The birth of a muse.......

     I love learning where authors get their inspiration. This week I was reading on From the TBR pile about how Susan Kaye Quinn was working on writing an amazing paragraph for a contest. And that paragraph  became the starter for Open Minds which I just started and am blown away by page nine.

     I know my inspiration is out there, just waiting to catch me off guard. Some day I'm going to write an amazing children's fantasy. I just need to crack that door to my imagination. Maybe I just needed someone to make me stand in front of that door. My art class instructor assigned us a mask making project. Not just to assemble cardboard and paint it but to explore its purpose and meaning. While I was painting and gluing, I couldn't help but create a personality for her and a back story. Here's a snippet from my presentation.

Introducing:

     the Fairy Queen of What-if-ia.

 
     She creates and spreads adventurous tales. Within the cloud of fairy dust spread by her magic pencil, she sprinkles the minds of children with wonder and speaks to the infantile-hearted with a whisper when she reveals the answers to their “What if’s”

     The reason I created her is because most of the surroundings in my life are symmetrical and I wanted to explore an asymmetrical shape. Also I wanted to represent my dream of writing fictional stories for children. I struggle with releasing my creative ideas and thought that a mask would protects my actual self from judgment and allow my creative side to flow.


Maybe she'll get me started on that first book..............

Who or what is your muse?

How to take a trip...Lit-er-ally!

One of the benefits of being a college student is the requirement of Technology Education - I get to have professional instruction in everything tech - WAHOO!  Last class, our instructor brought out his finest tools for us to learn to use for our future students and all you lit-lovers out there are in for a treat.

How would you like to take a walk through your story?  Story happens in England it 1700? That's okay, you can walk through the modern day Google Earth and see many of the same streets and monuments in the story. Want to get the layout for Homer's Oddesy? Or maybe you want to shock and awe your kindergartner with your own story-time adventure. You can do all that on Google Lit Trips and more. Want to see older images of that area? Want to see what the lighting is at that time of day? Check it out!  http://www.googlelittrips.org/.

Some of these trips are created by students using GoogleMaps. Some are created by adult lovers of literature who have even included study guides and activities, video clips and links to purchase a copy of the book. The setup instructions are very well written,easy to follow and best of all, FREE.

Someone please send me to my room.....

...in my dreams!

You know you watch a lot of Sci-Fi when........

....your nine-year-old finds a cat hair in his dinner and comments,

"Someone's DNA is in my food!"

Bad reviews

What is it about bad reviews that gets my attention? Is it just curiosity like when you pass a car wreck? Or is there something more? Why do I care if someone didn't like a book? I try to read books that readers I'm familiar with recommend (Goodreads/Blogs/Friends). I usually LOVE the books I read. But once in awhile, a book takes a wrong turn or just isn't coming together for me and I wonder if it was me.

Did I just not get it? Did others love it and only I missed the point? That's when I find myself digging into reviews to see if anyone else noticed something was off. What's to be gained from it? I guess in the interest of writing someday, knowing what went wrong is a valuable tool. If I really, really hate the writing, I won't blog about it - there's nothing to be gained in the blogging world when someone tears a writer apart. I will write about ones I'm on the fence about or ones that had some really good aspects and some I didn't care for.

Still, when I see a one star review written by someone I respect, it gets my attention. What about you?

Book Review: Radiance by Alyson Noel

     This is one of the strangest books I've ever read! It's an odd mix of shimmery clouds, dark experiences, disconnected loved ones and new friendships. The story takes place a year after Riley Bloom dies and watches her parents cross over into the Here and Now and her sister returns to the Earth Plane to continue living.

     When Riley finally crosses over into the Here and Now, she's sorely disappointed. Although there are radiant beings, mostly there are people like her. The saddest part is that they fail to welcome her and leave her feeling lost and alone until Bhodi offers to be her guide.

     Bhodi takes Riley to guide a soul that's been resisting for over a hundred years and Riley believes she's up to the task. If she succeeds, she gets her wish to tour London and be among the living for a time - the one thing she thinks will soothe her discontent. Surprisingly, another soul is waiting in London, but this time she has to conquer her strong impulse to interfere.

     While I enjoyed Riley's plucky character and loved her strong will, Radiance gave me a very bad, lost feeling - like there was no reality, only experiences.  It gave me a huge case of separation anxiety for the characters.  I give the author credit that if that is what she was trying to convey, she succeeded.  She certainly is original and creative in depicting the afterlife.  One inconsistency that the author addresses in the story is the language fluctuating from pre-teen to college level vocabulary. While it may offer something for older and younger audiences, it just felt a bit off to me.  I did love the inclusion of the dog in the story and the ending left me hopeful that the characters are in a good place and ready to lead a good solid adventure in book two, Shimmer.

I give Radiance three stars!3 stars

This is one of the strangest books I've ever read! It's an odd mix of shimmery clouds, dark experiences, disconnected loved ones and new friendships. Reading it gave me a very bad, lost feeling - like there was no reality, only experiences. It gave me a huge case of separation anxiety for the characters. I give the author credit that if that is what the author was trying to convey, she succeeded. She certainly is originial and creative in sharing her depiction of the afte

When is the writing good?

     Reading the comments on Elana Johnson's post about taking a short break from writing got me thinking. She talked about focusing on things that make you who you are and then coming back more equipped for your next writing. One of her commenter's, L.L. Muir said, "Write while the writing's good," and mentioned 8pm to 2am. I have to agree that is the BEST time for creativity to flow.

     I may not be writing a novel, no, just planning for when I finally do, but I write many, many papers for school and other random outlets.
     I find that concentrating on the topic, starting an outline and then sleeping on it yields inspiration in my sleep. What? I write in my sleep? Actually, yes! I go to sleep thinking about tying these difficult topics and sources into a meaningful paper - aiming for a high score and working to analyze everything discussed in class prior to the paper. Then I sleep on it, but find myself waking every few hours and mulling over main points, weaving together sources and quotes. Sometimes it's a little less serious, like funny things I want to share on my blog.
     I am fully aware that I've crossed over into some land of the strange-minded, but it works for me and I hope it helps me write my first novel once I find my inspiration.
     What about you? When do you write? When you have your best pen? When you have your favorite pajamas on? When you are fully awake? When you are done watching some emotionally exhausting drama and in touch with your deepest feelings? After you get off the phone with a friend that makes you laugh until tears are sneaking out of the outer corners of your eyes? What works for you?