BookBlogWriMo – Days Nineteen, Twenty

BookBlogWriMo.  Book Blog Writing Month.  Created by “Book Bumblings” as a book bloggers’ version of NaNoWriMo.  I found it through “Shattered Hearts Reviews“.

Day Nineteen – TBR (To Be Read) Books

(reread) Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

(reread) Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Beowulf as translated by J.R.R. Tolkien

Five Kingdoms:  Rogue Knight by Brandon Mull

Five Kingdoms:  Crystal Keepers by Brandon Mull (to be released March 2015)

Storm Siren:  Siren’s Fury by Mary Weber (to be released June 2015)

Neverwinter Saga:  Charon’s Claw by R.A. Salvatore

DEAD POET…Once Removed:  The Poetic Works of Walter J. Wojtanik (Volume I)  by Walt Wojtanik

There are, of course, many other books I plan to read, but these are the ones off the top of my head that I hope to read sooner than later.

Day Twenty – Best Books of 2014

While I read many good books this year, including most of the Harry Potter series (again), these are the only that I can identify as new this year, so they make my best of 2014.  They are also very good books, which is why Mull and Weber have sequels on my TBR list above.

Storm Siren by Mary Weber

Five Kingdoms:  Sky Raiders by Brandon Mull

The Fury Triad:  This Crumbling Pageant by Patricia Burroughs

BookBlogWriMo – Days Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen

BookBlogWriMo.  Book Blog Writing Month.  Created by “Book Bumblings” as a book bloggers’ version of NaNoWriMo.  I found it through “Shattered Hearts Reviews“.

Day Fifteen – Favorite Book Blogging Things

The Books, of course.  I love to read.  I like helping others, teaching others, giving great recommendations to others.  While I don’t necessarily categorize myself as a “book blogger”, I like to think that someone will read my review of a book and find their next favorite book or avoid reading a piece of crap.  I also like the occasional back and forth in blog comments about why a book was good or not.

Day Sixteen – Least Favorite Book Blogging Things

Finding/making the time to do it.  I think I’ve already established my super-slackerness.

Day Seventeen – Favorite Book Tropes

While I really like deep, multi-dimensional characters, I am also quite fond of the stereotypes.  I love a good fantasy with the haughty, law-abiding paladin, the sneaky rogue that the party doesn’t even know if they can trust, the bumbling gnome, the mighty moronic barbarian, the in-fighting between elves and dwarves, the wizard who can devastate and entire village with one fireball, but can’t fight off a kitchen rat.  In the horror, realm, I still love a good classic vampire story where they are burned by sunlight, can be kept at bay by crosses, and the older vamps are always more powerful than the younger ones.  I have no beef with the “our planet is dying, let’s take theirs” plot, or the search for a new Earth, or the “bug hunt” on one’s own ship.  Of course, I don’t mind when stories branch out and try to make their own mark, or create their own interpretation of classics, either…as long as the characters are well-written and the story is good.

Day Eighteen – Favorite Subgenres

Fantasy – Pretty much any subgenre, including high, teen, urban, paranormal romance.

Horror – Mostly by author:  Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Dan Simmons, George R. R. Martin, Poe.

Sci-Fi – Not the hard core sci-fi that gets into the weeds of how all the engines, drives, weapons, and such work.  I don’t care about all that, I just want the characters and story to be good…like those of Robert Heinlein.

Poetry – Keats, Frost, Wojtanik (if you don’t know his work, you should check out his latest collection: Dead Poet…Once Removed).

Self-improvement – Fiction and poetry writing, leadership, management, motivation.

 

My super creative Virtual Blog Tour title

This Virtual Blog Tour is about linking creative folks together, daisy chaining our blogs one to the next to bring more visitors which helps keep the creative fires burning.  The more visitors we get, the more compelled we are to keep providing fresh content, right?  I make no promises of more showing up here, though.  I’m quite a competent slacker.

Much thanks to Walt Wojtanik (pictured right) for asking me to be part of this Virtual Blog Tour.  I was honoured when he asked me to be one of his follow-on bloggers.  So many of the folks on this virtual blog tour are so much more prolific than I am.  I’ve been working with Walt for a couple years (give or take a few months) now in maintaining the Flashy Fiction Friday writing prompt site, so maybe that was my “in”.  I always plan (hope may be a better word) to write more, post more, but time gets away from me.  [Click on Walt’s picture to visit his blog.  I can’t describe him well enough in a few lines –you have to see his work for yourself.]

1. What am I currently working on?  Everything and nothing.  I have over a dozen poetry prompts that are partly worked, a couple of flash fiction stories, and two or three novel ideas that are in varying stages of infancy.  I also have a few other blogs I work, but only one that gets any real attention other than this one:  Lorwynd’s Thoughts.  It’s a “whatever pops into my mind” blog, and is likely the blog you were brought to if you came from Walt’s Virtual Blog Tour post.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?  It’s unpublished…mostly.  Well, I’ve had a handful of poems published, and depending on whether you consider postings on writing blogs “published” or not, will determine whether you’d consider any of my other poems and stories “published.”  How else is it different?  It’s mine.  In the writing world, voice and style have a lot to do with what accounts for one’s taste in writers.  I can read through the list of stories posted to a writing prompt and fairly easily pick out Walt’s.  He has a voice and style that’s easy to identify for me.  It’s also easy to read.  My poetry differs from most of those posted to these prompts by being short and of a “form”…usually.  Other than Form Challenges, it seems a lot/most of the other poets write in free verse most of the time and typically have many more lines than I do.

3. Why do I write/create what I do?  Because the voices in my head tell me to do it?  Maybe…sort of.  Partly, it’s because I choose to participate in the prompts, both the flash fiction and poetry.  Sometimes, ideas just pop into my mind and I work on them.  These are the ones that usually end up in multiple revisions because I’m not trying to get them done and posted in a short time.  Subject-wise, for poems, I tend to take the prompt and take it a different way then most do, often with a sarcastic or antagonistic take on the subject.  For flash fiction, I like to take the prompt and throw an unexpected twist into the story.  For the short story/novel ideas I’ve begun, they are almost all fantasy, which is the genre of fiction I most read, whether high, young adult, paranormal, urban, romantic or science-fiction based –just kind of makes sense that my writing tends to go that way, as well.

4. How does your writing/creating process work?  I don’t really have much of a process for writing the stories.  I just run with whatever comes to mind.  I revise as I go and then give the story another read to see if I can tighten it up any before I post it.  With poetry, I take the prompt or subject I’ve come up with and mull it over a few minutes so I can get an idea of how much I have to write on it.  Based on these few minutes of thought, I will begin putting ideas down in a poetic form that requires more or less lines/syllables.  As I work that form, I may discover a different form that works better.  Sometimes, I work through a handful of poetic forms before I have a poem that I like.

The Virtual Blog Tour continues…

CathyV is a virtual storyteller, an entrepreneur, a holistic sales coach, self proclaimed guru, a Re.Imagineered Poet of the Possible and a lover of humanity by loving people. She likes to write about transformation as life happens. She is colorful, creative, compassionate, sometimes crass and very uniquely uncommon. Enjoy the many flavors of her blog’olicious dumping ground!”

Living Life Out Loud Feels Good

Robin is a full time VA employee during the day, and part time photographer in her free time. She blogs in her free time because she simply enjoys writing.

Random Thought Syndrome and other Maladies

CathyV and Robin were the only two bloggers who agreed to continue the tour.  I had two or three more who sounded interested, but couldn’t commit because their lives are a bit hectic at the moment.

Poem: The Ballad of Dirk and Burke

Poem created in response to Poetic Bloomings’ In-Form Poets Wednesday for 26 June 2013.

Form: Descent

 

The Ballad of Dirk and Burke

There once was a man named Dirk
who had time while he was at work
to go to the gym
to stay fit and trim
it was quite an on-the-job perk

another in the office named Burke
surfing the web all day was for him
produced much less, but was still a jerk
to Dirk because he could stay slim

a wise man suffers
the enmity of a fool
Dirk quoted to Burke

who complained to the boss
Dirk’s gym time was a loss

The boss seemed all ears, nodding along with the rant, Burke now surfs for work

Poem: The Dialogue Dizain

Poem created in response to Poetic Bloomings’ In-Form Poets Wednesday for 19 June 2013.

Form: Dialogue Dizain

 

The Dialogue Dizain

“Yo, dude, check out this brand new form.”

“It’s kind of cool, but how’s it new?”

“It gives a slight twist to the norm,
making me have to chat with you.”

“It’s neat what that small change can do,
adding another bit of fun.”

“It does, indeed. Now, I have to run,
but, while being quite pedantic,
there’s one thing yet that needs be done:
Give some props to Walt Wojtanik!”