Author: Marje @ Kyrosmagica

Hi. Welcome to my blog: M J Mallon - Kyrosmagica Publishing. A blog about magic, books, writing, laughter, and much more! I'm a YA fantasy author, poet and reviewer. My first YA fantasy novel The Curse of Time - Book 1 - Bloodstone is set in Cambridge and Book 2 - Golden Healer is now out too. As well as this, I have contributed to several anthologies, created my own with some amazing international writers, bloggers and creatives during the pandemic: This Is Lockdown and written two poetry collections: Lockdown Innit Poems About Absurdity & Mr. Sagittarius Poetry and Prose. I write book reviews on my blog and on Goodreads, book bub and on my bookstagram. I have a penchant for travel and have relatives in far flung places, Australia, Malaysia, and Singapore, (my birthplace.) I grew up in in Bonnie Scotland, in Edinburgh, and now live in Cambridge. I love sunny, hot places, particularly Rome, Venice, Portugal, Barcelona, and I forgot to mention the sun drenched beaches of the Caribbean, how could I? I am lucky to have been blessed with two lovely daughters and a husband who I fondly refer to in this blog as my black sheep. Family joke! With my passion for travel, culture, beautiful beaches, good food, books, theatre, writing, and humour, I hope to keep you entertained. I'm loving every minute of this creative journey, please join me.

My Kyrosmagica Review of Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Here is a short Synopsis of the book courtesy of Goodreads:

~~I have a curse~~
I have a gift

~~I am a monster~~
I’m more than human

~~My touch is lethal~~
My touch is power

~~I am their weapon~~
I will fight back

Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

I was amused by the author’s About Me on Goodreads:

Tahereh Mafi is a girl. She writes books and reads books and drinks way too much coffee.

Very cute!

BOOKS: QUALITY OF WRITING

Shatter Me is the first in a trilogy by author Tahereh Mafi. When I looked inside I was surprised to see strikeouts within the text of the book. How could such an artistic cover house such odd strikeouts? It seemed almost criminal. What was the author trying to do? As I read on, I found that Tahereh Mafi’s style of writing fitted the style of the book, the strike outs were different, suggesting Juliette’s desperation at the bleakness of her surroundings, the loss of freedom, and her awful predicament etc. The line represented for me a stark black, strike through, like a prisoner counting off their time in captivity, for a crime that they did not intend to commit.

Then to add to this heady mix Tahereh Mafi inserts repeated words. Again, these suggest to me her desperation, and confusion. There are times when I found the extra words somewhat distracting, although Mafi has to be applauded for the originality of her ideas, very clever indeed.

Overall, I enjoyed Shatter Me, even though I found the beginning a bit slow. There are parts of the book that I found quite beautiful. The following quote is my favourite:

“I spent my life folded between the pages of books.
In the absence of human relationships I formed bonds with paper characters. I lived love and loss through stories threaded in history; I experienced adolescence by association. My world is one interwoven web of words, stringing limb to limb, bone to sinew, thoughts and images all together. I am a being comprised of letters, a character created by sentences, a figment of imagination formed through fiction.”

CRYSTALS: Was there lightness and darkness? A depth to keep me interested?

There is darkness in Juliette’s predicament, she is unable to touch anyone. Can you imagine what that must be like? So it’s not surprising that the story is intense, and the words are lyrical. The lightness comes in the form of the male character in the book, Adam, Juliette’s love interest. I found the romance between the two of them sudden, intense, and at times quite hot! Juliette has the sense to see that Warner, the villain, is a nasty piece of work, a psychopath, who she would do well to avoid.

MAGIC: Ending and Recommendations.

The ending allows for a smooth transition to the next book in the series. I would recommend Shatter Me to readers who enjoy dystopian or post-apocalyptic fiction, and anyone who enjoys YA. In the sequel, I look forward to discovering more about their dystopian world and about the two factions, and more romance from Juliette and Adam. I will definitely read the second in the series. Great titles too, and fantastic art work on the cover – love the eye!

My rating:

3.75 stars

http://www.taherehbooks.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/20419289-m-mallon

Writing Characters – Cowpat Man

Futurelearn Start Writing Fiction Course 4.9 Writing Character.

Let’s have another look at my roughly sketched farmer, Cowpat man, maybe I can do something with this guy. His hair is trashed but who knows maybe he has potential. If you haven’t met him before, here’s my short description of him:

Arthur’s hair sat on his scalp like an apologetic cowpat. His life had turned into a hopscotch, he leapt from pat to pat but nothing changed. His horizons narrowed with every throw of the dice. He was not a gambling man but he sensed that his luck was out. The aloe vera juice oiling his biography had formed a stagnant, tropical pool.

Now at this stage Futurelearn asked us to add more detail, do some background research, and ask some what if questions. Where do I begin? I turned to my friend google for a quick bit of background information about farmers. Well it didn’t take me long to realise what I probably already knew deep down. Our farmers really deserve our admiration because:

Farming is one of the most unstable jobs in the world, at the mercy of a fluctuating economy and unpredictable weather.

Farmers have to learn from their mistakes.

Farmers have to be jack of all trades.

I really liked this one, the list was endless, let’s start with him being a

welder,

mechanic,

electrician,

chemist,

plumber,

vet,

accountant,

construction builder, ……..

Not just that but:

Farmers have to know how to network.

Farmers have to be creative.

Farmers have to be great problem solvers.

The list is endless. Respect. Forget Superman.

We have a new superhero. Cowpat man! Well his silhouette any way!

Well no wonder Cowpat man was depressed when I first discovered him, who wouldn’t be? I think with all that he has to cope with in his multi tasking life we can forgive him for having a bit of a flutter, after all, his whole life is a bit of a gamble. Failure is a word he daren’t utter. How is he going to feed his customers if his crops fail, or his livestock die? Maybe he’s a bit of a reckless show off, buying fancy machinery and investing unwisely. Now I can really see my character taking form, leaping from pap to pat. He needs an escape route. He’s fed up of being at everyone’s beck and call. Even his wife is beginning to irritate him. That’s where the Aloe Vera juice that’s oiling his sad biography comes into its own, because he wants to escape, from everyone, to a tropical paradise, with palm trees, beaches, and calm tranquillity. No wife, no cows, no cow pats. He needs a cure-all, and Aloe Vera does it all, just look at its supposed health benefits: it’s a digestive aid, lowers blood sugar, cholesterol, boosts energy, and is a tonic. Well that’s what they say. Ok so it tastes pretty foul but Cowpat man is used to foul things, he’s a farmer after all. He can hide the taste in an organic fruit smoothie, move to a tropical island, and grow Aloe Vera plants. Easy. Aloe Vera plants even grow for me, how hard can it be?

So there are the beginnings of Cow pat man. Ok I’m not taking him too seriously but what’s wrong with a bit of a laugh? Go on, surrender!

Images courtesy of Google Image.

My Kyrosmagica Review of Matt Haig’s Echo Boy for Net Galley

Goodreads Synopsis:

Audrey’s father taught her that to stay human in the modern world, she had to build a moat around herself; a moat of books and music, philosophy and dreams. A moat that makes Audrey different from the echoes: sophisticated, emotionless machines, built to resemble humans and to work for human masters. Daniel is an echo – but he’s not like the others. He feels a connection with Audrey; a feeling Daniel knows he was never designed to have, and cannot explain. And when Audrey is placed in terrible danger, he’s determined to save her. The Echo Boy is a powerful story about love, loss and what makes us truly human.

Did it succeed in my Books, Magic, Crystals ratings, system? Yes it did. A well deserved 4 of 5 stars

BOOK: Quality of Writing

My Netgalley review of Echo Boy, by Matt Haig. I couldn’t have picked a better book to review for my first Netgalley assignment! I have to confess that I wish I had written this myself, just a tad jealous! The impact of the advancement of technology is of great interest to me. What effect will progress have on humanity? Will we lose sight of ourselves along the way? Will we still retain a thread of what makes us human? So many questions! A topic that is close to my heart.

I don’t usually read science fiction but Matt Haig’s Echo Boy really captured my attention. The narrative delved into the future but did an admirable job of asking those questions. It is a riveting read, with well-developed characters, and a plot that keeps you interested throughout. At the end of the book, I was struck with a touch of melancholy. There must be more. I wanted to know what happens next. I have heard that there is to be a sequel. I am so delighted, this is just such a thrilling book. I enjoyed it enormously, and am looking forward to reading more of Matt Haig’s books.

CRYSTAL: Is there lightness and darkness in the novel? YES there is.

***BEWARE MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW ***

The story begins with Audrey’s mind log, two weeks since her parents were killed. Audrey is a fifteen year old living in the future. Her idea of old-fashioned is singing songs from the 2090s. There is a definite sense of human isolation in the novel, “only a hundred years or so’ ago people knew their neighbours. Climate change has had such a devastating impact that Audrey and her family live in a stilt house, above water, and parts of the world are blisteringly hot deserts. There is a magrail outside their house that allows them to travel more than 300 kilometres in less than ten minutes. Life has been reduced to an instant. Audrey lives in a world in which technology has made such enormous advances that there is 4-D footage of her dead parents, in a pod where she can interact with them, as though they are still alive. This cruel advancement of technology adds to her distress.

She knows in her heart that her parents are dead. Her father’s brother is Alex Castle the head of Castle Industries, the leading technological empire in Europe. The two brothers look like each other but have nothing in common, Audrey’s father is a technophobe, who fears that Echos will take over the world. The two brothers are polar opposites in personality, morals, and beliefs. These resemblances and differences are an interesting and important aspect of the novel, cleverly thought out by the author. From the opening chapter we know that her parents deaths are no accident. This is murder. In this futuristic world robots are passe and have been replaced by Echos, Alissa, their family Echo is so human looking that Audrey can’t help but find this disturbing. Like all Echos she is made of human flesh and blood, a picture of perfection, except for a cube of hardware and circuitry in the brain. Alissa, appears to malfunction, she kills Audrey’s parents, this is accomplished in the old-fashioned way with a knife. No technology is required to commit murder just cold hard steel. Audrey manages to get away from Alissa but the technology of the car that she escapes in is controlled by her uncle Alex. She is taken to his house.

In her uncle’s house she meets Daniel, a boy Echo. After witnessing the death of her parents she is terrified of all Echos, but Daniel seems to frighten her more than most. This initial fear turns out to be misplaced, Daniel is a prototype model who knows the truth about her uncle and is trying to help and warn her. Audrey learns that her uncle is a false, scheming man, only interested in augmenting his power and control. He has no soul. His ten-year old son Iago looks cute looking but has psychopathic tendencies like his father. Audrey’s uncle carries on a pretense of being her protector. To begin with Audrey is taken in. But she discovers what he is really like. She finds a message in a book from Daniel, confirming that her uncle murdered her mother and father. Her uncle locks her in her room and arranges for an Echo to kill her. She manages to escape by tricking Iago and blasts her way out of captivity.

Daniel has a lock of human hair in him, this tiny lock of hair is enough to make him experience human emotions, as well as pain. Audrey discovers that her uncle may appear human but in reality he has less compassion and heart than Daniel with his 0.01% of humanity. Her uncle tries to eliminate Daniel’s capacity for human characteristics, and discards him, aware that he may end up in the notorious Resurrection Zone. He controls the Resurrection Zone, a futuristic zoo, where extinct animals, neanderthals, and Echos are subjected to vicious attacks in front of an audience. The passages in the book about the Resurrection Zone, made me think of Rome’s bloody past. The Roman gladiators, and animals in the Colosseum, pain and suffering, existed as entertainment too.

MAGIC: Did the ending work? Was it worthy of my magic rating. YES it was.

In the end Audrey and Daniel manage to escape to the moon, the last place that Audrey would ever have considered going to, but now everything has changed. Her parents are dead, her uncle is a murderer, there is no longer anything to hold her to planet earth. If she stays her uncle may kill her. Daniel has nothing left. His maker, Rosella who he loved is dead. So Daniel and Audrey are drawn to each other, like lost souls. They Kiss. Fall in love. But there is a price to be paid for freedom, she must become like an Echo herself, and suffer the pain of branding, or else she will be discovered on the shuttle that takes them to the Moon. Audrey makes this sacrifice, a massive undertaking to become like an Echo, overlooked, and insignificant. Especially if you consider that she will age but Daniel will continue to stay young. What can the future hold for them? Daniel is an Echo, of Rosella’s dead son; a tiny lock of her child’s hair lives within him. Rosella, Daniel’s creator, sacrifices her life to save Daniel. Another poignant moment, in the book, a human makes the ultimate sacrifice. Daniel also suffers as he is part human. A typical Echo without this 0.01% of humanity would never feel pain, or fear, or love. He is distressed by these human emotions, but without these, are we really living? Are we human?

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/20419289-m-mallon

Have you read Echo Boy? Do leave a comment below I’d love to hear from you.

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

I read YA – change your Icon for #IreadYA!

I came across this on tumblr this morning and just had to share this with all you YA lovers:

“Follow along May 19-23 for your daily dose of YA pride from some of our favorite authors and share your YA book recommendations using #IreadYA!”

“C’mon guys! For the week change your icon to I read YA!”
via thisisteen on Tumblr, and Twitter, @this_is_teen.

I have chosen the orange I read YA.

WordPress Meet and Greet #3 – All Bloggers Welcome

I thought this was a post well worth sharing, great idea.

Cover reveal: A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC!

Fantastic cover.

Victoria (V.E.) Schwab

Hey lovelies!!

I’m so very excited to finally share the cover and synopsis of my new fantasy series with Tor!!!

From V.E. Schwab, the critically acclaimed author of Vicious, comes a new universe of daring adventure, thrilling power, and parallel Londons, beginning with A Darker Shade of Magic.

Kell is one of the last Travelers—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel universes—as such, he can choose where he lands.

There’s Grey London, dirty and boring, without any magic, ruled by a mad King George.

Then there’s Red London, where life and magic are revered, and the Maresh Dynasty presides over a flourishing empire.

White London, ruled by whoever has murdered their way to the throne—a place where people fight to control magic, and the magic fights back, draining the city to its very bones.

And once upon a time, there was Black London…but no one speaks…

View original post 149 more words

My Review of Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

I am so glad that I joined in the Booksplosion read-along on Goodreads. I really enjoyed reading Attachments and have rated it 4 stars.

I am rating books in a new way under three sub headings, BOOKS, CRYSTALS, MAGIC, a bit of fun!

BOOK: QUALITY OF WRITING

This is my first Rainbow Rowell book and judging by this I will definitely want to pick up another of her books. I love Lincoln’s character. He appears to me to be like an adult Peter Pan. Still living at home after years of studying, he is stuck in a dead end job. He has a vulnerability about him which makes his transgressions acceptable. He has been hurt before and this is reflected in his choice of work, (which involves a fair amount of solitude working the night shift in a bizarre IT job scouring emails for undesirable flagged references), and in his relationships, (to begin with he only interacts with his sister, his mum and his D&D friends.)

So you can’t help but forgive him that he is reading Beth’s and Jennifer’s emails intruding on their private exchange of friendly banter, because you realise that he is like a big cuddly bear with a warm heart. This is his way of falling in love again, at a distance, so he won’t get hurt. The more he reads their wonderful emails the more he comes alive, and his confidence grows.

The characters are well crafted, and believable. I especially liked Beth, Jennifer, Lincoln’s mum and Doris.

Beth and Jennifer’s warm, caring, relationship comes across beautifully via their unguarded emails.

CRYSTALS: IS THE READ LIGHT HEARTED OR DARK/DEEP?

This is my lightness rating. Is the book light-hearted or will it leave you in floods of tears? For me, it was definitely a light-hearted read. I found the short chapters drew me into the novel, making me want to turn the page to see what happened next. This is the perfect book for lovers of romance, who enjoy a well written story with interesting characters and observations.

MAGIC: DID I LIKE THE ENDING, WAS IT MAGICAL?

****BEWARE SPOILERS BELOW *****

Did the ending satisfy or was it a let down? Before I embark on this I just want to touch upon the food references in the book which were really amusing, and therefore it seems appropriate to add them under my magic section! Lincoln’s mother lovingly cooks copious amounts of food, but he is unable to eat it all and shares his food with Doris, an older lady at work. Doris becomes his way to escape his mother’s overbearing love. He willingly shares half of the food, because he wants to grow up, get a life, be an adult. At first, Lincoln’s mother is upset but when she realises how much Doris enjoys her food, she accepts the situation, and Lincoln is now able to move on with his life and become an adult, and find love again. I found this so relatable as my Malaysian mother is a wonderful cook and always makes lots of tasty food!

There seems to be differing opinions on Goodreads about the conclusion, some people found the ending cheesy. But in my opinion the ending works because Lincoln has been hurt, and is longing for love, and falls in love with Beth without even seeing her, via the medium of her emails to her friend. He means no harm, and is guilty about intruding into Beth’s privacy. He is a nice guy. Beth sees Lincoln, is attracted to him, but doesn’t really know him, yet she senses that he has a big enough heart for her. They are suited because they are both equally eccentric as each other and so is the ending! I loved it.

Find out more about Rainbow Rowell at http://www.rainbowrowell.com.

Mantra For Authors: Editing Is My Friend

A mantra for all authors, editing is my friend, editing is my friend. Welcome new friend. Let’s hope we enjoy a long and happy relationship.

Editing is such an important process. Read over what you’ve written, edit. Then take a break. Return to it again. Read it aloud. Edit again, and again, and again. You get the picture.

But don’t become obsessed, editing is important but so is a life.

Joining a writer’s group can be really helpful. Also it can drag you away from the internet for a while and you can interact with people face to face which is nice from time to time. Not saying that it’s not nice having internet pals too. They’re cool too, but you know what I’m talking about. I found having other writers critiquing my work scary to begin with but it’s well worth it. Don’t be put off by what people say, accept changes that you agree with and ignore opinions that you don’t agree with. Believe in yourself, after all it is your work, your story, at the end of the day you have to be 100% happy with it. Yes 100%. I’m talking to writers here.

Simple editing mistakes are easy to make. I have just found some that I didn’t notice when I was typing the following short passage for a FutureLearn exercise, so I thought I’d share them with you, as an example of why editing is so important!

The Red Notebook:

I followed at a short distance behind her as she entered the refectory. She wore a plain white cardigan reminiscent of cling film. Her mother kept a clean house and was always wrapping everything up in neat little cling film packages. She hated it but her influence was all pervasive, even her socks clung to her feet, neat dancers socks, moulded to her skin, cutting all hope of circulation. Her jet black hair was tied back in a pony tail that seemed to be wrenching the very roots of each follicle of hair from her scalp. No lipstick blemished those full lips. Her only adornment was the bright red notebook which seemed at odds with the rest of her ensemble. The notebook took pride of place on the table in front of her and next to this, she discarded a heavy set of cumbersome keys.

I stood up and crept behind her. I tried to see what she was writing, but the words were as bloodshot, and unreadable as her wild eyes. She picked up a plastic cup of water, gulping it down in one ferocious gulp. She spluttered, droplets of water fell from her lips blemishing the creased cover of her notebook. She wiped the water away, staring at it hysterically as if she was searching for answers. Her fingers ironed the crease but the crease remained, mocking her.

She stood up, toppling her hair back in one swift movement. I caught it. I felt responsible but I didn’t know why. “Are you ok?” I asked. She looked right through me as if I was transparent. I picked up her keys, trying to elicit a response by saying ” Don’t forget your keys.” She ignored me as if I was transparent, an unnecessary interference to her otherwise perfect day.

At least one of my mistakes was amusing! Toppling her hair back! Well it could have been, who needs a chair? The rest as far as I can see were missing hyphens, and I said transparent twice.

Reading in the genre you are intending to write in is so important. I read a lot of YA because I write YA. Also it is equally important in my opinion to read all sorts of books, these help broaden your writing skills. Anyway I love reading so it is all good! Oh and do reviews. I’m new to this but I’m sure this will help too.

On the subject of books, I just love the artwork in the Shatter Me series, aren’t they fabulous?

Varying the structure of your novel using different words is an important skill. Short words add pace, as do short sentences. Leave out too many adjectives, and adverbs. (I find this one difficult!) Use a dictionary, and a thesaurus. Leave out clichés.

Don’t destroy what you’ve written. This sends shivers down my spine. Keep less than perfect pieces as a reminder of how your work has progressed. There might be a good idea in there that just needs reworking.

My fantasy YA novel is currently in its final stage of edit. I didn’t follow a plan. I just had lots of ideas and wanted to get them down quickly before they evaporated! I found this approach was great creatively but had the down side of an awful lot of re-editing and re-structuring, so I wouldn’t recommend this. A little bit of planning is important. So next time round I’ll do a rough plan which will allow me flexibility if I want to change it.

The level of research required depends on the novel you’re writing, e.g. I imagine historical fiction is one of those genres that involves masses of research. Even so, I had to research crystals, shadows, the Corpus Christi Clock, Grantchester, and Cambridge ghost stories for mine.

I joined a local writer’s group, Cambridge Writers, http://cambridgewriters.net/ and have found this very helpful. I would highly recommend finding a group in your local area.

Alternatively try an on-line writing group. My fellow Futurelearners suggested these two websites:

http://scribophile.com/

http://mywriterscircle.com/

One thing that surprised me about the following FutureLearn exercise, is that I found an idea for a story from a radio prompt. I have never tried this before, so thanks Futurelearn, good tip. In the first draft I just quickly typed in some rough draft ideas. In the second draft I developed the idea by using different words, for instance I took out the word stared and used a different word, barrelled to suggest her eyes moving furiously in excitement, and I changed some of the other details to make the paragraph more interesting, using everyday words such as nettled, sting, mirror, signal, manoeuvre, tank.

1st draft:
Amy stared at the on-line application form for the local radio apprenticeship scheme. “I would make a great local apprentice because,” ……………The next prompt was easy, “If there is one thing I could change about where I live it would be…..

All of her eighteen years she had lived in Cambridge. There was one thing about Cambridge that really riled her. Public transport. She lived on the outskirts, in suburbia, and the buses were non existent in the evening. Nights out meant asking her long suffering parents to pick her up or get an expensive taxi home. Or even worse accept a lift from one of her friends. Not that they drove home drunk but their lack of attention to detail made her wonder if they had bribed the driving instructor to get their licences. Why had her parents decided to live in this no go zone? What was wrong with living in the centre of the town?

A message on her Facebook flashed up. Harry had liked her new profile picture. Her shoulder length blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and clear complexion, made her laugh. No evidence at all of all those late nights. She was the perfect candidate for a job in local radio. Six o’clock starts. No problem.

2nd Draft:
Amy’s wide eyes barrelled along the prompts on the on-line application for the local radio apprenticeship scheme. “I would make a great apprentice because,” I’m super cool, of course! The next prompt was, if there is one thing I would change about where live it would be.” Simple, child’s play.

All of her eighteen years Amy had lived in Cambridge. Sigh. There was one thing about Cambridge that really nettled her. Public transport. A sting in the backside. She lived in wretched suburbia and buses were an alien species in the evening. Night outs meant asking her long suffering parents to chariot her home, or get a taxi, sorry wallet. Or even worse steal away in one of her friend’s cars. Not that they drove home drunk, at least she hoped they didn’t, but mirror signal manoeuvre didn’t seem to be in their dictionary. Why had her parents, god love them, decided to live in this no go zone? Even combat troops have better transport facilities, a tank would be acceptable.

A face book message, flashed up. It was Harry. Hope he wasn’t flashing his pecs again! Harry had liked her new profile picture. Her shoulder length blonde hair, bright blue eyes and clear complexion were a hit with the boys. No evidence of those late nights lingered, she was an accused but flawless culprit. The perfect candidate for a job in local radio. Six o’clock starts, no problem.

Just to keep you from getting bored I thought that I’d end on a light, well rather silly note.

An earlier Futurelearn exercise using familiar words in unfamiliar places:

Cowpat was a bit of a crazy choice of word but I thought it suggested that Arthur wasn’t a happy type of bloke and that he felt crushed, and trampled on. The hopscotch notion I used to convey a sense of childishness. I’m not sure about the aloe vera juice I think I may have gone too far with that one!

Thanks to Futurelearn for all the tips. Enjoying the course.

Photos courtesy of Google Images.

Filling the Well: Elizabeth Graver on the early stages of the writing process

Interesting article. I’m planning to write a memoir about my father’s amazing travels abroad later in the year.

READ HER LIKE AN OPEN BOOK

Elizabeth Graver has been a professor of English and Creative Writing at Boston College since 1993. She is the author of the National Book Award-nominated The End of the Point (2013), as well as the novels Awake (2005), The Honey Thief (2000), and The Unraveling (1999) and the short story collection Have You Seen Me? (1991).

I am currently in the early stages of a new project that finds its inspiration in the Sephardic Jewish history of my family on my mother’s side. As is typical for me at this stage, the project’s shape (linked stories? novel? non-fiction?) is still well beyond my grasp. So, too, are the defining features of its central characters and even its time frame (1492-2014? 1910-1960? 1957?). I love this phase, when everything is possibility and play. I research, mull, gather, interview, dream, discard, gather more, explore.

Two months ago, I traveled with my mother…

View original post 542 more words

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: