Squirrel Tao http://squirreltao.dreamfishery.com The tao of my squirrel paths on the web Sun, 06 Apr 2008 03:00:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.5 en The Philosophy Wiki is Back http://squirreltao.dreamfishery.com/2007/12/31/the-philosophy-wiki-is-back/ http://squirreltao.dreamfishery.com/2007/12/31/the-philosophy-wiki-is-back/#comments Mon, 31 Dec 2007 23:03:11 +0000 Jennifer Franklin Elrod Philosophy Wiki Myth of Merula http://squirreltao.dreamfishery.com/2007/12/31/the-philosophy-wiki-is-back/ Today I took the plunge and made the philosophy wiki a fictional extension of The Myth of Merula. I will be writing in it as Alice Mountolive. This blog will be the only non-fictional part of the Dreamfishery.com Web Site. It’s very liberating. It’s not the first time I’ve considered doing this, but for some reason, something always held me back. Maybe it was only narrative conventions holding me back. I’m not sure what it was. I can think of no good reason not to make the whole Web Site fictional. But I can think of a lot of good reasons in favor of it. It’s more fun that way, it allows more freedom and possibility, and it enhances the story of The Myth of Merula. Anyway, being me is so dull and restricting sometimes.

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]]> http://squirreltao.dreamfishery.com/2007/12/31/the-philosophy-wiki-is-back/feed/ Getting Caught Up on My Online Novel Writing Class http://squirreltao.dreamfishery.com/2007/07/04/getting-caught-up-on-my-online-novel-writing-class/ http://squirreltao.dreamfishery.com/2007/07/04/getting-caught-up-on-my-online-novel-writing-class/#comments Wed, 04 Jul 2007 13:53:44 +0000 Jennifer Franklin Elrod Writing Personal Myth of Merula http://squirreltao.dreamfishery.com/2007/07/04/getting-caught-up-on-my-online-novel-writing-class/ It’s hard to believe this is the first blog post I’ve written since April. I’ve been knee-deep in living several dreams at the same time, besides being bitten hard by spring fever. Throughout half of April and most of May, I spent most of my free time outside. Every week-end I worked outside made my weight drop by two pounds — an added bonus. Plus, my mornings are now spent exercising, not drinking coffee while feverishly working on my computer until the last possible minute before I have to get ready for work — which was how I created most of my Web Site design. It’s hard to have balanced, healthy habits while working full-time and fleshing out a fictional Web Site part-time.

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]]> http://squirreltao.dreamfishery.com/2007/07/04/getting-caught-up-on-my-online-novel-writing-class/feed/ The Myth of Merula Expands from Fictional Story to Fictional Website http://squirreltao.dreamfishery.com/2007/04/08/the-myth-of-merula-expands-from-fictional-story-to-fictional-website/ http://squirreltao.dreamfishery.com/2007/04/08/the-myth-of-merula-expands-from-fictional-story-to-fictional-website/#comments Sun, 08 Apr 2007 16:14:03 +0000 Jennifer Franklin Elrod Writing Myth of Merula http://squirreltao.dreamfishery.com/2007/04/08/the-myth-of-merula-expands-from-fictional-story-to-fictional-website/ I’ve decided to make all of DreamFishery.com a fictional Website, including even the philosophy wiki. Everything on DreamFishery.com, except this blog, will be a part of the digital storytelling that Alice Mountolive is doing as the narrator of The Myth of Merula. Making this decision just feels right to me. As soon as I imagined doing it, I could feel my creative juices start flowing more than ever. Making the whole site fictional feels liberating. It’s like taking a boat out to sea after being landlocked for a while. It’s also fun. It’s like playing pretend. Writing fiction is like playing pretend, in a way, too; but making the whole Website fictional really puts me into character, so to speak. And being in character, as the narrator Alice, helps me create the story. It occurs to me how much writing can have in common with acting, and I wonder why it never occurred to me before.

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]]> http://squirreltao.dreamfishery.com/2007/04/08/the-myth-of-merula-expands-from-fictional-story-to-fictional-website/feed/ Online Novel Writing Class Is Helpful for Writing The Myth of Merula http://squirreltao.dreamfishery.com/2007/02/18/online-novel-writing-class-is-helpful-for-writing-the-myth-of-merula/ http://squirreltao.dreamfishery.com/2007/02/18/online-novel-writing-class-is-helpful-for-writing-the-myth-of-merula/#comments Sun, 18 Feb 2007 19:00:05 +0000 Jennifer Franklin Elrod Writing Myth of Merula http://squirreltao.dreamfishery.com/2007/02/18/online-novel-writing-class-is-helpful-for-writing-the-myth-of-merula/ This January, I joined a free online class in novel writing at the Forward Motion for Writers community, and I’m glad I did. Its timing is perfect to help me write The Myth of Merula. It’s a two year novel writing class with weekly assignments that cover every aspect of novel writing, from idea to characters to worldbuilding to writing to editing to submission and publication. Lazette Gifford, a very prolific author with many published novels under her belt, is the teacher. Her attitude is practical and experienced. I sense that this gal knows how to go through all the steps of writing a novel without wasting her time. I could use some o’ that.

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]]> http://squirreltao.dreamfishery.com/2007/02/18/online-novel-writing-class-is-helpful-for-writing-the-myth-of-merula/feed/ I Rewrote the Beginning of the Myth of Merula http://squirreltao.dreamfishery.com/2007/02/10/i-rewrote-the-beginning-of-the-myth-of-merula/ http://squirreltao.dreamfishery.com/2007/02/10/i-rewrote-the-beginning-of-the-myth-of-merula/#comments Sat, 10 Feb 2007 22:09:24 +0000 Jennifer Franklin Elrod Myth of Merula http://squirreltao.dreamfishery.com/2007/02/10/i-rewrote-the-beginning-of-the-myth-of-merula/ I changed the beginning of The Myth of Merula. I realized that it was not a strong beginning at all. In fact, it was nothing but writing that circled around the beginning, sneaking up on it and then backing away. I did not like it at all anymore, even though it’s not the final version, and it’s “just a blog”. I hesitated before changing it. Something in the nature of a blog makes me think I should preserve everything with no edits and no deletions. From now on, I believe I will attempt to follow a no-edit, no-deletion practice, for the sake of maintaining the feel of a real blog. Nonetheless, the beginning had to go. The story starts out much better now.

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