black ink

I am Back!

2010-04-28T11:46:00.001-07:00

Sort of....

I am back to visit my blog just briefly, and I can't guarantee I will be back any time soon but we can always hope! Life just has a way of intruding on everything!

I haven't come to impart words of wisdom gleaned from my life experiences, no.

I have come to beg for help. Yes. I am dieing here. I need a GREAT book to read! and I got nothing that piques my interest in my book pile. Nothing. And it's not a short pile either. And actually it's not a pile, its multiple piles. And by multiple, I mean more than six of them.

You do realize the magnitude of this problem don't you?? I have nothing to read!

So, please please please tell me what is the book you can't put down? the book you recommend to everyone? the book you talk about? the book you love? the book you beg your friends to to read- even the ones who never read!

I am waiting, impatiently for recommendations...

A Tree Grows in- Brooklyn?

2010-04-19T00:57:00.000-07:00

I finished reading Eat Love Pray. (Loved the Eat part- Naples is on my list of places to visit!- Pray part was- well, complicated. I believe religion and spirituality are MUCH simpler than most people want believe. God loves every one of us, the rest is in our hands- free will! so I found myself skipping most of Pray. And the Love part- funny, oh yes, and a little boring... overall I am glad I read it, mostly for the great humor, I was actually laughing aloud, LOLing, in fact!)

Next on my ToBeReadList was A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I gotta tell yah-I was not expecting much from this one, the cover-boring! the title - not exactly titillating! the authors name, Betty Smith, I mean wow, can you get any plainer than that?? But I am on a mission to read more American writers (because Tuck Everlasting was insane, I love that book!), so I started reading...

...and man, those characters hooked me! my schedule went out the window, meals and schoolwork were abandoned to the - shall we say- chagrin, of my husband and daughter. My healthy diet went out the window as I subsisted on finger food (maybe book food is a better word! Definition- any thing that can be prepared and eaten while you read!) and let me tell you, it wasn't carrot and celery sticks- those things have to be washed and peeled!

The characters though, I cried with them, I got angry at them, I want to fight for them, and I really really wanted to feed them! I loved them. The whole family. I want to be a Rommely woman. I want to be strong and determined and passionate (and skinny!) like them! But alas, I am definitely more your bend -with -the -wind type- I have never been accused of being a fighter in my life.

And I never wanted to be one until I meet Francie Nolan and her mum! They are characters I want to meet, and hang out with. They are characters I want to write.

Please Refer to Previous Post.

2010-04-07T13:56:00.000-07:00

In case anyone was wondering about the title of yesterdays post- the plural Days- well, I almost forgot, but Alexandre Days' wife is also a fabulous artist! What're the odds eh?
Her name is Adolie and I wonder if she would illustrate my picture book for me if I asked with a pretty please?

Love her style, love her colors! And she has a blog! which is in french! which I understand not a word of!

Oh well, I can still enjoy the pictures without worrying about the language barrier.

Those Fabulous Days!

2010-04-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

These pictures are by Alexandre Day, and I am showing them off here because this is the stuff that ...

totally inspires me to tell stories- these characters that seem to have just stepped out of their stories to have their pictures draw.
I can almost see their adventures and tribulations and fears, I really want to tell their stories and meet their friends, but I don't want to meet them. Is that weird? I want them to be enigmas, not unknowable, but slightly mysterious and secretive and a bit scary- yup, OK, that is weird!

But still I love the art.

And it makes me want to write!

Out with the OLD?

2010-03-23T16:01:00.000-07:00

I read a lot of older books, I am talking HG Wells, Ursula K Le Guin, Frank Herbert, John Wyndham, Judith Tarr, (not SF I know, but I read a LOT of non-SF!) but there are some incredible writers out there who are either not writing any more, or dead! And the ONLY reason I am reading them is that I can buy their books for 50cents at my Friends of the Library Book Store. Sad but true. If I could afford a shiny new book every few days I wouldn't be reading these older authors, so just as well I ain't rich!

comment from speculative horizons by me!

I want to add that I actually love some of these older books, and authors. I admire the way they have stood the test of time in a way that I don't think many of the shiny new books will. Some of the new titles are super engaging and a great read but I really don't think any-one will be reading them in 10 years. Or even 5 years, which is sad.

So what is the secret ingredient? How do I write out of my time? How do I breach the generational gap?

Not that it is essential to my writing, but it would be kinda nice to be able to maintain some appeal over the years, don't you think?

A writer in need...

2010-03-23T00:15:00.000-07:00

What I really need at this point is a nice- but not too nice-picture book critique group, because I think i am at that point.

I checked these guys out- any-one heard of them? no? me neither, I found them on craigslist which kinda raised a few red flags for me! I am going to dig around on their site a bit more and see what I can find out.
Verla's site has some amazing people and resources- but I feel kinda out of my league, I am a complete newbie there, and every-where else too! Got to start some where though- any suggestions? (and I promise I am not haggling for a offer! just tips!)

And I couldn't resist adding this link, beware though- it's a picture book not for the faint of heart! http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/promos/creepysusie/index.html

I Love List-Making!

2010-03-17T23:39:00.000-07:00

So, in honor of #AWW on twitter (my latest addiction!) I am making a list of my Top Ten All Time Favorite Authors! These are the ten authors that I would take with me to a deserted island (not in person, of-course, 'cause then it wouldn't be a deserted island- eleven people would be quite a crowd! though ten extremely awesome authors on a deserted island...hmm, that might be the education I need...) any-how, as I was saying- these are my personal creme-de-la-creme.
My list of lists, my best of the best!
Tell me what you think, and remind me of awesome authors I may have forgotten- and do a list of your own to share- I would love to see it, I adore a great list!

Top Ten Authors to Pack in Deserted Island Suitcase

1. George RR Martin
2. Laurie R King
3. Neil Gaiman
4. Garth Nix
5.Philip Pullman
6. Patrick Rothfuss
7. William Shakespeare
8.JK Rowling
9.Jonathan Stroud
10.Holly Black

Wow, Laurie R King is the one and only non-fantasy author! My reading habits are super lop-sided, oh well- that's how i like it!

So please please do your own list and tell me so i can come see it!

Author Appreciation week!

2010-03-15T11:02:00.000-07:00

I am going to show some appreciation to my favorite authors this week!

Starting at the beginning, the first book I ever fell in love with- I was an innocent and naive 11 year old who was living in a city for the very first time, and the librarian at the Brooklyn library (Wellington, not NYC!)introduced me to C.S. Lewis. I was in love.

Imagine my delight when she told me that the book was part of a series and showed them to me, neatly lined up on the shelf. I loved that woman.
The books were a door way, and I ran through, and I have never looked back! I lost myself in adventure and to this day adventure is my genre, in print and on screen.

I don't like drama unless its part of an adventure, I don't like romance unless there is adventure, I don't like mysteries unless there is also adventure!
Conversely, I like pretty much anything as long as it has adventure. I guess that's why fantasy has always been one of my favorite genres; a fantasy read is pretty much guaranteed to have adventure at its heart.
It was C.S. Lewis -via the Brooklyn librarian-who introduced me to fantasy, adventure and the wonderful worlds hidden between the covers of a great book, thank you Mr Lewis!

(pictured with, presumably, Mrs Lewis!)

My sudden Interest in Steampunk!

2010-03-09T13:03:00.000-08:00

I love some great visual inspiration, and I am inspired by a lot of great artists like Anahata Katkin, Adriane Strampp, and Emma Magenta. there are many MANY more artists out there who inspire me, some whom I have mentioned on this blog. But I have never seem any thing like the work of this lady ( her name is Stephane Halleux)... SteamPunk, here I come!

Seeking a Good Book (or two)!

2010-02-28T22:50:00.000-08:00

My little girl is in love with The Secret Garden. She has listened to it three times, all the way through on libravox and I think she has pretty much memorized the entire book. Not that I mind or anything, but she is a very interactive reader ie; she wants to discuss plot lines and characters and setting, she wants definitions for words she doesn't understand and she wants my opinion on every aspect of the story. For. the. third. time.
I am ready to move on. She has listened to Heide, Peter Pan, A little Princess, and pretty much every thing by E. Nesbit. So I was wondering if any of you readers out there can recommend great kidlit that she will love (but not TOO much!). Suggestions for books in the public domain would be greatly appreciated 'cause our book budget is almost non existent, and we can get through a book in a couple of days. That why the new love-of-my-life is Libravox.
( I should mention that she is seven years old, so nothing too strenuous!)

My First Ever Critique!

2010-02-25T10:13:00.000-08:00

This is a big deal to me, I have never been critiqued by anyone but my husband... don't get me wrong here, he is a GREAT guy and I love him DEARLY (are you reading this sweety?) but no matter what I give him to critique his comment will be "Hmmm, yeah, it's good." He is not a reader, and he is not a writer. Probably just as well, I don't think much would get done around here if he was, he is the one who forces me away from the computer to go to the beach, exercise, and generally have a life...but I digress...
I was over at Verlas awesome site checking out the blue boards and I happened to find Dena there. I emailed her, and long story short, she offered to critique my pb! She did an amazing job, showing me the stengths and weaknesses in my story. It is so good to have a fresh perspective on my work cause I was at the point where I wasn't sure if it was worth putting any more effort into. And now, YAY! I am ready to keep going!

NEVER judge a book by it's cover?

2010-02-16T14:01:00.000-08:00

I have been merrily plunking down hard earned cash (my own and other peoples!) for books judged solely by their covers ever since I could afford to buy a books. To me the art work and design work are way more of a factor than the title or author name. But ya know I'm also kinda torn between writing stories and being an illustrator, so maybe I'm not normal in this.
I find that artists and illustrators inspire me as a writer just as much as other writers inspire me. I also find that reading a really great book makes me reach for the art supplies. At the moment I am writing a scene set in a shanty town in the sand dunes, and in my head I see this painting from some time in the 18th or 19th century by an artist whose name I forgot about 5 minutes after I read it. I can see the picture, stormy sky, wind whipped sand dunes, crashing ocean waves....I can smell the salt and sea weed. It's probably just as well I cant find the image online though, memory is a great enhancer of third rate paintings!
So my point is that I find visual arts super inspiring, and a really great cover on a book will part me from my money way faster than for example a banner saying New York Times Best Seller (what does that even mean?) or New-berry Award Winner or even JK Rowlings. (whose covers I don't like at all... don't shoot me!) And though I do love all these covers, I haven't read them all so if you have read them let me know what you thought of them!

American Books.

2010-02-02T13:00:00.000-08:00

I finished reading Tuck Everlasting a few nights ago. For the very first time. I am 38 years old.

Now, before you judge me too harshly let me say that I am from New Zealand and Tuck was not on a single booklist that I had ever seem until I came to the U.S of A.
And for some reason I thought for years after I saw it that it was a sports book, some kind of baseball or football fields-of-glory type book. And if there is a genre that I passionately avoid it is sports writing....sorry but I detest it. Also sports movies, sports on TV, sports shows...hell, sports fans even! No, that last one isn't true, I have some very close friends and relatives who are sports fans, and who knows, some of them might even read this blog....
I like sports though, I am kind of uncoordinated (read; very uncoordinated) clumsy, and noncompeditive (Oh, you look like you want the ball waaay more than I do, here, take it!), but still I have fun when I play. I don't win, but I have fun.

So I didn't read Tuck Everlasting until now.
And wow, that book is a master-piece! First I got hooked by the setting... the Woods and the spring to be exact. So cool and fragrant and green. That gurgle of clean, sweet water, right in the middle of summer. Then the characters. Imagine my suprise to discover that far from being a baseball-bat-weilding tweenager, the Tucks are a family (as opposed to an individual), full of quirks, faults and charm.
Then, best of all, the premise, they are undying. And this is a situation they refuse to exploit because that would be morally wrong.

Now I am wondering what else I have missed out on in the American Writers catagory. I am rethinking my don't-read-it-it's-cheesy stance on Anne of Greengables. And my bound-to-be-too-clever-by-half stance on F. Scott Fitzgerald.

A whole new world of writers has just opened up....and it's not like my reading pile was too short or any-thing. Sigh.

So... I got a bit ahead of myself...

2010-01-27T23:35:00.000-08:00

(like that's never happened before).
My book list for my borders excursion was wayyyyy to short and not a single one of them was in stock....not one. Not to be dismayed I went into Town, yes , drastic measures, I know. See, the town Borders is more than twice the size of my local Borders ergo, they must have at least twice as many books. So, off I skipped to town.
In town they had exactly ZERO of the books I wanted ( still want, actually) to read. How is this possible? Do I have weird esoteric taste in kids books? Is there such a thing as weird and esoteric kids books? Hmmmm, don't answer that last question, it's rhetorical.
So what I wonder is, how do I get my sticky little hands on these books? And I don't want to buy them off amazon. I just want to read them, not buy them, remember. I doubt the local library has them- they are short staffed and budget cutting like crazy......

Right, so its January 23rd already is it?

2010-01-23T17:45:00.000-08:00

Resolutions are made to be broken, right? Right!
And I resolved to blog reliably, and I haven't, (unless once a month is reliable, hmm, no that's stooping pretty low even for me) but resolutions are made to be broken... you see where I'm going with this right?
Ok, so I'm going to cut to the chase and get all Nike on you, and JUST DO IT....here goes....

I have started haunting Borders, I don't buy any-thing, I just hide in the kids section and read. So far this has worked out fine because my local Borders is pretty big so its easy to slip under the radar. Unlike my local indie book store, which is tiny, stuffed with weird and wonderful books, full of personality and.....tiny.(as in they know when I slip out the door, no purchase in hand, after reading in the corner for an hour.) And I feel guilty not buying their books cause y'know, they're indie, and you gotta support the indies... but Borders on the other hand, well, no qualms there.
So like I said I am haunting the place. I sit in the kids section with a two foot high stack of books and I read them all. Cause I can't afford to buy all those books. And some of them, frankly, I wouldn't want to.
And now,(finally!) we reach the point of this whole long involved story, tonight I am going to Borders and here I share my To Read List:

But Who Will Bell the Cats- forgotten the authors name...

A Book- Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Around the World with Mouk- Marc Boutavant

Egg Drop- Mini Grey

and in the YA catagory:

Wildwood Dancing- Juliet Marillier

Marcelo in the Real World- Francisco X Stork

Eon Dragoneye Reborn- Allison Goodman

The Ask and the Answer- Patrick Ness

Unfortunately I can't read all the YA's on my list while I'm at Borders, but I can go and drool over them and sigh over them... yep, that's my plan. I may, repeat may, buy ONE. ONE only. If I can choose one.

Hello again...

2010-01-12T12:42:00.000-08:00

My poor neglected blog, does it comfort you to now that you were sacrificed at the altar of my sanity? No, I guess that's not all that comforting come to think of it. But I'm back now so no more sulks.
I have big plans for 2010, and they include you, oh blog.

Theme of my days...

2009-09-30T22:47:00.000-07:00

Well, I am still obsessing over my spine tingler for the 3-6 year old crowd, and I have to say, even though I knew the revision would be a long, slow process, I have discovered that revision really is a looong, slooooow, process, even for me. Allow me to explain that.
Intellectually, I knew revision would take time , but I must admit that in my almost-subconscious -mind i was thinking something like this - It takes other writers ages to revise, but my first draft is vastly superior to the first drafts of other writers , therefore I wont have to spent as long on revision as other writers.
Shhh- do you hear that? Its the sound of my bubble popping....

Oh well.

I have re-written pretty much every word of my 1000 odd word manuscript, at least twice. At least twice. And I'm not done yet. I feel like I'm almost done, but I have felt like that for weeks, it seems like.

I feel like this guy. Never mind that I'm not a guy, i dont smoke, and I'm not (sigh) skinny. I feel like him.
I am much more appreciative of writers than I was two weeks ago. They deserve higher pay and more benefits and all-round adulation. After all, can you imagine a world without writers? (hey that could be a plot right there!)

btw have you read this and this? I have, in fact maybe that accounts for my not-super-optimistic mood.... interesting stuff though, i like to hear what its really like in the publishing world. I think.

How scary is tooo scary?

2009-09-24T00:08:00.000-07:00

I guess we have already established that a like a little fear and uncertainty with my enchantment in my previous post about fairy tales.
But I am wondering about kids today, can I write a story with elements of ...not fear exactly, that's a little strong, I think I mean elements of the unknown. Strange territory where something bad could happen (but it doesn't) if we aren't careful.

Can I write a story like that and still hope to find a publisher? Because the true is I have two favorite genres, one is the horror/mystery genre, and I don't refer to goosebumps type books here, I refer to Coraline type books (of-course!), and my other favorite is cosy, like Peter Rabbit, or the Secret Garden.

Can the horror/mystery genre work for the 4-8 year old crowd? And I use the phrasing horror/mystery, in its nicest, most engaging tone!
I think I have circled back to my previous post, I need a critique group. And I know there are on-line ones out there cause Nancy Sanders was kind enough to show/tell me about hers. Thanks for that! I am discovering that the online writers are a very generous and friendly bunch, i love that!

ooh temptation!

2009-09-23T00:45:00.000-07:00

Love this video...kids are the best! Who wouldn't wanna write for (and about) them? Check it out its called The Marshmallow Test, right here.
I find it hilarious and inspiring!

more revision....sort of....

2009-09-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

In an attempt to stall actual revision I have been browsing around the net reading posts and articles about....yep, revision.
The cool thing is, is that I have discovered some great resources out there.
There's this blog, which I was digging around in, and found some super useful posts on writing, publishing, and authoring. I foresee myself spending a good few hours going through the archives there.

Then there's the blue rose girls, who make it all seem like so much fun!

And I found this great blog full of really great posts about writing, revision (thank you again Emma Darwin!) editors, and publishers... just what I need right now.

And I would love it if you could point to any other great resources on the web. I really need all the help I can get...which reminds me, is there such a thing as online critique groups? I think thats what I need.

Revision,revision, revision....

2009-09-18T18:19:00.000-07:00

I love first drafts ( not this blog, actually first drafts, though the blog is not bad either! :). I get so inspired and so full of creativity that I can just float through a first draft in haze of golden sunshine.
When I write a first draft I have to write by hand 'cause my typewriting skills can't keep up with my thoughts. And I skip forwards, and backwards in the story, i write all over the margins, I make diagrams and sketches, and just generally have a ball, as you can see from the image on the left.......

Then comes the revision. Ugh. It is the polar opposite of first drafting for me. I force myself to do it.
I type, print out, cross out, agonize, cut, delete, re-type, print-out, ad infinitum.

Yes, I want the words to be perfect. No, I don't want to read them again, and again, and again!

The inspiration for the manuscript I am currently working on came from seeing the awesome art work over on etsy, like the two shown. The one above is from emporium51, and the one to the left is from joutmaa.
Now if I could just convince one of them to illustrate my story!

Neil Gaiman again...

2009-09-17T22:25:00.001-07:00

I hate harp on about this guy, but have you read Coraline by Neil Gaiman?

It has become one of my new fav kidlit reads, I have been recommending it everyone I know, even my sons...and they read it, and admitted liking it!
Now if I could just get a hold of The Graveyard Book...

Oh and btw, if you saw Coraline the movie, dont think you dont need to read the book. The book is just as good, in fact, almost better than the movie. And I say this as a person who loved the movie. Loved. the. movie.

Check out the images.

I also found the blogs (and another, and another, and last-but-not-least) of some of the uber talented people who worked on the film, and stalked them for weeks before the movie was realeased... and after. And after the dvd was released.

Neil Gaiman

2009-09-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

I"m sorry to say I never really got Sandman...they looked intriguing but when I tried to read them I felt like I was coming in at the middle of a conversation. And it's not like I only tried once, I did read a few of them, and I browsed a lot of them, but unfortunately, like I said, I never became a fan. So that was the limit of my Neil Gaiman experience.

I say unfotunately because look at this art work....its just begging to be read, and I tried to read them, I really, really, did.

So I came To the conclusion that I just wasn't a Gaiman fan. I was a Dave Mckean fan for sure. But not a Gaiman fan.

So when I picked up The day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, I was expecting to love the illustrations, but what I wasn't expecting, was to love, love love, the writing.
I read it over and over. I studied it. I pored over it. I read the story of Gaiman and Mckean creating it.

I still love it. And my daughter loves it. And I cant wait to get my hands on Wolves in the Walls.
Gaiman and Mckean have become one of my favorite partnerships in kidlit, I am offically a fangirl. (metaphorically speaking, of-course ; )

No more fairy tales...

2009-09-16T00:16:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid I loved fairy tales, I read them avidly, they were my favorite genre and they imagery I took from them still inspires me to this day. But ( and this is a big but..) I never read any of the disney, or disney-style, fairy tales.
And later on when I did read/watch the disney fairy tales I found them... boring. There was no darkness, no fear that this might not end happily ever after, no compulsion to read on and on and on...

So what I am wondering is this - is there a place for the older, more sinister fairy tales in the world of todays kids? Or do they really need their stories, their fables and legends all sugar coated and antibacterialized? And if they dont read they fairy tales how will they learn to deal with all the monsters out there? After all , "Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

And for the record, yes, I am still scared of the dark, and things that go bump in the night. But is that a bad thing? Or is a bit of fear normal? After all, its not all rainbows and fairy dust out there.

up-date on the 10 sentence thingy...

2009-09-14T20:39:00.000-07:00

So I re-read my story, and I still love it but... it needs some serious revision, there is no middle part. It's just a begining and an ending. Back to the middle I go to revise.....

The 10 sentence challenge...

2009-09-04T23:54:00.001-07:00

I did it! thanks to these spectacular illustrations I was so inspired it took me 20 minutes laying on my belly on the bed to write the first draft. Which I then put in the computer in the form of a second draft, which I love!

But, I usually love first and second drafts, its the subsequent drafts that I agonize over, after the the rush of enthusiasm and inspiration has worn off.

Thanks again Marie Desbons, Terrible Yellow Eyes and of course Where the wild Things Are!

What I'm reading...

2009-09-04T22:59:00.001-07:00

I have my nose stuck in Anne Provoosts' book In the Shadow of the Ark, which I picked because I love the cover, and I am enjoying it's richness of atmosphere, the vivid world building, and a main character who is strongly and clearly written...
we will see if I make it to the end....

I'm also reading A Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks, which I love (and not just for the cover design and art!) . It is another apocolyptic novel, (is this a pattern in my reading?) this time about the plague in 15th century England. Very wrenching, I highly recommend it!

What I'm reading...

2009-09-04T22:59:00.000-07:00

I have my nose stuck in Anne

I've been playing...

2009-09-03T20:33:00.000-07:00

...playing with words. Yup, I see a phrase I love and I grab the scissors.

Isn't that what everyone does?

(excuse the terrible pic, I need to work on my photog skills!)

update

2009-09-02T18:15:00.001-07:00

Well, I was totally uninspired and thinking I had bitten off way more than i could chew with my self imposed writing assignment. I had no main chararcter, no setting, and definitely no plot, and then, as i was wandering aimlessly though the world wide web (actually that's not entire true, I found her via decor8 which I visit religiously every week day- and some times on the weekend just in case), and I discovered this art work:

Wow! I love this stuff! The colors...the subjects...the composition! Very inspiring. The artists name is Marie Desbons, she is french, and her blog is here. Naturally her blog is in french so I can't read a word of it, but the images are so great I don't even care! ( hmmm, a writer who cares more about the pictures?)

Any way, I'm busting with ideas now...all I have to do is edit them down to 10 sentences! easy peasey!

More lovely pictures for you to enjoy....

Writing assignment for this week.

2009-09-02T01:26:00.000-07:00

This is an ambitious assigmnent (for a new writer like me!), and I'm giving myself until friday to complete it...so, heres the idea: we take a page from Maurice sendaks book and write a 10 sentence story.

I know, I know, impossible, but this is an exercise in simplifying and editing. It doesn't have to be beautiful (but it wouldn't hurt!), it just has to be short and simple.

So off I trot to put on my kidlit writers hat.

trahlah lah lah!!

Book of the Week......

2009-09-01T01:27:00.001-07:00

Yup, I'm starting at the top and calling Mauric e Sendaks Where the Wild Things Are my book-of-Week here at black ink, 'cause after all, and I don't think I'm going out on a limb here, who hasn't heard of Where The Wild Things Are?

So my thought was, why not start with something every one is familiar with, something every one can relate to, something easily accessible? And of-course it helps that Where the Wild Things Are is not only wildly popular but it's a masterpiece to boot.

Where the Wild Things Are is a story of passion and adventure. It has anger, vengence, joy, sadness and pure magic all conde

nsed into 10 sentences. This is a book that I loved as a kid, and appeciated as an adult.

As a child I loved the wild adventure and the hot supper waiting

at the end, and the enthralling illustrations. But as an adult I love the poetry, the rythym, the editing, the spareness that allows a childs imagination room to take wing and fly. And those enthralling, inspiring illustrations.

And I'm not the only one inspired. Check out the amazing artists over at terribleyelloweyes.com, a website dedicated to art inspired by Where the Wild Things Are.

Which is where I snagged my images for this post from.

let me introduce you to my blog...

2009-08-29T17:59:00.000-07:00

Hi there, welcome to my blog!

I am a stay at home mum, homeschooling my daughter (eek!), with a fetish for writing, and, on the flip-side, reading ( my first love, I must admit). It was through reading that I found writing, (some authors are just so good they make it seem effortless!) though sometimes it is difficult to put my current read down for long enough to get my ideas on paper!

I started blogging so that I can met and interact with other creative/writerly types, 'cause in real life I am pretty isolated socially (not healthy I know!).

I want to be able to share the stuff that inspires me, see what other writers are doing to get inspired, and maybe get some help from some of those incredible old hands out there.

Thanks for visiting, come again!