Review: Notes From Underground Anthology

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I realise that I promised you this review ages ago and I have no excuses (except ending up with more books to read than I can in one go) but here it is finally.

Notes from Underground is an anthology created by The Literary Lab last year.  I knew this would appeal to me as soon as I saw it as the entries were judged completely differently from most competitions.  Instead of writing a piece and submitting it, writers were encouraged to write about their ideas - if they were selected they then had free reign to create what they liked, how they liked.  And I have to say it has made for a very unique anthology.

There are a wide variety subjects and styles so there is bound to be something you enjoy.  Not only that, but it also opened my mind up to different ways of writing what I want to say - from using diary entries, poetry and even including images.  The only downside was that as I was reading it on Kindle, the images (photos, paintings, etc) were all in black and white and perhaps not as clear as in the print copy.

I would strongly recommend this anthology to anyone looking for unique storytelling and especially to writers as expanding our ideas is never a bad thing.

(By the way, submissions for The Literary Lab's new anthology 'Variations on a Theme' are currently open.)

[Disclaimer: I have not been compensated in anyway for this review.  All opinions are my own.]

Inspiration

Last week over on Coach Creative Space (CCS) the topic of discussion was inspiration. (By the way, if your life is revolves around creativity then you should definitely consider joining.)  As a writer, crafter and general creator I always love reading where others get their inspiration.  In fact, I’d go as far as to say that often I actively seek out this information.  I want to know how writers come up with their stories, how artists get inspired.  And the one thing that I’ve read over and over again is that they have too many ideas, that the problem isn’t finding ideas but deciding which ones to use.

And thus I found myself a minority on CCS.  I love to write and I love to create.  But I have always struggled with the inspiration part.  It is very rare for me to just have an idea – I have to actively seek it out (which I have learnt to do through extensive reading on inspiration).  When I mentioned this in the discussion I was mostly met with confusion and advice to take a break to replenish my creativity.  The thing is, I don’t need to take a break.  I need to do the complete opposite.  I need to drive myself to find more ideas, new characters and different settings. The more I do this the easier it comes.  

But I still get a little jealous when others complain about the inspiration question.  They can’t answer it because they just are inspired.  Constantly.  So here’s a few of my tips if you have the same problem I have.

1. Take a notebook with you everywhere.  
2. Write what you see/hear/smell/feel wherever you are (being a writer/creative gives you license to eavesdrop – but only for research purposes).
3. Pick a word or phrase and use it as inspiration.
4. Write from the point of view of a character you know well (perhaps someone from your favourite T.V. show?)
5. Free-write for ten minutes.  Pick a sentence/phrase/word from what you’ve written.  Use it to start another ten minutes of free-writing. Repeat.
6. Find a book of writing/creative exercises and do them.
7. Listen to the conversations you have with your friends/family – give the subject to your characters to talk about.
8. Take a walk and get some fresh air.
9. Get someone to give you 5-10 unrelated, random words.  Write/paint something that includes them all.
10. Remember that you don’t have to get it right the first time.  Give yourself permission to have fun and see what you come up with.

Are you in the minority like me?  Or are you one of those who struggle to choose which idea to use?  Let me know if you try any of my pointers and please share your own in the comments.

Breaks and Balance

I didn't intend to take a break this weekend.  Turns out my brain and body needed it.  I didn't do much writing.  In fact, I didn't do much of anything.  But I'm feeling ready to get back into the swing of things again now. 

I didn't intend to take a break.  To begin with I felt guilty for not reading and writing and creating as much as I usually do.  I realise now I had burnt myself out with getting overly ambitious last week.  I know I still need to find the right balance and I'm determined to keep trying until I find it.  Until then I apologize for any sudden incontinuity on this blog.  I will try to always keep you updated - I want you to know what's going on.  But sometimes, like this past weekend (and a few extra days), I just can't bring myself to open a blank document and write a post.  Like I said, I'm looking for the balance.  If you have any tips please share in the comments.

Doctor Who!

For those of you who are already Doctor Who fans, you probably don't need reminding that episode 7 is being aired tonight.  If you are not a Doctor Who fan - where on earth have you been?  Seriously, you're missing out (okay, so that's just my opinion but still).

So to get you appetite whetted, here's the prequel to 'Let's Kill Hitler'


And if that wasn't enough to make you want to watch it, here are the two clips of the episode that the BBC have already shown:





(Even if you're not a Doctor Who fan I recommend you watch that last clip as it had me literally laughing out loud - to the point that Chris wanted to know what I was laughing at so naturally I had to watch it again to show him!)

Review: Red by Kait Nolan

Elodie Rose has a secret. Any day, she’ll become a wolf and succumb to the violence that’s cursed her family for centuries. For seventeen years she’s hidden who and what she is. But now someone knows the truth and is determined to exterminate her family line. Living on borrowed time in the midst of this dangerous game of hide and seek, the last thing Elodie needs to do is fall in love. But Sawyer is determined to protect her, and the brooding, angry boy is more than what he seems. Can they outsmart a madman? And if they survive, will they find a way to beat the curse for good?

I have never been a big fan of the whole paranormal YA genre (especially after reading Twilight), however, after reading and loving Paranormalcy by Kiersten White (my review) I figured perhaps the genre was worth a second look.  That’s how I came to read Red by Kait Nolan and I’m glad I did.

The story is told from two points of view – Elodie (a teenage girl trying to avoid the curse that has been handed down by her mother) and Sawyer (a teenage werewolf) – however, it is clearly Elodie’s story.  The plot is a strange mix of paranormal romance and paranormal thriller yet I found it worked and I wanted to keep reading.  I needed to know who would win out which kept me turning the pages.

My favourite aspect was definitely the emotion and motivation woven through each scene.  The reader is pulled into the characters lives and more than once I found myself flooded with the strong desires which plagued Elodie and Sawyer.

Engaging, with strong characters, my only criticism is that although we are shown Sawyer’s point of view, the majority of it is written in Elodie’s voice.  I found that this disrupted my reading of it a little as it was far too lopsided.  However, I believe the author was right to include Sawyer’s view – I just wish there was more of it.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick escape from the real world.  And if, like me, you haven’t read much of the paranormal genre, I think this is a good place to start.  I know I certainly will be looking into more books by Kait Nolan.

Read the first chapter on Kait's website.

[Disclaimer: I received a copy of this ebook in return for an honest review.  All opinions expressed are entirely my own.]

Goodreads

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Okay, I realise that once again I am late to the party, but I've just discovered Goodreads (I'm guessing you're rolling your eyes about now).  To be fair I've known about Goodreads for a while, just haven't seen the point of joining.  I had on app on facebook that does pretty much the same thing (or so I thought) and that was good enough for me.  So when said app decided to discontinue I wasn't the happiest bunny.  It did offer me the chance, however, to upload all my saved books to Goodreads so I grudgingly agreed.  Turns out I've been missing out.

In case you don't know, Goodreads is a site where readers (and authors) can share what they're reading/want to read/have read with their friends.  You can rate the books and leave reviews.  That is pretty much what my old app did.  Goodreads takes it a lot further, which is why I now realise I was missing out.  Not only can you share your books but you can vote on lists, join groups (I'm currently looking for a bookclub to join - there are not a few of them!), read interviews with authors and join in with reading challenges and goals (or set your own).  Seriously, if you don't have a goodreads account - get one. (And when you do, feel free to add me as a friend - just message me first so I know how you found me.)

And the best part?  Since I've joined Goodreads I've wanted to read more as the whole atmosphere is geared towards reading and once again I'm back into my goal of reading every book under the sun.

Anyone have any suggestions on bookclubs I might want to join?

The Issue of Privacy

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The other day I started looking into Google – you know, the whole Google +1 thing and linking my profile to my blog and twitter.  That of course got me started on a whole other topic and so I couldn’t help but google myself (don’t look down on me, you know you’ve done it too).  What I found surprised me.

For starters, apparently there are at least two other people in the world with my exact same name.  Okay, we probably don’t share middle names (though now I’m thinking I should check) but I had been under the impression my name was relatively obscure.  I know ‘Tamara’ has become more popular since I was born, but seriously, my surname is a little weird if you ask me.

The other shock factor I got was just how much information was available to anyone who searched my name.  Did you know there is a website called DatingSPY?  I’m not kidding.  Apparently you can not only find information such as birthday, photo, where they live, family members, but there are links to dating site profiles that might be who you’re looking for.  Is it just me or is that providing stalkers, kidnappers and murderers with too much information.  Just in case you’re curious I promptly removed my profile and then proceeded to go through the masses of privacy settings on facebook.

I know I shouldn’t really have been surprised, after all, I’ve never really worried too much about what information is available to others.  I’m not saying I took intentional risks – I’ve never put my address on the internet and consider myself relatively careful when it comes to this blog.  I just didn’t realise how easy I was to track.  (In real life I mean as the whole point of having a blog and twitter is to become more visible online).

I have to wonder if I’m being paranoid here.  Or should we really be worried about privacy (or the lack thereof) at all?  We are living in a digital age and the truth is that every movement we make online is being tracked (admit it, Google probably knows more about you than you do) to create better ad-targeting and to help us in our searches find what we want quicker (so I am told).  So where do we draw the line?

Are you worried about the amount of information about you that is available on the web?  Do you try and keep everything private or have you decided that other battles are more important?