The second excerpt of my fiction story, "Whispers in the Woods" - I was going to wait a day or two but figured time didn't matter in this case. So, here it is: 

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          The day had began to clear nicely but once in the woods, the 20- to 30-foot trees cut out the mid-day sun quickly. Emma was surprised by how dark it seemed so early in the day but attributed it to last nights story and the wetness of the pine-needle covered ground and canopy. Walking deeper into the forest, Banjo slowed his pace and came to walk beside her. Continuing on, she looked for tracks and listened for anything like what she had heard yesterday.

          Suddenly, she heard the ghostly call! It sounded like a creepy toad flying overhead- ROARK ROARK! Then she heard “hello”. Banjo barked and ran ahead. Emma called out to him but he kept going. She followed her dog, deeper into the woods, shivers now danced along her spine.

         All at once, she found herself in a small clearing. Emma could smell smoke and thought she saw a small fire through the next stand of trees. She slowly walked forward, wondering where Banjo had disappeared to.

         Jumping at  the sound of “hello” next to her, she glanced to her left and saw a raven perched on the branch of a very near pine tree.

          Well, that explained the strange sound! Ravens can make all kinds of interesting sounds. Emma had just never been around any. This one was beautiful: iridescent colors to its wings, eyes so black the shine reflected her image. Wings nearly brushed her face as the bird took off from the pine branch and flew toward the small fire. “Come on”, it said. Shaken and feeling more than a little out of her element, Emma followed slowly, still wondering where her dog was and why he’d left her.

           As she walked through the next stand of trees, Emma came to a campfire. There sat Banjo, with an older woman and the raven, wagging his tail and looking quite pleased with himself, as if he’d led Emma to this delightful place.                                                                                                         

       “Come and sit Emma”, the older woman invited and motioned to a log near the fire.

         Emma was shocked! How did this woman know who she is?! The look on her face must have said everything she was thinking as the woman smiled, not unpleasantly. “I’ll try to explain everything”. 

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 Since I started this blog to share some of my writing, I thought I'd post the story I wrote for my fiction writing workshop course. It's a total of almost 7 pages, so I'm going to post it in excerpts...first excerpt tonight will be the first page. 

    My story is called "Whispers in the Woods"; I used the authorial name of AD Hazelett instead of April - trying out pen names if I write fiction. This story was written in January and February of 2021. Hope you enjoy - and don't forget to check back for another excerpt in a couple of days!       

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       Even as the coastal winds moaned through the trembling tall trees, Emma heard the ghostly call. She’d heard it several times as the afternoon slid into evening. Now twilight was deepening into darkness and investigating would have to wait until morning. 

As she finished feeding her furred-menagerie and headed in to start her own supper, she told her furry companions “If I hear that sound again tomorrow, we’re going on an adventure”.

      Emma quickly threw together sauteed vegetables with pasta and sausage, poured a glass of wine and sat down to unwind with a movie and her two cats and three dogs.

As the movie ended, the storm let loose- winds howled and sheets of rain pummeled against the house. “Well, I hope whatever we heard has shelter”.

Emma expected sleep to come easily, but something in the night kept gnawing at her. Just on the edge of sleep all night, she heard the thunder roar and the rain as drops mingled with sheets against the house.

      After a fitful night, Emma woke late to a drizzly morning with the promise of sun behind leaden gray coastal clouds. Dressing warmly in sturdy but comfortable jeans, t-shirt and hoody combination and hiking boots, she had already decided to go hunt for the source of the sound from yesterday. A quick feed and check of her menagerie, Emma also prepared her daypack. Shortly after arriving in the northwest four years earlier, she’d figured out never to go anywhere without the barest of necessities.

       After a quick and simple meal of coffee and oatmeal, Emma turned to the woods with Banjo her retired search and rescue dog and they started what was believed to be a rescue mission.

 After a lifetime of wanting to write, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans and I have no idea how many hours applying to numerous writing jobs- I still sit, unhappily in a rut. Sure I was hired as an independent freelance contract writer two days out of school but I can count on one hand how many orders have come through there since I was hired… And either they were rewrite requests or something not within my expertise/something I felt I could do within the deadline. 

So, someone please tell me. How is a novice writer supposed to break into this apparent closed field without experience? Even the job postings that say “no experience necessary” or “for new/beginning writers” apparently go to experienced writers or the hiring company just ignores the applicants. 

Please. I beg of someone to explain this to me. Or give me some valid suggestions. 

Thank you. 

I cannnot believe what I just saw on the news...censoring books!? I thought we, as a society, had learned something over the years. But I guess I was wrong. Not that that hasn't happened before - oh, so many times before. But censoring books? Seriously people - books keep our minds sharper and our humanity in tune. There is the crutch - humanity. I have seen less and less of true humanity over the past year or so with the pandemic overshadowing our lives. Domestic violence and overall crime. It's not enough that the virus has taken over our lives. We have to let our inner idiots take over too. Well, not me. I'm going to read every book I can get my hands on and if I can get a copy of the so-called 'censored' list, I'll read those twice at least! When someone tells me I can't, that's when I become a driving force to do just that very thing... 📚 

I promise, this is the last post tonight. But, the entire reason for my starting this blog was to get some of my writing out to others. So, with that in mind, I am going to post one of poems...now I'm no poet but one of the last courses I completed in my BA program was Poetry and I actually enjoyed it. Hope some of you enjoy my work: this is called Nature in the Night

 Twilight’s evening, darkness gathering-

stars twitch on overhead.

Night bugs rattle a clatter sound

over the murmur of a babbling brook.

Leaves whisper secrets to one another

as the wind blows gently from limb to limb-

Birds flit between these branches,

their colors bright against late summer’s green.

One last feed before settling in for a soft cool night.

A haunting howl from a high-country wolf

drifts down through the quietening meadow.

All is still for the brief echo of a moment

CRASH – a mule deer hurtles through the trees,

across the meadow and disappears into the

forested shadows. And night falls, the first long shadows

of early night before the moon rises.

Her majesty, the full moon brings new

Shadows to the woods –

Stealthy movements of night creatures

on paw, hoof, and wing as they move about-

foraging and searching, hunting and preying.

Moving about in careful and precise motion.

 Hi everyone...just wanted to share really quickly. I have started a fundraiser on my Facebook page (shared to Twitter and Instagram as well) to raise money and awareness for Best Friends Animal Society. This is in honor of my 50th birthday at the end of this month. I have gotten the ball rolling with a $25 donation. 

I can't think of what my life would be like without my furry children. They greet me at the door every day when I come home from work and are there any time I need to talk. They are my family....

Forgive me for posting pix of my babes on the first day, but this is what you've gotten into!

 Good evening everyone...this is April and I want to welcome all to my new blog Reading Nature. 

This is my first post on September 17, 2021. I want to invite anyone who has reading/writing experience or pleasant nature and/or animal-related stories (or both) to join me in posting. Pictures are also welcome, but no X-rated anything. I won't appreciate rude or trolling behavior - this is not social media. 

My reason for starting this blog is to write and tell stories and experiences and to communicate with others of the same mind-set. I graduated with my BA in English and Creative Writing from SNHU's online program July 1 of this year in an attempt to recreate myself and start a new career after 30 years in nursing. My passion was to write green pieces for animal and environmental conservation and maybe I can do a little of that here. 

I live in Harper, TX and share my life with my furred menagerie of two dogs, several cats as well as barn critters and wildlife. 

Please feel free to share and be nice or I will find a way to delete what I feel is not appropriate for my new blog. Thanks and welcome....