Carolyn Tody, one of our original founding Peacock Writers authors is our wrap up profile for the series on our 6th book, Springtime Bullies. In her words ~
My favorite place in the virtual world is the Patchwork Forest, a place where anything can happen, and a tip of the hat to scenic woods surrounding my childhood home. As a child, I created tales to perform skits with my cousins. This imagination later led to a university degree and writing speculative fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, blogging, and illustrating stories that address the question: What do we do with our unmet dreams? Do we fight for them or let them go?
I wrote Hijinks at the Peacock Palace to expand the concept of bullying. Making youngsters aware of behavior control nuances in advance could help them with emotional attentiveness to their physical surroundings. For instance, when my family moved to the country halfway through first grade, smart new kids weren’t picked for teams or included in secrets. The situation was stifling. Tightknit groups were impenetrable. Parks and playgrounds became dangerous. Escaping childhood aggressors meant keeping the mind open and knowing a way out. Despite misery, I never thought of isolation as bullying until writing this story led me to an online bullying site. Hijinks is set on the peachick playground because my teenage granddaughter finds the palace an intriguing place to expose a hidden bully… one that no one thinks of as a bully, the troll lying wait in a dark corner to catch vulnerable children off guard. This can also be the realm of our inner child. This tyrannical ‘Guardian of the Fringe’ arrives in the guise of an ally that children are otherwise positioned to embrace. ‘Haze’ represents intentional or unintentional manipulative guile, which is infinitely confusing and difficult for a child to resolve.
I love writing with the Peacock Writers. They are a warm group donating all proceeds to children’s charity. Various themes for each edition encourage my thoughts to soar in new directions. Best of all, this has given rise to the Brambleberry Lane series. These stories feature Ginger, an exotic ‘tween creature born to live in wild comfort. Across from her aging Witherworm Villa is the Patchwork Forest, a large urban park where Ginger and her friends get in and out of scrapes and lock their nightmares safely away in her sketchbook, which is morphing the series into chapter books. Life is a hand dealt each of us, a full existence blessed with unlimited potential, with gratitude to unlock positive thinking, and with stressors that create learning opportunities needed to fulfill our callings, purposes, and dreams. My goal is to create interactive content that stirs the soul. www.facebook.com/Carolyn.Tody.Author