Posted by Christine on Nov 1, 2007 in Randomness |
Today begins a great adventure for me. My first participation in NaNoWriMo. I am very excited about this month of writing in front of me. I plan to get into a habit this month, one I want to maintain for a long time. The habit of writing each and every day. For a writer it seems like a good habit to be in . When I completed my manuscript for the novel I wrote – and have since shelved . I wrote every single night after my kids were in bed. I wrote during the day, a line or two here and there. I wrote early in the morning when I should still have been in bed but just wanted to get out a few more lines. I lost the momentum somehow. So my goal this month. Regain that momentum. Remind myself how to write every day. I may not write a novel of any worth or that will ever amount to anything, but if I can get myself back into the habit of writing every day then the month will have been well worth it. How about you? Are you participating in NaNo? What are your goals for the...
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Posted by Christine on Oct 27, 2007 in Randomness |
So I have transformed the Blog a bit. It has a new look. Let me know what you think., or if you can’t find anything. C
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Posted by Christine on Oct 23, 2007 in Randomness |
One thing I took away from the Conference this weekend is that Speculative Fiction is a niche market. It is, despite what I may think, not mainstream. This led to the all important question, why write Speculative Fiction, in particular the nicheiest (yeah ok, I just made up a word, maybe I’ll write my own language like Tolkien) of the niche market, Science Fiction? I had to think about that a bit. I mean I like other genres when I read them. I like Fantasy, Urban Fantasy and Fantasy about Dragons, I like Mysteries, especially contemporary mysteries or ones with an element of the supernatural. I even enjoy the occasional light hearted romance, especially ones that are paranormal in nature, or a Chick Lit story or two. Huh, as I look back over that list I realized that most of what I enjoy reading falls under the umbrella of Speculative Fiction in one way or another. Why not try one of these other genres? Well, frankly, those genres are not out of the question. But I love Science Fiction. It is what I grew up on, and it’s where my passion is. I grew up with my imagination fed by Star Trek, then later The Next Generation. I remember reading one snowy day, literally stretched out in front of our fireplace reading Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonsdawn. Let us not forget the Holy Trilogy, my family taped Jedi on our VCR – it took two video tapes. I watched it over and over and over changing the tape midway without complaint. The genre ingrained itself in me. I love it still. I want to contribute something to this amazing genre of literature and imagination. Science Fiction has the ability to tackle hard problems without becoming preachy because it doesn’t deal with the contemporary. It deals with the fantastic. Science Fiction has the ability to tell amazing, fantastic stories without seeming preposterous because it is rich with imagination and invention. Science Fiction has the potential to be filled with characters people will love and love to hate, because it is not limited to the archetypes of other genres, we can invent an entirely new race of beings should the need arise. So for the time being, I will stick with my first love, Science Fiction. Perhaps in time I will branch out to other stories, there are some Fantasies rattling around in my head, but hey, that still falls under the umbrella of Speculative Fiction. J I guess I just can’t escape the genre, nor do I want...
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Posted by Christine on Oct 17, 2007 in Randomness |
Tomorrow I am leaving to attend my first writing conference. I will be attending the Surrey International Writers Conference. I am excited to start the whole conference experience. What will the Masters class be like? What will the sessions be like? Who will I meet? What will I learn? I will try to update my blog while at the conference but if not I will certainly have a very long detailed post to share when I return. I hope you all have as exciting a weekend as I am...
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Posted by Christine on Oct 15, 2007 in Randomness |
As an author I am learning a great deal about writing and publishing by reading the blogs of several agents. I am learning more then just about the world of writing though. For example last month I learned about International Talk like a pirate day. And I got to celebrate it. Fun fun fun. Today I learned about something more important from Bookends Blog. Today is Blog action day, a day when people all over the blogosphere are writing about the environment and issues that affect it. I want to contribute my two cents to this issue. Ok ready it’s going to be profound… Trees are good. See, told ya, profound. Ok seriously, I remember the day I learned that trees are invaluable resources. I was in third grade. We were learning about the human body and that people breath in Oxygen and breath out Carbon dioxide. As I processed this information I came to a startling conclusion. We were going to run out of oxygen! My hand shot up and I fidgeted in my seat waiting for the teacher to call on me. No sooner had she said my name then I blurted “So why don’t we run out of air?” “Excellent question.” I basked in a moment of third grade pride at having asked an excellent question, then waited impatiently for the answer… why weren’t we running out of air! I remember the teacher explaining to me that God had designed a perfect system (I went to a Christian school) and that while people breathed in air and out Carbon dioxide the trees all around us used Carbon dioxide to “breath” and they gave off oxygen as waste. Whoa! My third grade world was rocked. I still remember that day clearly. Even then I was confused that I was the only one who raised my hand. Didn’t everybody wonder why we weren’t running out of air. Surely my entire class was not so far ahead of me that they already knew this special secret. Trees make Oxygen. Today I am still confused. Why do we destroy so much of the Earth around us, especially the trees. Don’t people know the secret? Trees make clean air. We need trees. Trees are...
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Posted by Christine on Sep 11, 2007 in Randomness |
I just read on another’s Blog (Jennifer Jackson) that Madeleine L’Engle passed away this weekend. Her books where important to me in my youth as they were to many others. I fondly remember Meg, Charles Wallace (and his mitochondria), the twins, and all of her other characters who are imprinted on the memories of growing up. As some of the first fantasy or science fiction I read they influenced me to love the genre. Thank you to Madeleine L’Engle for your imagination and for being an inspiration to many generations of young people and writers. I wish comfort and peace at the memory of there mother, grandmother and great-grandmother to her family. Her work lives on to build the ideas of goodness and love in the many generations of reader that will encounter them. To learn more about her work visit her site L’Engle . I can’t wait to share her stories with my...
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