THROUGH MY LENS

 Wildflowers in South Texas

2021

Jacqui’s Friday Flowers in April

There are many lovely parks where I live in Victoria, Canada. One of my favorites is Beacon Hill Park. In April, the Spanish Bluebells and Camas cover many parts of this park in blankets of purple, pink, and white. 

These are some of the purple, white, and pink Spanish Bluebells that I've photographed in 2019 and 2020. 

Jacqui ❤️ 💐

And here are some of my photos of the Camas, which according to online sources is "a genus of plants in the asparagus family native to western North America. Common names include camas, quamash, Indian hyacinth, camash, and wild hyacinth".

Click here to see my March blog post & a deluge Daffodil pics 🙂💐  

To see more of my flower pictures (during the February to October flower season in Victoria, Canada), visit my Facebook and Instagram pages. 

~ * ~ 

Fall in love with a new Old West where the men are steadfast & the women are adventurous. I love writing stories about women who are Wild West scouts, spies, cardsharps, wilderness guides, trick-riding superstars, and more. 

Read an excerpt from all of my books at JacquiNelson.com/my-books

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THROUGH MY LENS

2021 Bluebonnets

Ennis, Texas

MY SCRABBLE TITLE

I gave the Get Lost in a Story hosts a title and asked them to begin a story. Which title would you choose? How would your story begin? Make sure you let us know in the comments so you'll be entered in this month's hostee drawing.

No regrets. No second thoughts. The fork loaded with a thousand calories passed through her lips and onto her tastebuds. Yes, the other seven people sitting at her banquet table stared at her, but she deserved dessert first. She'd just been best "man" for the love of her life. Witnessing him marry another woman deserved a reward. Especially meringue.

"Excuse me." She held up her hand to wave down one of the waiters serving the salads. "Can you bring me another one of these? Wait. Make it two."

JACQUI: I'm Still Learning

In the gloom shrouding the caboose that Wren’s friends had hauled from the tracks and transformed into a home just for her, a ghostly figure crouched by her bed. A man’s silhouette. Broad-shouldered. Big. Not big enough. Her excitement turned to alarm. He wasn’t Griffin. 

She bolted upright and aimed for his nose. Too late. Or too slow. Her punch fell short. Or swung wide. All impossible to tell with a target dodging so fast, but utterly predictable after being denied a sparring partner for two years. 

Strength was earned not given. Or so life had taught her. And kept teaching her. 

Angharad, the fiery haired, blue-eyed seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, dreamed of a powerful warrior. She witnessed every failure with acceptance, knowing he was destined to bring peace and prosperity to their land. She'd had a vision of her love raising his broadsword high in the air, his battle cry ringing across the misty glen only to echo back again. ...it was time...

Finbarr, the black haired, green-eyed seventh son of a seventh son, was destined to know defeat. But he would never give up! Seven times he answered the call to battle, and seven times he failed. Fall seven times...the prophecy decreed... Stand up eight...and be victorious.

“Leave some to perform the incantation.”

“Can’t we just open another bottle? Riesling is Riesling.” Abby shrugged.

Evie snatched the glass from her friend since forever. “You know as well as I do that this is from the special stock. The first grapes of the first crop. It is not just any Riesling. And further,” she sniffed, her aging voice cracking as it did when she got agitated, “if you don’t believe in this, then we might as well drink the whole bottle and forget it.”

Abby looked at Iris, the only other founding member of the Fine as Wine Club and met her expectant gaze. Decades together had offered them many challenges, from births to funerals; they’d shared most every form of life experience together. “What do you think?” Iris was the most intellectual of the three.

She shrugged, her lavender cashmere sweater draping loose over her slender shoulders. “The book seems fairly clear on what transpires if all are of one mind.” Iris’s soft, brown eyes held Abby’s. “How badly do you want your grandson, Reise, to take over the family vineyard?”

Abby sighed. Bad enough to write and tell him that I plan to give it away to the first person I feel is worthy. Still, a little earth magic couldn’t hurt. “Go ahead Evie. We’re together on this.” Trusting her friends, trusting in the wine, she picked up her glass of white Riesling and wondered how her hot shot California lawyer grandson would respond to the news. “In Vino Veritas—in wine there is truth!”

“Go for it.”

That’s what they’d all said, throughout Cassidy’s entire life. Her mother when Cass had been reluctant to stay overnight at her friend’s the first time. Her music teacher when she’d been afraid to take the stage at the first recital. Her gym teacher when she hadn’t wanted to try pitching in softball. Her best friend when Cass had refused to go on a double date with two guys from frat house down the block from their dorm.

She had them all fooled. No, she wasn’t the bravest soul on the planet, but she’d gone for plenty of things others hadn’t suggested. Like writing a book. Like changing her major from business to philosophy. Like getting not one dog but two.

Like going out on that first date with Jonas two years ago—the one who drove an old Indian motorcycle and who liked leather jackets and art museums. And old Beatle songs. He made her mother’s eyebrows pucker in concern and her father sigh in envy over the bike.

He had them all fooled, too. The bad boy who wasn’t. And now he knelt in front of her with the open velvet box—and in front of her family who knew she’d never go for it. She grinned at him—the man who made her feel braver than anyone she’d ever known.

“Let’s go for it, Cassidy,” he whispered.

“We don’t need to go for it,” she replied. “We’ve already got it!”

And when she launched herself into his arms and he stood to swirled her in circle, she kissed him to prove it.

Which title would you choose? How would your story begin? Make sure you let us know in the comments so you'll be entered in this month's hostee drawing.

Author April Fools

Did you know muses love April Fool’s Day? As if authors don’t have enough to contend with, that  claim is true. My Muse certainly does love a good joke, and because I have a lot of writer friends, I know everyone else’s does, too. Why? Because, when they aren’t helping with creativity, every muse that pairs up with an author loves to make its writer look or feel foolish once in a while.

Not every muse chooses April first on which to play pranks—that would make the rest of the year too boring. But, mine happens to have chosen the prankster’s favorite holiday—today—to play a winding and intricate trick this year. And she (I have a smart but very silly female muse who is friends with my very creative but naughty female internal editor) set it up weeks ago!

Thalia, the muse of comedy: my muse's muse!

What’s the dastardly trick, you ask? Let me take you back for one minute to my history of being a great April Fool’s dupe. I might be the easiest person in the world to trick. I never think of the obvious explanation for anything first, and I never remember an old prank so will fall for it multiple times. The best example is that for at least ten years, my son would tape the trigger on my kitchen sink sprayer down and I would turn on the water and get soaked. Every. Year. He even did it a couple of times after he moved out. The sneak.

Fortunately, I’m a pretty good sport. You have to be when you’re a serial dupe. I’ve always wanted to put a chronic fall guy in a book and, so, I included April Fool’s Day in my brand new, soon-to-be-released Sottish Contemporary novel Never and Forever Scotland. I even included a brother who pulled the sink sprayer trick on my hero, and it was darn funny (okay, it was funny to me). Well…the first inkling I should have had that my muse was taking advantage of me being a good sport was when I realized, so sadly, that favored scene didn’t fit into the book. I had to leave it on the cutting room floor.

No worries! April Fool’s Day still played a part. In fact—in a GLIAS exclusive, here is the first line of Never Forever Scotland (an actual thank you, Muse):

“Ewan Portman hated practical jokes.”

Maybe you can see now why that line tickles me! And it sets up our hero Ewan’s receipt of a letter he’s certain is an April Fool’s joke—a letter telling him he’s inheriting a big piece of land in the Scottish Highlands.

Spoiler: it’s not a joke.

My muse dropped her prankster persona while we wrote this story—and we both ended up loving it—adoring it even. But then Ms. Muse picked up her impish mantle again and started leading me toward April Fool’s Day. The first thing I did was pick a release day in mid-March and Muse suggested, “No, wait, the book starts on the first of April—let’s release it on April first!”

Brilliant.

Here are four things that happened: 1) Editing took two weeks longer than anticipated; 2) There were technical issues with the cover; 3) A beta read got postponed; 4) Ms. Muse taped the sprayer down and I got soaked.

Okay, not that last one—but the other three were the writer’s equivalent of getting doused with water, aka, reality. Reality happens to writers.

So it is that Never and Forever Scotland got April Fooled and will not release on April Fool’s Day. Haha—April Fool’s! On a serious note, I just read an article aimed at authors, telling us not to be harsh with ourselves or the world when deadlines, publishing schedules, and writing progress gets changed or thwarted. It’s the world right now—pandemic brain hits authors AND it hits readers. The world is still crazy and not back to normal yet, so we have to continue rolling with the punches. I believe that. We should all be kind to ourselves and others while we get to the end of this stupid time -- and beyond.

BUT! I also believe this: I don’t think my muse has pandemic brain. I think she simply likes messing with me. And in a month—when the book DOES release—I’m gonna get her back!

 Happy April Fool’s Day, everyone! I'd love to know – do you like April Fool’s Day or do you pay it no mind? Have you ever played pranks on anyone? What was your best-ever AFD joke?