My Storytelling Mind

Happy Halloween! If you are anything like me, we'll all be binge-watching classic movies like Hocus Pocus , The Nightmare Before Christmas , Young Frankenstein , or even Rocky Horror Picture Show . But if you're looking for some binge-reading, try out the fantasy section - witches and magic may not be spooky or creepy, but they add even more fun to a holiday based on giving away free candy. Check out these 13 Whimsical Witches: Mary Poppins from Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers Illustrated by Mary Shepard It may be a stretch to call Mary Poppins a witch, considering her magic is subtle and she denies all magical events anyway. If anything, she's the kind of witch that tries not to use very much of their magic and that's the kind of witch we're more likely to come across in real life. We meet some of her magically inclined relatives through the series, like the giggly Uncle Albert; this only proves that she's a witch who chose to be incredibly responsible...

This is the third post in a series leading up to the premiere of Netflix's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' on January 13, 2017. The series will cover each of the 13 books and 'Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography.' Be warned: there are spoilers ahead. Again, the Baudelaires must relocate to the home of a new guardian, an Aunt Josephine. Aunt Josephine is in love with grammar and afraid of everything else, perhaps proving the mind-altering theory of solitary confinement. Her husband, Ike, was eaten by leeches in the lake, which is overlooked by Aunt Josephine's house literally on a cliff. Count Olaf pursues the Baudelaires yet again and the siblings display their incredible sense of ingenuity in the face of adults' willing ignorance. The Wide Window discusses themes and motifs like irrational fear, trauma, allergies, bad disguises, code-breaking, and how you shouldn't eat before traveling on a lake filled with leeches. Snicket suggest...

Mondays are tough, and motivation always seems at its lowest on Monday mornings, regardless of how much the birds sing or how blue the sky is or how blustery it is. But words can change the worst of moods or attitudes, and poetry is a great, small way to wake up the creative centers of your mind. With creativity flowing, your motivation and inspiration is guaranteed to follow, improving your Monday at least a little bit. (c) Tyler Kent White Tyler Kent White specializes in short and significant poems, speaking elegant truths about the world. His poetry is a simple motivation and a beautiful one. This poem, for example, which I read over this morning, got me moving and motivated for class today - something I always have trouble with - and I'm cognitively functioning much better than if I let the Monday gloom stick around. For more helpful, insightful poetry, check out my Poetry board on Pinterest.

Reading is hard these days. Case in point, I went to look at my Kindle library for this post and got distracted by that Disney Kingdoms app. Our minds are stimulated in such different ways now than from when I was growing up. Reading was easy, fun, and satisfying. Now that I've become a more digitally dependent person, I have to reprogram my brain for books . Reading Girl, A.C.W. Duncan Although I've read bits and pieces of books in the past couple years, and a few required books for school, I haven't (of my own vocation) read a full book in quite a while. To reintroduce my brain to not staring at a screen for entertainment, (1) I'm limited what's on my bookshelf here at school and (2) I want to start off with something I haven't read in a long time but have read previously. My thought process here is that rereading a book I enjoyed will utilize the muscle memory of my brain with much more specific memories. This narrowed the options to a really fun book:...