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Sources of Inspiration

Sources of Inspiration: Music

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One of the earliest memories is of hearing Albioni on Sesame Street. The viewer observed a close up of a dandelion while the music played. This moment stayed with me along with many of Sesame Street’s more humorous numbers. Years later, I watched the original Cosmos, open mouthed, while Vanglis’s ‘Alpha’ played to a series of images showing evolution. Music had always had a profound effect on me. It didn’t end with listening and feeling. I remember listening to Depeche’s Mode’s ‘Music for the Masses’. Images played out in my imagination along with David Gahan singing ‘Never Let Me Down … Read more

Sources of Inspiration: Hatred

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  Enemies are out there. I’ve seen them. I’ve lived with their insults. I’ve felt their curses, their contempt leaking into the words ‘queer’, ‘gay’, and ‘lesbian’, poisoning them. They’ve projected their own ugliness into the words, turning them into badges of shame. Their virulence pulses within those badges, making those with every right to proudly claim them turn their backs in shame. Hatred has power. It terrifies me. Being brushed with it contaminates me in turn. Every time I’m exposed to it, I feel my own hatred, vibrating with me for the ones who inspired it. I imagine all the … Read more

Torso

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Above is a picture I’ve took at the Capitoline Museum. This statue seemed the embodiment of classical male beauty. It’s one of the reasons I’ve used it as substitute for cover art in any posts relating to ‘Aissa and Polyxena’. Never mind my Work In Progress is about cross driving. Like many a writer and reader in the MM genre, I’ve been captivated by the male torso. I’ve seen a lot of bare male torsos on your covers. Some are slimmer and more classical. Some are broader. Some have a softness to the ripped abs. Some are unabashedly hard. This … Read more

Sources of Inspiration: April Madness

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We’re in the middle of April right now. Spring is in full bloom. The white blossoms have fallen from the trees, to be replaced by tiny pink flowers on other branches. Camellias are giving way to wisteria. Not that I have too much time to notice these things, although I try to snatch a moment or two to observe them. The flowers help refresh my spirits, before I return to the madness. For this is a month of crazy, non stop writing projects for me. Yes, a writer should always be involved in projects to stay in form. This month … Read more

Sources of Inspiration: Preparation and Change

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March is a time of change. The weather is warming up. Time springs forward, depriving us of an hour. The daylight lingers longer and longer in the evenings. With the change comes an awakening, a call to get up and move. Projects await us. The Queer Sci Fi Flash Fiction contest has begun. Blogging From A-Z is approaching, along with Camp NaNoWriMo. Publishers call for submissions, here and there, offering a variety of opportunities. For the beginning of spring is a time of opportunity. I realize this, even as I’m caught up in my own activities. I took a walk, … Read more

Sources of Inspiration: Roleplaying Games

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This month, my husband and I make our yearly visit to DunDraCon. It’s one of the biggest gaming conventions in the United States. You can find all kinds of games there. Card games. Board games. Games with miniatures. Along with my personal old addiction, roleplaying games. I’ll never forget the moment I found ‘Vampire: the Masquerade’ on a shelf at Game a Lot in Santa Cruz, California. I’d played in a few RPGs before, but that particular book seemed to have been written just for me and for players like me. Creating a character in that universe would be like … Read more

Sources of Inspiration: The Nutcracker and the Mouse King

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  One of my favorite sources of inspiration is research on old legends, tales, or classic stories. I’ve always loved ‘The Nutcracker’. As a child, I went to see a version, which a friend’s sister was playing one of the Russian dolls in. This particular ‘Nutcracker’ was half play, half ballet. The play part featured the mouse king. He ran around, biting people, giving them ugly faces, until the Nutcracker stopped him. I’ve seen many versions of ‘The Nutcracker’ since, but that was the only one with that particular storyline. When I did some research for ‘Seven Tricks’, I finally … Read more

Sources of Inspiration: Keeping the Creativity Flowing

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I’ve written this way in advance, because November is going to be absolutely mad. Right now, I should be right in the middle of the madness. :) Anyone else involved in the month long writing dash known as NaNoWriMo? For those of you who don’t know, National Novel Writing Month is when you try to complete 50000 word manuscript within a month. It’s difficult. I had to work extremely hard to make it last year, when I didn’t have nearly as many literary and online obligations as I do now. Juggling this project, along with jobs, deadlines, and other obligations … Read more

Sources of Inspiration: Discovering Magic

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People have always told me to write about what I know. I wanted to write stories about magic, but magic didn’t exist. Not for me. What seemed supernatural was usually a hoax. There was always a logical explanation. Don’t accept a world of superstition. Don’t be one of the people who blames magic for their problems. Don’t expect to use magic to solve your own. I read these warnings, listened to them, and absorbed them. They created the reality I lived in, a cynical reality, which wasn’t going to accept anything supernatural too quickly. In spite of these warnings, I … Read more

Sources of Inspiration: Shape of a Flower

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I remember taking pictures of this flower. It grew on a tree in a little garden in Ajaccio, Corsica. Ever alert for potential blog and column pictures, I photographed close up after close up of this particular blossom. Its petals flared out, reminding me of a girl’s skirt, when she was spinning in the middle of a dance. Yes, ‘Fantasia’ is one of my favorite movies. Yes, I’ve watched the sequence with the dancing flowers many times. Of course, it worked its magic on my imagination. Perhaps I would have visualized something else, if I didn’t still carry that imagery … Read more