More, More, More

Writing has really turned me into a liar.  I keep insisting upon the completion of each book that I will take a break, and I always wind up breaking that promise when I begin yet another new book.  I'm well into book five now and I've got a story all planned out for book six.  Oops.  I'm going to be very, very busy for the rest of the year.

Continued

Doing pretty good so far with my goal to write more blogs.   This will be my fifth blog already for just this month.   Been feeling a bit of weird in my novel writing lately, but I think that has to do with a combination of outside things as well as getting over that 50,000 word hump—because I’m increasingly close to that mark.  It’s always a challenge to create something unique but so few things are truly unique anymore; stories, ideas, products have in many cases been done ad nauseam.   It will be interesting someday to compare my writing side-by-side to see how many common themes and ideas repeat throughout.

Currently listening to “Set Fire to the Rain” by Adele

Years

This is the time of year when I begin to consider my age.  My birthday is coming up soon and it feels weird to see each year pass quicker than the one before.  I begin to wonder if I am working my best to accomplish goals and establish a firm path in life.  Naturally, though, life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.  My life as it stands now has little connection to the future I envisioned ten years ago.  Writing this blog and joining Pinterest has no connection to my life even six months ago, and becoming an author, while always a dream, was never something I could have seriously considered until I started and finished writing that first book.  Even now, I don't have a projected plan for the next
year. I would love to find a job but it seems more and more that I should expand my reach outside of the library world.  I may not be cut out for library work, at least not on paper.  It's difficult to say how good you would or would not be at something unless you actually do it, and I was pretty good at working in a library in the past.  For now I am enjoying creating and being creative and enjoying myself, hoping that good things are in my future.



Currently listening to: Stand by Rascal Flatts

Light in the Dark

What time of day is the most creative for you?  Most of my writing is done under cover of the night, in the minutes and hours before I finally decide to sleep.  This is the quietest time of the day, the point at which it is easiest for me to gather my thoughts.  As I compose this blog, I am working on my novel.  I also write during the day time hours, but for some reason my creativity is primarily stimulated when the moon rises.  It is entirely possible I have reverted back to my college pattern, where I would spend an evening thinking and crank out my work around midnight or later.  This type of creativity is never great for your sleep habits, and furthermore it makes you thankful for spell check.   The darkness, it seems, brings my creativity to light.

Currently listening to:  “Words I Couldn’t Say” by Rascal Flatts.  

Typing Outside the Lines

Last night I was working on my second novel and it was so odd.  It felt as though my words were coming from somewhere outside myself.  Maybe I've been doing too much writing while drowsy.  I've noted here before that writing forces you to push outside boundaries and look outside yourself so this kind of plays into all that.  I think there is an element in writing that allows authors to live vicariously through their characters; any type of creativity implies placing a certain amount of yourself in the work.  A character who is your own creation is ultimately yours to mold and shape, to provide their voice, to allow them to make certain choices and mistakes.  Little pieces of me have fallen into my writing so far.  I can only hope that stories and elements and interests that I like are relevant and interesting to others.  On that note, I'll sign off for today.  My writing can become too circular sometimes...

Immersion

I am not sure of the process which other authors use; I can only speak to my experience.  When I write, I find myself immersed in the setting.  I picture it in three-dimensions, imagining that it is unfolding in front of me.  I see the characters and settings in my mind, as though they were a movie playing on my brain.  I try to feel what they feel as I write, whether it is love, anger, happiness, or sadness.  Visualization is my greatest gift, one that I'm sure many others share.  I create in my mind things that seem real even though they are not.  In my real life this can sometimes be a problem--no store has yet discovered how to stock items that are merely in my head--but in the creative process it allows me to expand my horizons, push my boundaries, and step outside my comfort zone to see how a story should flow.