Eloren Judd

Eloren Judd is the witchy side of fiction writer Erica Judd. Always interested in witches, magic, the occult and paranormal, Erica has been a practicing witch to one extent or another since 1996. Eloren, however, didn't make her appearance until 2019 when Erica decided to branch out from her other fiction and write novels which focused specifically on characters who are modern-day, real life witches - no Hollywood effects and fireballs in sight! 

[witchinfiction]

Fiction, Fatigue, and Feeling Bad.

Sixty-six days.

That's the interval I've just had between writing days. I didn't start out intending to have a hiatus, and when I did decide to take some time off, I didn't announce it "officially". I just went about my other business quietly, and tiredly. Because that was the issue. I had other things I needed to do, and far too little energy.

It used to be that I only felt mildly bad when I went through bouts of non-writing. After all, I was unpublished and had no deadlines to meet, so nobody but myself was affected by my lack of output. But these days, there are actually people who are invested in my work! People are waiting to read what I'm going to publish next! Despite the fact that I have always had confidence in my writing, and have always been told that I have a talent for writing (and not just by my Mum and Dad - by real editors who don't know me, too!), I'm still a little dazed by the response people have had to my published works.

But there's where the "Feeling Bad" catches up with me. I know that the majority of my readership knows me personally and understands that I have health issues and understands that it may take me some time between books. And I know that there isn't a set pace at which I have to churn out new books anyway - look at Harper Lee's follow up timing (not that I'm claiming to be the next Harper Lee). The Feeling Bad comes from my own personality more than any pressure put on me by readers. I want to Get Things Done. I want to push things through, I want to hammer out word counts, edit like a demon, format my little heart out, ace my cover designs. I want to work so much more than my illnesses allow me to, and because of that I feel like I'm not giving my readers all that I could be giving them, and that disappoints me.

I currently have two books in progress - one Witchin' Fiction title and one general fiction - one planned and ready to be written, and one in the beginning stages of planning. I'm creatively champing at the bit, but mentally and physically about ready to be taken out behind the barn!

The analogy that a novel is a marathon not a sprint just came to mind, but for me it is is neither, and I have to remind myself of that. For me, a novel is a leisurely stroll with as many rest stops to recuperate and enjoy the view as I need. And my friends will be waiting for me at the end, however long it takes me to wander my path.

~ Eloren 💜🧹🌙 

[witchinfiction]

Witchin’ Fiction First Book Cover Sneak Peek!

I hit 20K words today - not as far along was I wanted or planned to be, but progress is progress, so here’s my cover for the first book I’ll be releasing under the Witchin’ Fiction project, A Discovery of Witchcraft.

I don’t usually have a cover design made up this early in the process, but this image (from pixabay.com, edited by me) is just so perfect that I don’t envision myself making any changes before publication day rolls around.

[witchinfiction]

I’m aiming for a big word count today because the weekend was not productive, but it’s not coming easily. *sigh*

Hopefully the next part of the chapter is good and I blaze through it. In it, I get to create my own witchy shop, so at least that part will be fun, right? 🙄

[witchinfiction]

Welcome to Witchin’ Fiction

Hello, I’m Eloren! Some of you already know me as Erica, but I’ve decided to use a pen name for my witchy fiction to differentiate it form my “general” fiction. I thought I’d write this intro post to explain how Witchin’ Fiction came about.

This whole experience started out as a little writing exercise. I wanted something to do to warm up my writing brain after a winter hibernation, so I decided to re-write a beginning I’d done quite a few years ago. At that time, I was leaning more towards writing Young Adult fiction. These days I tend much more towards general, adult-oriented fiction. Not that I look down on YA at all, it’s just that my focus has shifted. I don’t read as much YA as I used to either.

Anyway, I didn’t have the actual piece of writing (I don’t think, maybe it is still in one of my may folders somewhere), but I remembered the bones and most of the flesh of it. The main character certainly, the secondary characters, and the others who were in the scene. So I thought about how to alter the scene to bring the main character from fifteen to thirty-something, and how to put the dramatic action in when she was removed from the group of teenagers.

I wrote the exercise, and something sparked. It was fun. I wanted to see where it could go. I also wanted to write something less emotionally taxing than the book that went on hold during my hibernation. So I began to think about these characters and their lives, and what could be going on around them. I kept adding to the exercise, little bits, not pushing myself the way I usually do. I want to keep this part of my writing life lighter and more fun. Am I going to skimp on my stories and avoid writing about real life issues? Heck no, that’s not how I operate. But I don’t want to write the same kind of psychological drama that I do in my “regular” fiction. I want my Witchin’ Fiction to be real, but not gritty realism. Okay, my last book may not have had the gritty realism in the main narrative, but the twist at the end gave it a punch of it.

I want Witchin’ Fiction to be about self exploration and friendship, making connections and finding truths. They won’t always be nice, love and light truths, but they will always be important ones.

So far there a few different types of witchcraft I want my characters to practice - currently I have a kitchen witch and a wannabe who’s going to be a nocturnal witch, and in later books I hope to encounter a herbal witch, a forest witch, a science witch, a bone witch, and a death witch.

As on now (November 2019), I’ve written just over a quarter of my planned word count for the first Witchin’ Fiction book. I didn’t hit my word count goal for October, but that’s okay. Life happens, and I have chronic illnesses to deal with. I’m going to do my best to be firm with myself for the next two months so I can get the other three-quarters written by the end of the year - not least because I’ve promised myself a nice big silver pentacle pendant from my favourite witchy shop if when I do!

I have plans to spend a good six months on editing, formatting and production once the manuscript is finished, and I plan to launch on the Winter Solstice (I’m in Australia, so that’s June 21st!), which fortunately lines up with the monthly community market where I sell (or at least attempt to sell!) my books already. So nice and neat for me!

I’ve done some work on branding and marketing and organising pre-promotion and competition stuff already, so I feel like I’m ahead of the curve, which is nice because the last two books I was flying by the seat of my pants with marketing and promotion.

I’m really chuffed that Witchin’ Fiction doesn’t seem to have been used much at all - I was expecting it to have been snapped up, but I had my pick of URL format for it on tumblr, facebook and twitter. I did consider making and instagram as well, but I have three instagram accounts already and I’m not great at updating them, so it’s probably not worth my while making another one! I can use my existing writing one (MistedWords) and tag my Witchin’ Fiction stuff if I want/remember to.

When I reach the halfway point in my predicted word count, I’m going to do a cover reveal, and share with my personal facebook friends and followers of Misted Words the fact that my writing exercise has turned into a full-blown second-stream of writing. I think it’s too encompassing to even be called a side-project now!

So, if you’ve found Witchin’ Fiction through one route or another - welcome! I hope your interest has been piqued and that you will want to come along for the ride. 

~ Eloren 💜🧹🌙

[cosmic-storm]

[tea-and-antlers]

Witches

Get out there. Back a backpack, fill it with water and trinkets and notebooks. Put on your best shoes and go ahead. Go stick your feet in the pond. Pick up cool sticks in the forest and whittle them with open scissors. Pick common flowers and dry them in your room. Tie wool ribbons to trees and write little messages for others to find.  Prowl the streets of your area and pick pebbles out of the cracks in sidewalks. Find coins and bring them home. Look for abandon objects on the subway. Go dumpster diving, find fun free things you’d never expect to own from the trash. Use mud and stones to make tiny houses, use walnut shells as bowls and leave some water for the new inhabitants. Pick up sand from the beach or the desert or the local park and fill a little sack with it. Bury seeds in eggshells under your favorite trees. Get lost in the woods. Be that one person who does weird stuff, collect the words tossed around about you and save them in a paper envelope; they’re yours.

Just go. You are a being of chaos and calamity and there is a whole world out there waiting to be found.

[witchofapollo]

This is such a mood

[ioqayin]

Desire fuels magic. If you have no passion for the desire to relate to the spirits, then you will not. If you have no desire to get results, then you will not get any. Desire calls the familiar spirit, desire calls the imps, desire calls up the magic and aligns us with the Queen of All Desire. Her Desire is what creates the world, and we are co-creators with Her. 

[batwitch]

Fear

Witchcraft is the conquering of fear. It is the recognition of the deep anxieties that fester in the soul; fear of death, fear of decay, fear of the otherworldly, the not-human, the ecstatic, the wild, the dark and uncontrolled self. The Witch stares her fears down, she twists revulsion into curiosity, transforms horror into power. She gains control by giving up the need for it. She is not born fearless, she may even have suffered from anxiety, the overwhelming physical and chemical wave of fear the numbs the mind and body. However, she does not seek the antidote of comfort and safety, but rather pursues the source of her fear down whatever dark tunnel it may lead her. The storybook witch is meant to frighten, the child sees her crooked shadow on the bedroom wall.The child grows up to become what it fears, to eat the shadows, and only then can it overcome them. We know we should not walk widdershins round the kirkyard, and yet knowing this, we choose to do so, to deliberately seek what is forbidden and dangerous. Fears are stepping stones to power. The Witch knows fear as the marker of a boundary about to be crossed. When she is afraid, the magic is real.

[imaginarywitchcraft-deactivated]

"A spider found nesting in the kitchen is another sign of luck and abundance and would never be disturbed." - Backyard Witchcraft by Jake Richards.

[witchinfiction]