Stories are Everywhere (Some Creative Advice)

By Joyce Jacobo [Author’s Note: I wrote this short piece a while back for a publisher called BQB Publishing: https://bqbpublishing.wordpress.com/2014/01/31/stories-are-everywhere-finding-the-inspiration-to-write/, but I thought it might be nice to share it here as well. Hope you like it!] Discovering the bright spark of literary inspiration can pose an overwhelming challenge at times, especially when you don’t

Keeper of Tales: A Poem — Love13Reading

Thousand words penned Ten from them only meant Waiting for thoughts to be said But eventually finding them dead  Unwritten stories never truly meant Lifeless characters made then said Finding every hole filled with dread Stories cried waiting to be written  Always a winner I once went Wasting my time on things not to be said My real self taught to never be […]

Natural Waltz (A Poem)

By Joyce Jacobo [Author’s Note: The world moves to its own special kind of music]. I stepped outside one early spring morning    to find the countryside amid a fanciful celebration             where the Santa Ana Winds danced with the willow and elm trees                                              whose leaves rustled in excitement                                  as they swished                 

Little Lost Mystery Book (A Poem)

By Joyce Jacobo [Author’s Note: This poem references a book that I ordered once, and which somehow got lost in the mail. It was a mystery story–one of the Aunt Dimity tales by Nancy Atherton–and while I was sad at the delay, the whole situation felt almost appropriate for something from that literary genre. Eventually,

A Spotlight on National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

Website: nanowrimo.org Any organization that seeks to encourage creativity and spread literacy throughout the world deserves as much praise and recognition as possible, and National Novel Writing Month fits that description perfectly. What started in 1999 as something of an online community challenge for all participants to write 50,000 words of a novel within the

This Textual Structure

By Joyce Jacobo [Author’s Note: I love playing with poetry]. This textural structure exists in an unbalanced state  sometimes in neat lines that rise in precise stacks          and then other times at a certain angle                  which begins to tip towards one side               like a precarious tower of books    just about ready

Little Things (A Poem)

By Joyce Jacobo [Author’s Note: Just a few simple thoughts…] A little wave can influence a costal shore                 since every gentle brush pulls grains of sand into the sea                 and delivers treasures from the deep onto the land A little water can give rise to a mighty tree                 given with patient fondness

Journal Entry #6

It’s snowing today. Raindrops drummed on the rooftop of my humble home, and the Santa Ana Winds gusts against the windowpanes, so fiercely yesterday evening that I thought the power might go out–but it held firm all through the night. Which made the sudden silence and blanket of white outside all the more enchanting this

Cat Fishing (A Poem)

By Joyce Jacobo [Author’s Note: Mornings got much calmer after a certain kitty came into my life.] This morning                      I rose early        drew back the curtains throughout my home                                    to let in the sweet light of dawn             warmed up a pot           of fresh chamomile tea                      …and decided to go                                       fishing

Through the Eyes of a Bird: A Book Review of Kiki’s Delivery Service

Kiki’s Delivery Service is the lighthearted, magical tale of a young witch named Kiki who leaves home to make her own way in the world, accompanied by her talkative black cat Jiji. The author, Eiko Kadono, found inspiration for this story thanks to a picture drawn by her daughter, which showed a witch riding a