HOOT HOOT! Hullo There. :)

It's Monday.

Sometimes I look at Monday with fondness.

HELLO, MONDAY!!!!

Other days, I look at it in supreme horror.

NO! NOT MONDAY!!

Today, I think I'm looking at it with confidence and contentment.

After all, some of my best mates are off work today ("mates" here meaning "sisters), and we are going to jaunt around Reno having fun and stopping at bookstores and clothing stores, looking for boots and TV shows. Fun, right?

Wheeeeeeeeeee!!

You betcha!! We're going to scream down the hill, singing songs loudly and whizzing into stores with supreme confidence, speaking in British accents and lawfing when people look at us funny.

Okay, maybe not laughing quite THAT emphatically, but still....

When we get back home I'm going to work on some drawings, write some stories, browse Pinterest for hours, watch YouTube videos of the Piano Guys and Josh Groban, and read. Later, I may watch a TV show. Right now, I'm sort of into White Collar, (except I did not like the second episode in Season Three and am eyeing the rest of the season dubiously. I hope they don't continue going down THAT road.)

I'm also into British fillums, so I may tune into Merlin and start watching that season.

See, I've finished all of Doctor Who, from Eccleston to Smith (except for the special when Tennant regenerates into Smith. Who thought it would be a good idea to have the regeneration on a SPECIAL, instead of actually ending his season WITH that?!?!? LAME!) and I haven't seen any of Season 7 with Matt Smith. I'm terrified of the moment when he's going to lose the Ponds, and get Clara instead. I've seen positive comments about Clara, but... but... but... she's not RORY and AMY POND! I don't like her, and I haven't even seen her. How judgemental is that? Anyway, so I've finished all Doctor Who, and I'm desperately needing MORE BBC. I just really love British accents. Muchly.

So, I want to watch Merlin, and there's this two-part series called Neverland that looks really, really good too.

So, that's my agenda for today. What's on your mind?

Until next time, have a lovely day, week, month, year! God bless.

Cat

Summer Solstice

It's probably just me, but I find it very hard to already be celebrating the longest day of the year when my little city has only experienced about a week-and-a-half of Sprummer. How rude is that?

Oh well. At least it's finally stopped snowing, so that's something good, and the weather has been (so far!) remaining in a nice, warm season. Let's hope it continues!

So, why is today the longest day?

Well, I would have done a much more thorough post, but I had to help a sister with computer issues. So instead, I shall simply direct you to some sites that explain what the solstice is all about.

Happy reading! God bless!

About.com
National Geographic
Science World

Steampunk Jewelry!!

There are days when writing just doesn't do it for me.

I went to Borders today (where else, right?) and found this absolutely fantabulous book called "Steampunkery". It's the COOLEST book! It's a jewelry book, actually, that involves using polymer clays and odds-and-ends to create Steampunk jewelry. Cool, huh?

I spent quite a lot of the day reading how to make Steampunk creations, and just dying to form some clay in my hands. I don't know how many people have actually ever worked with clay, but it's one of the most SOOTHING feelings in the world to fashion that soft, malleable stuff into something lovely. Anyway, this book shows how to create little different things, like metal-looking hearts and jointed, metallic bugs, and to insert cogs and gears into them so that they look to be clockwork jewelry. It's SO COOL! You can make necklaces, brooches, interesting knick-knacks, "pocket protectors", all out of clay and some oddments that you have lying about.

I think, if I ever have oodles of time, I'm going to take up clay. Seriously, you need to check out this book, and the authors website (which I have linked below) and tell me if you are not inspired to create Steampunk jewelry. 

So, that's what I read tonight. I haven't been quite this inspired in a while. :-)

http://www.cforiginals.net/

The Art of World Craft from Other Writers' Writings

How perfect does the world you craft for your story have to be? Do you read other writer's books in order to glean some little sparklet of genius from their words?

Some authors really do it for me. Patricia McKillip is one author who just delights in her words, and in her worlds. She weaves together the most remarkable terms in order to create a shockingly vivid picture. Her lands, her worlds, her sense of place is solid and firm and there. You can't visualize another land except the one she snares you in during the duration of her tale. You're there, in Hed, in Sealy Head, in Ombria, wherever she takes you.

Diana Wynne Jones, of course, is another writer that does it for me. She has a real talent for picking random words, combining them, and creating a word that is completely new, bizarre, and amazingly perfect. She also has a vivid sense of place. She writes, and her worlds come alive. In between the pages you can believe in magic, in a series of worlds numbered 1-12, in an askew sense of normality. She knows how to draw you in and keep you there, in Ingary, in Dalemark, wherever she takes you.

Tolkien is the one I go to for sheer inspiration. I read what he writes, and the poetry in his words refreshes me, makes me think, makes me wonder about my world, and my worldbuilding. His sense of place, his intricate attention to detail make him one of my fantasy heroes of all times. Plus, he has a great way with words.

Below is one of my favourite passages from his book, "The Silmarillion." The beauty of his language sings like poetry.

"Then the discord of Melkor spread ever wider, and the melodies which had been heard before foundered in a sea of turbulent sound. But Iluvatar sat and hearkened until it seemed that about his throne there was a raging storm, as of dark waters that made war one upon another in an endless wrath that would not be assuaged.

Then Iluvatar arose, and the Ainur perceived that he smiled; and he lifted up his left hand, and a new theme began amid the storm, like and yet unlike to the former theme, and it gathered power and had new beauty."

From: The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien

Taken from the first chapter of The Silmarillion, with the creation of the world and the re-harmonizing of Melkor's first discord.

Inspired poetry

I have decided that the times I seem to be the most lyrical are while I am standing in the confession line.

I'm not sure why that is. Perhaps it's because I've examined my conscience and written down all the terrible things I've done during the past week or two, and I know that in a few moments I get to confess my sins to the priest and be absolved. Perhaps it's because I get to relieve my soul of the burden of my sins that my gratitude just burbles forth in random stanzas of poetry.

Whatever the reason, the confession line is where a lot of my inspired poetry happens to occur. These were a couple stanzas that I came up with:

From Crib came Christ, the Crucified.

Received the world, Redeemer.

I think I liked the alliteration that occurred in those lines. Here was another sort of poem prayer:

If I find no delight in prayer,

and find great dryness in its stead,

I kiss Thy Left, Just-worthy Hand,

and meekly bow my stubborn head.

As you can see, that bit was a before-I'd-gone-too-far-examining-my-conscience poem.

Here's one right before I went into the confessional:

Enclosed in cold and human flesh,

a warmer spirit flames with heat.

The flesh, at war, yields to the soul:

the body lays at Jesus' feet.

Insensible, this human being,

shows to the world a heart of stone,

quite statue-like, yet animate.

Unworthy to be Heaven's throne!

Creator, carve away the stone,

enable me to come alive!

Allow the flesh to burn away,

and help my spirit to revive.

Here's the one that was after I came out of confession:

Glory be to Thee, Oh Christ!

Aflame am I! Love pierces through.

Absolved am I, refreshed, renewed,

once more I live for only You.

Enjoy! I think these are all random acts of poetry. Oh well. I might as well share them with everyone who wants to read them, right?

Monday: On Writing

Well, happy last day of February, everybody! It would have been better if I hadn't had to work at my "normal" job today, but one can't have everything, I suppose. Good news: we hit bonus at work, so that's something. If we hadn't worked today, there's a good possibility that we wouldn't have gotten bonus. So, all things in perspective, right?

Anyhoo, this is my Monday: On Writing day. Here goes!

When I first decided that writing was going to be my "job", I thought I was such a great writer. But my goodness, how deluded I was!

I thought I was quite good where I was. I didn't understand the importance of critique groups, revision, and most important, market study. Who'd have thought writing could be such work, you know?

Of course, I do know better now. Writing is like any other job, or talent. The only way to get better is through constant practice. And, or course, having other eyes to catch what you miss in your own revision and editing process is wonderfully helpful.

Since my first egotistical journey into Writerland about two years ago, I've learned a couple tricks that I have since been employing in my writing. They are my favourite tricks that I've learned so far, and I want to share them with all the rest of you.

The first is, cut back on adjectives. Don't use more words than you have to. In fact, use concrete writing.

The second is, change as many "ing" words so that they end in either "ed" or "s". Instantly, voila! You're writing is tighter, cleaner, more gripping.

Until Wednesday, thanks for reading!

On Writing Monday: Computer versus Pen

I know bloggers everywhere have gone over this topic again and again and again. I'm going to take a minute to talk about it too, 'cause I found this idea very interesting.

I was at Borders the other day, my heaven on earth. I picked up this book in the Reference section, which is the heavenliest part of the Borders heaven, and skimmed through it. (I have to take a moment here, and apologize to the author of this book for not committing her name to memory, but Unknown Author, you have my undying homage.)

This Unknown Author devoted a lengthy amount of time as to why writers should take the time to write by hand, on paper, with that most archaic of all writing devices, a pen... or pencil, if you prefer. Her reason?

Often, when writers put their fingers on keyboards and let their minds and fingers take off at the same time, they're writing too quickly. The thoughts emerge, are plunked down, and the writer is away on the next fragmented idea. Typing is a much more instant form of writing that's more detached from the actual physical exercise of hand writing.

Writing by hand allows you to slow down, to take a moment between words to let the next golden idea blossom. Writing by hand allows your thoughts to emerge more freely, to come out truer and more believable than typing does.

Writing by hand lets your thoughts communicate with the touch of your hand on your paper. Your mind feels the ideas flowing through your brain. Those ideas rush through your blood and stream down into the tip of your finger, from your finger through the pen and ink, and onto the paper. It's a much more living act than typing. You see, feel, hear, smell the sound of the words as they emerge from your imagination and make their way through your body to the very whiteness of the waiting paper.

For me, this is good news, 'cause I happen to LOVE writing by hand. So, I'm curious. Which is the way you find you're more likely to write? By hand? Or by keyboard?