Beautiful Movie: IN YOUR EYES
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Beautiful Movie: IN YOUR EYES

It’s been a long time since I fell in love with a movie the way I did last night with IN YOUR EYES. So here is my movie review for this richly enjoyable film.

IN YOUR EYES is the story of a woman and a man who find themselves telepathically entwined, a bond which leads them to greater and greater trust and finally to love. With grace and humor, this movie shows two people engaging the process of mutual self-revelation that is falling in love, and then finally lurching into the more humbling unburdening that is intimacy.

I felt a tender resonance with the woman Rebecca undergoing psychic events and struggling to have her vulnerability, her personhood, and her distinct agency all at once, all while married to a wealthy, controlling man who insists on seeing her as crazy. “Because he loves her.”

As if!

The writer in me loved the perfect balance of Joss Whedon’s screenplay. It was simply a beautifully written script. The two main characters mirrored, tested, and enhanced each other. They gave to each other, needed each other, and completed each other. Whedon’s Rebecca has class and education, and she must confront and integrate her losses to find her strength.  His ex-con Dylan courageously decides to grow and better himself, yet it is his criminal skills that ultimately save the day.

I laughed out loud at a scene where the main characters were dancing to music only one of them could hear aloud–while others watched. A scene where Rebecca erupts to save Dylan from a kitchen fire was scary, funny, and compelling all at once.

With delight, I recommend this movie: it’s a 5 star film.

I was never a Buffy fan, but to Joss Whedon, I say, My compliments! Well done, sir!

movie review

 

Note: The movie soundtrack is also fantastic–worth $9.99 to purchase. I particularly recommend Crumblin’. Great song!

Amazing Review of Broken by Seacoast Online’s Rebecca Skane
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Amazing Review of Broken by Seacoast Online’s Rebecca Skane

I’ve been blessed with some lovely, thoughtful reviews of BROKEN.  Writer Rebecca Skane of SEACOAST ONLINE has written a truly wondrous review.

I have written in other posts about how dazzling, and ultimately humbling, it is when a reader GETS IT about what I am trying to do with a novel. Skane GOT IT, in the fullest way possible. It’s more than simply gratifying when a book is well and thoughtfully reviewed; it is a core affirmation of an author’s existence. Sorry to put it in such dramatic terms, but a writer works in solitude at a desk, pouring her soul, her heart, her brain, her blood, sweat and tears, and everything else she’s got, into her writing. To have her book received with appreciation is an existential validation.

Here are some of my favorite lines from Skane’s review:

Traci L. Slatton is back with another novel of fantasy, romance, and danger.  In Broken, angel Alia falls from grace, giving up her wings to live the life of a Parisian woman at the start of World War II.  Beautifully written and devilishly portrayed, Alia is a not your typical fallen angel archetype.  She is more human than anything else….

Alia is consumed with pain but enjoys life as a human by taking advantage of pleasures of the flesh…

Lush and poignant prose and a beautifully rendered time period and locale, elevate Broken from the traditional novels of fantasy into something of its own element.  With the first section of the book doubling as mild erotica, it’s refreshing to find well-written verse to accompany such wickedly scandalous boudoir moments.  This isn’t 50 Shades – this is thought-provoking literature that explores female sexual equality and the nefarious act of unwanted dominance in every form.

I am more than grateful for such a deeply thoughtful review.

Read the review here, and enjoy. I did!!

Amazing Review of Broken

Recent BROKEN Spotlights; Recent Pix
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Recent BROKEN Spotlights; Recent Pix

Kindly Jackie Burris, who brims over with a love of animals, recently hosted me on her fabulous blog, HOUSEWIFE BLUES AND CHIHUAHUA STORIES. I’m grateful for the exposure and she posted my guest article about “Writing, Yoga, and Dogs.”

Busy, multi-talented Drey of DREY’S LIBRARY hosted a guest post and shared her thoughts of BROKEN in a review, concluding with this very sweet comment, “Pick up Broken for a look at the artsy scene in Paris in the early days of WWII and the story of a conflicted young woman whose truth is so much more than she thought it could ever be.”

Meantime, I had some author photos done recently. See below.

Recent BROKEN Spotlights
Recent BROKEN SpotlightsRecent BROKEN SpotlightsRecent BROKEN Spotlights

Quote for the day, and a Beautiful review of BROKEN
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Quote for the day, and a Beautiful review of BROKEN

I have been savoring this quote for a week or so, since reading it on FB. I can’t verify that it was truly written or said by Hemingway. I love it nonetheless, and yes, I identify–and I’ve got the aching wounds to show for it.

Ecco:

The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable; they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed.

~Ernest Hemingway

Meantime, Amazon Hall of Fame Top 100 Reviewer Grady Harp wrote a breathtakingly lovely 5 Star review of BROKEN on Amazon.com. He wrote in part:

Traci L. Slatton takes risks, she knows she takes them, and they turn out in her favor. She is at once a poet, a painter of words, a sculptor of characters what extend beyond the credible so far that they seem intensely real. Reading a Slatton book is not so much a story experience but rather an experience in ways of thinking. It is not so important to understand this bizarre story before reading it because Slatton unveils each strange corner, opens each window into light in a way that can only be called art.

Check it out on BROKEN’s Amazon page. I am very grateful to Mr. Harp!

Beautiful review of BROKEN

 

 

Launch Day of BROKEN and a 5 Crescent Review
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Launch Day of BROKEN and a 5 Crescent Review

Today is the day: BROKEN is released into the wild.

And just in time, here’s a glowing review from LUNAR HAVEN REVIEWS:

I really enjoyed reading this novel. Once I started it, I couldn’t put it down until the very end. I really enjoyed reading about the fallen angel Alia and how she lived her life as a human. She sacrificed so much in the name of love. This story was had many elements to it. Sometimes it was fun and care free, other times it was sexy with steamy romance and a lot of the time it was suspenseful and it left you wondering when were the hidden Jews going to be found. I highly recommend this book and although it is not something that I would normally pick up and read, I can’t describe how much I love this book. Thanks again Traci for writing such an amazing novel and I can’t wait to read more of your works!

Read the whole review, and a guest post by me on “Seven Things I’ve Learned Since Becoming a Writer” here, on the vibrant Lunar Haven Reviews and Designs site.

Launch Day of BROKEN

Extraordinary Life Lesson Speech: Admiral McRaven’s 2014 Commencement Address at UT Austin
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Extraordinary Life Lesson Speech: Admiral McRaven’s 2014 Commencement Address at UT Austin

My father was career Navy, an enlisted man, a chief. He was a difficult man and not a particularly good one, but I was, and am, proud of his record of service to this country.

So when someone suggested that I google the commencement speech by a Navy Seal about making your bed to be successful in life, I was intrigued. I googled and found this wonderful video. I’m glad I followed through.

Admiral McRaven’s words go directly to the core of life: sustaining hope, not giving up, respecting other people, enduring failure and coming back from it, taking risks, and paying attention to the little things.

I’ve been making my bed in the morning in a casual way for a long time, but after listening to this speech, I’ll be taking a more formal approach to square corners and linens drawn tight.