Ostranenie

This has certainly been an amazing start to a beautiful ride!

A quick thank you to everyone who has supported me by either sharing my posts or buying King Beatrice! King Beatrice is now available as a paperback AND eBook! Pretty sweet, right? Also a HUGE shoutout to everyone who made it to the book launch event where I sold more books than I had brought with me. What a success! You guys deserve all the praise!

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At the release event I shared one of my many favorite scenes from King Beatrice, so I thought it only fair to share it on my blog as well.

Don't worry, there aren't any real spoilers ;)

Enjoy!

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ostranenie

(n.) defamiliarization; encouraging people to see common things

as strange, wild, or unfamiliar; defamiliarizing what is known in order to know it differently or more deeply

They went into the woods every day for weeks. For Alex, it had become more of an adventure than a chore.

He had always just been plain Alex, the awkward kid that didn’t like anyone, didn’t like the world, but with her in the woods, he was Mr. Holberry. Alex still found the name dissatisfying but it didn’t quite seem to matter much anymore. Not when he could be someone entirely different, be someone wild and do incredible things that would otherwise be impossible. And do them with her.

Anywhere else in the world being with Beatrice felt like a horrid thing, but it was different in the woods because life was somehow different. Alex didn’t know how to interpret that; he neither hated nor loved the feeling. What he did know, though, was that he loved climbing trees, he loved splashing in the creek with Rex, and he was even beginning to love hearing Beatrice’s thunderous laughter. In an instant, it was as if his whole world, all his knowledge and beliefs had been immersed in ostranenie.

“What are you looking at?” Beatrice hid her face, blushing.

“Huh?” Alex shook his head. He had been staring at her. “Your h-hair. It’s extra frizzy today.”

“It is not!” Beatrice slugged him in the arm and settled a makeshift crown of flowers on her head, “Besides, you cannot speak to your king that way.”

Alex rolled his eyes, but bowed anyway.

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Oh, the joys of childhood!

Were you a wild child? Splashing in creeks, climbing trees, or otherwise driving your parents sick with worry?

I am excited to announce (if you're a subscriber to this site, then you already know!) that I am working quite diligently on an anthology! Yippee! It has been so extraordinary working on poetry. It's something I've never revealed to people before, so forgive me if I'm shaking for the next 6 months or so! Might be one of those "I felt cute, might delete later" kind of things haha (I only say it for the laughs, I'll publish them, no worries!)

If you love poetry, shoot me a beautiful word(s) that would fit as the title for this deep anthology!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and get to enjoy the New Year!

Thank you for this terrific fall and winter!

I couldn't do it without you!