Deep Breath

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Actually, I'm busy writing mine this week. *wink*

How about you--what 'cha working on?

*WAVES*

Quiet Reflection

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This has been a week of highs and lows, personally and professionally. For me and people around me.

And sometimes, it's not until the very still of the night that our inner voice whispers, soothes, lifts, cradles us in her arms. Gives us the strength to work through another day.

Hope you find some MAGIC in this day.

 Look for it, in the little things. The quiet things. It's all around you.


See you next week!

Dripping Ink

“Novels aren’t just happy escapes; 

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they are slivers of people’s souls, nailed to the pages, dripping ink from veins of wood pulp. 

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Reading the right one at the right time can make all the difference.”

(Brandon Sanderson)

See you next week!

CREATE

‎
"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul,

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and paints his own nature."

(Henry Ward Beecher)


I'm dipping and painting all the words this month for book two. What are you up to?

See you next week.

Leave it to Chance

"When nothing is sure,

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 everything is possible."

(Margaret Drabble)


This quote rings true--despite not doing very well with instability, uncertainty, unresolved issues, or imprecise data.

It requires patience, living in the gray, for an indefinite amount of time. 

But along that blurred horizon lies the hint of a promise. That things will grow and take shape the way you might have envisioned them, or maybe not. Maybe lead you down a different path, an even richer one.

Like that saying: LUCK is PREPAREDNESS meeting OPPORTUNITY. 

It requires a chance taken, a movement forward, a dream set, a door opened.

 If you can exist, thrive even, in that instability for a bit longer, stuff can happen. Good stuff.

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So here's to imagination and chance and dreams and LUCK.

I'll meet you on the other side.

Splinter

"There is a crack in everything. 

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That's how the light gets in."
(Leonard Cohen)


As writers, we want to make sure our readers can see the gaps, the fractures, the holes.

 To infer on their own what may happen next or what might have been. 

To go on their own trip of discovery, awareness, unearthing, with your characters.


HAVE A GOOD WEEK!

Just Pretend

I saw them standing there pretending to be just friends, 

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when all the time in the world could not pry them apart.   -Brian Andreas

I'm writing a scene where two people are trying their damnedest not to look into each other's eyes, close the space between them, or brush skin against skin.

 It's all about showing the electric current in the air, the synapses firing between them, the hitching of breath, the biting of the lip.

 One of my favorite kinds of scenes to write. :-)

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When I first met her, I knew in a moment I would have to spend the next few days re-arranging my mind so there'd be room for her to stay. -Brian Andreas

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Secret Admirer

"To the girl at the table near the back of the library:

I almost asked you what was wrong the first time I saw you crying. Then I saw the book you were reading, and realized that you were crying because of it. And I was interested, because I’d never read anything that moved me that much.

I checked out the book you were reading, and guess what? I cried - just a little - too. That’s how it started. Every time I go to the library, you’re almost always there, usually with a completely new book. Sometimes you smile, or laugh out loud, or cry again, and when you do, I check out the book you’re reading.

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I wish you’d notice me, sitting a few tables away from you, reading the book you were reading a few days ago. I wish you’d smile at me. I don’t have the guts to talk to you. I’m afraid you won’t be anything at all like I imagine.

One of these days, I’ll work up the courage and ask you about what you’re reading. And maybe you’ll smile that gorgeous smile and tell me all about it, and then we’ll talk about all the books we've read. But until then, thank you for the book recommendations. I love them.

Love, 

The boy a few tables away from yours"

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(SOURCE- I've been obsessed with reading the letters on this site. If you have time, go check them out. So simple and sweet and powerful.)

I also love reading notes or texts or emails in books, passed between characters falling in love. There's something raw and honest reflected in them and I think they're a potent device to consider in our writing.


HAVE A GOOD WEEK!

Damaged Goods

"See, broken things always have a story, don't they?"

(from Summer Of The Gypsy Moths, by Sara Pennypacker)

****

Our main characters are always damaged is some way.
 And as writers, it's up to us to shape their story--to repair their wings, their hearts, their souls.
Grow and shift and change. FLY, SOAR, GLIDE.

So off I go with my scissors and tape and glue.

 HAVE A GOOD WEEK!

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I've Got A CRUSH On You

For Valentine's Day, I thought I'd divulge my all-time favorite *swoony* guys from recent New Adult contemporary novels:

KELLAN from Thoughtless, Effortless, and Reckless

“I’ve never wanted anyone, like I want you. Every girl is you to me. You’re all I see…you’re all I want.”

***

KAYDEN from The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden

“That’s you. Callie, you’re the only person that’s ever made me feel happy about anything. That night you saved me, you changed something in me—you made me want to live.” 

***

LUCAS from Easy

“The night we met-I'm not like that guy." His jaw was rigid.

"I know tha-" He placed a finger over my lips, his expression softening.

"So I don't want you to feel pressured. Or overpowered. But I do, absolutely, want to kiss you right now. Badly.”

***

GARRICK from Losing It

“Bliss, I don’t normally do things like that. But I was second-guessing everything about coming here, and you were everything I needed." 

***

HOLDER from Hopeless

“The moment my lips touch yours, it will be your first kiss. Because if you've never felt anything when someone's kissed you, then no one's ever really kissed you. Not the way I plan on kissing you.”

***

*sigh*

HAPPY HEART DAY!

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DETERMINATION

"You don't start out writing good stuff.



You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. 



That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is PERSISTENCE."
-Octavia Butler

Ain't that the truth? Have a good week!


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Happy New Year

May your coming year be filled with MAGIC and DREAMS and good MADNESS.

I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're WONDERFUL.

And don't forget to MAKE SOME ART--write or draw or build or sing or live AS ONLY YOU CAN.

And I hope, somewhere in the next year, YOU SURPRISE YOURSELF.

(Neil Gaiman)

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MAGIC

MAGIC exists. Who can doubt it, when there are rainbows and wildflowers, the music of the wind and the silence of the stars.

(Nora Roberts)

Books break the shackles of time, proof that humans can work MAGIC.

(Carl Sagan)

Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of MAGIC. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it.

(Albus Dumbledore)

The MAGIC is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us.

(RayBradbury)

I'm off to string together some MAGIC. Have a good week.

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A Girl Who Reads

"If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at two a.m. clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

 You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet.You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

 If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads." XO

-By Rosemarie Urquico

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GRATITUDE

Have you ever thrown a fist full of glitter in the air?

Looked fear in the face and said I just don't care?

It's only half past the point of no return

The tip of the iceberg, the sun before the burn

The thunder before lightning, the breath before the phrase

Have you ever been touched so gently you had to cry?

Invited a stranger to come inside?

It's only half past the point of oblivion

The hourglass on the table, the walk before the run

The breath before the kiss and the fear before the flames

Have you ever wished for an endless night?

Held your breath and asked, will it ever get better than tonight? 

Lasso the moon and stars and pull that rope tight!

(Glitter in the Air, by Pink)

Those smaller moments. Those in-betweens. The journey, not the destination.

The birds chirping, my feet standing, the sun rising, my child breathing, and the ticking minutes I get to do what I love. Grateful.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

My comments are OFF. See you next week.

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Haunting Literature Quotes

As is my yearly Halloween tradition, I have more chilling quotes to share.

Normally I use favorite passages from published books, but this year, I asked writer friends for help. These quotes are from manuscripts, drafts, or soon to be published books. And each is mysterious in it's own right. ENJOY! 

I swim through the coarse ground. The grit and moss assault my eyes, but I move forward. The charred, desecrated remains of the past stroke my skin. Hold me. They welcome me as if I'm one of them.

Lindsay Scott ( The Decretum)

*************

The person and the lantern had both vanished by the time she arrived at the cemetery wall. She peered around the corner of the church. The light proved she hadn't been alone here a minute ago, but the darkness did not prove she was alone now. The caged graves cast long, latticed shadows on the ground. The stones marking the resting places of her mother and her aunt looked the same as ever, the ground around them unbroken. 

Dianne Salerni (The Caged Graves, Clarion 2013)

*************
I roll my eyes to act all casual and whatever’ish, but my insides are on fire. Like, I may burn to the ground. I’m about to babble some excuse, paint some phony picture for her, but I don’t. If this shit goes viral, then it’s all over anyway. I might as well move to another planet because no sumo wrestler impersonation or self-deprecating joke will save me from the onslaught.

They will eat me alive. And what a feast I’d be. I’d feed everyone.

K.M. Walton (Empty, Simon Pulse 2013)

**************

A deep, guttural howl resounded from the direction of the pine trees. Icy fingers skittered across my neck and I twisted toward the trees, eyes wide. For one brief moment I saw a flash of something there. Like a quick pulse of light from a distant flashlight. But it just as well could have been my imagination.

“We should get inside,” John said, steering Laney toward the door. When he looked back,
I wondered if maybe he saw something, too. His gaze stayed frozen on the forest line.

Christina Lee (Haunted Melody)

**************

Scanning the trees and undergrowth, I push myself up with shaky arms. Not that watching out for danger made a difference last time. It’s impossible to predict an attack when you can’t see your attacker.

My breath comes out shallow and uneven. Blood gushes from the gaping wounds on my stomach and soaks my clothing. I press my hand against them, desperately trying to keep the blood from flowing into the ground, and taking my life with it.

Stina Lindeblatt ( Happily Never After)

*************

His voice was soft, gentle against the horrible soundtrack of my own blood gathering in a bowl below me.

Lindsay Currie and Trisha Leaver (Leaving Eden)


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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Shadowland

When I cannot see words curling like rings of smoke around me,



 I am in darkness.

-Virginia Woolf 

******
Can you tell I'm in deep revision mode?

 Plus, you know, it's almost Halloween. :-)

Have a good week!

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YADA, Yada, yada

"What I try to do is write. I may write for two weeks ‘the cat sat on the mat, that is that, not a rat.’ And it might be just the most boring and awful stuff. But I try.



When I’m writing, I write. And then it’s as if the muse is convinced that I’m serious and says, 'Okay. Okay. I’ll come.'"

-Maya Angelou

******

Hmmm...

Day three of "Susie sells seashells by the seashore."

WHERE ARE YOU, MUSE?

Okay, I'll revise something, instead.

 *heh heh* Enjoy your week!

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Light Up The Sky

“When you meet someone

so different from yourself,

in a good way,

you don’t even have to kiss

to have fireworks go off.

It's like fireworks in your heart
all the time."

(Lisa Schroeder, I Heart You, You Haunt Me)

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, my American friends!

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You Must Write...

...every single day of your life. You must lurk in libraries, and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes, and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads.

May you be in love every day for the next twenty thousand days. And out of that love, remake a world.

-Ray Bradbury

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND! See you soon.


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