RUMI quotes: DANCE.

Have you dance today?

RUMI: poems

I start a new phase on this blog. Poems by Rumi, my inspiration behind my new story #MLLS

TO READ LIST.

Having just finished my 4rth manuscript, I'm hoping for a 2 month break where I can read, read, read to my hearts content while thinking of my next writing project. Here's my to read list, Good People of the Internet. Please feel free to recommend books in the comments section. :)

Seems enough for 2 months, ya? :)

Flashed and fleshed!

Within infinite myths lies the eternal truth,

Who sees it all?

Varuna has a thousand eyes

Indra a hundred 

And I, only two.

Man has never been more "connected" than in the Age of the Internet. We seem to have eyes everywhere. Facebook, Websites, Blogs, Twitter, Goodreads, Google+, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pinterest, YouTube...good grief, the list never ends. And everything connected or asking permission for connections and linking and what have you.

And yet, we find ourselves more alone with our gadgets than with the "connections" we want to make. Hey. For the loner/introvert types...great fantastic, this is their moment to shine. But what is happening to the gregarious and the extroverts? Are they suddenly finding themselves boxed in, caged in a room or a gadget, much like the introvert at a party? What does one see at parties now-a-days? Piles of people taking pictures, smiling inanely and in painful to watch if not completely ridiculous poses. Are they having fun or picturing themselves having fun? Do they know and understand the difference?

As Iris says in The Holiday, "You're supposed to be the leading lady in your own life, for God's sake!"

I get that. I totally get it. And I guess people are entitled to walk through life with their own personal press! :)

Who are you? The introvert, extrovert or the picture taker? Do you click life or live it, I guess that is my question.

(source of vids and pic: Internet.)

NY COMIC CON 2014

I went to my first ever Comic Con this weekend and I have to say, Guys, I am impressed.

There were over a 150,000 people!

Was I intimidated? A little. Okay. A lot!

There was a Just Dance game stage and, guys, I'm hooked. I went there every few hours and chilled.

There were screenings and panels. But I'm gonna leave that for another post.

I explored Comic Con Land: booths, cosplay and...what? A stall for Elvish Ears? Me want! Me WANT!

I tried to get a Tardis iPhone 6 phone cover but apparently they were sold out!

And yup, I once again find my achy feet in need of chillin' and I'm back to the Dance Stage! 

It's not Disney World...but its magic! 

What do you think?

The Importance of Naming Books Right.

Juliet:

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet."

Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

That's true, Julie baby. Yet, imagine if you were called Imogen. 

Romeo and Imogen. Or Gunther and Juliet... doesn't quite compliment, does it? Or is it that we're so used to R and J that anything else just sounds weird?

For the most part, a book's title, the names of its characters and it's writing should be cohesively married. A lot of authors refuse to write a single word before having wild christening parties for the book's title and character names. George R R Martin and...me :)

For both, It's Your Move, Wordfreak and Bootie and the Beast, I had title and names decided before I sat down to write. And, I suppose they were good and apt as neither of my publishers asked me to change them.

With my work in progress, LUHU, I started out similarly-had both title and character names down before I began writing. 

Why? Because it gives me a start-off point and a go-to point when/if I get lost. For me, the title of my book is the broad theme of it. 

In It's Your Move, Wordfreak, the character Wordfreak/Aryan had to make all the main moves: go after Wordiva, tell her the truth,forgive his father...

In Bootie and the Beast, a bootie triggers Sleeping Beauty to wake up and poke the Beast, And the Beast to tame his Beauty. 

But something has happened in LUHU. Half through it, I am suddenly unsure of the title...though it is apt. Its just stopped fitting as it was in the beginning. And I am worried what that means.

That brought me to this post. I thought by writing about it, it might clear my head. 

Can TITLE affect the flavor of a story? Do character names matter or is it simply the character that matters. Would Frankenstein inspire awe if it was named Casper?

BTW: great example of a misleading book title. Most people assume (those who've not read the classic and therefore SPOILER ALERT) that Frankenstein is the monster. Nope, Franky is the doctor who made the Monster.

Other examples of misleading titles:

To Kill a Mockingbird which has nothing to do with lessons in bird watching or hunting or even taxidermy but with a trial of an innocent black man and his white attorney.

Of Mice and Men you'd think was about a plague or science experiment about a cross-species of mice and men. Its actually about wandering migrant workers during the Great Depression. 

Wow. Right?

But that just proves that titles don't have to match the prose. Then we have titles that match so well they've become engraved in history. And titles that are better than the story...

So, Dear Reader, how much do you think titles and names matter, in the end? 

CREATIVE JUICES: MINE

I realize that the title of this post sounds a bit narcissistic. I'm not denying it isn't, but this is just what happens to me when I write well. Um yes, when I write badly its worse. I also realize that you may have read a thousand other posts on "My Writing Process." One or two that I might have written too...but this one's less words and more GIFs, for time's sake.

Anyway, here's me in the throes of new prose. Oh hey! I'm a poet too.

When I start, I'm all...

Somewhere before the middle, I get like...

Then I'm like...

I had it. I just had it! Where the #@$* did it go?

Thats when I phone a friend...

And am ready to....

But, all is well because your friend gets you like no one else...

Then I'm like...

And THEN the volcano erupts...

And finally its that day...

Would you believe I go through this with every book?

(gif sources: web searches)