On loan from the Scriptorium

January 23, 2019

Legend tells of a heavenly chain of bookstores in the far off shores of Niantic where there are thousands of books available for a low fee. They have cats, they have playgrounds, they even offer snacks and coffee. It sounds too good to be true.

Seriously though, I knew the Book Barn in Niantic was not a legend; it exists. Part of self-control; however, is knowing that you shouldn’t go into these kinds of establishments, or you’ll walk out penniless. Staying away is a matter of fiscal responsibility.

On my birthday; however, the family and I decided to make an epic day of going to the Book Barn’s all four locations. FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER.

I’m pretty sure my family thinks it is hilarious when I drop my very rigid purchasing stamina and splurge. What’s one more dollar book, mom? Get all seventeen books in a science fiction series from the 1960’s!

All those books, and we barely broke over $100.

It’s been almost a year since the great book splurge of 2018, and I’m still working through my selection.

Up on the list right now is Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina.

I noticed that there was a little insert. Robin asked her dearest friends and family to take care of her book and to ensure it returned to library.

I found it in a used book store, guys. Either Robin no longer has a library (Dang, did she watch Marie Kondo too?), or a loved one violated her request to return it to her personal library.

I’m pretty conflicted about this. I’m sorry Robin. Not only do I have no ability to return it to you, but I wrote in it… a lot.

The note had me thinking:

I loan books out all the time. In fact, I’m a self-proclaimed book pusher. If there is a book that I think you’d like, I will hound you to read it, and if I have a copy of that book in my possession, it’s easier to push it onto you.

There have been a fair number of books that I have purchased, and I won’t ask for them back. I figure there’s gotta be a good reason that someone didn’t return it: the most likely being they never finished (or started?) reading it, but plan to.

I loved the idea of showing the connection that these books have to my own personal library. Even if they never return, they had a spot within my illustrious Scriptorium, if but only for a small moment in time.  

And maybe it’s the conditioning of my college days to keep a mental log of commentary while reading so I can write a fifteen page paper later on it, but even to this day I still love annotating the books that I read. Even if it’s, “OMG what are you doing?!”

So, I made my own little inserts for the Scriptorium books. I put my web address in case anyone comes upon the book, in say a used book store, and wants to reunite it with the Scriptorium. I’m one step ahead of Robin!

I also made a blank one, in case anyone else on the internet would like to bedazzle their own personal library books. If you’d like the PSD copy to alter it to put your own ideas, email me at Faith.Allaire@yahoo.com and I will gladly email it you.

Children of the Planes

January 7, 2019

The Kindle Edition is Now Available for Pre-Order

Maybe it is his video game withdrawal or the fact that he is not used to being outside for such lengthy periods of time, but Zane finds himself under constant surveillance of an alien named Jax. Jax never stops talking, trying to convince Zane that it is able to travel to an Inner Plane of the universe where an Aged is King is destroying civilization to find his lost jewel. Jax has plenty of stories to share about how the children of the Inner Plane are fighting back:

An orphan forced work in the textile factories within the Walled Cities who learns to read.

A warrior girl of the Arikara Tribes that reunites her people with the Great Herd.

An elemental boy who rescues a baby bear from wolves and learns they share a special connection.

The youngest sea captain who crashes on an island that reveals memories that had been purposely taken from him.

Are these children real, or is Zane going crazy?

Book One of the Children of the Planes series.

The Writer’s Blessing and Happy New Years!

December 31, 2018

2018 was an incredible year for me.

I became a champion of both CampNaNoWrimo and NaNoWrimo.

I started this website to promote my work.
I created a Twitter platform and have 880 followers.

I graduated with a B.A.  in Creative Writing and English from Southern New Hampshire University.

I earned the Lavender Award for my championship of LGBTQ inclusivity on the college campus I work for.

And I completed my Women’s Study certificate.

I finished the Children of the Planes novel and completed the rough draft of its sequel.

Finally, I became a published author.

All humble bragging aside, what great feats did you all accomplish this year? What goes have you set for yourself for 2019?

Ode to My Love, Coffee

December 19, 2018

Dear World,

I have a secret.

I know what my Christmas gift from my son is.

I had commented during a poetry segment in his Language Arts course that I thought he was an amazing poet and that he should think about continuing on with the art form after the course was over.

He is now in the working stages of creating me a book of his poetry!!!

To commemorate my son’s future as a poet, I am releasing, via my blog, a poem that I have written. It is featured in Scholarly Creative Writing, so if you’ve already purchased my book, it isn’t new (sorry).

The End…..

November 30, 2018

Thus concludes National Novel Writing Month, and with it the Nanowrimo challenge.

If you remember, I was taking National Novel Writing Month TO THE EXTREME!

Some were able to make it to champion status.

Others didn’t, but they have more words than when theystarted, and I hope they continue to bring their ideas to fruition.

The most important lesson that this month taught me as a writer,is the need for discipline. That seems an ironic concept, as I trained in the martial arts for a few years, especially with the mindset that what you learn on the mats transcends into your every day lives.  

Even if you don’t have a game plan for the writing, you have to have a game plan of when and what you’ll be working on each day or it won’t work. And if your schedule is as crazy as mine is, you really do need to pencil in times to write.

Writing is also like a muscle. You can likely finish a 10k without a training, but it won’t happen in the same time frame than someone who has been training for the big day. I was only successful because I have been working out almost every day… on writing. Don’t think I can actually run a 10k or anything.

I let the Stackskill thing go to the wayside. Again, from the martial arts, I was conditioned to believe that you must always go back to the fundamentals if you want to succeed, but these fundamentals diverted from my time to get to work. I felt like I was stuck in a lecture that, although brief, I couldn’t get out of.

I have about an hour left of Steven King’s On Writing. I’ve enjoyed it some extent,but I can see now why he claims he will never be able to break out of that Suspenseful Literature like he wanted to a few years back. His views on writing are the makings of the own box that he put himself into, but his insights are something that all writers should go through so that they can make conscious choices about their writing.

How was everyone else’s National Novel Writing Month?

And when is National Novel READING Month?