Moonlit Dances

This year I am participating in a flash fiction Dash hosted by Rosalie Valentine over on her blog. Make sure to go check out the wrap-up post on June 11th. There are going to be a lot of great stories there.
I had a lot of fun writing this story. It took me about an hour from the time I got the idea to the time I posted this. I had played around with a few different ideas before and none of them had worked. Then I started writing with no sense of direction and this is what came of it. I hope you like it.
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The prompt Rosalie sent.

MOONLIT DANCES, by M. A. Starr.

I close my eyes and listen as the sweet sound of music fills the air. Never have I felt so lost to reality, or so close to nature.

When I open my eyes I am still standing by the laughing brook in the sun filled clearing. The music has stilled for a little while, but I know it will come again. I just have to wait long enough.
 The sky starts to turn gold and then crimson. It casts a rosy light in the clearing. It bounces off the winding brook. It makes my heart sing for joy.
As the last rays of sunlight leave the clearing I look towards the woods and wait. After some time I see them heading this way. I wait a little longer. They have come.
Hundreds of light blue butterflies swarm into the clearing, bringing with them the music I had heard before. They danced around the clearing, bidding welcome to the light of the moon and the stars. It fills my soul with joy and laughter.
I close my eyes again to listen. Slowly, I begin to drift back into the world of tomorrow. I smile as the soft light of the moon fills the clearing with happiness. Then I begin to dance. 

A Month Gone By

The Book Nook: The Hobbit-J. R. R. Tolkien
The Mirror-Hunter Chronicles-R. M. Archer ( she is releasing it tomorrow.)
The Night Archers-Kate Willis (I beta read it. She will be publishing it sometime this year.)

Writer's Cove:
I worked on outlining a novel again. It went a lot better than last month.

Blogger railroad:
The Mirror-Hunter Chronicles-Book Review

Craft Island:
Peter's gift (a Buzz peg doll)
Lettering

Goals for April:
Write 10k words in my story
Make a peg doll
Write in my journal more then this time last year
Work on lettering
Write 2 blog posts

Goals for May:
Write more in my journal then this time last year
Write 2 blog posts
Read more
Work on my sewing

And that was my April.

The Mirror-Hunter Chronicles-Book Review

Today I  get to be part of a blog tour introducing R. M. Archer's fantastic story to the world.  My part of the tour is a book review, so lets dive in. (I received an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)  

The blurb: All the fairytales you've heard are wrong. They've all been twisted to be acceptable for general consumption, but I'm here to set the record straight.  I'm Solem Anders, Mirror-Hunter, and this is what really happened.

A Series of Unfortunate Events meets Disney in this short story series as Solem Anders pursues a volatile magic mirror across Ambrel, seeking to destroy it and end its trail of tragedy. But when princess Eira steps in his path and enlists his help to overthrow her mother, he is lured into her Pack by the promise of information. Is this the shortest path to the mirror, or just a treacherous diversion?

With the mirror barely out of reach, Solem's time is ticking away, and he'll lose far more than a princess when the clock strikes.

                                     _______________________________________________

The Mirror-Hunter Chronicles is a wonderful retelling of a lot of different fairytales mostly told from one mans point of view, Solem Anders. There are five chapters in this book. The first two are retellings of Jack and the Beanstalk and Hansel and Gretel, and the next three chapters have some retellings sprinkled  around (Alice Through the Looking Glass, Snow White, etc). My favorite was Hansel and Gretel's story.
I really liked how she twisted old fairytales and gave them new meaning. And Kinely. I love Kinely. She is my favorite character by far. The ending is wonderful as well. It is so bittersweet, and I like that it doesn't end "and they lived happily ever after" because it makes it feel more believable.I give it five shooting stars.
If it were a movie I would rate it PG because of the way one of the characters dies at the end.

She is publishing it in six days, so keep an eye out for it on Amazon.

R.M. Archer has been an avid reader since she was a toddler and has always been a lover of stories. Her first exploration of the other side of the page was a mystery at age seven, and though her preferred genre has changed, her interest in writing has not. She's a homeschooled teenager living with her family in northern Virginia.

March in Review

The Book Nook: 
The Least of These
Kiera- both by Kate Willis

Writer's Cove:
I tried to outline a novel, but it didn't work. Other then that, not much.

Blogger railroad:
February

Craft Island:
Japenese Lanterns
A gift for Josiah


Goals for March:
Outline novel
Write one short story
Journal more then this time last year
Work on sewing skills
Write 2 blog posts
Make a peg doll of one of my characters.

Goals for April:
Write 10k words in my story
Make a peg doll
Write in my journal more then this time last year
Work on lettering
Write 2 blog posts