N is for NIGHTMARES

Welcome to Yes, This Will Be On the Test.

Waving to visitors, new followers, and fellow A to Z participants. I’m sending virtual hugs to you all for taking a moment to stop by.

I’ll be sharing my “take-aways.” All those snigglets, golden nuggets, and lessons learned from other creative sources.

Scroll down this link to find other wonderful A to Z participants.

The first fellow to give me nightmares was -

the wolf from Peter and the Wolf. 

Prokofiev's music was the icing on the terror cake. I was sure Mr. Wolf lived under my bed. As a kid, I would leap off my bed into the center of my room if I had to get up at night so a wolfish paw wouldn't drag me to my doom.

When I was twelve, I read LORD OF THE RINGS and the wolf was usurped by -

the Nazgul.

Thanks, JRR Tolkien, my nightlight stayed on until I went to college.

TAKE AWAY - 

An effective villain creeps off the page smack dab into your nightmares.

Who scared the bejeepers out of you?

L is for Lord of the Rings

Twenty-Six Days of Creative Inspiration

I admit it. I have an incurable obsession with any and all that is J.R.R. Tolkien’s THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Above all else this work inspired me to put pen to paper as a writer. It gave me permission to build fantastical worlds, set forth on adventures, and create swoonworthy heroes (Aragorn, not Frodo).

Confessions of a LORD OF THE RINGS addict:

• I immerse myself in the story every year by either reading the trilogy, listening to the audiobooks (appendices included – you haven’t lived until you’ve experienced the full story of Aragorn and Arwen), or watching the extended versions of all three films.
• I own a cardboard standee of Aragorn (Thank you Peter Jackson for casting Viggo Mortensen.)
• I still have nightmares about the Nazgul (Sauron I can deal with, but those nine riders FREAK ME OUT.)
• I play the LORD OF THE RINGS slot machines (I'm working on unlocking the Helm's Deep bonus.)
• I attended Trilogy Tuesday, December 16, 2003, and watched all three movies back to back in the theatre the day RETURN OF THE KING debuted (That’s a lot of popcorn. I’m on the left in the pic.)

Are you a Tolkien devotee? 

Click on the Blogging From A to Z Challenge logo in the sidebar to access the links to all the superheroes participating in this blog hop.

Dragon Love from Bruce Coville

I’ve always had a soft spot for dragons. I wanted one as a pet for years. Not a cranky dragon like Smaug in THE HOBBIT, but one I could ride around the world while roasting marshmallows on its fire breath. Couple dragon love with my goal to read a novel by each faculty member of the SCBWI Summer Conference and you have my discovery of JEREMY THATCHER, DRAGON HATCHER by Bruce Coville.

My search for a zinger read aloud to open the 2011-2012 school year in my fifth grade class might just be over.

The first paragraph in “A Note from the Author” at the end of this wonderful story says it all.

“I desired dragons,” J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote, and it seems he was not the only one. There is some powerful pull about these great creatures, something that sings to the imagination. – Bruce Coville

JEREMY THATCHER, DRAGON HATCHER has all the relatable ingredients to be a hit in my middle grade classroom:

Magic

Humor

Peer problems

Fantastical situations that you believe could really be true

Compassion

School issues

Devotion to a pet

Missteps

Resistance to romance

Increased responsibility

Getting around parental scrutiny

Personal growth and maturity

Heart, heart, and more heart

Best of all JEREMY THATCHER, DRAGON HATCHER is part of Bruce Coville’s MAGIC SHOP book series where kids grow through magical experiences emanating from Mr. Elives magic shop.

I know my new class will be enchanted with Jeremy and his dragon, Tiamat. I forsee a rush from my students to gobble up more stories in this series.

Thank you, Bruce Coville, for bringing your dragon magic into my life.

Do you “desire dragons?”

Obsession Confession - Middle Earth Alert

I admit it. I have an incurable obsession with any and all that is J.R.R. Tolkien’s THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Above all else this work inspired me to put pen to paper as a writer. It gave me permission to build fantastical worlds, set forth on adventures, and create swoonworthy heroes (Aragorn, not Frodo).

Confessions of a LORD OF THE RINGS addict:

• I immerse myself in the story every year by either reading the trilogy, listening to the audiobooks (appendices included – you haven’t lived until you’ve experienced the full story of Aragorn and Arwen), or watching the extended versions of all three films.
• I read the entire trilogy aloud to my children. (My Gimli ROCKS)
• I own a cardboard standee of Aragorn (Thank you Peter Jackson for casting Viggo Mortensen.)
• I still have nightmares about the Nazgul (Sauron I can deal with, but those nine riders FREAK ME OUT.)
• I play the LORD OF THE RINGS slot machines (I’m up to the Shards of Narsil bonus.)
• I attended Trilogy Tuesday, December 16, 2003, and watched all three movies back to back in the theatre the day RETURN OF THE KING debuted (That’s a lot of popcorn. I’m on the left in the pic.)

All kidding aside, I revere this story. It continues to set a literary bar that I will never achieve, but always strive for.

Tolkien permeates my teaching as well.

“All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost” – is a fabulous writing prompt.

“War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend…” – this works as a Patriot POV on the Revolutionary War.

Are you a Tolkien devotee? What piece of literature continues to glitter the gold of inspiration to your writing?

Middle Earth Fans: Check out Peter Jackson’s Video blog for THE HOBBIT