Christmas Stories and a Card

24 Dec 2021 1 Comment

by C.O. Bonham in Behind the keyboard, Music Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Merry Christmas! I am so thankful that you chose to visit my little blog in the midst of your holiday preparations.

I love Christmas stories!

Don’t you?

Christmas is such a magical time of the year that any story set during Christmas instantly takes on this warm and fuzzy feeling of nostalgia and magic.

From the original Christmas when a God came to live as a lowly creation, to the story of a miser who’s heart was changed by spirits in one night, Christmas stories are ultimately about how to live everyday of the year.

If you are looking for a good seasonal story and will give you all the Christmas feels then check out this Fellowship of Fantasy blog post to read more about each book and find links to where you can buy them. 

I’ve personally read at least half of these books and can promise you that they are amazing and full of holiday cheer. 

Oh yeah, and one of them is mine.

Take me to the Fellowship!

My Christmas Card

This year I wanted to do something special for my Christmas cards.

I knew I wanted a music theme and I knew I wanted them to have a steampunk look. 

I looked everywhere and I couldn’t find a card I liked.

Suddenly, it hit me. Why not just design my own? So I did. The result is the Christmas card you see below. It is very Christmas and very Steampunk.

The card front says: 
May music show you the magic of the season. 
The image is the girl from my cover art, holding her violin, surrounded by a holly wreath on a background of blue gears.
The back says: 
As the Lyrics tell you of the reason. 
Warmest Wishes and Happy Holidays.
C.O. Bonham. 
(Only instead of a signature I put my author logo there.)

I also need to tell you about an anthology that I am in. It’s called Hope and Renewal 2021. It’s another one of the Challenge anthology from author Michelle Francik. It’s super short, mostly poetry, but it’s priced pretty reasonably and it does have a short story from me it. My story is titled Birth and it’s my attempt to figure out why people would even want to be born.

My story is first so honestly you can cheat and just read it in the free sample.

Also with al this talk of Christmas stories I want to leave you with a wonderful song that I love so much for the story that it tells. It’s a little sad but also upbeat. Listen at your own risk.

Sign up for the Fantasy and Fairy Tales challenge.

01 Feb 2021 Leave a comment

by C.O. Bonham in Behind the keyboard Tags: , , , ,

You may be aware of the seasonal challenge anthologies I’ve been participating in.

The challenges are created and run by author Michelle Francik, and she is getting ready to host another one this month. This is a great opportunity to be published for the first time, or the twentieth time. So I hope you’ll consider signing up.

The theme is one that I’m very excited for.

https://2021-fantasyfairytales-challenge-signup.mfranciktheauthor.com/

Myths and legends, fairtytales and fantasy. Elves and ogres and dragons. What comes to mind when you think of these things? Have you always wanted to write a story about pixies? Or revamp a favorite fairytale? Well, here’s your chance!

Our next Short Story Writing Challenge has arrived and the theme is Fantasy and Fairytales!

The Challenge begins Saturday, February 6th and ends Saturday, February 20th. This is a writing Challenge and you are tasked with writing a short story, poem, essay, letter or something else uniquely you! If it fits the theme and follows the rules, it will be published in an anthology in March!

To participate, you need to sign up at the link below. Once the Challenge starts you’ll get a writing prompt every other day. The prompts are to jump start your creativity, but you don’t have to use them if you already have a story in mind!

Once you sign up you’ll have until February 20th to submit your entries. You can win Amazon gift cards, bragging rights and even become a published author!

Click the link below to find all the information, rules, contact info and to SIGN UP!

https://2021-fantasyfairytales-challenge-signup.mfranciktheauthor.com/

What I’m working on:

I write fantast so I already have a ton of ideas for this challenge. I am hoping to submit three short stories this time around but we’ll see how quickly I can work on them.

Entry one: Working title ASL fairytale

A Deaf princess must choose a husband out of a pool of unworthy candidates. Is anyone willing to try communicating with her? (there is a fairy and a dragon. I never write straight romance.)

I wrote this story when I was taking sign language classes in college. My skill is a lot better now, so since it’s basically just revising I should be able to finish it pretty quickly.

Entry two: Dragon cuddles

A cute story about a shapeshifting dragon that was part of a novel that never went anywhere. Now that I’m working it as a stand alone I should be able to write it out quickly.

Entry three: Trading Pages

Snow White and a girl from our world trade places.

I am not sure I will follow through with this one because I’ve tried to write it multiple times. Either it’s too similar to other stories out there or it’s too boring. I will give it one more shot before I give up on it though.

I have so much fun writing for these challenges. It always surprises me what my brain comes up with on the tight deadline. I think if you give it a try it will surprise you too.

I can’t emphasize this enough: If you want to participate, click the link, read the rules, and SIGN UP!

So are you signing up?

Which of my entries are you most excited for me to finish?

Love Letters anthology 2020

14 Feb 2020 1 Comment

by C.O. Bonham in Short Stories Tags: , , ,

Hi, I know I’ve been offline again. I’m one of those people who, once they get sick, is just sick for the rest of the winter. So I’ve been muddling through. But I have some great news to share and Valentines day seemed like the perfect day to share it.

I’ve been published again!

Loveletters coverFrom the 2020 Love Letters Short Stories Challenge, here are fourteen stories, letters and poems about love: love lost, love remembered, and love to be!
Our authors accepted a Challenge to write a story 1500 words or less about the theme: Love Letters. There were no guidelines about what they were to write about, so each author took a different approach.
They’ve written a collection of stories that will break your heart, give you hope, and make you smile!
Also included is a chapter about our past Challenge winners; what they’re up to and how they felt about the Challenges they participated in!

 

The Kindle is: https://amzn.to/2UJlzZG

and the paperback is: https://amzn.to/2UKGXhm.

My Contribution to this anthology is titled “Letters Of Tragedy.”

The story contains three love letters  all connected by the same famous  disaster at sea. The letters tell of three doomed relationships, all terribly romantic and all terribly tragic.

A repentant lover asking for a second chance, A hopeful suitor asking for a happy ending, and a loyal husband looking to save his wife.

Taken by themselves each letter is an ode to love and full of hope for a bright future.

But once the full truth about the historic disaster is revealed, they all take on a sad and melancholy meaning. A reminder that tomorrow is never promised and that not all endings are happy.

I am so excited for how this story experiment turned out. I don’t want to spoil anything by giving away the name of the ship though I’m sure it won’t be hard for you to guess.

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Do you want to be in one of these challenge anthologies? Sign up to learn about future challenges here: http://challenge-interest.mfranciktheauthor.com/

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