The word “Qi” in traditional oriental cultures broadly translates as ‘energy flow’, and I hope that the Qi series helps inspire and energise you and your writing flow.

Enjoy your writing. Enjoy your reading. Enjoy your quotes!

Quote inspirational

The first draft is nothing more than a starting point, so be wrong as fast as you can.Andrew Stanton (film director, screenwriter and producer)

Profile: Andrew Stanton at Wikipedia

The word “Qi” in traditional oriental cultures broadly translates as ‘energy flow’, and I hope that the Qi series helps inspire and energise you and your writing flow.

Enjoy your writing. Enjoy your reading. Enjoy your quotes!

Quote inspirational

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.Ralph Waldo Emerson (American philosopher and poet)

Profile: Ralph Waldo Emerson at Wikipedia

The word “Qi” in traditional oriental cultures broadly translates as ‘energy flow’, and I hope that the Qi series helps inspire and energise you and your writing flow.

Enjoy your writing. Enjoy your reading. Enjoy your quotes!

Quote inspirational

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.Scott Adams (cartoonist - creator of Dilbert)

Profile: Scott Adams at Wikipedia
Website: Dilbert cartoons

The word “Qi” in traditional oriental cultures broadly translates as ‘energy flow’, and I hope that the Qi series helps inspire and energise you and your writing flow.

Enjoy your writing. Enjoy your reading. Enjoy your quotes!

Quote inspirational

Write about it by day, and dream about it by night.Elwyn Brooks “E. B.” White (author)

Profile: E.B White at Wikipedia

The word “Qi” in traditional oriental cultures broadly translates as ‘energy flow’, and I hope that the Qi series helps inspire and energise you and your writing flow.

Enjoy your writing. Enjoy your reading. Enjoy your quotes!

Quote inspirational

Do not let what you can’t do interfere with what you can do.John Wooden (basketball coach)

Profile: John Wooden at Wikipedia

We all love a good read…we all love a good film…but which one do we love more? It’s almost like the mummy and daddy situation!

Every year we are presented with numerous box office hits, with the film industry eager to cater for all our needs; whether it’s a good cry, giggle or if you enjoy being scared out of your pants!

Unnoticeably there are many great adaptations of books to films; in the recent few months we have had:

• Marley and me
• Confessions of a Shopaholic
• Inkheart
• Angels & Demons
• Shutter Island
• The Lovely Bones
• The Fantastic Mr. Fox
• He’s Just Not That Into You
• The Informant
• Public Enemies
• The Twilight Saga: New Moon
• The Reader
• Not Easily Broken
• Defiance
• Hotel for Dogs
• Coraline
• Youth in Revolt
• Race to Witch Mountain
• The Taking of Pelham 123
• My Sister’s Keeper
• Skellig

Who would have thought that all these wonderful films were previously just words in a book, yearning to be adapted for the next step?

Books provide such a personal experience, so it’s really interesting to see how books have been interpreted by someone other than yourself.

When you read a book, naturally your imagination allows you to build your own visualisation of characters and scenery but when we see it as a movie; we become influenced and almost fixated on the way the creative team interpreted (I can hear all those film critics now).

And this is where the director steps in. They convert the book into a film, from how they’ve envisioned it; they paint a new picture… well, the one that’s making all the money!

The great thing about films is it not only makes the book seem more ‘real’, but it can open our eyes to new interpretations – there can movies which leave us exclaiming “They did a great job adapting that book to film!” and then there are the not-so-good adaptations which leave you a little, speechless.

One thing I do like about the attempts of adapting books to film is that it can provides for a wider audience. People who generally read a lot are encouraged to see the film, and ones who watch a lot films are encouraged to read more… win win!

I’d love to hear your views on what which book you think is better than the film or vice versa.

I must say, I preferred The Notebook as a film than the novel, anyone else agree?

But before you get carried away and do anything naughty, we actually mean photos of your bookshelves and bookcases!

Photos of your book collection

We have created a Flickr photo group called show us your rack where you can share and show off photos of your collection of books.

Photos of your writing tools

Along equally cheekily named lines, we also have show us your sack where you can share pictures of what writing tools you use and carry in your bag.

It’s a great chance to share what writing tools you equip yourself with for those all-important moments of creativity.

Featured photos here on icrylab

A great tool in Flickr is the ability to leave notes and add comments - a chance to let viewers know the story behind the picture and as a public group anyone can view, join and upload pictures.

We hope the galleries provide an insight to the book collection of the readers and the tools of the writers and if all goes well, we hope to feature some of the interesting photos right here on the blog.

Pop over to Flickr to show the world your book rack or what’s in your writing sack!

Show us your rack: http://www.flickr.com/groups/show-us-your-rack
Show us your sack: http://www.flickr.com/groups/show-us-your-sack

The word “Qi” in traditional oriental cultures broadly translates as ‘energy flow’, and I hope that the Qi series helps inspire and energise you and your writing flow.

Enjoy your writing. Enjoy your reading. Enjoy your quotes!

Quote inspirational

The best antidote to writer’s block is … to write.Henriette Anne Klauser (author and speaker)

Website: http://www.henrietteklauser.com/

I certainly would! This way you can build your imagination,after all isn’t that what reading is about? Where as when you watch the film first, you’ve already got names to faces. And you end up stopping a lot more through the book going ‘Ha,i couldn’t imagine them doing that’!

In my opinion reading the book first allows you to be more critical on the film,as you and the director have obviously read the same words..yet the interpretation of it might not quite match yours. Sometimes its better,sometimes its worse… I know for sure that there have been numerous times where I would have done sooo many things differently (better of course).

And with this though, you grab a few friends, a few budget props, a camcorder and make your own version of a classic book-to-film on YouTube?!

The word “Qi” in traditional oriental cultures broadly translates as ‘energy flow’, and I hope that the Qi series helps inspire and energise you and your writing flow.

Enjoy your writing. Enjoy your reading. Enjoy your quotes!

Chung: Many of my favourite quotes originate from Mark Twain, so expect quite a few like this to come.

Quote inspirational

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.Mark Twain (author and humorist)

Profile: Mark Twain at Wikipedia