B is for Bard

Welcome to Frankly Scarlett's April A to Z Blog Challenge.

This year my theme is A Goddess' Glossary and we are looking at terms utilized by Goddesses, Priestesses, Shamans and Witches. These are terms that might occur in my new fantasy series, Paisley Cove.

B is for Bard

In medieval Gaelic and British culture, a bard was a professional story teller, verse-maker and music composer, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or noble), to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.

William Shakespeare is known as the Bard of Avon and William Wordsworth is known as the Bard of Rydal Mount.

In the new novel, coming soon, The Charm Of Paisley Cove, our main character Phoebe, escapes her mundane life to spend three months at an East coast writer's retreat called, Paisley Cove. Phoebe's hope is to unearth the best-selling author she thinks was buried within her at the age of sixteen, following the death of her father.

Come back tomorrow for C is for Charm.

~*~
Scarlett Loving life in Cuenca!

A is for Automatic Writing

Welcome to Day 1 of Frankly Scarlett's April A to Z Blog Challenge.

This year my theme is A Goddess' Glossary and we are looking at terms utilized by Goddesses, Priestesses, Shamans and Witches. These are terms that might occur in my new fantasy series, Paisley Cove.

A is for Automatic Writing

Automatic Writing is writing said to be produced by a spiritual, occult, or subconscious agency rather than by the conscious intention of the writer.

Some believe this is through channeling another person or entity from another time or dimension. Sometimes the writer might be in a trance, or dreaming, or "in the zone" where they are focused more on the thoughts occurring in their mind as opposed to a crafted piece of writing.

One who is automatically writing could theoretically be in a state of prayer, communing with nature, or in meditation. 

Come back tomorrow for B is for Bard.

~*~
Scarlett,
 Loving life in Cuenca!

I'm Late! April A to Z Theme Reveal

It doesn't happen to me very often. I'm that annoying person who is always a half-hour early to every thing. I HATE to be Late!

So here's the truth. I wasn't planning on participating in the challenge this year. I'm trying to organize my life around my writing and I'm discovering there just are not enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do. And then, this morning happened.

All of a sudden the thought was in my head. Circling around all the other thoughts of what's on today's agenda and the new book I'm writing, there it was. Louder than the rest. Flashing. In neon colors.

You have to do the blog challenge. Here's your theme.

Before you start advising me to see a neurologist, or have a cat scan let me assure you, these flashing neon words in my mind are a common occurance. I really don't want to freak out the entirity of the medical profession, so let's just keep that between us, okay?

I'll admit. I yelled a profanity or two. I have a friend staying with me. She heard me from the other room and asked, "What's wrong?!" 

"I'm doing the A to Z challenge."

"What's that?"

Well, let me tell you, when I explained what the challenge is, I could see in her expression that she couldn't fathom at all why the profanities were spewing. I guess she thought I broke a toe or something.

Anyway, I sat down to construct my topic list and it only took about 30 minutes to populate the whole alphabet. So, yep, I'm gonna do it, and talked two friends into doing it too. I bet by now, you are on the edge of your seat and growing tired of the banter. You want to know what the theme is this year, don't you?

Last year, I let characters from my Suspense series, Providence in Ecuador write the blog. But this year I am writing a new series. A fantasy series about witches. No, not broomstick riding, Grimoire toting witches. Real witches. So this year's A to Z challenge theme is A Goddess Glossary.

Come back in April to hear more about our main character Phoebe, a burdgeoning author, who discovers things about herself, she never would have imagined. Truth is mightily stranger than fiction. I might slip a few nuggets in from the new series called Paisley Cove.

See you next week!

 
~*~
Scarlett
 Loving life in Cuenca!

End of a Year, End of an Era, and a New Year is born

I haven't written in awhile and I have plenty of excuses. I'm not someone who usually says, "Oh this has been a terrible year and I hope the new year is better." I realize every year has good and bad. The end of 2016 was probably my worst ever year ending. But too many good things happened to me and for me earlier in the year for me to feel much like "Out with the old! In with the new!" Although I've always loved a new year, because I love beginnings. For me, New Years are the mile markers of life.

For my faithful friends and followers, here's a glimpse into my very personal life, more personal than I've ever written in a blog, just so you know what's going on with me.

Mom and I at Carnival in Cuenca.

In November, my mom and I made a trip back to the old country. To meet a new family member, my neice, and see as much of the family as we could squeeze into 10 days. It was slightly bittersweet, as my mom said goodbye to everyone. She told them all, "This is my last trip back, if you want to see me, you'll have to come to Ecuador." She loved her new home. Something no one, not even my mom expected to happen.
And then, just 15 hours after we returned home, drinking coffee and talking about the future, my mother suffered a massive fatal heart attack. It was shocking and devastating. She was 72 years old, diabetic and had heart issues, but she was SO full of life, it was hard for everyone to wrap their heads around her being gone. It still is. My mom was my biggest fan. She talked the ears off of two poor ladies on the plane about me, my books, and Ecuador. It was kind of embarrassing at the time and I wish I had told her how much I appreciated her for that. I hope she knew because I didn't get the chance.

Mischevious Mom at a New Year's celebration- I believe this is 2014 in Cuenca.

Two weeks later we held a fabulous New Orleans Jazz style memorial service for her at her favorite restaurant in town with a live Jazz Trio. We danced. We sang. There were enough flowers to cause allergy attacks for miles. Almost everyone at the service had something to say, about her love of life, her grace, her sense of humor, her love of family but above all else, her beautiful smile. And then, we ate and we drank. My great friends here wove a hammock of support and a shawl of loving arms around me for the weeks following her death. I knew I had more friends here than I've had since probably my college days and maybe more. But I never dreamed or imagined what they could do when needed, and how comforting that would be. Or in how many ways they would find to cradle me.

But then when my son returned home from traveling to her memorial service in the States, he found one of his dogs was critically ill and we also lost our beloved KitKat to cancer. I still can't write any more about that.

And then my besties Sandra and Wayne- who had been with me daily since my return from the States, who made sure I ate- even if it was pie for lunch, and helped me get through the daily chores that seemed like mountains, suffered their own crisis. Wayne had a massive heart attack. After 5 days in ICU and then triple bypass surgery, he made it home in time to ring in the new year. I thank them for allowing me to include their personal story to help account for a couple of weeks in my life.

See Wayne's New Year Video- really you don't want miss this!

So the end of the year for me was exhausting and sad and terrifying, heartwarming and joyful. And I'm looking forward to 2017.

I'm still finding my new normal and getting my legs back underneath me, but here are my goals for 2017 and what you can hope to see from me.

I just can't work all the time. Because I have this network of beautiful people who are my rocks, and my shawl of love. I need to have coffee with them, walk along the river, and share a piece of cake or two along the way. And you know sometimes they have challenges and catastrophes too and I'll of course, be there for them.

But I am also beginning to help writers. Think of me as a personal assistant for writers, taking care of the annoying and/or overwhelming parts of the business so they can continue to write more and faster.

And I haven't stopped writing. Well, okay, honestly I haven't written much the last two months, but here is what's on the horizon from Scarlett Braden (not necessarily in this order):

Book 4 of The Providence In Ecuador series: Find out what happens when the Ecuador Roses discover a wanted expat in their midst.

7 Degrees of Wisdom: I'm participating in this project, the brainchild of writer Joss Burnel, and am very excited to be included. More about that later.

The Frangapani Venture - A crime series of shorts for when there's nothing on tv.

And a new fantasy series, Paisley Cove- for women who wish they could wiggle their noses and the vacuuming commence and believe in the concept that there is still life to live, friends to make and knowledge to gain at any age.

Please stick around to see what other adventures are looming around the next mountain. And thank you all for your love and support.

~*~
Abrazos y Besos
(Hugs and kisses),
Scarlett,
 Loving life in Cuenca!

Promises and Unintended Consequences

When I began the Friends in Foreign Places project I had hopes and dreams. It was exciting and I hoped that the project would help settle the anxiety I had of wanting so desperately to DO something to help the people in my new home.

And as the stories came pouring in, the anxiety subsided, and a quiet joy, that I was doing something replaced it. As I read the fabulous stories, some of them poured from the deep recesses of the writer's hearts, my excitement grew. And I made a promise, to do everything I could to make it a best seller. And we promised that all the proceeds would go to help the families on the coast at the Proyecto Saman camp.

Well, when we began our sales a little over a week ago, everyone was on board. Motivations, hopes, and dreams were at a high. But I never dreamed we would hit #1 in two of our categories before the launch party was even over. And I thank you all. All the writers, who wrote such great stories, our proofreaders, artist, cover designer and publisher. Everyone helping with the social media blast, sharing posts and building excitement. Telling their friends and families about the book. To Cuenca High Life and Gringo Tree publications for telling our story. It was pretty emotional. But something else unexpected happened. An Unintended Consequence of magnitude proportions. Even bigger than that 7.8 magnitude earthquake that totally decimated so much of our northern coastal cities.

Sarah Hanenbauer told us more about the families living in the Proyecto Saman camp. You see, this area is one of the most poverty ridden areas of the country. Houses and buildings were substandard construction and it's why they were reduced to dust when the earth shook so violently. She told us, many of the families living in the tent village say they've never lived so good. This earthquake happened where there is no FEMA, no State Farm Insurance, no unemployment, no food stamps. There is literally no help, except donations. And education is a real luxury few can afford. Therefore the illiteracy rate is high.

So, when our friends volunteering at Proyecto Saman, told the families that the extranjeros (foreigners) from high up in the mountains were writing a book to help raise money for the community, the residents wanted something else. They want to learn to read, and they want to learn English.  Because they want to read the book we wrote for them. And at the new learning center at the camp, they are doing just that.



Folks, this has been an emotional time, and I'm not too proud to say I've shed quite a number of tears. But a week later, every time I think about teenagers and adults learning to read, to read our book, the faucet turns on again.

SO, to the people at Proyecto Saman...we will make you another promise. You learn to read. And thanks to Sandra Materi, Karla Sanchez Arismendi, Fannie Villegas, and Sebastian Torres Vallejo, and bilingual volunteers in Cuenca, the book will be translated into Spanish in the coming months. To the families of Proyecto Saman, with love, from your friends in the Andes.


Are you crying with me yet? Well, there is one more unintended consequence. When the Ministry of Immigration heard about our book, they asked one of our Cuencano writers what it was all about. When he told them, they wanted to know when it would be available in Spanish. Because they want to read it. All of them. They want to know about our experiences in their country and as expats. So that maybe they can make the process of living here better and easier for us.

All you need is Ecuador and all Ecuador needs is love!

Thanks again to everyone involved! I can't say it enough. Now, I'm focused on finished Terror on the Bluff, book 3 in the Providence in Ecuador series. #Amwriting

To purchase the book in ebook format Click Here
To purchase the paperback in the US Canada or Europe: Click here
To learn more about Proyecto Saman or donate directly: Proyecto Saman
To join the crowd-funding campaign to buy a bus for the kids to get to school and the adults to work in the city: Big Red is Dead


Abrazos (hugs) from Ecuador,



~*~
Scarlett
Loving life in Cuenca!