Icon-type silhouette of an airplane. (Mainly to be used in Userboxes) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Yesterday, I had the pleasure to guest post for Michelle Proulx, a talented young writer, author of Imminent Danger. Here is the link to her awesome blog, where you can find my blog post – The Point of No Return.
I hope that you enjoy the blog post and that you visit Michelle’s fun and upbeat blog – you will love it.
Congratulations to the three winners of a paperback copy of The Dinorah Chronicles – Ramblings of the Spirit! The winners are Marisol Lopez, Maria A Calixto, and Grace Rhema. Please let me know your address, so I can mail your copy 🙂 I hope that you like it. Thank you to all of you who liked my author page.
Here is a couple of videos that I found interesting to share.
Amazing, right?
Ramblings of the Spirit is available through Amazon.
As I might have mentioned before, now I am writing Book 2 of The Dinorah Chronicles – The Book of Sharon. I have to say that the approach to this book has taken me on a different journey, one that I did not plan but simply followed. Most of the time I don’t follow an outline, if an outline happens, it does while I am writing and for “memory” reasons, so I don’t forget and keep things in perspective, and don’t forget important issues that should be resolved throughout the novel. Must likely, I don’t necessarily know how the story is going to end, although I may have a faint idea. Sometimes, I think of something but it happens that a character has a better idea, and I follow – I let go. Must of the time, I find that this approach lets everything fall into place and all ties come together in the end. This is what happened with Ramblings of the Spirit (Book 1) – it set the path for The Book of Sharon.
This presents a challenge for me, as I am writing the story that I want to write, however this time, the story contains the book of the main character, which is also the contents of an ancient book. It is a book inside a book inside a book – I hope you understood that. It is a more complicated way of writing but I am up to the challenge thanks to Dinorah Sandbeck, the main character. Of course, I am excited about writing it, but also on beating the deadline of publishing before the end of the year, and ideally, by the end of summer/beginning of fall. It is a tight deadline, thanks to Dinorah Sandbeck. This of course, presents another challenge, not only will I have to write in my voice, but in Dinorah’s writing voice, and in the ancient tome’s style as well. No wonder why I have gone through so many cups of coffee during the day. I am honestly feeling the pressure from these two characters – yes, the ancient tome became a character in Ramblings of the Spirit, although it was introduced in Moonlit Valley – my first novel and the story who gave birth to The Dinorah Chronicles.
So this is what is going on with the second book in The Dinorah Chronicles trilogy, and this is why you see the counter at the upper right corner of this blog, as a constant reminder of the contract that I have with my characters, with the readers, and with myself. I have worked on the design of the cover as well, although it is not ready yet.
If you are unfamiliar with Moonlit Valley and Ramblings of the Spirit, these are available through Amazon, and you can even preview a bit. I am also doing a promotion this month for a free kindle download of Ramblings of the Spirit. And if you want the chance of winning a free paperback of Ramblings of the Spirit, you can like my Facebook page by clicking the button at the right on this page. You will be entered for a chance to win one of three copies. The winners will be announced on May 20th.
Since time is ticking and I am not even halfway my story, or Dinorah’s, or the Tome’s, I will try to limit blog posts to two or three a week, most likely two, at least until I have a handle on the first and second drafts. For the next few months I will be immersed in this novel, much so as a monk writing a doomsday book. It will be an interesting journey.
Writing the Domesday Book (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I was very honored and humbled by receiving the Liebster Blog Award – Thank you Ado Bajic from The Daily Rant. Thank you for reading and considering Inkspeare worth of receiving it. I don’t take these awards lightly. I am always happy to know that someone found inspiration in one of my posts. That makes me happy; and that is all I want – to be able to share and inspire others. I hope I get the rules for the award right. Here they are.
11 Random Facts About Me
The Nominees are …
These are 11 of my favorite blogs that inspire me in different ways. I know I have mentioned some of them before, in random posts here and there. Some are more recent blogs that I have started to follow, and so far I love them very much. It is up to the nominees to answer the questions – I know some people do not like to get too personal or want to keep their information to a minimum. So I set you free to do as you wish 🙂 with your nomination. Answering questions is not required in my book.
11 Questions for the Award Winners (only if you feel like playing along)
Questions Left for Me
And here is a picture of the award
This is our second Watercolors Friday, and I was just thinking about how much I loved watercolors when I was a kid (still do), even when I made a mess of water and pigment – Hey, I like that name for a blog “Water and Pigment.” Getting back to what I was writing, childhood is a very magical time, it should be, and as much as I liked watercolors, I also loved reading, and following people around with pen in hand, pretending that I was an investigator (probably influenced by The Three Investigators). This is why today, I want to celebrate a special blog – Turtle and Robot
Turtle and Robot is about children’s books reviews. The blogger (Jennifer Lavonier) reviews children’s books of all kinds and ages – from picture books, to board books, to books for early readers, middle readers, and young adults. She is a collector of these books, as well as a seller. In her blog, she writes about those books that she loves. The blog has a very happy and lively design, representing the topic of children. She talks about the books but also offers gorgeous pictures (the blog is a feast for the eyes) and tells you a bit about the author of the featured book as well.
I hope that you stop by this wonderful blog, especially if you have little ones, and want to know more about what is out there and get some new ideas as far as more great books for kids, as well as classics, and coming from a knowledgeable source, as this blogger has been in the field of children’s books for some time.
I hope that you enjoyed this post. Happy Watercolors Friday to all!
Here is a small excerpt from my novel Ramblings of the Spirit, Book 1 of The Dinorah Chronicles.
“I picked up the book again and slowly placed it on my bed. I was not sure if opening it or let it be. I laughed at myself. The impression of the dream was so real in my mind that I thought I felt the book’s heartbeat. I turned to go to the kitchen when I heard a thump. I looked back; the book had opened. This time, I mustered the courage to look at the page. It was the page of the boy and the serpent; however, the image had changed. Now, I was looking at my dream. Spilled all over the ground were human hearts; next to the boy, I saw a key, and next to it a heart with wings that seemed to bleed. I grabbed the loupe from the nightstand to inspect the picture. There were initials printed on the heart – DS. What could it mean? Only one thing came to mind – Dinorah Sandbeck” – Chapter 21 – The Thump of the Bleeding Hearts.
I hope that you enjoyed that little bit; you can sample a little more on Amazon. Here is the official book trailer. I hope that you like it.
Six degrees of separation. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Miserable – Very unhappy; wretched – causing distress or discomfort – wretchedly poor. American Heritage Dictionary
For the purpose of this post, lets define “Les miserables” as the person(s) who showers in negativity, gets fueled by it, and is incapable of celebrating other’s good news. Now that we have defined the phrase to suit this post, I will tell you why I decided to write it. No, the reason is not to vent (well, maybe a little), but to help other artists/writers who might be experiencing (being the target) a dose of it.
I will illustrate with an example of a recent encounter with the type. If you are an artist/writer/creative you know how sensitive and attached to your work you are – it is inevitable and it comes with the territory. At one point, you may become your art form, and it may become the air you breathe, your sustenance, your all. In your excitement, you may want to share the good news, and if you are a writer, maybe even give a signed and dedicated copy of your novel to someone. Now, that was a nice gesture, wasn’t it?
If the person falls into the les miserables category, be prepared for what will follow – a complete mockery of your gesture, a lack of respect for your art form, a complete disregard of your efforts, therefore ignoring the good news, and even the blunt admission of not intending to read it, followed by the “what’s about, I bet you it is about monsters, haunted houses … and other thoughtless les miserables remarks.” And by now, you must be wondering, and the answer is yes – it happened to me. In this case, le miserable was not at stranger, and with not many degrees of separation.
Well, and how do you handle such les miserables? Simply by taking the higher road. This is how to do it.
Hope that this post helps any of you that might be experiencing a dose of not requested les miserables attitude. Keep strong, uplift your creative self, and keep creating. 🙂
Hesiod and the Muse (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
For some reason, the Muse have visited frequently these couple of months. She has knocked at the door of my mind and dreams. What happens when your Muse shows up? Do you ignore her/him or honor her request? I chose to pay attention. Let me give you and example of how she made her appearance and what I did at the moment.
Last week, I was at the parking lot of a local WAWA with my husband. We got coffee and were ready to go on the road. We were talking and observing the people going in and out, just casual conversation. My husband said something, and that triggered a rainstorm of images in my mind. It was a complete story, and I liked it. I said to my husband, “Wait, let me write something down really quick.” I took a small notebook and pen that I keep in the car and wrote about all the images as best I could. He knew what I was doing so he kept quiet until I finished, enjoying his coffee. In a few minutes, I was done writing, and we proceeded with our conversation. Once I got home, in the afternoon, I took out my notes and I typed a more detailed version of the images. The reason for this is that I need as much detail as possible, since that story will be filed until I am able to work on it, since I still have to finish writing book 2 and 3 of The Dinorah Chronicles. This is an example of how the Muse visited quickly and how I listened to her. I could have ignored the story, and kept doing what I was doing, hoping that I would remember all the details later, but with me it doesn’t happen that way; I would have forgotten.
That same week, I had a very fast dream. Once awaken, I remembered it, and realized it was the beginning of a story that I liked, a different story, and unrelated to anything that I was working on at the time or other ideas. Immediately, I wrote it down, as I realized that the Muse had visited once more. This is how I acknowledge the Muse. I dream a lot; however, not every dream is necessary something that I would like to write. Recognizing the Muse’s visit is a way of acknowledging her gift.
As writers, we may get ideas 24/7, and usually these come out of the sudden. This is why it is important to have a small notepad/pen nearby. I keep one in my bag, at my bedside, and in the car. Just for when the Muse shows up.
How do you acknowledge your Muse?
Ok, so here it is, my first book trailer, which I had to learn to do, and spent all day making. One very important issue when making a movie or video is to make sure that the source for images and music are ok to be used by you, whether you have obtained permission, or they are royalty free or approved for commercial use, or public domain. Very important also to give credit according to the type of licensing the images or music have. So here it is, the official book trailer for Moonlit Valley. I hope that you enjoy it 🙂 as I did making it for you 🙂
I am so due for this post, and as I glanced at the calendar, I could not believe that it is the end of March already – someone is playing with time, I tell you – cosmic craziness. Well, that led me to realize that I am on my way to accomplish the two major goals that I set at the beginning of the year. These were to publish Moonlit Valley and Ramblings of the Spirit in 2013. I just worked on the last proof for the past couple of days, and I think that Ramblings of the Spirit will be ready for the beginning of April. And as you all know, Moonlit Valley is available through Amazon and Smashwords, as well as expanded distribution channels. As I am looking at things this minute, I think that I will be able to accomplish my third goal of finishing the writing/editing of The Book of Sharon, book 2 of The Dinorah Chronicles. Wish me luck.
Another major goal that hubby and I have for 2013 is to make a huge dent on fixing the farmhouse; however, we have not been able to travel there so far, and the weather has been a bit crummy (makes me feel better). Now, if I could only win the lottery, that will take care of it; however, the goals for the farmhouse are still in place and we still have three quarters of the year to make it happen – more wishes of luck needed here, so please send all your positive vibrations, good and fairy wishes my way 🙂
And to celebrate, I leave you with my favorite song, and what I think should be the theme song for Moonlit Valley – “No Sound But The Wind” by The Editors, and these video is by Youtubers Theseboredkids. Enjoy it again! Cheers!
Inkspeare 