We never lose those we love...

While I was finishing my manuscript for The Whispering of Trees, my mom, who'd been helping me with the story, died unexpectedly.  

Needless to say, I was devastated, a lost soul, and even the merest thought of working on that manuscript was too sad to contemplate.  Then, one night, several months later, while I gazed up at the moon and stars, talking to Mom and Dad, Mom tapped me on the shoulder and whispered in my ear.

"Carla Yvonne Bourgeois, you finish that book."

And, like Aggie, the main character in the book, when my mother used all three of my names, I obeyed.  Finishing that book was hard.  But, I took my mom's "advice" and finished it.  A few weeks later, I was offered a publishing contract.  Thank you, Mom! 

I believe we are all connected to one another and to the earth by the electrical energy with which we are composed and that surrounds us in every living thing, every molecule of air, and every speck of dust in the universe.    

When Mom died so suddenly, I was broken, shattered into a million pieces.  But, I found that it helped a little to imagine her energy floating up into the universe to be rejoined with that of the love of her life, Dad.  I close my eyes and envision them mingling with the energies of all those we have loved and lost, and dancing through the stars, and I smile.

Now, a little over a year later, I miss them more than ever, but when I look up into the night sky, I feel my parents smiling down upon me.  I feel the energies of all those I have loved and those whose energies I have connected with even in a small way, and it brings me comfort to know that one day, hopefully many, many, many years from now, we will meet again, and dance through the universe.       

The Whispering of Trees is available now!

I'm very excited to announce that my latest young adult novel, The Whispering of Trees, is available for preorder now and only at
http://www.blackrosewriting.com/childrens-booksya/the-whispering-of-trees.

If you would like to purchase my book prior to the publication date of April 7, 2016, you may use the promo code: PREORDER2016 to receive a 10% discount.

Thank you!!
C.Y.B.

The Whispering of Trees Publishing Contract

I have some exciting (at least for me) news to share!

I was recently offered a publishing contract for The Whispering of Trees, my new young adult novel.  My publisher, Black Rose Writing, has set the release date for April 7, 2016.   

I'll keep you posted if there are any changes.

Thank you for reading!

The Whispering of Trees

Here's an excerpt from Chapter 1:

  Aggie, deeply asleep, snuggled into her pillow, arms wrapped around her well-loved Mr. Maple Tree stuffed toy.  As the bright galaxy spiraled in, her lips curved into a smile in anticipation of another of her lively interactions with The Sister Whale.  The sparkling lights of the galaxy suddenly went dark.  Aggie flinched, her fist opened and closed.  The middle of the spiral went oily black, and her smile morphed into an open-mouthed grimace.  

  Her eyeballs moved rapidly from side to side under fluttering lids.

  A huge black sperm whale, his tail and fins tattered and bloody, flew at her.

  She moaned.

  He opened his mouth wide.  Something dark and viscous boiled out of his gaping black maw along with words she couldn’t comprehend, but carried a clear threat. 

  She tossed. 

  His breath assaulted her.  It smelled of death.  Then he smashed bloody teeth together, and red mist sprayed over her. 

  She threw her hands up to ward it away. 

  Blood ran in rivulets and dripped from his ragged tongue. 

  She thrashed. 

  Flames danced and flickered from his flared blowhole.   

  She whimpered.  “Please.  No.” 

  He turned his demon head to stare at her with blistering red eyes.  He opened his mouth again to scream at her with the fury of a thousand demons, filling her room with the sounds of hell.

     I recently read a post and the comments that followed in which the author of said post was making the point that as writers we are all in this together and should strive to be supportive of one another.  I certainly agree wholeheartedly as did most of the commenters who followed the original subject of the post.
     One, however, veered off subject a little to mention rude criticisms posted by readers of our work, not pointing the finger of blame at any one group in particular, just at readers in general.  This particular comment opened the little can of worms I keep locked in an old rusty file cabinet in the back of my brain in a dark corner of my Vault of Nasty Comments from Readers.  One fat, juicy worm squirmed to the forefront of my mind bringing with it the memory of that time I and my work were the unhappy recipients of a particularly mean-spirited and, I must say, highly inaccurate criticism that caused me to seriously doubt my skills as a writer.
      While it is true that even one unkind criticism can open a writer's floodgates, inundating us with a million and one doubts about the quality of our work, being so unkind as to criticize a book that obviously hasn't been read past the synopsis is especially mean-spirited.  
     When it happened to me the first thing I did was shed a few tears and swear.  Then I took a deep breath, counted to ten, and read it a second time, mining for tidbits of constructive criticism.  I did find one or two helpful-in-general suggestions and took them to heart.  The remaining comments went in the trash instead of the can of worms where I save the especially mean ones for later use in kicking myself when I'm already down.  But that's a post for another blog.  My point is that even the sharpest of criticisms can sometimes carry within them a helpful snippet or two, but please read the work, post, if not constructive, at least, accurate criticisms.
     I, and I'm guessing all of my fellow writers out there, would be ever so grateful if commenters would, accurate or not and before hitting Enter, put themselves in the commentee's shoes and temper their criticisms with a just smidgen of kindness.
 
     P.S. Luckily for me, a few months later that work I mentioned earlier (my first novel) won an honorable mention in the 2013 Paris Book Festival bringing with it a renewed faith in myself as a writer.   

Still working on it...

Hi! 

I'm still working on #2, Visions of Mortality.  It's been a bit of a struggle...I have been unable to decide who's telling the story, Shelby or Larita.  I've now decided that VOM will be told from Larita's point of view.  So, I had to change everything.  What a drag, but now that's done and I can continue.

 Most writers recommend that you keep writing and not edit till you're finished with the narrative but, unfortunately for me, I have a real problem doing that.  I always edit during writing.  I can't seem to stop myself from going back and changing things on the fly.  Oh well.  On with the show! 

First Novel Wins International Award!

I am thrilled to announce that my first book, a novel entitled Visions of You, has won an award at the 2013 Paris Book Festival!

When I opened my email and saw the winner’s list announcement, I thought, “Eh, why even bother to look?  I’m sure my name isn’t listed.”

Well, I couldn’t stand it so I looked anyway.  My next thought was, “Holy crap!”  There it was - number five on the honorable mentions list in the young adult category.  This may not seem like a big deal to some, but ask any writer and he/she will tell you, it's a big deal!     

Thank you to the Paris Book Festival for the nod of approval, it inspires me to keep going and a huge thank you to my sisters, mom, and the friends who read my first drafts and encouraged me to keep writing.  I love you guys!