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New Journals
A Quick Note!
Summer is almost over, (aww) but Autumn is arriving (yeah!) School has now returned and I feel like my schedule is back on track. Though I suppose that I could’ve kept a schedule going throughout the summer but I was either hunched over my computer writing my first draft to my latest novel (Prince Noralv: Edge of Shadows, Book Two!) or I’ve been going on family outings and gatherings. My summer has been full and I am grateful.
Now with Autumn (Fall as some prefer to call it) on the horizon, I am so very in the mood for sweaters, books, stationery, fire in the fireplace, pumpkin spice everything, but most of all Halloween. Soon, my pretty, soon.
My wish for you all is to have a fabulous end of summer and to embrace the pumpkin of autumn.
Cheers!
New Journals!
Do you love journaling? I know I sure do! I love putting pen to paper throughout my writing process whether I’m brainstorming descriptions or working through a scene in my story I always have a journal next to me. Plus, it’s great to be equipped with one while I’m out and about because I never know when an idea will strike next.
For my love of stationery, I decided to make make a few journals. Some of the journals I’ve created have a plotting guide at the beginning and the others are plain lined paper.
Please check them out here:
http://jtharriswriter.com/?page_id=537
There are lots of different styles to satisfy many different personality types and I hope to make some more in the near future. Please don’t hesitate to let me know if there are other styles or ideas you’d like to see. I’m always creating.
Free Short Stories Coming Soon.
I’ve got a couple of new short stories that are coming together nicely and will be available for free to my newsletter subscribers. If you are already a subscriber, thank you so very much. The new short stories will be showing up in an inbox near you.
Lost in a Dream is still available for free when you sign up for my newsletter but will be retiring soon.
To get it while it’s still available please follow this link.
https://www.subscribepage.com/jtharriswritershortstoryoptin
Until next time, keep creating.
JT Harris.
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Fairy Tales and Costumes
A few years ago, there was a missed opportunity for me to dress up my daughter as Red Riding Hood and my son as the wolf (a lumberjack-type werewolf to be exact) for Halloween, but my son had his heart set on being a different character, so I put the idea on the back burner. This year for Halloween the idea came back into my mind: I wanted to have a Little Red Riding Hood group to go out trick or treating. It would be fun. I tried asking my kids if they wanted to do the idea with me, but they are still young to understand the fun of being in a costume group. They have their own ideas and I love their imaginations and want them to dress-up as anything they wish. Alas, the Red Riding Hood group would have to wait.Who Am I kidding? As much as I love to write I also love to create characters, and costuming is another one of my creative outlets. If my son and daughter wouldn’t be part of the fairy tale group I would make one with my husband (the woodcutter/ lumberjack), myself (Red Riding Hood), and my dog (the big bad wolf). This group will happen!Fairy Tales have been apart of my childhood and probably lit the fire for my love of stories and, at the very least, kept me in the dreams and wonder of where the fairy tales could take me. As a child, the fairy tales told to me or read by me were often the lighter versions of their darker counterpart, but as I grew older I began to explore the origins of these stories and, my goodness, were these ever creepy and sometimes down right disturbing. (Halloween and fairy tales seem to be a great fit, am I right?)Despite the ‘grim’ stories (pun intended) there are gold nuggets among the pages. Many authors in the past decade have searched these fairy tales and put their own twist to these stories of old and have come out with amazing retold stories of their own. Red Riding Hood has been told and re-told time and time again, each with small changes that make it slightly different than the last. Some re-told Riding Hood stories have been changed so much that they are hardly recognizable. Two things remains the same. The person with the red hood and a depiction of a wolf.Any hint of the essence of fairy tales being told in a story, consider my interest piqued.Tell me, what are your favourite fairy tales of old or new?Until next time, keep creating.Inkblade Writer.http://Photo credit: chiaralily via Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC -
Don’t Forget To Take Time For Yourself
Hello again! These next few blog posts will be short and sweet. October will soon be upon us and it’s always a busy time of year for me. I make costumes quite often so naturally, October becomes costume making month as I like to make my kids, husband, and myself costumes for Halloween. I will soon be up to my elbows in fabric, boxes, paint, and tape. There will be princesses and creepers of plenty… 🙂
As important as it is to write all the time it’s just as important to take time for yourself and for your family and friends. So, peel your way from your laptop or notebook. Go outside. Bake something. Drink tea (always drink tea) and say hello to your friends and family. They’ll love you for it.
Also, read! Reading is very important to writing. Words are magic. Mmm… magical words. Oh goodness, I love October. I could go on forever chatting about magic. So, in the spirit of magic and October what are your favorite books to read that include the element of magic?
Hopefully you can share some great magical stories with your friends and family.
Happy costume and magic month!
Keep creating.
Inkblade.