Look For the Magic by Laura Hunsaker

 In my free short story Amethyst Heat I wrote in a magical ring from the heroine’s aunt Gilly. She doesn't know that it's magic, of course. Not until something big happens. This ring sends our heroine back through time. When people ask writers how they get their ideas, which we do hear often, that's something that doesn't always have an easy answer. But with this story, I do have an easy answer!

I based the idea off of a ring my own aunt gave me when I was a child. While mine definitely hasn’t sent me through time, it does have a bit of its own magic.

See this ring?

My aunt gave it to me when I was seven. She passed away the next year, so while it was already special, that made it even more so. I wore this ring every day until I was ten when I lost it in the summer camp rec center pool. I searched so much for that ring, I had friends helping, camp counselors, and we didn't even catch a hint of the ring. In a crazy twist of fate, I found it 3 months later in the pool drain (that we'd already searched months ago!) when I was diving for (ha) rings.

I called it my lucky ring and wore it for years, even as beat up as it was from the pool filter incident, until I lost it on a choir trip in high school. We were going up to Utah for a couple of days, and I found it on the bus ride back. It was on the seat. I did not sit in the same seat as I had before. Seriously. Lucky ring, guys. So by this point I put it in my jewelry box so I wouldn’t lose it.

Amethyst Heat was the first thing I wrote (2009) and it's very super short, but even though my ring isn't an amethyst, it was the inspiration for the story.

Around 2016, the magic was still working, because I let my youngest wear it. She was three, and I never saw it again...until about two years later! My youngest found it on the ground in my room. We vacuum daily in my household. Daily. How is this ring just chilling on the ground for two years?! It’s once more in my jewelry box for safekeeping. Lucky ring is lucky.

Amethyst Heat is a very short story, about seven pages long, if that. And it's free!

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While out riding, Meg McMurray finds herself on unfamiliar lands. Gone are the long expanses of Oklahoma prairie, and in front of her are the wild Scottish Highlands. How did she come to be there, and did Aunt Gilly's amethyst ring have anything to do with it?

A sweet romance set in the Highlands of Scotland.

The Voices In My Head by Laura Hunsaker

 I was at the day job the other day and someone asked me why I stay up so late writing. The short answer is that it's the only time I have to myself where I'm not taking someone somewhere, playing with anyone, cooking, working, cleaning, doing laundry...I'm sure you get the picture. It's the only time I'm not "momming." So I write until midnight and get up at 5:45 every work day. I'm okay with that.

But my friend asked if I could just write on weekends, or breaks, and I said that I have to write. The stories are all up in my brain fighting to get out. My brain is a pretty interesting and busy place. I have to write to get the stories out, to get the characters' voices to hush. 

She looked at me aghast. 

Is that really that odd? To have multiple stories going on inside the ol' brain? Just me?

So when I got home from work I asked my eldest if it was weird and she said not to her, but that some people don't "hear" anything in the head. I didn't quite understand that so she sent me an interesting link. There are people out there who can't picture things in their mind's eye, and people who can't hear thoughts in their head. I can't imagine having such a quiet mind, but as we've established, mine is quite noisy, so I'm probably not the best judge.

So I bring this to you all: Do you, like me, have a constant inner monologue? Can you visualize stories as you read them as if they are a movie playing inside your head? I'm really curious!

If you want to check out what those character voices are like, my story Highlander Reborn is on sale for $.99 right now across all platforms.

Highlander Reborn begins in Scotland, many centuries ago, where a blacksmith fights for his life and his people. His life is forever changed when Amalia, one of the Nightkind, makes the choice to save his life. But first, he has to die...

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1304…

After Nevin MacLachlan’s wife was killed by a vampire, he made it his mission to hunt them all down. But one late Highland night, in a battle he couldn’t win, one of the Nightkind ripped open his throat. With his blood draining onto the grass, the last thing Nevin sees isn’t a white light; it’s the dark of night closing in on him.

Amalia has been enamored with the blacksmith ever since he first held a stake to her heart. Watching him die was unacceptable. Will he ever forgive her for turning him into what he hates most?

Nevin has lived his life alone for a reason. When Amalia walks back into his life seven centuries later asking for help, he wants nothing more but to turn his back to her. But something about her still calls to him.

Some of the Nightkind in Amalia’s seethe have been killed. It’s up to her to find Nevin and ask for his help. But how can she show Nevin that she isn’t the monster he thinks she is?

When Words Turn On You by Laura Hunsaker

 Moist, and other words.

Words are beautiful. You can have a bunch of words and turn them into a lush and descriptive sentence. You can evoke a scent, a memory, an entire world with words alone! They can turn you on...

And they can turn on you...

I noticed the other day I had no other word to use at work than moist. Mmooiiiisstttt. I swear this word has texture and heft.

One coworker cringed,and the other said she doesn't get why everyone hates that word? It got me to thinking, I don’t really know either? Are there more words like moist that we don’t like? Is anything worse than moist? My teenagers tell me moist is the cringiest word. So I did what any well-adjusted adult would do. I asked Twitter.

These are all answers I got that were mentioned by two or more people:

Phlegm.

Spunk

Damp

crusty

oozing

spurt

Soggy

squelch

gushy

soppin

turgid

The number one word is so gross I won't actually post it, and it did actually have several mentions.

I noticed most of the words people don't like either have to do with being wet (heh moist), or both sound gross, and mean something gross (phlegm).

So share with me your cringeworthy words. Do you agree/disagree with the list I so scientifically compiled through my Twitter ;)

And I absolutely promise, I don't use the word moist at all in my books!

Check them out here on my website www.laurahunsaker.com

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Mackenzie Stewart is in Scotland for a much-needed vacation. During the castle tour, Mackenzie becomes completely enamored with a painting of one of the previous lairds. Two gentlemen come up behind her and, begging her pardon, they kidnap her, dragging her through time.

The men are sorcerers attempting to end a feud that has plagued their lands for years. Their patron has begun to dabble in the black arts, and between his irrational thirst for power, and his dark secret, the sorcerers are frightened. They believe Mackenzie can break the Stewart curse. They try to convince her to play along with their crazy scheme: marriage to the evil John Campbell.

Before Mackenzie can protest, her carriage is halted and the door thrown open. For a split-second she is arrested by the same beautiful piercing blue eyes that belonged in an oil painting.

Mackenzie then finds herself the victim of a second kidnapping...

Her new captor, however, does nothing but tempt her body and her temper. Believing her to in fact be the betrothed of his mortal enemy the Campbell, Connor MacRae originally sets out to capture his enemy’s betrothed. He never thought he would be so attracted to her that he’d want to keep her.

Calling All Time Travelers by Beth Trissel

Writing, or reading, a story set in any historical era is traversing time in a way, as would be a futuristic setting, but I'm referring to actual time travel stories. In my Somewhere in Time series the boundaries of time and space are hurdled in various manners. This idea has always fascinated me, also of discovering new lands. I've been seeking Narnia since childhood and never gave up the quest. C.S. Lewis is my favorite author and has been since I read his Chronicles of Narnia. I'm nothing if not devoted. Any fellow Narnians out there?
"Things never happen the same way twice." C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian; The Return to Narnia
A concept I bear in mind while writing.

The theme behind my Somewhere in Time series is that the story opens in an old home, so far Virginia (I’m a Virginian with deep roots in this richly historic state), and then transports the reader back in time either in the same wonderful old house (I love old homes), or another place entirely such as the Scottish Highlands. As is the case in Somewhere My Lass and Somewhere in the Highlands. Both stories convey the characters to and from 17th century Scotland via a portal in time. The unifying characteristic of the series is the paranormal/time travel element, but the stories themselves aren't necessarily tied together, though some are, and will be. It’s the encompassing theme that matters. Doors play a big role in this series. Behind every door lies a secret, an intriguing puzzle to be solved, so these romances are also suspenseful mysteries.

Fergus, the unlikely hero of my latest release, Somewhere in the Highlands, heads up this fast-paced Sci-Fi Fantasy Time Travel Romance. Untold hours of scheming, dreaming, writing and revising went into the story. Yes, there will be another title in this continuing saga. Don’t ask me when, but plotting is underway. Somewhere in the Highlands is book three in the series, following Somewhere My Love, and is the sequel to Somewhere My Lass. Somewhere the Bells Ring is a hauntingly beautiful Christmas romance.

Blurb for Somewhere in the Highlands: 

The MacDonalds are coming! When Elizabeth MacDonald (a.k.a Beezus Mac) thrusts a sealed gold box at Angus Fergus amid panicked requests for him to hide the stolen artifact, she has no idea the ancient cloth it contains bestows unearthly powers. Red MacDonald knows and he’s hell-bent on traveling 400 years into the future to claim the charmed relic, even kill for it. Protecting Beezus from his old nemesis is only one of Fergus’s problems. 

Before they can stop him, Morley MacDonald, descendant of Red MacDonald, snatches the prize and leaps through the time portal to head the MacDonald clan and kill Fergus’s MacKenzie ancestor. If he succeeds, Fergus will cease to exist. Danger grows in the feud between the MacDonalds and the MacKenzies as the pair, along with an ingenious friend and high tech inventions, returns to 1604 Scotland to face these brawny Highlanders and reunite with kin. Will Fergus overcome his mistrust of Beezus and fan the growing spark between them before they battle Morley? If he waits, it may be too late.~

Excerpt:

Fergus turned to dive after Hal’s hazy form.

No time to glance at his watch. It had been a mad scramble since they first charged through the portal, but five minutes must’ve passed by now. That truck needed to blow!

A loud boom and bright light answered his prayer.

“Fire in the hole!” Fergus shot down to the hard-packed earth and stone below.

Hal grabbed him, breaking his fall. “Always wanted to shout that, didn’t you?”

“Yep.” Fergus swept his gaze over the faces faintly illuminated by the glow from above. “You guys OK?”

“A relative term,” Hal grunted. “But tolerable.”

Beezus gave a short nod. 

“This place is just as charming as I remember. No wider,” Fergus noted.

“Real cozy,” Hal said under his breath.

“Dug by dwarves, I expect. You may need to crouch down as we go along.”

“Counting on it.” Hal again. Beezus was sucking in deep gulps of air.

Fergus fished in a pocket for the LED flashlight and flipped it to green. That hue made everyone appear garish, but would show up less in the gloom. Beezus looked scared spitless, and with good reason. Morley might as well have painted a big red X on her. She was ‘it.’ But Fergus would die before he’d let Morley take her. The problem was, he might not still be here to stop him.

No room to ponder that challenge now. The clicking that emanated from Hal told Fergus his quick-witted friend had retrieved his ultrasonic device to better navigate their way. He’d better think fast too.

“Here, Beezus.” Fergus pressed the flashlight into her trembling fingers. “We can’t risk you bringing up the rear in case we’re pursued and you’re snatched again. Shine this ahead and follow the tunnel. Hal will go next and me last. And don’t look too closely at your surroundings.” He remembered his last trek through this tunnel with rats scattering across their feet, not to mention spiders and pushing through cobwebs. Wishing he could take her into his arms, Fergus laid a hand on her shoulder. “We’re right behind you. And if all goes as planned, Niall waits ahead."

She lifted a quivering chin, resolve in her eyes. “Watch your back.” Snatching up trailing skirts with one hand, she directed the light with the other.

Angry voices sounded overhead.

Fergus snapped, “For God’s sake, don’t they ever give up?” 

“That would be a negative, Captain,” Hal said gruffly.

He tailed Beezus and Fergus brought up the rear. At least the really big men couldn't get through this narrow pass. That still left a considerable foe. Of course, Fergus had smoke bombs inside his coat to toss over his shoulder. And he did. Luckily the breeze was in his favor.

Coughs and curses carried from behind, then a man with a strong Scottish burr roared, “After them, lads!"

Amazon Link for Somewhere in the Highlands, in case you missed the one above.

For more on me, my blog is the happening place and has links to everything else: http://bethtrissel.wordpress.com/

 The Somewhere in Time Series; where the past meets the present.

***Royalty free images. Cover by my talented daughter Elise