Dystopia- is a community or society that is in some important way undesirable or frightening. It is literally translated as "not-good place", an antonym of utopia.
Dystopian YA fiction is all the rage right now. Hunger Games is wildly popular obviously, but I have read a multitude of other original Dystopian fiction. I enjoy them, but sometimes I get annoyed when I pick up yet another Dystopian novel. They are so common, the market is flooded with them. S. Alex Martin wrote an amazing post about the flooding of our YA markets with Dystopian novels. They are fast paced, and give nail-biting plot lines. But are they really what is best for us or for the young people who will grow up to shape our society? I am not slamming Dystopian. I am a huge fan of Hunger Games. And Uglies. And Matched. They can be very entertaining, and easy, quick reads. How do you really feel about Dystopian fiction? As readers, are you tired of this topic, or do you want more? What do you want to see instead? Life as a mom is hard. But I love it so much. It was the job I was meant for, and I adore my children.
But balancing myself with the needs of my children is never an easy task. Choosing between two good things, that has always been a struggle for me. This year, I have chosen to focus on two things. My family, and my writing. If you show up at my house and the baby took a long nap, instead of cleaning I have probably been writing. If I leave a party early, it's probably because every minute after 8 o'clock is sacred writing time. This is what I do. My goals are doable, but only if I work hard. My kiddos are so important to me, and I love watching them learn and grow. Being a stay at home mom (especially with my husband as a teacher) has never been easy, but it has always been my choice, a choice I have never regretted. But something I have learned throughout 7 years of being a stay at home mom, is that you cannot just be their mom. You have to be yourself too. I am mom all the time. But only sometimes do I feel like Camille. And those times reaffirm to me that I am a person too, that I have talents and skills that the world needs outside of my home. And that it's healthy to feel that way. In other news, today I wrote 5,200 words on my new project. Like I said, long nap for the baby equals lots of writing time for me! "What are your deep dreams? Write for five minutes. Many of us don't know, don't recognize, avoid our deep dreams. When we write for five, ten minutes we are forced to put down wishes that float around in our mind and that we might not pay attention to. It is an opportunity to write down, without thinking, wishes at the periphery of our perceptions.
Reread them. Start to take your dreams and wishes seriously." - Writing Down the Bones, Natalie Goldberg Are you a deep dreamer? I am, and I think most writers are. My thoughts are always going in different creative directions, but the stories in my head swirl around and mix themselves together, making it nearly impossible to form a coherent plot from them. But, I have discovered that if I sit down and pull bits and pieces from my sleep and day dreams, I can usually come up with a pretty solid plot line, and then learn to fill in the blanks from there. Some ideas will always stay just that, ideas. They will never form a story, never be released from my personal thoughts. But so many of my ideas come to me randomly, and I have been taking advantage of having a smartphone and sending myself moments of inspiration or ideas that come to me during the day when I am not at the computer. Then there was the time I woke up from a dream, and grabbed a piece of paper, furiously scribbling down what at the moment seemed like a life-changing idea for my current book. I looked at it later, now fully awake, and my husband rolled over laughing. "Blinking horse, gaze fondly." I have no earthly idea how that ridiculous conglomeration of words seemed like inspiration to me, but it probably had something to do with only getting 5 hours of sleep, broken up by a 1 1/2 year old climbing in our bed. Avoid the blinking horses, and your dreams may turn out to be the first hints of the story you were meant to write! Turn your face to the Sun and all of the shadows fall behind you At the beginning of January, the year started out pretty rough for us. We were sick, each of us dropping like flies one after another, a nasty flu followed by a really awful cough/croup. Then, our minivan broke down, completely. It did have 195,000 miles on it, so I guess we shouldn't have been surprised! But as a frugal by necessity family, it was really really hard to use up all our savings to buy a van. And our car started having problems the same week too, so we were tremendously worried about what to do! On top of it all, we have been in the middle of the dreariest winter I can remember. The Treasure Valley in Idaho is known for it's awful INVERSIONS. Cloud banks roll in and you can't see the sky for days. The sun is hidden behind these ground level clouds and the brightness is not visible at all through the grayish white sky that surrounds the valley. We were given a series of blessings, one after another, and thanks to my Dad's hours of help searching craigslist, we finally found an awesome deal on a new minivan. It is nicer, and runs better than our last van, and since it only has 75,000 miles on it, this van should last us a good long while. Hopefully it can take us on some family road trips! Yesterday, while waiting to pick up my oldest from school, my 2nd child and I discovered a really fun feature of our "new to us" minivan. We have a fully functional sunroof! She stood on the armrests and popped her little head out. She was SO excited, and as I watched her basking in the sun that had finally decided to come out, I pulled out my crappy phone camera. I could not let the moment pass by without catching her expressions of joy and happiness as the sun radiantly shone down on her face! Oh, and in case you were wondering, even though the sun came out, it was still extremely cold, hence the big puffy coat she is wearing. Warmth will come later, I'm just grateful for some sunshine! Words have always inspired me. I have kept many notebooks full of quotations that have impacted my life. The right words can change you, can mold you into the person that you are meant to be.
These two quotes I am sharing today were highly motivational as I struggled through endless rewrites of my first novel. They reminded me that the story I had started, was still needing to be written. As a stay at home mom, I struggle to find time or energy to write. For years, I have written sporadically, mainly jotting down ideas and never finding time to mold them into stories with characters and plots. But, a couple months ago, I decided I was done with that. I was never going to finish my book if I didn't treat it like a part-time job. So, I have dedicated myself to a minimum of 2 hours of writing a day. When the baby takes a long nap and I have no other obligations, I can sometime fit in 1-2 hours during the day, and then another 2-3 at night. Have I slept less these past months? Yes. Have I gotten frustrated? Of course. But, I am accomplishing so much that I don't mind the lack of sleep, most days, and I find myself aching to get back to my laptop when I am not able to write. I am quickly re-motivated when I give myself a brainstorming session where I can write about whatever ideas are swirling around in my head. And, the more you write, the easier it becomes! Do you have a story to tell? Is there a scene or a character that won't leave you alone in your waking and sleeping thoughts? If so, these quotes are meant for you too! Hello! Welcome to my blog!
I am hoping this can be a place where I share my love of books and my tidbits and perspective during this wonderful thing called life. Idaho is my home, and I have three beautiful little girls who bring me so much joy! My husband is a teacher, and I am a photographer and aspiring writer. No, scratch that. I am a writer. I write. I may not be published yet, but I spend at least two hours a day writing, so I believe I can call myself a writer. "Don't forget, no one else sees the world the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell." -Charles de Lint |