary

He liked the town’s feel

The people seemed real

But he missed the age of his teens

A time when none preened

And the humans could be his next meal

Should he eat Barney or Fred

Or leave them just shy of dead

Then to slake his thirst

And show them his worst

When he took Betty and Wilma to bed

~~~

 Wow, clearly I've been neglecting my poetry of late that this post would come out not just as a poem, but a really weird limerick!  

Yeah, who am I trying to kid...weird or not, I love limericks.  :D

How about ya'll, feel in the mood to share a little ditty about the Saber-toothed devil in the picture above?  Give it a whirl and remember a limerick follows the standard (aabba) rhyme scheme.

Serena

A Wooing...

Nuts and Grains, Fruits and Veggies

I know you think they're keen,

But damn it, woman

We do still need our protein!

I’ve tried to be patient

I’ve tried to be calm,

But you’re stealing my customers

With your mashed heart of palm!

I know, I know

I can get it from beans,

But it’s just not the same

Hell, I’ll even take it lean!

I think you should try it

All kissed to perfection,

Trust me

It’ll pass your inspection!

I can hear you now

“Try the tofu,”

I’m here to tell you

That’s nothing but goo!

A wolf needs his meat

Be it leg, butt or back,

Yes, I’ll be over later

For more of the jack!

(Can I have them with blueberries and smothered in syrup?)

Grrrr!

 Vernon

Elly folded the missive meant only for her and tucked it inside her apron.  What would she do with the snarly wolf, from across the way, who insisted on secretly eating plate after plate of her flapjacks and leaving private poems that brought a smile to her face…

Volatile or Passionate...

Good Friday morning, one and all....

As I near the end of my wip, thank goodness, I can't help but think about the next book in my jaguar world.  Gunner and Tabitha's story.  These two jags seem to have a volatile relationship in the making.  In my character waiting room they each keep to their own corners and when they do happen to brush up against each other, sparks definitely fly.

What a different experience for me as a writer.  Typically, my character couples cuddle and express themselves very happily in my mind, just waiting to tell their stories...unless they have yet to find their other. 

Not these two, though, not yet anyway.

So in a moment of lets see what they have to say for themselves,  I brought them closer to the surface yesterday, and a poem came to mind.  I thought I would share...

Quiet & Beautiful
So close to the ground
I slink and I think
Why is there no one around?

The crickets don't chirp
The birds are a flutter
The bunnies stay silent
But I can still hear her mutter

"He thinks this will change things
To shift and then run
Out go his leathers
Into the hot cooking sun."

So angry, so beautiful
My sweet little miss
Her temper I shall not conquer
With merely a kiss

Yep, these two are going to be interesting to write!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Inquiring Noob, Wants To Know...

To all the impatient characters clogging up my brain,
Please take some time to make a line, consider it a train.
Tallest to shortest, richer to poorest I do not care which
Please settle down and wait your turn; Vern, stop calling me a bitch.
I know you all have stories to tell, each one is important to me
Be you cat or dog, bat or hog or some strange concoction in between.
I’ll hear your tale, just stop your wail and please, please let me be!

Well Aug 10th has come and gone. I’m now the proud mama of a newly published book, THE CHALLENGE. However, I neglected to take into consideration that once my baby was out there, the rest of my very eager characters would come a-calling.

Many of the ideas that sprang to life during my writing, re-writing, editing and re-editing of THE CHALLENGE, are now back vying to be the next story up on the block, even though I’m currently working on the next story in my Jaguar series.

While grateful that I even have ideas, the roar of requests has me wondering, how do other authors handle this? Do your characters bombard you with write me next requests? And if so, how do you handle it? Do you write only one story at a time or try to spread your focus and write more than one at a time?

Inquiring noob, wants to know??

Have a great weekend, everyone!