Monday’s Pen to Paper: Surround Yourself with Inspiration
I have to buy The Plot Thickens (St. Martins Press, 2002)by Noah Lukeman. My daughter checked it out from the library a couple of week ago, but it is now five days late, because I found it in her room and stole it. I started into the first chapter on characterization, and decided that it was a book that I have to have. The First Five Pages (Simon & Schuster, 1999), also by Mr. Lukeman, sits on the bookshelf next to my desk. I pull it out for inspiration from time to time. The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life, also needs to be sitting close by.
Surround yourself with books that inspire!
WRITING PROMPT (Based on a section in The Plot Thickens – Characterization: The Outer Life – A Crowed Room) Developing a character:
You have set your friend up on a blind date. He goes to the bar where he is to meet this date, but there are over two hundred women that fit your description of her. He calls you to learn more, what else can you tell him?
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Do What You Love
I love to hike. This summer I had planned to go on a few hikes with my kids and our dogs, but all throughout the summer stuff got in the way.
In August my athletic director “friended” me on Facebook and then whenever I checked Facebook, there was a picture of him standing on a mountain top. “Damn,” I’d think to myself, “I want to be there too.”
Finally I’d had enough. Yesterday morning at 5:30 am, I grabbed the dogs and hit the road. I could easily get to the top of Tiger Mountain and return in time to pick up the house before company arrived in the afternoon.
I stepped onto the trail feeling alive and inspired.
I’m like my dad that way. He is a hiker. He grew up in Austria traversing the hilltops in his back yard. I grew up hiking with him and admiring his spirit to climb. When he turned 40 years old he summited Mt Rainer, at 60 years old it was Mt Baker, and there were many peeks before and after. (though this year, at 75 years old, he decided to change it up with a bike ride from Spokane, Washington to the Idaho border).
The key is getting out and doing what you love.
I started up the three-mile Tiger Mountain path with gusto but quickly realized that nursing a bad hamstring for the last couple of months had left me in less than tip-top condition. Still I used my “never give up” basketball background as well as two energetic boxers pulling at the leash, to keep a good pace and reach the top.
And it was worth it. Though there was no view, because of the fog that sat in the valley, there was […]
Monday’s Pen to Paper: Timeline Inspiration
I don’t write from beginning to end. I write sections of my story that come to me, that seem vivid and alive in my mind, and then overtime bring them together and find an order to their chaos.
This method worked for me when I wrote my memoir Back on the Court, and it is how I’ve been writing my YA novel. However, when I was writing my memoir, I knew my story and characters intimately.
Writing a novel is a little different. I’m enjoying getting to know my characters and I’ve got scenes that I know approximately where they belong in the story, but recently I decided that I needed to make a timeline. My main character takes a journey, and what better way to document her journey than on a map. I could place scenes along the path of my main characters journey and hopeful gain a better understanding of her time spent over the traveled landscape and a better understanding of her story.
The process got me to look at my story a little differently, and I even discovered a few new ideas along the way.
Try a timeline for your memoir or novel and get inspired by the creative process. It could mean pulling out some paper and pens and simply writing dates and events, placed in order, along a line, my daughter is thinking about making a three-dimensional project, or for me it meant printing out a map and mini photos of the landscape and characters, and then glueing them into place along my characters journey.
Give a try to whatever moves you. Have fun and write on!
WRITING PROMPT #1: Make a timeline for your novel or memoir.
WRITING PROMPT #2: Jonathan drew a timeline for everything he did, he even made a timeline for…
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Ice Cold Awarness
My son took part in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge with his friends this week. He showed me his video and I asked what it was for. He said that he wasn’t sure. And then he remembered, “it’s for…ALS?”
I asked him if he knew what ALS was.
“A disease, right?” he answered.
This is what the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is about. To raise money and raise awareness. And though there are probably a lot of people who may not even understand why they are dumping buckets of ice water over their heads, obviously there are millions more that do (or don’t, but donate money) because over 41 million dollars has been raised so far, and there are many that have a conversation.
“Do you remember Gary?” I asked my son.
My son was young when a member of our extended family died of ALS. The disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, often referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord until muscle tissues all over the body atrophy, which leads to paralysis and death.
“Oh yeah, I remember.” he said, “He used his toes to answer yes or no when we talked to him.”
Yes. And that was the beginning of a discussion about a disease that affects so many people and their loved ones. (30,000 Americans) So hats off to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and the awareness (and money) that it has raised.
What a COOL way to bring awareness and funding to a devastating disease.
Take the challenge and pass it on…I did.
Meet Sonya
Meet Sonya
Sonya Elliott’s memoir, Back on the Court: A Young Woman’s Triumphant Return to Life, Love & Basketball, is her story of finding hope in the wake of tragedy after she and her fiancé were hit by a train. She blogs about writing, basketball, and life and is currently working on a Young Adult Novel and a Non-Fiction Coaching book. Stories of her career as a fashion model are woven through her memoir, as both the Soloflex and Easy Spirit Shoes commercials were filmed during that time period, and this unique and intriguing business continues to be a part of her life.
Sonya played basketball at Eastern Washington University and was a starter for the Big Sky Champion team that went to the 1987 NCAA tournament. She coached for almost 25 years and was voted Seattle Times Coach of the Year, Seattle Officials Women’s Basketball Association Coach of the Year, and twice voted Metro League Coach of the Year. She loves the game of basketball and is thankful, not only for her husband and kids but for her ability to continue to get back on the court.
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PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Good For Your Body & Soul
Sonya Elliott
Morning hike to Ollalie Lake
My recreational basketball team took the summer off so I’m using it as an opportunity to get in better shape for when we start again in the fall. Over the last couple of years I have lost a lot of strength and flexibility. My wind is still okay, but on the court it’s been tougher to rebound and play defense when I can’t hold my ground like I used to.
But not for much longer. I have been mixing it up with beach volleyball, weights, yoga, hiking and conditioning boot camps every day. And this morning, as my daughter and I hiked down from Ollalie Lake, it was nice to be sore again, not the sore that keeps me from bending down and weeding the yard or taking the plates out of the […]
Monday’s Pen to Paper: A Cool Breeze And A Good Night Of Z’s Equals Happiness
I’ve been melting lately. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a nice sunny day but when the temperature creeps up past 90 degrees in Seattle it’s just too hot for me. It’s not that bad if I can escape to the water, but that’s not alway the case, I’m often at home where our house becomes an oven.
A good friend of mine loves this type of heat. In it she’s vibrant and alive, while I, on the other hand, feel cooked and tired and grumpy. I have been fighting this tired feeling over the past few days, pushing myself to enjoy the heat some as well as get work done. But honestly, it hasn’t been easy. Then last night a cool breeze came in.
I opened every window and door in the house, I stepped outside to feel the freshness whirl around me and to hear rustling in the trees. I […]
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Free Fun
My mom was in town for three days. It was a chance for us girls (me, my mom and my daughter) to celebrate a belated Birthday/Mother’s day present for my mom, our Oma. I had planned to get tickets for a concert downtown and perhaps go to the theatre as well, but I didn’t find music, or an act, at the usual venues that I thought my mom would truly enjoy.
However, I did find a free concert at a local coffee shop in our neighborhood (C & P Coffee House), and on an Instagram post my daughter found Dancing Until Dusk, which involved free swing dance lessons and live music at Westlake Park. So we went for it. During my mom’s visit we also took pleasure in beach combing at low tide on Alki, spent an afternoon making jewelry, and an evening taking […]
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