#AtoZChallenge: P is for Practical Magic

Practical Magic is one of my all time favourite movies. Starring my uber favourite actress Sandra Bullock and the amazingly talented Nicole Kidman, it's full of magic, mystery, love... and creepiness. Oh and I mustn't forget the very dreamy Aidan Quinn. Does anybody else think he's just gorgeous? Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing also star... and they're both brilliant in it. All in all, I think this movie was perfectly cast.
This 1998 romantic comedy is based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Alice Hoffman which I can't believe I've never actually read. I really ought to sort that out!
Here's the general gist of the movie, if you haven't seen it:
Sisters Sally and Gillian Owens have always known they were different from each other. Raised by their aunts after their parents' death, the sisters grew up in a household that was anything but typical - their aunts fed them chocolate cake for breakfast and taught them the uses of practical magic. But the invocation of the Owens' sorcery also carries a price - some call it a curse: the men they fall in love with are doomed to an untimely death. Now adult women with very different personalities, the quiet Sally and the fiery Gillian must use all of their powers to fight the family curse and a swarm of supernatural forces that could take away all the Owen's lives. (Source: Wikipedia)
Not only is it a fantastic movie, but it also has a fantastic soundtrack, one which I often listen to when I'm writing. It's got a real inspirational feel... especially for writing fantasy.
Here are some more videos... check them out and listen to those fab songs!

Don't forget to download your FREE copy of Daisy Madigan's Paradise, a Morgan Sisters novella. Raven, the first book in my other series (The Raven Saga) is also FREE!

The Spellbindingly Fun Blog Party

I'm so excited to be a part of Janice Horton's Spellbindingly Fun Blog Party to launch her Halloween special novella, How Do You Voodoo?
Each blogger taking part is posting a very special spellbindingly fun spell for something we wish for. Mine, of course, is for World Domination... BWAH HA HA AH AH HA....
Okay, maybe not. I'm not that twisted. But I am creating a spell that will cause my books to fly off the shelves and become huge bestsellers to rival the likes of Stephenie Myers and Suzanne Collins. Cool huh? Have I got your attention now?
Right, so here goes... I've already got my altar placed in the north of my pentagram circle and upon it I have my athame, wand, chalice, four candles, censer and cauldron... oh and I mustn't forget my book of shadows. I'd be lost without that! I've cleansed and consecrated my space and I've cloaked myself in my dark purple robe which I use for such occasions and I'm set to go. All I need now are my ingredients (which I've chosen from Janice's selection) once I've invoked the elements

Spell ingredients

Three wild rose petals

Pixie dust

Moon stone

Feather of a golden eagle

Magick crystals

Twig of hawthorne

Lock of hair

Stardust

I've already invoked the elements and now for the big event... my spell.

Lady and Lord of the North, East, South and West

Be with me now and grant my quest

To fill the lives of young and old

With tales of fantasy yet untold

My stories travel far and wide

To girls and boys as yet untried

My aim is to achieve the top

With books abound, in all the shops

Be with me now and grant my quest

Label my tales the very best

Allow the ball to commence rolling

And let me stand beside JK Rowling

And now I must wait for the books to start flying off the shelves. BWAH HA AH HA AH HA AH HA
For more spellbindingly fun spells, head on over to Janice Horton's blog.

Me in my witch's outfit before the haircut and the weight loss!

The Magical Mystery Tour

What inspired me to write 

The Prodigal’s Foole by RB Wood

I’ve been asked this question quite a bit over the last couple of years. The answer is somewhat complicated.
I’ve loved writing since I was a young adult, but have always had a ‘creative outlet’ of sorts. When I was very young, it was drawing and art. From my yearly teens through college, it was music—and in fact I have a bachelor’s degree in math and computer science, but exited school debt-free due to music performance scholarships.
But reading and telling stories has been a constant through out my life.
When I was younger, I had many start-stop moments. It wasn’t until my children and partner said “Why don’t you write your stories down,” that I started up seriously again. This was in 2008-2009. The funny thing about being in your forties…you tend to finish what you start—at least for me anyway.

The Prodigal’s Foole is the first of The Arcana Chronicles series, and quite frankly came about because all the ‘magic stories’ out there had a similar throw-away comment—something to the effect of “Normal people can’t know about magic” or “Normal people aren’t observant enough to see magic.” The whole premise of the series (along with it being a good old-fashioned “good vs. evil”) is…what would happen if normal folk started paying attention? All that power….who would control it (Religions, in my book) initially? What would the impact of the last 50 years of technology do to a magical world? This will be explored throughout the series.

For more information about RB Wood and the The Prodigal's Foole, visit http://www.rbwood.com/
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/rbwoodwriter
Podcast (The Word Count): http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-word-count/id392550989








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