Quote of the Day:  I’m participating in the Norse Gods Blogfest to help promote Siv Maria Ottem’s book, Secrets of the Ash Tree. This quote comes from her blog about her book.

In the realm of gods and fairy tales the mystery of life is an endless path with many secrets to be discovered. Some secrets are like dreams, just waiting in darkness hoping to get into the light. 

You could win this on Siv’s blog by purchasing her book.
I haven’t participated in many blogfests beyond the A to Z Challenge. That’s such a marathon in itself, I’m typically worn out. Plus, I have so much to write about that I can’t fit in all the fests. In fact, I am going to The Ordway tonight to view and review Miss Saigon and will have that post up later on Wednesday. I have Norse roots and want to help Siv promote her book, so here’s my contribution to the blogfest. It simply says to write about a Norse god, or goddess. I chose Freya. She appeared in Nice Fish at The Guthrie last spring. She blew over the ice, riding inside a fish house, and put Ron and Erik, a couple guys on the ice, under her spell. You can read the review here.

Here’s a brief description from wikipedia: In Norse mythology, Freyja (Old Norse the “Lady“) is a goddess associated with love, sexuality, beauty, fertility, gold, seiĂ°r, war, and death. Freyja is the owner of the necklace BrĂ­singamen, rides a chariot pulled by two cats, owns the boar HildisvĂ­ni, possesses a cloak of falcon feathers, and, by her husband Óðr, is the mother of two daughters, Hnoss and Gersemi. 

I’ll try a bit of flash fiction and write a story about Freya.

Freya raised her whip, and her cats Riv and Tikki screamed as they lurched her chariot forward. She had no time to delay. The baby slept in her bassinet, tucked tight into the chariot as they streaked across the sky. Thor’s thunderbolts crashed, and Freya raised her arms against the hail. She’d get this baby girl to her parents before dawn. Riv and Tikki dove down through the black clouds and scratched and clawed their way through the thick forest. The first pink streak of dawn tinted the horizon. If the baby girl wasn’t in her parents’ cottage by the time the sun rose, her father would declare war on the villagers. His forest army already had their weapons at the ready.

The sky lightened to lavender, then a stream of gold. “Quickly, girls,” Freya hissed. “This baby needs to be in her mother’s arms in the next few minutes.” The left wheel of Freya’s chariot caught on a fallen tree and broke off. Riv and Tikki tangled up in each other and their harness. Freya pulled the baby girl out of her bassinet and ran towards the cottage just as the sun broke above the horizon. Freya was a few feet from the front door, when she heard the girl’s father shout, “Charge!” 

The ground shook as the forest warriors sent boulders crashing towards the village in an avalanche of snow, rocks, and debris. The war between the Forest Dwellers and the Villagers had begun. Thor had his way today, but the baby was home now, and Freya had ways of distracting the men from their warring ways.

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Alright, it was fun to write something totally different. Visit Siv’s blog, read more from the blogfest, and check out her book!

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  Write a story that explains a natural disaster, or use one of the Norse gods/goddesses.Â