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Valkyrie

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  1. Valkyrie

    October 2006

    By Valkyrie,

    Ten years ago today, I left work and headed to my car, cursing the light snowfall. While not unheard of, snow in October is rare in my area, especially early October. I headed home, figuring that it would stop and melt off fairly quickly--a dusting, at most. By the time I turned onto my street, it was evident that this was no mere dusting, and we were in for a lake effect storm. On October 12th. I made it home early enough that I was able to park in my driveway. I spent the evening listening to thunder and lightening along with the snapping of branches and crashes of tree limbs. I'll never forget it.
     
    My power lasted until about 9:30 that night. It went off in the middle of a very intense episode of CSI. It would remain off for ten days. I lived in the hardest hit area. The next morning I ventured outside to about eight inches of snow. I had no food in the house because, of course, it happened to fall when I needed groceries. I found that fallen wires saved my car from being crushed by a tree limb:
     


     
    And my beloved hawthorn tree was folded in half like an umbrella:


     
    The street was riddled with fallen trees and branches, along with cars that hadn't made it into driveways. I walked to the corner store, hoping that they were open and doing a cash business, but they were closed. My cat and I ended up staying at my parents' house for a week, since they had a wood-burning stove. My parents' 90 year old next door neighbor also stayed with us. My aunt was lucky enough to still have power, so her house was the gathering spot for us all to get a hot meal and do our laundry.
     
    The area lost tens of thousands of trees during that storm. The weight of the snow was too much for the fully-leafed trees, so the branches snapped like matchsticks, turning the area into what looked like the aftermath of a hurricane.
     
    The storm came during a time of transition for me. I was working two part-time jobs at the time and was miserable at both. I applied for a new job and gave my notice to both my other jobs when I was hired shortly thereafter. To be quite honest, I took that job because I had to. I needed to work to pay my bills, and there was nothing else available. I expected to be there a year, maybe two, tops. Next month will be my ten year anniversary there.
     
    It took ten days for power to be restored, over a month for my phone service to be straightened out, and the landscape was forever changed. When I look back now, I'm amazed at the difference in my life in those ten years. Sometimes change is good.
  2. Valkyrie
    I wanted to give an update to let everyone know what writing projects I have in the works. Chapter 19 of "The Hollow Hills" is almost complete and will be sent to my team soon. I hope to have it posted within the next couple of weeks. I am very appreciative of all the support I've received for this story. I know my posting speed is excruciatingly slow, but it's very important to me that I focus on producing the best story possible vs. cranking out chapters quickly and not being happy with them. I'd like to think that the end result will be worth the wait.
     
    I have ideas for two anthology stories - one for the fall anthology and one for the special anthology. I hope to be able to get both written in time for inclusion in the anthos. I also have two ideas for Halloween stories. Halloween is my favorite time of year, so I'm excited to write on this theme.
     
    I've also started a new novella, but progress on it has been slow. My main focus right now is on finishing "The Hollow Hills" and getting the antho stories written, then I can turn my focus to this one. I don't want to give any spoilers, but I think modern fantasy fans will especially like it.
     
    I'm having surgery on August 25th and will be off work for 2-3 weeks. I'm hoping that once I'm recovered enough physically, I can use that time to really focus on getting some writing done. Oh, and I almost forgot about my zombie prompt story...apparently I have to finish that story as well.
  3. Valkyrie

    Health Update

    By Valkyrie,

    I've been having 'female issues' since the beginning of the year and recently underwent some updated testing. About three months ago, I had an ultrasound that showed a small, septated cyst on my left ovary. I also had a cervical polyp that was removed during the examination. Septated means segmented, and as far as cysts go, that is generally not good. The plan of action was to wait 2-3 months and have a repeat ultrasound. Well, the repeat ultrasound showed that it had doubled in size, so I was told that the ovary will need to be removed. The good news is that my bloodwork came back normal, so it may not be cancerous. I have another appointment tomorrow with the doctor, since they screwed up this appointment and made it with the nurse practitioner. I will have more information then as to how I need to proceed. Needless to say, this is very upsetting to me, but now that the initial shock has worn off I am feeling more optimistic. I've talked to a couple of friends who have had the surgery and they both made it through with no complications. Fingers crossed I will do the same.
     
    Edited for update:
     
    I'm feeling a lot better after my appointment this afternoon. The doctor isn't overly concerned with the cyst. Even though it's septated, all my other tests came back normal so there's a very high likelihood it's benign. I will undergo further testing in a couple of weeks, then we will schedule the surgery. I want to thank everyone for your thoughts and well wishes. GA is such an amazing place and it's all because of you all.
  4. Valkyrie

    Writing Update

    By Valkyrie,

    It's been a while since I've posted anything, so I wanted to give an update regarding my writing. I had a long bout of writer's block, which finally seems to be over. I've had a lot of ideas lately, which is a good thing. Now I just hope I'll be able to write them all! I have three ideas for upcoming anthologies - one of which has been written and beta read. I've started a second anthology story and have jotted down some notes for a third. I have an idea for the holiday story contest, which is still in the fleshing out stage. I've been working a little bit on Chapter 16 of "The Hollow Hills", but it's been hard to concentrate on it when I have so many other ideas bouncing around. I apologize to those who follow THH, but I want to make sure I stay true to the story and put out the best chapter possible. Fingers crossed it will be soon, but I never know which voice in my head will be yelling at me the loudest.
  5. Valkyrie

    Requiem

    By Valkyrie,

    My uncle passed away on Sunday after a long battle with cancer. He was 69. It's hit me pretty hard, even though we weren't particularly close. In fact, my first memories of him aren't pleasant at all. When I was a kid we lived in a house with an inground pool. I hated that stupid pool. My parents had my brother and I take swimming lessons at the Y because neither of us knew how to swim. Those lessons were torture. I don't have specific memories of the lessons, but I do remember that the instructors weren't very nice. I didn't like putting my head under water, so my dear ol' dad decided that the way to teach me was to hold me underwater. So needless to say, I didn't like swimming. Whenever my aunt, uncle, and cousins came to visit my uncle thought it was great fun to chase me until I ended up jumping in the pool. If he caught me, he'd throw me in. I don't think he had any idea how much I hated it when he did that. And people wondered why I liked to spend time in my room when my dad's family came over.
     
    My uncle lived in a rural area on a non-working farm. They had a goat, dogs, and cats, but that was it as far as animals. I loved spending time there. My brother and I would go spend the day or night with my cousins and we would spend the time exploring the countryside. It was great for a country girl at heart. The only thing that marred those times would be when my uncle got drunk and yelled at my oldest cousin. He was a Vietnam vet and an alcoholic. My aunt was in staunch denial about his alcoholism. It wasn't until maybe fifteen/twenty years ago that he had a heart attack and was forced into sobriety. To his credit, he remained sober until he died.
     
    What always amazed me about his family was that despite his gruff exterior, he raised an exceptional family. My cousins are some of the sweetest, nicest people I know. Two of them followed his footsteps into the military. My one cousin was honorably discharged after a motorcycle accident ended his career. My other cousin is still in the Army, having earned his medical degree and is now completing his service.
     
    A lot has come to light about my dad's family over the past few years. It is the stuff of horror novels. It's no wonder that almost all of them became alcoholics over the years. I always admired my dad for overcoming his origins and not succumbing to alcoholism like both of his brothers and his parents. It turned out that that he was suffering from a different addiction - one we didn't learn about until four years ago, but that's a topic for a different blog post.
     
    The wake for my uncle is Thursday. I am going to go pay my respects to my cousins and my aunt. It is going to be a very difficult day for me, since it will be the first time I'll see my dad in almost four years. I feel like I owe it to my uncle, for despite our rough beginnings, I can see he was a good-hearted man who will be sorely missed by all who knew him.
  6. Valkyrie

    Prompt 381

    By Valkyrie,

    I wanted to give a little background into my response to Prompt 381. The prompt was a challenge to create a detailed scene describing an uncomfortable situation. My response can be found here:
     
    https://www.gayauthors.org/story/valkyrie71/2014promptresponses/38
     
    The image that immediately came to mind when I read the challenge was of a person sitting on a stone bridge over a river, contemplating jumping in. I hadn't completely formulated the reason the person was so despondent when I started writing the prompt. I wrote the initial sequence, then my attention issues kicked in so I browsed Facebook for a little bit and saw a trending article about a transgendered teen who had committed suicide.
     
    http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fix-society-transgender-teen-leelah-alcorn-posted-plea-suicide-n277666
     
    The article broke my heart, especially the part where the parents posted about the death of their son. After reading the article, I knew I had found the reason my protagonist was so despondent.
     
    Rory was patterned after a local bus driver who noticed a woman standing on a bridge and pulled his bus over to help her. He talked to her for hours before convincing her to come down.
     
    So there are good people out there and positive outcomes to difficult situations. I just wish that that Leelah Alcorn had met a Rory before she stepped in front of that truck.
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