Just a quick note to let the Reader know Sunday’s update may be late/nonexistent. My husband and I leave today for a week’s cruise down the nile (I can not begin to tell you how squeerific I am right now) and I am unsure what my internet status will be. So, if possible I will post an update on or near Sunday, and if not updates will return the following week.

Have  a great week/weekend!

• Finish editing my novel
• Write the second novel
• Write more short stories
• Complete my MA, including writing a really good dissertation.
• Get an agent, and maybe a contract.
• Build the readership of this Blog, and consequently my writerly presence.
• Publish a short story.

I hope to achieve all these in the coming year, and more as well of course. But even if I don’t succeed, I will have had the satisfaction of having goals, and having tried for them.

So, here’s wishing a very happy and safe New Year to all my Readers. May you enjoy the path to all your goals, and achieve at least a few of them.

Today I am launching a new section of blog known as “Midweek Fancies.” These will all be in the middle of the week (of course!) but the day will vary from week to week. Also, the subject matter will be more esoteric than the Sunday installments. So, without further ado, the first Fancy!

Avatar by James Cameron

For anyone who doesn’t keep up with flavor-of-the-week and pop-culture, this is the newest 3-D movie just released a few days ago on December 18th. It is directed by James Cameron, perhaps most famously known for his Alien movies, and like those previous ones also starring Sigourney Weaver, albeit in a secondary role. Now first, we must state right at the outset that this movie is visually stunning. There are no two ways about it, one cannot argue over it, it just is. It takes new technology, and pushes it right to the edge for visual story-telling. The music, directed by James Horner, is also quite stunning, blending seamlessly into the storytelling to enhance without disrupting. With a few exceptions where the music is central to the story, I could barely remember the music itself after viewing the film, only the emotions it drew forth. And that is exactly as it should be.

Now we must come to story, and I will push all further content below the cut to avoid spoiling the movie for my Readers who have not yet seen it.

continue reading "Midweek Fancies: Avatar"

Well, it seems to have been an interesting week, so I thought I would spend today catching up on the news. Next week we will continue with the regularly scheduled content.

On the internet front, there was the hulabaloo kicked up by Mr. Scalzi’s criticism of Black Matrix publishing. His first post on the subject can be found here, but I won’t try to map the entire storm which erupted around the writing corner of the internet. Much of it was rather silly, and generally deliberately dense. Nor was Mr. Scalzi the only one to register criticism of this company, though he seems to have drawn the most flak for his views, poor man. Granted, I don’t believe he particularly cared, but I did feel a bit sorry for him. Here he goes out of his way to try and warn those of us less experienced than he about a danger, and people go up in flames. That’ll teach him to do a good deed.

In other internet writing news, the Canadian SF writer Peter Watts was arrested and charged with “assault of a federal officer” upon attempting to return to Canada from a visit in the US. The details, as related by the author himself, are here, and Mr. Scalzi also has a post about the circumstances. Briefly, it appears that Mr. Watts was pulled over by the US Border Police, in order that they might search his car. During the course of this, for some reason, the police attacked Mr. Watts, arrested, and charged him. Whether or not this was police brutality, or perfectly reasoned response to a perceived threat by the police is the subject of much heated debated throughout the Writer-verse. Myself, I think I shall reserve judgement until the video tape (there is rumored to have been CCTV on site) is released to the public. I should say it was probably a really bad decision for Mr. Watt’s to exit his car upon being pulled over. However, I do think that being severely beaten, and possibly incarcerated for two years of your life, not to mention instantly acquiring a criminal record, is a bit of over-kill as far as consequences go for bad decisions. Nevertheless, the furor arising throughout the online writing community may prove good for something, if it can force the authorities to look at the issue of police brutality and address the issue in a way that won’t further handicap the honest defenders of the average citizen’s rights. This is unfortunately a very fine line to walk.

My final bit of news is of a rather more personal nature. I have finally finished my Literature Review, and can now turn my attention to my novel with a clear conscience. It is with the greatest pleasure that I will begin the first round of edits on my Work in Progress, Princess (Working Title), and hopefully whip it into some sort of shape for my lovely beta readers quickly. As it stands, the premise is strong, and parts of the writing are good, but I have some minor issues, and certainly need to flesh out the characters a bit.

Thought for the Day: “An explanation of cause is not a justification by reason.” C.S. Lewis

Currently Reading: “Women in Ancient Egypt” by Gay Robins

Hello dear Reader. I just want to announce the move into the new site. Ex Libris will no longer be at  bookewyrme.wordpress.com as I have recently found a private host for it. The address is now here at http://bookewyrme.straydreamers.com. Nothing else will be changing, and I will post Sunday’s article in both places, just to be sure.

Thank you!

The Bookewyrme

I am a student and a wife. But I am also an artist, and as everyone knows, artists crave attention. Hence this Blog. Here is where I will cry out into the great, uncaring Blogosphere (of DOOM!) “See me! See what I can do!” and hope that some of it is read, and more importantly that some of it is both useful and entertaining. In the coming pages I will write on many topics without doubt. However, all of these topics will be connected to my great passion and hobby, reading. Of course, in order for there to be reading, there must by necessity be writing as well. Therefore, this will be both a Reader’s and a Writer’s blog. There will be both unofficial, informal book reviews of my favorite authors, both new and ancient, and commentary on my trials, tribulations, and experiences as an Author.

Though I am not yet Published, this makes me no less a writer. I write many things, most of them Fantasy related, or else Academic papers. My first novel is in its first draft stages, thanks in no small part to the wonderful, wonderful organization, NaNoWriMo. Though it is unfinished, I believe it will be worth sharing with the world once completed, and to that end I am striving. Here-to-fore, I have only written small pieces of Fiction intended solely for my friends, or academic essays intended solely for my Professors and the University archives. This foray into Novelling is both terrifying and exhilarating. I sincerely hope the terror dissipates eventually, and the exhilaration remains eternally.

I hope to update this blog once weekly, currently on Sundays. Of course, as life’s many surprises, twists, and turns ambush me, doubtless this will change. So, I do not promise continuous, endless posts on a fixed schedule. However, I do make it my pledge that should a change in schedule, or a brief cessation of updates become necessary, I will do my utmost to give fair warning, or at least an explanation.

So! Now for some content. As this is the Beginning, I do not propose to dwell overly long on a topic. However, I feel that some mention should be made here of two wonderful organizations which have helped me grow as a writer already in the short period of time I have been associated with them. They have also partially inspired me to create this Blog, and some acknowledgement should be made to them. These two are Nanowrimo, the National Novel Writing Month organization, and Absolute Write, specifically their open forum. Both provide invaluable communities for new writers.

Nanowrimo (found here) is great for helping the great procrastinators of the world (i.e. myself) get a first draft done and done quickly. It forces one to write every day, and meet specific goals. It is also a tremendous amount of fun, and I would encourage anyone who enjoys writing, from the already published author to the absolute beginner who never intends to let anyone read their writings ever.

I found the Absolute Write forums (they are here) through Nanowrimo. It is a community of authors, from fiction to bloggers, to writers of textbooks. They also range in experience, again from the published-several-times-over Authors to the rank beginner just writing their first short story. I would encourage any author, of whatever level, to at the very least browse these forums. For one thing, each individual forum has a number of stickies full of excellent information put together by very kind and generous people. And best of all, you can browse the forums without actually creating an account, though of course in order to post, one must register. I would urge one to register immediately, as it can take some time to get approved by the moderators, so if you register before you develop that burning question, you don’t have to wait around and possibly forget it!

So, I think I have rambled on for long enough now, and will bid you all adieu and say “See you next Sunday!”

Thought for the Day: “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” a Proverb

Currently Reading: Village Life in Ancient Egypt: Laundry Lists and Love Songs ~A.G. McDowell