Robin Burrows's Blog, page 13

Musings: The Perfect Gift

This year has been a year of changes for me, and Christmas is no exception. Most notably, I got married this year. Also, my sister, who has always lived with or near me, moved away. When you help take care of someone for that long, it feels almost like a child leaving home for college.

When I was a child, my immediately family always had Christmas at home in each other's company. We didn't have much back then, but we had each other and we were happy.

As a college student and young adult, I would divide my time between between Christmas with my family and Christmas with my now-husband's family.

This will be the first year that my husband and I will spend Christmas alone with my parents. My brother is away in the navy, and my sister is unable to travel home this year for Christmas. (I did get to see her for a day when she visited her boyfriend's family in the next state over.) My husband's parents passed away a few years ago, and other people who were in our lives seem to have drifted away. Maybe it's just that time in life when everyone goes their own way. To quote a character from a long-running CW show, "Everyone always leaves."

At least I still have my childhood friend, the artist Tim Robbins.

This time of year, everyone is looking for the perfect gift. Half of the ads on tv say they have the perfect gift. But for most people the perfect gift is probably a lot easier than you'd imagine. I can't think of anything more perfect than spending more time with the people we love. After all, you never know how long they will be around.

Read my vampire poetry | Buy my poetry book | Follow me on FaceBook

Poem: Suns and Gods (A Vampiress Lessa Poem)

Here is another poem about my vampire character Le' Sara a.k.a. Lessara a.k.a. Vampiress Lessa. Also, if you haven't seen it, check out the absolutely adorable Christmas picture that Tim Robbins put together using the character of Joey from one of my kid's stories.

Suns and Gods

By Robin A. Burrows 

"How can you not believe?"

Le' Sara asked the vampire. 

"Can you not see the grandeur

Of yonder mountains in summer's green embrace –

Yourself a mere pebble in their presence? 

Can you not hear the crystal splashing

Of distance waves upon the velvety shore –

The water, a mere cup of the ocean's expanse

That breathes back and forth between the lands? 

Can you not feel the gentle spring wind and

The misty morning fog upon your skin,

Pleasant, after the snowy winter's chill? 

Can you not comprehend the miracles of life

Shown us when flowers break forth from

The soil and bloom year after year?

Springing forth joyfully – reborn, renewed after

An autumn's wilt; a winter dead to the world? 

When you sit outside,

In the silence and breathe deeply,

Can you not sense the greatness

All about you?" 

"No, m'dear, not all of us are like you.

I live in here for a reason.

I have a castle that protects me from all that ails you.

The surrounding city keeps out the rest.

I create my own seasons within my own realm.

Suns and Gods are not my concern." 

"When this Eden becomes another Martian wasteland,

Where will you hide then?"

© Copyright 2011 Robin A. Burrows

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Read more writing samples.  |  Like Robin's FaceBook Page  |  Buy a book.

Blog: #NaNoWriMo Tips and Tweets

I saw a quote this week that fits the spirit of #NaNoWriMo. "It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop." – Confucius.

Tomorrow is the half-way mark of the grand NaNo adventure. If you, like me, feel like you're not making any progress on your writing project just remember Confucius' quote. At a writing conference I attended last month, literary agent, Gordon Warnock said that nearly 80% of Americans believe they have a book in them. But the number of people who actually finish their book is significantly lower. Whether you "win" NaNoWriMo or not, as long as you continue to move forward, then your project will eventually reach the finish line.

I never understood why they picked November for NaNoWriMo. With Thanksgiving, visiting families, and pre-holiday preparations, it's already a busy month. But it is possible to complete 50,000 words in less than 30 days.

The Writers' Rainbow website is posting daily tips for NaNoWriMo. I have a NaNo tip (micro-blog) posted on the site for November 12. Stop by www.writersrainbow.com to check out my tip and all 29 others over the course of the month.

Another great tip for NaNoWriMo is to monitor the #nanowrimo hashtag on Twitter. You can see all public posts using that hashtag and converse with other people going through the same process. (Or monitor the hastag for your particular interest if you're not a writer doing NaNoWriMo.) Sometimes having a support community can make all the difference in motivation and inspiration and willpower. :)

Good luck to everyone, writers and otherwise on your November projects!

News: eBook Verion of Poetry Book "Of Hearts and Souls" Now Available

I am excited to announce that my poetry book, "Of Hearts and Souls" is now available in eBook format! You can read it in most eReader formats. If you don't see it somewhere, check back again soon. It may still be in the distribution queue for that site. For more info on ordering the ebook, click here.

Here's the blurb from the back cover: Of Hearts and Souls is a collection of free verse poetry written over the past 15 years. It is about the journey of life and the different roads we walk down on that journey. The book includes both short micro-poems for those who prefer their poetry in bite-size snacks and longer more prosaic poetry for the avid poetry reader. Topics range the spectrum of life and form a vivid mosaic of images by the end of the book. The book culminates with a poem written as a wedding present for Robin's husband.

Now let me tell you a little more about the book.

The first part of the book is experimantal poetry. For a number of months, I wrote a poem that was 140 characters or less (to fit Twitter posting guidelines). This collection included some of my favored Twitter poems. These poems are so short that they are either hit or miss. A lot depends upon what the reader brings to the poem. Please don't judge the rest of the book or my other writing based on these Twitter poems.

The section part of the book is longer and more traditional free verse poems. The third part is poems about a story character in one of my fantasy settings. And the final section is a wedding poem I wrote for my husband.

Here is a sample poem from the book. It is one of my favorites:

Dandelion 

By Robin A. Burrows

Dandelion on the wind-

A roaring voice;

Proudly parading in

Your golden parachute.

But when the wind calms

And the feathery mane

Is set aside;

What kind of seed

Lies beneath?

What kind of flower

Roars to hide?

© Copyright 2011 Robin A. Burrows

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Read more writing samples.  |  Like Robin's FaceBook Page  |  Buy a book.

Blog: November Writing Opportunities #NaNoWriMo #NaNoRevMo #NovPAD #PiBoIdMo

November is packed full of writing opportunities. It seems like more and more pop up each year. Here are a few of the writing opportunities this November:

[image error]#NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month (NaNo)

This is the most well-known writing challenge in November. Basically, NaNoWriMo is a challenge to write 50,000 words during November. Broken up by day, that's actually only 1,667 words per day. The huge community also helps. Peer support and peer pressure are just what some writers need to make it through a rough patch in their novel. This challenge is more about quantity than quality. There will be plenty of time later to go back and revise all of those words. It's enough to get them down on paper to begin with.

#NaNoRevMo – National Novel Revision Month

This is exactly what the title implies. You take all of those awful words and revise them until they shine. This is often the month after NaNo, but some writers choose to do this in the place of NaNo.

#NovPAD – November Poem a Day Chapbook Challenge

Robert Brewer with Writer's Digest Poetic Asides has hosted this challenge for several years now. It's all about writing a poem a day in November with the chance to get a chapbook of your November poetry published.

#PiBoIdMo – Picture Book Idea Month

This is the first year I've heard of Picture Book Idea Month, but it makes sense given the challenges in other fiction genres this month. Picture book writers should get in on the fun too! The goal is to create 30 picture book ideas during the month of November.

Lulu.com is even getting in the spirit of NaNo. They are sponsoring a short story contest on their website (for those who prefer writing shorter works). Participants write a 600 word short story during November and publish it using the Lulu.com ePublishing guidelines. The short stories will be published in the Nook and iBookstore. Lulu will judge the entries and announce the top 3 stories in December.

Blog: Happy Halloween and #NaNoWriMo

Happy Halloween, Day of the Dead, All Hallow's Eve, #NaNoWriMo Eve and anything else you may be celebrating today. October flew by in a blur and I expect November and December will do the same.

[image error]Aside from turkey and dressing, one of the biggest things November is known for by writers is NaNoWriMo (That's short for National Write a Novel Month.) It's a challenge to write 50,000 words in a single month. The focus is more on quantity that quality, but the community aspect helps many new writers achieve the daunting word count and prove to themselves that writing a novel is possible.

For any writers out there, this year Scrivener is partnering with NaNoWriMo to provide a trial version of the Scrivener writing software for anyone who wants to participate in NaNo. They will also provide a 50% discount on their software for anyone who completes 50,000 words during NaNo and validates their "win" with the NaNo website.

Scrivener is THE software for creative writers. It does so much more than a simple word document. It has lots of organization features to help plan your novel. My favorite part is that I don't have to have a second document at the very end with all of my notes or upcoming plot points. There are tools to include all of those things in the document database easily and with very little effort to switch between it and your actual story.

The other feature I really love is the ability to break down your story into small bite-size pieces. I have heard over and over again that to make anything (including writing) easier, you break it up into small pieces that are much easier to do. For example, instead of the overwhelming task of writing a novel, focus on the scene where the antagonist discovers his powers. Doesn't that sound a lot easier than 50,000 words? Anyway, if you write, check out Scrivener. It will make your life so much easier.

In other NaNo news, I will have a mini guest blog (a NaNo tip) posted on Writer's Rainbow on November 12. Stop by there and check it out. :-)

Blog: Conferences, Contests and Projects -Yippee!

I'm sorry for the lack of blog updates recently, but I have lots of news.

This month must be the month for writing events. So far I've attended the Ozark Creative Writers Conference, the Poets Roundtable of Arkansas's National Poetry Day, and next weekend one of the local poetry groups meets. In addition, I have been working on several writing projects that have been consuming my time (even more than normal).

The most exciting news, I can't tell you yet. I will (hopefully) be able to officially announce it in the next week or two, so please check back again soon!

When I have more time, I plan to post a blog about some of the interesting panels at the Ozark Creative Writers Conference. David Morrell (creator of Rambo) was the keynote speaker and he had lots of interesting things to say.

Speaking of conferences, I do have some news about the PRA contests. My poems won first place in two of the contest categories at the PRA Poetry Day!

The PRA is looking for new members, so if you are interested in poetry, check out your local branch. There are branches all over the state of Arkansas. They also sponsor several student poetry contests which should be open for submissions now. Contest info is on the PRA website (just change the dates to 2012 if that hasn't already been changed on their website). Some of the student contests are only open to students in Arkansas, while others are open to students from any state. Check their website for details.

In other news, the new format for the FaceBook feeds has made lots of posts made by pages disappear from the feeds. Mine included. It happens most often when I post a link on my Author page. To not miss my posts on FaceBook, you will need to either add my Author page to a custom list or manually check posts on my Author page.

I tend to update on FaceBook and Twitter more often than I update the blog, so feel free to follow me on either of those sites for more frequent updates.

Poll: What are your favorite types of blog posts?

What are your favorite type of blog posts? musings, reviews, writing tips, news on Robin and her writing, polls, poetry, story excerpts, or personal stories.

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Blog: Terry Brooks and the Evolution of Writing and Reading

At DragonCon I attended a panel with Terry Brooks and his current editor. One of the questions that came up was how Terry's writing style has evolved throughout his writing career.

Terry Brooks began writing with his Shannara series. The first book was a Tolkien-like sword and sorcery type fantasy. He has also written the Word and Void series which was darker urban fantasy set in a modern-day American, and the Landover series which is a lighter series set in a magical world connected to our own - where a former lawyer turned king faces the difficulties of ruling a magic kingdom that is a lot deeper and more difficult than it appears on the surface. Eventually, the Word and Void series connected to the Shannara series which has added a completely new level of interpretation to all of the stories.

As Terry has grown as a writer, his stories have evolved into deeper pieces that have underlying commentary on the state of the world today and on issues of concern. The connection between the Shannara and the Word and Void settings best illustrates this.

Likewise, my reading preferences have changed over the years. I have gone from not understanding why people want stories with sad endings, to appreciating sad, realistic endings for what they are, to a place now where I have to be very selective in what I read because of time constraints.

Terry Brooks was one of the first fantasy authors I ever read. I loved the sword and sorcery type stories he wrote when he began his career. I knew he had the Landover and the Word and Void series, but I had no interest in reading them because I wasn't really into urban fantasy or books with the sole purpose of humor. Of course I was wrong on both counts.

A friend told me how good the Word and Void series was and when Terry went back to that setting for a new book, I decided to finally read the Word and Void series. I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't so much urban fantasy as it was the voice of Terry Brooks in a modern setting with a dash of magic and demons. I also thought it was kind of magical how he was connecting our world to a world of magic and was slowly evolving his world of magic back into a world of technology.

And then Terry wrote The Princess of Landover and I had to read the other Landover books so I would be able to read the new book he had written. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised. The Landover series starts out slow. The entire first book felt like exposition setting up the rest of the series. I had been afraid the series would be really fluffy and I'd already had my fill of fluffy from anime club during college. But the series turned out to be really deep with lots of quirky, cute, annoying and lovable characters (all very much one of my favorite things). For example, in one book the protagonist and his two main antagonists are trapped in a world where they become the thing they fear the most. Even in a setting with such quirky characters, the story really connected to me on a deep level.

My opinion of books and my favorite books are always changing, but at this point in time my favorite series by Terry Brooks is actually the Landover series – the one I was most reluctant to read.

I've reached a point in my life where I have trouble finding free time, so when I do choose a book to read, I tend to be very selective. I tend to read authors I like, authors my friends highly recommend, and I try to support authors who I know in real life. But I have also noticed that most of my favorite stories have a happy ending these days. I want to read stories that take me on a journey mentally and emotionally. I want to enjoy the ride. Then I want to walk away at the end with a good feeling of hopefulness because everything worked out in the end. Although that might not always be realistic in real life, that's the type of story I enjoy reading.

It's interesting how writing and reading can evolve over time as a person progresses through the various stages of life. I hope my writing continues to evolve in good ways as my life progresses into the future.

Poll: Happy endings or realistic ones?

Do you prefer stories that have a happy ending or a realistic one? I will be discussing this in my blog next Monday, but you can throw in your vote today.

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