SAGA welcomes YA

SAGA is now officially open to writers of YA fantasy. We’d love to have more people join us.

Boards of Inspiration

We all have things that inspire us. Excite us. Images that take our breath away. Some people do collages or create vision boards. I use a nifty site called Pinterest to organize mine.

I have a board for my wish list, one for favorite places, books I love, anything Gamer Girl, and a newly added one for my Inspiration Room I hope to have someday.

Fly with me as I find inspiration.

Celebrating Creativity

Was trying for the poem-a-day challenge this month. Doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. Maybe there’s just too much other stuff going on. Or my poetry muse is still sleeping. But I still want to surround myself with that spirit of creativity. So, instead, I will share an older poem of mine.

 

A R T

I pull the cardboard box off the shelf
too long dusty
set it on the cleared table
trace my finger over the markered three letters
and open creation in a box

I remove the items one by one
too long neglected
set them in their proper place
next to water, canvas, towel
and tally
creation in a box

I see pencils, paints, stencils,
too long idle
set by projects incomplete
search for a paint brush
and initiate
creation in a box

I wet the brush and moisten paints
too long dried out
set colors to a scantily clad canvas
bringing life to the scene
and treasure
creation in a box

Early Birthday Gift

Today, we ordered my birthday present from Amazon. Yes, I do mean we. For once I actually know what I am getting. It’s something I don’t have now, and never thought I’d want. Guess it’s true that you don’t always know what you want until you see it. And no, I’m not saying what it is. I will show them off when my package arrives in the next week or so. I am so excited!

SAGA

Know that new writers group I wanted to start? Now that it’s been up and running for a few weeks, I’m opening it up to new people.

SAGA stands for Society for Arcane Gibberish Authors. We are a fledgling critique group for fantasy writers, started in October of 2011. This is currently a group for adult fantasy only. If you write YA fantasy and are interested in a critique group, you can still apply. If there is enough interest I will create a sub-group. There are already a couple of us with YA projects that could use the company.

We have room for three more people. Membership is capped at ten. I’ve been part of some very successful online critique groups. May be crazy for starting my own, but I wanted something small. And something less structured. We do have a forum, but no deadlines. Our own lives and writing come first. Just fellow writers grouping together for support and feedback.

If you're interested in joining, send me an email or post below. Would love to get a few new faces.

November Happenings

I’m not doing NaNoWriMo this year, but I am participating in some challenges.

November Poem-A-Day:

Every November, in the same spirit as NaNoWriMo, Robert Lee Brewer (editor for Writer's Digest) hosts a Every November, in the same spirit as NaNoWriMo, Robert Lee Brewer (editor for Writer's Digest) hosts a Poem-A-Day Challenge. Each day he’ll post a prompt on his Poetic Asides blog, and the task is to write a poem based on that prompt.

NaBloPoMo:

National Blog Posting Month helps set the habit of blogging by posting every day for one month. If you’re interested, you can sign up through November 5th. There are even prizes! I figure if I write posts in advance, then my weekends are still free—just hit publish and I’m good to go.

PubSub3rdFri

This is more a year round commitment than a challenge. PubSub3rdFri means submitting something every month, on the third Friday, and was started by Joan Y. Edwards. I definitely need to get back into regular submitting, for both poetry and fiction, and this should give me the encouragement and support I need.

~~~

In addition to these challenges, my poetry group is staring a group blog in anticipation of the publication of our anthology. More on that later.

Busy can be good. Hopefully this birthday month will be a good one. What are your plans this month? Good luck to everyone who is doing NaNoWriMo or any of the other creative challenges.

Need a Fantasy Critique Group? Look no further!

I'm considering starting up a new critique group for fantasy / paranormal writers. Looking for dedicated members that would be able to critique monthly. I've had three people express interest so far. Would be great if I could get two or three more. Open to going up to ten if there's enough interest, but no higher.

Age category: adult fiction. If you write Young Adult fantasy and are looking for a group, I do have some YA fairy tales that are itching to become books so maybe I could do a subgroup or sister group.

Still working on details. If you’re interested let me know. If I can get one more person I’ll go ahead with this.