As I trudge along, writing the novel that I have been working on since at least the year 2000, no joke there, the thought “maybe you really don’t want to be a writer” came to me as I hit a block of text where I have no idea what to write. NO. IDEA. BLANK. EMPTY. The words aren’t vibing. The scene feels stiff and inflexible … Continue reading Maybe I Don’t Want to be a Writer
I have started working on finalizing THE SOUND OF MADNESS to be self-published. I originally wanted to have it self-published in January, but it didn’t feel right so I kind of pushed it aside. When I self-published BARFLY in December 2014, it was for me. It was me conquering my fear of putting “my baby” out there for the world. I knew I could handle rejection from … Continue reading Self-Publishing Lesson: Don’t Rush
While watching one of my favorite television shows a new character was introduced. So when the television character’s name was said, I sighed. Not a good sigh. A “are you fucking serious?!?” sigh. How could this character be named this name of all names in the free f’ing world. OF ALL THE NAMES!! Continue reading KILL YOUR DARLINGS
I have three beginnings for my WIP (work in progress) that I’m calling Goliath. (This is not the real title, it’s just that it’s my Goliath, my Mount Everest as I said in my post “Following Your Joy”.) I’ve been struggling with which one would be the best beginning for this novel. I have written and scraped, rewritten and re-scraped, and put this process on repeat more times than I should have. Continue reading THE RIGHT BEGINNING
I have written more words on this one novel than I care to admit. I have scrapped those words even more than I care to admit. It is a novel that has haunted my head for many, many years. There are times when I want to quit writing it, but it waits patiently for me like a thief in the night. It sits quietly in … Continue reading One Word After Another
So my friend, Mike, and I are doing a 30 day, 1 post a day writing challenge starting September 1st. We can write about whatever we want as long as we write something/anything and post it. Doesn’t seem hard, right? I struggle with writing 500 words daily in whatever work in progress (WIP) I’m working on! So this is going to be tough while I’m … Continue reading 30 Day Writing Challenge: Exposing Myself Through Writing
I’m two days away from the end of my writing challenge and I will be honest. I am no where near close to 75,000 words. The only good thing I can say about this writing challenge is that it got me to write again and that is something I hadn’t done seriously since January 2010. The funny thing is I know I can write a … Continue reading What Am I So Afraid Of?
As the month of April creeps closer and closer to ending and the Writing a Book in a Month challenge comes closer to an end as well, I realize that I am A) no where near the 75,000 word goal B) didn’t write 7 days a week C) wrote one chapter that was so hard to pull out of my head and put into words … Continue reading April Writing Update
Yesterday wasn’t a great writing day for me. If I’m going to finish this novel by April 30th, it’s going to be down right impossible if I continue having writing days like yesterday. Why was yesterday so bad? I wrote ZERO words. It takes words to fill a page…pages to fill a chapter…chapters to fill a book. I accomplished a big fat nothing. I tried. … Continue reading Inspired
I have had this idea for a new novel brewing in my head since late December. It was inspired by the fog hugging the side of the West Virginia mountains near/at an exit for Cedar Grove. Over the next few road trips back and forth between NC/MI, the idea twisted, turned, bubbled, and fell together in place. I had my plot, how I wanted to … Continue reading Writing For Me Now