On My To Read List: Tuatha and the Seven Sisters Moon

Author website: http://www.dvonthaer.com/SalemEdition.html

Tuatha and the Seven Sisters Moon

Book Description:

Julius Caesar wrote of the Celts: "The Celts were fearless warriors because they wish to inculcate this as one of their leading tenets, that souls do not become extinct, but pass after death from one body to another..."

Seven Sisters. The infamous collection of stars align with the full moon on Hallo’een, alighting the sky for a destiny that’s waited centuries. Dru, a gifted, but tormented witch living alone on the coast of Ireland wakes to find Ty, her long-time love, mysteriously disappeared. In Paris, Katerina, an oppressed but talented dancer bravely takes the stage in one final performance before escaping a life of tyranny, looking for a freedom she’d only known in dreams. Aodh, The Dagda, a man made of ancient legends, has slumbered for two millennia. Tonight, when the moon is full and the stars are aligned, he rises from his temporary grave to find the world is not as he remembers. His people, his family, his tribe have vanquished, along with the majority of his considerable power.

Chance takes him to Dru, and together they set out to find the key to reopening his world, whilst forming a bond of friendship neither has ever previously known. During their search, Dru learns Ty was no mortal man, but a god with a prophecy to fulfill. Ty died before fulfilling that prophecy, setting off a chain of events that would forever alter the future. Devastated, Dru abandons Aodh and the life that should have already been hers, and finds herself in the company of the worst sort. She begins a sordid affair with Kas, a daemon whose insatiable lust for power is only outdone by his lust for Dru.

Separated from the only friend he knows, Aodh is left to search the world alone for answers. He meets the young and beautiful dancer, Katerina, and is instantly smitten with her grace and purity. He stays near her, pretending to be mortal, gaining her friendship. But on Katerina’s birthday, just as Aodh is ready to concede to a life of mortality, Katerina is ripped from him by Kas. Aodh’s ideas on remaining mortal are no more; he has to unlock the secrets to his world that will open a trove of unimaginable power to save the two women he loves, before time is no longer in his favour, and he loses everything.

Purchase Tuatha and the Seven Sisters Moon on September 25th 2009 and receive a free bookmark that matches the beautiful limited edition cover.

Teaching - A Love/Hate Relationship

I love teaching my creative writing class this year. I have a wonderful group of eleventh and twelfth graders, some of whom sincerely enjoy writing, others who are "along for the ride" because they need an elective credit. But now at the end of the second week of school, they are all playing along with my creative games, and seem to be enjoying them. It gives me a chance to talk about writing, and encourage other people to write.
Writing to me is not just a way to someday make enough money to quit teaching (although that would be nice), it is therapy, a creative outlet, a way to fill time when I am alone, a way to allow my imagination full rein. And all I need is a notebook and a pen.
I have kept a journal for almost twenty years, which amazes my students, and amazes me sometimes too. And although I don't look back at them often enough, the act of writing has been immensely valuable to me over the years. It is this "act of writing" that I am trying to instill in my students.
Now comes the "hate" part. I don't use the word "hate" very often, but I HATE grading the mountains of homework and classwork from my three ninth grade English classes. After spending several hours of my precious Saturday yesterday grading papers and entering the grades into the computer, I went for a walk -- a fail-proof way to come up with creative ideas.
I have a plan. I won't bore the non-teacher readers with the details, and I rather want to give it a try before I share my ideas anyway. But I am taking back my time. The hours I spend grading papers is not equivalent to how good a teacher I am, or how excellent an education my students receive.

Home Again and Still a Writer

After a lovely and inspiring week at a writers' retreat in Wales, I am trying to hold on to my writer's soul. Who couldn't be a writer with the rugged mountains of northern Wales as a backdrop, and sheep grazing in a nearby pasture for added interest? I didn't have to cook since fantabulous meals were prepared for us. The atmosphere of the workshops was so gentle that I felt no pressure to share my writing, which allowed me to comfortably share.
I even sold a few of my books!
Now I am back in Pennsylvania, trying to sell a car (whose battery is dead at the moment), and prepare for a new school year. Tomorrow I will see the first day faces of my students in 9th grade English, creative writing, and Spanish I. And I forgot to clean the litter boxes yesterday. (I know -- TMI.)
I scheduled today as a writing day -- well, most of it. After about an hour of work, my husband came to tell me he thought we ought to go out and try to start the car. "Now?" I said. "Well, yes," he replied. "Give me twenty minutes," I countered.
So my writing day is interrupted. But I did speak up for the twenty minutes.
It will take a while to train my husband, and myself, that my writing is a priority.
The last day of the retreat, our facilitator said, "How are you going to change your life?"
I am making my writing a priority.