I've Got The Fire Back!

Since Nanowrimo, I've been on a little hiatus. I edited all through December, but when January hit, I was in a slump. February didn't see an end to it. But here we are in March, and suddenly I have found my fire again.


Firstly, I have been working hard to maintain my blogs and website. I'm tweeting like a madwoman and writing ficlatte's while looking up writing contests. I have found a few that strike my fancy.


While puttering around on my blogs, I found my niche! That's a good thing because now I can try to market myself. I've been trying hard to do that for a while.



The one glitch in the system is that MailChimp and I have been fighting each other. Apparently, I need to build an email list to work on promotion. MailChimp is free, but not the most user-friendly. I have been trying to give out a free PDF and people aren't biting. I realized that the links are not working and the free stuff does NOT integrate with MailChimp. I even tried avoiding the PDF file altogether and just linking to a view only version on Google Docs and when I clicked on it from my test email, it failed.

Anyway, I'm reading , writing, and pushing forward after a rough start to 2018. I expect more hiccups to come, but for now, I'm enjoying the escalating ride up the hill. I hope it leads to an exhilarating ride.

Fear of Commitment - One Writer's Block

This is the final day of Spring Break and I made a Spring Break writer's goal, so it's time to review.

How'd I do?

Well, for starters.. I DID join Instagram. I shared a little bit of my research and that I was featured for a short while on Ficlatté dot com. elsha.hawk.

I went back to LinkedIN and Ficlatté to make sure they all linked together with this blog and my Twitter and Facebook and my Amazon author page. I just need CONTENT to share with you guys!




My co-author and I wrote about 5 more pages on our manuscript at the beginning of the week. We wrote through 3 scenes from our outline, but this past weekend we both got derailed. It happens. The scene we are working on is a good one. We just both lost the dialogue. What should the character say? How should the others respond? How do we get them out of this scene and on to the next one? When we both have time, we'll get back to work on it.

I also set up a YouTube and a Twitter account for my co-author stuff. I used this cool free logo maker to work on some logos and I picked one for Twitter, but I'm pretty sure it's not final. @hawkandyoung While my co-author doesn't tweet, I do. I can work on that.

What do you think? Some logos I made are more complex. I kinda think simple is best. And this is most likely not the official one. Now I can't even remember which logo maker I used..

While we don't have videos and I hate to be on camera because I sound silly and am anything BUT photogenic, that is no excuse for me not to write a script and put together a slideshow to share on YouTube some day. This is all groundwork for our future.

Then I looked into a website. I stared. The tab is still open on my browser. I sorta freaked.

Pressing the button to sign up and purchase a subscription with a domain and hosting is a commitment. Anything that involves money kinda feels huge and important as a decision. I know it's not a large amount of money, but it is revolving. I have to keep paying it. It means I have to be committed.


You said, it Abe.

If I create a website for us, we're big time. I want to have graphics and links to videos and all our stuff ready to go.

And I don't.

They say not to worry about that, to just have a website and go for it and make changes as you go. You can add stuff later.

Like email list dumps, about pages, more links...

This is me freaking out.

I don't want to go it alone. This is a combined effort of the two of us. We both need to make this leap.

So I stand at the precipice and stare into the abyss. The landing is promised to be soft. The way down is dark. I can't see the bottom.

I need a push.

Sci-Fi and Dragons

In my writing world, I've been doing a lot with Dragons and with Sci-Fi. I know, two different variations of fiction, but sometimes that's how things go.

2017 is going to be a year of the Dragon for me.

Also...

Hagrid approves!!

I started writing a dragon into a piece that I was stuck on, it worked. It was on Ficlatté, so I wasn't messing up some new manuscript or anything. Read it here.

My co-author and I are writing a book that involves a dragon. We're actually working on the book that comes before the dragon part. It involves Vikings, a Chinese Monk, Harpies born of Nephilim who loved the hive-mind and the beauty of butterflies, and the King of these fisher-folk who commands this giant Sea Serpent. In the second book the main character meets his Dragon. They have to fight these Knights commanded by a Christian King bent on conquering the world.

Then there are all these Sci-Fi stories.. This has inadvertently been a Sci-Fi weekend. I was inspired to write a little Sci-Fi piece on Ficlatté because I read some Asimov which my co-author sent me to read. Nightfall

Then he suggested 2 more pieces, one by Harry Bates, and one by Anne McCaffrey, of which I am reading a book, too. Anne McCaffrey writes about Dragons and Sci-Fi ...and here we have come full circle!

Meanwhile, my husband queued up 'Lost in Space' last night while I built a Lego Dragon.

So there were more Sci-Fi and Dragons.

I'm not finished reading those links, so until I do, the pattern continues. I may end up writing more about Sci-Fi or dragons, or neither. Who knows!?

Anyway, KEEP WRITING.

Collaboration: How To and Where To

I wrote 2,000 words today!

There is a project that is collaborative in which my husband and I are working to create a serial. I guess you could call it urban fantasy, though it takes place in a very small town. Rural fantasy doesn't seem to be a thing unless in involves woods or giants and beanstalks. :)

Early Concept from 'Jack The Giant Killer' http://www.krop.com/pluckt/#!/view/1786285/

Since I write for others, I decided to write for him. I added 2 short chapters to our piece. I filled in the gaps he left for me. It's been a while since I read the piece so I went back to our notes and refreshed my read of the events I had to write between. It feels so GOOD to flex my writing muscles. 

I'm proud of my accomplishment. The words might not be tweaked yet, but the ideas are out there. I hope he'll throw some more ideas at me so I can flesh out scenes he feels need more volume. That's how collaboration works.

On Ficlatté, I've been looking for a story that inspires me to sequel. This is a great way to strike up a new collaboration. When you jump on a story and add your twist and see where it goes, the original author and you can explore the new storyline together. Protagonize is another great site for collaboration like this. Some stories are closed, but some are open. This site also has forum groups you can join.

Speaking of which.. I just hopped over to my profile which I haven't visited in like 4 years.. and I found a story I want to do something with. Edit. Maybe self publish it. Hmm.. Summer HAS just begun..

Share your collaborative sites or works in comments!


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

No More Winter Creative Blocks: 10 Minutes A Day Promise

Hi all of my lovely readers!

I hope in the interim you have enjoyed my posts on my personal blog about Generosity. I'm sorry I haven't been here in a couple months.

http://community412.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/04/18/generosity.jpg

I should have forced myself to write more.

But it's also winter.

While I always thought that I was less creative in winter, studies show that our brains DO NOT seem to be affected by winter, that it's really our attitudes. I say lack of seeing the sunshine is part of it.

I can't blame winter for 2 reasons. 1, This has been the mildest, weirdest, and un-winter-like winter in a long time for my area. We missed the big February snowfall, the sleet didn't even turn to layers of ice, and the largest accumulation of snow in January was a few inches. And 2, work has been all-consuming. I have been so burnt out from the trials of the day with the addition of paperwork that I came home simply to not think about it.

I should have been 'not thinking about it' by creating new characters, scenes, settings, or doing fun research for my writing projects. I should have worked on some outlines.

It's my attitude that influenced by work habits. I did what I felt like doing, which we all should do sometimes, but it wasn't what I should have been doing. I felt like being a lump. I felt like not thinking for a while. This is not really healthy if it continues over long periods of time. They say for every day you take off from writing, your Muse takes off three..

I did write a little Ficlatté about the death of my Muse.

Detective Hawk reached a gloved hand to the light switch. In the moment before the room was bathed in light, she braced herself for a scene of unknowable atrocity. It was not difficult to kill a muse, they are quite delicate, but at times the results can be quite macabre.

click

She squinted. Stark reality was hard on the pupils. A lithe figure, white feathered wings drooping from two graceful shoulders used to bearing the weight of the world curled around a body stooped limply yet stiffly across the top of a writing desk. Ink cascaded down a single white page and puddled on the floor thickly. A pale head, thankfully turned away from the Detective, rested on the ink stained page. Her feather quill had fallen to the floor. Elegant legs were still tucked under the desk.

She could have been asleep.

Unfortunately, the Detective had no choice but to walk over and stare into the vacant, open eyes of crystal blue.

"What happened to you, goddess?" she breathed in awe.

She began to search for clues.

It's not the best thing I've ever written, but it was a way to cope with the loss of being creative in any way.

To free up my creative energy, I am going to try to freewrite for 10 minutes a day. It might become longer, but a promise to myself of just 10 minutes should do wonders for healing my Muse. Truly, she is not really dead, but in a coma.

A person can do a lot of things in 10 minutes.

What can you do in 10 minutes?

Also, comment on ways you fight against creative blocks, not just writer's. :) I'd love to hear some strategies!

I'm Slowly Returning

There has been a lot of things going on in my life that have NOT included writing. It sucks.

BUT

I did come back home to fiction with a little piece called Tink, Wink, and Nudge.

"Hey, Tinkerbell!" Nudge catcalled.

"Stop calling ME THAT!" Tink's glow turned red and she hovered above her twin Wink.

"It's the only way I can tell you apart! You two look alike."

The truth was, Wink was a cerulean blue and rather stout, not to mention male, while Tink was green, lithe, and female. Nudge just had to push others' buttons. 

Tink punched him in the arm, but he was so portly, it only wobbled like jelly. He giggled. The three had been friends since they were rung into being.

Tink ducked back down behind the plastic holly leaf and calmed her red light. The stakeout had only just started and already she'd had enough of the two boys. "Shh."

If a fairy wasn't vigilant, they'd miss their only opportunity to ask for one wish from the greatest magical being of all time.

The mantle clock clicked midnight. There was a speck of sparkle on the hearth below. Tink jumped from behind the holly and yelled, "SANTA!"

An old elf turned his bearded face in shock, frozen in mid-appear, then grinned in relief.



Yeah, so I got a little festive this holiday season, but hey, I wrote some fiction.

And I promise to only get better as I return to my roots.