Unlocking Ideas

   
   Not really on purpose I set foot into another creative art. I've never done an oil painting before, but my former piano teacher asked me to paint her house, so I'm trying. Aside   from making some money and teaching myself a new skill, maybe it'll unlock new ideas for my stories.

The Umbrella: Part II

   Finally! The Umbrella: Part II is finished. Click here to find out what happens next to Helen, her bodyguards, and the stranger!

Comment below to share what you think!

*If you haven't heard Part I or forgot what happened, click here and listen to it again!

A Writer's Word 100%

   Recently a friend posted on her status about some bad times.

I wanted to do more than just add my short "So sorry! Praying for you!" comment to the ones already there. So I spent an hour or so scribbling up old lecture notes as I arranged and rearranged my words so that my poem said what I meant and I meant what I said.

   When you write a poem or story for someone, not only will it mean a lot to the person you give your writing to, but it will mean a lot to you. It's what makes writing worthy, and it's probably why people put a dedication page in their books.

Anti-Writer's Block

   Bought this a couple weeks ago, cause I sure need inspiration!

   I've listened to about 15 out of 60 minutes of it so far. I can relate to all the things K.M. Weiland talks about (stories not turning out how you expected, learning to stick with a story, etc), but it's not too in depth yet. Still, it's good, general kind of advice, and I'll see how the rest of it is.

For the Back Burner: 13 Ways of Looking at a Novel

  After class a week or two ago I biked to the library and picked up the book I ordered: 13 Ways of Looking at a Novel, by Jane Smiley. It's about three inches thicker than I expected (think about carrying that home a few miles in a backpack). The 100 summaries of novels Ms. Smiley has read is what makes it so long.

   I don't know if maybe I'm just not patient or not scholarly enough, but I was disappointed. It's sort of an autobiography, and the beginning is a deep, deep examination of what a novel is. Neither of those are particularly what I was looking for. Another thing that made me put this book down was Chapter 11: A Novel of Your Own. Ms. Smiley starts out by telling you she assumes you want to write a novel but have no real supporters--->no outside pressure to write well or at all. But that's not true for everyone, and that's not true for me. People read what they relate to, and they like books that they feel like were written for them. I'll try to remember that.

Is it just common sense?

  So maybe this is a good book, and maybe in ten years it will be my favorite book. But not yet.

   What kind of an audience do you write for? What book have you grown to like over time?

Set Foot into Music

   I've heard it's good for your creativity to set foot into the other arts too, so if you're stuck and need inspiration while you write, or if you just want some soothing background music, listen to Ólafur Arnalds. He's an Icelandic artist who plays the most mysterious,
glorious music!

P.S. I haven't forgotten about The Umbrella: Part II. I hope you haven't either, because it's
about 95% finished!

Magical Realism: Coraline

   I'm just starting to learn a little bit about magical realism. From what I understand (correct me if I'm wrong) magical realism is a type of art/literature in which one thing or everything is twisted or sprinkled with a bit of the impossible. A lot of this kind of art seems strange and slightly dark, for example, the short story, A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings. But some of it is beautiful like the paintings here. I think Coraline, by Neil Gaiman, could fall under the dark category of magical realism. It's a scary children's book. A review compared it to The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe as well as Alice in Wonderland, and there are similarities, but Coraline is a much more nightmarish take on adventures in a different world. I don't like scary movies, I don't like scary stories, and I don't like scary books, but because Coraline is written in the kind of plain, storytelling voice that I like so much, and because I wanted to see the nightmare end and for Coraline to come out victorious, I read to the end. And despite the dark tones, it does have some brighter themes like courage and good winning against evil.

Free image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Wordle-World!

   Do you take forever to look up a word in the dictionary because of all the other fun, distracting words around it? Then you might like making wordles...
   If you don't know, Wordle.net is a site where you type in a bunch of words, and they randomize and make word art with them. You can choose a palette of colors, what direction the words go, and a few other things. Here's my first ever:

   I just discovered The Sunday Whirl blog where followers respond to weekly wordles with an original poem that incorporates all the words. If my wordle rings story bells for you this can be your writing prompt, in any genre.

   I would love to see what you create--leave it as a comment!

Another Good Book: Code Talker

The code talkers were at Iwo Jimo, too.
www.freedigitalphotos.net

   I like reading books that tell about different cultures, especially ones that I don't know much about. Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two, by Joseph Bruchac is one of those. I've never seen the Nicholas Cage movie, and I hear much more about the Cherokees than any other Native American tribe, so it was all new to me! Bruchac tells the story from the point of view of a WWII veteran and code talker, Ned Begay, who explains to his grandchildren what his war medal means. Starting from when Ned is a little boy to when he serves as a marine in the Pacific to when he is a grandpa, one of the main themes is the importance of preserving culture and language.
   Since war and mistreatment of the Navajos are a huge part of the plot, you might think it would be a graphic or depressing book to read, but the bad is balanced with humor, hope and determination. Code Talker is a book worth reading.