Ghosts of Christmases Past…
“Old Marley was as dead as a doornail.”
Love that last
line in the first paragraph of A
Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. “Dead as a doornail” really sticks out
in my mind. Boy, Dickens sure had a way with words! And believe it or not,
Charles Dickens wrote the classic Christmas tale as a novella—something I never
knew. In fact, I decided to read A Christmas
Carol for the first time a few years ago. I knew the story like the back of
my hand, and most movies based on the book were true to form. But there’s
nothing like reading the actual script written by an author’s hand. Though the
language was a little archaic, it still didn’t take away from the magic of the
story.
Through
Scrooge’s ghostly visitations, we got a glimpse of the man behind the mask. Who
he was, and what circumstances and choices created his reality. We often don’t
see what we’ve created until, like Scrooge, we’re faced with a crisis or fear.
When I sat down to write Legend of the
Timekeepers, the prequel to my middle grade/YA time travel series, I wanted
to create a back story for the series that would help readers understand who my
characters were, where they came from culturally, mentally, and spiritually,
and how they decide to move forward with their lives. Tricky to say the
least—especially when you’re dealing with a mythical land that may or may not
have existed.
It took
confronting my own fears to write the prequel. For one, I had never written a
pure fantasy before, and had no ‘historical’ parameters to go by like I had
when I wrote The Last Timekeepers and the
Arch of Atlantis. That scared the ‘Ebenezer’ out of me! The only research I
used were the readings by Edgar Cayce and other authors claiming to be a
psychic or channel. Mumbo jumbo for some, but for me it was a treasure trove,
and a chance to take the hand of the Ghosts of Atlantis’s past and be led on a
fantastical adventure. I find that time travel stories have a way of making us
reassess our own lives, of reliving the joyful and the challenging times, so
that we hopefully wake up and make better choices like Scrooge did.
This is what
I’ve learned from my Ghosts of
Christmases past. And this is why I write time travel books. God bless us,
every one!
Sharon Ledwith is the author of the
middle-grade/YA time travel series, THE LAST TIMEKEEPERS, available through
Musa Publishing. When not writing, researching, or revising, she enjoys
reading, yoga, kayaking, time with family and friends, and single malt scotch.
Sharon lives in the wilds of Muskoka in Central Ontario, Canada, with her
hubby, a water-logged yellow Labrador and moody calico cat.
Tagline & blurb for Legend
of the Timekeepers:
There is no moving forward
without first going back.
Lilith was a young girl with
dreams and a family before the final destruction of Atlantis shattered those
dreams and tore her family apart. Now refugees, Lilith and her father make
their home in the Black Land. This strange, new country has no place in
Lilith’s heart until a beloved high priestess introduces Lilith to her life
purpose—to be a Timekeeper and keep time safe.
Summoned through the seventh arch
of Atlantis by the Children of the Law of One, Lilith and her newfound friends
are sent into Atlantis’s past, and given a task that will ultimately test their
courage and try their faith in each other. Can the Timekeepers stop the dark
magus Belial before he changes the seers’ prophecy? If they fail, then their
future and the earth’s fate will be altered forever.
BONUS: My middle grade/young
adult short fantasy story, The Terrible, Mighty Crystal, is free and available until the end of
December only through Musa Publishing. This
tale is a spin-off from Legend of the
Timekeepers as it features the Atlantean cross-eyed seer Shu-Tu, and
reveals a little background on how and why she became a seer.
There
is the known and the unknown. And then there is the unknowable.
A rumor around Atlantis whispers
that the mighty crystal has the power of resurrection. Fourteen-year-old Shu-Tu
believes this to be true and will do whatever it takes to bring her father back
from the dead. Recruiting two trustworthy classmates, and with the help of her
beloved teacher Thoth, Shu-Tu sets out to change her father’s fate, and right a
wrong.
Instructed to meet Thoth at his
grotto, Shu-Tu and her friends are forced to flee underground, and must follow
the maze of passages to find another way out. There, they come across a
baboon-headed human hybrid possessing a rare firestone—one of six harvested
from the mighty crystal—which has the power to restore life. Shu-Tu agrees to
play the hybrid’s bizarre game to win the firestone, knowing that if she loses,
she loses her father forever.
The
Terrible, Mighty Crystal Link
(only until the end of December):
The
Last Timekeepers and the Arch of Atlantis
Buy Links:
Legend
of the Timekeepers Buy
Links:
8 comments:
Thanks for having me aboard your blog for the holiday season, Rita! Really appreciate your support and kindness! Here's hoping you, Nikki and Snooper have a wonder holiday season! Cheers and hugs, bis sis!
And thanks for taking me up on my offer, Sharon. You are the hardest working writer and supporter of other authors that I know. I'm beginning to think there are two of you!
Psst... I have a clone. Don't tell anyone. She works for single malt scotch. She might not be cheap, but loves her job! LOL! Hugs and thanks again!
enjoyed the blog.
Though I own at least one paper copy of Dickens' story, I have never read it (or don't recall doing so).
But let' get to the cloning issue: I REALLY need at least one, maybe two. Can you hook me up?
And this is why it's art. We create it, but it changes us or at least the way we see the world.
Thanks for stopping by Jeff. If anyone can give you a tip on cloning, it's Sharon...she's everywhere.
Yes, Serena. Let's hope all of our writing has this effect on others.
Jeff - cloning entails a lot of mess and psychotherapy! Are you still in? LOL!
Serena - true that! It's such an emotional roller coaster creating art at times!
Thank you both for your kind words and support! Cheers and Happy Holidays!
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