Saturday, June 27, 2015

The Inspired Writers! Blue Dragon's Geas Featured.

I had the privilege of being featured on The Inspired Writers blog athored by Merrie Housdon.  You can find the feature article here:  Day 19 of Fantasy Month: The Blackguard by Cheryl Matthynssens

Get the set of the first three here.


The Inspired Writers Blog is dedicated to the both authors and readers.  She occasionally dedicates a whole month to the most requested Genre.  You can vote for your favorite genre, or for the genre that you write, check out the Genre of the Month Poll Page.  There you register for your chance at a feature during this time if your genre fits what is chosen.  When there is no registration form, that means that registration has been closed or that a winner for the next genre of the month has not been chosen.

Friday, June 26, 2015

Relationships between lucid dreaming and creativity

I found this great article on lucid dreaming.  I use lucid dreaming to help me visually paint backgrounds.  A few scenes in the Blue Dragon's Geas series have been as a result of lucid dreaming.  I have gotten pretty good at it.  For those interested in lucid dreaming's connection to creativity, I found an article for you.  There is a full pdf on this connection at :

Page Header

Relationship between lucid dreaming, creativity and dream charakteristics
Nicolas Zink, Reinhard Pietrowksy

Abstract

Lucid dreaming is the ability of a dreamer to become aware that he is dreaming and to possibly change some aspects of his current dream. This ability is associated with higher creativity and a proclivity for divergent thinking. Between subjects, dreams have different characteristics, such as the incorporation of daytime events, aversive dream content, or dream recall frequency (DRF). This study aimed to investigate the relationship between lucid dreaming, creativity and dream characteristics (dream structure).  A total of 334 participants took part in an online study. The results show that lucid dreamers scored higher on the creative personality scale of the Adjective Checklist and reported a higher DRF than non-lucid dreamers. As to the dream structure, lucid dreamers were more likely to incorporate daytime events into their dreams, and their dreams had a higher personal significance than those of non-lucid dreamers. Furthermore, substantial gender differences were found in DRF and other dream characteristics. The results confirm the relationship between lucid dreaming and creativity and indicate that lucid dreamers differ from non-lucid dreamers in their general dream structure.


For more access the PDF at the bottom of the abstract at:  http://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/IJoDR/article/view/10640

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

An Author Update

Emotionally I think I am getting to the best place I have been in weeks.  My motivation is slowly increasing again and I am starting to let go of some of the angst of losing a kidney to my cancer treatment. 

Intellectually - I see the world differently now. My priorities have changed.  My desperation to remain the primary income maker in my home sometimes pushes me to hard and I know it.  I just really don't want this disease to determine Johanna's access to college or going back to going without.  I just got out of that.  I am still having some struggles concentrating and my memory still has wholes.

Physically... regaining strength and stamina.  I will just get it back to comfort when I will go down again. For those that don't know, the tube placement was successful but the kidney has not responded.  They are planning to remove it on 8/5 unless the kidney kicks in before then. They have to go in through the back and back muscles which will make movement hard.  I will be in the hospital for four days and then down for at last two weeks where I won't be allowed to travel. 

Spiritually I think is where I am the strongest. I believe through God that we are all connected. This belief gives me comfort and peace.

Creatively - The plotting never stops even though I am not putting it down.  I think what I have down is some of the best writing I have done. Katherine says as the book progresss, she is having to use the red pen less and less.  She said tonight I am going to outgrow her. I know I am behind my promised release date and trust me.. no one has more anxiety about that than I. I feel like I let my readers down when cancer and its side effects impacted that date.  The book is starting beta read this week.

I am really looking forward to the book show. Theresa Snyder and I were accepted to the annual NW Book Fair in Portland on July 25th.   Theresa has done so much work on bookmarks, cards and such that I feel like I am putting to much on her.  But it should be a great day.  Of course, turning around and getting on a plane the next day, not so great.  But we do what we must!!  I am trying to get as much work as I can before I go down in August.  With the book progress and the classes I have done. I may be able to afford to take the whole month off which my doctor would prefer.
Any help you can give in sharing my books or my gofund page (http://www.gofundme.com/cudai8 )would be greatly appreciated by my family and I.  The medical bills continue to come in.

Monday, June 1, 2015

Wisdom of the Dragon Flight

Wisdom of the Flight

as told by Alador Guldalian

"Dragons are not arrogant, they know they are great. Why -- Arrogance is as close to greatness as humility is to insecurity. Why should one who is great at their part in life pretend they are less than what they are?"

Dragon of the Day!



http://www.deviantart.com/art/the-arogant-dragon-264132337
Please give the artist feedback

Just loved it!

credit to otrazhenie.wordpress.com