Huge Giveaway & Chocolate Blogfest, Two Treats in One!

Idea City has two exciting events: a giveaway and a blogfest! First, we invite you to help celebrate fellow blogger and author Sheri Larsen’s signing with Literary Agent Paula Munier of Talcott Notch Literary! As you know, Sheri has an awesome blog called Writers’ Ally. And because she thinks that our literary community is so freaking fabulous, she has decided to have a Bigger-Than-A-Shopping-Mall GIVEAWAY!! You only need to enter one Rafflecopter for a prize. Enter all three and you have a shot at the grand prize. The giveaway’s open until September 27. Winners will be chosen on September 28.

And now for the What’s Your Chocolate Blogfest that M Pax, Laura Eno, Brinda Berry and Ciara Knight are running. Chocolate, ahhhh, the essential treat that we writers need by our side, along with a hot cuppa joe, for long writing stints. They want us to relay a chocolate memory, or reveal what our fave chocolate is. The memory that sticks in my mind, (literally), was when I was around ten, and my dad took me to the Philadelphia Orchestra. I had on a fancy dress and brand new pink wool coat. He bought me a Swiss chocolate bar, which I half unwrapped, in order to start munching along to the violins and horns. Well, I guess the Beethoven, or whatever it was got pretty distracting, because the next thing I knew, I couldn’t find the chocolate bar anywhere! 
After the concert, as we stood up to walk out, my dad gasped. I spun around, and he pointed to my back. The chocolate bar had melted onto the right seat of my pink coat! Talk about embarrassed! To read other chocolate tales jump over to M Pax’s list of participants here.
But first, don’t forget to enter Sheri’s three giveaways and leave a chocolate-inspired comment on your way out. Everyone who does gets a virtual Hershey’s Kiss. Thanks!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Click to open the last-a grand prize entry

a Rafflecopter giveaway

C for CONTINUITY

Today for A to Z, it's C Day.  C is for CONTINUITY. The dictionary describes this as: 1. uninterrupted connection, succession or union. 2. a continuous or connected whole 3. a film, musical piece, or story in chronological order. From the Middle English (1375-1425) continuite --flow or progression.

As a writer and teacher of fiction, I am very aware of the importance of maintaining continuity. I often write on workshop students' pieces "Give us more connective tissue." What do I mean by that? Perhaps a novel is too episodic, and the episodes don't connect enough, or perhaps the characters are each going on their own paths and not bouncing off each other in a tight action/reaction dance. Or the main protag's challenge has little to do with the theme of the story.

Alex Grey, Visionary Art

Think of a body. It has a heart--the story core--and it has parts that each do their duty. In a body, without connective tissue, the muscle that holds the body together, or lymph that pushes out toxins, or the blood that feeds and oxygenates, the parts would loosen and fall apart. The main characters' wants and needs should weave together in a complex design, and the story should have a clear, arching trajectory.

Think continuity!

What do you think is important in pulling a story together as one whole?

B is for Bottom Line in the A to Z Challenge

Let me start by saying that I've settled on a theme for the A to Z challenge. I'm writing posts on The Creative Life-anything about writing and art, and how to live as fruitfully as possible as a creative being, not always simple in the world of commerce, competition and fast paced-moves.

Now for B! The first thing that popped up for me (repeatedly) when I thought of B is the phrase Bottom Line. The dictionary defines it as 1. The essential or salient point, 2. A line at the bottom of a financial statement that shows the net profit or loss. 3. The most important consideration.

In considering a truly creative life, here is my bottom line:
Live by my intuition... if it feels right, go for it, no matter my anxiety. If it feels wrong, don't do it, even if the choice seems glittery and golden.
I have followed my intuition in editing a manuscript and sensing when it's done, in choosing an agent, in choosing a gallery, in using or not using manuscript critique suggestions, in choosing friends, even in buying a car or a piece of real estate. If an artist or writer cannot trust his or her intuition, he's working without a rudder.

The medieval cups are symbolic of intuition

To help me in this path, I often meditate before I face an onerous decision, or if I find myself unsure and waffling. This always helps. I might find that my gut is saying wait, you're not ready to make that decision, or it might tell me get on that phone now and stop procrastinating!

In your creative life, what's your bottom line?