Friday, October 29, 2021

Buckle up Wrimos!!

To my dearest friends and followers,
and to my fellow creatives, 

I can't believe it's almost November already!!
For some of you, perhaps you're sad that Spooky season is almost over. Or maybe you're excited that it's getting closer to Christmas. Maybe some of you are just finishing up Inktober. And maybe some of you are getting ready for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) like me.

This year will be my third time participating in the month long writing challenge that is known as NaNoWriMo. For whatever reason, my region decided to host the annual kick-off early this year, and as a result, I've already begun to write my novel, The Death of Jack!!

I'm scared, ha. I feel like this year I'm the least prepared than I have been in the past. I'm not sure why and I'm not sure what I could do to change that. Usually, I'd be beginning NaNo with a project that I'd only just started to write days or weeks prior. However, this year I am continuing to write the project I started last year. I'm already over 50k words in, so I would think I'd be more confident in where the story is going and ready to write the next half of the book. But I don't feel ready.

I took some time off writing since last year, I took the time to read what I had written, I completed a book on world building, and I've written so many notes to build my story and the world it is set in. I have done everything I can think of to prepare myself. I guess all I can do is try my best and write something every day for the next month. Maybe the community of writers is all I need - for encouragement and accountability.

I feel like my characters are just waiting for me to finish their story. I shall try my best to not delay Jack's death any longer. Let's friggin' do this...

NaNoWriMo is all virtual again this year due to the pandemic, so if anyone wants to be part of an awesome community of writers, hit me up and I can send you my region so we can be writing buddies!!
Buckle up fellow Wrimo's and here's to a great National Novel Writing Month and writing 50k words in 30 days!!

P.S. Make sure you keep a lookout in my ko-fi shop in the upcoming weeks!! You never know if I'll drop a new item...
(I know the P.S. section of a letter is supposed to go after my name at the end, but I wanted to make sure you saw this. I know some of you don't scroll all the way to the bottom...I see you...)

Yours truly,
Me

Additional: 
Check out my first novel, The Story of Hollyhocks.
Become a NaNoWriMo participant!!
Support me on Ko-fi!!

Friday, October 15, 2021

The Triple Goddess.

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To my dearest friends and followers,
and to my fellow creatives,

Have you ever looked up at the full moon, its cool light shining all around you, radiating through you, while the brisk breeze blew against your skin? Did it ever make you feel inspired? Inspired to create? Did it ever make you feel - alive?

The Moon.
When I was in my late teens, I began tracking the moon cycles. I did it simply because I always liked moonlight. It was beautiful and I liked how it lit up the dark night. I then found that I would be excited as I awaited the next full moon. Even if all I did was look out my window to gaze upon its beauty, I felt satisfied inside and I was ready again for the next full moon.
In time, I began to sit outside and write in its light. My book, The Story of Hollyhocks, has several chapters that were written in moonlight. In general, I felt more alive during the night than I did during the day - more inspired to write and get things done.
I began to think about how the moon affects people. It was obvious the moon had an effect on nature, water in particular, especially the ocean and how the tides work. If people are 60% water, it made sense to me that we would be affected by the moon as well, though in what way, I wasn't sure. Perhaps there was some phenomenon happening which explained why I felt more alive under the full moon - like I had more energy.

In recent research for my second book, The Death of Jack, I began exploring the ideology of the Triple Goddess from Greek mythology. I have had a love for the Greek myths for about 11 years, but only in the last year did I come across the goddess known as the Triple Goddess and the moon phases associated with her.

The Goddess.
In Greek mythology, the goddess was the mother of all gods. She was the first one, the creator. She was known by some as Gaia, others knew her as Rhea. She birthed a son, Zeus, and hid him away to be nursed by a goat - or in some stories, a sheep with a golden fleece (yes, THAT golden fleece). She was the head of the gods and she was worshipped as the triple goddess, the maiden goddess, the mother goddess, and the crone or old woman goddess (similar to the idea of the Trinity in Christianity). She embodied all three, but she was one.
As the western world shifted from a matriarchy to a patriarchy, so did the gods. The child (Zeus) became the father and highest power, whilst the mother (Gaia) became the wife (Hera). She who was the authority became subject to her husband.

Hecate, the goddess priestess of witchcraft, is often thought to have become the triple goddess, goddess of the crossroads and decision-making.
I'm not sure why this is. I like to think of the triple goddess as becoming Artemis, the maiden goddess of the hunt and the moon, Hera, the mother goddess of marriage and childbirth and creation and new life, and Athena, the goddess of wisdom.

The Ideology of the Triple Moon.
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The Triple Moon symbol shows a waxing moon, a full moon, and a waning moon. It represents the three sides of the triple goddess, the maiden, the mother, and the crone.
I love the ideology behind it, representing all walks of life. The maiden, representing everyone from an infant to a youth, young and alive and curious and beautiful. The mother, representing adulthood, strength, power, and maturity. The crone, representing wisdom.

The paintings I created were meant to capture the ideology of the triple moon and triple goddess. The first painting shows the maiden with the waxing moon, radiating with beauty and life. The second painting shows the mother, the creator, pregnant with life - pregnant with the full moon. The third painting shows the crone with the waning moon, absorbing the last bit of moonlight before the circle is complete, for without endings, there would be no beginnings. On the first and last paintings, I included the snake, a symbol of rebirth and new beginnings in Greek mythology.

I have been thinking of taking these paintings and making them into journals to sell on my shop. I would love your feedback if that's something you would be interested in and if you would like one (or all three!!). As always, thank you so much for reading. XD

Yours truly,
Me

ADDITIONAL:
Check out my shop on Ko-fi!!
Grab a copy of my book, The Story of Hollyhocks.

Friday, October 1, 2021

My Review of "The Essential Worldbuilding Blueprint and Workbook"

To my dearest friends and followers,
and to my fellow creatives,

I had a story to tell which was unplanned for. It was about a character who wasn't even going to exist in the beginning. However, a little seed floated through the air and blew back and forth, begging to be planted. I watched it pass right in front of me until I reached out and grabbed it. I found a nice place for it in between the pages of my notebook and I placed it there for safekeeping. When the time was right, I took it out and I planted it. Once that seed had been grounded, it grew and grew as I fed it and nourished it. What it grew into was a tiny winged boy who was not of this world. He was a bit impudent, maybe slightly arrogant, but exceedingly charming. Above all else though, he was dead.

They say the dead don't talk. But he did. He spoke to me so much. I didn't expect him to talk at all, so the fact that he did threw me off guard. And then he wouldn't stop talking. I couldn't shut out his voice, for though he was small, his voice rang in my head. What he said was this: write my story. That was it. Someone who possibly might not have existed at all was now demanding to be the center of attention - to have his story told. How could I deny him? I had brought him into this world, and it was I who would give him what he deserved and tell his story, for his story had captivated me - he had captivated me.

I did my research and I began to write. I soon realized I didn't understand him or his world enough to know everything there was to tell. So my muses ceased to sing, the lights went dark, and I placed his story aside.

And then I found The Essential Worldbuilding Blueprint and Workbook by Scribe Forge. I bought it and I diligently worked though it for 2 months. That's right, I finally finished the world building for my book, The Death of Jack!!!!!
I feel like I understand him and his world better than I ever have. I understand how things work, I know the history to his world, I know how the people live day to day. I feel once again ready to write his story. And I couldn't have done it (at least, not to this extent) without the help of Scribe Forge and their wonderful resources. I promised I would report back to you with my final thoughts on this book and if I recommend it to any other writers out there...this is my final review on the Worldbuilding book: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
It asked really thought provoking questions and touched on so many topics. I've filled up nearly 60 full sheets of paper with hand-written notes.
The Worldbuilding book even offers a section of "finer details" to write about things in your world that might not be discussed in the questions, such as art, fashion, architecture, sports, holidays, etc.
I made my own list to write about for the finer details section, such as relationships (dating, courting, etc.), weddings (specifically what a wedding ceremony is like in the fairy realm), how certain events came to be (no spoilers), etc.
The team at Scribe Forge did such an awesome job putting this book together and compiling these questions. I definitely recommend getting it. I know it benefited me so much, I can only hope it would benefit someone else half as much.
My only complaint about this book is the order of chapters. It has the Building a Social Structure chapter AND THEN the Religion, Mythology, and Philosophy chapter. I worked on them in the opposite order, as I believe to fully understand how a society works, you must first know their religious beliefs, for what they believe about the world and themselves will be heavily reflected in how they run their society. Anyhow, that's just me being nitpicky.

As I stated last week, I will be participating in NaNoWriMo again this year and I feel more ready than ever to get back into writing Jack's story!!

Thank you so much for reading!!

Yours truly,
Me

Additional:
Visit my website to check out my first novel, The Story of Hollyhocks