My poem “Shapshifter” came out today is the beautiful Journal of Mythic Arts edited by Midori Snyder and Terri Windling. http://endicottstudio.typepad.com/jomapoetry/2007/11/shapeshifter-ma.html

It’s a wonderful journal that’s a visual and literary treat!

Apologies to Emily D., (the word should really be “frigate”), but she might agree with the sentiment. In the bustle of Christmas gifting, consider giving a signed copy of a book. Your local independent bookstore is a good place to start. They often have a local authors section. And, of course, you can order signed copies of Wolfproof, Nuclear Legacy and Relentless Light from this site. Send your request to info@maureenmcquerry.com

And if you’re like me, the next thing on your list will be bookshelves.

“It had been startling and disappointing to me to find out that story books had been written by people, that books were not natural wonders, coming up of themselves like grass. Yet regardless of where they came from, I cannot remember a time when I was not in love with them–with the books themselves, cover and binding and the paper they were printed on, with their smell and their weight and with their possession in my arms, captured and carried off to myself.”    –Eudora Welty

G.K. lived before the advent of the computer age which has brought tremendous potential and tremendous frustration. Right now I am raging at my computer over attempting to create my very first newsletter. For some reason, the graphics just won’t show up#@!*  Once I master this little glitch, which can send me over the edge so easily, you are likely to recive a copy of the quaterly newletter with updates about my writing, links for student writers and links to generally cool sites about writing, fantasy, myth and words. There’s a button to unsubscribe at any time.

So, to put me back into a better spirit and perhaps soothe some of the frustrations of your day, let’s turn back to G.K and one of my very favorite Christmas poems . Hope it will give us all some perspective on the season before we are consumed by our consumer frenzies.

Where does an author’s voice come from?

After reading favorite authors, and inviting me to participate in their blogg discussions, students were ready to have a socratic discussion about voice. Most students felt that voice is shaped by a variety of perspectives, social, cultural, philosophical, religious and even technological. An author’s voice is their view of the world shaped by all the categories mentioned and more. It’s one half of the conversation between writer and reader. What a great discussion. Thanks for letting me participate!

Here’s a great discussion I came across on editor Cheryl Klein’s blog about how authors start a story and how they develop characters. Who would have thought so many people invent characters that take on a life of their own? It’s an old post, so you’ll just have to eavesdrop on the conversation. Can you eavesdrop retroactively? Seems so!

 http://chavelaque.blogspot.com/2007/10/and-now-informational-question.html

Everyone has secrets. Today one of mine is out of the bag–synesthesia. I started thinking about this the other day when a friend asked me where an author’s voice comes from. I was thinking of all the random bits that make up a person’s perception of the world, things that are unique to that indivdual.

When I was little I thought everyone thought of numbers , days of the week and letters as colors. For as long as I can remember, that’s how I’ve  experienced them. It was quite a shock when I discovered most people didn’t know what I was talking about. It wasn’t until I was in my early 20’s that I learned that this type of perception has a name, synesthesia. Wikipedia explains the condition this way: ” stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. “  I have grapheme–color synesthesia. I don’t see letters in color on a page of text, but they are always  the same color in my mind’s eye. I also have certain color-sensation crossovers as well, for example, orange is the color of a headache. It’s that McDonald’s/Home Depot bright orange and the headache is right in front over my eyes.

When my daughter was 12 she asked me if I saw days as colors. Synethesia does have a genetic component. We don’t see letters as the same colors though! My son is a very different type of synesthete–He’s a shape taster. This is a rarer form. Foods /flavors all have a specific shape associated with them and the shape is felt in the mouth. How weird is that?

My husband doesn’t have any form of synesthesia and sometimes feels left out:)

What does this have to do with writing? Maybe nothing, but I wonder if it doesn’t help with an early development of metaphor–making connections between two things that are not usually connected. It does seem that many synesthetes are in the arts.

Look for synesthetic traits in my characters; you’ll find them. To learn more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia

Come and explore, this lost and found where both red herrings and clues abound.Ask me questions I’ll tell you true, but fact and fantasy you must sort through.The game’s afoot!