Hello again!
I am here to tell you about the Five Fall Favorites blog party that is going on over at Read Another Page, and other participating blogs.
There is a giveaway and lots of book suggestions, so check it out!
~ Molly
Book Review: Emma by Jane Austen
What is it about Jane Austen that makes every single one of her books enjoyable? Well, for one thing, she had an amazing sense of human nature. She understood people and was able to put that understanding on paper. Her plots are enjoyable, her characters real and believable.
Emma was one of my favorite reads for the summer. And I read a lot of books this summer!
To be honest, Emma herself was rather annoying. Her matchmaking “skills” (or, rather, lack thereof) could definitely get on the reader’s nerves. But still, I liked her, especially nearer to the end of the book.
I don’t think I could really choose a favorite character, but Emma and Mr. Knightley are, of course, right up there.
Great book for ages 12 and up. If you want to read it, here is a link to a kindle edition and a paperback edition.
Talk to you later!
~Molly
Hello friends,
The Walker fire started three days ago near Genesee and Taylorsville in California. It seemed to be nothing to worry about at first, being only between 500 and 1000 acres. But overnight this fire grew in size from 2,000 to 17,000 acres, and is now over 24,000 acres. That is about 37 square miles. I live less than twenty miles of this fire. It is a little bit intimidating, and we (my family and I) are keeping an eye on updates just in case we have to evacuate. Mandatory evacuations have already started a bit closer to the fire.
Where I live there is a lot of smoke and ash is falling like snow – not quite as thick, but that’s what it looks like!
I would appreciate all of your prayers, for all of the people involved – the people who could lose their homes, and the firefighters also. Thank you all so much!
Molly
As writers, all of us have had those moments when we are reading a good book. I wish I could have written that! or Why can’t I ever write anything that good? So, why isn’t it a good idea to do that?
Comparing or aspiring?
One easy thing to do as a writer is to compare your work to that of another – especially an author who is more experienced than you or whom you admire. Why is this a problem? Because, by comparing, what can happen is that your own work is degraded in your eyes.
This can get discouraging when you realize that you can’t write like Louisa May Alcott, C. S. Lewis, Jane Austen, Jules Verne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Charles Dickens, J.R.R. Tolkien, Alexandre Dumas, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, or any author whom you admire.
(I could name more, but the list would get too long.)
But that’s the wrong way to look at things.
The reason you can’t write like your favorite author is because you aren’t your favorite author. You are you and must write with your own style, realizing that you can’t be anyone else, but you are yourself.
“Well, I don’t like my writing style,” you may say. Well, that’s where the second half of this post comes in. Aspiration.
To aspire is to aim for something higher. To make a goal, to seek ambitiously. This is what we as writers must do. By studying the works of those authors, finding out what made them truly good and seeking to incorporate that into our own writing, we can improve ourselves without being discouraged.
If you still need encouragement, find a friend who is willing to read your work, give you pointers, tell you how much they like it, and be a fan. (Or, if you know someone who needs this, you give it to them.)
Keep practicing. Rather than be discouraged when reading great works of literature, aspire and be inspired. Writing is fun!
And remember, even the greatest authors had to start somewhere.
Talk to you later!
Molly
P.S. this is the 50th post on A Sparkle of Light!
A True Story. Feel free to laugh! 🙂
A few weeks ago, a few members of my family and I started watching a movie. As it was a long movie there were two things noticeable at once. (#1) one we couldn’t watch all in one sitting and (#2) it was on a double-sided DVD.
We ended up finishing the movie after a few evenings, but to our surprise, it was only about half as long as the back of the case said it would be! We realized, between laughs, that we had watched the second half first! By putting side “A” down in the player (that makes sense, right?) we had finished the movie before we’d started it. Oops.
As if that weren’t bad enough, a couple weeks later we were doing almost the exact same thing. Watching a movie that had a double-sided DVD.
After watching for a while, it got late so we stopped it about 15 minutes short of the end of the first side of the disc. Thinking about what the back of the case had said about this movie, we realized that it was nothing like what we had watched!
We’d done it again.
At least we hadn’t finished it first, though. 😛 We couldn’t believe it! And we had even put side “1” down, like the first one had been.
Oh well. I’d like to have a good talk with whoever invented double-sided DVDs.
Moral of the story: make sure you have the right side of the DVD down! 😀
Have a wonderful day!
~ Molly ~
Hello friends,
Today I’m sharing a book giveaway from Jessica Greyson! 🙂
Here’s the link. It looks pretty cool!
Well, that’s all for today.
Talk to you later,
Molly
I would like to wish all of my followers (and non-followers too!) a happy Resurrection Sunday!!
He is risen indeed!
~ Molly
This isn’t a post filled with brilliant advice. It’s just me trying to be helpful in any way I can. 🙂
All writers have their moments when they don’t want to write. Or maybe they want to write but they don’t know what to write. (That is often referred to as writer’s block; I myself do not believe there is such a thing as writer’s block. I prefer “lack of inspiration”).
So what can you do to avoid Lack of Inspiration/Writer’s Block?
There is no tried and true method, but here are a some ideas that I hope will help someone out there.
Well, I hope you enjoyed my tips. 🙂
Happy writing!
Molly
Hello folks! I’m back again, and since I am too lazy to write up a book review this evening, I will post a poem I wrote a few months back.
I present to you, It’s Weird to be Normal
It’s Weird to be Normal
You know, there are two kinds of folks in this world,
Those who are normal and those who are weird.
(Though the weird make up the greater number,
Don’t ask me why, it’s some reason or other)
If you’re now trembling about being called weird,
Don’t worry, it’s not quite as bad as you feared.
We call people “weird” whose habits are odd,
Perhaps they wear stripes or go out with feet shod,
In sparkly pink sandals, or maybe they wear,
Bluebells and seashells in their hair!
(If you say that’s not like you,
Wait to see what I’m coming to!)
Some people read and some people write,
They do it all day (and they do it all night!)
Some people dance and others just whistle,
Instead of a houseplant, some keep a thistle!
Some have cameras “attatched to their head”!
(What do they do when they go to bed?)
But to myself I am not weird at all.
Not too short and not too tall,
And now I’ll tell a secret or two,
The only one you think is normal is you!
And now you can see why most people are crazy,
Whistling tunes or just being lazy.
The end.
What do you think?
~ Molly
Happy February!
After theorizing about the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty for a little while the other day, I decided to combine it all into a page about him. So instead of a book review, please enjoy reading The Myth of Humpty Dumpty.
The Myth of Humpty Dumpty
A Comedy
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,
All the King’s horses and all the King’s men,
Couldn’t put Humpty together again!
Dear Reader,
In this rather cryptic rhyme, we are told of the demise of Humpty Dumpty. We shall go over several theories and break it down to the true story of Humpty Dumpty.
- Was Humpty Dumpty an egg? As the rhyme never specifies what kind of creature Humpty was, we can only speculate. Think of him as an egg if you wish. As for me, I believe he was a sack of flour.
- Was Humpty a boy or a girl? The rhyme never uses personal pronouns. This makes it very hard to determine which Humpty was. However, I am going to assume that Humpty is a he.
- Why was Humpty on the wall? I shall answer that with a theory.
A theory: Humpty Dumpty was the sworn enemy of the king. Every day he would sit on the wall and look out over the country, thinking about how to take it over. Then one day he fell! The King saw him fall and sent out his horsemen to make sure he was dead. The horsemen discovered that he was a sack of flour and told the king so. The king felt remorse, having been the enemy of a flour sack, as he was very fond of pastries.
Because of this great remorse, the King wrote a poem commemorating Humpty, leaving out the fact that he was an enemy and making it sound as though he had sent his horsemen to help him. This also explains the lack of doctors in the rhyme.
Sincerely,
The Author
P.S. Once you have read this, you probably won’t ever think of Humpty Dumpty the same way ever again.
What do you think? Will Humpty Dumpty ever be the same again?
Do you like book reviews or stories better?
TTYL,
Molly
