As writers, we love to go into the recesses of our brain and come up with stories out of no where. It's what fuels the fire of our story as we write out each word. I think of Mari as I'm writing this today. Sometimes while Mari would be sitting in her chair, and it looked like she was staring off into space, she would start to giggle incessantly over what appeared to be nothing. You could take your hand and move it back and forth in front of her face and she didn't see it. She'd retreated … [Read more...]
Day 58: Retreating to Play
We can look at kids with all the energy we wish we still had and get tired by looking at them. Sometimes we joke and say, "Man, if I could bottle all that energy and sell it, I'd make millions." We all laugh and agree. I think sometimes we forget what it's like to play. I'm not saying to go out to the monkey bars or anything. I'm talking about taking time out to do some fun adult things like rock climbing, paintball or going to a dance club to just let loose. Kids are undeterred by what … [Read more...]
Day 57: Juggling
In life, the perfect day would be 100% smooth. If we're doing something we don't get interrupted. We blissfully move from one activity to another. The dream life. Well, that's just it. It's a dream. Whether at home or at a job, you will always inevitably be interrupted by someone or something. That's just life. Sometimes those interruptions are either wanted or good. Other times you wish you could disappear. Ultimately, we have to juggle everything we do in just the right combination so we … [Read more...]
Day 56: No Drama
In life I think we all wish we could lead a drama-free life. It sometimes feels like my family, not my immediate, there always seems to be some kind of drama. From my sister to whatever made up story she's told recently to something with my brother to something with one of Keith's brothers. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who has family members who automatically bring with them drama. But when we sit down to write, and we're in our own world in our own little bubble and the only drama we … [Read more...]
Day 55: One Lie Leads to Another
This puts a smile on my face. All our lives we are told lying is bad. It's a sin. And then you become a writer of fiction. Now you have the freedom to tells as many lies as you want to because now you're creating a story. When we go to read a book, we don't think about how it's a completely made up story. A story the writer has spent hour upon hour writing and editing all from the made up story in the recess of the author's head. Personally, I can't wait for the day when my first book is … [Read more...]
Day 54: The Beginning Writer
It's interesting to think that when you are staring at a blank piece of paper, or in many cases today, a blank document on the computer screen, that we are all beginning writers. As far as literally, someone who's had several books published or been writing for several years is not a beginning writer. A beginning writer is someone like me. Someone who has recently begun to write. I have no published books. I don't have several books I've written waiting to be published. I just have two books … [Read more...]
Day 53: On Work and Sentences
When I was young and growing up, English was a hard subject for me. I always had a hard time knowing when a run on sentence became one and was I supposed to use there, their, or they're. (To this day I still struggle with homophones.) My dyslexia always made it more difficult. Today it has gotten easier but it's still hard work. I've been able to learn to compensate. For example, when I take a college class I probably spend a lot more time than most to get the same 'A's as someone … [Read more...]
Day 52: The Writer as Spy
As a writer we tend to get our ideas for the stories from so many places. We watch a man and woman kiss next to the ocean. Some kids are playing baseball and one of the kids just hit a home run. Two girls are standing in a corner yelling at each other for what seems to be about a sweater. Even watching television can spur on new ideas from something you watch. NCIS had a man stand over a dead body drenched in blood but he says he didn't do it. Or your watching Grey's Anatomy and a woman who … [Read more...]
Day 51: Nothing New Under the Sun
Stories. There are literally thousands upon thousands of stories out in the world today. So, let's say you have a great, new idea that pops into your head while you're eating breakfast. You have to get it written down right away so you don't miss one word of it. You put the idea in your box/basket/folder, or wherever you keep story ideas, and you continue what you're doing. A couple of days later you decide to pick up a new book to read. You start to read it and sure enough, right there in front … [Read more...]
Day 50: The Narrative of Your Life
We all have a narrative we live by. Our morales. Our ethics. Our beliefs. Our likes and dislikes. Plus many others. All the things make us who we are. And through writing, we can find ourselves through the words we write. I know I do in my characters. They come alive in my head and I try transferring that to the best of my ability to paper. The narrative of my life has been anything but easy. The positive through all of this is I can use those experiences in my fiction. Maybe somehow, … [Read more...]
