Meet My Child-Muse

You might recall that I did this collaboration called Meet the Muse where I asked some fellow writers to describe their muses in less than 100 words. And now I think it would be only fair if I did the same but with more words. 

Thing is, I have two muses. I guess it’s only logical for a person with two names (my real and my pseudonym). I don’t know why I always have to make things complicated, but I do. And today I’m going to talk about my child-muse. Soon you’ll get to read about Nereth, who is a shape-shifter, and whom I like to call the Wise River Lady.

But first things first… 

Meet the Muse Collaboration (Part 3)

(shoutout @ DeviantArt)

So it’s time for the LAST instalment of Meet the Muse collaboration. To be honest, I would like to read and put up LOTS more muse-bits but I think it’s time to let go. *cries*

I’d just like to thank again everyone who participated and tell you guys that you are all my muses. And the best part about showcasing your bits on my blog (no dirty pun intended) is that they’ll always be on here, inspiring me whenever I hit the brick wall of death called Writer’s Block.

If these inspired YOU as well, make sure you let them lovely writers know. ^__^

Meet the Muse Collaboration (Part 2)

(Veleven @ DeviantArt)

As promised, here is the second instalment of Meet the Muse. If you haven’t seen the first instalment yet and have no idea what I’m on about, you should go here. 

Enjoy!

Check Your Manuscript with Wordle

So I've wanted to try this for a long time. Basically, I wanted to check if I was unknowingly abusing words, and immediately thought of Wordle. In Wordle.net you can make your own pretty clouds in all kinds of shapes. See how lovely mine are? The first looks like a bloated heart, the second like a big fat slug, and the last... well, it looks like a whale on support. 

If you click on them, you'll see the words clearly. Now to the point. What do these words represent? 

They are the words I have used the most in chapters of my current WIP projects. The first one spans the first 13 chapters of my scifi novel, the second the next 17 chapters (NaNo 2010), and the third my fantasy novel's lousy half of a first draft I did for NaNoWriMo in 2009. Ta da!

The Curse of the 13th Chapter

I’ve mentioned a certain monster called Ed: http://bit.ly/kfgME3. While Ed looks like a decent monster-type, he’s not really that scary, is he? Ed’s more like those Monsters Inc. fellows who worry about not being scary enough, just like writers worry about not being eloquent enough, concise enough, wordy enough, or entertaining enough. Basically, fear is the reall big-ass monster that scares all the other monsters. It’s the fear of being afraid. You know, like when someone said it in Harry Potter. Moving on.

(Note to self: figure out why you like to use ‘big-ass’ so much. Childhood trauma much?)

This time I won’t name the monster. Instead, I’ll refer to it as TMTMNBN (The Monster That Must Not Be Named). I suppose it would have sounded better with a few vowels thrown in. Oh well.

Hook Those Bitches and Bastards

Yes, of course I mean the readers. I stopped by the local bookstore today (WHSmith), curious to see if there was anything new and interesting. Quckly, I realized that most of those books on the main shelves, on promotion, on the back shelves, and genre shelves all captured my attention in a different way. However, most did not capture it one bit.

How are we supposed to judge and pick out new books to read? Do we trust the reviews? I don’t. Do we judge by the blurb? I hope not, seeing as most blurbs are incredibly dull and predictable. Do we judge by the cover and/or title? I know I shouln’t do that but those are the first things I see, so why not? (Today the award for most creative title at the bookstore went to When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman. Isn’t it wonderful?)

Things Writers Like to Overdo

Now that’s a big one. I’m not even talking about pet-peeves here. I’m talking about the crazy things we do because we find them fascinating, or because we think that we are right and the world is wrong. Or because we feel compelled to do them. 

Or possibly all three.

I’ll admit that I’m obsessed with commas, symmetry, and paragraphs. And you can see that in my articles and stories. Even in my emails and tweets, for laughing out loud! Obviously, I like to play with words too, but let’s consider this harmless for now.

Ed, the Editing Monster

I babble. I falter. I digress.

I’m sure lots of other people can say the same, and it’s no different for writers. The only saving grace we have is editing. That’s why, for example, I am much better at writing than talking. Because I edit out all of those little peevish things I do in everyday speech.

Truth is, I can’t tell a joke right because I can never remember the punch-line, or I start telling the joke, which reminds me of something else, and I forget it was a joke in the first place. Alternatively, I would not stress the right part at all, which would make people laugh at my measly efforts. Sigh.

My brand is me.

(www.brandstyledesign.com)

I am a very confusing person, so if you follow this blog, you have been warned!

First of all, my birth name is Violeta Nedkova. I am Bulgarian. And when I started writing Harry Potter fanfiction back in the old days (about 6-7 years ago), I desperately wanted a fancy pseudonym. I'm not sure why, maybe it was trendy or I just thought it was. 

So I picked Lyn Midnight because of a dream. It was a nightmare, mind you, but this did not stop me from adopting the name of 'Amanda Midnight', later somewhat morphing into Lyn Midnight. I found a lot of great online friends back then. I was a real part of the fanfiction community and made good, lasting friendships with interesting and talented writers from all over the world. And they all called me Lyn, which has continued to date.

The Six-Words Collection

Hello, fellow tweeps! Yesterday (May 17^th), the news of the 6-word ‘Momoirs’ on the New York Times (http://nyti.ms/iOs14s) took Twitter by storm, so some of us decided to invent our own 6-wordsies on various topics. We pretty much ran wild with it! So, naturally, I couldn’t resist putting them all together. Apart from #sixwords, there’s also #fourwords and #fivewords, and if there were more of me, I’d have included those too.

Hope I didn’t forget anyone! Also, if you have a FAVORITE or would like to CONTRIBUTE more #sixwords, feel free to do so here. Just bear in mind I won’t be checking the channels anymore, because it’s too addictive! So, lo and behold! Counter-alphabetized, THE 6-WORDS COLLECTION.

P.S. Thanks to all contributions and I hope everyone enjoys!

The Six-Words Challenge

Yes, I obsess easily. So I read this blog post and was reminded of Ernest Hemingway's 6-word story:


'For sale: baby shoes, never worn.'                   --Amazing, right?


So here comes the obsession. I asked some friendly Tweeps to think up of some more stories. So far:


@VerbaVitae: Ate. Threw up. No more chicken.       &      Fond. Lost. Found. Love's lifecycle. <3


@SeanWallace: He died happy; I made sure.              (LOVE IT!!!)


@timqueeney: No fun if you're a pawn!!!


My own, as always are a tad ridiculous:


Stepped on your gum. Kept it.
In his likeness, God created monkey.
Monkey did the same with man. (Yes, I cheated, that's two 6-wordsies there.)


And NOW I can't let this go... PLEASE, put me out of my misery and add some!!!

[teeny tiny poems]

Ever heard of the Tiny Weeny competition (@Leaf Books)? It's closed now, but I've been racking my brain to think of funny little gems to send next time it opens @ http://bit.ly/jET6EZ. Here's some I have:

1.  The Anguished Sandwich

       Without mayonnaise,

           I STAND NO CHANCE

       to touch your lips.

2.  Proposal

I would comply if you asked

Gently, like breeze

      ‘will you marry me?’

  I might.