Hours Upon Hours (the sweet taste of completion)

I'm so excited! 4 days. FOUR days! Then I have my first ever book signing. I am nervous and jumping and just so grateful for this. Saturday August 4 will live on in my history and it will just be so amazing to be in Barnes and Noble as an author!

Today is also the last day of July.
July 31, which means that across the world, there are writers scrambling to finish up word counts and hours and other goals because CampNano ends when the clock strikes twelve and we enter August.

But as of yesterday, I can announce that I am a....

A Writing Prompt

First an update! Are you in the Charlotte area? Do you love books and would you like a signed copy of Island Whispers? 
Then come to my first book signing! It is August 4 at 2pm. Further information can be found in the link below.
http://www.ingramelliott.com/news--updates/meet-megan-wong-author-of-ya-novel-island-whispers-saturday-august-4-at-2-pm-at-bn-arboretum

Now onto the post: Writing prompts are the adrenaline shots in a writer's arm. They give us inspiration. They send us hurtling through another 500 words to figure out where our imagination will take us. The prompts can be about anything. They can be any snippet. They could be a word or an image. The fun thing about writing prompts are that they are so versatile and what one person gets from it could be drastically different from what someone else gets.

A prompt for my writers, in the hopes that you find some inspiration from it:

Bountiful Bakes

I'm feeling like an "off-week" is good for this post, so this one is about baking and the transformation of these apples into muffins.

I like baking and I think a good number of people like it too. There is something enjoyable about mixing and kneading, shaping and waiting for it all to be done. It's transformational magic and while there are well written books, it's also fun to experiment.

A few weeks ago, I made paleo apple muffins. This means that the muffin itself mainly consists of eggs. I think there were 8 eggs in this one, but I can't recall. Either way, they were delicious and filling delicacies of the morning. You can see the transformation of the apples through the following pictures:

Apples. Green apples to be exact, although not Granny Smith, but they were sour. Apples are the perfect character food. They are easily transportable and a character can appear very smug as they chomp their incisors into a juicy pomme.

Merch for Merchlings

Merchlings isn't actually a word, but it sounds cute.

Anyway, there is Island Whispers merch and you can find it here!
https://www.cafepress.com/islandwhispers.178723307

Whether you like mugs, bags, or other swag, there is a little something for everyone.

Leaping Liducorns!

What are your favorite magical creatures? Are they from mythology or books? The Greeks had their share of monsters and certainly J.K. Rowling has many fantastic beasts.

Bubble, Boil, Braise and Broil

Ha ha ha, not exactly the rhyme but I love the alliteration. Perhaps this is how the witch in Hansel and Gretel feels about eating children. So many ways to cook them, like with Bubba's shrimp monologue in Forest Gump.

I'm in England currently which feels kind of fitting because the birth of Harry Potter took place here. Witches and wizards, Hogwarts, wands, and cats, toads and (of course) cauldrons. The Warner Brothers Studios are here and tours allow you to traverse the sets and view props among other things. If you ever get the chance, I would recommend. Now on with the post.

This wasn't actually in a movie. It's a real place. Korner's Folly, (there are supposed to be 2 dots over the "o" in Korner's, but I can't figure out how to do that, so you'll just have to imagine), and the below picture shows something that is just outside the front door.

Witches Corner. I just had to stand and look and marvel at this for a few minutes when I saw it. I love anything that hints at the supernatural and this has an interesting story behind it.

These were actually common occurrences outside homes. The idea was that a visitor would deposit a coin in the pot and that would keep the witches, ghoulies and other nasties outside. A fixture from a superstitious age. I just have to admire the effort that went into tiling the words "Witches Corner" and the little cauldron below a chimney-like brick structure.