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Flocks & Murmurations
Hey! Just popping in to tell a cool little anecdote. I have a bird feeder in my yard, and a bird book and binoculars nearby so I can try to identify the birds I see. The cats love to watch them (I love how Zwartbles Ireland calls it “cat TV“), and Moss sometimes chatters at them when he gets particularly excited. It’s so cute, but I can never get it on film. So yesterday morning, he’s poking his head through the blinds, and I go to open them for him–and stare outside in shock. About 20 red-winged blackbirds were chowing at my feeder, like tourists at a hotel breakfast buffet! They…
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Dear Awkward August
Dear August, Do you know how freaking awkward you are? Especially this year, you just feel really, really awkward. I have nothing against you, August, at all. Some of my favorite people have birthdays this month! But being the planner that I am, I sometimes find myself impatient for the next thing: the next big holiday or event, the next trip, or the next phase of a project. This isn’t necessarily a good thing, it’s just how my mind naturally tends to process, but as a result I’ve really been trying to make myself stop and enjoy the time I’m in at the moment. It’s a very intentional thing and isn’t always easy. So,…
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#WeeklyVenture Challenge: Solo {a poem of embellishments on things that really happened}
When the yard explodes with violets and dandelions,And wasps inexplicably thump head first into the window,I know it’s finally time to break out the jellies. (They’re grown up jellies, with a low purple heel, comfort ridges and everything.) I know I’ll need comfortable* shoes because today I’m walking.I won’t have a car for an hour or so, and there’s some unexplored urban territory nearby.Jaywalking is involved. The weather is perfect, and I wish I had my bike. (It’s hiding in the shed on cracked tires.) A strip mall adjoining a nature trail is mine to conquer. A rare thing, like an old tree growing in the center of a parking…
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Confessions of an Insecure Author* (Post #200!)
*I know, pretty much all you authors out there are. 😛 So, come commiserate with me. So, Labor Day weekend was a roller coaster for my writing emotions. For the first part of the weekend, we spent some time with friends at a beautiful farm house inn. I went to sleep to the sounds of thunder storms or barking farm dogs (kept there to chase off coyotes) and woke up to the misty mornings of sweet, quiet open space, punctuated by rooster calls. We ate breakfast in the common room with the other guests, and I met a fellow tea lover and tea pot collector at the hot drink bar, who told me she’s…
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My Writing Process (Blog Tour)
Thanks to the adorable and very talented Sarah Shotts, I’ve been tagged to participate in The Great Blog Tour, aiming to make a web of authors that stretches as wide as the internet is long! I’m so honored to be included, and I’m excited to talk about my writing process (and to show off some cool pictures I took for the question headers)! So, shall we begin? •~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~• Since late middle school/early high school, I’ve been building my own fantasy world filled with characters, which has grown and changed throughout the years, as I have. I worked on it tirelessly, until college, only pausing to focus on my studies, with just…
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Hiding
I can’t stay in bed all day because I’m overwhelmed with life. Also finally trying to climb on the HD bandwagon.
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VEDA – Day 11: Inspired
I remind myself that even if people don’t like my book, it’s okay. And okay is wonderful.
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Jot-Worthy Activities
A word collage of this blog. Make yours at Wordle.net.When life whacks you with a hammer, the creative gather nuts and turn it into a nut cracker. …basically when it’s hard to sit down and be creative, you can observe what’s around you for ideas and inspiration, and therefore your seemingly negative circumstances can turn around for the better. 😀 Forgive me. It feels like I’ve been dragging my brain around on a leash recently. Yesterday I geeked out with a friend over a radio from 1973, with tons of channels, including Air, CB, Ham, Short & Medium wave and more! We got broadcasts from probably 6,000 or so miles…
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The Dead Time, Part 2
I has better lighting! And I am in a bit of a writing lull. And apparently I touch my hair a lot. Music from incompetech.com >> Read Part One here.
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Internet Picture Serials
The internet has really given people a new lease on their creative life. They can create blogs, make their own videos, podcasts, Twitter characters and stories (EDITED years later: not to mention trans-media storytelling), anything, really! Storytelling has really evolved, and people have been taking advantage of it! For those of you who love blogging, I’m sure some of you like me have dreamed about creating a made-up story in installments on a blog. It’s like a serial story in a magazine without the subscription fee ^_^ Many people have gone out and done just that, and it makes it even more fun when they include pictures. As they say,…
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The Secret of Kells
“I have seen the book. The book that turned darkness into light.” When I was in Dublin a few years ago, I had a chance to visit Trinity College and tour its library and museums. It’s famous for being the home of the Book of Kells, which was illuminated by Irish monks and survived the Viking attacks in the late 700s and early 800s A.D. Considering the content of my novel having a lot to do with illuminated manuscripts and monks, it’s always been an area of interest for me. When the 2010 Oscars aired, I first heard of a movie listed in the Best Animated Film category called “The Secret…
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The Origins of Automata and the Uncanny in “Edison’s Eve”
All moveables of wonder, from all parts,/Are here–Albinos, painted Indians, Dwarfs,/The Horse of Knowledge, and the learned Pig,/The Stone-eater, the man that swallows fire,/Giants, Ventriloquists, the Invisible Girl,/The Bust that speaks and moves it goggling eyes,/The Wax-work, Clock-work, and all the marvelous craft/Of modern Merlins, Wild Beasts, Puppet-shows,/All out-o’-the-way, far-fetched, perverted things,/All freaks of nature, all Promethean thoughts/Of man, his dullness, madness, and their feats/All jumbled up together, to compose/A Parliament of Monsters. – William Wordsworth, The Prelude While doing some research for my webcomic a few months ago, I read a remarkable book called “Edison’s Eve” by Gaby Wood. It discusses the historical significance of automata from their initial…
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Some Summer Inspiration
Happy June, guys! It’s the first weekend in June: it’s summer, so relax, enjoy it! And may you all have a sunny back porch to write on with a comfy chair to write in!
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Whisper of the Heart
Mr. Nishi: It’s a special kind of rock called a geode. Hold it close to your eye and look inside…Those crystals are called beryl. There are pieces of raw emeralds deep inside them. Shizuku: Aren’t emeralds worth a lot of money? Mr. Nishi: Sure, but they need to be cut and polished first. When you first become an artist, you’re like that rock. You’re in a raw, natural state, with hidden gems inside. You need to dig down deep and find the emeralds tucked away inside you. And that’s just the beginning. Once you’ve found your gems, you have to polish them. It takes a lot of hard work. Oh,…
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The Far Side of the World
I knew I would collect some exciting writing fodder on my far-off trip to South Africa (yes! That’s where I went!), and I did! Not only did I get a taste of a different country and different culture, but I had a surfing lesson, did other daring things like jump 14 feet into a pool below, ride in the open back of a pickup truck, and went on a safari drive where I saw many animals I had only seen in zoos, like giraffes and tigers, as well as a gentle, kingly white lion (we dubbed “Aslan”) and four 22-day-old lion cubs! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it…
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In Praise of Miyazaki-San or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Anime
<< Edited May 12, 2010 >> What defines inspiration to a writer? I’ve spent a good deal of time reading, and have found some favorite authors, but there’s always more to it than just BOOKS, isn’t there? Stimuli is all around us. An artist’s source of inspiration is the very world around them, and they can step into worlds of another’s creation to find inspiration for their own. I have a deep and abiding love for music and brilliant composers, and amusingly enough, I’ve spent more academic class hours studying films and scripts than actual creative novel writing, so I have many things that have shaped my personal creative style.…
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April LOLs Day (& some writer link spam)
Usually I avoid April Fool’s Day as much as possible, but for whatever reason, feeling cheeky today, I posted an April Fool’s joke telling all my personal Facebook friends that I was getting published by Random House. When I clarified that it was a joke, there was talk of medieval torture and witch burnings XD Had a fun instant message conversation with a friend about it that I wanted to share: Friend (F): Shouldn’t you be on a hawaiian yacht or something, celebrating your contract? 😛 I mean, you couldn’t have possibly been kidding, right? Me (C): ^_~ No! of course I couldn’t have possibly…trust me, I would have broadcast…
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A is for Axhsausted!
An appalling anguish afflicted the already aggrieved author. Graaahhh! My novel isn’t cooperating, talked my webcomic over with a friend who is giving me suggestions on what to do, and though it’s all such good advice I feel like my brain has hit a wall. While I wearily feel like I have so much more to learn about this medium’s brand of storytelling, my sci-fi main character is poking her head out and asking, “Since they’re being annoying, can I come out now?” It’s probably cuz I am exhausted. I need to finish reading some library books that indirectly have to do with my writing (reading them for fun AND…
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The Bird and the Baby: A Recollection
Once upon a time in the summer of 2006…We were given a weekend off from our month-long program in London, so our house of American university students scattered to different corners of Europe. Most went in groups to other countries, but I stayed in Mother England with my feet firmly planted. In the early afternoon, after mostly everyone had departed, with a messenger bag packed for a day trip, I set off alone. I rode the tube to Paddington Station, ate some Yo Sushi, and boarded a train bound for Oxford. The Eagle and Child Pub has been a thing of myth for me ever since middle school, when one…
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In My Own Little Corner
I just realized. It’s the last day of January. I can hardly believe the year is 1/12th over! This is my view from the screened in porch today.The ground is covered in snow with a sheet of thin ice over top. It’s funny to watch the dogs walk on top of the snow, and if they step too hard, they suddenly sink in with a jerk. When they chase each other across the yard they kick up chunks of icy snow. Oh, yes. In case you didn’t catch that, I’m on the screened in porch. With snow outside. Don’t worry, I’m wearing a down jacket, boots, and a fuzzy hat,…
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A Little Bit of Everything
Oh man, I’ve been meaning to post this entry last month! I’ve been thinking about/doing a lot of things lately, so I hope you’ll forgive the discombobulatedness of this entry! Blogging really is my favorite way to keep the writing alive when I’m not actually “writing,” but doing more “editing.” It makes me feel more productive when I have something published on my blog, or when I’m making plans for it ^_^ My story has been keeping me busy, but lately I’ve been doing much more job hunting, so I’ve made less time for it than I’d like. Speaking of blogging, one of my writer friends, Morgan Riley, mentioned to…
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The Writing on the Wall
It’s the third week of the New Year, and I’ve already got a new plotting strategy. My brain felt fried after spending so long writing the first draft, and I was worried that I’d have to really push myself to write and edit. But after a chat with a fellow writer friend, I had a huge a-ha moment when she suggested a method that would really help me visualize the rapidly expanding plot of my novel. Sticky notes. Okay, I know I’ve been tracking this all over my Facebook page, but this is the first time I’ve tried this approach and, frankly, it’s very empowering! Plus, I really get to…
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2009 Year in Review
A new decade. Funny how those things creep up on you. This time last decade I was barely out of middle school. The dream of becoming an author was a warm flicker in my heart, and I’m not sure if I’d thought up my novel at that point yet. But in the subsequent ten years, I have carried that novel series with me, through the highs and lows of school life, and after college graduation I set out for the trip of a lifetime: the journey to authorhood. I’ve grown. So has my novel and its series, and we’ll continue to. So many wonderful things have happened in 2009, including…
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Who doesn’t love a good Renaissance fair?*
*quote from one of my dear editor friends! Happy Belated Thanksgiving, all! I’m not exactly back, but there have been a few new developments on the writing front. First off, I’ve halted work for National Novel Writing Month and started a very basic outline of a web comic project, which sadly was going at a snail’s pace mostly because of my lack of fresh inspiration. I hope to finish sometime in the future, except I just got all the edits back I had handed out for Book 1. Which is the second thing. I’ve started to do a number of story-enriching edits, and oh, my word! It felt like I…
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Rapture!
I must have turned on the light three times and jotted down notes as I lay in bed trying to fall asleep last night. All those ideas I held back are flowing out now for Book 2, and I’m so excited! I can hardly wait til November. I am writing out layout ideas like mad. ~added at 7pm~ Also, I realize I have more and more friends joining me for NaNoWriMo! I’m so excited! ~added at 8pm~ Just finished writing up my main character’s school schedule, complete with professors, and I feel like I’m back in college!
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Writing My Heart Out (with the cunning use of smoke screens!)
The one thing I love about writing fantasy is this: I can write about whatever I want. Literally. I create my own world, my own rules, and populate it with creatures and peoples, and it’s all done to my taste. Sometimes it’s just a creative idea that comes out of nowhere, nagging at me, demanding to be put onto paper. Sometimes it’s wish fulfillment, sometimes it’s getting out emotions. But to me, it’s the greatest gift I could possess. It fulfills me like little else can. Writing is my life experience put on the page, and I pour out my heart through my characters. Still, whatever I put in, I…
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Flying (DON’T write what you know)
Darn Tweets have been monopolizing my blog space. Sorry I haven’t been making any actual posts in a while. Editing is going well. I’m up to Ch. 10 right now. Man, it feels weird going over stuff that I’ve gone over so many times, except that I am finally connecting everything coherently, so that is huge. I have also been gathering more writing ideas for future books in this series. I love life: it provides such rich opportunities for self expression and research. I wrote a blog last month entitled Life Experience, which talks more in depth about my love for research and experiences. Someone posed a point to me…
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Life Experience (Write what you know)
The old adage goes; “write what you know.” As an author, I’m what I like to call a “method writer.” Like a method actor, I want to have some experience in areas I’ll be writing about so I can portray them with realism. I’m a rather curious, adventurous person, so I’ve racked up a number of experiences. I’ve been horseback riding, gone to a firing range, been spelunking, rock climbed on a bare rock face, traveled, and a host of incidental things that I can draw reference from; anything from standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon to driving a car. Not to mention going through college and moving…
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Traveling is an education
I get ideas from all sorts of unexpected places, especially since I work with people from so many different backgrounds with varied histories and experiences, including many who were born in other parts of the world. I found myself in the middle of a wonderful conversation yesterday, listening to two foreign-born coworkers talking about the fun, creative things they would think up to entertain themselves as kids, all involving some sort of mischief and lots of wonderful local color. My inner anthropologist was absolutely delighted, and my inner author was equally pleased with the influx of new mind-expanding ideas. And this was not the first conversation I’ve had/heard like this.…
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Distance
People have always told me that distancing yourself from your work now and then is the best thing a creator can do. When you take a step back, you have the freedom to move outside of your work and look at it afresh with a more discerning eye when you return to it. I tend to forget this, especially when I’ve set a writing deadline for myself to finish Draft 2 ASAP by the autumn. But the good thing about being so busy with life is that I’ve gotten some distance from my story, so when I went back to try editing last night, it was so much clearer and…
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When Characters Have a Mind of Their Own
I was talking with another writer friend last night, and he was telling me how frustrating it is when characters develop and change as you write them, and they mess up all your nice plans for the story’s direction. There can be nothing more frustrating, trust me :-), yet I like to look at it as a challenge. You really WANT to listen to your characters, or if you’d rather, your intuition about your characters. It’s so important if you want your story to be genuine, original and true. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, especially to creative types who like to plan ahead! Some of my characters start off one…
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A Writer’s Musical Toolbox
I’ve had music on the brain recently, so I decided to compile a short list of inspirational artists and songs I like to listen to while writing. For a mellow mood: Enya, The Mediaeval Baebes, Loreena McKennitt or movie soundtracks. For inspirational lyrics (and beautiful melodies): “Come Awake” by David Crowder, and anything by Nickel Creek or Josh Groban. For emotion-driven writing: intense, yet primarily upbeat, rock, by the likes of Hoobastank, Creed, 3 Doors Down, Nickelback, and for something a bit more intense, I like me some Black Tide, Evanescence or Nightwish, among others. Also like “Build Me the Moon” by Charlotte Sometimes. I’ve also been compiling a list…
Artist, Author, Geek
