National month of crazy

It is officially November 1 and that means it is National Novel Writing month, or as I refer to it, national month of crazy. I have participated in Nanowrimo before, but have never finished. This year I am determined to finish. As I addressed in my previous post, I am channeling another character and she has been persistent. For weeks now she has taken precious time out of my early morning sleep--you know that window of time after you get up to use the bathroom or get a glass of water, or in my case, feed a trouble-making cat who loves to knock down the TBR pile off my night stand--giving me ideas, lines of dialogue, even sharing pictures of where certain scenes take place. Lately, another character has joined in, a male 'friend' I'll call him.

So later this morning, I'll begin writing and channeling. Wish me luck!

Writers are like....

At my writer's group meeting last week, I told my fellow writers that writers were like mediums. We channel our characters. Don't you think so? The day before the meeting I had finished reading a book and one line stuck in my head. The more I thought about it, one word in particular got under my skin and before I knew it, something sparked and then my pen was running across a piece of paper. It turned out I was jotting down notes  about a new story. It was as if the main character suddenly took over and had to tell me his story. I typed his story in about four hours and brought the short story to group the next day.

The funny thing is I wasn't looking for another story. I have enough to contend with at the moment. But when this happens--whether or not it's my muse or something else--I have learned to take heed and listen. So when I sat down at the meeting and made my declaration, I received a bunch of smiles of understanding. Oh, and while I'm on this subject, Happy Halloween.

Why do I write?

Since it's the National Day on Writing, this deserved a post. Why do I write? Why do we breathe? Why do we need to speak? Eat? For me, writing is a basic necessary need. Where else can we create using a plethora of words as our canvas? Make believe can be real. The question of supernatural things can have so many answers. We can thrill, make uncomfortable, question, voice opinions, whatever we want to we can.

I write because I love to.

Kids and ereaders

As a parent I have always stressed the importance of reading to my three kids. I began reading to them in utero and afterwards, always making sure bedtime included a book or two. I'm happy to say all three still love to read and are strong readers in school. But reading is changing, or at least the way we read is changing, and it's exciting.

When the first ereaders were introduced years ago, I was on the fence about them in general. There's something about the smell and feel of a new book that can't be replicated or bottled. Then I became involved in book blogging, reviewing and swapping. The books were coming into my house at a steady rate. As I look around my family room, the bookshelves are beginning to sag and keeping track of what we have can be a job into itself. I've run out of shelf space. So I reconsidered the ereader question and went for it. I asked for a Kindle for my birthday and have to give it major props for convenience and storage.

So how do kids fit into this equation? My youngest started second grade last month. For him, it was monumental and he decided to go through his bookcase. Many picture books were taken out--"those are for babies, mom!" was what he said--and I gave them away. But then what would we read at bedtime? He's still not crazy about longer chapter books so I downloaded an older kid's picture book for him on my Nook (love the color). The experience was quite magical. He propped the Nook on a pillow and listened to the story being read to him while he touched the screen to turn pages. He loved it. And so did I.

In this age where technological gadgets are a plenty and our kids have so many things fighting for their free time, it is wonderful to see books and the joy of reading not get lost in the crowd of video games, texting, or this-and-that on demand. I believe with ereaders books will flourish in this new format by offering children the fun of interaction. It seems like a natural progression considering all of the educational toys that are available when they're toddlers (Leap pad, Leapster, etc.). Children will continue to read, authors will continue to create, and publishing will continue to publish. Oh, the places children can go to now will be monumental.

Listening and learning: The music edition

My kids sometimes grumble that I do not listen to them. Sometimes they are correct. I don't. My mind usually has a bunch of things running across it at one time. I regard my mind like an intricate set of train tracks, intersecting, splitting off, some shorter in length, some not. I'm usually dealing with trying to remember to call someone, filling out a paper, jotting down that one item I seem to always forget when getting groceries, what after school event(s) is scheduled for the day and at what time(s)--these are aspects of my life as a parent of three. Then there is the writer side, the ideas that pop into my mind throughout the day, a line I want to add into one of the many manuscripts I have in various forms of completion, a picture I want to keep and file with a specific story. This life too, has a lot to deal with, but before I digress any further, I'm blogging today about listening and learning.

Growing up, my mom never really cared or showed interest in any of the music I listened to and believe me, living within a train ride or car ride (when I could get one) to Manhattan, I trekked down from the Bronx to see a concert or buy records. I frequented Tower Records like some girls rabidly visited clothings stores (like Mandees or some local corner boutique). I had to go at least once a week, preferably on the day new music was released. If I couldn't wait to go downtown, I'd head over to my local small music store, Broadway Records, a place where I always purchased my concert tickets. Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the Ritz, my beloved Beacon Theatre, and even the Meadowlands (what the Convention Center used to be called) in New Jersey, as a teen and young adult, these were my favorite venues to go to. There were other places I also went to, though not as frequently. As a teen in the 80s, we didn't have the abundance of TV channels (we had MTV back when they actually played music videos), or the internet, or satellite radio, digital music or players. We had records (lp's and 45s) and cassette tapes, radio stations (like WLIR, WNEW and WPLJ in NY), word-of-mouth, and live performances. That's how we were turned onto new music.

So what does this have to do with listening and learning? As a mom, I never want to be the type of person who instantly dismisses something without listening to it first. I may not always hear my kids when they say something and I'll ask them to repeat it. When it comes to music I want to be open and I have been. When they were younger, I listened to my fair share of songs by Barney, Sesame Street, Nick Jr. characters of the day (yes, that means you, Steve and your dog named Blue), and the Disney actor/singer of the month/year. I've liked some (Hilary Duff, Demi Lovato) and didn't care for others which shall remain nameless. My little guy, the youngest, is into different types of music: soundtracks from favorite video games (Zelda, Mario, a lot of the Nintendo crew) and his favorite right now is a talking/singing cat named N2. 

For most of this year I have to admit my oldest has gotten me into Eminem, Novi Novak and Kid Cudi. I really like Skylar Gray's voice after hearing her sing with Eminem. This is music I wouldn't normally listen to on my own and I'm impressed. And I've done my share of turning my brood onto some of my favorites as well--Shinedown, Imogen Heap, J.R. Richards, David Usher, Sia, and Journey (wayyyy before loving Steve Perry became the norm thanks to Glee). I'm glad when I do listen to my kids, I get to learn something new. I'm introduced to an artist/musician while I share some time watching a video or hearing a song my kids want me to hear. It's amazing to watch my kids get so excited, passionate, and outspoken about their favorites, and then to hear them hum or sing or play a song on the piano. I also get to learn something about my kids as people. And that's priceless. The concert/record buying girl in me is loving it.

To Blog Or Not?

I've been having an internal battle about blogging as an aspiring writer for quite some time now. I do blog, practically ever day as the main voice in the book review blog I run with my two daughters, Reader Girls, and that takes a great deal of time and energy. By no means am I complaining, I'm fortunate to meet the wonderful writers and readers in the blogosphere.


But... As a writer and one who will be actively pursuing publication in 2012, I do want to establish my author's voice. When I wrote for a local newspaper, I created a voice for the words following my byline. All of the theater reviews, interviews, people features and school events I covered all shared one common denominator: my style of writing. My blog needs this as well.


Since this is the first day of October, what better time to get back into the groove of blogging? After I hit the "publish" button over on my other site's daily feature, I'll think of something to post about here. Now to begin? Ha, the words already came to me a few minutes ago and that's why I created this post. 


OK, on to my next post then. I'll hope you'll visit as I begin my journey here.