If you are craving some insanity from me today, hop on over to Rebecca Heart’s blog for a great interview with little old me.  Some fresh questions… thank goodness. (Like wether or not you’d like to be around me in the morning) 🙂

But don’t forget to scroll down below first… to be whisked back to the time of castles and dragons with Fantasy Author, Jenny Keller Ford.

Yay!  Go Dragon Girl!!!!!

Hi fellow antho-buddy! Thanks for having me as a guest today. I’m über excited to be here to talk about the Make Believe anthology, and more particularly, my short story, THE AMULET OF ORMISEZ.

Oh yeah!  Totally into it!  You know me… give me a hot guy in armor and I’m all a-gush. I’m wondering what the heck in that picture inspired a classic Fantasy with knights and castles?

I wish I could say I had something or someone that inspired me to write The Amulet of Ormisez. In all honesty, I was lost for weeks. I just stared and stared at that photograph (which is now the cover), not knowing what I was going to write about. Then one day, I opened a vein and ‘bled’.

Ewe.  Okay, I’m grossed out…

Ha!  Sorry.  When I first saw the photo, my first impression was “red against white” – contamination/blood against purity/snow. There was a castle in the background. I immediately thought how perfect this was, especially for the fantasy writer in me. What fantasy elements could I bring into play? At first I thought dragons, but the thought was replaced almost instantly with selkies, and the thought stuck.

After several weeks/months of no inspiration, a thought came to me. With only a few weeks to spare to meet the publisher’s deadline for submission, I sat at my computer and started writing. I don’t know where the idea came from, but I got this vision of a man, riding horseback over frozen terrain, his cloak flapping behind him. Before I knew it, there was a story emerging. I let the characters take me where they wanted to take me.

That’s totally cool.  It’s like going on a ride, right?  Do you always write like that?

I’m not a planner. I finished the story in a couple of days, edited it and threw it out to beta readers. They all came back and said the first half was great…the second half needed lots of work. I agreed, and so I went back to work. It was literally hours before deadline when I made the final edits, closed my eyes and hit the “submit” button. I can’t tell you how thrilled I was that J. Taylor loved my story and wanted to publish it.

Their belief in me encouraged me to write more short stories and continue on with a YA fantasy trilogy I’ve been writing. I hope to see a lot more of my stories, including my first novel, published in 2013.

Yay!  I hear you may have a dragon hidden under your sleeve.  🙂

I’m not telling [wink]

Awesomesauce!  Cannot wait!  But for now, feel the Fantasy love with J.Keller Ford’s THE AMULET OF ORMISEZ in the Make Believe Anthology.  Oh Yeah!

Why all the hullabaloo? Well, it’s to promote my two new releases “Make Believe” and “For the Love of Christmas”

That’s why!

And don’t forget to click on “Enter to Win” for a chance to win your choice of the two titles! Yay!

Oh, I almost forgot… A few random commentors along the tour path will win their choice of anthologies, too. So be sure to hop on over and say “Hi”

Hop on over and send me some love!

Don’t forget to hop on over to see me today?

Click on over to see my interview with Rebecca Hart

Visit my Anthology buddies!  They are celebrating too!

Jenny Keller Ford

J.A. Belfield

Kelly Said

Lynda R. Young

Terri Rochenski

Janelle Lee

Dani-Lyn Alexander

Related articles

• Muse-Sings December 2012 Special Feature & Giveaway (juliecatherinevigna.wordpress.com)
• Author Love: J. Keller Ford (jabelfield.wordpress.com)
• Make Believe Blog Tour: An Interview with Contributing Author, Jennifer M. Eaton (rebeccahartwriting.wordpress.com)
• Exciting Announcement! (jennykellerford.wordpress.com)
• Benefits of Writing Short Stories (teacherlingo.com)