April Showers: The Sweet Rain of Books

Hi, folks. Today I'm putting my writer hat aside, and my creative hat too. I'm placing that reader hat on my head. Here, I'm going to talk about something I don't chat about much. I love to read. I read every day of my life. I mark off the days for books to be published. My life revolves around stories, true and fiction. There is nothing that waters my life more than books. I love the sweet rain of books.

I'm not a highbrow reader.  I occasionally read a book that is called literary fiction, but most of the time, I like children's books and genre fiction, most of all historical, historical romance and science fiction.  I occasionally binge on non-fiction. I have had entire decades devoted to mysteries and thrillers. I never like horror. I like the classics and read one or two a year. I read a few fantasies every year too. Occasionally, I just like an author, and I read everything they have ever written.

In books, I have lived thousands of lives. I have faced thousands of problems. I am more because of books.

I've survived the Battle of Talavera in 1800s Spain, and at the same time, the intrigues of Russian noblemen in the times of Peter the Great. The history of the Netherlands for thousands of years boils in my blood. I've seen the pyramids built and inhabited huts with my fellow slaves. I lived in the bogs of Ireland thousands of years ago struggling against my harsh gods. The stories of ages inhabit my soul.

I've felt Mr. Darcy's pride and Elizabeth Bennet's prejudice. I've been with Jane and heard Edward's mystic cries through time and space.  I've survived bombings while working with my true love.  I've been broken into shards and found love with someone also as broken as me. I've missed huge swaths of life, frozen with fear, and found the fortitude to love again. So many stories.

I've traveled to the far reaches of the galaxy. I've fought aliens, terra-formed planets, and discovered the ruins of ancient species. I've been sold into slavery and been rescued by an intergalactic cop. Apocalyptic nuclear winters, green jungle worlds, the harsh conditions of Mars, I've lived in a myriad of unique environments, survived, thrived and sometimes died. Like the intense electromagnetic radiation of the sun, the heart of all life, speculative stories have transformed me.

I've sat on the bones of dead children waiting for rescue from a white mouse. I've had my memories stolen from me and forged a new life. My puppy fell out of an airplane once! Oh, one of my best friends is a spider, and I might be some pig. I care too much and call it love.  I've opened my heart and believe that someone will come. I am stronger than I think, and I may not belong in the zoo, but there is a place for me. I like your hat, I understand the price and know stories are light in this dark, dark, world.

Books water the soul. They expand horizons and open my eyes to the distance shores.  They encourage me to be more, to accept myself and others and believe in happiness with good things beyond the bright light of last moments on Earth.

Pick up a book and read till your heart is content!

Next week a new series starts. Exciting news! A guest blogger will usher in the month of May with Bloom! Excellent author Alexandria La Faye will be here! If you don't know her books already, please check her out!!! Edith Shay! Strength of Saints!  Strawberry Hill!  So many fab stories. www.facebook.com/alafayeauthorwww.alafaye.com, a@alafaye.com

Here is a doodle.

Here is a quote for your pocket.

Stop being so fruitlessly busy and dream. Use your imagination. Reach out into the unknown and dream of how you can enlarge your experience and improve your mind and your soul and your world. Mary Balogh

Special Edition! PLUMB CRAZY cover!

Hi folks,  welcome to the special editon of Seize the Day. I am celebrating "cover release" day of my new novel PLUMB CRAZY from Swoon Romance! Due out on June 10, 2014.

 

Add it to your TBR list on Goodreads! Tweet it out! Facebook it! Pin it! Just join me in the warm glow of happiness!

 

See you on Saturday with more Seize the day...

 



Chicken by Chicken: Writing Every Day

Hi, folks,

Thanks for all the congrats for my upcoming novel in May 2014 PLUMB CRAZY from Swoon Romance. I hope that my personal journey will give you some needed encouragement as you move forward with creative endeavors. My title "Chicken by Chicken" is a play on Anne Lamott's book title, BIRD BY BIRD, a helpful writing book.

Chicken by chicken is how I roll as a writer.  I'm chatting about my instructions for writing and life.

First, a sample day: the alarm at 6:30 a.m., I lay on the floor thinking wishing I could cry beccause I was so tired, but instead I got up and make French toast to ensure the teenager popped out of bed. A lifetime of study has taught me that the male teenager will wake up on time for school if food is provided. No other method of waking up the male teenager is viable.

Next, I headed to jury duty for HOURS (was selected), clipped off to an interview for a job (which I bombed), then topped off  the evening with several hours scurrying around the high school for a parent teacher night. During the day I had 4 asthma attacks, one migraine, and began to run a fever (pretty sure I had a sinus infection -- was right.) At the end of this day, after I made dinner and cleaned house, I opened up my computer and worked  for a COUPLE of hours on my work-in-progress.

Then I turned on my alarm around midnight for another round.

Writing is not convenient. It doesn't happen in a vacuum. There is the occasional glorious day where there is time and major progress, but mostly writing is part of the grind. It's the sum of the work that matters to me. That moment when I write the end, is like topping Everest. The hope that some day my book may offer a moment of clarity, a moment of laughter, a sense of connection, and more -- I live for this.

I also live for the art of writing. I love to up the stakes, find the tone, define the characters, bring the setting to life, delve into the themes. I'm this triptych of sorts: the creative, the emotional, the connector. I'm also in the business of fostering who we are and what we want. Every day. Chicken by chicken. For me, writing is worth fitting in.

I like this book by Leo Tolstoy called What is Art? You might check it out. Hope you write this week with more fervour. Back next week with more Chicken by Chicken.

Here is the doodle. My fav superhero: "Thor Chicken."

Here is a quote for your pocket.

 A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work. Colin Powell.