Friday, June 23, 2017

Twitter Monthly Challenge: Three Years Later!

June 23, 2014 was the beginning of a brand new trend for Twitter users who write.

High school English teacher and YA writer Kristy Acevedo made out this tweet that would be called the Twitter Monthly Challenge with the hashtag #JuneWritingChallenge.


Everyone had followed suit with the word count of 500 or more in a few days. Writers had begun sharing advice, motivation, musing about their favorite genres, and research complexities. The action would continue with #JulyWritingChallenge that would bring together all writers on Twitter.

Three years later, more challengers have come.

The task of being a Writing Challenge hashtag leader requires a daily commitment, as well as organization to keep track of progress from other challengers.

The rules are to write at least 500 words per day and post your results each day using the current hashtag.

As a participant, I will say joining the challenge has given me the motivation to start writing after a while and connecting with published or soon-to-be published authors. But I'm not the only one having fun with it. Here are testimonials from my compatriots:

I remember being one of the first who signed up. It's been helpful and rewarding.
-Nina Lake

Monthly writing challenge keeps me on track. It's so refreshing!
-Wendy Turner

I'm so grateful I found this writing group. Great people. Finished my book & the rewrite because of the Writing Challenge! Happy I found it.
-Christina Quesada

The Writing Challenge gives me an achievable goal, despite the challenges of writing, kids, and a full-time job.
-Brie Paddock

I've written 500 words every day so far this year. Never in my life have I been so motivated to to dedicate time to my writing.
-E.K. Moore

There you have it! The amazing results from our Monthly Writing Challenge. Are you a writer looking to get pages written? Come answer the challenge at our website!
 
 
 
 



Thursday, May 25, 2017

#FolkloreThursday: Kitsune

Here we are friends with the final installment of my #folklorethursday blogs. Today's folklore name is the Japanese fox, the Kitsune.

Prince Hanzoku terrorized by a nine-tailed fox. Print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 19th century.
*The term "kitsune" is Japanese for "fox". In Japanese folklore, foxes are a common subject. Legend has it they are intelligent beings, possessing magical abilities that increase their age and wisdom. In Yokai folklore all foxes have the ability to shape in human form.

The legends of the kitsune began in ancient Japan; foxes and humans lived closely together during the period. It has become closely associated with Inari, Shinto kami or spirit, and serves as its messengers.

Other stories of the kitsune depict them as tricksters, faithful guardians, friends, lovers, and wives. The one notable aspect of them are the number of tails they have. More tails a kitsune has (many as nine), the older, wiser, and more powerful it is.

That's all for the #FolkloreThursday blog series, folks! It's been a pleasure to explore these myths and legends with you!

*Wikipedia/kitsune
 

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

#FolkloreThursday: Redcap

Welcome back to this week's edition of my #folklorethursday.

Here I present to you the Redcap or Red Cap.

These are murderous, malevolent, dwarfs, goblins, elves or fairies found in Border Folklore. Legend has it that they inhabit ruined castles found along the border of England and Scotland. The Redcap was first mentioned in the 14th century by William II de Soules.

*Recaps are known to to murder travelers who stray into their homes and dye their hats with their victims' blood, they must kill regularly, for if the blood staining their hats dries out and they die.

They are very fast in spite of their heavy iron spikes and iron-shod boots they wear. Redcaps are depicted as sturdy old men with red eyes, taloned hands and large teeth, wearing a redcap and bearing pikestaff.

Another legend says the recap familiar of Lord William de Soules, called "Robin Redcap" , is said to have wrought much harm and ruin in the lands of his master's dwelling, Hermitage Castle. In one legend William was taken to the Ninestane Castle, a circle of stones by the castle, then wrapped in lead and boiled to death. In reality, William de Sous was imprisoned in Dumbarton Castle and died there, following his confessed complicity in the conspiracy against Robert the Bruce in 1320.

Tune in for next week as I explore more myths and legends scary for all ages.

*Wikipedia/Recap



Thursday, May 11, 2017

#FolkloreThursday: Bastet

Welcome back to another edition of Folklore Thursday on my blog site. This week it's the Egyptian goddess Bastet.

 In Egyptian mythology Bastet was a cat-headed goddess and a solar deity until Greek influence on Egyptian society, she became a lunar goddess associated with the Greek goddess Artemis. *During the  2nd Dynasty (2890-2686), Bastet was either a wild desert cat or lioness, and only became associated with the domesticated cat around 1,000 BCE. She was commonly depicted as a woman with a head of a wildcat, lioness. or a domesticated cat.

Bastet was commonly paired with Sekhmet, the lion-headed goddess of Memphis, Wadjet, and Hathor. Her title was "avenger" god sent to lay waste to Egypt's enemies as one of the "Eyes of Ra." In according to legends, Bastet was called the "Daughter of Ra", a designation that placed her in the same ranks as Maat and Tefnut.

The cult of Bastet was centered in Bubastis from the 4th Dynasty. Bubastis was the capital of Egypt for a dynasty during the Late Period, where a few kings took her name into their royal titles.

They were made famous by the traveler Herodotus in the 4th century BCE, when he described his annals one of the festivals that takes place in honor Bastet.

And that's that for this week! Be there as I explore more folklore and legends this month.

*Encyclopedia Mythica



Wednesday, May 3, 2017

#FolkloreThursday: Daeva

Greetings, friends.

In the spirit of the Twitter hashtag #FolkloreThursday I'm blogging about various names found in world mythology and folklore each Thursday. I begin with the Persian demons called the Daevas.


You may remember them from the season one episode of Supernatural entitled "Shadow" where they were being summoned by the demon Meg for her evil purposes. Let's take a deeper look at these creatures, shall we?

*In according to Persian myths, Daevas are Zoroastrian demons that cause plague and disease. They are the male servants of Angra Mainyu (Ahriman), and the female servants are called the Drugs. Together they fight Ahuru Mazda and his Amesha Spentas.


Together with the Ahuras, the Daevas were a classification of gods and spirits. In later Persian religion they were degraded to a lesser kind of beings, called demons. The word "devil" is derived from their name.

The seven archdemons of the Daevas are Aesma Daeva, Aka Manah, Indra, Nanghaithya, Saurva, Tawrich, and Zarich.

That's it for this edition my Folklore Thursday blog and I'll be back next week.

*Encyclopedia Mythica

Monday, April 24, 2017

Starting a Project with Questions

Alright I know how it goes for everybody. You got an idea for a story buy your mind is bombarded with a ton of questions.

When writing your story, you should start with the basic questions:

  • Who
  • What
  • Where
  • How
To me, the basics are getting a clear vision of what your story is about. Moving on from pantser to plotter/planner, I learned to ask questions on what my project will be like in terms of tones and subject matter.

Let's begin.

Who-It's obvious, yes. But if you're thinking about building a world of your own design, you have to ask who are your characters. What do they do for a living? Whom do they have contact with? Highly recommended.

What-In terms of plotting the story, you have to ask yourself what the whole story is about. If you look at the foreign film En La Cama, you see the plot being about two strangers engaging in a one-night stand which becomes something more intimate.

Where-Location, location. This is the essential aspect to the story, in my opinion. A fictional setting can go in many different ways. Futuristic utopia, medieval fantasy, or a noir period. Now to bring the "who" aspect of worldbuilding to center stage, this is where it comes in. Your characters populate the world. Keep in mind that when giving the world you created whatever rules you have in mind, it has to maintain an equal level of reality too.

How-Another essential factor in creating your story setting is to ask how does it work. You got your population, governing body, limitation of resources, and so forth. What's key about it is to get an idea of how your world works for your characters, like say, how they interact with one another or where do they draw their source of energy for the whatchimacallit powering the city.

However you plot your story, remember to ask yourself the basic questions "who", "what" "where" and "how."

Monday, March 20, 2017

What I'm doing for 2017.

Okay since everyone's got goals for 2017, I'd like to share what I'll be doing this year.


  • Read Young adult fiction and comics.
  • Make a budget plan.
  • Reach out to five people.
  • Volunteer at a community event.
  • See a show at the Civic Center Music Hall.
And that's all for ya, cats.


Friday, February 17, 2017

Where'd He Go?

Hey, everyone.

*Looking at my calendar*

Wow, I had no idea it's been a month since my last post. For anyone who's wondering I've been a very busy man with a few projects in progress. I'll keep you posted.

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