Belle resides somewhere north of Houston, Texas in a small inconsequential town with the smallest most inconsequential name. There, in the shady reaches of the pines, elms, and oaks, she daydreams of adventures and secrets that she weaves throughout her stories.
Having studied literature at University of Houston, Belle has been known to consider teaching at the college level someday.
Guest Post
I have been daydreaming stories for
as long as I can remember. My first recollection of wanting to be a
writer was when I was in the second grade, and my teacher, Mrs. Rambin, would
have us lay our heads on our desks after lunch while she read us stories full
of magic and imagination.
Most of my early writings were
stories with a twist of science fiction…even my earliest poems. I
remember sitting on the dam of a neighbor’s pond around the time I was eleven,
writing a story about space travel. In fact, I still have that little
handwritten story. It’s still bound in the same yellow notebook that I
put it in way back in the sixth grade!
Growing up in Nacogdoches, the
oldest town in Texas, afforded me summers full of adventure with my
friends. I call on those adventures and memories a great deal for my YA
stories. Cicada has a lot of the energy of those childhood
adventures spun throughout. One of them is something that actually
happened to me when I was thirteen years old. I was on one of my
adventures in the woods with my dog, Dusty. We made our way through the
woods to a neighboring pasture and crawled through the barbed wire fence.
When we got to the top of one of the rolling hills in the grassy field, I
realized I was standing in the middle of a giant circle imprinted in the
pasture grass. No one had ever told me about crop circles at that time in
my life, so I just thought it was an odd occurrence that there was a strange circle
in the tall grass. Now that circle is forever memorialized in a YA
novel, Cicada!
Firefly, book two
in the Cicada trilogy, builds on the
spirit of the ties between my high school friends and me … that includes my
brother, John, too. Because we were all one
big group just like the characters in my books.
Just like my characters, we had our favorite hang-outs and
activities. The exception is that my
brother drove a black and gold Firebird instead of a pick-up truck! Riding in his hotrod was super-fun! And everyone at the high school would stop
and stare when we rumbled in to the parking lot in the mornings.
Andrew,
my main character’s big brother, is a lot like my big brother in many ways. He’s protective of his little sister and
loyal to his family. He’s a hard worker
and a true blue friend. And he’s not
embarrassed to include his little sister in his group of friends. I think my favorite part of writings these
books is the bond between the group of friends.
Of course, the familial bonds are important, too.
Through
all that happens to my characters in these books, one thing rings true. One can overcome an obstacle and make it
through any trial with the love and support of family and true friends.
Cicada
Summertime for Blair Reynolds and her friends had always been carefree and fun... until the summer they happened upon something that was not human. As they band together in a fight for their lives, Blair's true love becomes something more than human. Something unnatural. And their survival depends entirely upon their ability to keep a secret.
“The darkest days are ahead of us,” Andrew whispered as the drape of shadows slipped away, allowing Blair to awaken. And in her heart of hearts she knew it was true. The unmistakable signs were all around her, growing within her. She was becoming something more than human. All she could do was accept the inevitable.
“I’ve become a freak … an alien. I no longer belong to the human world,” Blair told her true love, and he held her close, determined never to give her up.
“I’d stay in this darkness forever as long as I could be with you. Wherever you are … that’s my home.” Everett meant every word. In fact, he’d willingly give up his own life to protect the girl he’d always loved.
But there was a storm brewing … a firestorm so strong and catastrophic that it could keep them apart forever.
That storm roared into town wearing a brown leather bomber jacket and riding a motorcycle.
Ash was like a secret in human clothing … a dangerous secret. Everything about him was mesmerizing – right down to the swirls of ink that flowed over the smooth muscles across his chest and around his arms. Being with him was like playing with fire.
Blair knew all about playing with fire.
She knew something else, too. A small quiet voice deep within whispered that she really would be separated from everyone and everything she’d known and loved.
Because some secrets run too deep.
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Thank you for featuring me on your lovely blog, Kathy! <3
ReplyDelete~Belle