Lara D. Elliott - Inspirations

My little brother is…different. Joshie wasn’t always the way he is. His baby pictures are just as chubby and smiley as any of us. It wasn’t until his fourth birthday that he started to wither. His muscles just stopped growing. He just kept getting skinnier and skinnier. By the time he was five, Mom and Dad were sad all the time, but Joshie kept smiling. Even when they got home from one of his doctor appointments and Mom’s eyes were all red and puffy, Joshie was ready to play. He couldn’t run anymore, but he always won Checkers and Go Fish. That summer, Mom and Dad sent me to camp and our baby brother, Sam, went to Grandma’s house. “Give Joshie a big hug because when you get back, he’ll be different.” Dad put a hand on Joshie’s shoulder and waved me over. I was confused, but Joshie gave one of his silly smiles. “It’s going to be all right,” he said. I was so excited to be home from camp that I almost forgot about Mom’s warning. She met me at the front door, an...

The air ships made their way across the sky like huge buzzards circling their prey. The Anemoi were early this year. I gripped my dagger tight, my fingers numb and my heart racing. Terrance steadied his bow, though it would do no good against the mighty fleet. No. Once the Anemoi exited their ships to claim their prisoners--that would be our chance to defend ourselves. Terrance lowered the bow for a moment to cradle my cheek. His eyes spoke love and concern. “Gaia, I want you to run. I will hold them off. Go to the far side of the island and hide in the caves. Go deep. They fear the cold earth.” “I won’t leave you.” My eyes searched his. There was stubbornness in his brow but I continued to plead. “Come with me. Let’s sneak now while they are preoccupied with anchoring. Neither of us stand a chance alone.” “Others may have already made their way to the caves. You will be safe.” “I will die anyway of a broken heart if I lose you.” He drew me close and kissed me, b...

I recently posted about mom-ing being harder than dad-ing. In our culture today, adulting is a hot word, used in place of "being an adult" or "doing adult things." It seems nowadays, any old word can be turned into a verb. I think this has happened in the past without us realizing it. Here are a few nouns that are already accepted verbs: table egg chair toilet paper As a child, I remember the reprimand of "That's not a word!" when someone said "ain't" or other similar colloquialism. We used to be able to play Scrabble and check the dictionary to challenge someone's made-up word. Well, not anymore. Everything is in the dictionary these days! It's really interesting how language changes with the times. One person can say something new on the internet, and a round of viral sharing later, Webster is adding words to the dictionary. My son said "hugenormous" one day and I'm going to try to get that to catch on...

I'm a mom. My sons are 4 and (almost) 7 years old. They are absolutely mama's boys. They cling to me so hard. The problem is I work full time--more than 40 hours a week a lot of the time because of my band director job. I have after school rehearsals, night performances, auditions, trips. When I'm finally home, my boys want my full attention. But I'm tired! I don't want to downplay what my husband does for our family. He works part time and then watches our youngest. Our youngest is a handful. My husband is very glad for a break when I get home. My oldest gets off the bus at the same time. The kids want mommy. After a few minutes of doting, I take a fifteen minute break to change out of my work clothes and breathe. The rest of the night, they're mine. Hubby and I take turns fixing dinner. A lot of the time, we eat out since we're both too tired too cook. After dinner, it's play time. That is, I play with the 4 year old while the (almost) 7 year old...

Sofia perched herself atop the Ponte di Rialto and watched the lights dance across the choppy surface of the canal. There were a great many lights this evening, for the Palazzo Dolfin Manin was host to another grand masquerade. She dreamed of being invited to one of Lorenzo’s parties, but it was not her station. “One day, perhaps, that will be me twirling in a silk gown, hand in hand with my dear Lorenzo.” A door opened and music floated up to Sofia. She expected someone had stepped out onto the balcony to cool from dancing, but was surprised to see a couple emerge onto the sidewalk below. The woman giggled as the man held her close. Sofia longed for such romance. The couple turned suddenly and hurried up the walk. Sofia squinted into the distance to see the boat of several latecomers approaching the pier. “Ah, so they are escaping. Perhaps theirs is a forbidden romance.” Giggles approached the bridge and the sound of feet hit the stone steps. Sofia quickly backed ...

It's so exciting coming up with ideas for a new book, sitting down in front of that blank page with a world of opportunities before you. I've been studying plot structure and was having a hard time sorting out my Aria novel. So...I thought I'd try outlining the sequel to Aria. Okay, I know Aria #1 isn't finished yet, but I've been stalled and frustrated with it, so I figure a little break is fine. I don't want to spoil it. After all, you haven't even read Aria #1 yet.  But I will say we get to expand on Zed and Maddie in the next one. And Aria, of course. Much of the story will be set in the summer, rather than during the school year in the dead of winter like #1. I'm still debating how long to let the story go. Band camp? Homecoming? It's been a while since I had a blank page in front of me. Feels good.

Recently I had a bad week. I can't exactly express how bad it was without revealing everything that was wrong with it, but let's just say it sucked. I had an issue with my health. Bad. I had an issue with my job. Bad. I had an issue with my family. Bad. I was depressed. I was lonely. I was lost. I was angry. Part of me wanted to stay angry. Make a point. Show those causing stress in my life that they were destroying me. Get sympathy. I made a half-hearted prayer. "Lord, take my anger. Take my worry." I had obligations at work that I couldn't skip, though I sorely wanted to. Most inconvenient of all, I had a concert with my students. I had to stand up in front of hundreds of people and pretend that everything was okay. I dolled myself up then fought back tears as I drove to school. I hurried to be ready. I avoided talking to people as much as possible, merely answering questions and giving directions without chit-chatting. Finally, I crossed the front of ...