My Favorite Christmas....by Clarissa Johal

Besides having one of my favorite names for girls, author Clarissa Johal also happens to be a fellow author at Musa Publishing.  A fiction gal, she writes adult paranormal, paranormal horror and YA fantasy.  *Sigh*  A girl after my own heart.  She answered the call from me regarding Christmas posts and I was surprised and delighted to receive this in response.  Off-site, in our author groups, she totally cracks me up.  Hope you enjoy her story as well.  And check out the end of her post for exciting news....she has a new book coming out today!

Have Yourself a Sneaky Little Christmas....by Clarissa Johal 

     Money was always tight growing up. Consequently, the holidays were more about spending time together. While I certainly had a list of things in my head that I wanted, it stayed in my head because I knew we couldn’t afford it. My parents would always manage one gift, however. And my curiosity being what it was, I could never stand to wait until Christmas morning to open it.

     I was a latchkey kid. As December rolled around, and while my parents were at work, I would sneak into their room and search for my one gift. It was usually under the bed, shoved under a blanket or behind another object that would fail to hide the brightly-colored wrapping paper. I became an expert at lifting the tape, taking a peek at the box underneath, and taping it back up again. No one was the wiser. And it wasn’t a horrible thing to do, I reasoned. It was my gift, after all.

     One year, I wanted a rock tumbler so badly, it was all I could think about. My favorite thing to do was to collect rocks and spend countless hours categorizing them on my bed. I knew my parents couldn’t afford a rock tumbler, so my hopes weren’t raised. 

      As Christmas got closer, I waited for a chance to sneak into my parents room for a standard peek at my gift. That year, I found it hidden in their closet. Sneaky, I thought, but no match for my superior hunting skills. I opened up the end of the box and…it was a Lite-Brite. I wanted a Lite-Brite, but admittedly, I was disappointed. I had a small ray of hope that a rock tumbler would magically make it’s was into my clutches, but knew that was that.

     I spent the next week dropping hints about how much I wanted a Lite-Brite set (silly rock tumbler, who would want that anyways?). I wanted my parents to feel good about what they had chosen because I knew that money was tight.

      Christmas morning came. My mom was one of those moms that felt compelled to record every second of my life in a photograph, so I prepared to put on my Lite-Brite happy face. I even practiced it in the bathroom mirror. What I wasn’t expecting, was that inside the Lite-Brite box…was a rock tumbler! Turns out, I wasn’t as sneaky as I thought. My mom had gotten wise to my wicked ways and “borrowed” a box from a friend to hide my rock tumbler in. The photograph she snapped that year was one of me truly surprised and ecstatic over my gift.

      I kept that rock tumbler until a few years ago, when it was replaced by a newer model I bought my own daughter. A gift that she wanted for Christmas. Wrapped in the box it came in.

My hiding places are much better than my mothers.

BETWEEN

by Clarissa Johal

Blurb: 

How far would you go to redeem yourself?

  

As a young girl, Lucinda was able to see spirits, a gift that didn't come without its problems. Now, a dedicated young veterinarian, she is committed to the idea that every life can be saved.

After a devastating accident, Lucinda tries to escape her past by moving to a small town. There, she meets a newcomer and feels an immediate connection with him. But there is another mysterious stranger to the small town, one that stirs within her a mixture of unease and desire.

As Lucinda is drawn into a bitter tug-a-war from the forces around her, she is likewise pulled into a dangerous twist of past and present events. Forced to make difficult choices, she finds that the two men are locked in not only a battle for her life...but a battle for their salvation.

BETWEEN buy link Musa Publishing:  http://musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=493

Clarissa Johal has worked as a veterinary assistant, zoo-keeper aide and vegetarian chef. Writing has always been her passion. When she’s not listening to the ghosts in her head, she’s dancing or taking photographs of gargoyles.

Clarissa shares her life with her husband, two daughters and every stray animal that darkens the doorstep. One day, she expects that a wayward troll will wander into her yard, but that hasn’t happened yet.

CONNECT WITH CLARISSA!

Author Webpage:  http://clarissajohal.com/

Author Blog: http://clarissajohal.blogspot.com/

Author Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/clarissa.johal.9

Welcome Musa Publishing Author Clarissa Johal as she talks about Writing the Paranormal

WRITING THE PARANORMAL

By Clarissa Johal

People often ask me how I began writing in the genre of paranormal. I’m not brooding or scary or running off to join the latest seance, which I think is what they expect. And my silly sense of humor oftentimes gets me into trouble, especially with my two daughters.

The topic of paranormal has always interested me because I moved around so much as a kid. It seemed we were always living in an older place and with those older places, came a ghost or two. Now, before you chuckle and roll your eyes (or not) let me tell you, I walk the line between skeptic and 100% believer. On the surface, I may be rolling my eyes with you, but inside, I believe in a plethora of things I won’t even begin to discuss until I’ve known someone a very long time. I know what I’ve experienced, and I know what my rational mind tells me. Believe me, there’s a lot of arguing in my head over those two things. We are a collection of what we’ve experienced in our lifetime, and since I’m as old as the hills, I’ve experienced plenty.

When I was 10-years-old, we moved to an island and lived for several months in a 30-year-old house. I’m an insomniac and have been since I was a kid. Consequently, being awake while the rest of my family slept was nothing new, though my mom would get quite irritated because I would roam the house at night and wake her up. One evening, and after hours of tossing and turning, I decided to stroll. While I sat on the couch trying to figure out what to do with myself, I heard singing in my ear. It was as if a woman was sitting right next to me singing, “Time in a Bottle.” I liked the song, it was popular at the time (and yes, that dates me) but I didn’t know the words. At that point, I did what any kid would do if they weren’t compelled to run away screaming, I politely sat and listened until she finished. Afterwards, I went back to bed and proceeded to have the worst nightmare. I dreamt that I walked into our bathroom and found a naked, young woman wrapped up in a shower curtain in our bathtub. She was blonde, had a bullet hole in her head, and was quite dead. It was a graphic nightmare for a 10-year-old; I never watched television and rarely had nightmares. I had it for weeks until we finally moved. Each time, it became more intense—it had gotten to the point where she was clawing her way out of the tub and trying to speak to me through the shower curtain. Needless to say, I was a bit of a wreck by the time we moved. Years later, I remember finding out from my parents that there was indeed, a murder at that house. They didn’t elaborate, but I always wondered of the details. Parents, tell your kids these things ahead of time, because if they ever experience anything, they will always wonder.

I was 13-years-old when my parents took a house by the ocean. They were able to rent it cheap and I was more than a little sad when we moved a year later. It had a garden, a tree-house, a large yard to do cartwheels in; everything a kid could want. It also had ghosts. I would lay awake for hours and watch a white cat walk through my bedroom wall. Over and over again. No explanation for that, it just was. I remember constantly seeing an old lady out of the corner of my eye. She would follow me down the stairs to the basement and back up again. She would follow me down the hallway to my bedroom. Sometimes, I would see her sitting in my mom’s rocking chair in the living room. I wasn’t afraid; she was just a presence I came to accept. It wasn’t until we moved from that place that I overheard my parents discussing the house and the fact they had both seen the shadow of an old lady there. They thought it might have been the lady that died in the house before we bought it.  Well, that was news to me (and unfortunately, taught me the joys of eavesdropping).

So, back to the genre of paranormal. I began writing fiction when my kiddos were younger. While writing the second installment to my Pradee series, I was interrupted by two characters that truly didn’t fit. I kept setting them aside, but they would return, stronger than ever. Finally, I gave up on my young adult title and began Between, a story of the paranormal. While my young adult fantasy, took me ten years to complete, I had the rough draft of Between finished in several months and a year after that, the full novel was complete. Six weeks after I submitted, Musa Publishing offered me a contract.

The novel I’m working on now is also in the genre of paranormal. I have to say, I’m hooked. I like the freedom of writing for adults and I love presenting the paranormal in a new and interesting ways. Now, I know what you’re probably going to ask me. Do I write of my experiences or make stuff up? I’m a writer, I write fiction, and I know the difference between fiction and real life. I have to, I have kids. However, the best fiction is when writers “write what they know” and a little of what I know creeps into my novels from time to time. I hope you will enjoy reading them.

Blurb:

Since Lucinda was a young girl, she's been able to see spirits, a gift that didn't come without its problems. Now, a dedicated, young veterinarian, she is committed to the idea that everything can be saved.

When Lucinda is involved in a car accident that kills her fiance, she is devastated and moves to a small town to live a life of self-imposed exile. There, she meets a newcomer and feels an immediate connection with him. However, there is another mysterious stranger to the small town, one that stirs within her a mixture of unease and desire.

The spiritual activity around her intensifies as Lucinda is increasingly haunted by memories of the accident. As she is drawn into a bitter tug-a-war from the forces around her, she is likewise pulled into a dangerous twist of past and present events. Forced to make difficult choices, she surprisingly finds that the two men are locked in not only a battle for her life...but a battle for their salvation.

Between will release under the Thalia imprint of Musa Publishing on December 14, 2012.

Website http://clarissajohal.com/

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