“Where does your inspiration come from?”

I have been asked that very same question many times before and I always find myself giving the exact same answer: “I come from a family of artists”.

People who know me well are aware of the fact that my family’s last name signs paintings, essays, theses, poems, sculptures and photographs. I couldn’t be more proud than I am to belong to this wonderful group of people that have seen me grow and have been there every step of the way. Some have departed already but it’s like they never left as they live inside my heart. I wouldn’t be anything without them and I am not afraid of saying so because they are my life and I know they will always be there.

So today I am changing my answer… today I am going to be direct and say: “My inspiration comes from the fantastic and unique artists I call family”. My father’s mother who paints from her heart and who taught me how to draw at my insistance even though she knew how terrible I was; my father’s father who taught me how to write and how to escape from the world by reading; my father who taught me how to be generous and how to give everything, even my life, for those you love; my mother’s mother who taught me how to be humble and kind; my mother’s father who has left this world but not before he taught me the difference between right and wrong and not before telling me how beautiful I was; my mother who taught me how to dream and to carry on even when the world seemed to be falling apart around me; and my sister who taught me how making someone smile is the most important thing in the whole wide world.

Every single person I mentioned above is an artist at living and so are you.

Some might be painters, some might be writers, some might be teachers, some might be builders, some might be photographers, some might be taxi drivers, some might be mathematics geniuses, some might be mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers… but they are all human and they are all artists as sure as blood runs through their veins, as sure as history is written all over their skin, as sure as humanity is tattooed over their heart… they all grab what they have and make the best of it.

Now that is an artist…

And that is…
Inspiring.

Rosemary Serenity

A Writer’s Homage to Writers:

The act of putting pen to paper encourages pause for thought, this in turn makes us think more deeply about life, which helps us regain our equilibrium.  ~Norbet Platt

I was recently honored by the opportunity to join this community and I have to say that as a novice writer I was a bit terrified and elated at the prospect. My writing has always come from that emotional fountain of creativity within and while I have never been embarrassed to share it, I also never considered that it would be deemed worthy enough to place me in the midst of such talent. It is with all that in mind that I dedicate my first column to you my friends. I wish all of you success and hope that you find the joy that you have brought me through your craft.

There are many arts that can be developed and honed over time to convey artistic creativity, each fully capable of moving the human spirit and connecting us all on deeply personal levels. It is not my goal to take anything away from them by this, for they all enrich our lives to no end. Writing however has always been what I would consider the purest form of expression. Writing possesses the power to change the world; it has many times before and will undoubtedly continue to do so in the future. So it is to you my dear wordsmiths, who have made history what it is, in the telling of it, who have given rise to empires both real and imagined, who have transported us to places no other vehicle could, that I tip my hat and say thank you, for you have given us much more than entertainment, you have given us our humanity through your sacrifices of time and opened portals to our souls with your words.

I began my adventure in writing early in life but somewhere in my twenties the desire drifted away, lost in a sea full of the torrents of life and the rouge waves of self-delusion. It was not until I started to venture into the virtual world that I once again found my way to the sweet waters of inspiration. At first it was a surprise, like that of seeing an old acquaintance from your past that you haven’t thought about in many years. That tingle of unsure recognition that slowly fades to fond memories. The glory of my discovery did not fully hit home until after I had written several short “poems” for lack of better description. It was then, sitting at my desk with the faint glow of my monitor at an hour of the night that many care not to see, that a slow smile crept across my solemn face. At that point I knew that I had found my muse again and have continued to use it as much as possible. If even one person reading these posts (and it could be that one is a hopeful and possibly over zealous goal) is able to find the inspiration to work past the obstacles in life and turn them into stepping stones, I will feel blessed knowing that I have returned what has been given to me in this amazing and captivating place called the internet.

From our earliest days there have always been the storytellers and scribes, they have taught us lessons through their work, sometimes without us even being aware of it. What a noble pursuit and worthwhile cause it is to dedicate yourself to a purpose resulting in the transference of ideas and intelligence to your fellow man. I pray that you find the strength to continue your journey and in the process take us with you, for the worlds that you create may just be the catalyst to save the one we all call home.

Thank you for reading this and I hope that you will join me for my next installment.

~ Dresden Darkwatch ~

Want to be as popular as Jaen, Harpy and Flawnt and reach a wide variety of readers? Do you have a talent for the written word?  Perhaps you have an idea for a column? Either way, if you want to offer your writerly services for the betterment of our wonderful community blog then drop me a line at  harriet.gausman@googlemail.com. You never know, YOU might be our next ‘STAR’.

We finished reading John Dies at the End. Our book for November is The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. We will meet on November 29th at 3PM SLT for costume contest, quiz and discussion. I hope to see you all there.

If you’d like more input on upcoming books message me here, or in-world, or visit our group on GoodReads.

www.goodreads.com

This review is long over due, sorry for the delay. My masters class on school law has taken up most of my time.

Though I hate to use the term, because of the often negative connotations, The Scar is a spin-off of Perdido Street Station. Reviewed here. Reading the original story isn’t necessary to understand or enjoy this story; however, I highly recommend it.

Mieville opens not with the main character, but with a beautifully described scene depicting an underwater hunter and his trained hunting squid. This scene gives the audience a sneak peek as to what horrors of the deep await our cast of characters. His use of language, as usual, is magnificient.

Our central character is Bellis Coldwine. She is fleeing to a newly founded colony to avoid an unknown entanglement with the New Crobuzon government, with the intention of returning home once it is safe. Bellis lies about her ability to speak the language of a sea-faring people in order to get passage to the colony. Bellis is a complex character, but I admit there were times I found it hard to like her.

In addition to taking colonists to the new colony, the ship is transporting Remade prisoners. Remades are people that have been punished for crimes they committed by being altered physically, usually by having horrible mechanical parts added to their body  or replacing a body part. In the course of the ship’s travels to the colony they are abducted by a floating pirate city, Armada. It is run by the Lovers. Once you are a part of Armada, you are not allowed to leave. This results in much inner turmoil for Bellis.

There are many more interesting characters in the book, and you do find out how it links back to Perdido Street Station. The story is complex and well-written. There are dramatic sea battles and tender moments. I recommend this if you love language, pirate tales, fantasy stories, or steampunk. Enjoy.

I read this book for several reasons. First, I had read a historical romance novel for kids when I was young about the hurricane of 1900, and the tragedy of the event stuck with me. Second, this is one of the reading assignments for our 6th grade students next year. Students love it when teachers that teacher another subject have read a book that they have to read and can share it with them. Third, I wanted to look at how they handled such a hurricane after experiencing Hurricane Ike.

This book is a bit difficult for me to review, as it’s non-fiction. I am not an expert in the field, but I can tell you that the factual and historical data is weaved very well with the first person accounts. The author breaks the time up into increments of a few hours, this really makes a timeline clearer as well as increases the suspense and emotional intensity. Parts of this made me laugh, parts of it made me cry. The author has a clear and direct style. The original publication date was 1957, so he was able to interview many of the survivors.

I was amazed at how quickly the 1900 Galvestonians began to recover from the hurricane. They began cleaning up and rebuilding even before outside help could reach them. The 1900 hurricane is the land-based equivalent to the sinking of the Titanic. It is the event which caused the seawall to be built, though it had been discussed before the hurricane, it was considered too expensive to build. It shifted the ideas of what could be done to protect coastal cities, just as the Titanic altered the safety regulations on cruise ships. I recommend this book highly if you are interested in history, hurricanes, or humans ability to adapt and recover from disaster.

Our next book is House of Leaves by Mark. Z. Danielewski.

Overview from Google books – Years ago, when House of Leaves was first being passed around, it was nothing more than a badly bundled heap of paper, parts of which would occasionally surface on the Internet. No one could have anticipated the small but devoted following this terrifying story would soon command. Starting with an odd assortment of marginalized youth — musicians, tattoo artists, programmers, strippers, environmentalists, and adrenaline junkies — the book eventually made its way into the hands of older generations, who not only found themselves in those strangely arranged pages but also discovered a way back into the lives of their estranged children.

Now, for the first time, this astonishing novel is made available in book form, complete with the original colored words, vertical footnotes, and newly added second and third appendices.

The story remains unchanged, focusing on a young family that moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane where they discover something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.

Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green was prepared to face the consequences of that impossibility, until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story — of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams.

If you’d like a preview of his writing style and language, please follow this link to an online preview. Please skip around as he uses three distinct types of writing in the book.

http://books.google.com/books?id=qGA_3RGqTkQC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Why bloggers should perform their writing

By Iain Broome

Reading your writing out loud is generally a good thing to do, whatever the medium, genre or format. It helps you understand the rhythm of your writing and, more often than not, it helps you discover punctuation and grammar glitches that you might not otherwise have noticed.

read more

She Murdered Me with Science is David Boop’s first novel. It combines historical fiction, sci-fi, and detective noir. Boop often plays for humor, and I think he does it well. I love the liberal sprinkling of period slang, though I admit my knowledge and taste of it come from “Casablanca”, bits of “The Maltese Falcon”, and Shirley Temple movies like “The Bachelor and the Bobbysocker”.

As is a staple in the detective noir genre, when we meet our hero, he is “down on his luck”. Noel Glass was a teenage science protege. He was recruited in his childhood by NMIT and graduated at the tender age of 16. He left NMIT in disgrace when an experiment went horribly wrong and killed six people, including his lover, Tangie. To make ends meet he becomes a private eye and forensic detective. He has been struggling to invent something to reestablish himself as a scientist.

Just as he completes his new invention he is approached by a mysterious man that not only wants to buy his invention, but tells him that the accident was really a frame job. The people that framed Glass for the deaths are trying to kill his benefactor. Glass then uses his detective skills to figure out why this mystery man is helping him and who framed him.

He is helped in his quest by Mr Lee, who had previously rescued him from depression and self-pity, and Vincent, the mystery man’s body guard. At times the interaction between the three makes me think of a buddy flick. Boop also pulls in the sultry songbird, though this one is far from helpless.

I was a bit disappointed in the twist ending, as I predicted it much earlier. Now whether this was accidental, or done on purpose to play up the archetypes of the genre, I can not be sure. Over all, this was a fun read. Perfect for a vacation or to read on a beach.

PS. All Milkwood events are on hiatus due to Harriet’s computer pulling a Hal. Please continue reading  by China Mieville.

Wednesday, 20th May, 4PM SLT, Stone Circle, Milk Wood

Stone Circle Storytellers – Join our friends as they share some of their favourite works.

Thursday, 21st May, 3PM SLT, Stone Circle, Milk Wood

Huckleberry Hax – Huck gives us the next instalment of his brilliant new work.

Friday, 22nd May,  2PM SLT, Gypsy Camp, Milk Wood

Writers’ Meet – Another chance to sit and work on your monthly goals.

Monday, May 24th, 2PM SLT, Gypsy Camp, Milk Wood

Writers’ Meet – Focused writing hour – get working! Crack…

Tuesday, 25th May, 3PM SLT, At the Stone Circle, Milk Wood

Aianna Oh – Continue enjoying Aianna read her ‘Water Witch’ fantasy.

Round Robin Story for May – Come join us on Second Life Story Circle and write a story. We will post it at the end of the month on the Guild website. It’s a wikispace, you have to sign up to edit the story. Thank you Lukos for this month’s story starter.

http://secondlifestorytellers.wikispaces.com/

If you enjoy the events we bring you each week please consider leaving a donation. There is a donation thermometer at the Milk Wood Noticeboard found at the main landing point. Thank you.

Our website is:

http://www.gukwsl.wordpress.com

Next book talk is on June 14th, we will be discussing She Murdered Me with Science by David Bloop.