Thursday, February 20, 2014

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR ELAINE CALLOWAY

Elaine Calloway writes paranormal/fantasy novels with romantic elements. Currently, she is working on her Elemental Clan Series, a set of good versus evil tales between nature’s Elementals (Water, Fire, Earth, Wind) and the evil Fallen Angels who hunt the innocent. To learn more about Elaine and her books, visit her website. 

Creativity Will Out
I have a confession. Ah, just saying that reminds me of my days in Catholic school. (You know the old joke, don’t you? You know you’ve survived Catholic school if you can walk into a phone booth without feeling the sudden need to confess.)

My confession—or self realization, if you will—is that I’m creative. It’s not an observation; it’s something I have no control over. In the absence of creativity, my mind actually does go berserk. Creativity will out, no matter what.

In the last few months, at my day job, I’ve had a huge amount of mundane tasks to finish. When I say mundane, I mean horribly repetitive, mind-numbingly boring tasks. A day or two of this isn’t bad. Crank the radio, give the mind a break, and go-go-go get it done. Great therapy for a day or two, but an entire month?  Not so much.  

The mind refuses to be numbed after a specific point. I began to take walks around the office building, making up stories and creating plots for any objects in sight—lampposts, trees, umbrellas. I picked up rocks from a rock garden and began to have a puppet show on the ledge. I had conversations with umbrellas and named them after royalty in 18th century England. (While I did enjoy these talkative moments with umbrellas, admittedly they didn’t talk back…)

In other words, I went a bit nuts.

But don’t call the men in the white coats just yet. (Does anyone besides me ever wonder if they wear different colored coats just to rebel?) You see my conversing with umbrellas is not a yell for help. Or Thorazine. It just means that my mind has to do some form of creative activity or it can’t function. So in the absence of challenging tasks or being able to leave the building and write during lunch, my brain resorts to rock puppet shows and umbrella dialogue.

How would you describe your creativity? Have you ever had to postpone it and experienced a strange quirkiness in your mind? C’mon all, the confessional is open…

Earthbound
Some say history repeats itself, but for Terran, an Earth Elemental, history has returned and slapped him in the face. Along the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, the Acobi Fallen Angels have decided to go underground–literally. Resurrecting an ancient legend, the evil Acobi are trapping underage girls and shanghaiing innocent humans into slavery. Terran must stop the Acobi and keep the public away from the Shanghai tunnels, all while keeping his supernatural powers hidden.

Kelly Habersham, overachieving real estate developer, has finally convinced her father and brothers to give her the Portland condo project, which would require extensive construction near the tunnels. Determined to impress her father and make a name for herself in the family business, she is not about to let a Save-the-Earth guy get in her way.

Terran and Kelly must work together and come to a truce–or they may be the next victims.

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7 comments:

  1. I find the longer I suppress my creativity the stronger it gets and eventually becomes disruptive or unpleasant. Feeding the beast regularly keeps it friendly and stops those unpleasant thoughts when my children aren't back when they said they would be.
    Alas I've never seen enough umbrellas in one place to have a conversation:D but cactus are great listeners and have their own personalities.

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  2. Thanks for commenting, Linda :)

    Wow, you're right. If I lived out West and had cacti everywhere, I would SOOOO have conversations!

    Elaine

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  3. I write and edit nonfiction for a living, and even that doesn't really satisfy my creative drive. I find myself getting irritable and depressed if I go too long without working on my fiction (of course, I also have the typical writer's tendency to procrastinate). When I finally sit down and do even one scene of my novel-in-progress, the clouds lift. Only afterward do I realize, "THAT'S what I needed!" So when people ask how I produce so much, even with a full-time job, that's the reason. Just think--I'd be even grouchier if I didn't!

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  4. Interesting, sometimes I think I don't let it out enough, and like EF, I can be an expert procrastinator...I probably just need to make a point to write more...because, yeah...I do feel better afterward, for sense of accomplishment alone...

    Cheers,
    Alan.

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  5. Thanks for commenting, Angela and Alan :) Yep, I think the creative bug has to come out of us eventually. Whether you're a writer, painter, airline pilot--creativity can take many forms :)

    Elaine

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