Under Lavender Skies

Flash fiction is a little new to me but I have had a lot of fun with it recently.  If you know me you know I enjoy writing short stories.  I think short stories are an amazing way to explore a new writing style, a new perspective, or even a way to write stories about a character from a novel in a way that you weren't able to explore before. A way to explain flash fiction in comparison to novels and short stories is this: A novel explores the whole house, a short story looks through the window, and flash fiction is a peep through the key hole.  -Unknown There is no precise word count for either three, all have a very wide range but, a novel is typically around 50,000 words, a short story is about 2,500 words and flash fiction ranges from only a couple of words to 1,000. I wanted to share a flash fiction story that I wrote with all of you.  This story is about 500 words. Where the Rainbow Takes You She dashed out the front door, flew through the dip in...

If you are anything like me you probably have a couple of empty notebooks or journals lying around. There are lots of wonderful ways to fill empty journals that you will love and get hooked on right away.  There are so many different ways to use your empty books and today I will be giving you my top four.   No. 1,  Morning Pages or Stream of Conscious Pages If you have had a journal for a while that has never really worked or if you have just never found motivation for journaling but still want to use your journal, then you should try morning pages or stream of conscious pages.  The idea of stream of conscious pages is simple: write two full pages of your thoughts down in your journal without thinking too much of it.  I like journaling in the morning to get everything on my mind down on paper so I don't have to be mulling over it all day.  It helps. When you start journaling these pages, I promise you will be at a loss for words, y...

Before the story begins I want to say, I have no idea what to call this story so if any of you have any ideas then please post them in the comment section and I will make my favorite one its title! A Short Story,  What happens when you live in a small house in the suburbs?  Everyone has small yards, so you lose your ball from time to time.   ✰ ✰ ✰ “Molly!” Charlie said for the twelfth time.   “Molly, Molly, Molly,” he whispered this time as he leaned his palms against her desk and sprang his legs into the air.   “Molly, will you come outside with me?”  “Alright, alright,” she raised her hands and stood up, forcing her chair back, and moved away from the desk.   Just like every time she went outside with her brother, she felt the light, early summer breeze that mingled with the heat of the sun, and noted the awfully tall privacy fences that loomed on both sides of the yard.  Molly lives with her younge...

I think nature is one of the most beautiful things we are given in this world.  Similar to what I said a couple of weeks ago, the world is filled with so much beauty and inspiration.  No one should ever kill any bug or animal living in its own home.  Whether or not it is poisonous or dangerous to us—leave it alone—that creature needs those attributes to keep itself alive, as well as to keep you away. A while ago my family and I were taking a walk with some friends at a nature park.  The day was filled with sunshine, sandals, and smiles, and lots of little creatures along the path.  I loved seeing them but someone else did not.  We came across a little furry caterpillar and the youngest girl there pointed it out but stomped on it!  My mouth flew open, I was surprised that someone so young would do that.  Her mother said it could have been poisonous and she agreed—that’s why.  A little caterpillar though? Even if it was poisonous there...

"In photography and in life, Always look for the light - if you don't see it, bring it..." /John Waire/  You may know that photography has a lot to do with light, practically everything.  Each photo you take is created by light bouncing off an object, hitting your camera's sensor and voila a picture appears.  That is a very simple version of how a DSLR camera works.  I find that type of information, and most aspects of photography, fascinating. However, that is not what I want to write about today.  I believe, light can be one of the most beautiful things.  The way light behaves, bends, and changes every hour makes for some wonderful and challenging photography situations.  During the peak of the afternoon it is not as easy flow with the light.  Straight in the sun, photos are often filled with nothing but harsh lighting, squinting models and, I promise, other unmentioned problems.  However, there are ways to use that harsh ligh...

What Inspires You?  These days people find inspiration anywhere.  There are many ways that someone would put their work out into the world and I find it wonderful how many people put their work out there to inspire someone else.  I work in several different arts so I am always looking for many different types of inspiration. Art  We live in such an inspirational world, some days it gives me goosebumps!  Right now, outside my window the sky is enveloped in clouds.  They are littered across the sky in the most amazing way, and filled with color and texture, perfect for painting.  As an artist, clouds come naturally to me.  I love the texture of clouds and I love all the beautiful Oklahoma skies.  I am able to see inspiration every day right out my window.  Using assets like Pinterest and looking at images that inspire me is also something I do daily.  Photography Many sources inspire more than one thing for me. ...

A Short Story or a Novel?  This will be short- short and sweet as I always say. A couple of weeks ago I watched a video about short stories.  Not far into the video the person who was speaking gave her definition of what a short story is versus a novel, here's what she said: "A novel focuses on a journey that transforms the character whereas a short story focuses on an event that changes or reveals the character."  (A short story being only 2,500 words in general.)  This is good to know because it helps writers to decide if their idea is better suited for a novel or a short story. This has been on my mind for a while.  Towards the beginning I was not sure why this lingered on my mind but after awhile came up with an analogy. If you are going through a time in your life where at every corner you turn and see something rough, strange or uncertain, you need to be honest with yourself and ask yourself: is this a time in my life just an event that will ch...

Dreams In my opinion, dreams make some of the best and most interesting conversations.  It's always fun to tell someone about my dreams and hear all the interesting stories in other people's dreams as well. The fact that anything can happen in dreams makes it even better.   Another concept that interests me greatly is lucid dreaming.  Lucid dreaming is dreaming yet knowing you are in a dream.  It could be as simple as only knowing you are dreaming and can go all the way to you being able to react with dream characters and essentially control the events in your dreams. I decided this sounds very cool and I am going to try and teach myself how to lucid dream!  Lucid dreaming is like any skill, you must work on it and it will develop over time.  Before you start lucid dreaming you must be able to remember your normal dreams each night.  You might not have known that people actually dream every night, just don't remember them mo...