Picture Of The Day

I love aerial shots.  They, for me, are an invitation to find a story.  My mind boggles when I think of all the thousands of people down there going about their lives and facing their own challenges and dramas. 

Zoom in to find someone, follow them for a while, then zoom out and look again.  Just think of the millions of stories waiting to be discovered!  A writer's heaven on earth.

Happy writing ;)
Emma

Word Of The Day

Desultory - (dez-ul-tree) adjective disconnected or random.

Song Of The Day

Thanksgiving Song - Mary Chapin Carpenter

This is the reason my family celebrate Thanksgiving.  It's about home and family and love and being together.  Things we all often take for granted.

Years ago I started a gratitude journal.  I write everyday the things that I am grateful for.  It has really opened my eyes to what a rich and full life I'm blessed with.  On days when I feel sorry for myself, I soon snap out of it when I write my journal entry.

Connecting with who you are and where you are from are ways of bringing a deeper meaning and emotion to your work.  Sometimes, to write a character who is lacking, it helps to look at the opposite in yourself first, to really understand what they are missing and how that would feel.

Happy writing ;)

Emma  

Picture Of The Day

Happy Thanksgiving!

Although Thanksgiving is an American celebration (obviously).  The tradition is one that I have always loved and felt a connection to.  So, for different reasons, I celebrate it with my own family.

I believe that we should all have a day that we give thanks for all the good and abundance in our lives and celebrate being together.  I decided to celebrate Thanksgiving because of what the name implies and it happens to fall on my son's birthday from time to time too, so we are partying anyway.

I was brought up in England where we had harvest festival, Australia don't really have a tradition of thanksgiving, which is sad, because we live in such a rich country with LOTS to be grateful for.

So, although perhaps for different reasons, we'll be carving the turkey tonight and each offering our thanks for all we've been blessed with this year, we'll be teaching our children to look for the good in their lives and to remember others less fortunate than themselves.  We will also be discussing what we can do in the coming year that will contribute to bettering the lives of others.

This picture brings love and warmth and a sense of roots.  Bringing traditions into your stories in unique ways is another way of connecting to the universal feelings of your audience.  Think Planes, Trains and Automobiles or Home Alone.

Happy writing ;)
Emma

Word Of The Day

Gratitude - (grat-i-tude) noun the state of being grateful.

Song Of The Day

Gravity - Coldplay

Just love this song, Chris Martin's voice is so raw with emotion you can't help but be drawn in.

Enjoy.

Happy writing ;)

Emma

Picture Of The Day

I love street art, but imagine if this were real. 

See that guy, he was walking along minding his own business and suddenly - what happens next?  What's down there?  How did this happen?  

Happy writing ;)
Emma

Word Of The Day

Solipsism - (soll-ip-sizm) noun (philosophy) the belief that only the self or ego exists or can be known.

Song Of The Day

Old School - Hedley

It's that time of year in this part of the world - the Seniors have graduated.  It takes me back to how simple life used to be.  The closer I get to one of my own children reaching this milestone, the further away that time for me feels.  Then I see pictures like the one below and I'm back in a flash.

There was a quote posted by someone under this song on YouTube that I thought said it all - "Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional".  Keep the child within you alive, don't get boring as you age, get creative!

Happy writing ;)

Emma

Picture Of The Day

When I saw this I was instantly catapulted back to my childhood, to where my love of story-telling began. 

My Grandparents lived in a small caretaker's cottage on a farm and I would go and stay with them from time to time.  Like any child does, I loved the individual attention that afforded me and was captivated as Grandma sat and told me stories.  Always ones she made up of course. 

One of my favourites was her tale of how the kitchen came to life while we slept, and she always included me in the story making process.  We'd brainstorm ideas of what they got up to, and how, if we crept down quietly enough, we'd witness another world, right there in that very cottage (is it any wonder brainstorming has become such a part of who I am!). 

I was 3.  Highly impressionable, with a mind so fertile and ready, that I revelled in those moments.  Grandma tended to my creativity like it was the Queen's garden, she and I were one and the same, we still are.  It is only with hind-sight that I see who and what has shaped me to become who I am today.  I was very blessed to be surrounded by creative souls all my life, to feel the freedom to imagine, without limits, and to see others do the same.  In that regard it has always come as second nature to me, like breathing.

The biggest thing I learnt from my own experience is how important it is to give children a safe, free and loving environment for their own creativity to grow.  How asking questions and encouraging their imagination will expand their world.  It upsets me to see adults squashing a child's ideas, however nonsensical they may be.  Or telling them 'the truth' instead of allowing them to believe, even for a short time, that their imaginary world is as real as they want it to be.

I often wonder how different I would be if those around me had berated me for 'daydreaming' or told me the harsh reality when I said I could see little 'fairy laterns' on the carpet at night.

Childhood, in my opinion, doesn't last long enough.  Allow the children in your life to be just that.  Give them freedom of mind.  Allow them to play, and watch as they create.  If you have the opportunity to nurture their minds, do, but please, remember how impressionable they are and that any negative comments will perhaps stop their imagination dead in it's tracks. 

Above all, keep that child within you alive.  My Grandma is a great writer.  I hope I grow up to be just like her!  God bless you Grandma, and thank you xx

Happy writing ;)
Emma

Word Of The Day

Contemporaneous - (kon-tempa-ray-ni-us) adjective occuring at the same time.

announcing the book

Here it is, the first book.  I've decided to make this a monthly thing as a few have pointed out that not everyone reads as quickly as I do, or has much spare time.  So, to be fair, I'll announce the new book the last Monday of every month and review the previous one the first Monday.  That way, you will actually get close on 5 weeks to read.

Since I'm also reading scripts and I'm being asked which etc.  I'll post a link to any that blow me away.  The most recent one I recommend is Buried - Written by Chris Sparling although the entire screenplay takes place in a coffin it is such a visceral read that it doesn't matter. I haven't seen the movie yet, but it's on my list.  I'm interested to see how it transpires onto the screen.

OK, so there you have it. 

Happy reading ;)
Emma

Song Of The Day

Animal - Neon Trees

A fun, motivational song for today.  Hope this gets you going.  Great upbeat band, if you like them check out their album - Habits.

Happy writing ;)

Emma

Picture Of The Day

Wonder how long he sat there to catch that?  How would you feel?  He seems to be taking it in his stride, what do you think happens next?  Is he alone?  He won't be soon, look how many are still heading in!

Happy writing ;)

Word Of The Day

Cutaneous - (kew-tay-ni-us) adjective of or relating to the skin.

Song Of The Day

Dreams - Fleetwood Mac

Where does this take you?  Songs have a habit of attaching themselves to memories.  We all have a soundtrack to our lives. 

This, for me, follows on from the picture.  The guy buying the flowers and coming onto the florist.  This is what I imagine going through her head.  She's been burnt and she's guarded, rightly so, he's buying flowers for someone else.

Anyhow, hope it brings some inspiration for you today.  Fleetwood Mac are another all time favourite of mine and often give me ideas.

Happy writing ;)

Emma

Picture Of The Day

How does this make you feel?  Romantic? Indifferent? Allergic?

I love flowers, so immediately I picture someone strolling home from work on a hot night grabbing a huge bunch for his girlfriend.  But that's where the brainstorming begins.

What happens next?  Who runs the florists?  What if as he goes to pay he discovers his wallet is missing?  What if the florist and he lock eyes, instantly knowing they are soul mates?  What if, as the sale is taking place, a gangster mob drive past spraying the place with bullets?

Always so many directions to go.  Where will you take it?

Happy writing ;)

Emma

Word Of The Day

Cadaverous - (ka-dav-er-us) adjective pale and haggard.

don't be afraid of change

Over the last few weeks I've been struggling to get over a wall I hit with my latest screenplay.  It didn't seem to matter where I took my characters it just didn't feel right.  So, I'd delete and start over.  I went through this process too many times to count and ended my day feeling defeated and unfulfilled, only to go back and do it all again the next day.

I tried moving onto other scenes, but this didn't work either!  I became so frustrated I stopped.  I closed the screen and watched a movie, then another and another.  Then I read a few scripts, some amazing ones actually.  I thought that might help.  It didn't.  Instead I felt even more inadequate.  Finally I realised I was letting it get the better of me - I was caught up in my head again.

What did I do?  I got back to basics.  I went for a long drive, listened to lots of Van Morrison and worked on something completely different. 

I have an open communication with my 'creative side' that I call dialoguing.  I got this idea from author Sarah Ban Breathnach.  So once I'd let the frustration go, I sat down and started dialoguing about what the problem was.  That is when I realised I was focused on the wrong story.  The places I was trying to lead these characters wasn't where their journey was headed.  Once this revelation came, I realised I'd known all along. 

Whenever I'd been trying to go in one direction this other aspect had been coming into my mind and trying to take me in another.  I'd dismissed it because I had a 'plan', but by opening up to a fresh idea and letting my plan go, I can't seem to get the story out fast enough. 

Don't make the mistake of 'locking' yourself into an outcome.  Writing is an organic process, change is inevitable, but more importantly, listen when change is calling.  When you hit that wall, don't panic, just relax and be open to the new.  Learning to deal with this as a natural part of the process will release you from the self-doubt and berating you put yourself through.

The more you write and the longer you do it, the more you will learn the process and see the patterns.  Finding a way of dealing with it will be a personal venture, one that will involve a lot of self-discovery along the way, but writing as a way of life and not as a job is a journey of self-discovery.  Learning to revel in it is the challenge.

Happy writing ;)
Emma

Song Of The Day

Tupelo Honey - Van Morrison

Van Morrison is one of my all time favourite artists.  The deep connection he has with his creativity seeps through every word he writes.  His soul is on the line every time he sings.

To surrender so completely puts you in a vulnerable place, but it is essential to fulfilling the purpose of your writing.  If you don't expose every detail, and allow those intimate parts of yourself to manifest onto the page, you won't captivate your audience fully.  They will feel that something is missing.

It's the difference between listening to a song and feeling happy, sad or whatever, to having a full-on emotional experience, replete with goose-bumps and tears.  We've all had one of those moments.  The artist has bared themselves so completely that it causes our own soul to open up and actually live that experience with them for a time.

Isn't that what you want your writing to do?  I know I do.  Be vulnerable, be brave and be open to a creativity you can't explain.

Happy writing ;)

Emma