Worthy of the Week

Hey all! Here is this Friday’s Worthy of the Week, a weekly breakdown of things worth sharing. If you like what you see, feel free to join in! Just post your link in the comments, and I’ll stop by 🙂 Check out the others here. 

Inspiration

I don’t usually do a video for inspiration, but thought this video was so powerful, and had so much story in it. Something about the little boy in a doctor’s coat, treating battle-torn adults not only tugged my heartstrings, but made my writer’s brain churn. Definitely worth the watch, though be warned it is about the Syria conflict and is rather violent and graphic.

Issues

Though I really have no connection to it, Ferguson really affected me. So much so that I wrote an entire post about it. But I recently found this post which highlights the issue around the Ferguson events, and that this is not just a one-time tragedy, it is a pattern. And clearly, a large part of it is about race, whether we want to admit it or not.

Words of Wisdom

You’ve probably heard this quote before, but I think this is important for writers. This is part of what I love about books and what I try to do through my writing. Everything else will fade, but words and their feelings remain. Despite time, distance, and language, words never cease their ability to connect us.

 

Worthy of the Week

Hey all! Sorry I missed the post last week, as you may know I’ve been sick lately. But here is this Friday’s Worthy of the Week, a weekly breakdown of things worth sharing. If you like what you see, feel free to join in! Just post your link in the comments, and I’ll stop by 🙂 Check out the others here. 

Inspiration

These beautiful, haunting, surreal photographs.

  

The second two are by Kyle Thompson, who is a phenomenal photographer and artist, and more than worth looking up.

Issues

This week has been one of tragedies. Two huge celebrity deaths, Robin Williams and Lauren Bacall, and the ongoing violence in Ferguson. I think it is so important that we let Robin William’s death and suicide bring to light an often avoided topic–mental illness, depression, and suicide. I have heard many different reactions to this, varying from celebration to damnation, saying he made a weak, selfish choice and left his family behind. But I think a lot of people with that reaction have never experienced anything close to what it is like to wrestle with depression. For them, and everyone else, I have this video. I’ve also heard it compared to those who jump out of burning buildings–they don’t want to jump, but it feels like the only alternative to being burned alive, but the people on the ground don’t understand unless they have been in a burning building themselves. And this video captures something I think is so hugely important for how we deal with and talk about his death. Regardless of how you feel, he was an amazing man who touched so many lives, and it hurts my heart that he was in so much pain he saw no other option.

Words of Wisdom

Being sick and stuck in bed this week, I really felt this next one. I love books because they give me freedom, even if I feel stuck in this sick body.

Worthy of the Week

Hey all! Thanks so much for stopping by, here is this Friday’s Worthy of the Week, a weekly breakdown of things worth sharing. If you like what you see, feel free to join in! Just post your link in the comments, and I’ll stop by 🙂 Check out the others here. 

Inspiration

    

Issues

When people think of human trafficking, they usually think of third world countries, places far away. But they forget that it exists, right here at home, and is just as much of a problem–but it is a problem that most people don’t see, or choose not to.

This powerful spoken word poem speaks for itself.

Words of Wisdom

I love Rumi–another great quote that is so true for us writers.

Worthy of the Week

Hey all! Short post this week, since as you know I am in the middle of the moving. Thanks so much for stopping by, here is this Friday’s Worthy of the Week, a weekly breakdown of things worth sharing. If you like what you see, feel free to join in! Just post your link in the comments, and I’ll stop by 🙂 Check out the others here. 

Inspiration

For awesome character inspiration and photos like these, check out this character board.

    

Issues

Check out this powerful slam poem and video, with a message about expectations and body image that I think every girl and woman should hear.

Words of Wisdom

I think this is the one and only reason people should write. I write because there are stories inside of me, that have to come out. I write because I don’t know any other way to be.

Worthy of the Week

Hey all! Thanks so much for stopping by, here is this Friday’s Worthy of the Week, a weekly breakdown of things worth sharing. If you like what you see, feel free to join in! Just post your link in the comments, and I’ll stop by 🙂 Check out the others here. 

Inspiration

These four are from a series by Russian photographer Katerina Plotnikova. I think each one has so much whimsy and story in it, and had to share.

      

Issues

Despite the positive body image movements, I think it is still something we struggle with as a nation, and all around the world. Thankfully, leaders in our culture (celebrities, popular brands, etc.) have started to join in this push against impossible perfection. Two awesome music videos I found this week, Try by Colbie Caillat, and You & I by John Legend, are fantastic (and emotional) illustrations of that. Definitely worth checking out. 

Words of Wisdom

As writers, we are naturally in tune with our imagination. But I think these words go further than creativity or imagination–don’t forget to be curious, to be amazed by the world around you, or even the craft you love. Don’t get so caught up in writing as a business that you forget why you loved it in the first place.

Worthy of the Week

Hey all! Thanks so much for stopping by, here is this Friday’s Worthy of the Week, a weekly breakdown of things worth sharing. If you like what you see, feel free to join in! Just post your link in the comments, and I’ll stop by 🙂 Check out the others here. 

Inspiration

I thought I’d share some awesome art I found while searching inspiration for Nightfire. Hope you enjoy 🙂

 

Issues

You may have heard of the relatively infamous “Proud Whopper” from Burger King (if you haven’t, check it out here). Basically, it’s a whopper wrapped in rainbow paper, with the phrase: “We’re all the same inside”. I love the idea. Some people are criticizing them for being fake activists, and actually not being helpful at all, but I think it’s a nice gesture. I mean, they’re still a corporation. I think this is a great way for them to get involved and show support. It’s under “issues” because I am disgusted by a lot of the reactions (seriously, read them) I think it’s ridiculous, in 2014, people are boycotting BK because of rainbow paper, calling it the “fag burger” or “sodomy burger” (also thought one rebuttal was particularly hilarious, that straight people are a lot more focused on gay sex than actual gays are. It’s true, though. There’s so much more to it than that). Anyways, I won’t get too ranty. Go check it out, and see for yourself. BK: 1 Humanity: -1

Words of Wisdom

I absolutely love this quote. I think it captures my writing style, and writing itself, so well.

Worthy of the Week

Hey all! Thanks so much for stopping by, here is this Friday’s Worthy of the Week, a weekly breakdown of things worth sharing. If you like what you see, feel free to join in! Just post your link in the comments, and I’ll stop by 🙂 Check out the others here. 

Inspiration

      

Issues

So you may or may not have heard about the controversy this week, over the Supreme Court’s ruling in the “Hobby Lobby” case. Basically, the Supreme Court ruled that companies could deny employees birth control because of the company’s religion. So A: yet another legislation (passed by all men, only one sided with women) regulating women’s bodies, while there remains no legislation regulating men. B: companies allowed to force their religious beliefs on their employees (doubt they’d have the same reaction if it was Muslims forcing employees to cover their hair). And C: companies and sex cells (not even fertilized eggs) are people and have more rights than women. How can you not be upset??

My favorite tweet on the subject: “we have literally arrived at the point where we let party supply stores tell women what to do with their bodies.” – @lawblob Also, if you think we are overreacting, watch this video. It might seem like a small thing, but it is part of decades of fighting for women’s rights, and this is a huge step backwards. It also opens to the doors to all kinds of claims and rights violations on the grounds of “company religion”. Since when is that a thing?

Words of Wisdom

As CampNaNoWriMo started this week, I am learning yet again the value of my peers in the writing community. All of you, you are great. 🙂

Worthy of the Week

Hey all! Thanks so much for stopping by, here is this Friday’s Worthy of the Week, a weekly breakdown of things worth sharing. If you like what you see, feel free to join in! Just post your link in the comments, and I’ll stop by 🙂 Check out the others here. 

Inspiration

Art, as always. I think these pieces speak for themselves.

Issues

This week, I watched Lee Thompson Young’s funeral tribute on Rizzoli and Isles. It’s been a while since he passed, and he was in the rest of last season, so this was the first time being confronted with it. Wow. I was surprised by how much emotion I had for someone I had never met. Even worse, it was so hard to understand. For those of you who don’t know, he committed suicide. He was clearly successful and had a bright future ahead of him, and was much loved by his costars and everyone around him. But that’s the thing: suicide doesn’t make sense. Depression and mental illness don’t make sense. They are a chemical imbalance–there is no logic. And sadly, I think there’s still so much stigma. Hopefully, his death will show people that they are not alone in their struggle, that it is okay to not be okay, even when it seems like you should, and that there is always help and people who care.

Words of Wisdom

This week I’ve spent some more time sick and in bed, more time with emotions and feelings that I don’t know what to do with–and as always, I can escape to my writing. There is something almost magical about how healing books can be.

Worthy of the Week

Sorry I missed it last Friday, I’ve been terribly sick and didn’t get around to it. But don’t worry! Here is this Friday’s Worthy of the Week, a weekly breakdown of things worth sharing. If you like what you see, feel free to join in! Just post your link in the comments, and I’ll stop by 🙂 Check out the others here. 

Inspiration 

Okay, I’m kind of in a forest and nature obsession right now, with my new WIP (title to be revealed soon). I just think forests have so much quiet, unseen story to them. If only trees could talk 🙂

    

Issues

You might have heard of the recent attention Miss Indiana got during the Miss USA pageant–but it wasn’t for winning. She was the “largest” contestant, and viewers praised her more average bikini body (though she’s still a size 4). I think this is great. I feel like the emphasis on ultra skeleton skinny is starting to give way (finally) in the wake of celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence or Miss Indiana. Maybe if they start embracing their bodies (skinny, curvy, thick, and in between) women will start to do the same. Though I have never personally struggled with weight, it runs in my family, and I am very familiar with the battle. But ultimately, it’s about being healthy, and loving yourself, no matter what shape you are. (Also worth checking out, this fantastic spoken poem and song by Mary Lambert called Body Love)

Words of Wisdom

Being really sick again this week, for the first time in a while, forced me to be in bed all day. With nothing else to do, I turned to books and writing. It gave me a chance to remember why I fell in love with books in the first place. For me, writing is so much more than telling stories. It gives me a place to go when my body fails me, or the world is unfair, or life gets me down. Writing saves me. It is my escape. So this quote was kind of perfect this week.

Worthy of the Week

Hey all, it’s Friday, so here’s another Worthy of the Week, a weekly breakdown of things worth sharing. If you like what you see, feel free to join in! Just post your link in the comments, and I’ll stop by 🙂 Check out the first two here. 

Inspiration: 

So if you follow me on twitter you might have noticed I’ve been working on a brand new untitled WIP! Since you’re all so great, I thought I would share a sneak peek of some of my inspiration for it, and maybe you can even take some guesses 🙂

 

Issues:

You may have heard of the recent Slate article bashing YA, which in the very title says “you should feel embarrassed when what you’re reading was written for children” and goes on to compare YA to the “kiddie pool” and says (more or less) that any self-respecting adult is too sophisticated and complex for juvenile level reading. The Bawdy Book Blog wrote a great post which summed up my feelings on the subject brilliantly.

YA is not the “kiddie pool” it is a bridge between age, generation, and gender. It is just as beautiful and powerful as adult or any literature, sometimes even more so. YA tackles the hardest subjects unapologetically, it is raw and honest. It has taught me so much about myself, and has helped shape who I am. It has given me characters to admire and love, characters that have stayed with me. To this day, I still remember reading Alanna, the fire-headed heroine who becomes a knight in Tamora Pierce’s first novel. She was fictional, but she was a role model who inspired me to be fearless, strong, and courageous, but also myself.

More than anything, this little incident has just shown me yet again how amazing the book community is. The #promoteYAinstead #IreadYA and #noshameinYA tags today were great. So, if you love YA, and aren’t ashamed of it, go spread some love, and wear the button proud 🙂

Words of Wisdom:

As I am jumping into this craziness all over again with a brand new story, I find myself fighting all my old demons and fears. Mainly, the struggle between the ideas in my head and the words on the page. It’s hard to start from ground zero. But as I told a friend this week on twitter, you can’t force a story. You also can’t finish a book, any book, if you never start, or never write 🙂 So, this quote by James Thurber felt especially relevant this week.