Sunday post @caffienatedbookreviewer #amreading #amjoy

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted  @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things  received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme

LOOKING FORWARD TO june

This week I've written a first draft, query letter for my first novel, Oh Brother.  It's my goal this year to publish and I really think it will happen.  I've also been researching Montessori schools for my lil' one.  I really like the philosophy behind Montessori's and this idea of teaching kids through routine and life skills at an early age whether that's though a four-year-old setting the table or scooping ingredients together for lunch prep.

My lil' one and I have been so busy this summer and it's been so much fun.  I got together with a group of women through meetup.com at Treasure Park-there's a picture to the right.  This was a huge playground made of entire wood.  It's supposed to represent a huge pirate ship.  There's  little hiding spots below the structure like the underbelly of a ship make you feel claustrophobic at times.  They'll be tearing down the playground soon-probably to replace wood chip mulch with a rubber matting so I'm glad I got a chance to the park before it happens.

We also went to Good Times park in Eagan and then to a community rec center in Eagan that was sorta similar to McDonald's playground.  

Earlier this month I put my kayaking skills to use as promised on Lake Calhoun (aka Bde Maka Ska-it's new name ) so that was real fun.  I went out with a group of five women-some of which paddle boarded.

Thanks for stopping by, please be sure to check out what I'm reading and maybe even leave a comment.

CURRENTLY

Reading: The Unseen World by Liz Moore, I Let you Go by Clare Mackintosh, Nine Continents by Xiaoulu Guo, Bombay Blues by Tanuja Desau Hidier,

Listening: How to Stop Time by Matt Haig, Shopaholic to the Stars by Sophie Kinsella

Watching:  Nothing, too busy to watch anything right now.

ON THE BLOG

What Happened:

Saturday:Weekend Warriors post

Up Coming:

Saturday:Weekend Warriors 

Sunday:Sunday Post

#8Sunday Weekend Writing Warriors #amwriting

#8sunday Weekend Writing Warriors #amwriting #amjoy

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, the weekly hop for everyone who loves to write!  Sign up on the website:Wewriwa.com and share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday.

No one likes it when their family life changes.  This is particularly hard for the Radtke's.  A troublesome girl named Tracey enters their lives and the children are an endless journey to make sure this girl doesn't get into any further trouble or cause their parents to lose their fostering license.  These are snippets from my second novella in the series, "Oh Tracey."

Last week

 She straightened out a craft and then went over to the tin box, unlatched it and flipped it over. Checking to see if it was empty.
Zion walked out of nearby Shinders hobby store. He had on a rubber wolf mask but I could recognize him anywhere. The wolf’s eyes kept lighting up and I noticed he was holding a lever mechanism in his hand.
“Boo,” he said. “You girls having fun?” He asked, more to me than Tracey.
“No, we were not having fun,” I said, crossing my hands over my chest.
“Why not? You got plenty of dolls to keep you company,” he motioned to a nearby china doll table. 

This week

 The doll’s eyes seemed to be plastered open. They peered in every direction.

“Yeah, right,” I said. I took him aside, “You find out anything?” It was hard to look at Zion seriously with the mask on.

“I found out something but it wolfed away,” he said. “Get it? Cause I’m a wolf?”

“Not funny,” I said.

Readers, please comment below.

#8sunday Weekend Writing Warriors #amwriting #amjoy

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, the weekly hop for everyone who loves to write!  Sign up on the website:Wewriwa.com and share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday.

No one likes it when their family life changes.  This is particularly hard for the Radtke's.  A troublesome girl named Tracey enters their lives and the children are an endless journey to make sure this girl doesn't get into any further trouble or cause their parents to lose their fostering license.  These are snippets from my second novella in the series, "Oh Tracey."

Last week

I wanted to tell her how weird she was and ask her who the ugly women was who slapped her around before we got here but I didn’t want to blow my cover.
“Look, if you want to reorganize the crafts, let me do it,” Tracey said. She put all the wooden crafts back to where they were; just in time too because Connie came back. Dang, Tracey must have a photographic memory.
“Make any money?” Connie asked, hopeful.
“Umm no,” I said.
Her face dropped.
“No worries,” she said. She turned away from us to pull her shirt over her flat bottom.

This week

 She straightened out a craft and then went over to the tin box, unlatched it and flipped it over. Checking to see if it was empty.
Zion walked out of nearby Shinders hobby store. He had on a rubber wolf mask but I could recognize him anywhere. The wolf’s eyes kept lighting up and I noticed he was holding a lever mechanism in his hand.
“Boo,” he said. “You girls having fun?” He asked, more to me than Tracey.
“No, we were not having fun,” I said, crossing my hands over my chest.
“Why not? You got plenty of dolls to keep you company,” he motioned to a nearby china doll table. 

Readers, please comment below.

@SouthernTheater ‏@arenadances #Wednesdaythoughts #amjoy

Southern Theater in Minneapolis presented Candy Box Dance Festival in May. Dancers, Julie Marie Muskat and Betsy Schaefer Roob join me today for an interview.





Julie Marie Muskat (pictured above)

Betsy and Julie, what was your preparation for the festival?

We have been developing this material since 2016, and performed the first section of it in 2017. We began expanding the work and creating the work you saw (with two sections added) this past January. Part of the work is in the studio working on choreography, and other parts of our work are spent on working with costumers and composers on the other elements of production.

I think if I were an audience member seeing our show, I would want to know exactly how the ‘collaborative’ choreography was created, since it is a more unusual approach to choreography than single-choreographer work. Betsy and I spent a lot of time in the studio experimenting and trying to find a new common vocabulary and voice together. In the process of creating our work, we ‘played’ a lot of games in order to generate phrases, such as the ‘picnic game,’ in which she would improvise a step, then I would repeat it and improvise the next step out of it, and she would add the next step, and we would continue switching off the creation of every step so that we were always pushed out of our personal movement habits and patterns. We are proud to say our work is truly collaborative!


Is there anything you're working on now?

We are currently applying to festivals for teaching and performing, and are hoping to expand and deepen our work in In Time from here. Otherwise, we are each doing some individual projects outside of faux pas. Betsy dances with Mathew Janczewski's ARENA DANCES. Julie Marie dances with Threads Dance Project, and this summer will be performing her solo work and teaching at Southern Vermont Dance Festival in Brattleboro, VT.


Of all the dancing you've done the past, what has been your favorite performance?

Julie Marie: What a hard question! I’ve had a lot of crazy and fun performances…I think some of my favorite performances would be the ones I did as a dancer in Israel. I had the chance to work with some incredible choreographers, and the repertoire was exhilarating, challenging, and very fulfilling. Honestly, though, my favorite performance would be this performance of In Time that Betsy and I just did! It was our first show that we were in charge of hosting as well as performing in, and even if it was an informal showing, it was a big test of vulnerability and bravery in terms of putting new work on stage that I am very passionate about.


Betsy: I agree, this is a tough one! I have loved many performances for very different reasons. In recent history, ARENA DANCES’ 20th Anniversary performance stands out to me; we reset Matador and Not So Good At Standing Still, which were both extremely fulfilling to perform. I loved getting to dance a range from powerful, explosive movement to easeful, released movement in the course of the same show. However I also have to agree with Julie that this performance of In Time was entirely unique, and I feel incredibly proud to have created and performed this duet together. We took risks and it was magical to experience all the elements coming together.


Last question, if you could give advice to a younger dancer, what would it be?

Julie Marie: Soak in everything you can get your hands on. Your classes in school will inspire your dance education, and your dance classes will teach you valuable life skills that will translate to anything you do in life. But question everything. Question your idols, question the information you are given, do your own research, and be ready to upend the institutions you are raised in if needed. Never stop searching.


Betsy: Bring your entire self to your dancing and work hard while also being open to moments of joy, curiosity, and surprise. Find ways of moving that feel like home to you, and challenge yourself to regularly step outside your comfort zone and try on new ideas. Pay attention and learn from all you can- your teachers, fellow students, and your own instincts. You will likely have times of great inspiration and times of burnout/doubt. Befriend your fellow dancers and lean on your community.

Thanks for joining me.

Thanks for having us.

Weekend Writing Warriors #8Sunday #amwriting #amjoy

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, the weekly hop for everyone who loves to write!  Sign up on the website:Wewriwa.com and share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday.

No one likes it when their family life changes.  This is particularly hard for the Radtke's.  A troublesome girl named Tracey enters their lives and the children are an endless journey to make sure this girl doesn't get into any further trouble or cause their parents to lose their fostering license.  These are snippets from my second novella in the series, "Oh Tracey."

Last week

“Never mind.” I began reorganizing the crafts on the table in a way that seemed to make more sense. Boy wooden dolls went other with boy wooden dolls, girls went with girls. Figures that said, ‘Home sweet home’ didn’t need to go with other ones that resembled homes, so I put them instead next to Halloween cats and scarecrows. The Christmas Santas really had no place next to the candy canes so I put them with the the vegetables, including orange squash and tomatoes. “Eat your heart out,” I said patting Santa’s belly.

“You’re weird, you know that?” said Tracey.

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

This week

I wanted to tell her how weird she was and ask her who the ugly women was who slapped her around before we got here but I didn’t want to blow my cover.
“Look, if you want to reorganize the crafts, let me do it,” Tracey said. She put all the wooden crafts back to where they were; just in time too because Connie came back. Dang, Tracey must have a photographic memory.
“Make any money?” Connie asked, hopeful.
“Umm no,” I said.
Her face dropped.
“No worries,” she said. She turned away from us to pull her shirt over her flat bottom.

Readers, please comment below.

Valarsard Chronicles Virtual Tour #amreading #amjoy #Saturdaymood

 Author, Erin Eldridge, is here with me to discuss the Valarsard Chronicles.  Erin is a New Zealand author.  She took up writing seriously two years ago and has now published 3 books, each one very different in style and content.

She's been a teacher all her working life, working in mainstream as well as in Special Needs, specifically with deaf children. She's worked all over New Zealand as well as in Africa.

Erin, what is your writing process, i.e. brainstorming, getting ideas, etc.

  I find ideas can just come out of left field, or else those ideas have been percolating away in my head for some time. Ravening Heart of the Wolf grew out of a dream I had years ago, and just held on to. The sequel, The Wolf in Winter, flowered on the page. I just let the story evolve to see if I could do it. Days of Insult was a kind of mission, because I’m an avid historian and I wanted to pay tribute to the horrific sacrifice made by ordinary Russians in WW2. There are just no fiction books on the topic. I have a huge list of ideas for further books, including some autobiographical stories.

What is the MC of your newest novel like?

   In my most recently published book, The Wolf in Winter, I guess I’d have to say I focused on Conor, who didn’t actually play a major role in the first book in the series, where I focused on Manon. The main character in both books is really Abigail, the mysterious little shapeshifter. She wields the magic, in a good way. Her other manifestations are the wolf and the eagle, which are powerful totems to the Valarsar.

Who are your favorite authors?

   I love all the classics: Austen, the Brontes, Dickens. The Russians: Tolstoy, Turgenev, Solzhenitsyn. Big fan of American authors: Melville, Steinbeck, Hemingway. I enjoy Diana Gabaldon’s writing. I admire Irish writers like Wilde, Joyce, CS Lewis, Frank O’Connor, Sean O’Faolain. I’m part Irish and that’s where my love of writing comes from, I believe. I enjoy history: Antony Beevor, Max Hastings. My favourite writer of all time is Primo Levi.

What motivates you to get out of bed everyday?

   The cat needs feeding, and if I don’t oblige, I get a right hook to the jaw from a hairy paw that bristles with lethal weaponry. No, seriously, the only thing making me linger in bed is the book I’m currently engrossed in. I get straight into writing as soon as I’m up. I’m very driven.

What do your fans mean to you?

    Well, I hope I have some fans. To those who enjoy my books and give me lovely reviews, I say thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

What are your favorite works of fiction?

  So many, but here are a few: Wuthering Heights, Moby Dick, If This is a Man, The Grapes of Wrath, The Old Man and the Sea.

Find out more about Erin Eldridge and her works at the links below:
https://www.amazon.com/Erin-Eldridge/e/B00MSKP12M/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1527947228&sr=1-1

http://ravenswoodpublishing.com/bookpages/TheWolfInWinter.html