Inkling Explorations Launch and Celebratory Giveaway!

Inkling Explorations is an exciting link-up for any and all story lovers who love discovering treasures in everything they read—whether it's in an old favorite or something crisply and deliciously new on the shelf.

It's completely optional (you can enter some months and not in others) and it's open to entries from literature and film—and with selections from fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, romance, action, poetry, even sometimes non-fiction! The range is pretty much limitless. (Note: Entries will be moderated, however, and must be clean, edifying, and suitable for all ages.)

*Rules*

1. Post the Inklings button on your sidebar.

2. Do a post on your own blog relating to the month's selection/subject (a literary excerpt as short or as long as you like AND/OR—if specified that month—a screencap from a film with an explanation of how the scene builds/develops the story). Link back here somewhere in your post.

3. Come back here and paste your link in the comments box and I'll add it to the post. Then enjoy visiting and reading everyone else's contributions!

That's all there is to it!

Subject for May

Since we're just getting started here in May, I thought we'd pick something easy. Hence, this month's selection is “violets.” (And for a few whispered hints: L.M. Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, and Laura Ingalls Wilder all share about them. ;))

And some May specific notes: If you absolutely, positively can't think of any violet references, feel free to share something referencing any other type of flower....EXCEPT roses (we're saving those for a later month). This month is also open for film/screen entries. (They just have to be integral to the plot: i.e. Colonel Brandon and Willoughby both bringing Marianne flowers in Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility.)

My entry for this month comes from Greenwillow by B.J. Chute: 

“He had been kneeling to single out the widest violet-faces, but he turned and stood up. “It's not my wish, Dorrie! Do you think I'd not stay forever if only I could?”

“I know.” She looked down at the roots of the tree he was standing by, moss so thick about them that the twists and gnarls were all cups of green velvet. “Gideon, at the candle-walking on Christmas Eve I used my wish against your call, though I've never told you.” She raised her eyes. “The candle blew out.”

“You should never have wasted your wish, Dorrie. You should have asked something for yourself.”

“I was asking for myself, Gideon,” said Dorrie.

“All the violets he had picked spilled through his fingers, and their bits of sky and their heart-leaves fell and lay at Dorrie's feet. He looked at her with the west wind lifing her unbound hair from her shoulders and April all around her and the earth jubilating, everything new and winter past and no more than a step between where she sat and he stood.”

Lovely, isn't it?

~     ~     ~

And you can share your link here!

Hamlette's Soliloquy
The Edge of the Precipice
Raindrops on Roses & Whiskers on Kittens
An Old Fashioned Girl
Meanwhile, in Rivendell...
Violets -- Montgomery sure loved them! -- Wonderland Creek
Sweet with Violets -- Captured by the Word
Inkling Explorations in Gone with the Wind @ a room of one's own

And now for our giveaway! 

As part of our grand, opening celebration, I'm giving away a paperback copy of Greenwillow! (Note: you can participate in the link-up without entering the giveaway, but if you do choose to enter, you have to have done the link-up for your entry to be valid. The happy winner will be drawn on Friday, May 29th.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now let the fun begin! Entries are open through the end of the month and I can't wait to see what you all share!

Up next month: A Gripping Story Opening in Literature