Toasting 2016

For the last three weeks, I told you about my resolutions, my goals, and what to expect this year.


This week, it's time to celebrate!

Here's to you!

Here's to us!

Here's to my books!

Here's to the stories that have yet to be written!

Here's to writing, creativity, and all artistic endeavors!

Here's to 2016 being an absolutely wonderful year!

Happy new year, and happy reading!

NaNoWriMo: The end is just the beginning!

Happy November, everyone! For many people November equals NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month. It's a challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. I want to take this opportunity to go through NaNo with you, and to look at the writing process in great detail.

It's the end of the month, so it's time to look at the end of NaNo and where we go from here.

The end on NaNo is not the end of your story. In fact, it's just the beginning.

                                           

We've talked about quantity and quality, and the importance of editing and polishing your piece. The end of NaNo marks the beginning of that.

But I don't want to beat a dead horse. I'm just as sick of the repetition and redundancy as you are.

Let's look at the other beginning the end of NaNo brings us.

Having accomplished NaNo, we can say that we have written a novel. It doesn't matter if we're seasoned or not. We've done it. That's an accomplishment in and of itself. It's the beginning of feeling pride in our work and our victory.

It opens the door for us to write more. Novels, short stories, poems, whatever we want! NaNo opens up our creative channels to write and write and write.

If you discover that writing isn't your thing, it still opens up those creative channels. It encourages us to try new artistic endeavors - to begin other challenges and begin learning other art forms.

The end of NaNo is not the end. Not even close. The end of NaNo marks the beginning of many wonderful things!

Character of the Week: Claudette from Trajectory

Trajectory is a short story of mine about a Police sniper named Joe Davis. Joe's life encompasses all that is good and all that is bad in humanity. Claudette is his rock.

Claudette is French-Canadian. Born in Quebec, Claudette's life was deeply enriched by the French Canadian culture, languages, art, and her family. She was surrounded by people and places that influenced her heavily. She was fortunate to experience all art forms, and to live a life most people only dreamed of. She was told she could do or be whatever she chose. She took that to heart. She found her passion for painting when she was sixteen. Within a year, she had won awards and some notoriety. She studied art tremendously in Canada, but she wanted more. So at the age of twenty, she moved to Detroit, where she studied art at Cranbrook.

She was a true artist: free-flowing, free-thinking, and very independent. While in school, she painted to make money. Whether it was painting your living room or your family portrait, she was happy to paint. She lived alone and did as she pleased.

She and Joe met by chance in a cafe. He went in to enjoy a cup of his favorite coffee when he saw her painting the scene around them. He told her he liked her work. Once he looked into her eyes, he was completely infatuated.

The couple had a rather unusual relationship. He a cop and she an artist, they both enjoyed their freedom. Through their three year romance, they each maintained their own apartments. Their relationship was built on autonomy and respect. Neither judged the other for what they did, and they were allowed to fully be themselves.


In Joe, Claudette found stability and reason to balance out her artistic whims. She found someone who allowed her to live her own life, but still include her in his. For her, their relationship was the perfect balance - the perfect yin and yang.

As time progressed, Claudette yearned to have a family of her own. Coming from a small, close-knit family, Claudette wanted to share that experience with Joe. Despite his work, he would have been the perfect husband and father. The only problem was that he did not want children.

The couple discussed the topic at length. Claudette brightened Joe's life in a way that no one else could. Neither wanted the relationship to end, but family became too important of a topic for her to continue to wait.

Unable to sever ties completely, Claudette continued to take care of Gertrude, Joe's cat, when necessary. His door was always open to her, hers always open to him.


Though she loved him dearly, Claudette was far stronger in her independence than Joe. One fateful and tragic event, though, brings them back together...potentially forever.

Claudette is such a strong, mysterious woman. I love her independence and sense of self. She has such tremendous depth. She is a character who is beautiful both inside and out. Her story with Joe is unlike anything else I've ever written. I think you will find it to be an interesting and unique read.

Favorite quote from Claudette: “Go to Gertrude. She will give you all the guidance you need. Go
home. Be in your own environment. Be where you belong. Then the answers will come to you.”

Happy reading!
http://www.amazon.com/Trajectory-Lauren-Shiro-ebook/dp/B004VS2GP4/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1426894069&sr=8-8&keywords=lauren+shiro

A to Z '14 - Printing

For this year's A to Z Challenge, I am honoring my grandfather who passed away on April 3, 2013.



P is for Printing.


My grandfather was a many of many trades. His life experiences were innumerable and nothing short of amazing.

One of his biggest trades was printing and lithography. Cigar labels was a passion of his. They are beautiful works of art. He left us all his legacy in this gorgeous images.




Today, I am letting the images speak for themselves.


P is for Printing.

A to Z '14 - Niche

For this year's A to Z Challenge, I am honoring my grandfather who passed away on April 3, 2013.


N is nor Niche.

What is a niche? Is a place or position. We often talk about finding our niche in the world. It means finding the outlet that best supports our talents and passions.



How did my grandfather teach me about niches?


He showed me that despite my struggles, there was a place for me. In the world of writing, there is a place specifically designated for me: for my voice and style. There are countless writers out there. That doesn't make one of us more legitimate than another. We all have our writing niches, which makes all of us legitimate.



I think it's important for all of us to remember that we all have a niche - a place in this world. Just because there may be 50 other people who can do what you do doesn't mean you don't have your own specific talents. You have gifts that are unique to you. Those gifts are your niche. Use them, appreciate them.


Don't be competitive. That's ego talking. Instead, be supportive and be uniquely yourself. That's finding your niche.


Niches aren't just for a select few. They are for all of us. You have one. Find it and revel in it!


N is for Niche.

Word Art

Hi everyone!

I apologize for having missed a Thursday or two. I have started a new job, and although I have more time, I had a bit of adjusting to do as well as utilizing all of my time off to catch my personal life back up.

I'm back now, and it is time to move forward.

Today, I wanted to talk about something that I actually find somewhat comical and very interesting: the art in my home.



My wife and I have fairly similar tatse, so painting & decorating have been pretty easy for us. One thing that stands out is our different tastes in art.


Don't get me wrong, we are not polar opposites. Our tastes compliment each other. She has purchased a few pieces (and I do like them), but instead of just being an image, they are what I call, "word art." They are all beautiful, decorative, framed pieces. They all have a word, phrase, statement...there are words. I like all of them. They're all very nice.




The pieces I have purchased, however, are images. Sketches, paintings, landscapes, figures...not one word.



And my point is?


I'm a writer! LOL. I find it comical that as a person whose work is not just based on words, it is words, I choose to fill my home with images. My wife who is more visual than linguistic, is the one who chooses the word art.


Funny? Yeah. Comical? In a way, I think so. Interesting? Absolutely!


Why are we like this? Do we choose art compensates for what we lack (as in my inability to draw/paint)? Do we use art to stimulate/inspire us in ways outside of our norm?



I don't know, but I am tempted to think that we are drawn to art forms (including music, writing, etc.) that do inspire or fill us in ways outside of our natural talents. I love words, I love painting with words. But, at the end of the day, looking at an image, I am recharged and inspired to use my words yet again. Looking at word art almost drains me. Again, I like the pieces we have, but looking at words on the wall can make me feel inept or insufficient. Does that make sense?




For me, words don't necessarily inspire words. Pictures, images stir within me the desire to keep writing.


What about you? What inspires you?

R: Respect

Respect may not seem applicable to art and creativity, but respect is actually very important.

Respect. What is respect and why do we need it in art?

Respect means to value something. To understand that it has some value, whether monetary or emotional.

Why do we need it in art? We need to value all forms of art. Art has both monetary and emotional value to all people. We need to respect other artists' work. Even if it is not our cup of tea, so to speak, we still need to respect it as something that is of great value to that artist. We also need to respect our own art. We need to realize that our own creations have value, too. They have value to us and they even have value to our audience.

Respect is vital in any relationship, including our relationship with art and artists.

Every creation of ours deserves respect from others and from us.

Please don't ever forget that your art deserves respect too!

O: Op-Art

I was originally going to write about opera today. But then I felt it was a tad cliche. So, I did some homework and learned about something called Op-Art.



Optical Art is a unique art form. According to what I read, the main movement of Op-Art began in America in the 1960s, however an artist named Victor Vasarely created a piece of Op-Art in 1938 called Zebra.



Though the fad was short lived (about 3 years according to my sources), there are artists who still use this as their medium.


What I like about Op-Art is that it's different. It's not a still life or a portrait. Don't get me wrong, I love those styles. I like things that are unique and that give us a new perspective. Moreover, Op-Art is actually very mathematically based. How often do we hear that math and science are completely oppositional to art? Op-Art disproves that. Op-Art tells us that we can use math in art. As a science and history geek, I love the blending of math and art.



So I'm glad I didn't go with my original idea. I got to learn something today and I was given the opportunity to share that with all of you. Isn't that what art's all about? ;)

I: Intuition

Intuition is an interesting topic.


So many of us doubt our intuition. That creepy guy over there can't be too horrible, right? That job interview didn't go as well as I thought it did. I'm proud of this painting, but no one else will like it.


Our intuition guides us, helps us and tells us the truth, whether we want to hear it or not.


Our intuition is what drives us to create in the first place. We would not pick up that paint brush or laptop if our intuition didn't tell us that the image or story didn't need to come out. Our intuition tells us to submit our work for that art show, to take that pottery class, to take the risk and go for the dream job.


But we don't listen. I don't have time to paint. I can't leave my husband with the kids every Tuesday night so I can take the pottery class. It would be a career suicide for me to leave this mediocre job.



Our souls crave more. They crave the results we get when we do listen to our intuition.


Yes, we need to be practical. We also need to listen to our gut. There is a place where we can pay our bills and play with our creativity as well. Instead of listening to the noise outside, we need only listen to our intuition.