Hi everyone! First, my profound apologies for taking so long to share a new blog with you. I have had to face a few facts recently–including this: however much I love communicating with you all, I’m just not an instinctive blogger!! To make up for this lack, I will be including links to 5 guest blogs I have written before I sign off tonight. That way, you can binge on “Rachael Pruitt blogs” while waiting for me to come up with a new one 🙂 And, yes, I will try to get back here in early August with an update! (If it’s any consolation, I have been at work, writing Dragon Harp’s sequel, Dragon’s Breath. 🙂
GOOD NEWS: I received some spectacular news this Friday, that lead me to tonight’s blog topic: DRAGON’S HARP has just become a FINALIST in the 2012 GLOBAL EBOOK AWARDS. My catagory is “Ancient Historical Fiction”!!!! Before I move on, I would like to offer my deepest thanks to Global Ebook Awards and the hard-working expert judges in each catagory. I would also like to extend my congratulations to my fellow Finalists and also to all of my fellow authors who entered not just this competition, but any other. I know exactly what it takes to put your novel “out there” and hope for the best! Kudos to everybody involved.
I encourage everybody to visit the GLOBAL EBOOK website and explore Dan Poynter’s vision. Even better, after reading the comments after the Finalist announcements, do please feel free to add your own–either tagging mine or independently. In the process of advancing in this contest, I am discovering yet another writing community & I invite you to connect with them as well.
As a new author, I sometimes find myself literally reeling when I recognize that, yes, I REALLY AM A WRITER–I am being recognized as such, and doing all the things published successful authors do–I am teaching workshops, giving speeches, teaching classes to encourage other aspiring writers, meeting with critique partners, etc. Honestly, folks, it’s heady stuff. Thank you for being a part of it!
With the joy of my new role, comes 2 other components–responsibility and a deep sense of gratitude. As a teacher, I feel a responsibility to encourage and inspire others to the best of my ability. As a creative artist, a lover, a friend, and a mother, my gratitude is to the Universal Source (whatever we may individually name the Divine) for granting me this precious opportunity.
Yes, it has taken a great deal of hard work and patience to get my book in front of readers–and the price tag has often been costly: both emotionally & financially. Yet, I have truly been granted the opportunity to see & to live my dream come true. Even better, as I watch it unfold now, I know this is just the beginning..that I am being granted the life that I have always wanted–a creative life in which I can write award-winning novels that reach others & a life in which I can continue to teach children & teens how to develop their own creative magic. HOW CAN IT GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS? I can’t wait to find out!
I am describing this to you not simply because I’m bubbling over with happiness tonight–although that is certainly a part of it 🙂 — I am also sharing these feelings in the hopes that you, too, are either living the life of your dreams–or taking steps to begin to! Readers, what I have been blessed to accomplish in the 4 short months since Dragon’s Harp first appeared in print is nothing short of miraculous. To hear from fans how much Harp has meant to them, to read glowing reviews from strangers who have been moved by the struggles of Gwenhwyfar, Merlin, Ceridwen, Cadwallon, Rhiannon, Lleu, Tali and the rest of Dinas Emrys, and now to be receiving a Finalist Award for Ancient Historical Fiction, judged by experts in the genre—well, folks, it truly is like entering an enchanted and wonderful world.
I thank each & everyone of you who has already read & enjoyed Harp-and those readers who will share its pages in the future. I hope I am communicating that what is happening to me, can happen to you as well. Yes, you must take risks to go for your dream. Yes, there are challenges–often challenges that seem insurmontable. Yet, if you persevere, learn & hone your craft, stay strong & believe not just in yourself, but in a benevolent Universe–then perhaps, just perhaps, you will discover that angels really do have your back!
I’m just like you. I just decided one day that my dreams mattered enough to go for. I have certain skills, yes, but so do you! Each of us has a unique gift to offer the world. So please, dear friends, don’t settle for anything less than what you really want to do in life. Go for what you really want–and trust that you will receive it. It ain’t always easy, but the rewards really are worth it.
And never forget to be grateful. There is simply so much richness in our world–the slant of early morning sun on a child’s face . . . the smell of pizza roasting on the summer boardwalk at the Jersey shore . . . the laughter of old men chuckling together over a chess game. Life rocks– it truly rocks–remember to say “thank you” …
I also like to remember to “give back”. Whether it’s putting a little extra in the plastic donation box by the 7 Eleven checkout or volunteering a few hours a week at a homeless shelter–give something back to make someone else’s live a little easier.
Smile at a stranger. Blow bubbles for your cat. And don’t ever forget to dance.
Two closing quotes (thanks to Sarah Ban Breathnach’s “Daybook of Simple Abundance”):
“Today a new sun rises for me; everything lives, everything is animated, everything seems to speak to me of my passion, everything invites me to cherish it.” –Anne De Lenclos
“How to be happy when you are miserable. Plant Japanese poppies with cornflowers and mignonette, and bed out the petunias among the sweet-peas so that they shall scent each other. See the sweet peas coming up…Drink very good tea out of a thin Worcester cup of a color between apricot and pink..” –Rumer Godden
So, here’s to new suns and Worcester cups between apricot & pink–for us all!
Until next time, dear readers!
Check out the links below for more of my blogs:
This guest blog at my friend Lori’s writing blog is about fantasy writing & some of my favorite fantasy authors:
The following four guest blogs are posts I wrote during DRAGON’S HARP’S blog tour in March & April 2012: The topics are listed beside the links: Enjoy!
1)March 14: Guest Post about Celtic Dragons at The Musings of a Book Junkie, hosted by Allison. http://themusingsofabookjunkie.blogspot.com/2012/03/to-those-of-us-who-dream-of-dragons-by.html
2) April 5 Guest Post: Rachael Pruitt, author of The Dragon’s Harp: “Dreaming the Dawn: Writing an Arthurian Novel: http://www.2readornot2read.com/2012/04/rachael-pruitt-guest-post.html
3) March 29 Guest Post “Goddesses, Queens, & Mermaids: Women of the Arthurian Legend” at Amy Bruno’s “Passages to the Past” Blog
4) March 7: First Stop: Guest Post about Arthurian Legend at The Book Owl Blogspot hosted by Siobian http://siobianthebookowl.blogspot.com/2012/03/book-tour-author-guest-post-rachael.html
A Final Link: DRAGON’S HARP Cover Artist Jo Jayson and I were interviewed on Cecily MacArthur’s telesummit in March about “Gwenhwyfar as a Goddess and Queen: Her Message to Women Today”
TELESUMMIT REPLAY LINK:
That’s all for now, folks! Have a magical summer….See you in August 🙂
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