NaNoWriMo Prep 103: Blog Name Inspirations

As I began to write this piece, I was thinking about Alice in Alice in Wonderland when she fell down the rabbit hole. I was never sure at any particular point where my writing was going to go from that first sentence until it just ended. I guess that’s one way of interpreting what Andre Gide meant when he said “The most beautiful things are those that madness prompts and reason writes.” You never know what you are going to get when you a thought or idea enters your mind and then you put pen to paper. I find it so fascinating where the imagination can take you - the madness that prompts - and at the same time how odd it feels to not know what direction it may lead you but that somehow, somewhere along the way, it becomes a cohesive whole and eventually it’s called a story with a beginning middle and end – the reason that gets written. Please keep in mind that my work is always a work in progress. My goal is to write everyday – whether I write well or write poor is less my concern than it is that I simply write. I read a quote by Richard Rhodes on another blog: “If you’re afraid you can’t write, the answer is to write.”

Falling, falling, falling. That was the last thing I remembered before I woke up to a haze of bright lights and concerned faces. I could hardly make them out, but I heard my mother and father’s voice and thought I could make out my sister in between them and…was that my baby brother in the corner? Where the hell am I?

“You sure gave us all a good scare, Missy,” my mother said in the saddest voice I had ever heard come out of her mouth. I hadn’t even realized I’d said it aloud. It was just surreal; a feeling of depersonalization; like I wasn’t there; or I was – but it wasn’t me – but it was – wasn’t it?

“Maybe we should let her sleep,” That was definitely my father. He was never one to talk about things, especially not anything about one’s feelings and nothing this serious.

“Do you think she can even hear us?” It didn’t appear that my sister was talking to anyone in particular. She was staring down right at me.

Why were they talking about me like I wasn’t here? Where am I? What happened to me? Why can’t I remember anything but a blur of passing scenery, flashing bright lights and then everything just goes blank?

I heard footsteps clacking down the hall, coming closer and getting louder with each heel. When they stopped, everyone around me turned their heads at the same time to look at something or more likely someone.

“How’s everything going in here?” came a baritone voice. My parents and sister moved out of the way like a crowd parting ways to make room for a king to come through on the red carpet.

“Missy, can you hear me?” a doctor hovered over my bedside and began fiddling in his pockets for something. It was then I realized it took all my strength to even attempt at a nodding head motion.

“Do you know where you are?”  The doctor continued while shining a light at each of my pupils. I tried to shake my head to the side but it was too painful. “Missy you are at St. Catherine’s Hospital in Winston. You were in a very serious car accident with another man. You broke your collarbone, fractured several ribs and gave the rest of your body a serious jolt.

A car accident? Who was I with and what happened to them? 

“Well, you’re a very lucky woman, Missy. I’ll be back to check your vitals again in a few hours.” And just like that, the doctor turned and left, allowing the concerned faces to close back in on me.

“Wha..” I barely recognized my own voice it sounded so weak coming out of me. My mother turned to look at my father and my sister looked at the ground. She looked like she was crying.

“It’s Jack, Missy,” my father said.

“It’s Jack what?” I demanded. My voice only gaining the slightest of volume but no one responded. And then the visions started again. The blur of scenery of trees whizzing by us in the dark; the falling; the crash; the darkness and then the bright lights; then I saw Jack’s face for the first time come into the vision as I’d seen it the last time I saw him. “Oh, no!” I gasped and everything went black again.

NaNoWriMo Prep 102 - Madness Prompts

Write something inspired by your blog name (and reveal the meaning behind your blog name)

My first blog follows me on my journey that is the path to fulfill my dream of becoming a published author. I read and review chick lit books and discuss various aspects about the writing process and inspirations from the books I read. I wanted to have a separate blog that was all writing. I wanted a place where I could practice my writing; a place that could possibly motivate and inspire me to write on a daily basis and make (more than) baby steps towards that novel I aim to write someday.

I decided (since I love quotes) that part of my new blog would include a page solely for inspirational, funny and just plain fun quotes about writing. In my search, I came across so many great words. That’s when I decided that my blog had to be titled something either based on one of these quotes, a play on someone’s famous words or verbatim. I first stumbled upon a quote by Graycie Harmon: “Being an author is having angels whisper in your ear - and devils, too” and thought Angels Whispering in My Ear would make an excellent title, but I wasn’t convinced.

I got to thinking about the creative process that writing is and how it truly is an expression of someone’s inner psyche, their hopes, their dreams or even, everything else that is never said. Somehow this brought me to Alice in Wonderland, and how Lewis Carroll created one of the most fantastical lands of children’s play and imagination in one story. I knew Alice had to be a part of my new blog and its title.

Finally, I came across: The most beautiful things are those that madness prompts and reason writes.  By Andre Gide and decided my blog must be titled: “madness prompts and reason writes. It made me think of the mad hatter, the crazy psyche and the beautiful art that writing becomes on paper.

From there, I knew my blog wouldn’t be complete (or started) until I had a picture that captured all of this, too, so I took a black and white chessboard (so Alice) and a few kaleidoscope patterned, psychedelic designs in a rainbow of colors and my writing blog was ready to begin.