Blog Chain - Creative Curses!

This round's topic was chosen by the always awesome Kate. Her topic:


Curses, you've been cursed! You can write no longer. The story well has run dry, and you can't even remember how to type. Now what do you do? Where do you channel your creative energies? And to what lengths would you go to break the curse?

Honestly, I've sat staring at this topic for a while. I just don't know what I'd do. It's unfathomable lol

So, I thought back to before I wrote "for real". I've always done a few stories here and there but once I got out of high school until after my son was born, I don't think I wrote a word, anywhere. Well, some poetry. But nothing major. Instead, most of my creative endeavors were focused on cross stitching.

I loved cross stitching. And I was pretty good at it. I'd do the really big, complicated pieces. Like this one I made while I was pregnant with my son:





In fact, thinking about it now, I kind of miss doing it. I might have to get back into it :D I for sure need to do one for my daughter at the very least :D (I did start one for her, but then she came early and life got hectic...and then I started writing again) :D

So, yeah...I guess if I couldn't write, I'd cross stitch, I'd play my piano, I'd learn to play the violin I bought and never learned to use - I'd focus that creative energy somewhere. I'd probably go pretty far to break the curse as well, but not to the extent that my family was jeopardized in any way.

But really, I just can't imagine the story well running dry. And if it did, I'd probably still be sitting there, staring off into space, dwelling on all the other stories I've read. If I couldn't thin of new ones, I could still remember the old :)

What would you do if such a horrible curse befell you?

Stop by Margie's blog tomorrow to see what she would do :)

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Blog Chain - The Positive Side of Things

I totally flaked on this round of the blog chain -  I was supposed to post several days ago. My sincere apologies for my extreme tardiness!!!!

This round's topic was chosen by the lovely Michelle Hickman. The topic:


Be positive! Name some of the positive aspects of your writing --- be it a compliment from a mentor, friend or crit partner to anything special you learned concerning your writing skills.

I love this topic. Sure, there can be a lot of down sides to writing...rejections, a messy house, a backside that spends more time in a chair than is healthy for it ;-)

But the positive sooo outweighs the negative. Here are a few of mine:


• the sense of accomplishment I feel when I finish a project. There really is nothing like it.
• the amazing people I have met along the way. My closest friends now are writers. It is beyond wonderful to have people in my life who GET me, who know how I tick because they are hardwired the same way. My life has become so much richer, more full since I've met my writer friends. I don't know how I ever got along without them.
• I've always always written stories and been good at essays, etc. But my skills increase with every word I write. It's gratifying to see how far I've come. There is nothing like developing a talent that you love. 
• I've always had a little fantasy world going on in my head - and writing allows me to experience all those wonderful stories in a new way. Writing makes my stories come alive and allows me to share them with others. I sleep better when I'm writing. Yeah, I'm still somewhat of an insomniac. My brain has the hardest time calming down enough to let me sleep. But when I'm writing, it's not so bad. I have an outlet.
• There is nothing like the high I get when I'm in super creative writing mode. It really is like a drug for me. I'm giddy, happy, in love with life and the world. Just talking about it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy :) It's my absolute favorite subject :) There is nothing like being able to do what you love.
How about you? What are some of the positive aspects that writing brings to your world?

Be sure to check out our amazing Mr. Eric's response and head over to awesome Shaun Hutchinson's to see his positive side of things :)

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Writing - a Difficult but Glorious Process

A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people. 
— Thomas Mann

I love this quote. I find it hilarious because of the absolute sheer truth in it. I do think writing is more difficult for writers...because for us, writing isn't just the process of putting words down on paper. Getting the words down is just the tip of the iceberg. But while it may be more difficult for us, I also think it's more rewarding than it is for other people. There really is no feeling in the world like finally finishing a completed, polished manuscript.

I always find it interesting when I discuss writing with non-writers. I remember being surprised at the amount of work it takes to get a complete, polished novel out. And, being someone who has at least dabbled in stories my entire life, and being an English major who has spent the vast majority of my life writing in some form or other, I knew in advance that it would take more work than just sitting down and writing the actual story.

I knew there would be edits and revisions and rewrites. But I still never fathomed just how much work it really was until I wrote my first book.

Non-writers really don't understand. And it's kind of fun to watch their reactions when you explain it :D

Our neighbors came over for dinner last week, as they often do, but this time I had just gotten a brand new corkboard (that I am sooo in love with!) It's big and shiny and BIG :D My last one was small so when I chunked out my scenes I had to use both sides of the board - and it fit neatly underneath my desk. This one fits the entire book on one side and must sit loud and proud on top of the desk (as I have no available wall space in this house to hang it).

So when my neighbors came over, they saw it and asked about it. And I explained how I chunk out my scenes so I can see where I need to change things, add things, delete things, rearrange things, etc. Their eyes grew rounder and more glazed as I spoke (I do tend to get carried away...it IS my favorite topic after all lol)

I've talked with my mom about how I agonize over finding the exact right word, the exact right way to say something, to describe something; the exact right scene to evoke the emotions I want or to get the results in the plot I want. How I go over and over and over everything to make sure every little comma is in exactly the right place at the right time :)

Writing for a writer isn't just sitting down and writing. It's so much more than that. Every word really is a labor of love, agonizing and exhilarating at the same time. There is nothing simple about it.

Have you ever had the "what it really takes" discussion with a non-writer?

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Would you Die?

I was going through some of my favorite quotes last night and came across one that said something about how you should only write if you would die if you couldn't. And another one which said something along the lines of "If I only had six minutes to live, I wouldn't stress...I'd just type faster." Or something like that.

Which got me to thinking, would I die if I couldn't write?

Honestly, no, I wouldn't die. And I wouldn't spend my last few minutes on Earth writing either.

But then, I thought about something else that we've talked about before. We discussed on several occasions how even when we aren't writing, we are still writing. Story ideas and scenes and dialogue and characters and settings and everything that goes into our stories continually swirl through our brains whether we are committing all those things to paper or not.

So no. I wouldn't die if I couldn't put my thoughts on paper. But I don't think it would be even remotely possible to shut of my internal writer. It's just part of me. It's how I see the world. There is always an internal monologue in my head, always. Have you ever scene The Holiday (Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Jack Black)? You know how Amanda (Cameron's character) is always hearing those voice overs (she makes movie trailers and keeps hearing these voice overs describing her life). That is EXACTLY how it works with me. I'll think about a scene or see something in real life that sparks a thought, and it's like watching a movie scene in my head...sometimes with narrator and sound track playing in the background. :D

I'd never stop thinking about writing everything down, but I'd survive, I think, if I couldn't. But for the rest...no, that's a part of the unique pile of quirkiness that is me :)


How about you? Would you die if you couldn't write?

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Ten Word Tuesday

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. 


~William Wordsworth

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Thirty Word Thursday

Love letters and poems [and novels] aren't the least bit difficult to write, if you write directly from your heart into the ink and don't channel through your brain first. 


~Graycie Harmon (with a small addition from me) :D

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Ten Word Tuesday...Times Four :D

A writer has to have some kind of compulsive drive to do his work. If you don't have it, you'd better find another kind of work, because it's only compulsion that will drive you through the psychological nightmares of writing.


~ John McPhee

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Blog Chain: My Favorite Mistake

This round's topic was chosen by the lovely Rebecca who wanted to know:


What is the best mistake you've made so far in your journey as a writer? How has that mistake helped you grow :)? 


Well, as most of the other awesome people in our chain have mentioned, I've made them all, some of them repeatedly. One of my biggest mistakes, one I still struggle not to make again, is jumping the gun. I get a project finished and I want to send it off the same day. It is torture for me to wait until it is really ready to send out. Fortunately, I have wonderful crit partners who slap my hand away from the Send button :) But I have definitely blown more than a few awesome opportunities by sending out something that wasn't ready.


However, despite the sometimes spectacular mistakes I make, I think the worst one (or the best) was when I quit. Now, in my defense, life had thrown me a huge curve ball. My daughter was born two months early and spent the first seven weeks of her life in the hospital - which was 45 minutes away from where we lived (if there was no traffic). My husband was working 90 + hours a week at the time and we also had a two year old that needed my attention.


So, I definitely had cause to take a nice long break. But I let that break drag on for two years. I had a novel that I was a few chapters from finishing. It was my first book, and when I started it, I was totally in love with it. I couldn't wait for my son's nap time every day so I could dive back in. 


Over those two years, I thought about it often, wanted to get back to it, and then found an excuse not to. Eventually, I sat down and finished it...in just a few weeks. And I was hooked again. Have been ever since. And I'll never make that mistake again. Writing gives me something I just can't get from any other aspect of my life. It lets me escape into another world. I can exercise my brain, challenge my abilities, indulge in my love of learning and creating and reading and so many other things.


I've met incredible people, some of whom are now my closest friends. And I've become ME. Before, I was my husband's wife, my children's mother, my parents' daughter. I had degrees, I had jobs, and hobbies and friends. But I didn't know who I was yet. I was still searching for what I wanted to be when I grew up :)


When I started that first book, I got a taste of it. I got a glimpse of the person I could be, of the life I could have. And then I let other things get in the way. Important things, yes. Unavoidable things, of course. But I let it go on too long. I talked myself into believing that everything and everyone else was more important. And you know, sometimes they are. And that's okay.


But I will never make the mistake of letting YEARS go by without writing again. It's too much a part of me now. I am glad I made the mistake of giving up - because now I know what's at stake and I'll never do it again :)


What about you? What is your best mistake?


Be sure to check out the fabulous Bonny's answer before mine and stop by Shaun's blog tomorrow to find out what his best mistake is. 

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When the Ingredients Just Don't Mix

 


Have you ever been working on a story that has it all - great idea, cool characters, interesting storyline, exciting plot....yet when you put it all together, it just doesn't look the way you envisioned? There's just something missing that you can't quite put your finger on. Or maybe the story fizzles out long before it should. Looking at each element separately, you should come up with a total that equals success. But instead, it's coming up looking like...well, a mangled skinny cat that looks more alien than furball :D

What do you do?

I've been lucky enough not to have this happen yet, at least to a devastating degree. Though I have written stories that three chapters in I've either lost interest in the story or just don't know where to go from there. And let's face it, if the author is losing interest in the story, there's probably not much hope the reader will want to read it.

Most of the time, the sad little story I'm working on gets put in a "I'll deal with it later" file and never sees the light of day again. For example, I started a book, probably two years ago now, that I started out very excited about. It was a historical romance (my favorite genre to write at the time). I had found a very cool real life story about a 13th century woman that I was going to adapt into my romance.

It had action, adventure, romance, fight scenes, chases, a corrupt high powered priest, a good guy love interest with a dangerous and criminal past, heartbreaking scenes and gorgeous imagery (if I do say so myself *ahem*).

But three chapters into this literary masterpiece, I stumbled. I knew where I wanted my story to go, but wasn't exactly sure how to get there. I had points A and Z but all the points in between were a little blurry. I had all the elements I needed to create an awesome story, but for some reason when I tried to string them together, I got the mangy cat instead of the gorgeous fashion model.

So, instead of being a good little writer and working out the bugs that were mutating my fabulous project, I moved on to something else (which, incidently, had the same problems and also got shelved.) I think I did this three or four times before I finally found a story I was passionate enough about to work through the kinks and get it finished.

And that was my missing ingredient. Passion. Sure, I had all the basic elements, but if you don't have the glue that holds it all together, the passion to stick with a story no matter what nasty hairballs come your way, all the perfect elements in the world won't amount to anything.

Writing is hard. Writing an entire novel, from start to finish with all the edits in between, is a daunting, time-consuming, goliath task and if you don't have the passion it takes to complete it, you are going to end up with a file full of half-finished stories.

Now, I still plan on finishing those stories one day. Like I said, the right elements are all there. I have what I need to make those half-baked ideas something really special...I just need to find the passion to finish them :)

Have you had this happen? Do you file them away for another day or discard them completely? Do you ever go back? How many mangy kitties are hiding in your file box and did any ever make fashion model status? :)

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Owning My Insanity

First, for your Monday viewing pleasure:




Ever feel like that? :D Annnywho......

They say the definition of insanity is repeating the same action expecting different results...or something along those lines.

It got me thinking. Are we, my dear writers, insane? Sending out query after query, revising over and over, plowing on despite the rejections and accidental deletions and manuscript fails and revision dead ends....

Or are we just persistent? Driven? Determined? Plain ol' stubborn? :D

I'm inclined to think it's a mixture of all of the above. I think it takes a certain amount of insanity to put yourself through the wringer that is the publishing industry. But at the same time, that wringer weeds out those who have a true passion for what they are doing from those who might have been trying out a passing fancy.

Because, let's face it, unless you absolutely love what you are doing, this game can really get to you.

The thought of querying both chills and excites me. It's daunting, to say the least. A seemingly never ending cycle of emails and snail mails and requests and rejections. Incredible highs followed by crushing lows....we seem to be our own special type of adrenaline junky.

Do I go jumping off cliffs?

Heck no!! I send a query letter, baby!!

Do I race a car around a track at 200 miles an hour?

No way! I go through my manuscript one more time and send that puppy off to the agent that I just know is impatiently waiting by their inbox.

I HIT SEND!!! WOOOOOO!!! What a rush! 

Did I curl up in the fetal position and cry uncontrollably when that tree fell on my car a few years ago?

Pshaw! I save that sort of devastation for REAL tragedies...like when that agent who LOVED my manuscript decides they just don't love it as much as they should. (just kidding....or am I?) ;-D

So, are we insane? Maybe. But you know what I love about writers? At least the ones I know, the ones who are so determined to make it they stick to their guns no matter what delightful particles of nastiness may be poised to smack them in the face -

They own their insanity.

They embrace, rejoice in it, and with a smile on their face and a song in their heart they put yet one more query letter in the mail, knowing that THIS time, the answer will be different. Despite the rejections that are literally wallpapering their office, they KNOW that eventually, someone is going to say yes.

And when that next rejection comes in, they simply say:




and do it all over again.

They are my heroes :D

And if that's insanity, well count me in. Sounds like a grand plan to me :)

How about you? Are you a proud, card-carrying member of the Insanity Club?

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Why Do You Blog?

Well, this week is apparently question week...or maybe I just have a lot of musing time on my hands. Unpacking boxes doesn't really require that much brain power :)

I watched Julie & Julia the other day (loved it!) and there was a line in the movie when she's talking about starting a blog. She says something along the lines of "I could write a blog. I have thoughts."

Which got me thinking - why do I blog? I have thoughts, sure. I like to think they are occasionally interesting, funny, helpful and maybe (on a really good day) witty and intelligent :D Though, maybe I just like to hear myself talk (or see it I suppose, as we are talking about blogs) (I do, by the way, as I'm sure most people who know me can attest to. But hey, in my defense, I am home all day with a 4 and 6 year old. If I get within 100 yards of someone with thoughts that revolve around something other than Barbie and Spiderman, I just can't be held responsible for the unstoppable flow of words that shoots from my mouth).

But is that why I did it? To share my thoughts? I don't think so. Maybe partially, but really, I never imagined that anyone would actually be interested in what I had to say. I mean, who was I? Nobody...just an unpublished writer trying to find my way in the big, strange, and scary publishing world. So, why do I blog? Why did I start doing this in the first place?

Honestly, peer pressure, pure and simple. Everyone was doing it, I thought playing with the templates was fun, and I had heard/read/saw somewhere that if you wanted to be a successful writer, you had to have a blog. So, here we are.

But along the road it has evolved into a little something more. I love, LOVE, connecting with other writers. I can't tell you how awesome it is to type up a post that most people would think was nonsense and have people comment saying "I do the same thing! I think the same way!"

Knowing I'm not the only crazy writer out there has really been a wonderful discovery. Seriously, I thought I was completely weird most of my life. I mean, how many people sit there staring off into space while a whole other world of characters plays out in their heads? How many others can't carry on a "normal" conversation because they can't resist going off on weird tangents that suddenly occur to them? Especially when those tangents involve people, places, or situations that don't really exist. :D How many others get dirty looks from complete strangers and suddenly realize they've been staring at said stranger, taking mental notes about their appearance or mannerisms because that stranger's look/actions would be PERFECT for this book you are working on? How many others notice strange, obscure little details about places and people and things and every day life that they squirrel away for future musings, or have conversations with themselves, or scribble weird little notes on anything and everything?

Apparently, quite a few :D I always felt so alone in my weirdness and then I found some forums, and started blogging, and I have had the opportunity to meet so many wonderful, crazy people, people just like me who just laugh and say "Oh yeah, definitely!" when I ask, "Hey, do you ever...?"

So, I suppose the reasons why I started blogging don't matter in the long run. I guess what's important is why I keep doing it, what I get out of it. Yeah, it takes a little extra time out of a day that might not have enough hours to begin with. But it provides a forum for my insane thoughts and it allows me the opportunity to connect with all these incredible people, from all areas and walks of life, who all have the love of writing in common. And really, what could be cooler than that?

So how about you? Why did you start blogging? Why do you keep doing it? Or if you don't, why not?

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