In a world of familiar faces, all I see are strangers and every time I think I’m safe, I’m surrounded by these dangers.
mattsden101
A creative space for Poetry and Fiction
Book Cover Sneak Preview
Update: This is Version 2.0
I’d love any comments on this artwork I’ve mocked up for my first novel coming soon, I’m hoping to get it released onto Kindle in the next couple of months. Is it inviting? Does it grab your attention? Does it make you want to read inside? Thanks for any suggestions!
First 1000 Words
So, I’ve started to write ‘the book’…I know lots of you out there are going through the same thing, or indeed have already made it through to the other side of this vastly daunting, yet hugely rewarding experience. However, after a few stop-starts, I have made the first 1000 word hurdle.
Sure, it may sound pretty insignificant in the grand old scheme of things, but, I feel immensely proud. Firstly, because I have persisted even when I have sat here night on end blankly staring at the screen, willing my creative mind to explode onto the keyboard and propel my fingertips over the keys. But slowly, it’s coming, and with that, confidence and my self-belief is growing the more I see flourish on the page in front of me.
Secondly I wanted to share. To celebrate, to inspire and motivate.
Here’s to the next umpteen thousand words! Eeek!
Three Little Words | A Poem
I always found it hard
To utter those three little words,
Scared of their power
What they’d become.
I couldn’t allow them to escape,
Captive within my breath
Until your permission
Gave them freedom.
Check this post out here too! Three Letter Words
Fading Star | A Poem
A fickle fragment of failing fortune,
dust and bones wrapped in rags,
old school star of stage and screen.
Lights went out,
the curtain fell
for the last time.
My Youth In Years | A preview of my new project
As I’m trying to ‘get back’ into my writing, I thought I would experiment by using autobiographical snippets of my childhood. Format wise, I opted out of the normal chronological order and instead flip backwards, then forwards and so on. Please read the beginning of this project below; I’d appreciate any feedback on style, format, language, flow, content. I’m really open to advice from a fresh perspective. Please feel free to leave comments at the end of this ‘preview’.
Thank You.
1986
Casting my mind back to the long hot summer months of the mid-eighties always fills my heart with warmth and fond memories. Big burning golden afternoons followed by pink sunset skies as the unforgivable heat gave way to a relieving cool breeze which seemed to drape over our bare arms and shoulders. I replay those thoughts in my head and it’s like a viewing of an old VHS tape or Camcorder video, the images are ever so slightly tainted and distorted, but the colours and sounds as vivid as ever. I can still hear the laughter and joyful screams of child’s play, while the smell of the trees we used to climb and the warmth of the grass we used to lay on are as clear as yesterday.
1979
It was the 28th of November and apparently a cold and late winter’s evening. The North of England, a small industrial town set some miles outside of Manchester, was where I was to be born. Amongst the backdrop of run-down cotton mills, factories and the large bleak barren moors, my Mother was preparing to give birth to her second child. A boy. The labour was long and drawn out and not without its complications. So much so, that immediately after my dramatic arrival, my Mother was in a critical condition and there was a very real risk that Death was to all too quickly follow Life. The irony was certainly not lost when I discovered that day was a Wednesday.
1994
During my early to mid teenage years, divorce was somewhat of a rarity amongst those that I knew and associated with. It just seemed to be that all my friends had a Mum and a Dad and they were together and happy. My childish naivety allowed me to continue through my high school years believing that my own parents were immune to this curse. Our family was solid as a rock and although as the months went by and things started to feel a little strained at home, I was at least comforted by the fact that I had my Mum, and I had my Dad, my big Sister was there and we were all together. It was one early morning before school, as I was getting ready that I had noticed while walking past the living-room doorway, an alarm clock set on the floor. With an obvious curiosity and unassuming approach I proceeded to ask my Mum why it was there. In no more than a sentence, I had learnt that my Dad had slept on the settee the previous night. Within a couple of weeks, he had moved out.
Silent Strength | A Poem
Fear not, strength find, and dignity shall keep
Prepare for a test of the mind and heart.
Love strong, keep close, and your courage deep,
When everything tries to pull you apart.
Life Isn’t Fair | A Poem
In a flicker of a moment, all we knew had gone away
The dust left there before us in the harsh cold light of day
No reasoning, nor common sense, no way of understanding why
Accept, we must, which cards are dealt, as the hands of time tick by.
Animalistic | Creative Writing Challenge: Metamorphosis
Originally posted 18 months ago, time to revisit one of my more popular pieces.
Those naughty biochemists have been busy again, and have accidentally released a powerful mutative toxin into the water supply by mistake. Result? People left, right, and center are transforming into the animals they most resemble (in character, or looks) by the light of the full moon.
Tell us the tale of a human-animal transformation.
~ANimALisTiC~
CHAPTER ONE
The midnight moon reflected brightly over the water of the river bank, the long reeds gently swaying in the warm breeze. As Anna removed her bikini top she felt alive again. Sure it was risky, there was an element of danger, but that’s the one thing Anna never did…play by the rules. With a cheeky grin, Geoff surveyed her body. His lustful eyes lingering over every curve. As he went to touch, Anna quickly brushed his advances away with a playful slap.
“Not until we’re in the water Mister!…” Anna reminded him, “…and…
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