Z is for Zurg, Evil Emperor Zurg

Twenty-Six Days of Creative Inspiration

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, to all the wonderful folks out there in Bloglandia who have visited and followed my humble blog during the A to Z Challenge. I've had a blast meeting so many new friends. You are my inspiration.

And now the baddest baddie in the known universe...

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Evil Emperor Zurg from the Toy Story movies is on a mission to destroy Star Command and conquer the Galaxy.

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Thank goodness, Buzz Lightyear stands between us and evil incarnate.

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Good will prevail.

Is there anyone out there who didn't dream of their toys coming to life? I wished upon countless stars for that to happen. The Toy Story movies granted my wish. 

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Andy's collection of toys found their way into my heart. Now my wish upon a star is to write a story that will find its way into someone's heart the way Toy Story did for me.

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Toy Story made me believe that wishes do come true.

Who is your favorite toy in Toy Story?  

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Y is for Yoda

Twenty-Six Days of Creative Inspiration

In the context of Joseph Campbell's hero journey, the mentor archetype doesn't get better than Yoda, Jedi Master extraordinaire, from Star Wars.

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Luke Skywalker's quest would have fallen kersplat if he'd never met Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back.

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Here are a few Yoda gems to send you on your way:

"Mind what you have learned. Save you it can."

"Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future."

"To answer power with power, the Jedi way this is not. In this war, a danger there is, of losing who we are."

"Named must your fear be before banish it you can."

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You've gotta love a Jedi Master who keeps reinventing himself. My students are currently hooked on this book.

What are you favorite Yoda moments?

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X is for The X Files

Twenty-Six Days of Creative Inspiration

If you've been following my A to Z posts, you probably saw this one coming a mile away.

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Yes, The X Files motivated me with a capital M.

 Great Characters - Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are a true dynamic duo. Her analytic personality is a perfect contrast to his ever-questioning tendencies and suspended disbelief in most things alien or supernatural. The ongoing joust of sexual tension between the two always kept the partnership interesting.

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Alien Mythology Arc - The show was unique in that most given episodes stood on their own, but embedded in the entire series was the alien mythology/shadow conspiracy story. The underlying threat from a consortium of humans who were bargaining with an alien race for colonization of the Earth was a major draw for me. Trying to string together clues and identify dropped breadcrumbs of the mythology arc was a blast.

Unfortunately the show hit a dull thud for me when David Duchovny left. I never warmed up to the new kids on the block. The first X-Files movie, Fight the Future, hit the X dead on for me. I ate it up. The second movie, I Want to Believe...um...well...nevermind.

My Mulder and Scully action figures will always have a place of honor on my desk.

Were you hooked by The X-Files? Did you prefer the alien mythology arc or the supernatural episodes best?


Here is a list of the alien mythology episodes.

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W is for Dr. Who

Twenty-Six Days of Creative Inspiration
Howdy, new followers. Welcome aboard.


What is the secret staying power of a BBC Sci Fi television series that started back in 1963, ran through 1989, was reincarnated in 2005, and still delights its audience today?

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The magic ingredient of the phenomenal program, Dr. Who, is the unforgettable main character, The Doctor.

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The Doctor is the last of the Time Lords. His home planet Gallifray was destroyed by his arch-enemies, the Daleks, during the Time War. 

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Ever since, The Doctor travels in his telepathic time machine, a 1960's English phone box called the Tardis, through time and space in an endless loop of adventures.

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In Dr. Who, The Doctor's wildly imaginative, outside the box escapades have a consistent thread, the Doctor's compassion. He'll go up against the most horrific of foe and still try to find the goodness hidden inside them. While we are screaming for him to zap the enemy with his sonic screwdriver, we love The Doctor for his conscience and quest to always take the high ground.

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The travels of Dr. Who illustrate over and over that imagination in storytelling is limitless. We can go to anytime, anyplace, real or imagined if we so choose when we tell our stories. The series has encouraged me to crack open my head and free all the fantastical nuggets trapped inside.

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There have been eleven molecularly regenerated Doctors over the span of the program, as well as a succession of derring-do female companions who accompany him on his journeys for a season or two.

I say it's time for The Doctor to seek out a new companion...ME! I want to go nebula hopping, watch the sun explode, and ski the rings of Saturn. I even have my own sonic screwdriver.

Daleks beware. The Doctor and Leslie are coming your way.

Time to share your Dr. Who love. Do you watch? Who is your favorite Doctor, companion, and enemy? If you haven’t seen Dr. Who, what are you waiting for?

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V is for View from the Fifth Grade Trenches: Van Gogh

Twenty-Six Days of Creative Inspiration

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How many of you just said, "Ahhhh" when you looked at this pic of Starry Night? The work of Vincent Van Gogh grabs me every time I look at it. His variety of brushstrokes, his vibrant colors, and his perspective of the ordinary never fails to pull me in.

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I find his work very appealing and relatable to my 5th graders. Van Gogh's work is accessible because the kids can see the color variations and the movement of the lines. They do a terrific job duplicating his work as they experiment with their own blossoming artistic skill.

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My students will recreate Sunflowers twice, once in chalk and again in thickened tempra paint to explore the textures Van Gogh created.

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Okay, okay, there is the ear (or lack of it) "issue." Yes, I do share that information with the kids. It's a great illustration of an "artistic personality" run amok.

Van Gogh's life story is as compelling as his work. He is a cornerstone of my inspirations.

Are you a Van Gogh fan? Florals or landscapes? Do you have a favorite piece?

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U is for UCLA

Twenty-Six Days of Creative Inspiration

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I am a Bruin. You might call me an Uber-Bruin. I earned a BA in theater arts and an MFA in theater design/technology from UCLA as well as serving on the design faculty of UCLA's Department of Theater for over a decade.

There was no better place for a creative soul to be nurtured than UCLA's Department of Theater. I entered as an actress and left as a lighting designer. Along the way I had two plays produced. Talent and artistic risk taking was always encouraged at UCLA.

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It was not only my teachers/mentors that inspired me, but the amazing peers I was surrounded by. Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson who wrote Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure were in my playwriting class. Ed went on to pen Men in Black. I was fortunate to work with Ed again on "It's Garry Shandling's Show. He was a writer and I was the assistant art director. I designed lighting and sound for shows that starred Tim Robbins. I could name drop for days, but I will spare you.The joke in my family is that everyone who I went to school with at UCLA is famous except for me. 

You couldn't turn around at UCLA without bumping into talent and inspiration.

If you have college bound kids in your life who crave a creative playground make sure they give UCLA a peek.

How did your college days inspire your future? Any fellow Bruins out there in Bloglandia?

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T is for Torchwood

Twenty-Six Days of Creative Inspiration

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Yes, I'm sharing more BBC love. If you don't know Torchwood, you have just hit sci-fi gold. This kickin' show only had a two season, plus bonus mini-series run*, which is a crime to rival the one season lifespan of Firefly.

Torchwood is an organization, separate from the government, created by Queen Victoria to protect the British Empire from alien threats. You all remember studying Torchwood in your world history class, right? 

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Today Torchwood guards the pesky rift in time and space that runs through Cardiff and lets all manner of aliens and supernatural annoyances through. The diverse, and I do mean diverse, characters, Captain Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Owen, and Tosh, make up the only barrier between us and any alien nere-do-wells that want to invade our good Earth.

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Captain Jack Harkness, who hails from the 51st century, leads this band of warriors. He originated on Dr. Who** and is as brave and daring as any hero in my playbook. I'll gladly stand behind him when the alien invasion comes.

Thank you, Queen Victoria for having the foresight to protect the Earth.

*I'm not counting the BBC America incarnation of Torchwood. My loyalties lie with the classic BBC version.

**If you are not familiar with Dr. Who, come back on "W" day to meet him.

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S is for Star Wars

Twenty-Six Days of Creative Inspiration

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A long time ago in a galaxy far far way, a boyfriend dragged me to what I thought was a stupid war movie.

After two hours in line and two hours in the theatre, I was helping Luke Skywalker blow up the Death Star with the secret controls in the armrest of the theatre seat.

I am a Star Wars fanatic, and proud of it. There was something magical about Luke leaving home to learn the ways of the force as I was leaving home to learn the ways of college. 

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After thirty-five years my love for the Star Wars universe has never waned, even through Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.

One of the thrills of my life is when I met Mark Hamill last year. He is a gentleman Jedi to be sure.

Star Wars filled me with a sense of wonder that long ago summer of 1977, and the saga still resonates with me today. I've always loved sci-fi, but Star Wars made me want to write sci-fi.

For the record, The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite of all the movies.

Do you feel the force?

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R is for Rain

Twenty-Six Days of Creative Inspiration

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Rain, rain don't go away.

Do I have any former puddle jumpers out there? As a kid I couldn't wait to go splashing and get soaked. Once after a big storm our backyard flooded and my brother and I set out to sea in a galvanized tub.

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Now there's nothing better than writing when it's pouring outside. I get a fire blazing in the fireplace, brew some chai tea, and snuggle on the couch with my laptop and a quilt. I can write for hours and hours.

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Here's a brilliant post from The Bookshelf Muse's weather thesaurus, on how rain can work in your writing. 

Do you wince or jump up and clap your hands when it rains?

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Q is for Quarries

Twenty-Six Days of Creative Inspiration

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I need visuals when I world build. It doesn't matter if it's a real place or one in a galaxy far far away.

My number one "go to" is the annual National Geographic week by week calendar. I have used their amazing photos as springboards not just for settings, but also details. There are some strange and wonderful flowers, plants, and animals in this world.

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My second "go to" is the playground that is Google Images. That's where I caught quarry fever while randomly searching odd locations. Quarries are the places where anything from salt to marble is dug from the earth. The magic comes when the digging is finished and an altered landscape is born.

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As a kid I swam in quarries that had been converted to public pools. They always had an "other worldly" quality to them, and were quite beautiful.

Where is your "go to" when you are looking for visual inspiration in your writing?

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P is for Poetry

Twenty-Six Days of Creative Inspiration

I love poetry. I was lucky to have a mother that read poetry to my brothers and I all through our childhood.

I am drawn to the intensity of poetry. The challenge of puzzling out the meaning in obtuse verse, and finding an expression that matches a flame in my own soul are the foundations of my relationship with poetry. Above all else, I adore poems that tell stories.

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Edna St. Vincent Millay

Two of my favorite story poems are "The Ballad of the Harp Weaver" by Millay, and "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes.

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Alfred Noyes

Do you feel the angst and intensity just dripping out of their portraits?

There are two books that weave poetry so effectively into the stories that they have sent me scurrying to the poems and poets they feature. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger introduced me to Rainer Maria Rilke, and Matched by Allie Condie reminded me of the power of Dylan Thomas and Alfred Lord Tennyson. Both stories show how poetry can sing the song behind the soul of your story.

Do you have a favorite poet or poem?

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Rainer Maria Rilke

I suspect Rilke looks unhappy because his middle name is Maria.

I leave you with a treat from Rilke. It's from Uncollected Poems Rainer Maria Rilke selected and translated by Edward Snow.

Overflowing heavens of squandered stars

flame brilliantly above your troubles. Instead

of into your pillows, weep up toward them.

There, at the already weeping, at the ending visage,

slowly thinning out, ravishing

worldspace begins. Who will interrupt,

once you force your way there,

the current? No one. You may panic,

and fight that overwhelming course of stars

that streams toward you. Breathe.

Breathe the darkness of the earth and again

look up! Again. Lightly and facelessly

depths lean toward you from above. The serene

countenance dissolved in night makes room for yours.

Paris, April 1913

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O is for Scarlett O'Hara

Twenty-Six Days of Creative Inspiration

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When we create characters, we must give them flaws. Scarlett O'Hara from Gone With the Wind hits the jackpot in the flaws department.

She is self-serving, ruthless, conniving, petulant, manipulative, inflexible, conceited, arrogant, and a downright mean man-stealing witch. Scarlett makes false promises to men so they idolize her. She even marries her sister's beau on a whim and spends the better part of the book chasing Ashley Wilkes, a married man.

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So why are readers so drawn to her? 

The girl's got gumption. Gone With the Wind is the official handbook of gumption. She faces her challenges head on. I'd love to be that brave. 

Scarlett also had a profound sense of family. She may torture the people she loves, but you know she would die for them if she had to. As much as she wanted to flee in the face of the Yankees marching on Atlanta, she didn't leave Melanie and her newborn. When everyone was starving at Tara in the waning days of the Civil War she did everything she could to put food on the table. Scarlett was willing to sacrifice her virtue to Rhett Butler to get tax money to save her family home.

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We spend the book torn between slapping Scarlett and rooting her on. She transforms as the story progresses and the Scarlett at the end of the book is not the same one flirting with the Tarleton twins on page one. Her character journey is a great ride and somewhere along the way we all get behind her.

How do you feel about Scarlett O'Hara? 

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