Reading Log as of May 18th - Archangel's Ascension

 

Time To Talk

By

Robert Frost

When a friend calls to me from the road

And slows his horse to a meaning walk,

I don’t stand still and look around

On all the hills I haven’t hoed,

And shout from where I am, What is it?

No, not as there is a time to talk.

I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,

Blade-end up and five feet tall,

And plod: I go up to the stone wall

For a friendly visit.

Why this poem is apropos for today! I had the exact opposite issue today – No time to talk, no time to post.  Hubby and I spent the day doing a deep clean at the shop.  My techs will probably hate me for reorganizing their benches in the process.  Oh well….

I finished Nalini Singh’s Archangels Ascension, #17 in the Guild Hunter series which was all about Aodhan and Blue, two male angels who are best friends and have to navigate Aodhan’s dark past to become lovers. Fortunately the story didn’t get too graphic.

Currently reading Lisa Jewel’s Breaking the Dark which is the first book in a Marvel crime series with a female detective, Jessica Jones.

Also rereading Anne Bishop’s Written in Red which is the first book in the other’s series:

“As a cassandra sangue, or blood prophet, Meg Corbyn can see the future when her skin is cut—a gift that feels more like a curse. Meg’s Controller keeps her enslaved so he can have full access to her visions. But when she escapes, the only safe place Meg can hide is at the Lakeside Courtyard—a business district operated by the Others.

Shape-shifter Simon Wolfgard is reluctant to hire the stranger who inquires about the Human Liaison job. First, he senses she’s keeping a secret, and second, she doesn’t smell like human prey. Yet a stronger instinct propels him to give Meg the job. And when he learns the truth about Meg and that she’s wanted by the government, he’ll have to decide if she’s worth the fight between humans and the Others that will surely follow.”

 

Our Saturday Night movie was Woman in Gold with Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds which was excellent. 

BW12: Sunday's Book Babble - A prayer in Spring by Robert Frost

Butterfly Princess by Josephine Walls

 It's book week 12 in our 52 Books Quest and Today is World Poetry Day.  One of my favorite poets is Robert Frost. 

A Prayer In Spring

 By

Robert Frost

(March 26, 1874)

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;

And give us not to think so far away

As the uncertain harvest; keep us here

All simply in the springing of the year.

 Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,

Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;

And make us happy in the happy bees

The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird

That suddenly above the bees is heard,

The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,

And off a blossom in mid air stands still.

 For this is love and nothing else is love,

To which it is reserved for God above

To sanctify to what far ends he will,

But which it only needs that we fulfill.

*********

Books in progress are Count of Monte Cristo, continuing Thea Harrison's Elder series and currently on Night's Honor, and started a sci fi space opera Ancestral Night (#1 White space) by Elizabeth Bear.  

Monday Meanderings - copy work

Copy Work 

The universe is trying to tell me something.  For all the years I've home schooled and had James doing copy work, as suggested by Susan Wise Bauer in Well Trained Mind and Charlotte Mason's classical education ideals, not once has it ever occurred to me that it would be beneficial for me to do so.  I discovered I retain and remember more when taking notes while reading non fiction. I've learned to underline sentences and paragraphs that spark while reading fiction, otherwise it goes poof and I never find that perfect sentence again.  What does that have to do with copy work?  

I read about the practice of copy work for writers in the last couple books I read, plus I've stumbled across the art of copy work on the internet this past week.  Brent McKay from the The Art of Manliness explains best how it will improve your writing as well as memory and focus. A few years back when I was reading all of James Scott Bell writing books, the idea didn't stick.  Read a book, take notes, copy the sentences, analyze the structure. Lather, rinse, repeat.   It didn't stick.  I guess the time wasn't right. 

The universe has been throwing copy work in my face the past few days and I finally got the hint.  I've been contemplating - who (whom?) shall I copy? Who will help me the most? Robert Frost is one of my favorite poets.  This morning's prompt for the National Journal Writing Month is to copy The Road Less Traveled, think about it and write about a time when you've take the less popular road, figuratively or literally.  Check - Robert Frost goes on the list.  

I love Dean Koontz's writing- he's poetic yet not, hitting all the senses, pulling me into the story and immersing me in the characters world.  Then there's the diva of writing, Nora Roberts.  I love her trilogies and also her In Death series which I've read several times.  I could never write stories like either one of them. However, maybe like the saying -

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. 

So, I'm going to shoot for the moon, include copy work in my writing repertoire and see where it takes me. 

Flash Friday - Night Road

Friday Flash 

Night Road 

Decided to revisit Oulipos today and share my experiment utilizing Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken which turned out to be a big failure. I tried the N + 7 route which is replace the major nouns with another noun which is the 7^th one below it, in the dictionary.  However the first line ending up being 

Two robbers diverged in a women. 

After I stopped laughing and got over my hot flash, tried a few variations but it just wasn’t working.  Then I got the bright idea to take book titles and transform them into a story, but got as far as a weird poem.  Which is below for your viewing  pleasure. 

On the Night Road 

Death Comes

Brightly Burning

Across the Endless River

On the Night Road.

Dark Shadows 

In the Woods

Scream for Me,

On the Night Road.

Flashback

Phantom

Rainwater

Dark Harbor.

The Door Within

All Through The Night

Vanished

A World I Never Made.

Midnight

A Lethal Harvest

Watcher in the Woods

Shoot Him if He Runs.

Forgotten Garden

Born in Fire

Icebound

Thunder of Heaven

Blink

Shadow of Doubt

Rivers Edge

Never Go Back

Brilliance of the Moon

A Walk in the Woods

The Brink of Dawn

On the Night Road

Infinite Days

The Silent Gift

Everything Beautiful Began Again.

On the Night Road.