Inspiring Pinterest Pins

From 42 Moving Pinterest Pins for Language Lovers:

Because I love great quotes, I’ve been asked to bring this excellent post to your attention, which I’m glad to do as it includes some of my favorite authors!  Pinterest is a wealth of information, also inspiration.

First up, my all time favorite Author C.S. Lewis: “I have learned now that while those who speak about ones miseries usually hurt, those who keep silence hurt more.”

Wow.  How wise and moving is that?

And from humorist Will Rogers: “Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”

Keep on going and growing!

From Margaret Atwood:

“i believe that everyone else my age is an adult while i am just in disguise.”

Me too. 🙂

On Happiness:  “I think we like to complicate things when really it is quite simple; find what it is that makes you happy and who it is that makes you happy and you are set. Promise.”

Eons ago, I paid a therapist to tell me this.  It’s how I came to be a writer.  And I do hang out with people who make me happy, except when they drive me nuts.

And from  2 Corinthians 12: 10  “For when I am weak then I am strong.”  Ultimate wisdom can certainly be found in the Bible.

From beloved Author Jane Austen: “It isn’t what we say or think that defines us but what we do.” (From Sense and Sensibility)

From the sharp-witted mind of Mark Twain: “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

And I can’t resist adding this from Twain: “Better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.”

About Magic from Roald Dahl: “Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”

Here’s some Motivation for you by an unknown contributor: “Stop saying ‘I wish’ and start saying ‘I will.’

“To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” ~ Joseph Chilton Pearce

Man does he have that right!

A Perfect Day from one of my favorite English poets John Keats: “Give me books, fruit, French wine and fine weather and a little music out of doors played by someone I do not know.”

On being Bonkers from Lewis Carol:

The Mad Hatter: “Have I gone mad?”

Alice: “I’m afraid so, you’re entirely bonkers. But I’ll tell you a secret.  All the best people are.”

To dreams:  “Why stop dreaming when you wake up?”

Here’s a good one for a worrier like me: “Stop thinking of what could go wrong and start thinking of what could go right.”

And a super quote from the ever optimistic Walt Disney, whom I remember watching on Sunday evenings when I was a child.  He introduced the Wonderful World of Disney television show and enchanted us all.  I loved him and his legacy lives on.

“Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious…and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”  ―Walt Disney

***For the complete list of these wonderful quotes/pins visit:

42 Moving Pinterest Pins for Language Lovers:

Why Join Triberr?

Termed ‘One Giant Leap for Bloggers.’

Joining Triberr (I’m in three tribes now) may seem like the ultimate nerdy thing to do, at least according to my  daughters and most everyone else in my immediate circle who poke fun at Triberr’s primal terminology: Tribes (your group)–Tribal Council (where you chat with the other members/chiefs)– Bones (currency required to participate,  awarded to you at the start.  More bones are earned as you go, or can be purchased)–Tribal Stream (members blog posts)–Bonfires (broader connection stream and the place for answers)…

OK, so a little quirky, but I enjoy that stuff and like connecting with people of similar interests, in my case other authors.  And I’m still new to it all, so learning the lingo.  But I see the benefits.  For instance, if you’re a bubble gum enthusiast you could have your own tribe dedicated to various kinds of gum, blog about it to  your heart’s content and share your passion with the world  as the main idea behind Triberr is to gain more exposure for your blog/posts. Triberr is the ultimate Twitter in that tribal members retweet each others posts. Avid bloggers such as myself who labor over their posts are ever eager for more visitors.

Thus Triberr was founded by geek genius Dino Dogan–yes, I suspect that’s not his real name–who reminds me of the characters on The Big Bang Theory, a show I adore, BTW.  I like brainiac/geeks and am featuring one as the hero of my work in progress, Fergus, the strong secondary character from Somewhere My Lass is getting his own story.

But back to Triberr.   Of himself, Dino says, “Lousy Martial Artist & recovering Engineer. Pretty good songwriter, dog trainer & a biz blogger. And, global force for badassery.”  It’s all on Twitter if you want to follow him at: https://twitter.com/#!/dino_dogan

Those of you who are fans of The Office may recall the episode where Ryan invents a social forum he calls ‘Woof’ that’s supposed to tie all the other forums together.  Ryan is always up on the latest thing in the social forum arena, and I bet he’d be all over http://triberr.com/

Another high five, Dino responds promptly to pleas for help and Triberr is very user friendly.  When I accidentally formed my own tribe the first time I was ever on the site I contacted  Dino who suggested inbreeding, which sounds obscene but means merging with another tribe.  I haven’t done that yet, or invited anyone to join my as yet non-functioning tribe.  Maybe after I earn more bones.  Or buy some.  I’m fresh out.   I can hear my daughters cackling now.

The Secret Life of Bees, errrr, Writers

Ever noticed that when writers are portrayed in movies they tend to come across as, well, nuts?  The examples are endless.  Take Nim’s Island, the author in this film is so agoraphobic/germaphobic she can’t open the door to get her mail, runs through bottles of handsanitizer, and only eats a certain kind of soup—not certain which phobia that is.   She also carries on vivid conversations with her only companion who happens to be the main character in her novels.  *Gerard Butler, so certainly tempting, but throw in  delusional schizophrenia.  And then there’s Stranger Than Fiction where the novelist, another ‘eccentric’ to put it mildly, has Godlike power over her bedeviled character who ultimately arrives on her doorstep begging for his life.  She plans to kill him in her novel.  And the list goes on.

I suppose there’s some justification for this crazy writer theme, as there’s a fine line between creativity and insanity.   And it’s not lost on me that this portrayal is coming to us via the scriptwriters, although they’re mostly making fun of novelists.   But it’s my thinking that most people simply do not understand the mindset of writers.  For example, on chat loops, Twitter, workshops…we blithely inquire of  each other which would be the best way to kill someone in a given situation or time period.

When I taught my herbal lore class last fall I received numerous queries as to which poisonous herb to use for the desired effect, depending on how fast or slowly an author wished their character to succumb–yes, yes, we’re speaking of characters–and in what form to deliver the fatal elixir, mixed with food or other medication…and should they disguise the bitter taste or will the unsuspecting victim just knock it back as is?

Writers can be quite morbid at times, but all in pursuit of our craft.   How to better persuade readers that the story is REAL, because to us it is.

The other day on Twitter I noted a tweet from, I assumed, a writer asking what was the most romantic way for a young man to propose to his girlfriend and  make it really special.  My first thought was, are they writing a contemporary or historical, so I shot back, “What century are we in?”

The answer from the probably puzzled groom to be was, “The 21st, I hope.”

“Ah, a modern setting,” I said to self while wondering at the ‘I hope.’  I mean surely they knew what time period their story was in.  But I persevered.  Being primarily an historical author, I simply pointed out that in many of the romantic comedies I’ve seen there’s a tendency for the proposal/I love you confession to come via a microphone or shouted in front of a crowd, like in a football arena.

The tweeted answer was, “Yes, I see what you mean but she’s not a sports fan.”

No biggie, I thought.  Most anywhere people gather will do. An Irish pub, fountain in the center of a town square, airplane terminal, or best of all breaking into the adored one’s  wedding to someone else just in the nick of time.

Not helpful in this situation, I might add.  Once I realized I was advising  an actual proposal, I chuckled heartily and left him to it. The last I saw a proposal at Disneyland was faring the best.

Among random tweets from writers I noted this week:  “Gonna watch Winnie the Pooh with the kids and then finish my demon novel.”   Anyone see the irony in that?   But it’s typical.   All of this has led me to my conclusion that writers have their own language–a secret life–which most do not understand.

I’ve gotta go figure out how to handle that ghost/exorcism without making it TOO paranormal.   In my latest historical, of course.  ~

Announcing The Winners of My Stop On the Blog Hop

Thanks to all of you who stopped by my blog and left me such lovely comments.  This blog hop was fun to do and I enjoyed meeting new people.  I hope you will come back and visit me again soon. 🙂

As to my winners:

Ellen Trieu won ebooks of both Colonial American romance novel Enemy of the King and Native American historical romance novel Through the Fire~

Katrina Whittaker won Enemy of the King~

Sydney Gen won Through the Fire~

Congrats.  I hope you enjoy the stories.