Welcome to My Website and Writing Blog
My name is Rachael Pruitt and in this first blog I will explain what you can expect to see here in the future. I am a writer, teacher, and storyteller passionate about many things which I will share here with you. I also believe that–as with any good story or novel—it is readers and listeners who make the story “come alive”. So I would love to hear from you, either via the comment section on my website, my Facebook page, or Twitter. I will look forward to including many of your suggestions for topics of interest on this blog.
As many of you already know, I am delighted to announce the publication of my first novel. It is a work of Arthurian historical fantasy, first in a 5 book series: Era of Dragons: The Lost Tales of Gwenhwyfar. This first book, The Dragon’s Harp, is set in northern Wales during the 5th century CE and follows the coming of age of the young Gwenhwyfar. Merlin appears in the third chapter and will remain through the series. He is, after all, Gwenhwyfar’s Uncle!
Dragon’s Harp is rooted deep into the soil of my research of Welsh mythology and what little is known about Welsh history of the time. Druids, priestesses, dark forces (both human and unseen) abound. There is also a very special dragon, Cymry, whom I suspect many of you will come to love as much as I have. I also assure those of you who care about history that, much as I love mythology and fantasy, the world I have created for Gwen also reflects the historical reality of a very dangerous and bloody time period. My book is written with adult and mature teen readers in mind, it is not a book for children. Please feel free to enjoy the sample chapters, testimonials, & reader reviews I have included here for you.
Amy Bruno of Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours (Passages to the Past) will be organizing my blog tour beginning March 7, 2012. We have 19 bloggers onboard and I’m very excited! Interested readers: I’ll be sharing the tour with you as it unfolds. Please stay tuned for details!
Dragon’s Harp is currently available as a Kindle eBook. By the first of March (2012), it will be available in print to UK readers as well as US readers. Check here for updates.
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FUTURE BLOG TOPICS
For any of you who are teachers or parents most interested in my storytelling and personal mythology workshops & classes, please zip over to the dragon welcoming you to the “Workshop” door. There is definitely some overlap with everything I do, and writers and teachers may certainly be interested in both, but here we will be concentrating on the following topics (at least for our starting place! )
We will be looking at:
1) Creative Writing in general, including tips, resources, and recommended websites for aspiring writers & authors. This will include info for young adult writers as well as those of us who somehow feel we’ve passed the threshold into adulthood (Sometimes I wonder! Do you?!).
2) My Personal Writer’s Journey. This will be offered not because of my ego, but as inspiration for those of you who really dream of writing a book—or a poem or a memoir– and would like some advice and resources on just how to go about doing it. Big and most important tip of all: Ignore the naysayers. They will only depress and confuse you. If you are really determined, you’ll manage!
3) Arthurian Legends: ‘Nuff said
4) Ancient Celtic Cultures of Wales, Ireland, and Europe
5) Dragons in Celtic and World Mythology: Have fun exploring this fascinating topic with me!
6) Celtic Romance
7) Gwenhwyfar, Ceridwen, The Lady of the Lake, Brighid, Boudicca and other Celtic Goddesses and Queens
8) Merlin
9) Arthur in History and Mythology
10) Lancelot’s Mythology
11) Medraut (Mordred): When is a Villain really a Villain?
12) Druids: In History, Myth, and Modern Life
13) Women and Goddesses in Celtic Culture
14) The Power of Fantasy
15) Readers’ Choice: Here’s where you get to contribute your suggestions and ideas. I’ll be happy to
follow up on any suggestion that I feel will be of interest to readers.
For a sample of my blogging, please join me at the guest blog I authored this past May 2011 on my friend “Alexa Grave’s” blog site. It addresses the importance of fantasy, including some of my all-time favorite fantasy authors. It also includes the opening paragraphs of Dragon’s Harp. Enjoy!
This guest blog was initially written as a launch for Seton Hill’s wonderful writing anthology, Many Genres, One Craft, which has gone on to be named as one of the Top Ten Terrific Writing Books of 2011 by none other than Writer Magazine. I was honored to have contributed an article, To Dream a Dragon, about fantasy writing to this fantastic collection of down-to-earth how-to articles.
Please enjoy my guest blog at: http://alexagrave.blogspot.com/2011/05/mgoc-series-on-fantasy-rachael-pruitt.html
I have also included on this site (or will include shortly!) my two Arthurian poems. Both were published by that wonderful magazine of historical fantasy, Paradox, edited by Chris Cevasco (The magazine is now retired, sadly, for it had many fans!).
My poems first saw print in 2008 and 2009 respectively, and were written from Merlin and Arthur’s perspective. As you can tell by now, the Arthurian legend has been a passion of mine for a very, very long
time—ever since I was a little girl discovering Glastonbury Tor and the so-called tombs of Gwenhwyfar and Arthur for the first time!!
Please enjoy yourselves on these pages! I look forward to hearing from you and will be back in touch with my first blog the first week of March 2012! In the meantime, readers, wherever you are, may your lives
be filled with magic, sweetness, creativity, and grace… .with just a touch of mystery…..whispering of other world realms…
Read the first three chapters of The Dragon’s Harp