M.L. Stoughton: February 2013

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Thursday's Children 2/14/13

Welcome to the Thursday’s Children Blog Hop, where writers come together to share whatever inspires them throughout their writing journey. Make sure to check out the other bloggers via the Link List at the bottom of this post. We’d love for you to join us!

I'm on vacation, so this I've kept this post short and sweet. Yep, I escaped cold and snowy New York to visit my mom in sunny Florida. I hadn't been to her house in 2 or 3 years, so I wandered around enjoying the many photos that adorned her walls.

Then one brought a tear to my eye. It's a picture of my mother and her brother from the 50's, they were both teenagers. They spent most of their adult lives on opposite coasts, and we lost him to tragic circumstances in 2009.

This is the picture.

I had forgotten that I framed it for her and wrote this short and sweet poem:

Brother...

So many yesterdays forgotten,

And many miles apart.

You may not have been in my arms,

But you were always in my heart.

I think this is a reminder.

Don't think about calling a loved one. Do it!

Don't say "we should get together." Do it!

Friday, February 8, 2013

Thursday's Children 2/7/13

Music seems to be a theme this week, and as we can probably all agree, a huge inspiration for a writer. Which makes sense, after all, a song is like a book.

~They both tell a story, so there's your plot.

~They both usually have a climax, somewhere near the end.

~The music is your setting or theme.

~The pacing is in the rhythm of the song.

~They both have a voice. Even an instrumental can have voice. You may hear it as a piano or a violin, but it's there.

One of my all time favorite songs is Somewhere Only We Know by Keane. And while it wasn't intentional, I think it inspired a big part of the setting in my paranormal romance REACH.

Max Schneider & Elizabeth Gillies did a cover of this song, and it's almost more perfect for REACH. Almost. (I love Elizabeth Gillies!)

I don't really have a playlist for REACH, per se, but I do have some songs in mind when I visualize scenes. Time by Paul Cardall is a beautiful instrumental. It speaks to me of innocence and discovery -- perfect for one of my favorite scenes with Luke and Melinda.

Enjoy the music and share a theme song from one of your manuscripts!

Friday, February 1, 2013

Thursday's Children 1/31/13

This is my first post with the Thursday’s Children Blog Hop, and therein lies my inspiration.

I want to work on my current WIP every day and I want to post on my blog more regularly. But I, like many others, suffer from seasonal affective disorder, and that makes it really hard for me to get motivated during the gloomy winter months in upstate New York. It doesn’t help that I have a nasty cold and haven’t had a voice for 3 days.

So, I decided that by joining Thursday’s Children, that might give me the kick in the pants to post on a weekly basis. Then I decided that I needed a new workspace. That might help me want to sit down and write every day. I miss being in that place, where you can't pull me away from the computer. During the warmer months I usually take my laptop outside and sit at the table on the patio. But, I didn’t have a special place to work inside. I’ve tried different rooms and different desks, but nothing felt “just right.” I’m starting to sound like Goldilocks. lol. Well, today I found it! And it’s totally genius, if I do say so myself.

I have this cool antique sewing machine that a friend gave me about a year ago. I just love it.

Today I found an oval glass top (with no bottom) at our local thrift store.

And voila, my new desk! Genius, right?

I carefully removed the top wood flap and placed the glass on top. I also used some of those little sticky rubber feet that you can buy in a package of 4 at Wal-mart, to help secure the glass.