ghost ghost story magical realism story National Novel Writing Month siblings sisters writing fiction Writing life

Being a NaNoWriMo Rebel

I’m a born rebel, so when I set goals as a NaNoWriMo rebel, I pick the ones that fit with my writing habits. These are habits born of observing my best writing periods and replicating what worked, forgetting what didn’t. For me, as a National Novel Writing Month fan, word counts don’t work. For me, daily writing works. But you may be a different kind of writer. How can you use NaNo to your advantage?…

Continue reading

Grand Central Magical realism magical realism fiction magical realism novels magical realism story time travel fiction

Magical realism book review: Time After Time

I bought Time After Time by Lisa Grunwald because it was listed on Amazon under Time Travel Romance. I’d say Amazon should invent a new category: Magical Realism Romance. This captivating love story, set in a meticulously detailed historic Grand Central Station, itself an otherworldly but actual setting, is in a class by itself. Nora and Joe live two decades apart. Following a train accident, Nora exists in a liminal realm, but they meet through…

Continue reading

Magical realism magical realism story

The Time-Blossoming Birthday Cake – A Magical Realism Story, Part 2

The Time-Blossoming Birthday Cake – Part 2 The magenta rosebud I picked off the rose-covered birthday cake given to me by Cousin George is now in full flower. The cake is still in the fridge. I’m afraid to cut a slice and eat it, because when I took this rosebud off and put it into a crystal vase, I found myself thrown back in time to the day before my birthday party. So now I…

Continue reading

Magical realism magical realism fiction magical realism novels magical realism story

The Time-Blossoming Birthday Cake – A Magical Realism Story

This is my account of the Time-Blossoming Birthday Cake. It was given to me by a cousin I hadn’t met before. George St. James heard about my 30th birthday party from another cousin, Maria, who called to ask if she could bring our relative because he was visiting her in the city and she thought I’d enjoy meeting him. George not only came with Maria, he brought me a gift — a small, beautiful cake…

Continue reading

Magical realism magical realism poetry magical realism story

Magical Realism in Poetry & Pattiann Rogers’ Cat

What is magical realism in poetry? Possibly it’s defined by what isn’t magical realism in a poem. One might ask what is magical realism in fiction, but in poetry, in a poem, it’s what both is and isn’t. It’s the magical field created around ordinary images with ordinary language. The establishing of an entire field outside of, and at the same time, inside what we call reality. A great example of a magical realism poem…

Continue reading