52 Author Dates ~ Week 1

Happy New Year from Crabapple House 

Happy New Year, dear Ink Dots friends. I hope you've settled into 2014, overflowing with inspiration for the days ahead. 

I say inspiration, because the author in me looks for and responds to inspiration all the time. There's a story thread in even the most unlikely place, and I love to sift news reports, old papers and history books for just that ~ inspiration.

In an effort to stray a little from the predictable, I've stumbled upon a book which encourages the author to stretch beyond the every day. Yes, I know... this could already be sounding a little predictable. 

A January post about how to be different in this week of brand new, bright starts. I bet most blog posts this week herald the excited lists of those who want something different. New. Untasted.

Well, here's mine. It's a list, yes, but it's written by someone who doesn't know me, someone I've never met. Her name's Claire Wingfield and she's authored 52 Dates For Writers. 

You may laugh at me now, or week by week, as I tick these 52 stops off on my calendar. Tandem bike rides, ferris wheel rides, visit a castle, swim in cold water. Stops which will take me from my desk and, as promised in the blurb of 52 Dates For the Writer...  return me with 'new ideas, fresh insight, better writing skills, and a renewed passion for my novel.'

Hmmm, well, the passion for my novel writing is in good shape already. But I wouldn't mind fresh insight. New ideas are always welcome, and better writing skills... who doesn't want that?

Some of the tasks won't send shivers down my legs. I look forward to Book Browsing, Riverside Walk and Write Outside. All different, and all designed to show or remind me what's out there... beyond the desktop, and how it might translate into my writing. 

So, armed with my 52 date schedule, I think my Friday posts on Ink Dots may already be taking shape. My apologies up front to Claire Wingfield. I may will change the order a little, but I take on the challenge (together with my Beloved who's agreed to tag along for some of them) and I'll record our adventures here. 

First up... thanks to this week's migraine which clipped my wings before I'd even started, I chose Curl Up With A Favourite Novel from the list.  How did this meet some of my author date aims? 

Curling up with a good book always invigorates, that's a given. And a summer's day could not get sweeter, spent beside a beach with a breeze and a book. My beach of choice is Red Rocks at Phillip Island.

Curl Up With A Favourite Book

This is me, reading a book by LaVyrle Spencer. (Sadly, long retired now)  She's one of my favourite storytellers. And for a number of years I've been hunting down her books in thrift stores and 2nd hand bookshops. I've learned a lot about what  thrills me in a story from LaVyrle Spencer's books. Her use of language and descriptions is a feast of well crafted words and plot twists. 

Here's what I discovered on the dedication page of one of her books, The Fulfilment.

Dedication page from LaVyrle Spencer's The Fulfilment 

Goosebumps right...? One of my favourite authors, just might perch on a far flung branch of my own family tree. Cousin LaVyrle's an Adamek... like me, and one day, God willing, I'll be a Grandma Adamek, too.

How inspiring is that? To me, it's priceless. Are you goosebumping with me? Are you hunting out ways to ramp up your creativity? Are you listing goals for 2014, and listening to God's direction for what comes next? 

What adventures have you scheduled for the new year?