Winter – Volume 1 is available now for your Kindle !

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WriteSpa – An Oasis for Writers

February 2 is a turning point. The new moon falls halfway between the winter solstice and spring equinox.  In Celtic history this festival was known as Imbolc; the Christians changed it to Candlemas, and the Irish celebrate it as St. Brigid’s Day. Imbolc signifies pregnancy and spring, and is honored with fire, foretelling, and remembering through storytelling. The day is also used to assess what the weather is going to be like in the coming weeks till spring.

This year, the new moon is also the first day of the 4708^th Chinese New Year. This is going to be the Year of the Golden Rabbit. Why golden? It’s not actually golden, but metal. There are twelve Chinese year animal signs, but there are also five elements that each of these animals circle through (wood, fire, earth, metal, water). Each animal goes through an annual cycle of these five elements, in two forms – one yin and one yang. This means that a complete cycle is sixty years – and the last one we encountered was in 1951. (more…)

WriteSpa – An Oasis for Writers

We talk most of the time – except for when we’re not. The gift of language is part of our existence. We communicate with words far more often and easily than we do through writing or even through an expression like a glare or a smile. And yet much of the time, in conversation as in life, things are not what they seem. Words don’t necessarily mean what you think they do, or what they mean when you’re writing narrative prose. That’s because in dialog the words themselves are colored by the people who are using them. (more…)

Story is fundamental to our lives: we tell stories all the time. About ourselves, each other, someone we don’t know, someone we make up. When we describe a book we’ve read or a film we’ve watched, we’re telling a story. In telling stories we are able to be wherever and whoever we wish. Imagination and the ability to narrate are vital aspects of being both human and free.

The One Thousand and One Arabian Nights is a weaving of hundreds of stories that Shahrazad told to her bloodthirsty husband King Shahryar every night. By keeping him hanging on the edge of his seat with suspense, he postponed his usual practice of eliminating his bride the morning after their wedding night just so he could hear the rest of the tale. Here’s the first line of her first story: “There was once an old fisherman who had a wife and three children, who cast his net into the sea every day four times, and no more.” Finish the story in your fashion, but do it quickly, as though your life depended on it.

Write a short story that is twelve sentences. Makes sure you have a beginning, middle, and end.

A story map is a picture of a story. Draw your sequence of events in five bubbles: beginning, beginning-middle, middle, middle-end, end. Think of set-up, climax, conclusion. Surround your story bubbles with smaller ones that depict your characters’ actions and reactions to the events. This is a great tool to help you organize your story. You can also do this using index cards. Use one color for events and a different color for your characters. This allows more flexibility in your play with all the possibilities.