It’s Saturday, and I thought I was going to have to squeeze a response to the prompt into this introduction, since we have a guest today. But Linda G. Hill saved the day by giving us the perfect, as far as David and I are concerned, Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt:
“Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is ‘happy place.’ Write the first thing that comes to mind when you think of ‘happy place.’ Have fun!”
Our guest today is Willow Willers, of Willowdot21 fame, and she is joining David, Chery and me in our happy place.
If we were having a beer, we’d need to get moving.
“I am glad you picked up on the sense of urgency, Dan. I didn’t come here today to hear you blather on. Where’s Willow?”
“She’s coming, David, in fact I think I see her yacking with Cheryl up by the main entrance.”
“Let’s go girls, while we’re young.”
“Geeze Louise, David calm yourself. I wanted to make sure Willow didn’t end up in the lounge.”
“Sorry, I get excited when we have a guest.”
“Willow, welcome to The Island View Café.”
“Thanks Dan. I’ve been looking forward to this visit.”
“We all have. First things first, an adult beverage to make our happy place a little happier. What would you like to drink, Willow?”
“You wouldn’t by any chance have Jam Shed Shiraz, would you? If not, Cheryl, I’ll have whatever Shiraz you recommend.”
“We just got an order of their wines. I’m pretty sure I saw a Shiraz in there. What about you boys?”
“Is Modelo back on tap?”
“It is, Dan. And David are you up for something different this week?”
“No, I’m having my usual John Howell’s Special.”
“But David. Yesterday was the first day of Old Fashioned Week.”
“Old Fashioned week? Isn’t that an Elijah Craig thing?”
“Yes, but I make a mean Old Fashioned, and I can make it with John Howell’s Bourbon.”
“OK, I’m sold.”
“Great, I’ll be right back.”
“So, Dan. How exactly do you know Willow?”
“That’s an interesting question David. Willow, I’m not sure when I first started following you, but you’re one of the bloggers I knew first from your comments, on my blog and on others’. Your comments always feel genuine. You seem to enjoy supporting the blogging community?”
“I absolutely love the blogging community, Dan. I can honestly say that I have made so many real friends on WordPress. In all honesty the people I have met blogging, be it virtually or in person at the bloggers bashes that I have attended, have truly helped me through recovery from physical and mental pain of life changing accidents and operations.”
“That’s a remarkable statement.”
“It’s true, David. Then they put up with and supported me through withdrawal from prescription pain killers that I had become addicted to.”
“So the blogging community help save you?”
“Yes, I can honestly say that they have really saved my sanity and my life. It’s not all doom and gloom the community have seen me through good times too and shared their ups and downs with me too. So, I really am so happy to pay back anyway I can. Support here, a kick up the bum there, a review, a visit or even just a virtual hug!”
“Well, you certainly jumped in to help me when I released my second novel, and I’ve read helpful comments and wonderful posts on your blog for many others.”
“I have learned over the years that there are so many beautiful and good people out there. I am rambling on aren’t I …to sum up the blogging community are mainly what they say on the box and we all do our best to support each other.”
“Here you go. A nice glass of Shiraz – to help you ramble – a John Howell’s Old Fashioned for David and a Modelo draft for Dan. And now I have a question for Willow.”
“Thank you, Cheryl. What would you like to know?”
“I associate you with so many things on your blog, Tanka Tuesday, Wordless Wednesday. I love poetry and I think it took me a while to discover your prose. You write several ongoing stories, and they are all good. Do you have a writing preference?”
“Well thank you so much for that compliment. I started writing poetry, which is my first love, there are so many wonderful poets on WordPress, way too many to mention and I’d hate to miss anyone out! They have all inspired and encouraged me. I even started writing stories and sagas in verse. Then I found my prose voice and the rest they say is history.”
“I know David is only familiar with your poetry, so I want to share something from the beginning of ‘Sofia’ for him.”
“Sofia: How it all Began
Willow Willers
It was dark not the dark we know but deep pitch eye searing black. It smelt too it flew up your nostrils and burned your throat it made your eyes water. All around there were flames and the sound was indescribable.
“Yikes, Willow. That’s an incredible opening. I need to start reading that.”
“Sofia, yes, she’s a fallen Angel on a trek through eternity trying to find her way back to heaven. Traveling through the world as it grows and evolves…I know where she is headed and where she will end up…. Funny thing is she has an eternity to get where she is going, me, I don’t have enough time!!”
“Are your stories written, ‘as you go?’ I guess the word is Pantser. I thought I read that you have a plan for one of your characters, but I also read in a comment that sometimes you don’t know where the story is going until the next prompt. Can you fill us in on the process?”
“It depends on which story I am writing, David. Definitely stream of consciousness is my preferred style though with some of my stories I have definite story lines , a goal, start, middle and finish but I still let my mind wander and go with the flow.”
“I’ve been reading ‘Merlin, Morgarna and Morgause’ but I think I came in midstream. Can you tell us a little bit about the background of this story? Is it driven by K.L.Caleys writephoto prompt?”
“It is most definitely driven by K.L. Caley’s #writephoto which she valiantly took over from our sorely missed Sue Vincent. I have a definite character basis for the main protagonists of this series and the recurring goodies and baddies but it’s also written, stream of consciousnessly as until the prompt photo arrives I have no idea where the story is going next! I wrote a preface to set the characters up then went from there. Morgarna and Merlin are my favourite characters they are always bombard me with ideas and vying for attention…. Morgarna usually wins in their love hate relationship!”
“I like the things bloggers come up with in response to that prompt. Were you doing that prompt when Sue was running it?”
“Yes, Chery. I wrote the Vampire the Werewolf and the Witch the same way when Sue was running #writephoto. It certainly makes for twist and turns in the plot! Mind you, Sofia, Four Maids, The Vlad Stories, Little Mae and Polar Bear, were all written to a plan and marked out plot!”
“I have to ask, your profile says, and you’ve mentioned in comments and posts, that you’re ‘the mum of three boys.’ I grew up with one brother, but my mom always said she was ‘raising three boys’ as she included my dad in the mix. Do you feel outnumbered?”
“Lol I do rather.. three sons, a husband and two grandsons…there is only my daughter-in-law myself and our wonderful dog Ruby who are female! But I am used to it and I would not have it any other way.”
“I had boys as well, Willow. I prefer the company of males – less drama.”
“My hubby worked away a great deal and often at short notice, so I had to be quick on the uptake and be boss and not bossed in the nicest possible way!”
“That’s kind of like the way I manage these two.”
“OK, if we’re done male bashing, I have another question for Willow. I clicked on one of your poems on SoundCloud while getting ready for your visit, and I enjoyed it very much. I listened to Diamond – (Diamonds in the dust).”
“Ah! Really you chose that poem, Dan. That’s strange because it really is about the value of true friends. After both my accidents I discovered how a lot of so-called friends suddenly disappeared when the going gets tough… you really find out who your interest real friends are…who your real diamonds are and how much your diamonds in the dust are worth.”
“Listening to a poet reading their poetry is always a treat. Are the poems on SoundCloud your favorites? Are the readings something you might add to? I imagine it takes a lot of time to support that, and blogging takes enough time as it is.”
“I would like to read more poems and stories but it is very time consuming and I have not done a spoken blog for years… plus I am not keen on hearing my own voice. I would not say those spoken poems are my favourite ones more that they are important to me and have special meaning.”
“You are an excellent storyteller. Whether I am reading a few lines of a short poem, or one of your longer stories, I feel like I am part of the scene. I feel like I know the characters shortly after meeting them…”
“Um, Dan, there’s really not a question there.”
“I know, David. I guess I’m back on that plotter/pantser thing. How well do you know these characters and places? Do they evolve as you write?”
“I am definitely a pantser even when I plan something out! I am delighted to hear you feel as if you know my characters and the settings because to me it’s all real, I have to be honest I am right in there with them.”
“When Dan told me you were coming to visit, and that you didn’t only write poetry, I began reading ‘An Arthurian Tale‘ This is another tale that has made it to the top of the page (the menu) and this one you say is completely from your imagination. That must be a wild place. Can you place this tale in time for me? I’m just curious.”
“It is a wild place, David. That tale starts with the story of Boudica who led the uprising against the conquering forces of the Roman Empire in AD sixty-sixty-one. I mixed her with stories about King Arthur who became popular before the eleventh century. Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia regum Britanniae, written between eleven thirty-five and eleven thirty-nine. So I was mixing eras and taking folklore and legends and mixing it all up! There is all sorts mixed up in that tale. I wrote that circa two thousand thirteen and it needs a lot of polishing.”
“Well, I am enjoying it.”
“You appear to be enjoying that Old Fashioned, too. I brough everyone another round. Willow, you recently had a very busy time when you were away from writing. You’re back now. Do you miss writing when other things in life take over?”
“Yes, I do indeed as writing is my safety valve, the one thing in my life that is truly mine. …Also, I miss everyone in blogland, I love to read and comment on everyone’s posts.”
“I read on your About page how you started blogging. Was the passion for writing always there, or did you discover it after your accident?”
“I always had a passion for writing but as a young and busy mum I found it too difficult to find enough me time to write. As a child I was always making up stories and writing them down…I was always in trouble at school for being away with the fairies!”
“One last question, Willow. You and I are almost the same age. While everyone is shaped by the era in which they grew up, do you feel that there was something special about the fifties and sixties?”
“You know Dan I think the fifties was a gentler time than now. The news good or bad took time to travel, childhood then was a less complicated time of playing out and learning on the hoof. We were all healthier and more free! Family values were different then. Don’t get me wrong there was much about those times that were bad, attitudes, racism, wars, cruelty and child abuse it was all there but no so in our faces. Well, that’s how it feels or is that just nostalgia?
“The sixties bought such change…music, freedom, I left school started working, I’d met my husband and I was married by nineteen seventy-one. Yes, again the changes came with the sixties but still… nothing really changed…in a way Dan, I feel it never does. That’s where your Trilogy is reading so true.”
“Thank you for that. I think it’s more than nostalgia. I think we were more contained in our world. But I think you’re right, things and people haven’t really changed. Now, I think Cheryl wants to know if we’re having anything to eat. This place makes amazing pizzas. You’re the guest, what would you like on our pizza?”
“Oh! Pizza sounds lovely, but nothing too spicy, chicken and mushroom or sin of sins mushroom, ham and pineapple!”
“Ham and pineapple. I think I dealt with that in that book you just reviewed, but you’re the guest. And this has been a delightful visit. Thank you for joining us today, Willow.”
“Thank you, Dan. I’ve been looking forward to this ever since you invited me. It has been fun meeting all of you.”
All five of my current books are now available in audio book form thanks to Amazon KDP’s Virtual Voice process. The voice is AI generated, but I can honestly say, it’s pretty darn good. The audio books are reasonably priced (all below $7 US) and, if you already own the Kindle version and want to add an audio version, you can do that for $1.99. There is a five-minute sample on the book page for each book. If you’re interested, click on any of the Dreamer’s Alliance book links below the image or on the link below for my latest book.
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