Suzy Davies's Blog: Book News - Posts Tagged "memoir"
Authors' Fair Deltona 2016
I am super-excited to announce that I will be at Deltona Authors' Fair on April 2, 2016, at the Deltona Regional Library from 1pm to 4pm.
My memoir, "Johari's Window," a romance story with the tale of the making of a writer running alongside will be available - (limited signed copies)
In addition, there will be the opportunity to catch a glimpse of "Snugs" the polar bear hero of my upcoming children's series, "Snugs The Snow Bear," soon to launch. The story is a tale of urban, and not so urban, adventures, and is about the charismatic polar bear, "Snugs" on a mission to save the world!
Following the hit with my first book, "Johari's Window," which achieved an Amazon ranking of 122 in "Novelists, Poets and Playwrights" this year on World Book Day, I am looking forward to meeting my readers at this event, and answering any questions they may have about my books.
My memoir, "Johari's Window," a romance story with the tale of the making of a writer running alongside will be available - (limited signed copies)
In addition, there will be the opportunity to catch a glimpse of "Snugs" the polar bear hero of my upcoming children's series, "Snugs The Snow Bear," soon to launch. The story is a tale of urban, and not so urban, adventures, and is about the charismatic polar bear, "Snugs" on a mission to save the world!
Following the hit with my first book, "Johari's Window," which achieved an Amazon ranking of 122 in "Novelists, Poets and Playwrights" this year on World Book Day, I am looking forward to meeting my readers at this event, and answering any questions they may have about my books.
Reflections On My Debut Novel
I have decided to read my own novel as a reader, to see what comes to light when distance and a certain objectivity come into play!
I am interested to know whether my critical eye still picks up on the things I didn't like about my book, when I briefly re-read it last year.
My vague suspicion is that I will find other things to scrutinize, other things to feel annoyed about.
First novels, in my view, are a kind of apprenticeship. That is what makes them so interesting, and why we can learn from reading them.
There are still things I am pleased with, and some things that surprise me about my own writing, and, not wishing to sound immodest - delight me.
My favorite chapter beyond any doubt is - "Journey Beneath The Stars" - I had a feeling of overwhelming liberation to be myself when I wrote this chapter. It was literally smooth sailing - from this chapter on.
Now, I know this sounds like the product of an over-active imagination, but it really was as if an invisible hand was taking over my writing - it just flowed! From my study of Psychology, I wish to state that I believe I tapped into my subconscious in that chapter, and it was as if all my twilight meanderings, all the dreams, desperate longings, shadowy imaginings I had harbored, revealed themselves to me in an epiphany. My writing was freed; and I became water.
I am interested to know whether my critical eye still picks up on the things I didn't like about my book, when I briefly re-read it last year.
My vague suspicion is that I will find other things to scrutinize, other things to feel annoyed about.
First novels, in my view, are a kind of apprenticeship. That is what makes them so interesting, and why we can learn from reading them.
There are still things I am pleased with, and some things that surprise me about my own writing, and, not wishing to sound immodest - delight me.
My favorite chapter beyond any doubt is - "Journey Beneath The Stars" - I had a feeling of overwhelming liberation to be myself when I wrote this chapter. It was literally smooth sailing - from this chapter on.
Now, I know this sounds like the product of an over-active imagination, but it really was as if an invisible hand was taking over my writing - it just flowed! From my study of Psychology, I wish to state that I believe I tapped into my subconscious in that chapter, and it was as if all my twilight meanderings, all the dreams, desperate longings, shadowy imaginings I had harbored, revealed themselves to me in an epiphany. My writing was freed; and I became water.
"Johari's Window" - A Kaleidoscope!
It is nearly two years since my debut novel, “Johari’s Window,” was published. I have been re-reading my book, and now time and distance have given me new insights into what I have written.
The novel which, elsewhere, I have described as a love letter and a game, is also a kind of quest novel, not only about the quest for love, but it also charts the quest of one woman to discover what life is about, and the unintended consequence of her soul-searching is in her discovery of herself as a writer.
The central chapter in the book is, “The Window,” chapter, which describes the genesis of the artistic imagination in a kind of natural “fire walk” in the Forest of Dean, England. This walk of fire, through grassy woodland, is created by the rays of the sun, which burn through “The Cathedral” window sculpture, suspended between two giant trees. The grass appears to burn with fire, like the artistic imagination set alight, and inspired.
Of course, the memory of this vision also contains the memory of the artist as a child; that of spinning round and round, in circles, in the “Brookie Fields” of her childhood, the dizziness and euphoria recreating the world as a kaleidoscope, with the ecstasy of whirling forms of light-saturated color. The patterns and forms are dynamic. They reform and change, thrilling and surprising us, and such is life.
My novel is postmodern in form, and the mimetic text is playful, mirroring the color and chiaroscuro shades of a world which is always changing in the memory of the writer, and which always reflects back the essence of who we are, and who we may become.
The famous psychological theory of personality was the idea behind the title. And life is a quest, in which our memories are stories we tell ourselves, and others, about our personal journeys, our personal quest. We are always recreating, and layering, our memories as current scenarios remind us of our past. We may be drawn to echoes of the past, even as we step bravely forward into new lives and new futures.
The “Journey Beneath The Stars” chapter in my book, is without a doubt, pivotal to the spirit of the novel. In“Johari’s Window” I wish to foreground the “unsung heroines” who charted a course to prepare the way for their sisters to voyage. To draw an analogy, the woman sailor Jeanne Baret, navigated and sailed on “L’Etoile” to be the first ever woman to circumnavigate the globe, and journey into New Worlds, yet, in her time, her story was never brought to light, because this woman sailor, disguised as a man, could never tell “her” story.
I use artistic license to say her journey was through darkness.
And it is under the cover of the night, that we foreground our feelings over thinking, subjectivity over objectivity. It is only in a voyage of dreams that we may return to the wild, and know ourselves as primitive. In this, “primitive,” is everything, “known before,” and deep in our collective conscience. This territory shows forth in the language of dreams, and it is with this language, in stories of archetypes, myths and legends, that we may better understand who we are.
Copyright Suzy Davies, Author, 08/10/2016. All Rights Reserved.
The novel which, elsewhere, I have described as a love letter and a game, is also a kind of quest novel, not only about the quest for love, but it also charts the quest of one woman to discover what life is about, and the unintended consequence of her soul-searching is in her discovery of herself as a writer.
The central chapter in the book is, “The Window,” chapter, which describes the genesis of the artistic imagination in a kind of natural “fire walk” in the Forest of Dean, England. This walk of fire, through grassy woodland, is created by the rays of the sun, which burn through “The Cathedral” window sculpture, suspended between two giant trees. The grass appears to burn with fire, like the artistic imagination set alight, and inspired.
Of course, the memory of this vision also contains the memory of the artist as a child; that of spinning round and round, in circles, in the “Brookie Fields” of her childhood, the dizziness and euphoria recreating the world as a kaleidoscope, with the ecstasy of whirling forms of light-saturated color. The patterns and forms are dynamic. They reform and change, thrilling and surprising us, and such is life.
My novel is postmodern in form, and the mimetic text is playful, mirroring the color and chiaroscuro shades of a world which is always changing in the memory of the writer, and which always reflects back the essence of who we are, and who we may become.
The famous psychological theory of personality was the idea behind the title. And life is a quest, in which our memories are stories we tell ourselves, and others, about our personal journeys, our personal quest. We are always recreating, and layering, our memories as current scenarios remind us of our past. We may be drawn to echoes of the past, even as we step bravely forward into new lives and new futures.
The “Journey Beneath The Stars” chapter in my book, is without a doubt, pivotal to the spirit of the novel. In“Johari’s Window” I wish to foreground the “unsung heroines” who charted a course to prepare the way for their sisters to voyage. To draw an analogy, the woman sailor Jeanne Baret, navigated and sailed on “L’Etoile” to be the first ever woman to circumnavigate the globe, and journey into New Worlds, yet, in her time, her story was never brought to light, because this woman sailor, disguised as a man, could never tell “her” story.
I use artistic license to say her journey was through darkness.
And it is under the cover of the night, that we foreground our feelings over thinking, subjectivity over objectivity. It is only in a voyage of dreams that we may return to the wild, and know ourselves as primitive. In this, “primitive,” is everything, “known before,” and deep in our collective conscience. This territory shows forth in the language of dreams, and it is with this language, in stories of archetypes, myths and legends, that we may better understand who we are.
Copyright Suzy Davies, Author, 08/10/2016. All Rights Reserved.
Joharis Window by Suzy Davies
Did you know you can preview the Kindle version of my book?
Here's the link:
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7780...
Here's the link:
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7780...
Between The Shadow and The Soul.*
We flicker in candlelight,
creep in the dusk,
secret interlopers,
travel in dust.
Ages of carbon
wrought mortal frames,
each one of us unique,
but always the same.
Motion of breath ‘twixt
the tongue and the lips,
I speak a name
and the name, between, slips.
Meeting of eyes,
the I and I knew,
always a surprise,
the discovery of you.
Copyright Suzy Davies 2019. All Rights Reserved.
*Title Inspired by Pablo Neruda’s poem.
creep in the dusk,
secret interlopers,
travel in dust.
Ages of carbon
wrought mortal frames,
each one of us unique,
but always the same.
Motion of breath ‘twixt
the tongue and the lips,
I speak a name
and the name, between, slips.
Meeting of eyes,
the I and I knew,
always a surprise,
the discovery of you.
Copyright Suzy Davies 2019. All Rights Reserved.
*Title Inspired by Pablo Neruda’s poem.
Amazing!
Delighted to discover that my novel, "Johari's Window," is now on the shelves at The National Library of Wales and at The University of Oxford.
Book News
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