Although there are reindeer antlers in the photos, when I write ‘joy’ I don’t mean just the Christmas kind. I do think that people are more joyous over this holiday period, which is why I wanted to focus on it for this instalment. I don’t know about anyone else, but the feeling of joy when planning, concocting, creating and finishing a story is addictive. Well, it is for me. Yes, there are times when it’s painful. Yes, there are times we want to burn what we’re creating because we don’t think it’s good enough. I know, I’ve been there. But the joy is still there, deep within the stress, pressure and tears.
 
Then, there’s the joy we feel when we are experiencing a story. I love finding a great story. I’ll open a book, put on a movie or play a video game, and usually I know I’ve landed on something great in the first few moments. I feel immersed and I fall in love with the events that unfold. It could be the language, the plotline, or just how original the story is. I’ll find myself smiling and feeling all giddy like a kid on Christmas day. I’ll stay awake at night for a little longer because I want to keep experiencing it. It’s what feeds my passion to tell stories. It’s what makes me who I am!

Today's activity for Writing Wednesday is one of my absolute favourites. It helps to ground me and focus on something other than what is going on in my life. It's a time for us to step back and become a witness for everything happening around us, and to try and transport others into the moment we are trying to capture.

Today, we're talking about symbolism! Interpreting symbols in creative works is drilled into our heads when we're in school (or at least it was for me!). So, why not listen to me babble on about it?

When we hear the words ‘get lost’, it’s never really a good thing. Being lost is never a good thing. Either way, the feelings of loneliness, sadness and giving up are evoked within us in these situations. However, I encourage all of you to get lost. Get lost in writing, storytelling, reading, life and everything else in between. This is starting to sound a bit inspirational, which it isn’t meant to be. What I’m really trying to say is one of the most beautiful things about storytelling is the ability to get lost in it.
 
The reason why I fell in love with storytelling was because I did exactly that. One day, I was sitting on my bed with a book in hand (I even remember which book, but that’s for another post!) and I was absolutely transfixed by it. It is part of a series, which I loved (and still do—again, more on that in a future post!), and I just wanted to know what would happen next. Before I knew it, I was transported to this other setting. I had such vivid details in my head. I was with the characters. I forgot I was on my bed. I was completely lost in the story and it was one of the best things that happened to me.

It's time for you to learn what books I will be reading and reviewing! In this video, I announce 18 books that are up next. I hope you're just as excited as I am!

It's finally up! Welcome to the first Writing Wednesday where we will be doing a writing activity called 'The Word Hoard'. Have you ever heard about this writing activity? If not, watch this video or read this to find out!

For the first instalment in this casual series about why I love storytelling, I want to talk about my love for meeting new characters. If this is also something you enjoy when reading books, playing video games or watching movies and TV shows, then this is a time for us to sit and think about why it is we love knowing fictional characters.
 
For me, there is something so refreshing about starting a new book or series and getting to know the main character. There may be one or there may be multiple. They can be someone we relate to closely or someone we feel we contend with. However, I think we can all agree that if they are written effectively, then it doesn’t matter if they are like us or not. This is only the main character I’ve mentioned here, but what about the side characters? The antagonist?

Today, I'm talking to you about ecocriticism. It's time to start thinking about the environment, nature, life forces and all that jazz, and how it impacts or is portrayed in literary works.

Unless we’re exclaiming, questioning or trailing off, full stops tend to be the punctuation mark that get the final say. By far one of the most popular and most used punctuation mark, the full stop is generally the first bit of punctuation we learn after we can start writing sentences.
 
So, if they’re that plain and simple, why bother with a blog post? Well, they have plenty of other uses as well, and I want to highlight what not to do with a full stop. In my experience in editing documents as well as reading newspapers, journals and other publications, I have seen plenty of full stops used in the wrong way. Wouldn’t you hate to find out that, even though you felt so confident with your skills with the full stop, you were wrong the whole time?
 
For your reference, my main resource for this information is the Australian Style manual for authors, editors and printers.

It's time for us to talk about the literary theory called 'queer theory'! It's not as well established as some of the other literary theories we have spoken about, but it is definitely something that is becoming more prominent and will continue to grow.