ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

It's so exciting!

Next month, VBT – Writers on the Move is having its ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

To celebrate this accomplishment, we are having a STUPENDOUS Blogaversary Tour!

Daily postings and daily prizes! But, that's not all, we're still having our Mystery Site Giveaway: the Anniversary PRIZE is a $25 (US) GIFT CARD.

Visit the VBT – Writers on the Move blogsite for all the details.
http://vbt-writerso nthemove. blogspot. com
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You can use this or change it or create your own!
Karen

Art at Viros

The Art Hall at Viros.

In the foreground:
Paintings by Makis Zervos

On the right:
Mine.


Corfu in Oil, by Agis Xomeritakis

(This one is a huge painting!)








Oil painting
by Agis Xomeritakis






Mr. Balanikas, the president of the Cultural Center of Viros











Some of my paintings.








From left to right: Agis Xomeritakis, Ina Geroyianni, Yiannis Metallinos, Liana Metallinou

New book review!

Elemental Shaman
One Man’s Journey into the Heart of Humanity, Spirituality & Ecology
Omar W. Rosales
Llewellyn Publications
Woodbury, Minnesota
www.llewellyn.com
ISBN: 978-0-7387-1501-8
2009, paperback, pp.268. US $ 18.95
Non fiction/spirituality/adventure


Reviewed by Liana Metal
http://lianastories.blogspot.com

Omar W.Rosales, an adventurer and explorer, holds an honors degree in anthropology and law. Learn more about him at www.elementalshaman.com


Elemental Shaman is a quest into the spiritual world of shamanism. The author travels around the world and explores spirituality through the practices of the spiritual masters around the globe. The book is divided into 4 parts, starting with the element of fire, where the author talks about the significance of ashes, explaining all the ancient rituals and meanings connected to this element.

Having a background in religion studies, Omar tries to interpret ancient civilization predictions such as that of the Maya, referring to the year 2012 and the end of the world. The readers will follow his quest into spirituality and ecology with ample interest to learn about his latest discoveries. Omar also talks about dreams that connect shamans to pagan traditions. The style is simple enough to apply to readers from all walks of life. It is certainly an enjoyable read that will grip the reader with the mysteries the author describes page by page.

Elemental Shaman caters to those who love spirituality, magic, mystery and adventure. Get this book from www.elementalshaman.com and online stores.

Invitation to Viros Art Hall

Apart from the paintings, the children's book

The White Snail

is going to be presented to the public.

Coffee Time

Coffee Time paper, the local bilingual paper of Corfu island has released the October issue.

To read it click here

http://www.coffeetimecorfu.com

What you can read (in English):


Things we, locals, like and dislike on page 3

An interview with a Corfiot painter on page 4

Cinema reviews on page 6

Plastic bags -the issue on page 8

Back to school on page 18

Asthma on page 19

Useful Tips on page 21

Horoscope on page 23


Have fun!

Liana

Margaret Fieland-part 2

Today we are going to learn more about Margaret's work.

Her book, The Angry Little Boy, is going to be published in the near future. Here is a taste of it:



Chapter 1: At Grandma's House

Alvin’s eyes burned and his chest felt tight. The last time he'd visited Grandma he'd driven there with Mom and Dad. Now Mom was dead and Dad still in the hospital. Alvin peered out the window of Grandma's car as they passed through Millbank and down the tree-lined road leading to Pine Crest Point. As Grandma drove past the lake with the community beach, down the street, and into her driveway, Sam, Alvin's collie mix, put his front paws on Alvin's lap and barked.

"Yes, Sam, we're here," Alvin said, ruffling Sam's soft ears as they all climbed out of the car. He turned and noticed how thin and frail his grandma looked from the last visit. Her once vibrant gray curls were now faded and wispy looking.

Sam bounded down the hill ahead of Alvin and Grandma. They followed him down the flagstone path, down the hill, past the rock garden. The marigolds, petunias, and geraniums lifted their faces to the sun. Alvin's nose tickled as he breathed in the spicy scent of the flowers, and remembered how Mom loved to work in the garden whenever they'd visit.

The stained brown ranch came into view once they'd cleared the large trees. Sam waited by the porch.

Grandma unlocked the door, and Alvin followed her into the big living room. Paneled in pine, it had windows on both ends, a dining table to the left, couches and chairs on the other side, and a large fireplace in the middle.

Sam trotted up and dropped a ball at Alvin's feet.

"Grandma, Sam found a ball."

"Sam always manages to find a ball." Grandma stared at Sam, who opened his jaws and grinned a doggy grin. "You two go outside if you want to play catch. No playing ball in the house."

"That's what Mom always said." Alvin's throat felt tight. He frowned and rubbed his eyes.

Alvin pushed open the door and went outside. Standing on a flat spot in front of the house, Alvin threw the ball up the hill and Sam chased after it.
An hour later, Grandma called, "Alvin, time for dinner. Come in and wash your hands." By that time the now deep red sun hung just over the horizon.
"Grandma, when will me and Dad have our own house again?" Alvin said, when seated at the dining table.

"I don't know, Alvin. I don't know whether your father will try to rebuild your old house when he gets the insurance money." Grandma handed Alvin a hamburger and put one on her own plate. Alvin took a big bite. His throat felt almost too tight to swallow.

"I miss our house. I miss Mom and Dad. I wish everything would go back the way it was." Alvin's lips trembled. He swallowed hard to get rid of the big lump in the middle of his throat.

Grandma looked at him. "Alvin, you're nine years old. That's old enough to know your mother isn't coming back."

Alvin ate a few more bites. Grandma put down her half eaten hamburger and stood up. "I guess we aren't very hungry tonight. Let's clear the table and wash the dishes. Then you can brush your teeth and get ready for bed."
Alvin picked up his plate and glass. He followed Grandma into the kitchen, Sam at his heels.

Grandma put the dishes on the kitchen counter. "Scrape the hamburger into the trash and then put the dishes into the dishpan. I'll wash and you can dry."
"We could give the hamburger to Sam. I'll bet he's still hungry." Sam sat by Grandma's feet and panted hopefully.

"Hmmph," said Grandma. She broke the hamburger into pieces, put them into a bowl and placed it on the floor. Sam grinned, then started to eat.

"At home Dad always did the dishes. All I did was clear the table." Alvin looked out the kitchen window at the front yard. He could feel the soft breeze through the open window. The sky was a dark blue with a few fluffy white clouds. Grandma's flowers swayed back and forth. It looked very peaceful. "I wonder if Mom can see the flowers from Heaven?"

Grandma didn't say anything for a long time. Finally, she said in a brisk voice, "I'm sure she can.”

Then Grandma continued, “Here we both clear the table, I wash and you dry." She handed Alvin a blue and white striped dishtowel. "Stack the dishes on the counter and you can put them away when we're finished. You're as tall as I am now so you won't have any trouble reaching the cabinets.”

"At home Mom always left the dishes in the dish drain and put them away in the morning."

"I like my dishes in the cabinet," Grandma said as she pressed her lips together. Alvin remembered when Grandma came to their old house she always dried and put away the dishes and Mom would get annoyed. It made him smile to remember. Dad always used to stay out of the kitchen when Grandma visited.

"All I have is one pair of pajamas, Grandma," Alvin said later when they walked out of the kitchen.

"We'll go shopping tomorrow," Grandma said. It made Alvin feel funny to think that his beloved quilt and all his clothes and books were gone forever.

"Mom used to read to me every night. We'd just started The Fellowship of the Ring." Alvin glanced at the full bookshelves as they passed through the living room.

"We can buy you another copy. Or I might have an old one of your father's around somewhere."

"No thanks, Grandma. It wouldn't be the same. When we stopped, Mom said we'd read more tomorrow. That was the last thing she said to me. Except goodnight and stuff." The image of his Mom sitting beside him in bed reading to him made his chest tighten again.


You can contact Margaret here
http://www.margaretfieland.com

Meet Margaret Fieland

This month we have with us a multi-talented person, Margaret Fieland!
Margaret is a computer engineer, a musician, a poet and a writer.
Enjoy her interview!



Tell us about yourself first.

I'm a native New Yorker, born and raised in Manhattan, though I've lived in the Boston area since June of 1978, just after the big blizzard. I live with my partner and our seven dogs in the suburbs west of Boston. I play the flute and the piccolo, write primarily poetry and children's stories, and earn my living as a computer software engineer.

When did you start writing?

I started writing poetry as a teen, then continued on, writing poetry for friends, family, and significant others for pretty much any occasion I could think of. I enjoyed (and still do) rhyming, and developed my own algorithm for generating rhymes. I make frequent use of my thesaurus when writing, but rarely resort to rhyming dictionaries.

What genres have you written?

Poetry, nonfiction articles, children's stories, one or two stories for adults, technical documentation .. pretty much everything, though my first love is poetry, and now writing for children.

Is The Angry Little Boy your first book?

My book, "The Angry Little Boy," is unpublished as of now.


Tell us about your book. What is it about?

It's about a little boy who loses his mother in a fire, and he and his father go to live with his grandmother.


What inspired you to write this book?

Many years ago now, a close friend lost his wife and four children in a fire. He was pretty much of a mess after that, and while there was nothing I could do to change the real, horrible, outcome for him, I could and did decide that I would write a story where the father and the child survived. I didn't want any dead siblings, so my main character is an only child.

How long did it take you to write it?

The first draft was 5000 words and I wrote it in a weekend. It's been over a year since I wrote that first draft. This is probably the third major revision.

Who is the publisher of your book?
Where is it on sale?

It's not -- yet.


Tell us about your other books/work.

I have a collection of poems about mathematics that I've started sending around seeking publication, and I'm most of the way through the first draft of my second novel, also for children.


What are the major challenges that you have faced in your career?

As a writer? Taking myself seriously, and making finding time for my writing a priority.


Has the Internet helped you in your writing career?
How?

In several ways. I started writing for publication because of the internet. As a computer professional, one who's had to deal with lost data in my professional life I'm paranoid about losing documents, so I keep copies of my work online, currently in Google documents, which I love.

Several years ago, when I first started keeping my stuff online, I was home alone over Christmas vacation.. All the rest of the family was out, and I was reading a favorite ezine, when I noticed it had a poetry contest and that I had a poem which fit the parameters of the contest. I submitted it, and it was one of four finalists. It didn't win, but I was tremendously encouraged, and started working on my poetry. I joined a couple of websites with poetry forums. In one of them I learned about the Muse online writers conference. I joined another forum as a result of the conference, and started writing fiction.


What do you advise new writers to do?

Write, write, write. And keep backups of your documents, and keep them somewhere it's easy for you to get at them. I can't emphasize enough the benefits of being able to get your hands on your work, and to be able to look back over it. When I was scribbling in notebooks, I never reread my work, in large part because my handwriting is so awful even I have a hard time rereading it.

Thank you!


Contact details:

Margaret Fieland
blog and website: http://www.margaretfieland.com


More about Margaret on the 3rd of this month.

Thanks for visiting!

Liana