All posts by NewEngland_Muse

I'm a traditionally and self published author. I write in the genre of children and YA at the moment but working my way up to adults. I'm a sports loving, photo taking gal who loves to sing/dance to my own enjoyment. I love to laugh even at myself. I am also owned by 8 birds and 2 hamsters, and yes they know it. :)

Murder

One of my son’s friends on Twitter has an interesting avatar. So much so my kid wanted to share it with me.  Busting into belly shaking laughter I told him he HAD to mail a copy of the picture to me. I love how the little things can make us just giggle, don’t you?

Links

Between the writing classes that have been taken, some useful links have been discovered. I thought this would be a good time to share them with my readers.

Online Communities

SheWrites

www.shewrites.com

Writer’s Digest Community

www.community.writersdigest.com

Backspace

www.bksp.org

Authonomy

www.authonomy.com

NaNoWriMo

www.nanowrimo.org

Writing.com

www.writing.com

Useful Websites

The Writing Room

www.writingroom.com

For Writers

www.forwriters.com

Writing World

www.writing-world.com

Explore Writing

www.explorewriting.co.uk

State and National Organizations

North Carolina Writers’ Network

www.ncwriters.org

Mystery Writers of America

www.mysterywriters.org

Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators

www.scbwi.org

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America

www.sfwa.org

Some books of interest that one can find in the library:

Creative Writing by Dianne Doubtfire

Jump Start: How to Write from Everyday Life by Robert Wolf

Breathing Life Into Your Characters by Rachel Ballon

The Writer’s Idea Book by Jack Heffron

A Writer’s Guide to Fiction by Elizabeth Lyon

Two books that I refer to a lot are:

Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One and Never Lets Them Go by Les Edgerton

On Writing by Stephen King

I will be upfront and admit my bias for Mr. King. Being from the same state, we are rather proud of him.  Hopefully one of these links will bring some ideas, tips or resources to you. Good luck with your writings.

Stick Figures

After my Character Development class ended I searched the course catalog of what could be taken next. All the writing classes had either been taken or were already started. That is when I saw the one class I been trying to take for two years and now was able to. I would be taking a drawing class.

I am not sure how many of you out there can draw and well, but that is not me. My stick figures are the rage in my own mind that is. Sure growing up as a child I would color and draw to my little heart content but it did not matter then if it was good or not. The beauty of being young and not caring. But a few years ago while reading the description of the courses this one drawing class had a different perspective. One that I was not familiar with. The class was called “ Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”. The concept is to awake our brain to a creative side we might not have accessed before. The artists we see today have figured out what the rest of us haven’t. We are so busy using our left side with its reasoning, speech, writing and logic that we don’t always access the creative side or the right side.

This class is designed to show the students how to access the imagination, awareness and creativity that is inside all of us. Something a child readily can do before life gets to complicated for them. Not having drawn much recently or well I was hesitant that this would be way out of my league. Fortunately the teacher on the first day said this class was for every one from beginner to more advanced. She said she loved the students who were starting at ground zero for at the end of the session we could see how much that person has grown and learned. These are the ones she loved to get in her class.

The time came for us to introduce ourselves and she started with me. When she looked at me I waved. Seeing I did not start she repeated herself. That is when I said, “ Oh I was just waving, you see I am one of your favorite students. I am at ground zero.” She and the class chuckled.

The first day we drew three objects. The first two drawings was to sketch a person sitting in a chair and then our hand. We were to label this preinstructional drawings and date it. The instructor then gave us a drawing, the catch we were to place the paper upside down. We were to draw from bottom to top. While this was time-consuming the task was completed. Turning it around to see how I did, it didn’t look so bad.

Having asked why we had taken this class was easy to answer. As a writer one needs to try different avenue to keep the juices flowing. If I can draw my characters on paper then a face can be assigned to them instead of just in my head. While it may not be the best it might give me insight and direction in a new way. It is worth a shot.