Guest Interview With Miracle Austin!

Today is Valentine’s Day.  It’s a day for love, for flowers, for chocolate, and… for revenge.

Okay, probably not so much that last one, but isn’t revenge so much more fun than the mushy stuff?  At least in the fictional world?

On this day, Valentine’s Day, it is my sincerest pleasure to welcome my friend and fellow author, Miracle Austin, to my blog!  After being featured in several horror anthologies, Miracle is celebrating the release of her first full-length novel, DOLL.

I read this book in one sitting, and you can find my reviews on GoodReads.com AND Amazon.com.  For now, however, please enjoy my interview with

Jacqueline Smith: First of all, tell me a little bit about yourself:

Miracle Austin: I work in the social work world by day and the writer’s world at night and weekends. I’m a YA/NA Cross-Genre author; adults also enjoy my works.

I’ve been writing ever since first hearing Drive by The Cars in junior high, which has been one of her biggest inspirations. I rediscovered my writing passion, recently. My first mini-story, PENS, appeared in http://www.leaves-of-ink.com.

Horror/suspense are my favorite genres, but not limited to. I enjoy writing diverse flashes, short stories, and longer works, while threading various social awareness themes into my stories, at times.

Doll will be my first debut YA/NA Paranormal novel, which will be released on CreateSpace and Amazon on 2-14-16—available both in paperback and ebook.

Boundless will be my second debut work, which will be a YA/NA eclectic short story collection; it will release in the summer.

I’m currently working on future works and reside in Texas with my family.

JS: How did you get into writing?

MA: I started writing in the sixth grade, mostly free-verse poems, and writing out lyrics of my favorite songs, usually love songs, in a notebook.

I did write my first short story about a 13-year-old boy. His name was Jobie. Jobie was spending his last summer with his best friend, kissing a girl for the first time, and coping with his untimely death.

I hand wrote that story and don’t recall the title. I thought I kept it, but I must have thrown it away years ago, accidentally. I still think of the character, Jobie, time from time.

As high school approached, my writing was stop and go. An English teacher shared a writing assignment, and I really enjoyed that assignment. However, distractions popped up, as usual.

I wrote off and on in college. I really enjoyed my English, sociology, and children’s literature classes because I always had writing assignments in.

Later on in my adult life, I experienced a very dark time and found myself almost lost there.

I stumbled upon a private writing group with diverse writing prompts.

I started submitting and discovered something—how much I really loved writing.  In fact, writing, this time around, actually saved me… I found a ladder and began to climb out of my darkness.

A reviewer on the writing group commented me on my writing and suggested I should start to submit to magazines, ezines, anthologies, and etc.

I was hesitant, but I decided to give it a try, after a few months. I submitted and received so many rejections. I almost gave up, until that one day, I had a message waiting in my email box, where my first mini-story was accepted.

My confidence began to blossom. I continued to submit and receive more rejections than acceptances. The rejections made me stronger and the rest is herstory.

JS: What is your favorite book? Or if you can’t pick just one (I know I can’t), top three?

MA: I’m going to list more than three.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Carrie  by Stephen King

To Kill a Mocking Bird  by Harper Lee

“The Man Who Loved Flowers” Short Story by  Stephen King

“The Last Rung”  Short Story by Stephen King

JS: Tell me about your new book, Doll.

MA: Doll is a YA/NA paranormal novel. Doll was never suppose to be a novel, only a short story for adults. I started writing it to distract me from the postponed publishing of my first collection, Boundless.

Doll transformed. It started out as 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, 12,000, 15,000, 18,000, 20,000, 25,000, 30,000, 45,000, and then over 52,000 words.

The characters took over and Doll was created.

Doll is a story about a mean girl who torments three outcasts, one in particular.

The three outcasts decide to band together in an untraditional way to give the mean girl a taste of her own medicine.  However, things don’t always turn out the way wish, so be careful what you wish for…

JS: How did you come up with the idea?

MA: My mom, who has shared other ideas with me for other stories and future ones, told me a story about something that happened years ago with a friend. I absorbed all the information and created my characters.

I recall a publisher, several months ago, sharing how Boundless was geared more towards YA/NA crowd, plus I love the YA/NA world, so I changed my main adult characters to teens.

JS: What was the writing process like?

MA: This is interesting one.

I procrastinated with this one. Believe it or not, I had about one paragraph for the concept, which changed a lot. I even had the cover made before I had one full page written. The cover did inspire me.

I knew that I needed to complete it after I avoided writing for several weeks because I didn’t know where I was going with this story, even though I had the concept down and cover. I just was  so unmotivated.

Therefore, I decided to do something that I never had before—outline.  I’ve read about others completing outlines, but I’ve always been a free bird and didn’t want to restrict myself.

I came to realize that was the best thing I could have ever done without restrictions. The outline ushered me through my writing and kept me focused.

So, I’m now an outline advocate, never would have imagined.

JS: You are also featured in horror anthologies such as Luna’s Children and A Shadow of Autumn.  What inspires you?

MA: Again, I must give my mom credit for many of my current and future stories. She’s my inspiration. She’s always sharing stories about her youth from the 50s and her adulthood. I usually take something from her stories and twist it up to make it my own.

Furthermore, my other inspirations come from conversations (protected of course),  people watching, songs, movies, or something that I’ve read in a book, magazine, Facebook, newspaper, and so on.

JS: What draws you to this genre?

MA: My exposure to horror/suspense arenas occurred prior my middle school years. My mom used to listen to an AM radio station on Friday nights, cannot recall the station, but it would have pre-recorded creepy stories.

I was sold instantly and couldn’t wait until the next airing. Horror/suspense just meshed with me from my first dance with it. I craved it, minus the horror that deals with possession.

JS: Are you working on any other projects at the moment?

MA: I sure am. I am cleaning up Boundless, an eclectic collection of shorts, which was supposed to be published by now. However, I’m a big believer in how certain things must occur before something else, which is why Boundless was postponed.

I still don’t understand it completely, but I accept Doll being released first.

I’m enhancing Boundless and then all the edit rounds.

I’m waiting to see how Doll is received from readers.

I do have a sequel mini outline for Doll 2 already, not sure if it will evolve yet.

I have another story  (20,000 words so far) that’s been on back burner for almost two years called, LoneStar Unordinary Girl. It’s a mash-up of comedy/supernatural elements. A reviewer challenged me to add comedy to a piece and I came up with that one.

Finally, I love writing shorts all the time. I have one that I have been wanting to write called Nightrunners. I plan to soon.

I am currently working on a monster piece for consideration in Sirens Call, a fabulous ezine.

Sine I mentioned Sirens Call, I wanted to share that I’ll be featured with many other amazing women authors in their Women in Horror Month 2016 upcoming issue. My piece is called “The Lock.”

JS: What are your favorite pastimes, other than writing?

MA: I love attending  all types of movies (Marvel/DC Fangirl, by the way) and watching  Netflix.

I enjoy creating playlists that inspire some of my stories and enjoy attending diverse book festivals and comic cons, where I’ve been so honored to be one of the panelists on some.

I’ll be a featured author and a panelist at the upcoming Teen Book Fest by the Bay in Corpus Christie, Texas on 2-20-16. I’m so honored and excited to be part of. This will be my first teen book festival.

The highlights of attending the above functions include opportunities to hang out with great author friends and meet new authors/readers.

I also enjoy collaborating with my amazing colleagues on YAAR (Young Adult Author Rendezvous) , an author group, on Facebook. I’ve learned a lot from some amazing authors and the founder, Patrick Hodges. They have all been so helpful in various ways.

JS: Finally, where can read readers connect with you?

MA: Feel free to contact me anytime and follow me on all the social media outlets.

I enjoy communicating with her readers.

http://www.miracleaustin.com

Email: shadesoffiction@miracleaustin.com

FaceBook: Miracle Austin Author

Twitter: @MiracleAustin7

InstaGram: MiracleAustin7

*BONUS SOUNDTRACK*

Songs that inspired DOLL

#1 You look beautiful tonight-Frank Sinatra

#2 One way or another-Blondie

# 3 Rock with you-Michael Jackson

#4 Every Breath You Take-Chase Holfelder

#5 One Way or Another—Until the ribbon breaks

# 6 Ready to love you forever-Tevin Campbell

#7 I want you to want me-Cheap Trick

#8 Leave-Jo Jo

#9 Count me Out-New Edition

#10 You Belong to me-Taylor Swift

#11 Rich Girl-Hall and Oates

#12 Make me wanna-Thomas Rhett

#13 Going to love you like I’m going to loose you–John Legend and Megan Trainor

#14 Jack and Diane-John Cougar

#15 Kissing Game- Hi-5

#16 Naughty Girl-Beyoncé

#17-All of me-Luciana Zogbi—(cover)

#18-You can do Magic-America

#19-Oh no-Lionel Richie

#21-Bad blood-Taylor Swift

#22-Tender Roni-Bobby Brown

#23-If it isn’t Love-New Edition

#24-Walking after Midnight-Patsy Cline

#25-Blue-Leanne Rimes

#26-Alone-Heart

#27-My baby doll-Toni, Toni, Tone

#28-She’s like the wind-Patrick Swayze

#29My Girl-Temptations

#30-Creep-Radiohead

#31-Everybody Hurts Sometimes-REM

#32-People are People-Depeche Mode

#33-Shake it off-Taylor Swift

#34-Wanna be starting something-Michael Jackson

#35-Walking in my shoes-Depeche Mode

#36-Treasure-Bruno Mars

#37-When I’m with you-Tony Terry

#38-Give Love a bad name-Bon Jovi

#39-We’re not going to take it-Twisted Sister

#40-Waiting for a girl like you-Foreigner

#41-Girl Crush-Little Big Town

#42-I need to know-Marc Anthony

#43-How do you mend a broken heart-Al Green

#44-Unpretty-TLC

#45-Try a little Tenderness-Otis Redding

#46-what about your friends-TLC

#47-All of me-Damien Escobar

#48-With You-Chris Brown

 

You can find DOLL by Miracle Austin here!

Haunted Valentines

It’s almost Valentines Day.  Even if you don’t have someone special, it’s still a great holiday.  Well, maybe it’s not that great, but there is a LOT of chocolate, and I’m a big fan of chocolate.

Unfortunately, very few people, if any, associate Valentines Day with ghost stories.  Unless, of course, you’re a Ghost Adventures fan and recall that one Valentines Day episode at the Longfellow’s Wayside Inn.  That’s one of my favorite episodes, not because that capture any spectacular evidence, but because it’s hilarious.

Anyway, all last week, I was trying to come up with some way to connect Valentines Day and Cemetery Tours.  This is what I came up with.  Yes, this is just for fun.  No, I don’t think I’m clever.

Enjoy!

Shameless Self-Promotion Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Jacqueline-E.-Smith/e/B00F7BPXX6/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1423510266&sr=8-1

Barnes And Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/jacqueline-e.-smith

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7260466.Jacqueline_E_Smith

To My Future Valentine

I have no idea when you’ll get a chance to read this.  In fact, I don’t even know who you are.  We haven’t met, you see, and if we have, well, I guess we’re both in for a surprise.

As you probably know, today is Valentine’s Day.  I’m celebrating it by going out for a single girls’ movie and dinner date with my friend, Kember.  I have no idea what you’re doing.  You might be spending tonight with another girl.  Or maybe you’re at home, reading a book and drinking a nice glass of wine.  Or you could be at a sports bar with the guys, watching the big game (I have no idea what’s on right now), drinking beer, and eating buffalo wings.

I don’t know when you and I will get to celebrate our first Valentine’s day together, but for the time being, I see no reason why little thing like being a total stranger should prevent me from writing you my own version of a love letter.

There’s a lot I don’t know about you.  I’ve imagined you, of course.  I’ve wondered how we met, where we went on our first date, but more than anything, I’ve wondered about how we’ll be together.

I hope we’re best friends.  I hope that we can tell each other everything.  I hope we trust each other enough to enjoy our time apart and to let each other do our own thing.  I hope you have something in your life that you love as much as I love writing.  I hope we make each other laugh, and that you find my numerous quirks and eccentricities charming and not completely embarrassing and annoying.  For example, I hope you don’t mind that I don’t like talking on the telephone for more than a few minutes, or that I’m not good at just sitting around and watching movies, unless it’s a movie I haven’t seen.  I hope you don’t mind I sometimes write sitting on a blanket on the floor at 3 in the morning.

I don’t really put a lot of thought into my appearance, my bedroom is a disaster zone, and most of my dinners are sandwiches or microwave meals, but I’m pretty sure that for you, I want to look my absolute best and hopefully I try to keep things at least a little tidy.  Who knows?  I might even enjoy cooking with you.  I always love baking desserts for Christmas and parties, and not to brag or anything, but my magic cookie bars are pretty much to die for.  That is, if you’re not allergic to coconut or dairy or nuts or chocolate.  I don’t want them to actually kill you.

I learned a long time ago that it’s not a good idea to make a list of things that you hope for in a partner, because one day, you find someone, they turn out to be exactly what you thought you were looking for and then you realize that they’re not the right person for you at all.  What works on paper doesn’t always work out in life.  There are a few things that I’m hoping for, but I’m not going to bother listing them out.  I’m assuming that if you’re reading this, then you’ve already passed the test.

As far as I go, you don’t have to get me anything fancy.  I don’t wear a lot of jewelry and I rarely appreciate going out to eat at really expensive restaurants the way they’re supposed to be appreciated (I’m a really picky eater).  I’d much rather drive up to the lake and go kayaking, or grab a bite to eat at Corner Bakery before spending an evening browsing the local Barnes and Noble.  Or bowling!  I love bowling.

To whomever you are, I hope you have a wonderful Valentines Day.

Until we meet.

Love,

Your Future Valentine

The Wind Chime House

One of the coolest dreams I ever had was about a brick house on a hill.  It was around dusk and I was seeking refuge, from what I don’t remember.  I just knew it would be the perfect place to seek shelter.

It was a very modern house with large windows of every shape and a red shingled roof.  Inside, immediately to the right was a large spiraling staircase that stretched for several stories.  There, in the center of the staircase hung the first wind chime.  It was the largest wind chime in the house, at least fifty or sixty feet.  Silver chimes hung in a circle and in the center of the chimes hung a stunning crystal the size of a bowling ball that cast rainbows on every wall.

To the left of the staircase was the living area.  A fireplace and mantle sat across the room, facing the front wall.  Statues of faeries, dragons, and other mythical creatures sat on the mantle beneath a giant ceramic clock.  The tiles of the clock were mostly several shades of yellow that formed a Celtic sun with blue and green background designs.  Several wind chimes, ranging in size from a few inches to several feet long, hung from the ceiling.  The one I remember the most hung right next to the window.  It’s longest scarlet chimes were at least four feet long.  Another wind chime was made of purple and silver spirals.  Bronze butterflies made up the chimes of another.  Sunbeams poured through the open windows, casting a faint glow on everything it touched, and even though there was no wind, the chimes sang in perfect pitch.  Everywhere I turned, wind chimes of every size, shape, and color.

I can only guess my mind modeled the Wind Chime House after this wind chime building at Scarborough Faire.  One day, I’d really like to write a story about it.

I love my dreams.  Well, most of them.  Some of them are actually really disturbing, but ones like The Wind Chime House make it all worth it.  One of my goals in life is to master the art of lucid dreaming.  Although I’m not there yet, I’ve gotten better at saving myself from unpleasant situations.  Several of my nightmares involve a highway that is hundreds of thousands of feet in the air and I always end up driving off of it.  It’s usually about that time when I think to myself, “I don’t want to be here anymore,” and the dream changes.  Last night, I had an extraordinarily creepy dream, even for me.  I dreamt that my entire arm was covered in spiders and they were biting me over and over again.  Now, I’m not scared of spiders (usually), but there were so many of them and they were so gross and they kept biting me and it actually really hurt, so I thought to myself, “Okay, time to go back,” and I immediately transported to a different dream.  However, my arm and hand were still bright red and stinging from all the spider bites.  How weird and how cool is that?  That we can feel pain from something that isn’t even there?

I’ve managed to lucid dream a couple of times.  Apparently, I’m not very ambitious, because every time I figure out that I’m dreaming and that I can literally do anything, all I ever want to do is fly.  I fly everywhere.  I even once stopped to gloat at a little kid in my dream that I could fly and she couldn’t.  Wow, way to be a jerk, dream self.  The one time I ever did anything other than fly was plan out a romantic date night with Ben Barnes (aka Prince Caspian from Narnia), but the moment he showed up, I sent him away to change shirts and I woke up before he came back!

WHAT THE HECK, BRAIN?!  Why would you DO that?!  You get Ben Barnes, you KEEP HIM!  You don’t just dismiss him because he’s wearing the wrong shirt!!!

I was so mad when I woke up from that one.  It was also the last time I effectively lucid dreamed.  I’m hoping that the fact that I can somewhat control the bad stuff in my dreams means I’m getting closer to achieving overall lucidness.

There have also been moments in dreams where my dream self will remember dreams that I’d had months earlier, that my conscious self had forgotten.  Those are weird.  My most recent one I had, I was at this train-themed amusement part with my best friend.  We were on the train that you had to take to get there and I was showing her around and telling her about the trip that my high school class and I had taken on that same train to that same amusement park.  I’d had that dream about my class at least six months or so earlier and I hadn’t thought about it or remembered it until I woke up the next morning.  It’s almost like existing in two separate worlds.  My conscious self remembers what goes on during the day, my dream self remembers what goes on at night.

I’ve also had dreams where, honestly, I don’t know what I’m thinking.  Well actually yes, I know exactly what I’m thinking, and it pretty much just proves what a truly um… terrible and paranoid individual I am.  I think I’ve already shared the stories of whenever I dream about zombies, I lock myself away in the safest room and leave everyone else (including my blind friend) to fend for themselves.

I’ve also had dreams where I’m about to undergo surgery to have one of my legs amputated.  Oddly enough, I never care that I’m about to lose a leg.  I do care, however, that I have to be put under anesthesia and if there is one thing I hate in this world, it is going under anesthesia.  I’ve only been under once and it was like waking up from being hit by a truck.  It was the worst feeling ever.  I couldn’t focus on anything, everything had a fuzzy white boarder around it, and I had nausea radiating to my kneecaps.  I.  Do.  Not.  Like.  Anesthesia.  As it turns out, my dream self hates it just as much as my conscious  self because it’s all I can talk about to my doctors.

“Now, are you sure you gave me the anti-nausea stuff?  Because I hate anesthesia.  I always feel so sick after.  Remember, I want that medicine.  Please, please don’t forget it.  Will you just like, inject it into my IV or something?  Can you give me a high dose?  I really don’t want to be nauseated.”

Seriously, I might actually be a crazy person.

There are a few of my more disturbing dreams (AKA the ones involving bodies and moldy caskets and demonic cemeteries) that I’ve actually incorporated into Cemetery Tours and its sequel.  I’ll probably write a post about them someday, because they’re actually pretty good and really creepy.

However, I really wanted to end this post on a bright and happy note.  Now, I know leg amputations aren’t exactly bright and happy.  That’s why I’m including some more photography, of flowers that remind me of my prettier, more lighthearted dreams.

Enjoy, everyone!  Talk to you tomorrow.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

All photographs Copyright Jacqueline E. Smith EXCEPT the one of Ben Barnes.  Sadly, I do not know him.