Where do I do most of my research on tattoos? The internet, of course. Type in your favorite book and tattoo and see what comes up.
Here are some of my favorite results:
What is your favorite book? Who is your favorite author? Google them and tattoo and tell me what you come up with.
This will be my third A to Z. I have a blast every year, but this I am extra excited. I have begged my fellow authors to share, open up, and reveal things about themselves. I’ve asked them to tell me about their ink. Yes. My Theme is Writers and Tattoos.
I’ll have some inked authors, some authors who write about inked characters. I’ll reveal a few of my favorite tattoo themed books and tell you about my own ink and perhaps share a bit about my tattooed themed series set for publication in November of 2015.
And, if you are an inked up author or love inked characters, or a even better, an inked up reader and want to tell me about your ink, let me know in the comments. I have a few letters left. I can fit you in.
Have a great A to Z Challenge everyone!
Yummy! Need I say more. Ok, now that I got that out of the way. I am obsessed with tattooed character at the moment. When I had the chance to ask R.J. about O’Connell and his ink, I jumped at the chance. Check out his tattoo story below. -Sydney Aaliyah Michelle
The Hurricane by R.J. Prescott
Publication date: February 16th 2015
Genres: New Adult, Romance
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O’Connell’s Tattoo Story:
As any reader will probably guess from the book, I LOVE tattoos. When they are meaningful I think that they can be a really beautiful form of art. That having been said, I don’t have any tattoos. Not a single one. Why? Not because I’m afraid of needles, but because I’m incredibly fickle. What I like one month, I know I’d regret another month. My husband doesn’t have any of these issues. Like O’Connell, he knows what he wants, makes up his mind and goes for it. He recently finished his full sleeve tattoo which goes from his wrist, up and over his shoulder. I watched him for months consider what he’d have, design it out, and then sit for hours in the chair while they painstakingly created this beautiful sleeve.
A sleeve tattoo requires a huge commitment. It’s so prominent and visible, that you need to truly love the design to live with it forever. O’Connell’s sleeve is a celtic design. Being Irish is a really important part of who he is and I think he’s proud to show that part of himself, to literally wear his nationality on his sleeve. When Em first sees it, she doesn’t see the ink as adding an element of intimidation to his demeanour. She sees the beauty in the artwork.
His other tattoo is so much more personal. In the early stages of their friendship, O’Connell reaches a low point. He is struggling not to get dragged down by his past dealings with an alcoholic mother, and his lack of tangible prospects to offer Em. At this point Em grabs a pen and writes a quote across O’Connell’s pectorals.
“A champion is someone who gets up when they can’t-
-Jack Dempsey”
She tells him that anyone can be a champion if they can get back up and keep fighting when they’ve hit rock bottom. It’s kind of a revelation to O’Connell that the only way is up. She has given him the hope and drive to lift himself up and try to make something of himself. It’s only fitting then that he captures the memory the only way he knows how, by having the words tattooed exactly where she wrote them.
O’Connell suggests when something meaningful happens that he feels a tattoo coming on. It seems he likes the idea of using his body as a human scrapbook and preserving, by tattoo, the very best of his memories. It’s a pretty good bet then that they’ll be more tattoos to come by the end of the sequel!
Synopsis:
Emily McCarthy is living in fear of a dark and dangerous past. A gifted mathematician, she is little more than a hollow, broken shell, trying desperately to make ends meet long enough to finish her degree.
Through an unlikely friendship with the aging, cantankerous owner of an old boxing gym, Em is thrown into the path of the most dangerous man that she has ever met.
Cormac “the Hurricane” O’Connell is cut, tattooed and dangerous. He is a lethal weapon with no safety and everyone is waiting for the mis-fire. He’s never been knocked out before, but when he meet Em he falls, HARD. Unlike any other girl he’s ever met, she doesn’t want anything from him. Just being around her makes him want to be a better person.
They are polar opposites who were never meant to find each other, but some things are just worth the fight.
AUTHOR BIO:
I was born in Cardiff, South Wales although I left to study law at the University of Bristol, England. Four weeks before graduation I fell in love, and stayed. Ten years later I convinced my crazy, wonderful fire fighter husband to move back to Cardiff with me where we live with our two equally crazy sons. Juggling work, writing and family doesn’t leave a lot of time, but curling up on the sofa with a cup of tea and a bar of chocolate for family movie night is definitely the best part of my week. “The Hurricane” is my debut New Adult Novel.
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Have I got a Tattoo Tuesday for YOU!!!!
Take it away Lyndsay,
Each and everyone single one of my tattoo’s has a meaning. I currently have 6 tattoo’s, 3 individual ones and 3 that make up one big one that start my sleeve. They each cover a scar, a scar that remained from a past that I longed to escape, and I fount the best way to do it. What better way to start over then with something beautiful?
My first ever tattoo at the age of 18, it was a rash decision I’m not going to lie. I didn’t go to a tattoo parlor and get it done by a professional. I was visiting my cousin who by out of consequence had been doing tattoo’s. I knew exactly what I wanted so I told her and got it done the same day. You can imagine that it’s not very good right? The rule is always get your tattoo done by a professional. Even though she isn’t a professional, it’s my first and probably most memorable one. The meaning behind it will always be one I live by. I may think negative thoughts about myself or my surroundings, but I will only speak about positive thoughts. Don’t embrace the negative, instead embrace the positive. Because there’s always a silver lining, even on a cloudy day.
Now my next tattoo came a few months later, now this one I planned. I found a drawing online and immediately sent it to my friend for her to draw for me, it was everything I wanted. I had always loved Batman and the characters. My favorite was The Joker though. I saw a lot of myself in him, now I’m not a sociopath or a serial killer or anything but I just connected with him. His scars was a big part of it, he had scars that everyone could see, he didn’t try and hide them. It’s as if he wore them proudly even though they were a source of pain. Another thing was every time Batman defeated him, he never stayed down long. He got back up and he fought back harder. My next tattoo made me realize I can’t take my scars to seriously, I couldn’t take life to serious. I have to find something to life about, I have to find that strength to wear my scars proudly not because I’m ashamed of them, because I’m proud of them. They each represent a battle in which I lost, but I got back up and fought harder and I sometimes won. Because I have to lose sometimes and I’m okay with that.
My 3rd tattoo as you can see is also Batman. Now as a little girl I didn’t spend my nights watching Disney movies, I spent them watching old batman movies. I watched every single film, night after night. I fell in love with it, and the whole idea of it. I didn’t have a hero growing up but Batman quickly became mine. Now the reason why I chose the Bat signal is for a number of reasons but i’ll give you the only one that matters most. For me, the Bat signal means hope. A hope that a hero is out there, hope that someone is always looking out for you, but most importantly that you can always find hope. So now I look down at my wrist everyday and I see scars, I see sadness but I can always find hope.
Now my last tattoo is a bundle of 3 which make up one big tattoo. Now this I put a lot of thought into it and I planned for months. This one probably means the most to me, because it represents the 3 most important people in my life. My brothers and baby sister. Now I’ll have to explain this one for you to understand it. I’ve battled self harm since I was 9 years old. It was something that got me through each day when all I wanted to do was give up. I didn’t think I’d have anything to fight for, anything to live for. Then by the time I was about to turn 11 came my brother Jude. He was born and suddenly I had something to fight for, because he needed me. I was the one to fed him, changed him and made sure he had everything he ever needed. He was my reason to fight, but then I also had another reason to fight as well, because along came my brother Alexandar. I did the exact same with him as I did with Jude. I was living with my dad when he came along but that didn’t stop me. I cared for them because they didn’t have anyone else who would. I struggled but I managed. Then Dixie came into my life. A little sister I always wanted but unfortunately 5 days after she was born Jude, Alexandar and Dixie got took away and went to live with there grandmother. I saw them maybe 5 times after that and I’ve not seen them since. That was 6/7 years ago. The stopwatch represents that no matter how much time has passed or much will pass, they’ll never leave my life and my heart. The birds represent that they may fly away but I’ll always be here waiting for them with a home and welcome arms. They’ve flown away and they’ve grown into such beautiful children, but it doesn’t matter if I’m not in there life anymore, as long as they are happy and they have the childhood they deserve then everything will be alright. They’ll hold a place in my heart and they have permanent place in my life. It may be in ink and on my arm but at least it’s close to my heart.
My tattoo’s each hold a painful memory underneath but as I look at them today I no longer see pain, I see beauty and happiness. I plan to have more, I plan to have something to remember my battle with self harm, and I plan to have something to remember the fresh start I have made. I’ll leave you with a Batman quote that oddly fits my tattoo story.
“It’s not who you are underneath, but what we do that defines us.”
Thanks so much Lyndsey, amazing story of over coming. I love you ink, too.
If you have a tattoo story and want to be featured on Tattoo Tuesday, leave me a note in the comments.
I’m thrilled to bring you this amazing Tattoo Tuesday Story!
Take it away, Matthew.
To understand the meaning of my tattoo, requires us to travel back to 2004. You see, as a wayward nineteen-year-old, I drank and partied and did what I liked. I’d also spent four months travelling Australia, and although I saw a great deal and met some of the most wonderful people I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet, in hindsight I wasted away my time.
I also wasted a lot of money on endeavours that ultimately lead to the same demise… the dreaded hangover.
But what fun. And if you can’t have fun at nineteen, when the hell can you? But I digress, for my tattoo story stems from another trip after Australia. A trip to Northern Kentucky, and YMCA Camp Ernst. A trip that wasn’t really a trip, rather my first real job.
Anybody who’s worked at a summer camp understands how real a job like this is, as it tests you in every single possible manner. Now, don’t for a second think I transformed into a born again Christian who never drank a drop again. I didn’t. I continued to do immature and wayward things for a long, long, long time.
But Camp Ernst taught me a lot about life… about me… about the true meaning of work and love and others…
Loving it oh-so much, I returned in 2005, and 2006, and 2007, and ended up spending eight summers within the walls of my spiritual home. I have no idea who I’d be without Camp, but I wouldn’t be the me of now. I doubt I’d write, for one. I doubt I’d live a creative life at all. In fact, I doubt a lot of things, but this is a what if I’m glad not to consider.
In 2010, I returned to Camp Ernst for a single week. In my late twenties, I had a real job with real responsibilities, but I couldn’t stay away. Like a drug, June came and sent me scurrying to the phone where I spoke to Eli (The Camp Director), pleading with her, “Can I come for a week? You don’t have to pay me! I just need to be there.”
At this stage, my once-upon-a-time campers were now my colleagues and peers. More important, my friends. Molly decided we should get a tattoo, and capture the moment and the meaning of a place we all hold dear in our hearts (despite the sleep deprivation, frustration, and low pay).
Five of us entered that tattoo parlour, with a simple design in mind: a triangle, because that’s the YMCA’s icon – an icon of strength, love, and equality; and the words, ‘This is goodnight, not goodbye’ – because these were the lyrics of Linger, a song we had all sung around the campfire hundreds of times before.
And it’s fitting, because I’ll never say goodbye to Camp Ernst, no matter how old I get. Saying goodnight to those we love is like a promise to see you soon. I like this, and so, in many ways, my tattoo not only captures my love for my spiritual oasis, and the meaning it’s brought to my life, but to those I love – those from the past, present, and the ones I’ve yet to meet.
On my right forearm, on Tim’s left, Molly’s side, Saunie’s foot, and Davey’s too, five people with the same tattoo, but in different, yet equally meaningful locations. We all have our reasons for loving camp, and we’ll be forever connected through ink.
And so, that’s my tattoo story. I plan to get many others, too. I like the idea of my arms and back and chest full of words and sentences I adore. Lyrics and quotes and sayings that mean something to me. But that’s for the future, and other stories.
For now, I have one, but it’s an awfully special one.
Thanks so much, Matthew. Click on his book to pick up a copy.
If you want to connect with Matthew Turner, check him out on Goodreads.
Sydney Aaliyah Michelle 