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You are now entering the world of my thoughts.

This blog is my diary of works in progress. The only way a writer can improve upon her skill is to practice, practice and practice some more. Here, in this place of quiet peace, I pen to paper my thoughts and creativity. Welcome to my world.

Copyright © 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 SN Taylor, All Rights Reserved

Thursday, March 31, 2011

In the News:National Poetry Month!




April marks National Poetry Month!!! It also marks the 7th annual Islamic Writers Alliance Poetry Contest. Starting from April 1st to the 30th, send in your submission to poetrycontest@islamicwritersalliance.net The theme for this year is open and contest guidelines can be viewed here please be sure to follow the submission guidelines on the site.

Also in celebration of National Poetry Month, I will showcase a variety of my fave poems and poets, quotations about poetry, I will also include both my own poems and perhaps a few guest poems from some incredible poet friends. :)



April will be,
a time to write,
a time to share,
a time to feel,
a time to motivate.

April will be,
a time to dream,
a time to live,
a time to create,
a time to achieve.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

I Love.....




I love the smell of wet earth and fresh air after it rains.,
I love the sounds of sweet chatter of birds singing to the rising sun.
I love the feeling of soft warm sandy beach under my feet and between my toes.
I love the beautiful red glow of a fading day.
I love the taste of nature and all her culinary seasons.
I love the heartfelt embrace at the end of each journey.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

I was Inspired....



After a long and stressful work week, my weekend got off to a great start! I went to my first slumber party (in aaaggeeesss!!! :D) A group of friends got to gather at another friend's house for a farewell sleep-over for a friend leaving to study abroad. We spent the night eating, dancing (off the food), movie watching and talking, talking, talking until the wee hours of the night. I was actually the first one to drop off to sleep! The next morning we had a big breakfast and skyped with the hostess's sister. I found out she co-authored a book at the age of 10 with published author, Robert Munsch, called "From Far Away." I was so amazed with her story of how and why the story book came about. She is also in the process of finding a publisher for her second manuscript. I was inspired to keep up my own love of writing and reaching out to realize my dreams. :)

Later that day, my family and I went to see Tangled. It was a great twist of a favorite fairy tale. :) As I watched the movie, I began to notice the secondary characters in the story. I loved the chameleon, Rapunzel's little sidekick. After the movie was finish, my sister and I got to talking about our favorite sidekicks of all the movies we loved; Aladdin and Abu, Mulan and Mushu (and cricket), Shrek and donkey, and now Rapunzel and Pascal. I love the dynamic relationship between of the hero/heroine and their sidekick. Even though the sidekicks role in the story was usually not center staged, their role and relationship was extremely important. I was inspired by the character, Pascal, to go back and look at my book characters, especially the sidekicks and secondary characters. Not so much to give them a bigger role in the story but to strengthen their relationship with the main character and the story.

During the short few hours between my morning breakfast with friends and Tangled fun, I got online to check mail and blog hop. I read Karen's Operation 50/50 success. I was inspired. I decided it was time to get back into the habit of writing. Five hundred words a day. Whether towards a story or simply blogging, I would write five hundred words a day.


Sunday, March 20, 2011

Is it April yet?

I am sooooo excited. I will be attending this conference (God-willing) in April. Thanks to Heather Mccorkle, I found out this was happening in my state of residence! I have wanted to go to an SCBWI conference for a very long time, but they were always out of state which meant not only money for the conference but for airfare, food and lodging as well. It was an expense I could not afford at the time. But now it is happening write (yes, I meant to write that) here in my backyard! :D I'm so excited!!!!!!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

To Read a Book....


To read a book for the first time is to make an acquaintance with a new friend;
to read it for a second time is to meet an old one.
~Chinese Saying~


When I go back and read the books I read as a child, there is always a flood of fond memories of summer, reading with my mom and being in the library. :)

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Flower Song

clear blue skies,

soft gentle breeze,

fresh scented petals,

lazy daydreams fly away,

he loves me, he loves me not....

flower song.

Calvin on Writing!!!

I love Calvin and Hobbs!!! I saw this while googling for a pic and found this. :D He is too cute. :D

The Write Kind of Relationship.

I learned recently, without a shadow of a doubt, there is a relationship between a writer and his/her characters. This relationship is all about compromise. At least it is for my and my characters. All this time, I thought I was the head honcho, the queen of the roost, the one who called all the shots and scene calls. Ha! Shows how much I know about the wonderful world of writing. My characters have a way of getting what they want and when they want without me being the wiser.

When I begin a story, it usually starts off as an idea, a whim or from an experience that happened in my daily life. After the idea, I jot down a brief (very brief) paragraph of what the story will be about and then from there, the story sort of takes off. Most of the time, I get from a to b without too many problems from my characters. But I guess sometimes they get restless and start trying to take over my story. But they do it in a very sneaky way, with hints, whispers and some times outright mutiny! For example, I have my story all plotted out and have a certain scene planned but as I get to the climax, my characters just don’t go with the flow. Now, more often than not, I love the direction they take my story. To give them credit, they are often subtle in their take-over, which is probably why I never see it coming! AND, they never brag how they made my story better or ever try to take credit. So, I always think I created a fun/great/wonderful story.

And then there are those times when a story seeks me out. Now these characters are usually less subtle than the others. They have a story they want to tell and they hardly ever take no for an answer and they make sure I understand that. Again, don’t get me wrong; they aren’t arrogant, just determined. I don’t get these intrusions on a regular basis (thank God!), as you will understand from the example I give below.

A couple nights ago, I got home really late from a lecture. I checked my email, ate a little snack, said my prayers and went to bed. Just as I closed my eyes, took a few deep breaths and thanked God for the wonderful day (and week) he blessed me with, I began to hear a soft voice, the voice of a character trying to tell a story. I was so tired and had no energy to hear another story that night (heard quite a few good ones at the lecture J) so I tried to hush the story-teller. “Go away,” I try to tell her, “We can discuss your story tomorrow.” As docile as many of my characters are, they can be a bit intrusive and annoying when I am trying to sleep! They don’t like being hushed, ignored or pushed away. When they have a story, they want my full, undivided attention right away. Because let’s face it, my memory is not what it used to be. I have been known to forget my promise of “writing their stories in the morning,” upon waking up the next day. I am forgetful and they know it! You have no idea how bad I would feel for forgetting their stories and breaking a promise. So the voice of the story-teller got louder. Then this young woman holding a baby appeared in my thoughts. I was not going to get any sleep any time soon. Between looks of hurt, fear and desperation, she forced me to listen to her. She convinced me her story was important and demanded my attention. That and she made it clear she was not leaving until her voice was heard. So I cut out a deal with her just as her baby started to get fussy and her eyes dilated as she focused on something behind me. The deal was, I jot some notes to help me remember her story and she would leave (with her strange baby) and let me sleep. She seemed a little hesitant at first but seeing as I was half sleep and getting more tired, she agreed. I really needed my pillow but I got up with my pen and paper and wrote down about two paragraphs. So this is what I got from her…(remember, I was half sleep when I jotted this all down!)

Hida’s home world is ravaged by INFANTry Wars. The government is using the brains of infants to hide secret codes of war and destruction. Recently widowed, Hida finds that everywhere she goes with her infant, death and destruction follows them. She is not sure what is going on but she senses a dark presence around her family and home, especially after she comes home one day to find her father unconscious and her home ransacked and burning. Her father’s secret lab had been set on fire when the intruders did not find what they were looking for. Hida’s nightmare all started after her husband mysteriously died after he defected from the oppressive and corrupt military of the Cyberbotic League and her baby went missing for two days only to be returned to her unharmed. The daughter of a disposed government scientist and the wife of a defector, Hida is on the run. Someone is after them. She has many times caught the glimpse of a shadowy figure following her. But the scary thing is, wherever she goes, there is an explosion of cataclysmic results. Trails of death seem to lay in their wake. City after city she runs with her family barely staying ten steps ahead of the secret forces after her. She receives help from the underground, rebels fighting for justice and eradication of the cyberbotics, intelligent robots used to replace human government and military officials and soldiers. But as their hideouts are being wiped out, the rebels begin to suspect Hida and her family. Soon she is running from the rebels who think she is a spy and the Cyberbotics who want her infant and what is contained in her baby’s brain, secrets that could tip the tide of war in their favor.

Well, that is what I can remember of that evening. She left and I got my much-needed sleep. I am actually rather lucky. My characters are quite reasonable and easy to work with. Our relationship is all about helping, cooperation, respect and compromise. That is what makes us great together. (Unless of course they are determined to keep me awake at night! :/ )

So tell me, what kind of relationship do you have with YOUR characters? :)

Happy Writing!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Quote of the Day: A house without books...



A house without books is like a room without windows.
~Heinrich Mann~

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Live and re-live countless lives!

Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book.
~Author Unknown~


This is so true. A really great book draws you in and makes you apart of the adventure. Which is probably why I love Science Fiction/Fantasy novels and short stories. I get to explore new worlds, cultures, civilizations that I would otherwise never get to explore. I honestly can't say if I would have the courage to get on a spaceship and "go where no man has gone before!" I get tense as it is getting on an airplane to travel to another state! But a book gives me all the sensory exploration of a new world and the adventures that go with getting lost at sea, or being chased by aliens or thwarting hostile plots and take overs. I also love mystery novel, adventure novels and detective novels for this very reason. So the next time you are looking for a wonderful adventure that wont break your budget (or bones in any way :D) pick up a book! Live and re-live countless lives.

Member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators