Stephanie's Studio

Earnestine is the main character and protagonist of my second novel, which is a W.I.P. I am very excited about Earnestine. I have spent many hours developing and refining her character. I would be the one guilty of wanting to put an exclamation point behind her name. With about a third of the first draft written, she is a character very much in development. Some days she is a blur and others, she's crystal clear. Recently, I had a breakthrough, wherein I could finally hear how she speaks. Her's is a difficult voice for me to hear and capture. She speaks quietly. The fact that her story takes place in 1947, in Mobile, Alabama and one of the Greek Islands, makes her all the more mysterious. Her diction, colloquialisms, and tone are not all familiar. I enjoy the process of seeing how her voice will come through as the novel develops. I am eager to see her show and tell me how to write her story. As is true of my first work of fiction No Barren Life  the novel  Out of the...

At the very heart of soul, is the activity or shall I say art form, of singing. I never was much of a singer, though much of my youth was spent in choirs. I was lucky they let me into them, to tell you the truth. Every now and then I could actual reach up and stay in the first soprano range but that was ever so fleeting. The nice thing about choirs is there is a community and communal atmosphere that is welcoming and forgiving. Singing has always been relaxing, whether my notes were correct or not. It brings you into another realm. You can enter a realm were your troubles temporarily melt away and you feel free. Singing is most definitely spiritual.                                                                                                 ...

Sound is playing an important role in my writing, as my new YA novel centers around sirens and the blues. It occurred to me in thinking about this week's Natural Healing Corner , while working on my manuscript, that sound can not only be a powerful creative inspiration but also an incredible soul healer. Think about the lullaby sung to soothe an upset baby or how humming makes your work time just zip by. Birds singing outside your home can made your hear soar. As I have mentioned previously, I have restarted my Restorative Yoga practice. Our teacher is a Reiki Master and Certified Aromatherapist. At the Friday class I go to, she uses both scent and sound to create a magickal healing experience through yoga practice. When she places the bowl on me and hits it, especially if it is placed on my back body, near my root chakra, I get a tremendous feeling of centering. I feel firm in myself and rooted in the earth. When placed on my chest, on or near the heart chakra, a warm feeli...

Quite a while ago, I wrote a piece of prose called “The Pathway Home.” It was later published in the anthology, “Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number,” edited by Carleen Brice. In “The Pathway Home” I write about many things, (my garden, my relationship with my son and planning dinner). Another aspect of this story is an encounter with a being I believed to be an angel. You know from coming to this blog, that I believe in many different spirits, gods/goddesses, creatures, orisha, lwa, sprites and more. Just the past week I’ve written about dragons and sirens as well as the goddesses. Today I am feeling gratitude for angelic beings. The back story is, that 2 days ago I wrote a blog post, called “Writer’s Rant” and posted it over at the website for women writers called She Writes. I have since that time deleted the post because it was written in anger, in a time I was feeling low and I don’t want that kind of energy coming out into the world from me. In it though, I was in a rag...

When my siren appears in my new novel, "Out of the Blue," it is not certain whether she is an angel, young woman, demon or spirit. I have had a long term fascination with water and everything within it--real, from the spiritual realm, folklore, mythology and tales stemming from the imagination. I also love thinking about the possibilities presented by angels. This particular siren that has called to me, is far from angelic. She is of the very old type, not a mermaid but more of a bird woman. What does she want, I wonder. She looks like La Sirene from the Vodou pantheon, being light skinned but not white. Today, I wait for her elusive spirit to return. I am conjuring her, so that I can carry on telling her dark tale in Chapter 2. If any of you out there in the blogosphere have any interesting tales about encounters with Sirens or La Sirene, I would love to hear from you.