Just in case you missed it, a poem dedicated to Wendy Bishop, my former teaching and writing mentor, at The Community Storyboard.
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For anyone looking to self-publish your poetry (or any other writing for that matter), you may want to read the following post by Jules Jacob: Reality Check?
Ms. Jacob’s essay is a response to an article posted in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers magazine by poet and critic Reagan Upshaw. She contends that the “advice” offered by Upshaw is more like “put-downs” and then offers her own suggestions for publishing one’s poetry. It’s an interesting read.
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Cats in sinks!
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Disclaimer: I have not read fantasy since I was a kid, and then it was The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, that sort of thing. As a young adult, I read The Mists of Avalon , but I don’t know if that qualifies as fantasy. My point is I know little about the genre, so I can’t tell you if Bestiary of Blatherhorn Vale, a slim ebook (44 pages) by Charles E Yallowitz qualifies as fantasy. What I can tell you is that I love this book.
Like I know good art when I see it or good wine when I taste it, I know a good book when I read it. Bestiary of Blatherhorn Vale is a delightfully creepy compendium of strange creatures. The premise of the book is that it is a “battered field notebook” from an expedition to Blatherhorn Vale. The book reads like an epic poem with a firm beginning (“Blatherhorn Vale lies in wait”) to a neat ending (“Leaving Blatherhorn Vale to rise again”), and in-between a curious cabinet of relics.
Mr. Yallowitz’s imagination knows no bounds. Every creature is meticulously and poetically described. He brings them to life to the extent that the reader may choose to ignore the caution that “Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.”
Here’s a taste for you: My two most favorite beasts are the Yethys and the Glintra. The Yethys have “scales of gold,” “eyes of crimson,” no mouth, and “[Risk] all To gain some precious warmth.”
The Glintra are delicate, deadly creatures whose:
“Feeble tendrils
Of finest crystal
Drag along the ground
Burning
Those they touch”Good wine and good art, indeed. Try the Bestiary of Blatherhorn Vale for yourself. It’s only one-third the cost of a tall latte and much more satisfying. Perhaps if the Bestiary becomes popular enough, Mr. Yallowitz could be persuaded to issue a printed version for distribution. This is the kind of book I would want on my shelf.
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Great post on whether writers do (and should) know the ending of their stories ahead of time.
Creative Writing with the Crimson League
Everyone, please welcome guest blogger and fellow author Katie Cross to crimsonleague.com today, to talk about her experiences with creative writing, characters, and novels.A bit of background for this post: as you know, my writer’s handbook, “Writing for You: A Novelist’s Guide to the Craft of Fiction” releases July 31.
Part of the first chapter involves a description of what I consider the most common and most counterproductive misconceptions about writing a novel.
To help pump people up for the release, I asked Katie to write about what she considers one of the major misconceptions non-writers and beginning-writers have.
How much does an author REALLY know what’s going to happen to her characters???
I’ll let Katie take it from here:
When I was a little girl, I would have given up my softball mitt to know who my future husband would be.
I was convinced it was Devin, the…
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I have to pinch myself. Sometimes I feel like I’m dreaming. I am a shy, sensitive introvert: someone who doesn’t make friends easily, someone who feels more comfortable with furry four-legged critters than people. I’m often inclined to think that people have more reason to not like me, than to like me. That’s just part of who I am. But since I’ve been blogging, I’ve been showered with awards from people I have never met. All I’ve done is commented on and liked your posts, followed your blogs, and tried to give support for your writing and other ventures when I can. And in return I get these awards.
Super-Sweet Award Earlier this week, RunningToHerDreams honored me with the Super Sweet Blogger Award, my second one! And she is herself a super sweet and inspiring person, so please visit her blog.
Then Briana Vedsted created a new award and I’m among the first to be honored!
Now for the Rules:
Post a picture of the award somewhere on your blog.
List five things that make you happy.
Choose 5 people to nominate who have been a virtual shoulder to cry on, checked in on you when they knew things were rough, or has always been there for you.
Comment on their blogs to thank them and let them know you nominated you.Things that make me happy:
1. My husband (OK, he’s not a thing but he’s the first and last and in-between in my happiness)
2. When any of my cats curl up on my lap
3. Giving hand-knitted gifts to friends
3. Writing
4. Reading
5. This community of bloggersBriana already gave the award to two of my favorite bloggers, so here a few more of my favorites.
My nominees:
www.runningfather.wordpress.com
www.busymindthinking.wordpress.com
http://www.dadialogues.wordpress.com
Thank you again, Briana and RunningToHerDreams, and a big hug to everyone who has supported me and my writing.
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A very moving poem about lost love.
I’ll never tell you about her.
I’ll never tell you how she caught my attention by asking for my attention.
I’ll never tell about how she looked so cute and beautiful and amazing and wonderful and outrageous all at the same time when I first saw her, whenever I saw her, whenever I see her.I’ll never tell you how my name never sounded the same after she said it.
I’ll never tell you of the songs that I could only sing because of her.
I’ll never write about the letters and the notes I sent her every day.
I’ll never show you the poems I wrote because of her.I’ll never tell you about the heaven that she revealed to me.
I’ll never show you the universe that she opened for me.
I’ll never write about the paradise that she…View original post 191 more words
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There’s a lot in this post about Lewis Carroll that I did not know. Give it a read!
Lewis Carroll (1832-98) is celebrated around the world as one of the great purveyors of ‘literary nonsense’: his books Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871) have entertained countless readers since they were published nearly 150 years ago. For many, the name ‘Lewis Carroll’ is synonymous with children’s literature.
But ‘Lewis Carroll’ was really a man named Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a mathematician at Christ Church, Oxford. As such, he led something of a double life: to the readers of his Alice books he was Lewis Carroll, while to the world of mathematics and to his colleagues at the University of Oxford he was (Reverend) Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a man who formed his pen name by reversing his first two names (‘Charles Lutwidge’ became ‘Lewis Carroll’).
There is a famous anecdote about Carroll and Queen Victoria. Victoria enjoyed Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland so much that she requested a…
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Marie at 1 Write Way 