Tag: Blogging

Thursday Tea Party

Hello my loveys! Well what are you drinking today? I am struggling with the idea of awake, so today I have coffee. I use powdered creamer, half of the coffee cup, and 3 splenda packets. Today I chose cinnamon cream. It is my favorite flavor.

So, announcements.

I submitted my first writing for Coffee House writers. It is in their editor’s hands. I really like the poetry department they have. The people there are enormous fun. I think that I will be able to improve my writing with them.

My memoir is out. Inspiration Without A Home grab your copy today. I will be doing the link post this Saturday as usual.

Some sad news… The editors of Creatives Rising Ezine are having technical difficulties and have had to cancel the issue. The editors are working on clearing it up. I, personally, am looking forward to the ezine being up and going again.

I have been enjoying inktober, though it has barely started. I have been exploring art in various mediums.

My studio is coming together. I am hoping to have it set up and ready for a studio tour around the beginning of 2020.

Serena will be doing The Kingdoms of Sin for Nanowrimo this year.

I will be doing the P. A. D. Challenge again this year.

So, that is all of the announcements.

Due to the busy over the next three months…. I have been considering a prompt theme for my Friday blog posts. I will announce the theme and prompt list tomorrow.

Tell me, what is your plans for the last three months of 2019?

Who am I

Writers gather their characters from various places. Some look at people in their own life, some try to create ones opposite of the people they know.

By nature, a writer is a people watcher. It helps to get descriptions and ideas.

Personally, I think that people watching should start with the mirror. Who am I? Look into your own personality traits, character flaws, desires, and fears. That gives you an idea of how to write a character. Practice describing you. Do a “character” sheet for you. In an attempt to show you what I mean… Here is a character sheet for me.

Name : Patricia Lynn Harris

Nickname /preferred name: Patti

Eyes: Chocolate Brown

Hair: natural dark brown /nearly black though she often colors it in shades of purple. Wears it between short and slightly more than shoulder length.

Height 5’2

Weight 290

Body shape pear

{Here is where you decide how in depth you want the sheet to be}

Birthplace – _________

Home – ____________

{Obviously I don’t feel personally I need those}

Strengths: Intelligence, flexibility, resilience, creativity

Flaws: Lazy, chronically ill, sloppy, physical weakness

Fears: severely claustrophobic, mildly Agoraphobia, Acrophobia

Personal descriptors: pacifist, feminist, pansexual, ptsd

Abilities : program in c#, draw, write, paint, resin, jewelry design, digital art, cover design, crotchet, needlepoint, networking, computer literacy, storytelling, sewing, piano, teaching, editing, publishing

Yeah, this is all very dry information. It gives you a skeleton to work with. Then you can take it and create an image of your character. Here’s what I see…

She was not your typical shut in. Patti was creative, and used that creativity to test her boundaries. Her dark eyes sparkled as she made the characters come alive. Running her hand through the lavender hair, she grumbled her frustration about the story not coming easy.

Though she had other projects awaiting her attention, this story was pulling at her. The self imposed deadline gave a reason to avoid doing the housework that she so wanted to avoid.

See how a few dry facts turn into a short and interesting scene? Do that with you and see what you can do. Then expand until you have a good character collection to work from. It will make character development second nature. (Also remember… Villains are characters, too)

Monday musings

I know that I usually post poetry on Monday, but the last week has been a rough one for me and creating. Between a death in the family, that hit rather hard, and general aches and pains… This week has been a lot of “couch time”…basically me and my television have seen more of each other than I ever do.

There is always a little slow down after I publish a new volume. When I wonder if I am foolish and vain for publishing. When I acknowledge that I don’t do well with pushing the books that I already have out. When I wonder who I would be if I didn’t write. When the idea scares me, so I try to force it… And end up scraping a few really bad foced starts. This is the first month after I publish a new volume.

Then, I start actually calming down… Realize that I don’t have to sell it. I have written it. I have put it out into the world so that it can be seen. I have done my part. It is my job to write, not to force anyone to read it. Those who are meant to be be my readers will find it, as long as I keep sharing. Which I have been doing a bit more of. I have been putting my poetry on graphics and putting more on my blog, and Instagram. I have a public album on Facebook and a board on Pinterest. In the meantime what that time of panic and reflection often means is that I have nothing worth sharing today, except for the view of my weirdo neurotic mind. Some like that view though, so I decided to share.

Thursday Tea Party

Morning my lovely friends! What is that? It’s not morning for you? Hmmm well it is morning somewhere… I hesitate to wish you good day, as that seems more like a farewell than a hello.

Either way, welcome to my tea party! Today, I have been having belly issues so I am going with my favourite lemon and ginger tea.

As for the announcements, there is quite a lot going on.

  • Under the Mists is available in Paperback as well as the ebook. Www.books2read.com/underthemists
  • My memoir Inspiration Without a Home is Available for Preorder. https://books2read.com/u/m2rRVG
  • I finished writing Whispers of the Muse. It is in layout and I will announce the link soon.
  • Fae Corps publishing is still taking submissions for Faery Footprints until September 30.
  • For the month of September Fae Corps will be posting a daily prompt for to encourage poetry.
  • I will be doing the sketchtember prompts for my Patreon this year.

Whew, that is a lot of announcements. I am working on doing the abuse playlist on YouTube. I would be glad to provide a link for those who want it, but it is not something that I just want to random post.

Sigh, now I must do the dishes. So I will leave you with a question… What would you like to see upcoming.

Friday Funday

Trying to do a writing based fun day.

Admittedly, some of them are writing tips. Some are word funnies. Hope that you enjoyed, and if you have one feel free to share it with me!

Quicksilver poetry

Something new I am thinking about. Sometimes I want to jam. Just free verse because I have too much on my mind. It will likely be rambling and not the cleanest verse. But… It will be a good look into who I am behind the edited and clean verse I usually post. This will also not necessarily be the way that the poetry ends in the books. This section will not be scheduled. It will be a whim. And I make no promise of quality….

Friday tips

Writing is a truly personal thing. You end up pouring yourself into the page. Often you don’t get anything back except misunderstanding and criticism. It can be incredibly draining. It really can.

However there are some bright points to it as well. As any writer can tell you… Sometimes it is just a case of seeing what is in your head on paper.

So, when the words aren’t flowing…When the muse is flipping you the bird, the best thing to do is step back. Pick something else to write and come back to this. Or if you are too frayed to write pick another activity all together… Even if it is a nap. The mind is a muscle. Overextending it will only exhaust you faster.

Options to relax the mind include (but are different for each person) :

  • Meditation
  • Art
  • Cooking
  • Listen to music
  • Watch television
  • Crafting
  • Cleaning
  • Napping
  • Go for a drive
  • Go to a park.

Pick something that you know relaxes your mind. Return to the story relaxed and writing will likely go easier.

Thursday Tea Party

Hi all! Pull up a seat! So much on my mind… I am a wee bit squirrel brained lately. All that it takes to distract me is a shiny object in my side view.

First… I want to express my grief at the sad demise of Grant Thompson. He was way too young to die. *a moment of silence *😭

Now, I think that I promised a Tea recommendation? I love tea. Homemade, store-bought, hot or iced. I prefer sweet, but anymore I settle for adding splenda. One of my favorite store-bought teas are Stash Black Chai Spice. I prepare it with half milk and half water and it is a luxurious treat.

I have been working on the publishing company a lot here lately. It has been a learning experience. I am learning about contracts and the messy part of publishing… That moment when crap hits the fan. It is frustrating when it is your work with snafus… It feels like failure when you are handling other authors work. I am blessed with authors who understand and are patient with me.

Fae corps anthology Under the Mists is available in Ebook format… However as the platform that I chose to use for the paperback is still in Beta… We are looking at a month wait for the paperback. We are still going to be trying to get it in as many hands as possible because these stories are really worth the read.

I am quite sure most of you saw the call for submissions that I shared yesterday. Fae corps has two new anthologies in the works. We are going to do another fae story one, this one about light fae. We are also going to do a poetry collection.

Fae corps is also pleased to announce that we are going to be representing Ms Deedra Nichole in her In a small world series. We are in contract negotiations now, but I have no doubt that we will be able to do it.

I submitted 3 poems in a call for submissions that I found on wordpress. One of the three was accepted. My poem is supposed to be published on August 5th. With all of the feels of failure in the publishing… This felt like a win. I will take it.

Oh… And soon the next edition, the summer edition, of Creative Rising Ezine will be publishing. I will share the link to subscribe as soon as I get it.

Hmmm I think that is everything…. So I will be back tomorrow with some sort of tips on writing…. So for now… Time to gather tea leaves.

Tuesday Tunes

Pink Floyd – Another Brick in the Wall

Lyrics ~

We don’t need no education
We don’t need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey, teachers, leave them kids alone
All in all it’s just another brick in the wall
All in all you’re just another brick in the wall
We don’t need no education
We don’t need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave those kids alone
Hey teachers, leave those kids alone
All in all you’re just another brick in the wall
All in all you’re just another brick in the wall
“Wrong, do it again! Wrong, do it again!”
“If you don’t eat yer meat, you can’t have any pudding
How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat yer meat?”
“You, yes, you behind the bike sheds, stand still, laddy”

My two cents ~

Ok. I promised to give you a story last week. I had my first child at fourteen. I was six weeks late starting high school as he was born on September the first. Talk about hell. Starting a new school late and for such a scandalous reason. I was so nervous. I was terrified.

One of my step brothers was dating this amazing girl. She was held back a couple of years, and was so beyond caring about the “social norms”. Our school had the main entrance into the cafeteria. She knew the day I was starting. She knew how scared I was. So I got off of the bus, and saw her sitting there at the doors with a boombox (it was 1989.) Seeing me, she hit the button. Out of the speakers, at a volume that shook the glass in the doors of the cafeteria, she blasts that song. It started my high school career off on a better note. I was laughing. I was suddenly feeling like I was accepted. This song has been that feeling for me ever since.

This is Thursday

Thursday is my weird day. I have found the groove on every other weekday. So every Thursday I sit here staring at the app on my phone and I wonder what to post. I look through the blogs I follow hoping for a clue… Throwback Thursday…. Hmmm. It would be easy… Just post old pictures… Nah man that is not really fair to the ones that actually do read the blog… Though I may be doing that on patreon today. Posting old art.

I saw one blog this time doing a pay it forward thing. That could be cool… But I have no idea what to do with that.

I am struggling with this because I want something that both is interesting to read(and write) and something that I am likely to engage y’all with. So far I am liking the way Tuesday tunes are working. Monday poetry always seems to be a good thing. And wordless Wednesday is good. Friday prompts and writing tips seems to work. So what the heck do I do with Thursday? Tea party works… But I don’t always have conversation for the tea. A good tea party needs a conversation don’t you think? So talk to me. Tell me what topics you would like me to cover at my tea party. Next week I will do a tea party with recommendations for a good tea and a topic of conversation hopefully suggested by y’all.