Book reviews & author interviews

It has been almost two weeks since NaNoWriMo ended and I have not added to my story yet. It was so much writing jammed into that month that I lay my pen down and have not picked it up to continue. I do plan to do that, though, the story is still playing in my head. And the PiBiIdMo ideas are waiting to be filled out into complete stories, as well.

Although Christmas is two weeks away and I have TONS of things to do, now I am thinking about books and authors. I have MANY books to read, some older ones and now lots of newer ones (mostly YA) have been added to my waiting reading stash. But something that has been working around in my mind, besides writing book reviews of some of the books I read, is to attempt interviewing authors. I have a few authors in mind whom I would like to interview after I read their books. I think it is great promotion for them, assuming people actually come here to read our conversations. 🙂 And I do believe in helping with that promotion.

What do you think of these ideas? Would you like to read my book reviews and interviews of authors?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

NaNoWriMo is almost here! Am I ready?

November 1 is approaching far too quickly for my liking. NaNoWriMo will soon be starting and thousands of us will be lurching out of the starting gate. I for one am excited and nervous about it.

I am looking at this writing challenge as a way of motivating me, of propelling me into ‘real’ writing – meaning committed writing. I know it is not going to happen without work, but it could be a sound beginning for me, a departure from short children’s stories and articles for Valley Sunshine publication.

My problem, as I see it, is that I have nothing to start with, no characters, no plot, no scenes, no genre, no plan. As I said, nothing. Well, okay .. so I have a few ideas floating around in my head but they are just that .. floating, not attached to anything in particular. And I have had a couple of dreams, just strange ones so that I wonder … is that a NaNo clue? I don’t know!

I do know that most people who apply themselves to NaNoWriMo do so with a plan in mind or outlined on paper (or computer). They have an idea of where they are headed. There are some others who don’t, and – like me – are going to be sitting down to write whatever comes to them once they begin.

Thus far, on my NaNo page I have three ‘buddies‘, one is also a first timer. I think for each of us this is going to be a major undertaking because of other time-consuming things, but we are going to make the effort. I’ve signed up for the daily tips and encouragements, hoping that will spur me on and keep me going.

Well, if nothing else, I’m sure to learn a lot about taking on something like this, and about myself. I hope I like what I find out!

I will try to keep an update going on here of my word count and experience as I go along. It might not be pretty, so I apologize now. 🙂

Do you have any tips for me? Any plans for doing NaNo this year yourself? Or have you done the challenge in the past and have a story to tell me about your experience? I would love to hear about it! Please!

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Just write, keep moving forward. Also titled:I joined NaNoWriMo!

Last night I did it! I joined NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month challenge that is scheduled for the whole month of November annually. Then I discovered that there are over 500 people in Nova Scotia who have signed on, a few are in my area.

As I mentioned in my post of August 19 ’10, the challenge is to write 50,000 words, with NO editing until December 1 at the earliest. Just write. Keep writing … 1667 words a day will make it just over the goal.

I don’t know what I am going to write about in November. Already I have been praying that God will bring something to mind by November 1 that will fit the bill. If He doesn’t it could be quite nonsensical, which is totally acceptable as long as I’m writing .. something .. anything. Just write, keep moving forward.

That sounds like the challenge of life, doesn’t it? It is coming into the time of year when my body reacts to not enough sunshine, and depression threatens. Keep moving forward. Don’t let it stop you! That is what I have had to take hold of and walk out. It is a frame of mind, and when the mind is affected by not enough sunshine it just gets to feeling blah, which affects the body, and everything becomes harder to accomplish. I need challenges, not overwhelming ones, but things that stimulate my mind and help me to keep going. Depression is a horrible thing, I’ve lived through some miserably dark times in that state over the years. The past two years have been much better than many before them, and I am determined to stay on top of it this winter too. NaNoWriMo may prove to be one way to keep me going.

Do you plan to join NaNoWriMo this year?
Do you or someone you know suffer from depression?
Perhaps the writing challenge can make this winter’s dark hours more easily handled by getting you started on a novel. Or … to help you just write and/or keep moving forward.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Are you enticed by distractions?

Two weeks ago I wrote about coyotes waking me in the wee hours of the morning. Well, last night there was a full moon, and after reading until late, around 1:30 am I heard them again. They sounded so close. It wasn’t chilling as before but I am always captivated by their yipping and barking and howling. I even wished I could see them doing all this, it’s fascinating.

After hearing them I got to thinking. I know a farmer, who, when an animal in his herd dies, buries it immediately. But I know of another farmer, when faced with the same situation, leaves it for the coyotes to clean up. (Yes, that is me going .. ewwwww!) And then he laments about coyotes being a nuisance around his farm. Hmmm

Want to know where my thoughts went on that? Bury it! Keep the scavengers away. If there is something to entice them they will return, you can count on it. It’s the same with crows. If they tear apart that bag of garbage waiting for pick-up, they will continue to come back on garbage collection days .. just in case. They’re not stupid – although I’ve lambasted them more than once out of frustration … “Stupid crows! stay out of my garbage!”

If it weren’t available to them they wouldn’t get it. There would be nothing to attract crows … or coyotes … or uninvited life forms of any kind.

Which leads me to my next point … it’s the same with sin in our lives. When we have a bad habit or have done something which we regret, don’t leave it out for everyone to see and talk about – or in other words, don’t continue in it. Bury it .. in Christ. Hand it over to Him, repent, and move on without it. Leave that negative thing behind. It will reek of death, it will attract negatively interested parties, it will even keep enticing us to revisit it. We must stay clear of negative influence, be it our own habit to be broken or the close company of persons with like interests of poor choice.

… And what communion has light with darkness? — 1 Corinthians 6:14c

The coyotes howl and sound exciting and wonderful but that doesn’t mean I can or should befriend them. What looks good at a distance, up close may well lead to one’s downfall.

Are there things that entice you and lead you away into places you shouldn’t go, or even .. as for me .. into procrastination? It seems that my biggest problem right now, and ongoing, is misuse of time. (Any pointers?)

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Do you get your memories out of the trash heap?

I am trying to come up with a topic to write about. Sometimes it is there waiting for me, more often it has gone into hiding. This is the latter.

What, oh what, shall I write about that will be worth sharing? hmmm

When trying to think of something I sift through my day, my week, summer vacation … whatever is filed away in my memory bank that is not under too much thinking and filing and stashing. You know, what we do with our memories … put them on a shelf not too far back to bring out and enjoy later, or file them away for safe keeping for an indefinite length of time, or just toss them onto the heap of regrets and disappointments to dig through when there is more time to do so. There should never be time to dig through the trash heap, unless to learn something, but never enough to wile it away there.

Do you happen to remember a children’s TV program called Fraggle Rock? (It’s still in reruns in some places.) There was the wise Marjory trash heap that would receive the occasional visitor seeking advice. Notice I said occasional. For good reason. Don’t go there. Mostly the trash heap consists of smelly yucky garbage, the mental trash heap being one of embarrassing moments, wrong thoughts, mistakes, regrets, failures, bad stuff … not a nice place to expend one’s brain power.

So, why did I bring that up? Because too often we tend to waste time thinking back over things that cannot be changed, cannot be fixed, cannot be forgotten if we keep digging them out to review again and again. Best to leave them alone to compost into a life lesson.

Our experiences have a way of changing us, affecting how we think or ‘see’ things, bringing us to new understanding, and often it is by the fact of their just being part of our living. Stored away in our memory, and left alone to decay into what comes next … they become a part of what makes us who we are. If not stored away properly they can affect us negatively — through our constant rehashing of them, not allowing ourselves to heal from the memories, instead taking them out for our private pity parties and our public displays of “you don’t know what my life is/was like.” But if not allowing the stench to touch us, not going back and digging it up to agonize over again and again, instead dealing with it in good and healthy ways, we allow ourselves to heal and grow and mature in mind and emotions.

So, what am I writing about? It seems I am saying … stay out of the trash heap, and compost instead. 🙂 Do not allow your past to hold you there, to hinder your walk and progress in life, or to prevent you from believing. Move out of that place of powerlessness, that desert of despair, that tunnel of torment. Walk out! Look up and walk out.

The One who has a plan and a purpose for your life made you to be the creative person you are. Use that gift to its fullest and crawl out of the garbage heap! Aspire. Believe. Create. Dream. Explore. Fly. Grow. Hope. Inspire. Jump in. Keep going – and … LIVE your Life!

What has helped you to keep going, not allowing Marjory the trash heap’s stink to permeate your life?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Coyotes! So what has awakened you lately?

A few mornings ago I was rudely awakened at 5:00 AM. What yanked me out of a deep sleep was high pitched whiny, shrill screaming, or so it seemed. It took me only milliseconds to realize that what I was hearing was a pack of coyotes. They were so loud that I thought they were right out in the field by our house, but it seems they were a little further away than that. Sure coulda fooled me at the time!

My first concern was for the young calves in the herd out in the pasture, but later I learned that the cattle were content and unconcerned. Perhaps the pack was hunting deer. Then this morning on my walk I discovered hundreds of porcupine quills along both sides of one section of the road. Maybe the older coyotes were teaching their young to hunt. Could that have been the final result of one animal’s life, one conquest of the hunt?

It is always startling to me when coyotes begin their communication so suddenly, increasing in volume as they all chime in … somewhere out there in the night. It sends chills down one’s back to hear them howl, yip, bark, almost scream … a few at a time, then in pleasing unison across the hills to one another. Their voices – young mingling with mature – carry far, filling the darkness with haunting, unnerving song that rises and falls, then just as abruptly — stops. A few final rambunctious young ‘yip yips’, then nothing. Silence.

Amazing, fascinating, alarming. Spooky.

Have you encountered something in your life that has come with just such surprise? Something that has left you quaking in your slippers? Have you been awestruck? Or has it shown you something more amazing, something that you didn’t know about yourself?

Has it inspired you to write, dream, attempt something new, or maybe even change course? Do you feel emboldened?

What has awakened you lately?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂