IWSG: May 2023

 

I can't believe I missed last month. I believe it was the only time I've missed. I'm not sure why I'm busier ever when I'm 'retired.'

But welcome to my post for IWSG. Thank you to Alex J. Cavanaugh and all the admins for the this amazing group. Find the entire list of blog posts here.

This month's optional question: When you are working on a story, what inspires you?

I'm inspired by lots of things. Reading a good book. Hearing about one of my writer friend's success. Sometimes watching a good show or movie. Visiting a bookstore or library. Attending a conference or any writing event such as a book signing. With all that inspiration, you would think I would get more writing done each day.

I have been getting some writing done. About 6K words in April. Still, slower than I'd like. And I have a conference coming up in about two weeks that will inspire me further. Had some work done of our home so that was disruptive and distracting and a few more events coming in May that will slow me down. I'm already collecting my excuses so they're ready to go. Hopefully, June will bring some peace and quiet at the old homestead.

"He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

So little to watch on TV. I have enjoyed Will Trent in its debut season. The Last of Us was good considering I am completely ignorant about the video game it was based on. I'm going to watch Amazon's newest The Citadel but I haven't started it yet. The Mandalorian was disappointing but I have hope for next season.

I hope the spring season is filling you all with warmth and inspiration. 

What inspires you? Are you getting some writing done? What is your biggest distraction?

IWSG: January 2023

 

Can we believe it's 2023? Not quite but welcome to the first blog hop post for IWSG for this year. Thanks to the IWSG admins for keeping us going and to our founder, Alex J. Cavanaugh, for bringing us together in the first place. Find the entire list of participants on this page.

I'm skipping this month's question and putting to page some thoughts going into a new year. As many of you know, my publisher closed their doors at the end of 2022. That's more than 20 published books that are now homeless. Enough to crush my motivation. But...

I have found some things to inspire me.

1. Seeing colleagues having new books coming out. Some are writers I've known for years and have spent time at writers conferences networking together. I love seeing them succeed and it makes me work harder.

2. Reading the various newsletters that come my way from a variety of sources. Some are writing groups like this one and some are from individual authors. I learn so much and also witness the writing successes of the other members.

3. Finding a new author, or new-to-me, that I fall in love with. There have been a few recently, but one fantasy writer I'll point out is Kel Kade. Kel's first serious was self-published and her second series was picked up by TOR.

4. Helping set up registration for the Pennwriters Conference coming to Pittsburgh, PA in May of this year. I love spending the weekend with other writers.

5. Receiving an invite from a successful local author to join her FB group. If you attended last year's Pennwriters Conference, you know Misty Simon. A gifted writer of mysteries who brings a lot of laughter and joy to those she interacts with.

Those are a few things to keep me going on this writing path with all its hills and valley. Things to remind me to work harder. What keeps you going?

"There are no traffic jams along the extra mile." Roger Staubach

"Hope is a waking dream." Aristotle

Michael J. Sullivan

Today we have a terrific guest post in IWSG blog by Michael J. Sullivan. If that name sound familiar it could be that you're read my raves about him before on this post. Or it just could be because he is a very, very successful hybrid author. And he's sharing tips on how he became so successful.

You can read about his journey to becoming a full time writer at IWSG. Though he doesn't mention it in that post, he is a very hard working writer. Not only does he write a lot of words every year, but he attends to his readers. He's a model for how writers should interact with their supporters. He answers emails, keeps up two blogs, tweets out his news on twitter and appears on blogs. If you reach out to Michael, he will answer.

It's no secret that I love epic fantasy. Michael's first series, The Riyria Revelations, is one of my favorite all time series. In my busy life, I don't have time to reread many books, but that series is falling apart from all the beloved readings. His characters are complex, fun and darkly heroic. I looking forward to starting Age of Myth, the first book in his next series when it's released tomorrow.

Spend the weekend attending graduation parties. One outstanding neighbor who will be going onto college on a football scholarship. Guess he won't be around to help shovel snow next winter. The other for a nephew's son. Made me fell a little old but he's the last one in the immediate family for a few years.

Writing is going pretty good and I'm finally catching up on the outside work. I'm wearing my hiking boots to do yard work to protect that darned ankle. Looking forward to Killjoys coming back on the SyFy channel this Friday.

I'm avoiding all talk of politics on this blog and on my Facebook and Twitter accounts. Mostly because like most of the would, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. No wonder people are intrigues by so many post-apocalyptic stories and why we love the super-heroes genre.
"An eye for an eye ends up making the whole world blind." Mahatma Gandhi

And a disturbing fact for today. 25% of all vegetables consumed in the USA are french fries.

Do we really have to wait almost a year for Game of Thrones? Will Martin ever finish writing the book series? Do you even consider french fries as a vegetable? Have you read any of Sullivan's books?

I: Idea Book

I:  Earlier I wrote a post about gushing ideas.  In a continuation of that post, I suggest you keep an idea book for all the things you see, hear or otherwise notice that you might someday be able to incorporate into your reading. 

Most of you probably already do this. I've heard lots of writers say they keep a notebook by their bed to jot down things that come to them as they drift off to sleep.  I can't do that. I tend to fall asleep within seconds of putting my head on the pillow.  But I carry a spiral journal with me nearly everywhere I go.  My day planner has all kinds of notes jotted in that mean nothing to anyone but me.  And sometimes they don't mean anything to me either when I go back and look at them.

There are lots of things crowded into our heads.  Our jobs, day and writing, our families, the traffic as we drive, the bills we need to pay, even what's for dinner, and our brains do a better job organizing it than the smartest computer can do, but things get lost also.  We see something, read something and think to our self, I must remember that.  But if we don't write it down, there's a good chance we won't remember.  The thought is still there, dangling on some neuron buried in a tangle of other neurons and ideas, thoughts and whatever we need to survive the day.  Don't trust you'll be able to find that tiny speck of insight or spark of an idea you planted in your brain the day before or even the hour before.  If you can write it down. 

Do you keep an idea book? Where are you most often when inspiration strikes?

Lightning Bolts

If you're a writer, it happens to you.  Some plot issue weighs on your mind.  Perhaps it's a relationship you need to complicate, a character you want to eliminate in a memorable fashion or an event you want to foreshadow in a clever manner.  You think about even when you don't know you are.  Then out of the blue, the solution strikes you like a lightning bolt.  You know it will work.

Driving is a time for me when my mind will dwell subconsciously on my writing.  Those lightning strikes of inspiration often find me behind the wheel.  In the summer one of the times I consciously search for inspiration is when I'm doing mindless activities like mowing the grass.  We have a good-sized property.  It takes over an hour even with a riding mower to clip all the green stuff.  Lots of time to work through the twists and turns needed to keep a reader turning the pages.

The only bad thing about ideas slapping your overburdened minds during those times is the difficulty of writing it down before you forget it.  I usually try to work out the details surrounding the lightning bolt so I don't forget the main part.  I've forgotten a few times like the time I got the tractor stuck in a wet part of the yard. 

I know some people get those flashes of inspiration as they fall asleep or dream about them.  They keep a notepad by the bed so they can write them down.  I almost never think of anything useful for my writing before I fall asleep since it usually takes me about forty seconds to drift into mindless slumber.

What about you?  When do those lightning bolts strike you?  Do you ever forget them before you can write them down?