B Is For… Book Review – What Dreams May Come

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I’ve just finished reading a YA book by author Beth M. Honeycutt. I’m so glad my friend Rochelle Bradley introduced me because the story What Dreams May Come is very, very sweet. And Ms. Honeycutt is a professional editor, which makes this a very polished read.
Ellie Cross, our young protagonist, has a frequent dream companion named Gabe. He visits her regularly, appearing as if on cue to commiserate over deep sorrows or share surprising joys. And she can spill her heart to him utterly since there’s no reason for regret or hesitation simply because Gabe isn’t real.
After all, her mother even paid a therapist to help convince Ellie. So the shy, overlooked girl makes the best of the situation, enjoying this long-lasting companionship as a private sanctuary. If she must keep Gabe’s continued appearance secret from her mother, then so be it. At least someone accepts her without judgment or disappointment.
I feel that Ellie, however bullied at school, could have easily come across as terribly unappreciative of the good in her life. I mean, things could be so much worse as the young lady herself comes to learn. However, Ms. Honeycutt does a lovely job of balancing over-reactive teenage angst with deep human pain.
As for escapism, who wouldn’t want their own private guardian angel? And maybe, just maybe, they can take real human form. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
You can find various retailers with some very reasonable prices here:
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A Is For… The Artist’s Way

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By now, our regular readers have heard us talk about The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron.  If this is your first time, Dear Reader, hello, and welcome.  I’m A. Catherine Noon, one of your hosts here at the Writer’s Retreat, and I thought I’d kick off the A-Z Blog Challenge by talking about one of my favorite tools.

I first encountered The Artist’s Way in 1995 while living on a sabbatical in Mount Shasta, California.  I had left my urban, corporate life behind in search of becoming a writer.  A client for whom I was doing some office work had the book and recommended I borrow it.

I still have that original copy, well-loved and falling apart, filled with notes of two decades’ worth of experience.

While there are many amazing things about The Artist’s Way, the part that most deeply changed my life, or at least the part I’m most aware of today, is that I’ve been journaling almost daily since I started.  I’d been a diarist before then, off and on, but never took it seriously.  Quite by accident, I’ve become a serious diarist who is never without a journal in which to think, relax, play, work, rest, rage, and write.

Above all, write.

I have learned that one does not become a writer, one is born one.  Sometimes, whether by childhood trauma, societal prohibition, or simple lack of awareness, one has to remember oneself and recover one’s creativity.  But we are, all of us, creative.

What about you, Dear Reader?  What tool has helped you on your path to where you are today?

Writer Wednesday – With Guest Leela Lou Dahlin!

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Noony, here! I’m tickled pink to introduce my buddy from the Nice Girls Writing Naughty group, Leela Lou Dahlin. She’s our special guest for this week’s Writer Wednesday. Please make her feel welcome!

Take it away, Leela!

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Being a writer… it’s something that I’ve always done but it wasn’t until recently that I became serious about being a published author.

Someone recently I was on a site that asked how people came up with their stories and I thought it was fascinatingly funny reading about how all of these different people come up with stories. I’ve almost never heard of any one person doing it the exact same way and on that site it was no exception. One thing it showed me is there is no right or wrong way… you make it work out the way it’s best for you. Some people start with the characters, some with the troupe or storyline (unrequited love, brother’s best friend, friends to lovers, etc…), some start at the beginning and others at the end.

My story always starts with a scene. Sometimes it’s a love scene or maybe it’s an argument but it’s a passionate moment that tells me a lot about the people who are within it. I may think about this scene for a few minutes, a few days or a few weeks until more and more of the character’s personality traits are revealed (Unfortunately this usually takes place when I’m writing someone else’s story – sometimes the characters wait quietly and other times they demand to at least be written down).

After I get through the scene where I’m introduced to these people, then I have to figure out how and why they got to this point. Usually one of the characters will let something out in the conversation that will clue me in to their history. This sounds very complicated, I know, but it really isn’t. I plot out the how, when and why before figuring out what is going to break them up and what will bring them back together.

My first published book was released April 15, 2014 so I’m coming up on my Author-versary (side note – I’m the queen of making up words) for my book titled A Haught Date. It was released as an e-book almost a year ago and earlier this year they released it to the world in print form. Bwah-hahahahaha *attempting evil laugh*

So there you have it…that’s how I do it.

What about you…how do you start your masterpiece?

Feel free to come say hello on any or all my social media hang outs.

or email LeelaLouDahlin AT gmail DOT com.

Planting the Seeds – Darla’s Creative Garden

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March is not yet half over, but spring seems nearly here in my little corner of the world. Today I saw a crocus blooming in my garden. More exciting is the fact our migrating vultures have returned in droves, filling (!) a neighborhood tree. All the same, May’s vegetable planting season remains far off. So I have made plans for April, enough to keep me busy before I can seriously dig in the dirt.
One activity is the A to Z blog challenge. Thinking of alphabetical subjects is already interesting. An additional undertaking is Camp Nano. I enjoyed National Novel Writing Month so much last fall that this additional event held by The Office of Letters and Light beckoned, too. I would have forgotten without a friend inviting me to join her virtual cabin.
(Thanks, Rochelle Bradley!)
We “campers” can set our own goal for Camp. It doesn’t have to entail the full fifty thousand word craziness of NaNoWriMo. Yet the way I figured it, why not go big? 50,000 it is. So, I plan to rewrite my November 2013 novel, Jimmying the Locke. Maybe this time I will think of an ending because that’s one tale that meandered off track.

Whatever the season in your area, what are your plans? I hope you enjoy some creativity, indoors or out.

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Day Two of the Keepsake Tour – Daylight Savings Time

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It’s the second day of the Keepsake Tour to celebrate the release of Emerald Keep and already, I’m pooped!  Of course, that may have more to do with the fact that it’s Daylight Savings Time and we’ve lost an hour of our day.

Benjamin Franklin, inventor, politician, and writer, suggested that people could get more done if they got up an hour earlier.

He should have kept this idea to himself!

Tell me, Dear Reader, what other “Big Ideas” do you think should have been kept to their inventors and not foisted on the unsuspecting public?

Writer Wednesday – Fear

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We were having a discussion today on Romance Divas about fear and success, and it got me thinking.  One thing I’ve learned about fear is that conquering it doesn’t mean I don’t feel it.  I used to think that being brave meant that I wouldn’t feel fear, I’d somehow achieve this Zen state of serenity where I could do those things that frightened me without feeling any fear or anything scary.  Since that never happened, and I felt fear anyway, I never achieved that Zen state.

But what did happen was far more magical:  after some experiments in feeling the fear but moving forward despite it, when I did the thing that frightened me, I felt a great surge of serenity.  Isn’t that ironic?  I had to go through the fear to get the serenity – nothing else worked.  I couldn’t avoid it, or not do the thing that made me afraid, or any of a dozen other avoidance tactics.  It was only by going through that I got through.

What are some of your favorite coping mechanisms for dealing successfully with fear?

An Interesting Factoid for Your Tuesday

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It’s no secret that cats own the Internet. But how did that happen? I heard an interesting theory the other day. It regards the very nature of these beasts.
Cats’ canine counterparts require regular walks, or at least outdoor trips. Whether for mutual pleasure or simply to take care of business, this gives caretakers a chance to interact with others alongside their animal companions.
Felines are very different. If they do go outside, they are unlikely to be leashed or want anything to do with humans. When visitors come to my house they are lucky to see a single cat. The creatures notoriously hide and mine have even lost interest in sneaking outdoors as they age.
So what do proud cat lovers do? They commune via websites. My own feline friends have pages on Catster, though I rarely spend time there these days.
I’ve learned a lot since being adopted by a stray after a lifetime of family dogs, but feline behavior still leaves me baffled on a regular basis. As it happens, BuzzFeed presents a hilarious commentary on this. Maybe you have seen it but, if not, you should. Happy Tuesday!

Writer Wednesday – Walking Darla

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There is so much writing software available today it makes me dizzy. A friend recently raved about something to the degree that I decided to try it out.
Sure.
Fine.
Step one, it’s officially installed. Since then I have imported one story and begun several others.
Wonderful.
Fantastic.
Guess what software I’m using for this blog post. No, don’t waste your time. I’m typing in Microsoft Word.
Yeah.
Splendid.
It works. I’m over it. All the extra features in fancy writing software just seem to take away from storytelling time.
Hey, it’s okay. At least I’ll be able to use a manual typewriter when zombies take over the world.
Aah…

Argh…

Darla’s Writer Wednesday – One Writer’s Obstinacy

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I have been dragged kicking and screaming into the modern electronic era but only to a certain degree. The Oxford comma is still pertinent to me. Likewise, my habitual double spacing after each sentence continued until only recently.
I’ve finally begun accepting the one space rule behind closing punctuation. It took long enough seeing as how so much online software automatically condensed my double spaces to one. Yet I blindly and doggedly continued until just a few days ago.
The reason? It is purely selfish and simple. In fact, I lament not embracing the idea earlier.
Single spaces require a lot fewer keystrokes over the long term. Why not save my overworked thumb just a little extra effort? So, this document I’m typing officially lacks all extraneous spacing. Just don’t expect me to stop putting a space between paragraphs.
And I still decline to either discontinue, desist, or disavow my love affair with the aforementioned Oxford comma.  ~grin~

Are there any old, linger linguistic habits you maintain?

Darla’s Path to Enlightenment – Another Small Step

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Traditional Chinese dance, instrumentation, costumes, and storytelling all fascinate me. This attraction is one of my earliest memories. As a very small child I actually snuck into my mother’s bedroom and borrowed her Mandarin collared satin pajama top. Too short for the sleep pants, I eschewed them for the look of a Cheongsam style dress.
(Not that I knew that word then, mind you. Nonetheless, my family still recalls their amusement upon seeing my fashionista strut, long sleeves bunched at the elbows so my little hands were not engulfed.)
Decades after that incident, the Shen Yun Performing Arts touring company began visiting my part of the United States each winter. Formed in 2006, their group and solo presentations comprise twenty vignettes over some two and a half hours. The posters alone capture my imagination.
But in the past I could not justify spending the money. Then an idea struck. My birthday celebration traditionally involves a rather expensive gourmet meal. Why not invest in something much more enriching? So instead of anticipating an overpriced meal, I possess two balcony seat tickets for the 2015 production.
This seemed worth sharing as I cannot help thinking of Julia Cameron’s “Artist’s Way” sensibilities. As Ms. Cameron might say, this cultural extravaganza will surely refill my artistic well.
Of course, a little research seemed in order. And some quick findings shocked me. Please forgive this downturn, but I already knew Shen Yun does not perform in mainland China. Additionally, the Chinese government has attempted show cancellations via political pressure. Chinese diplomats even lobby Western elected officials to shun what they term propaganda intended to smear China’s image.
Further reading led me even further down the proverbial rabbit hole. Apparently Shen Yun founders adhere to the spiritual discipline Falun Gong, which literally translates as “Dharma Wheel Practice”. Main focuses center upon morality and virtue. Elements include a mixture from the Buddhist school of thought and Taoist tradition. All this stirred my interest, even my very soul.
Yet the Communist Party of China persecutes these cultivators. How could anyone oppose truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance? Well, the answer is anyone who believes religious tenets and independence from the state threaten the party line. Reading the reported human rights abuses against uncounted practitioners raised the hair on the back of my neck.
I sometimes miss being that naïve little girl playing dress up.
That said, learning all this only makes me more intrigued about the upcoming show. However fervent any sponsoring Falun Dafa Association may be, I do not anticipate some pushy (or even subtle) sort of recruitment before, during, or after the program. At the same time I’m curious if a regional association does exist.
Quite frankly, I think meditative movements such as the Falun Gong adherents employ are greatly beneficial to both body and mind even without deep spiritual exploration. To my chagrin, I must now admit total reluctance to abandon human desires. Sexy stories are my favored artistic outlet, after all.
I can certainly respect those willing to rise above earthly attachments they perceive detrimental. In the meantime there exist more elementary outlets through which to explore qigong exercises. Most importantly, I find myself grateful yet again for the incredible freedoms into which this humble soul was born.
Now that you’ve learned my latest revelation, what recent internet research most surprised you?

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