Tag: #inkripples (Page 9 of 9)

October Ripples in the Inkwell: Anxiety Dreams #inkripples

October 12, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

For our October Ripples in the Inkwell (#inkripples) Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and I are discussing fear/things that go bump in the night. My mind immediately went to nightmares.

It is well-known among my friends and families that I have very vivid, often wacky dreams. I’ve even been lucky enough to have the occasional lucid dream (in which you are aware you are dreaming, and may actually be able to take control of the dream…pretty cool actually, and I always end up flying when I can!). That also means I’m subject to realistic, terrifying nightmares.

I’m more prone to having nightmares when I’m feeling anxiety and stress. A couple of common stress dreams I experience with some regularity are the one where I show up for the final test of a class I haven’t been to all year and the one where my teeth fall out or crack.

More likely than those two dreams, though, is a recurring anxiety dream that has changed throughout the years. When I was very young, I can remember having lots of dreams about wolves chasing me, and I would wake up sweating, my heart racing. At some point during my adolescent the go-to stress dream turned into dinosaurs stalking me (one reason why, to this day, I have a hard time watching any of the Jurassic Park movies).

After The Boy was born, my anxiety dreams were often about the end of the world. Usually they would start with me seeing something strange in the sky and then aliens would strike or there would be some kind of widespread terrorist attack, and I’d be trying to protect my family.

And lately, my nightmares have taken the form of zombies (you won’t catch me watching The Walking Dead ever!). What’s interesting about these dreams is that the zombies don’t get a lot of “screen time.” It’s more the constant threat of a zombie attack that causes the panic.

Aren’t you so glad to have a glimpse into my dreams? What kinds of nightmares have you all had?

Have you joined the #inkripples movement yet? Ripples in the Inkwell is a monthly meme created by Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and Katie L. Carroll(me!). On the second Monday of each month, we post on a particular topic. The idea is that we toss a word, idea, or image into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There’s no wrong way to do it and we’d love for you to participate (full details here). October is all about fears and things that go bump in the night. Be sure to provide a link to your own #inkripple in the comments!

September Ink Ripples: School Butterflies & Fall Leaves

September 14, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

Second Monday of the months means a new #inkripples post!

IMAG1080 I love the long, lazy days of summer. Wearing as little clothing as possible; going barefoot in the crunchy, dried out grass; running through every sprinkler you pass by. The summer just feels easy to me. The only thing that makes the end of summer okay is that it leads into my second favorite season: fall!

Apple picking (though sometimes this is an end-of-summer thing), limitless blue skies, jumping into piles of leaves, and that certain earthy smell that fall brings. 20150828_121636 Ahhh, fall is nice.

Then there’s that other thing that the end of summer brings: school! It’s been many years since I’ve been in school, but now that The Boy is in his second year of preschool (and the first year that he is starting in September…he was too young to start in September last year), I’m remembering about those beginning of school butterflies and that tiny bit of dread that the freedom of summer is over.

So lots of mixed feelings over here during this time of year. How are you all faring during the change of season from summer to fall?

Inkwell meme green Have you joined the #inkripples movement yet? Ripples in the Inkwell is a monthly meme created by Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and Katie L. Carroll(me!). On the second Monday of each month, we post on a particular topic. The idea is that we toss a word, idea, or image into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There’s no wrong way to do it and we’d love for you to participate (full details here). September is all about school and fall. Be sure to provide a link to your own #inkripple in the comments!

June Ripples in the Inkwell: Summer Reading Recommendations

June 8, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

It’s the second Monday of the month and that means a new Ripples in the Inkwell post! May was all about change (my post was about how change is hard at any age). June heralds the start of summer, so Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and I thought it would be fun to talk about summer/vacations. We’d love to read your posts on the theme; find out how to play along with the monthly meme HERE. And be sure to stop by Kai’s and Mary’s blogs to check out their posts.

When I knew the June #inkripples theme was summer/vacation, my first inclination was to talk about the last, horrible vacation I went on where we hated the (leaky, smelly, awful) rental house so much we left halfway into our trip. (The owner was quick to remind me that there was a no refund policy…jerk!) But summers and vacations are supposed to be about fun, so I started thinking about some of my favorite things to do while on vacation.

And, of course, one of those things is read. So here are a few summer reading recommendations, straight from you to me (partial blurbs pulled from Goodreads). I picked books that had a summer feel to them, whether they took place during the summer or because they fit the lovely category of beach reads. I’d love to hear your summer reading rec’s in the comments!

THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE by Jandy Nelson

“Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life – and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two.”

This is one of my favorite books of all time (and it you know anything about my personal life and how I started writing, you’ll understand why), so it pretty much ends up on every recommended list I create. But it fits this list especially because it takes place during the summer.

TWENTY BOY SUMMER by Sarah Ockler

“According to Anna’s best friend, Frankie, twenty days in Zanzibar Bay is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy every day, there’s a pretty good chance Anna will find her first summer romance. Anna lightheartedly agrees to the game, but there’s something she hasn’t told Frankie–she’s already had her romance, and it was with Frankie’s older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.”

This has a little bit of everything you want in a summer read: beach setting, forbidden romance, secrets and lies, and parties!

SUMMER SISTERS by Judy Blume

“In the summer of 1977, Victoria Leonard’s world changed forever—-when Caitlin Somers chose her as a friend. Dazzling, reckless Caitlin welcomed Vix into the heart of her sprawling, eccentric family, opening doors to a world of unimaginable privilege, sweeping her away to vacations on Martha’s Vineyard, a magical, wind-blown island where two friends became summer sisters…”

Judy Blume, Martha’s Vineyard, friends who are like sisters, and, um, Judy Blume! Do I even need to explain including this one? Didn’t think so.

WE WERE LIARS by E. Lockhart

“A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.”

This is one of those books you read and then want to immediately read again. The island setting screams summer, and the lies, oh, the lies!

CHARLIE JOE JACKSON’S GUIDE TO SUMMER VACATION by Tommy Greenwald

“Despite all attempts to avoid reading and extra work, Charlie Joe Jackson finds himself in a terrible dream he can’t wake up from: Camp Rituhbukkee (pronounced “read-a-bookie”)—a place filled with grammar workshops, Read-a-Ramas, and kids who actually like reading. But Charlie Joe is determined to convince the entire camp to hate reading and writing—one genius at a time.”

All the Charlie Joe Jackson books are great for young and young-at-heart readers. This one will keep you laughing all the way to summer camp!

PANIC by Lauren Oliver

“Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.

Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.”

This one will keep you up late into the summer night. My own teen summer nights did include some dangerous antics but none quite at this level.

THE MERMAID’S MIRROR by L.K. Madigan

“Lena has lived her whole life near the beach – walking for miles up and down the shore and breathing the salty air, swimming in the cold water, and watching the surfers rule the waves – the problem is, she’s spent her whole life just watching.”

My only fantasy book in the bunch (shocking, I know, but I tend to think of more realistic stories for beach reads). Love the setting of this book; it has just the right feel for summer.

In the interest of keeping this post manageable (cause I could go on and on and on when it comes to recommending books), I’ll stop here. So now it’s your turn. What’s on your summer reading list? What book(s) do you recommend for the perfect beach read?

May Ripples in the Inkwell: Change Is Hard

May 11, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

It’s the second Monday of the month, so that means it’s time for a new Ripples in the Inkwell (#inkripples) post. Kai Strand’s post can be found here, and Mary Waibel’s can be found here. May brings more flowers, buds turning to leaves on the trees, and warmer weather. The winter jackets are packed away and t-shirts are coming out. May is all about change, and that’s our topic of the month.

The change in weather is welcome, particularly after this very long winter. But change is hard. I see how my 3-1/2 year old son, The Boy, is still having a hard time with all the changes that have gone on in his life in the past year. Even though his younger brother, The Prince, is almost a year old, the adjustment period isn’t over. The resentment lingers, evident when The Boy says, “Mommy, I want you to take care of only me. Daddy can take care of [The Prince].”

The Boy started preschool last November, another big change, especially after being home with me all day for the last two years. He seems so old to me in many ways, but I have to remember how young he really is. It wasn’t too long ago he was still sleeping in the crib. Now he’s in a big boy bed in a new, bigger room. The early years of life bring on so many changes.

But even as an adult, I find change hard, harder still than when I was in my teens and twenties. I like my routine, even if every day the routine isn’t the same. I write best sitting at my laptop, sipping my tea. It’s important for productivity not to be tied to that, though. I can’t always be at my laptop, I don’t always have quiet time to work, I don’t always have time to work period. If I’m ever going to finish my WIP, I need to allow myself the flexibility to squeeze in the work when I can.

Change is also good for the creative soul. It pushes my brain into new realms and I see the world in a new light. I so desperately needed to get away the other weekend for the New England SCBWI writing conference. With little ones, it’s been hard for me to be away from them. My job as mom is 24-7. I needed that change, the time to be a writer and not a mom for a little while. I hated leaving my babies, but it was important for me to do just that.

I guess no matter if we’re 3 or 33 or 133, it will be desirable to avoid change. It’s easier to keep to the routine, maintain the status quo. But lack of change also means lack of growth, so I’m willing to step out of my comfort zone and grow as a person as a result.

Inkwellblueandgreen Want to join in on the conversation on change? Or next month’s theme of summer/vacation? It’s easy to participate in Ripples in the Inkwell.

Ripples in the Inkwell #inkripples is a new monthly meme created by Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and Katie L. Carroll. We’ll be posting on the second Monday of every month with a new topic. We’re all authors, but you don’t have to be to participate. Simply compose your post using the monthly theme, grab one of the images, and link back to the three of us. Make sure to use #inkripples when you play along and promote your posts. The idea is that we toss a word, idea, or image into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There’s no wrong way to do it! Full details can be found on my post “Introducing Ripples in the Inkwell.”

Introducing Ripples in the Inkwell

May 7, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

Inkwell meme green

May’s theme is change, and look for posts from all three of us on Monday, May 11th. I’ll be talking about how hard change is, but how often it’s just the thing we need.

Going forward for the rest of the year, the themes are:

June: Summer/Vacation
July: Patriotism InkwellHashtag2
August: Dog days/Things that drag you down
September: Fall/School
October: Fears/Things That Go Bump in the Night
November: Remembrance /Thankfulness
December: Celebration/Gifts

I look forward to seeing all of your ripples. Feel free to link to them in the comments of Monday’s post (or here). And don’t forget to use #inkripples. We’ll be discussing change all month long on Twitter in addition to the blog posts.