Robin Layne's Blog: From the Red, Read Robin - Posts Tagged "red"

What should I Name this Blog?

I started brainstorming titles, and came up with a veritable kaleidoscope of them! I thought I’d throw them out here because they show various facets of myself, my interests, aims, and writings. I might come up with more in time, but for now, I welcome thoughts on these—or combinations of them. You can see I’ve already eliminated some of these, but I hope that seeing why is informative and entertaining. I plan to write on subjects for book lovers and writers alike.

Red Robin’s Bloggin’—could mean either the process of blogging or the fact that Robin is blogging. The color red has significance to me on a number of levels. Downside: could be confused with the restaurant. (How do you trademark a color and a bird? But they did.) Also sounds like “noggin,” and that’s where these thoughts come from.

Red Robin Bloggin’—rhymes, and so is more poetic than the former idea. Still could be confused with the restaurant.

Red Robin’s Bloggin’ Toboggan—a wild ride, to be sure.

Robin’s Red Blog—reminds me of the Portland Red Book, but it’s not a very similar name.

The Little Red Blog—sounds like a children’s book blog—not appropriate for most of what I will talk about.

Robin’s Big Red Blog—possible.

Little Red Robin Hood—now that’s a mixture of tales!

Little Red Bloggin’ Hood—too cutesy, I think.

Robin’s Blood-red Blog—this is okay, although it reminds me of “The Blood-red Pencil” (a writing website). But I like “blood-red.”

Robin’s Blood-read Blog—a little cleverness thrown in for readers with eyes sharp enough to see it, and would be especially appropriate when my book comes out.

Blog Blog Bloggin’ Along—a play on my name but nothing more.

A Walk Down Robin La(y)ne—another play on my name, but what does it mean to walk down me? No, I think not.

Robin’s Song—lame, unoriginal.

Herald of the Eternal Spring—this is a name for my spiritual identity and purpose, and also sounds like the name of a newspaper, perhaps. But I don’t know that people would connect a blog with a newspaper. A robin is a herald of the spring; I am a herald of the spring of Christ’s blood and God’s Spirit, and of the eternal spring they will bring.

My Night-blooming Series—a blog is a series of posts, and my books are expected to be a series as well. I usually bloom at night, like the night blooming cereus flower (pronounced “series”), and in the morning feel wilted and half-dead. I also might still have some graphics from my old web domain picturing a red-toned night-blooming cereus. . . . Just checked all over the computer. Nope; I don’t have the picture, except for part of it with “Robin’s Nest” written on it. But anyway, I wrote a poem in my younger days called “The Night-Blooming Cereus,” expressing the value of fleeting beauty and life. This poem will appear in the novel I’m working on, as written by one of the characters. And since my novel and its planned sequels concern vampires, the name is appropriate on that level as well. A discouraging thought is that people making the connection with the flower may think I misspelled its name.

I think I like this last name best, but I would like to sit on it a while. Still, I hope you have found this fun to read. What do you think?

Welcome to my blog!

A number of elements combined to convince me to call this blog "From the Red Read Robin." First, it was different from the other names because it came to me in the morning after "sleeping on" all the other ideas. Second, the one person to give me feedback on this site, my friend Dustin, preferred it; he likes the wordplay in it. Second, I wore all red Sunday and people complimented my appearance in the color all day long. That morning, in fact, a friend took my picture on the bus.
I made sure "Read" was in the middle so that there could be no confusion with the restaurant.

Red as representing blood is of interest to the passionate writer. I can't remember who said this, but it was something like this: It's easy to be a writer. All you have to do is sit at the typewriter, and bleed.

Red blood is of interest to followers of Christ as well, because he shed that blood for us, not just so we could be forgiven (that's just the beginning, a means to a much bigger end), but so that we could be God's intimate family forever and do the same works that He does, out of the same motives. That's a tall order--one worth reaching for.

Of course, red blood is the food of vampires, and I'm working on some vampire stories (including making improvements on the one I posted on my profile--but please be patient because I'm juggling a lot of responsibilities). I will write in this blog why I am interested in vampires as subject matter and what they mean to me and others.

Red is a color of energy, and I can always use more of that.

Red is also a common color of copyediting marks. I am furthering my training as an editor so I will have a career to support my habits, such as writing and breathing (and which of those two is more important, really? Hard to say!)

Please feel free to comment about this blog--whether any of it interests you so far, though it is just getting started, and what things you'd like to read about that I might be able to write.

I also would love to get feedback on the stories I posted. "Manuel Pascal" is being released in installments, and the first one is pretty short, but if you are anxious to read more, let me know. I will probably post more soon, anyway.

On my next blog post, I am thinking of saying more about the "Read" and maybe the "Robin" parts of the title. I could also give some info on future titles and ideas for posts. I hope this really takes off and gets interesting!

Cheers!
Robin

I'm back at last! I got up early enough to be drunk on tiredness, hoping my dream state is still lingering. I heard some writers prefer to write at such times. Wow, it's already 9:02 a.m.! I got up about 7, I swear! But I have done a number of things this morning already, including cook and eat breakfast and some matters of business at the computer, including emailing my writing group to shamelessly solicit ideas for where I'm stuck in my story. But it is a glorious thing to reach the point in going over the old draft where I honestly have holes in the plot that need filling in. I know the gist here--just need the details. And why cannot writing be a community experience, at least at times? I have learned the joys of writing in community in more than one setting. Hemingway's quote bears repeating. Let's see if I can get it right: "There's nothing to being a writer. All you do is sit at a typewriter and bleed." If I must bleed at the keyboard, letting out all the passion and pain within me, let me also soar the heights of success when I really gain from writing and others love it and gain, too. And let me spend some time with other writers giving and receiving moral support as we inspire one another to write.

October is a special time for writers and booklovers around Portland, Oregon. Why is "booklovers" not a single word to spell check? It ought to be, don't you think? And why did I twice start to spell "Potland"? It must be the skunk-like reek that keeps coming in from the neighbor's apartment. Regardless, it's not a hemp festival that draws me this week. It is Wordstock, an annual book lover's fair. There, I made two words of it. Wordstock is unbelievably inexpensive to attend--$7 a day, or $10 for both Saturday and Sunday, to enjoy all the exhibits, panels, and author presentations at the Oregon Convention Center this weekend (the 13th and 14th). If you sign up for a writer's workshop, which costs $35, you get in free for that day, and if you sign up for more than one workshop, the workshops are discounted. I am going to attend the workshop, "Starting a Series: What you need to do before you sit down to write." Since I sat down to write mine approximately 12 years ago, I figure it's about time I learn some tips. I've mostly been working, off and on, on the first book, but I have worked some on the books to follow. Someone has even suggested I break down my first book into more books as a solution to the problem that it's currently too long. I am considering the possibility, but at present, I don't see it working satisfactorily. I would need to break it up into the right climactic elements, and I'd also have to come up with an extra book title or two. But we shall see what happens. For now, I just want to finish the draft I have. Anyway, the series writing workshop is taught by April Henry, a New York Times bestselling novelist who is starting her 3rd series (I put it that way for brevity and to avoid trying to learn what is the plural of series). At least some of her books are YA, and I'm glad because that's what genre of books I'm writing as well.

The Wordstock-related events kicked off with the Text Ball by the Independent Publishing Resource Center last Saturday. I went for my first year in a zany costume and had a lot of fun. Costumes containing text were encouraged. I didn't win a prize; they seemed to like simpler and more elegant costumes with more unified ideas. I wore my entire button collection, a wire sculpture on my hat, and wrote body puns on my hands, arms, and face (see the pictures I will have loaded this morning). As you will see when you look at my hand pictures, I illustrated the Hemingway saying by making drops of red down my fingers.

I have spent hours going through the Wordstock guide and reading about some of the authors on the Internet, deciding which events to attend Saturday and Sunday, because so many good ones overlap in time. I have the booklet all marked up now, my course mapped out.
I am looking forward to the Open Write, in which contestants write to a prompt for 9 minutes and the work is published on the Internet. I am used to writing to prompts from a number of writing groups (if you haven't tried it, I recommend it, especially when you need to do something fresh; you can get writing prompts online); it's been a while since I've had so few minutes to write to one.

I have been quite the night owl lately, but because the book fair is a daytime event, I have been trying, until this morning unsuccessfully, to change my sleep patterns. The fact that the Text Ball ended at 11 p.m. didn't help. The panels and author events at the book fair don't start until 11 a.m., but I want to have some time for the Open Write and the exhibits. There is always a free book exchange table, and every book- and publishing-related kind of table you can imagine.

I will write about my adventures afterward, but it may take me a few days, since I also have homework in my copyediting class and other matters to attend to.

If I bleed my red blood to be read (and that is not by far the only reason; some of it is for my own catharsis), I have a milestone to celebrate. I have my first fan! Thank you, Dustin, for all your encouragement. Even if I only have one reader, I can legitimately include "Read" in the name of this blog.

Now I shall drink more black tea, put on sweater, and load the Text Ball pictures. I took pictures of some great costumes that I won't post because I didn't get those people's permission. But I will ask my writer's group friends if it's okay that I post some of their pictures as a thank-you for their support of my writing. If you are reading this, I encourage you to comment or message me and tell me what you think--or just say hi so I know you're out there. I want to read YOU as well. If only there was time for us all to read everything we want to share!