The Centennial Post

Dazzling fireworks shower across the sky in vibrant hues and fun swirls.

100 posts since I started this blog. One hundred posts, each different - some long, some short, some about writing, some about my life - it has been a long ride. And it's not over yet.

Oh no no no, 100 posts ago I promised to post once a week on Tuesday and I'm keeping to that.
I will keep posting and writing and updating this blog until who knows when.

I was trying to figure out what would be the best thing for this one hundredth post. What could I talk about or what could I show you? Two things.

One - a glimpse of the novel that I am working on.

AND

Two - each reader may ask me one question (about almost anything) and I will answer it in the next post.

So without further ado - My new novel! I have been working on this for over a year. It is about a girl and a boy. They are bounty hunters and they're going to take on a risky job that will test their skills and friendship. In this video, I'll be reading a part of the first chapter.

Literature Lessons: Familial Fallouts

Often there are lessons to be learned from literature. For these "literature lessons" I will be pulling ideas from my own book to discuss in detail. This first one focuses on Adam. If you haven't gotten a chance to read Island Whispers, Adam is the main character merperson. He is sweet and kind. He's the adorable baby brother and the curious child. He also is cursed with siren singing. It is because of his curse that he is isolated not only from mer-society but his family.

That's the thing. Families are complicated. Today even more so. If you google "the modern family," well you'll actually get the TV show, but if you go past that, you'll find other articles about modern families in general. But, honestly, you'll have to go more than ten clicks. So I pulled my research from a more reliable site. The NC State library database.

Single parent families are becoming more common. Although most children live with two parents, 69% according to the United States census bureau in 2016, 23% of children live with a single mother. Now Adam's case is special because he lives with a single father which is at 4% in the United States. Not many children live with just their father and usually the circumstances are extreme. In this instance, Adam's mother has died years earlier because of an accident with Adam.

A Russian study found that children of single parent families have low sociability and often their parents express irritation toward their children. This is not every single parent family, but it seems it was a high enough statistic in Russia. Adam's father is often critical with him and swift to deal out his irritation when a rule is disobeyed. The whole family was banished along with Adam so perhaps you could reason that his irritation is justified. It depends on what you believe the role of parents in the family dynamic.

In Adam's case, his father is his protector. His father is afraid of what some of the merpeople will do to him. Banishment means isolation. In the past, those with the siren singing curse were often killed. The merpeople were afraid of anyone with that power. It could be used for evil, because anyone listening to it could be controlled. This is why his father is strict and tries to protect Adam. Children don't usually understand the reasons for their parents actions, but it is my intention to show that sometimes parents have some justification. However, they don't always show it well.

Adam's story with his father is about reconciliation. He and his father have had to deal with a lot of things, but there is a lot of love as well. Their perceptions of each other are wrong because they have been assuming different things. The hope is that by the end Adam and his father have fallen into a place of understanding and that their relationship will improve from there. But, as in real life, these things rarely play out so simply and it is a long road to a good relationship - a whole lifetime in fact. It takes effort from both sides and so we'll just have to see how Adam's relationship with his father evolves and whether they can improve it.

Book Review: February

Book review time! February - the month of love and relationships. I suppose it is weird that I chose The Forty Rules of Love for January instead of February, but I think I've chosen an appropriate book for this month.

The Girl with No Shadow by Joanne Harris.

A little background. This book is actually the sequel to Chocolat and that book was actually made into a movie. This was originally titled "Lollipop Shoes" but it was rebranded into "The Girl with No Shadow."

The story is about a woman named Vianne Rocher, although she goes by many names. She is a woman that follows the wind and has a knack for practical magic. Chocolat is all about Vianne and who she is as she confronts Pere Reynaud. The Girl with No Shadow is about Vianne and Anouk (her daughter) as they confront some of their past and Zozie (the owner of the 'lollipop shoes').

A signed first edition which I purchased off of Amazon. I have never (knowingly) met Joanne Harris, but I was lucky enough to receive this in the mail. It is also a hardcover and I'm afraid my bookshelf lacks those so I love this all the more. 

What to say about this book...

It has three different perspectives. Zozie, Anouk and Vianne which puts the reader in an interesting situation. We know our "villain" from the start, but when will our characters learn, how will they learn, what will they do?

I appreciate the sensory descriptions. Joanne Harris did not lose her touch. If you've read Chocolat, then you know that her descriptions can make your mouth water. There is a very subtle and delightful imagery that she builds in your mind from the first page. 

Not only that, but her characters leap from the pages. They are individuals with secrets and those secrets draw readers further into the story. What has happened to Vianne and Anouk since we saw them in Lansquenet sous Tannes? We know the family of two has become three with the addition of Rosette, but Vianne (now Yanne) is far from herself. Reserved, quiet, gray - she has become quite a faded photo of herself.

Read on for a more in-depth discussion and spoilers.

Night Owls and Early Birds

Are you a night owl or early bird?

I'm usually an early bird, but this year I've become a night owl.

Our circadian rhythms generally determine when we're feeling most awake and when we're feeling tired. They can be changed (natural light works best), but it might explain why there is such a difference between people. The circadian rhythm is a day cycle (24hr) which can be inferred if you learned Latin since circa approximately means "about" and dian is from "dies" which is day. Unfortunately for me I did not get into Latin in high school. I did learn about root words in elementary school, but the most I can remember is a little singing chant of a few words: "Ante before, anti against, bi two, circum around...de down, dis away...com together, con together..." That's it.

Our circadian rhythms are a natural process and to bring it into writing, you might consider writing a character's abilities as fluctuating depending on the day. I think some writers do this unconsciously. You've got witches that only cast spells on certain days. Werewolves turn on the full moon. They're not exactly circadian rhythms, but you can still transfer the concept of a cycle into those examples.

When we fly into different time zones, most people experience jet lag. There really isn't a way to avoid it and this is because your circadian rhythm has to adapt to its new cycle. You're telling your body that based on societal conventions and your location, you must go to sleep at night and get up during the day. If you flew from America to say Great Britain and you arrived in the morning, it is better to keep yourself awake and active during the daylight hours so that you can fall into an exhausted sleep at the end of the day. It will help with resetting your circadian rhythm to fit your new time zone.

Circadian rhythms are so important that you could also use them to change a character's health. Not only do our rhythms affect when we feel sleepy or awake, but they also change when our hormones are released, when we feel hungry, and the temperature of our bodies. As for temperature, have you ever noticed how your body cools down as you fall asleep and then heats up as you wake up - that's part of your circadian rhythm! Our bodies heat up when we wake up because we're about to get up and start our day. Movement is easier when our muscles are warm, not cold. Probably why we warm-up before we workout, we want to ease into the hard activity by preparing ourselves...but I'm getting off topic.

Did you know that in the legend of Cuchulain the men of Ulster were weakened at a certain time of year? Cuchulain is from Irish mythology and he was a warrior. When the warriors of Connacht were trying to raid Ulster, Cuchulain stood against them. One boy against an army. He was a demigod, son of Lugh Lamfadha so he was your supernatural teenager of the day, but in the stories he is also described as a monster/demon. (Also, I know there are a lot of different spellings for Cuchulain and Lugh. These are just the ones I'm familiar with.)

I learned about the Cattle Raid of Cooley through a wonderful book called "The Hound of Rowan" by Henry H. Neff. The great thing about reading a book written by a history teacher is that he knows how to add history into it and lots of stories. I've learned so much from that series. On a related side note, Max McDaniels, the main character in Neff's books, is strengthened during his birth month: March. As you can see, there are so many cycles of power included in stories and perhaps it is something that you will want to include too!

So, let us circle around to the beginning, are you a night owl or an early bird?