Category: Night Circus

Dreamers Invited

On By angeliquejamailIn books, literature, Night Circus, teaching, WriteSpace, writingLeave a comment

Next week I begin teaching a class which uses one of my favorite novels as a guide to create our own completely original stories (of any genre). It’s no secret that I love this book — to read or to teach. The class will be offered through Writespace and meet for four Tuesday evenings; we’ll be on Zoom, too, so you don’t have to be in Houston or even leave your couch to take it.

Here’s the blurb, and then I’ll tell you more about what to expect each week.

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Read Your Way to Writing Well

Erin Morgenstern’s highly acclaimed debut novel The Night Circus rocked the literary world with its lush writing, clever structure, magnetic characters, and gripping story. In this four-week course, we will explore some of the reasons why Morgenstern’s novel is so well written and use it as a mentor text to generate some innovative writing of our own. Expect to discuss various elements of the text and to write original creative work, using Morgenstern’s techniques for inspiration. Attendees will have the opportunity to share their writing for supportive feedback during each class session. Homework involves reading The Night Circus over the course of the month and working on your own manuscript.

This course is open to all levels of writing and literary analysis. Students should read the first 3 chapters of the novel before the first class.

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Each week, we’ll spend some time talking about what in the chapters we’ve read that week is so captivating, from the perspective of narrative craft and technique. We’ll discuss Morgenstern’s use of language and unusual structure/architecture. Then we’ll explore how to translate those skills onto our own work and, over the course of four weeks, craft either a complete work of short fiction or the solid beginnings of a novel or novella. This course is generative: some class time will be devoted to the writing itself. You will also have the opportunity to get in-the-moment feedback on the work you’re doing in a positive and supportive atmosphere.

If you’ve ever wondered just how writers learn by reading, this class will show you how to dissect a novel for instruction without ruining your enjoyment of it! Last I checked, there were still spots available, but don’t wait too long. Early bird pricing ends tomorrow. Click this link here to register.

Any questions? Please leave them in the comments!

2013 Blogging Year-in-Review

On By angeliquejamailIn blog contests, blogs, Doctor Who, Erin Morgenstern, fashion, haiku, holidays, Night Circus, Reveur Revelation Fashion Project, Sarah Warburton, Tardis, writingLeave a comment

Happy New Year!  🙂

Yes, I know New Year’s was a while ago.  As far as I’m concerned, all of January is New Year’s.  I call it New Year’s Month, because that’s about how long it takes me to recover from the holidays, undecorate my house, get my family’s New Year’s cards out, and get back into the swing of things at school.

Happy New Year’s Month!  🙂

WordPress kindly sends out annual reports to their bloggers every December 31st with stats for the blog’s year-in-review, and I like to share a few of those things with you, delightful readers.  (Here’s a peek at last year’s; this year’s will be different.)

Sappho’s Torque is being read in 75 countries now.  That’s pretty cool.

Here are my most popular posts of 2013.  The thing I find most interesting about this short list is that it encompasses really well the directions my blog took in 2013.

*  Government Shutdown Haiku Contest:  I love to sponsor haiku contests — in fact, look for another one coming soon!

*  Why Our Society is Failing as a Collection of Human Beings:  Sometimes things happen out there in the world that drive me to my computer to sound off about them in public.  I try to keep this to a minimum, but sometimes the issue and my breaking point must not be ignored.

*  May Rêveuses in Bloom:  For thirteen months I conducted the Rêveurs Revelation Fashion Project in celebration of Erin Morgenstern’s novel The Night Circus — an excellent book and one which affected me deeply — and, although I’m not still doing it here on the blog, I’m delighted and astounded to have been told just a week ago that some of those who were participating in it around the country while it was a feature here on this blog still do so just for fun.  So amazing!

*  100 Days of School:  Sometimes I share stories about my family, and this post about my son’s kindergarten homework remains one of the most giggle-inducing and cheer-you-up posts ever.

*  Fashion Friday 8/9/13:  Another blog project I had going on for a while was my Fashion Friday series, which was a wonderful way to merge one of my hobbies (fashion, especially the quirky kind) with an opportunity to host guest bloggers.  I’m not still doing this weekly, but I am still taking queries for Fashion Friday guest posts and even working on a couple myself.  This particular post (from 8/9/13) was written by Sarah Warburton about the Tardis socks she knitted.

Life here is busy.  I have many writing projects on the proverbial stove, and some are nearly done cooking.  I continue to strive for work-life balance — something I’m not entirely convinced even exists — and have resolved this year not to make any big resolutions, but rather to make one smart decision at a time.  Sometimes this even works out.

Thank you all, so much, for being here.  I wouldn’t bother blogging without an audience, and I’m glad you’re here, because despite my initial reservations about getting into this practice, I’ve been enjoying it immensely.

Cheers.  🙂

 

June Rêveuse

On By angeliquejamailIn books, chai, Circus of Dreams, Erin Morgenstern, Jack Skellington, Le Cirque des Reves, Night Circus, Nightmare Before Christmas, Reveur Revelation Fashion Project, reveuse11 Comments

Summertime, and the living is…all about editing.  Yup, it’s DEADLINE WEEK!  Again!  It seems like I have a lot of those…

 

Anyway, Happy RRFP Day.  (Not sure what that is?  Click here.)

 

It’s summer, so I’m pretty much in a ponytail, no make-up, and extremely casual clothes every day.  Today was a white t-shirt, a black skirt, black sandals, and these goofy red tassel earrings that have probably seen their last Rêveuse Day.  But I need caffeine to meet my deadline, so I’ve also got my new Jack Skellington mug!

 

me with my new JS mug

 

 

And why would you need a new one? you might be asking. Your old one was perfectly awesome in every way.

 

A fair question, and yes, you are correct.  But sadly, my old Jack Skellington mug met an untimely end when my Dear Husband was sweeping the floor in the kitchen and accidentally knocked it off the shelf.  (Don’t get me wrong — I love and appreciate that he was sweeping the floor.)

 

I scoured the Interwebz trying to find a replacement, but alas, that mug is no longer available anywhere.  So I got this one instead.  Not the same shape, but also very cool, and it has gray and black stripes on the inside, which is nice.  The best part, though?  This mug is approximately the size of my face!  It holds a wakeful 21 ounces!  That’s a delightful lot of chai tea, my friends.  So I’m going with it.
And as an extra little bonus for you Night Circus fans, I wanted to share this with you, which I recently came across via Erin Morgenstern’s Twitter feed.  (It’s a deleted scene from the book.  You are welcome.)

Until tomorrow…

May Rêveuses in Bloom

On By angeliquejamailIn Circus of Dreams, clothing, fashion, Le Cirque des Reves, Night Circus, reveur, Reveur Revelation Fashion Project, reveuse, The Night Circus3 Comments

Here are today’s 13th-of-the-month pictures, taken (as always) on my phone, so you know the photo quality is awesome.  (It occurs to me that I should perhaps carry around my actual camera on the 13th of every month, but then I wouldn’t have the excuse of a pitiful device to blame for my inept photography skills.)

Enjoy! Continue reading “May Rêveuses in Bloom” →

Guess What Today Is? The 13th of the Month!

On By angeliquejamailIn clothing, fashion, Le Cirque des Reves, Night Circus, reveur, Reveur Revelation Fashion Project, reveurs, reveuse, The Night Circus4 Comments

Calling all rêveurs and rêveuses to show yourselves when you make your wardrobe choices today.  Below I’ve posted my rêveuse picture for March.  Feel free to post yours as well, or link to it in the comments section.

(No idea what I’m talking about?  Click here.)

Someone asked me if she could include gray in her outfit. I don't see why not! Today I wore a shirt striped with black, white, and two grays and a dark charcoal skirt and black shoes. But I'm highlighting this ladybug bracelet my son gave me one day on a whim, because it "matched my outfit." That was a 13th-of-the-month day, too.
Someone asked me if she could include gray in her outfit. I don’t see why not! Today I wore a shirt striped with black, white, and two grays and a dark charcoal skirt and black shoes. But I’m highlighting this ladybug bracelet my son gave me one day on a whim, because it “matched my outfit.” That was a 13th-of-the-month day, too.

Cheers!

Rêveuses, Rêveuses Everywhere! (And One Young Rêveur.)

On By angeliquejamailIn books, Circus of Dreams, dreamers, fashion, Le Cirque des Reves, Night Circus, quirky, Reveur Revelation Fashion Project, reveuse, The Night Circus2 Comments

Well, today was really remarkable for those of us identifying to be dreamers.  I wore my usual 13th of the month color scheme, and when I got to school this morning, I was stunned to see Continue reading “Rêveuses, Rêveuses Everywhere! (And One Young Rêveur.)” →

January Rêveuse

On By angeliquejamailIn fashion, Night Circus, Reveur Revelation Fashion Project, reveuse, you do doodle too blog2 Comments

Notes to self: red shoes don't show up well in ankle-deep vines, red lipstick does not show up at all if it's sheer or pale, and your husband will take one -- and only one -- picture if it's cold outside and he didn't put on a jacket first.
Notes to self: red shoes don’t show up well in ankle-deep vines, red lipstick does not show up at all if it’s sheer or pale, and your husband will take one — and only one — picture if it’s cold outside and he didn’t put on a jacket first.

Thanks also to Laine over at you do doodle too, as always, for bringing the Rêveur Revelation Fashion Project to life in her part of the country.  And thanks to everyone else who’s doing it as well, regardless of whether you post your pictures!

If you have no idea what this post is really all about, click here.