Your Friday Tidbit -- A Haunting We Will Go

Happy Friday everyone! Welcome to the last day of March. I'm not entirely sure where today's post will go. I haven't had the time to sit down and really put a lot of thought into it, but, that's basically how I write. I never know where I'm going with writing, so let's just see where we end up. (And in case you're curious, the graphic and title are always done AFTER I finish writing these.)

So I've been busy these last few weeks, attempting to decide which is better: A new laptop or organizing my house once and for all. Obviously, a new laptop would be excellent for writing. It could also allow me to get that long-time family genealogy project out to my relatives, too, because then I could easily organize all those photographs and post cards a lot faster. The thought thrills me, really, because every time I *think* I'm finished with the written aspect of that project, I get more DNA matches or find more historical tools and then I'm down that rabbit hole. And then after all that, I question my formatting. Not everyone in my family are genealogists so charts and complex descriptions won't work for those just wanting to know the stories of the family. This then leads me to different word processing software and new technology goodies that they are putting out and then it all takes me back to square one, with the fact that it takes me 30 minutes on my current 12 year old laptop to insert and move one family photo around the page. Patience is a virtue I have always been challenged with. And then my other option, home organization, who am kidding? I have three kids in three different phases of life, I'm NEVER going to be organized until they move out. 

In among all of these thoughts and decision making processes, I write. I write every day. I was amazed to discover this week that this new story I'm writing (The one idea that came to me WHILE I was writing my collection of short stories, Could've Been Something) is actually a novel. Not only is it a novel, but it is going to be part of The Allegheny Chronicles, which is apparently going to be a real actual series (and is causing jubilee and excitement among my Chronicles fans.) It's also great news for me because I'm going to have at least 4 books that will be released over the next two or so years. Pure excitement!

While two of these new books may belong to the Chronicles, one is going to be a total stand alone. This novel is going to be my ghostly murder-mystery novel that I've discussed with you before. This time of year always makes me think of that novel in particular as the big heavy clouds share the blue sky and the sun goes in and out. It's not totally cold, but it's cold enough. The wind is blowing, the air smells of wet mud, water, and grass. Some areas are getting green with life, while other areas are still in the winter hibernation. I'm not sure what it is about it, but it seems as if it's perfect haunting weather. I caught an episode of the 'paranormal' show "Paranormal Caught on Film" recently. I'm amused by that show simply because they intentionally don't explain or mention more logical explanations for some videos (for instance, a flaming tree in the middle of the woods could have been a smoldering lightning strike from a few days earlier, not simply a sign from Hell.) But all the footage of strange lights in the skies and shapes or objects passing by. 👽 Weird. Then they have the cryptozoological creatures caught in the woods, 🐻🐾🐊 where they're always blurry enough or the person filming just can't keep the camera still. But the ones that I like watching are the videos with the ghosts and hauntings.👻  Would you want to live in a haunted house? Do you like staying at haunted places? Which is creepier -- an abandoned asylum or a maintained home that is known to be haunted? And when it comes to hauntings, would you want to experience an intelligent haunting or a residual haunting? And would you EVER want to get one of those white noise boxes that speak random words? And what about those Ouija boards? What are your thoughts on those?

First of all, I'd not want to live in a haunted house unless the ghost and I had an understanding. I'd prefer residual over intelligent hauntings. I'd NEVER want to use those boxes or those Ouija boards. Forget it. I honestly don't want to know. And the most creepiest place in the world is an abandoned or old asylum. And no, I really don't want to know if the woods are haunted too. The neatest episode on the "Paranormal Caught on Film" was in regards to Gettysburg. These two amateur ghost hunters went out there at night and parked near these two cannons. They were chatting away when all of a sudden, this fog appears and transforms into a human shape, walking through the cannons and then just disappeared. From their reactions on film, they saw it with their own eyes. It was cool and creepy at the same time. Ghosts are energy and energy is everywhere. But I'm curious -- When someone says "haunted" or "haunting," what is the first image or words that pop into your mind? 

I'm really looking forward to getting my own ghostly murder-mystery novel out to you. It's basically already written, I just have to do my editing process on it. But I do intend to have those chills travel down your spine. 

Speaking of haunting, don't you love it when characters of a book haunt you? No matter what, you can't get them off your mind. Then someone starts to read the book and talks about it and then you begin to think about that book even more and it gets to the point where you're like, "OK, I give up. I just gotta read that book all over again." That's been happening to me lately. Now I've got to spend a few hours at night, starting to read my Portrait of an Unlikely Affair series all over again. I suppose I just start thinking about where the new reader is in the book and I think about what they've read and then I realize all they have to read to the end of the book. It really gets to a point of no return and then you just can't put the book down and you're dedicated to finding out what happens. Of course, then I'm thinking of the characters and how they react. I wonder how would you be if your were put in a situation like that? What if I knew someone like these characters? What would I think about them if they were real people? And then, before I know it, I'm staring at the book on my book shelf and my will is not strong....

And on that note, I think I'll let you continue on with your day. Thank you for hanging out with me. I appreciate it immensely! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!💕

You can find all of my books in one easy place: www.amazon.com/author/embrooks

You can also keep up-to-date with me several different ways, including my blogspot location: TheAuthorEmBrooks.blogspot.com.