ends and beginnings

This week we are experiencing a heat wave in Nova Scotia. As we enter hurricane season, Hurricane Earl is making its way up the eastern coastline, and we here are enjoying (or not!) the high temperatures and heavy humidity. By the time Earl arrives on our shores its hurricane status is expected to be downgraded to tropical storm strength. That means we will get lots of wind and rain but with less fury, and probably some areas will suffer damage, but because the storm keeps veering a little off the course it was on we do not yet know for certain how much of the province will take the brunt of it. One good thing is that the storm will sweep the humidity away with its passing, and the temperatures will lessen by more than ten degrees making it seem quite cool in comparison to what we are enduring now. (I want to make it clear that I am not complaining – because Summer is far too short – but the high heat and humidity combination really drains one’s energy.)

For awhile this evening my husband and I stood out on our deck enjoying the refreshing evening breeze, which is cooler than what the fans can push around in our house. I love looking at the sky filled with stars, and listening to the night sounds. How amazing it all is! Now the crickets are chirping steadily, a sure sign of the end of Summer. This morning I heard another flock of geese honking loudly in unison as they flew over, another sure sign of the oncoming Autumn.

And today …. today our darling little grandson started school! How can it be this all-important day so soon?! He was excited to climb onto that big yellow school bus, taking him into the next phase of his precious life. (Later over the telephone he told us he enjoyed his first day of school.)

I remember my very first day of school. It was horrible; I was so painfully shy. And to add to the problem, I had become very ill with tonsillitis during that summer and had to have a tonsillectomy just before school began. Of course, that meant that I was unable to start at the same time as the other children, which made it even more difficult.

So … do you remember your very first day of school? What kind of memory making day was it for you?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Would you knowingly write a potentially ‘banned’ book?

I have been thinking more about the writing process, since NaNoWriMo is coming up in November and I probably will participate in that. I have been reading more, too, and you will see the updating of ‘my “have read” book list’ page.

In wondering about banned books and those that are challenged – the hope of the challenger being that the book will be banned – I posted a list that I found of some of those classics:

Banned and Challenged Classics:

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Ulysses by James Joyce
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
1984 by George Orwell
Lolita by Vladmir Nabokov
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Animal Farm by George Orwell
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Native Son by Richard Wright
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
Rabbit, Run by John Updike

I would think that books with that reputation would get an increase in sales, thanks to the curious. What do you think? Have you read any of those books, and if so do you understand why the book is on this list? Do you agree?

Let’s take this a little further. Have you ever written a book that has been challenged when it was not your intention for it to receive that kind of publicity? Or, do you have a subject burning in your soul that you want to write about, but you know it could be challenged or even banned? Would you write it anyway?

I hope to hear from many of you on this topic.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

NaNo Writing

It was so fun giving out awards to other bloggers earlier this week. Even more fun was receiving replies from some of them. It was so inspiring to me (thanks to Laura A. Best) that I am eager to post again so soon.

Now I am again thinking about NaNo writing. Have you ever heard about it? I learned about NaNo last year but didn’t get up the ‘courage’ to attempt it. National Novel Writing takes place the whole month of November. The goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days! Sounds like a huge challenge, doesn’t it? And it is – especially where the writer does not start with anything at all or simply an outline. The rule is to write, write, write .. whatever comes to mind, with NO EDITING all the way through to the end of the month or upon reaching the 50,000 word count – and the challenge has ended.

Check it out at: http://www.nanowrimo.org

I am thinking of doing this, but … can I manage it? Of course, there is no shame in not reaching the goal, and most don’t, so if I don’t get anywhere near it I at least got started. The purpose is to write and get inspiration from just finding out what you can do. It is suggested to have a support group so that you can encourage one another along.

Have you ever taken part in NaNo? What did you learn about your writing?

Are you interested in participating?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Manuscripts and capturing ideas

Today I am still stunned by something l learned last night in writers chat. Our guest author revealed to us that he has over 700 – yes, read that as OVER SEVEN HUNDRED, completed manuscripts waiting for a home! Each of those has been submitted at least once. He also already has 500 published short stories and poems! And he is only in his 40’s!

I sat here marvelling, first at his achievement of 500 in publication, but when he said he has over 700 yet to be published — well, I don’t know if I have recovered yet from that announcement! I hardly can grasp the image of that. Imagine it! … Can you?

From that I realized I am not capturing my thoughts and ideas nearly the way I should be doing. Some writers carry a notebook and pen everywhere they go, others take a little tape recorder to talk into when something triggers their imaginations, some keep paper and pen by the bed at night (I do this) in case they get story ideas as they are falling asleep or are wakened by them, or maybe even dream them.

The point is … write, write, WRITE! Don’t lose ideas by not capturing them, thinking you will remember and then losing them! Ever have that happen? Never trust your memory, especially since – as a writer – you have so much creative thought happening. For sure some of it will get lost.

Do you have a stockpile of manuscripts? Or maybe you have tips to offer regarding capturing ideas ? I’d love to hear about it.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

A riddle for you & do you Twitter?

Today I have a riddle for you.
Q: What day of the year is a command?

Think a little about that question.

Today is March fourth.
🙂 See it?

A: March Forth!

So, do you want to know how I am “marching forth” today? Well, I signed up on Twitter this morning. Yep! I now have a Twitter account.

A few months ago a good friend suggested I try it, so I looked into it but just wasn’t ready to take that on. Since then, several writers in the chat rooms have talked about the benefits of Twitter and convinced me to do it. Okay, I finally see the possibilities and now I’m a Tweeter, um .. a Twit? Oh, no! don’t like that one! ; ) hmmm .. now I am a twitter-er? I think that is what we are called. Well, anyway, now I am a Twitter user! I have made my initial post to get things started, and I also became a follower of a few members with whom I was already familiar.

It is a little daunting, but nonetheless, if I want to break into the world of writing for children I have to take the steps to get there. A little at a time.

I also learned yesterday that all publishers now expect their authors to do a lot of the work themselves of promoting sales of their books. In an earlier post I may have come across as sounding quite lazy, but not understanding how things have changed I thought traditional publishers still did most of that. Of course, I am not opposed to doing what needs to be done. I just didn’t like the idea of being an ‘unknown’ and having to cart books all over the place to sell them. Do I have a lot to learn, or what? 🙂 Yes, I admit I do. And I want to learn.

In the meantime I continue to read, and I have added more to ‘My have read” list’.

So, do you use Twitter? And .. what are you doing to ‘march forth’?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

How did you find your ‘voice’? and book review: A Black Tie Affair – by Sherrill Bodine

My question today is “how did you find your voice”? Or are you one, like myself, who is still making that discovery?

What was your “eureka” moment – when you realized that you had discovered the writer in you?

Did it take you a long time to unveil your true style?

What I am finding through my reading is what I do not want to write, or what I am currently not interested in writing. I am not a person likely to spend loads of time on research, so I don’t think I could write good nonfiction historical stories, for example. I also will not write erotica or horror or sci fi. As far as novels, not sure that is what I can do, either – yet, anyway.

There are styles I really enjoy in what I am reading, so I will keep discovering what appeals to me that way. What I do know is that I enjoy writing for young readers, and stories with a little bit of humour, stories with good ethics, and so on. But, I am still a beginner since I have not allowed myself much time nor the thrill of really setting ‘my muse’ free. 🙂

Now to mention the book I won, A Black Tie Affair by Sherrill Bodine. Today I got a chance to read it to the end. It is well written; pulls you back and forth in the lives of the two main characters; includes some mystery, romance (I skipped over the erotica since I’m not comfortable reading that), lots of fashion detail and has an odd little detail in the ending. Sherrill Bodine can certainly write and if that is the type of book you enjoy then you may want to pick this one up and her other one, Talk of the Town.

You can find A Black Tie Affair listed on my BUY THE BOOK! page.

So, back to my main question … how did you find your voice?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Inspiration is where you find it

Where do you find inspiration to write?

Today Donna asked a similar question in her blog (link in my blogroll at right) and my reply came in poetic form. I had fun writing the poem so now I am posting it here so maybe you can get a chuckle out of it, too. I hope you enjoy it. 🙂 And, btw, where DO you find inspiration to write?

Inspiration Is Where You Find It

My deadline’s coming up too fast
I cannot think, my muse flew past
and I am left bereft and dry –
so much I cannot even cry!

What shall I do, where can I look?
I’ll scrub a floor, or should I cook?
How can I find what isn’t there? …
I know! I’ll sort my underwear!

But that will lead to “need to shop”
Dainties I’ll buy until I drop.
What then? will I inspired now be? …
Or maybe I should just have tea.

But look, it’s such a lovely day
to go a-walking while I pray
that out there I will find my clue
for what to write, then start anew.

How sweet the breeze that calms my mind,
as Nature’s beauty brings a kind
of peace to me that takes away
the stress of having naught to say.

I listen now and breathe it in
I listen more … such peace within.
Fresh new ideas start to stir
Great words and thoughts all in a blur.

So fast they come, so fast I write
I really must be quite a sight
As I now quickly write words down
Out on the street in my nightgown.

What can I say? The need arose
to find my muse where’er she goes
Today she took a Nature walk
And I’m again a laughingstock.

Pacing, mumbling, brow in furrows
Thoughts now scrambling from deep burrows.
Neighbours knowing, gathering ’round
“I am writing, don’t make a sound!

Don’t interrupt, I’m on a roll!
This will be good, it’s from my soul!
Then who stands here you soon will see
is more than I appear to be.

Inspiration is elusive,
doesn’t mean I am reclusive.”
(At least I am not standing here
In my, still-tagged, new underwear!)

Good thing that I just stayed at home …
Now, .. what was that word ..??
mumble … mumble …
scribble … scribble …

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂