I offer you Moonlight, and Shadows

I use pages on my laptop, so if you know the font luminari that is what I chose for this and I wish you could see it because it gives the poem a unique and gothic look. This might not make sense, but I think that poetry in some ways contains a bit of nonsense. 

Moonlight and Shadows

I wish to walk in moonlight,

see my shadow follow me,

for it is only the moonlight,

that lets us clearly see.

The silver glow and fallen beams,

are illuminating and cleansing,

the moon is bright and she gleams,

many find her presence so convincing

If I wish to see purity,

then no thing will compare, 

but the dancing light’s clarity,

that travels through the evening air.

We mustn’t waste the light,

especially when it’s bright,

for the moon is not always round,

for every night that it is found.

The moon has her moments

of quiet beauty and of peace,

sterling, silvery unearthly sentiments,

that make some things become beasts.

For is not beauty loveliest

when it is admired from afar,

don’t people pine for it

when it is as unpredictable as a shooting star.

If I am in moonlight

then my shadow is awake

but if I just walk in shadows

then everything is at stake.

Too many shadows and not enough light

create too much darkness, stronger than night.

Shadows can be friends

they can dance along with us

but their lives come at an end

when the sun consumes them with lust.

Light will always vanquish

that which is dark,

might will only relinquish 

when it has missed its mark.

The power of simple things,

the things we walk through,

are only hoops and rings,

that shadows and moonlight walk through too.

Stuffing a Turkey or Stuffing a Book?

Casseroles and pies baking in the oven, pulling the husks off corn, and watching someone handle a giant turkey. My memories of Thanksgiving cover the food, a day of family working hard to make a meal together. That's what the holiday means to me. I always enjoyed the work, whether I was situated at a chopping block or painstakingly pulling apart brussels sprouts. But, I'm not just gonna tell you about my past Thanksgivings.

Instead, let me tell you about something exciting.
I emailed my publishers about Island Whispers and they sent me the "innards" of the book, which means everything but the covers. I was vibrating in front of my computer. It's the moment when you see the official design and pages that you think: "Wow, this is real. This is happening. This is what I wrote." Or at least that's what I was thinking. It's a little hard to describe the bubbling joy, but I had this grin on my face that I couldn't shake for hours, not that I wanted to, it's nice to be happy about something. So, I got to see the design and in the front a copyright page, which really made me excited, because that is what published books all have. Then there's the dedication to my mother which got its separate page and at the end, a little author bio and my picture. Photo taken courtesy of my sister, she deserves the credit for putting up with my pleading.
It's finally finishing up and the journey of Island Whispers from a thought in my head to a physical book is almost here!
I'd like to take a moment to thank you, the reader, whoever you are from wherever in the world. Thank you for reading this blog and I hope that you will read my novel.

Calling Nano Writers for November

Nanowrimo - National Novel Writing Month

I participate when I can and November is when writers from all over the world try to write 50,000 words in a month. There are so many fun things about nanowrimo, including all of the other writers that you can chat with in the forums.

In particular, I love how you can track your word count and find out how many words left, how long it should take you approximately, and other things.

My current project is under wraps, but I'll tell you how far along it is: 39,500 words. Of course, this work isn't meant to be a novel, it's a novella, or that was the original goal. For the most part it is finished. I just need to edit and clean up the sentences, making sure that there aren't any major changes that need to be made. It's another exciting world that is new and a mix of the ancient mediterranean with medieval times, fantasy, adventure...I'm very excited about this project.

Another fun feature of Nanowrimo:
You can also award yourself badges for different things like, pantser, planner and plantser.
"Pantsers" write by the seat of their pants in the sense that they write extemporaneously (that's a fun word).
"Planners" are obviously the ones who like to have multiple sheets of paper and drawings, documents with little details and background that spans three years.
"Plantsers" do a bit of both.

Which one are you?

Discover the Story

I love to write.
Hmmm. Now begins a small rant about writing:

I think that writing is at its best when the writer steps back and says, "Wow, there it goes."
By that I mean a writer feels that their story has grown legs and started walking on its own. Maybe they're chasing after a little book baby and watching it grow older and more mature. I enjoy writing and being surprised.

I was talking to one of my friends, he is a creative writing major and loves poetry, and I explained that what I loved most was when the characters were alive and I wasn't creating the story - I was discovering it. The difference is that discovery feels like it was always there, but now you're navigating this land. It's not totally discovery all the time, sometimes a story or character needs some creation to begin with, but once it gets rolling, the story should be showing you how it is written.

The fun part comes in when you get to see interactions and reactions of characters. Once they have been developed to an extent, you just know how they'll react, and maybe they'll surprise you occasionally, but you should know why that happens. See, the thing with discovering is that you're not blind - you're omniscient, you see all and you know all, so those little side stories and small things you thought didn't need to be explained - well, they can and you should know them (even if you don't write anything). The story is about more than what is just on the page, but it is also more than just what is in your head too. There has to be a balance between what the writer knows and what the reader knows. If you don't give enough to the reader, then they could come away confused and dissatisfied with your story. If you don't know enough about your story, then you'll end up with a mess that has to be untangled and things that deviate so much it can't be explained.

Writing isn't without its struggles, but I hope you can see that it has its benefits too.