Writing Under the Skin

I realize that blog-post hiatus time is crucial to sanity and to meeting my weekly writing deadlines. And after reading my last post, that reminds me that I have two completed books in the trunk of my writing car including the picture book, which takes as much time as a short novel. I included character arcs, conflict, resolution and did it all within 500 words of less. Kind of a fictional haiku.

Letting Go

An Agent told me that many published writers have a few unpublished books in the trunk of their car, and I just added one to mine. But creative "180's" are tricky.

This weekend at a writer's conference an Editor I respect echoed what my intuition has whispered for awhile: my natural writing voice is 'older' than the characters in the book I was writing: Square characters; round author-peg.

I clung tightly to this book project over the past year...years, but this weekend I gently shed the book like a snake crawls out of an old skin.  I learned so much and now begin my next book with everything I know.  The miracle is how every workshop was about starting and defining and shaping. Perfect for my new project.

Most of all I want to remember that I what I know is considerable - and yet I need to be empty and open, like the Zen Master's teacup, which allows me to arrive at a blank page and dance with new possibilities.

My Peeps, Your Peeps

What's better than gathering with other writers for a weekend of inspiration and imagination bonfire stoking? It's healthy to venture out and beat the writer drum in glorious unity with other scribes.  Oh yeah.

Blah Blah Land

In every writer's life there are discouraging days that feel like a desert of sand without creative water in sight.  I'm having a few of those now. For me, after my recent waterfall of creativity, it is disheartening. As a writer I do realize discouragement is an occupational hazard. But what to do?

I write on a schedule. Some of my writer friends reject this idea saying, "That takes the creativity out of it for me" or "I have to be in the mood to write." Since it seems I'm not always in the mood, I figure that if I waited I wouldn't get much work done. The interesting thing is soon after I begin, inspiration and enthusiasm arrive, which seems counterintuitive but there it is.

So what remedy for my writer's blues? I feel discouragement, hopelessness, and incapable of putting words on a page. But of course this is really just drama, which as a writer I'm good at creating - on and off the page. But it's destructive and needs to be redirected.
I've let the writing blues interrupt my work. It's taken hold. I need to shake it off.

Then I remember my writing schedule.

I'll make a solemn pledge to resume my writing structure: ready or not here I come. It's likely the confusion will lift the way a fog burns off as the sun rises. It's the only sane thing for me to do. Fight insanity with sane and proven methods. What have I got to lose? The Writer Blues.

So do you get these feelings? What do you do with the (ba da da da dum) Writer Blues? Do tell...

The White Space

In a bustling writer's life there are applications, submissions, critiques to give and get, and the writing. Always the juicy and sometimes tortuous writing. So how do we get it all done and keep our eye on the writing ball?

Razzle Dazzle

I'm deep in the writing life, walking my Blog talk. Conferences are the 'bomb' and the resulting connections move my writing craft forward and help me sell myself and the tales I weave. After all, my mole writer self prefers to hide in the warmth and darkness of a story. So how do we step into the light?

Tempus Fugit

Where does the time go? Unfortunately, I'm slacking in posts...my apologies! I'm writing constantly and almost done with the last draft of the middle grade novel before the next round of critiques. Last night, I sketched out the plot for my next YA novel. So, I'm not ignoring you for TV or vids! And you know, this end of project and beginning of another reminds me of something...