The Night Before Christmas

Happy December to you all! I recently entered a competition to rewrite the famous poem "Twas The Night Before Christmas". Although I didn't win, I had so much fun writing it that I wanted to share it with you.

I decided to tell the story from my dog's point of view. Dolly is always the centre of attention in our house, except for around Christmas time. She will do one of two things; either go totally hyperactive at the sight of all the decorations and  try to destroy them, or she will go and find a corner to settle down in on her own where she can look and feel sorry for herself. She absolutely thinks that we all forget about her when we're all excited about Christmas.

Needless to say, her actions around Christmas inspired this story; it's all about Dolly's encounter with Santa. I hope you enjoy it.

The Night Before Christmas

The night before Christmas was always the worst

Poor little Dolly she never came first;

The children were bathed, had hot chocolate, then bed

Dolly was wondering when she would be fed

Stockings and candy canes hung by the fire

Nothing to see here!

Tinsel and Christmas lights there to admire

Carols were playing, and lightened the mood

But she couldn’t help thinking ‘Where is my food?’

Then out of the corner of one of her eyes

She spotted a carrot and Santa’s mince pies

Her nostrils they twitched, her eyes they did water;

The food smelt so good; but what had they taught her?

I shouldn’t, she thought, I’m treated so well

But no one will see me so who’s going to tell?

I’m tired; but I do need something to eat

And if I have nothing I’ll struggle to sleep

The thought of betraying them made her feel sad;

She never wanted to be the dog that was bad

What if they see her? What if she’s caught?

They’ll never forgive her; they’ll all be distraught

But her tummy it rumbled, her ears they twitched

She jumped onto the table, she must be bewitched;

And just as her jaws reached out for its prize

A sudden loud clatter took her by surprise!

Down through the chimney came a big man in red

With a fluffy white beard and a hat on his head

A sack on his shoulder and boots on his feet

He saw what Dolly was going to eat

Dolly looked up, her eyes opened wide

Her body it shook, she trembled inside

‘I’m so sorry Santa, I know it’s not mine’

She lowered her head and started to whine

I'll just wait here till it's all over!

Santa leant over his cheeks burning red

But the smile on his face gave her nothing to dread;

‘Thank you for letting me into your home’

He reached into his sack and he pulled out a bone

It was wrapped with a ribbon, and put under the tree

Dolly asked Santa ‘is that all for me?’

And then just as Santa was turning to leave

It started to snow on this bright Christmas Eve

‘I know that your family all went to bed

And left you down here without being fed

But they didn’t forget you, they knew I would come

Merry Christmas Dolly; you’re still number one.’

The End

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Keep chasing your dreams!

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Flash Fiction: Paralysed

I lie still, paralysed. I try to lift my arm to reach for my phone but it’s impossible, it’s as if it’s weighed down by a supernatural force. I can hear my family downstairs, the sound of pots and pans, the dog barking; the usual Saturday morning sounds. I try to call out to get someone’s attention, but to no avail. I can’t scream, I can’t talk, damn; I can’t even muster a whisper. What the hell is going on? Breathing is becoming a problem, it’s like a cork has been placed in my airways.

I might be paralysed but my senses are still intact, and something is telling me that I am not alone. A bead of sweat drips down my forehead, I want to wipe it away, to get up and scream for help; but it’s useless.

            

‘I need a wee,’ my son shouts.

            

‘Okay, okay,’ say’s my husband. ‘But be quiet because mummy is still asleep.’ But I don’t want him to be quiet; I want him to come running into the bedroom, I want him to jump up and down on me and I need my husband to follow him in. I hear a creak in the corner of the room, I can’t turn to look but I see a shadow moving towards me. I hear my son and husband racing each other up the stairs, ‘I’m going to beat you,’ my husband teases. They laugh, they sound happy. I’m desperate to be out there with them, having fun together like we were before we went to bed. I was fine then, just ten hours previously; I could move, I was healthy, active. What could have happened in that short space of time?

They’re at the top of the stairs now. I can hear my son making his way to the bathroom and my husband pops his head around our bedroom door. The shadow is getting closer but now I don’t know if it’s my husband’s or something else. I’m confused, I try to move, to shout, to give my husband some indication that I’m awake; but it’s hopeless, he can’t see that my eyes are open. He must have assumed that I’m still asleep as he closes the door and walks away. I want to run out after him but by now they are both making their way back down the stairs, leaving me alone with this shadow. My muscles are trembling; tears start to prick at the back of my eyes. My skin feels hot and sweaty; I wish I could breathe.

I’m trapped, in this room, in this bed, inside my own mind and there’s nowhere to escape. The shadow rushes towards me and covers me like an incoming tide. It rests heavily on my chest. I try to inhale deeply but I can only manage fast shallow breaths. Is this what it’s like to drown? Inside my head I’m thrashing around, screaming, trying anything to get someone’s attention. This is a nightmare; I’ll wake up in a minute and be free of this incubus. But I’m not waking up, this is happening, this is real.

The shadow stretches and morphs; long misty fingers pour out of chimney smoke hands and wrap themselves around my neck. I let out a feeble attempt at a cough as my struggle for breath increases. My face feels wet from the tears escaping my eyes. I have to do something, try anything. Only I can release me from this nightmare. My mind struggles for a solution as the fingers pull tighter and tighter. Then something in the back of mind shouts at me to move.

I focus on a single tiny part of my body and repeat over and over to my little finger to move. Move, move, move! Nothing happens for a moment, but failure is not an option. MOVE! To my relief my little finger wriggles and sends a message to the rest of my fingers to do the same. It’s working, the rest of my body follows suit and suddenly I can move. The shadow lifts and floats away like a feather in a breeze.  I gasp and inhale deeply. The air tastes cool and fresh like a frosty December morning, blowing away the darkness.

The carpet feels soft as it caresses my feet. The morning sun warms the room and I can hear my son and my husband playing downstairs. All the comforts of home surround me, yet I can’t shake the feeling of being stalked. It was some kind of a nightmare, I tell myself. But the split in the curtains creates a path of sunlight shining directly on the open bedroom door that I was so sure my husband had closed.

Festival of Words

Today I visited South Molten Country Market for their Festival of Words event. I went with my husband and four boys to hear some of our favourite local authors talk about and read from their new books.

Authors included Victoria Eveleigh, Claire Barker and Dan Metcalf. It was a real treat meeting and listening to Dan. It was the first time we met him and we fell in love with his books immediately.

Dan writes the Lottie Lipton series. Lottie Lipton is based in The British Museum and she is a nine year old investigator. There are six books in this series, you can find out more about them on Dan's website.

Our signed books from Dan!

Dan reading from 'The Catacombs of Chaos!

We also had the privilege of seeing the lovely Claire Barker again. We try to attend events where Claire is because we are the biggest fans of her books. The Knitbone Pepper series is truly amazing and beautifully written with awesome illustrations. I highly recommend these books to both kids and adults. We recently attended the book signing for Claire's final book in the series 'A Horse Called Moon.' That completes our signed collection. 

Claire Barker and A Horse Called Moon!

Our awesome signed collection of The Knitbone series!

I love these kind of events. If you get an opportunity to attend a local authors book signing, go along. They're always happy to meet you and sign your books. Support your local authors!

Keep writing, keep chasing your dreams!

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Sidmouth Literary Festival

Hello to you all!

Last weekend I had the exciting opportunity to attend my first literary festival in Sidmouth. It was amazing, I learnt loads and met some wonderfully talented authors.

One of my highlights was having a one to one with a literary agent about my novel 'A Woman's World.' She gave me amazing advice on what direction my book could go and she said "come back to me when you've finished your book," which is more than I could have hoped for.

I heard talks from published authors such as Kate Hamer and Jane Corry, I enjoyed a Bronte tea party with Juliet Barker and heard an inspiring talk form Dame Penelope Lively. But my favourite event from the weekend was Chic Lit and Chocolates with one of my favourite authors Veronica Henry. I got to meet her and bag myself a signed copy of her latest book, 'How to Find Love in a Bookshop.'

The lovely Veronica Henry and 'How to Find Love in a Bookshop'

The whole weekend was an amazing experience. I walked away feeling motivated, inspired and excited for the next literary festival I'm able to attend.

Keep writing, keep chasing your dreams!

@stephlottwriter

World Book Night

Last night was amazing. I attended World Book Night at Bideford College Library and got to hear lots of talented authors talk about and read extracts from their new books.

The authors included Victoria Eveleigh, C J Busby and one my favourites Claire Barker. I should mention here that they're all children's authors, but you're never to old to get lost in a children's story.

Claire Barker has series of books called Knitbone Pepper Ghost Dog and last night she was signing copies of the second in the series called Knitbone Pepper Ghost Dog and The Last Circus Tiger.

I always love meeting Claire. She's super friendly and always has time to talk, so if you're lucky enough to go to one of her events, stop by and say hello!

My mainly happy family with Claire and our signed copy of Knitbone

In addition to purchasing Claire's book, I also got signed copies of Victoria Eveleigh's and C J Busby's new books too. There was also a selection of free books to take on arrival, I think it's fair to say I was in book heaven.

My goodies from World Book Night

If you've never attended a World Book Night, try to get along to one. I'm already looking forward to next years.

Keep writing and keep chasing your dreams!

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I'm a Student Again!

Hello!

I'm super excited to announce that I'm a student again! Yay! Not bad for a 32 year old.

I graduated from the Open University last year with an English Literature degree and if I'm honest, I missed having a deadline to work towards. They keep me focused and make me finish pieces of work that I'm working on.

I never planned to study again so soon after my degree, but I noticed that the OU had started a Masters degree in Creative Writing. I couldn't resist signing up for this as creative writing was my favourite module in my degree.

Having recently finished a first draft of my first novel I decided to use this masters as platform to move my story forward. I can't wait to get started and I can't help but feel like a teenager again having one of these:

My student card!

I wonder what new stories I will come up with during this course...excites!

Keep writing and keep chasing your dreams!

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Happy New Year

Hello and happy new year to you all!

I have a number of goals that I'd like to achieve this year. I like to list them and then see how many I can tick off my list before the year is up. So below are some of the goals that I'd like to achieve in 2016:

- To get one of my children's picture books published. This is a goal I'll always work towards, plus I love writing children's stories.

- To start editing my NanoWriMo novel 'A Woman's World.' This is going to be a real challenge for me as I've never edited a novel before...I'm up for the challenge!

- I'd like to achieve something musically! After becoming a semi-finalist in the UK Songwriting Contest last year I feel inspired to enter again this year. I might even become a finalist...it could happen!

- I'd also like to try and record some of my songs professionally. Although if I can make it into the studio even once to record an original song I'll consider that an achievement.

So there we have it, my 2016 goals. Lets see how many I can tick off my list! What will you achieve this year?

Keep writing and keep chasing your dreams!

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