Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Welcome Elizabeth Naranjo and a Guest Post on Lucid Dreaming

 


Have you ever woken up inside your dream? You know you're still in bed, yet your dream keeps playing. I can say this phenomena known as lucid dreaming has happened to me on a few occasions ... and it's really cool when it does! Unfortunately for me, just when I try to do something crazy in my dream like fly over mountains or breathe underwater, I wake up. But, what if I didn't wake up right away? This is the premise for today's featured author's new book, The Fourth Wall.

Lucid Dreaming
by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo

In The Fourth Wall the protagonist, Marin, is a skilled lucid dreamer, and this plays a big role in her story. But what exactly is lucid dreaming? How do people do it? And why?

WHAT

Lucid dreaming is simply knowing when you’re dreaming. It’s that sense of being in a dream and suddenly realizing that it IS a dream. This happens accidentally sometimes, and it usually causes the startled dreamer to wake up. But some people train themselves to achieve this heightened awareness in sleep, and there are several reasons why they do it.

WHY

Entertainment: Once you realize you’re dreaming, you can learn to control parts of the dream. This includes your actions, and those actions are not subject to the laws of physics. Thus, you can learn to fly, walk through walls, or teleport yourself to other locations like Marin does in The Fourth Wall. Some lucid dreamers can create their own imagery or manipulate and change the setting of their dreams. With practice, it’s pretty extraordinary what you can accomplish. And it sounds like fun, right?

Conquering Fears: Because you can pretty much do anything in a dream, some lucid dreamers use their skills to conquer fears. Maybe you’re afraid of confronting a bully, giving a presentation, or flying in an airplane. You can use your dream world to create these scenarios and play them out, building your confidence.

What about nightmares? Achieving lucidity in dreams means knowing when a nightmare is really just a nightmare. The knowledge that what you’re facing came from within your own mind and is subject to your rules can be empowering. You can change what’s scary into something mundane, or even funny. You can defeat it, or simply make it disappear. If our nightmares are representations of what causes us fear and anxiety, imagine facing those fears and anxieties in sleep and stripping them of their power.

Creative Pursuits: We’ve all heard artists claim they were inspired by dreams. Painters, musicians, writers, filmmakers—dreams are a breeding ground for inspiration. Becoming more aware of your dreams won’t diminish their wonderful strangeness; they’ll still have that floaty, hallucinatory quality and will remain largely unpredictable. But increased awareness means you can better tap into your dreams’ creative potential.

HOW

So, how do you become a lucid dreamer?

The first step is dream recall. The more you remember your dreams, the greater chance you have of recognizing a dream when you’re in it. Like Marin, you can keep a dream journal—a notebook where you write and/or illustrate everything you remember from your dreams as soon as you wake up. In the beginning you may need to set your alarm early to interrupt the dream.

Another key to recognizing dreams is giving yourself reality checks during the day. For example, every time you pass by a mirror, consciously think about how clear your image is. If a mirror appears in your dream, you’ll recognize the fact that your image is not there, or that it’s blurry, or that you’re looking at an image of your child instead. You may realize then that you’re in a dream, and decide to step through the mirror onto a nice, sunny beach.

Once you’ve achieved dream awareness, you can start playing with dream control. Again, there’s only so much you can control. But instead of passively watching the dream play out in your mind, you can learn to take an active role and play along. You can turn that monstrous spider into a mewling kitten. You can breathe underwater. Maybe you can even learn to fly.


The Fourth Wall is a fabulously written first novel. When Marin was little and monsters chased her through nightmares, she learned to weave her own dreams. Her mother called the lucid dreaming a gift, and when an accident takes her mother and leaves her baby brother an empty shell, Marin uses this gift to spin a new reality for herself. One without time or sorrow. A world without memory.

But just when Marin thinks she’s safe in her make-believe fantasy world, the monsters come back and her dream turns to a nightmare. Something in the dream doesn’t want Marin to wake up. In order to heal herself and her family, Marin must face the truth she’s forgotten and conquer what lies behind the fourth wall.

Paperback: 237Pages
Genre: Young Adult, Fiction
Publisher: WiDo Publishing (June 10, 2014)
ISBN: 978-1-937178-51-2


Twitter hashtag: #FourthWall

The Fourth Wall is available as an e-book and paperback at Amazon.

Book Giveaway Contest:
Comment here on on my Facebook page to win a copy of The Fourth Wall !
About the Author: Elizabeth grew up writing short stories and bad poetry before escaping the cold winters of Wyoming and settling in the Sonoran Desert. She lives in Tempe, Arizona with her husband and two children, Abigail (12) and Gabriel (7). She still loves to write, but fortunately gave up on poetry. The Fourth Wall is her first novel.
Elizabeth’s creative nonfiction has appeared in Brain, ChildPhoenix New TimesLiterary Mama and Babble.com, and is forthcoming in Brevity. Elizabeth is also an award-winning fiction writer; her short stories have been published in The Portland ReviewHospital DriveSLAB Literary Magazine, and Bartleby Snopes. 
Links to her work and information on classes/critiques can be found at http://www.elizabethmarianaranjo.com/.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/emarianaranjo

 Thank you to Crystal Otto at Wow! Women on Writing for providing this stop on Elizabeth's blog tour. Keep up with blog stops and giveaways in real time by following on Twitter @WOWBlogTour. 

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Sunset Cover Photo Contest

***July Special: 99 cents for Going Barefoot in Greener Grass on Nook &Kindle and Secrets, Lies and Apple Pies on Nook & Kindle !!!***

The Sunset Cover Photo Contest for my soon to be released short story, Sunset Orange Crush, has several promising entries. From sunsets on the Florida Keys to Hawaii to New York City, these shots are breathtaking!

There's still time left to send me your entries!
>>> Email to audryfryer@gmail.com or post on Audry Fryer, Author.<<<

Sunset Orange Crush will be coming to a Kindle or  a Nook (or to a free Kindle or Nook app on your tablet) on August 1st! And, your sunset snapshot could be the background on the cover! How sweet would that be!?!

About Sunset Orange Crush:

Ali's life has been in pieces much like one of her most treasured mementos that fell and shattered a year ago. Wanting to fix what is broken, Ali returns to the small seaside town where her parents once rented a beachside cottage and she once spent an unforgettable summer. Though time has slipped away like dry sand through parted fingers, Ali's memories of sunsets on the beach, a lost friendship and a first love remain strong. However, in the span bridging her youth to adulthood, much has changed. As Ali searches for so much more than fond recollections of a more innocent time, she discovers love and loss, the healing power of forgiveness and grains of the same magic lingering from that one summer.

Here's the latest entries, plus a few sneak peek quotes from the story! Enjoy!

courtesy of Marie Zawislak (Florida Keys) 
"There’s always a little bit of sand that follows you home, in the bottom of your beach bag, in the cuff of your shorts or plastered to your flip-flops. Memories are like that, too."

courtesy of Marie Zawislak (Florida Keys)
"Time sifts like fine, dry sand through my fingers once more.  Round and round the sun rises and sets in and out of seasons ..."

courtesy of Quinn Kaufmann (Hawaii)
"...I’m not sure I could ever recapture the magic of that summer."

courtesy of Quinn Kaufmann (Hawaii)
"It wasn't long until the world around me grew a delightful hazy golden hue.  Part of it was, without a doubt, the alcohol."

courtesy of Quinn Kaufmann (Hawaii)
"The other part could be attributed to the amazing sunset, 
an orange crush of its own."


courtesy of Kaylee Scheirer
"Corey and I were the only ones for miles, floating on a tall billowing cloud with the lightning energizing our new-found chemistry."

courtesy of Kaylee Scheirer

Thank you to everyone who entered a photo! These are some awesome shots! Have you spotted a winner? Comment here or on my Facebook Page, Audry Fryer, Author and let me know!


***July Special: 99 cents for Going Barefoot in Greener Grass on Nook &Kindle and Secrets, Lies and Apple Pies on Nook & Kindle !!!***

Enter to win a $10 Starbucks Gift Card at www.audryfryer.com 
Winner will be selected on July 31, 2014!!!

Friday, July 4, 2014

"Whatcha" reading this summer?

***July Special: 99 cents for Going Barefoot in Greener Grass on Nook & Kindle and Secrets, Lies and Apple Pies on Nook & Kindle !!!***

I love reading in the summertime. No other season can compare to the bliss of lounging  in a scenic location and escaping into a good story.(Of course, with children, this type of bliss requires a some creative planning for the kiddos. And, most of the time, the scenic location is imagined, but a girl can dream, right?)  Maybe it's the lazy days of summer mentality (even if it isn't a reality) or simply the longer hours of daylight, but I must have a book (or new ebook download) within reach during the summer months, more than any other time of year!

So, in the spirit of discovering a hot summer read, I'm asking you:
Whatcha reading this summer?
Share your favorites, your current reads or wish list here or on my Facebook page, Audry Fryer, Author.


So, you might ask,
"Whatcha reading this summer, Audry?"
Well, I'll tell you:
Last month, I couldn't put down Barbara Delinsky's recent novel , Sweet Salt Air. It was like a mental vacation to a remote island off the coast of Maine. It had strong characters and story that kept a steady pace with a few fun "romantic" moments to spice it up.

For the past two weeks, I've let my Kindle recharge and have revisited the joy of actually holding a real book in my hands. On a trip to the library, I decided to set a good example for my kids and my niece who I am watching a couple days a week. I said, "See, kids, even Mommy (also known as Aunt Audry) is checking out a book that I plan to read. We can all go home and have some quiet time reading. Doesn't that sound fun?" Yep, for a whole twenty minutes, it was fun, though not the most quiet of a time!

Anyway, at our small town public library, I happened to pass a book that I always wanted to read, yet for some reason never did,  The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. It's definitely not your basic light reading that is usually associated with summer, but I love it. The writing is beautiful and the story is thought provoking.

For good measure, here's a few more "sand-between-your-toes" reads that I've enjoyed from summers gone by:


Happy Reading!

***July Special: 99 cents for Going Barefoot in Greener Grass on Nook & Kindle and Secrets, Lies and Apple Pies on Nook & Kindle !!!***

Enter to win a $10 Starbucks Gift Card at www.audryfryer.com 
Winner will be selected on July 31, 2014!!!