(image flikr/creative commons via photopin) U is for Umbrella. I was struggling for a U word, spent quite a lot of time thumbing through the dictionary. And then, I happened upon umbrella. Writers love words with more than one meaning, so I was ready to explore the world of the umbrella. The umbrella (or parasol) appeared in sculptures of ancient Mesopotamia. The first text to refer to the umbrella dates from 2400 years ago in China. The word umbrella comes…
(image creative commons via photopin) T is for Tteoljam. What is that, you ask? And no, it’s not an exotic fruit preserve for your morning toast. Tteoljam is a specific type of hair pin worn by women in ancient Korea as well as by women in modern times when they don the traditional hanbok. This hair pin is embellished with stones, jewels, jade and metals. In ancient Korea you could generally tell a woman’s social status by the type of…
(photo Aniram via Dreamstime) S is for: sex scene or no sex scene? It’s the first day of seventh grade, and I’m a hopeless loser. I mean, hopeless–just like the clichéd awkward teen you see in the movies. The one who makes you cringe. The one for whom the capital L on the forehead defines. Loser teen is I. And of course, I’m lost. I’m wandering the halls after the bell has rung looking for my biology class, frightened of my own…
(Field of Diamonds, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston via Wikimedia Commons) Q is for Quilt. For as long as I can remember, quilts have been a part of my life. When I was little, we had the special “sick” quilt that my grandmother had made. It was a 1930’s green and lavender quilt in the Carpenter’s Wheel pattern that Mother brought out for those sick days to make us feel better. We also had a magnificent satin quilt from the…
(image courtesy TS Sheng via Wikimedia Commons) O is for Objective Correlative. Whoa. Hold on there just a minute. At seven syllables, objective correlative sounds like some high-falutin’ scientific term you need about three Ph.D’s to decipher. Or maybe objective correlative is some nasty parasite lurking in your lower intestines. Nope. The poet T.S. Eliot defined objective correlative as “a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events which shall be the formula of…emotion” (Lit Reactor). You know what…
(image flikr creative commons via photopin) N is for Names. There’s something rather mystical about names. There are magic spells that only work if you know your intended’s name. Rumpelstiskin was one, I think. We inscribe names on walls to honor those who have died in war. We make giant quilt panels to remember the names of those who died of AIDS. (image credit Wikimedia Commons) Welcome to Day N of Blogging from A to Z. Thank you, me…
(image courtesy Piotrus via Wikimedia Commons) M is for Mysterious Sea Route Myth I’ve written about the island of Jindo a few times during this Blogging from A to Z challenge. I mentioned the shifting tides that Admiral Yi Sun Shin used to defeat the Japanese navy in the 16th century and that contributed to the Sewol ferry disaster. Part of the unusual land/sea formations in this part of the world is an annual natural phenomenon in which a land…
(image Wikipedia Commons) L is for Love Aside from tension and character development and all the other essential elements of a good story, I find love is right up there. So, I thought I’d highlight a few novels that speak love to me…just in case you are in need of some titles to add to your reading list. Love between siblings The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Celie sacrifices her own happiness to save her beloved sister. The God of…
K is for Kick. For the letter K, I decided to take a simple word with multiple meanings to see how it could apply to my Blogging from A to Z theme Reading, (W)riting, and Research. Those of us who write have to think about ways that words work on more than one level. Shakespeare was a master of this technique. For example, when Juliet tells Romeo, “You kiss by the book,” does she mean he kisses like a schooled…
J is for Jindo. Before April 2014, few people outside of Korea knew of the existence of Jindo. That changed almost a year to the day when, on April 16, an overloaded ferry traveling from Incheon to Jeju Do capsized, killing roughly 300 people, mostly middle school students. The survivors were rushed to the nearest island, which was Jindo, where they were cared for by the hospitable inhabitants. Considered a stepchild of the resort island Jeju Do, Jindo boasts…
(image Creative Commons via Photopin) I is for Iguana. Okay, I don’t know why I’m partial to iguanas–other than the obvious–they are adorable! This is another Blogging from A to Z post related to writing and research. I wrote a story called “Flight of the Iguana” featuring an iguana and a rattlesnake with, yes, a small nod to Tennessee Williams. I also included an iguana named Alwyn in Moonlight Dancer. That means I had to do some research to discover traits…
(image Creative Commons via photopin) H is for Hanbok. So, we’re cruising along the Blogging from A to Z road with the theme Reading, (W)riting, and Research. The hanbok falls into the writing and research categories. I researched the history of the hanbok for my time-slip novel Moonlight Dancer. It’s so beautiful I just had to share it with you. The hanbok is the traditional dress of Korea and can be traced to the third century BCE. Today I’m going…
(image Garo4 via Dreamstime) G is for Ghosts. At last! We’ve arrived! My favorite letter for Blogging from A to Z because, well, you know, I adore ghosts. (Thank you, old subscribers, for sticking with me. I promise once we arrive at Z, I’ll give you a much-needed break. Pinkie swear.) But…I love ghosts. I love thinking about ghosts. I love writing about ghosts. I love reading about ghosts. I love to watch ghost stories on the big screen. On…