Fear is the mind killer. I must not … SPIDER!!!!
"Scared and sacred are spelled with the same letters. Awful proceeds from the same root word as awesome. Terrify and terrific. Every negative experience holds the seed of transformation." - Alan Cohen I am my own worst enemy. It is my fear of failing and my fear of succeeding that traps me. I stall at every step. I put things off. I hide in books instead of doing the work I need to in order to have the life I want. What if I work very hard, and do all the steps, and fail? What if I don’t lose...
Create Diversity Tip Seven: We are all people.
Create Diversity Tip Seven: We are all people. As you read books, watch movies, and research, you will realize we are all people. We want to be happy and safe. What creates happiness and safety is different for everyone. Some people want to travel, a family, riches, intelligence, to be left alone, or to be famous. Dreams differ from person to person, not culture to culture. You don’t have to challenge social norms. Your character could simply be gay and a marine sniper, and that could be the...
Foreign Film Friday- Calendar Girls
Calendar Girls I love this movie! It's such a beautiful story of friendship and pushing yourself past your boundaries and fears. And I have to say When ever I watch this movie I'm not as afraid of growing older. These are amazingly beautiful woman, full of life, and strength. I hope to live such a vibrate rich life, and I wouldn't mind living in their adorable English Village either. There are adult themes which young children might not understand- or you might not want them to see. Teens...
Woes of a Validation Whore
"The worst loneliness is to not be comfortable with yourself." - Mark Twain I like validation, most people do, but I find that without the validation of others I have trouble believing something about myself to be true. I was a good student. I know this because I got As and Bs, and the teachers liked me--validation from authority. I have written a book, but I feel like a fraud calling myself an author because I don’t have validation from anyone in authority. My editor Kilian would like to...
Create Diversity- Tip 6
Create Diversity Tip Six: Not everyone has family history hanging on the wall. I am German. It’s my German ancestry that gives me my red hair. I get it from thin Northern Germans and Vikings. Other than my hair color, which most people think is Irish, there is nothing German about me. I don’t have coo-coo clocks on the wall. I don’t eat Bratwurst or drink bear. I do like sauerkraut. Your character does not have to be the poster child for a culturally rich PC person. Your hero might have grown...
Noodle Western/ Food Porn
Tempopo I’m not sure how to describe Tempopo- It’s a Japanese film. With an odd Western (as in wild west) feel to it. But it’s not a sushi western. The film really is about food. Yes, relationships develop and characters grow- a bit- some of them- but the focus of the movie is on food. We follow a woman and her journey to make the best ramen noodles in order to support her and her son. She gets help from a truck driver, and he takes her to seek out many other people in their quest for the...
SJ Driscoll- Guest post
Hello everyone today SJ Driscoll has volunteered to guest post on my blog. I hope you all enjoy her post. You can check out her blog here Beyond the Page by SJ Driscoll What has been most useful for writing in my life? No one thing I ever learned from writing classes, that’s for sure. The most useful things were the four experiences that taught me my limits as a human being. I found one limit while walking a bright-white hospital corridor at 3:30 a.m., waiting for a family member to die. He...
Music to tease your monster friends.
I am a brat and as such when I hear a song about supernatural being I wonder why these don’t wind up in people’s books. Why doesn’t Bella have ‘Hungry Like The Wolf’ as her ring tone for Jacob? Or “It’s a Deadman’s Party’ for the Cullens? If I was Anita Blake I would get all the weres together and learn the dance to ‘Vampires Are Alive’ and ask Asher and Jean Claude to Dance Macabre and then play it. Wouldn’t you? So for songs to use as ring tones, add to your i-pod, or play in your club to...
Foreign Film Friday
For my last Halloween horror movie fix I give you three new choices. High Lane is a French horror movie about a group of young adults who go mountain climbing and there is a psycho killer waiting for them. The views were beautiful- it was filmed in Croatia and if heights and the possibility of falling scare you then this will be a very scary movie. I found it more gross then scary. I didn’t jump at anything, but did look away at some of the blood. My big issue is the people did something...
Wise, Witty, and Wacky Wednesday
Today I have a special treat for you, my new friend and blogging buddy Myndi Shafer is guest posting today to worn us of the dangers of an seemingly innocent frozen treat. Popsicles. I love 'em. For so many reasons. So sit your butt down while I wax poetic about the virtues of the rainbow colored family of frozen treats. #1: They're dangerous. You don't think so? Listen to this: They're cold. So cold, that if you eat them too quickly, you run the risk of freezing your brain plumb off. PLUMB...
