The Ultimate Writing Bag

My best friend gave me a belated birthday present the other day, when we finally had a few minutes to cross paths. I refer to it as the ultimate writing bag.

To start, it is purple, which has been my favorite color for my entire life. Inside is a multisensory experience, designed to facilitate the writing process for the rest of the summer.

I can slough away dead skin and reveal a new me with a new bath pouf and foot cream. Lavender and rosemary soap stimulates my sense of smell, while keeping me calm. Incense inspires the creative mind. The moon pendant seeks to channel the creativity.

Chocolate wine and ice wine roll around on my tongue and release inhibitions. Chocolate snacks add to the gustatory delight. 

Black Keys CDs and Jim Morris's biography enlighten the musical side that drives me.

The obligatory notebooks and folder are for recording thoughts and ideas, while theoretically also staying organized. 

Even more fun treats are spread out on that table, that have special meaning to me, and she knows it. Let's hope the birthday bag works its magic these next few weeks!

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction

I have been so bad about writing on here! Too much fun this summer? ;-)

I feel like my summer is slipping away, and I have barely reached the writing goals I had set up for myself. I do have a tendency to overshoot, though. So, I am trying really hard to just enjoy what I can get done in the next few short weeks before I go back to work.

I do have one completed short story that I wrote a some weeks ago. I have had people read it, and tweaked it. I still like it, even after letting it simmer for a while. It's loosely based on real life, as in the characters and the t-shirt that inspired its title. Working on it made me decide to revisit the first short story that I had written in a long time. I did it back in December. People liked it back then, but betas did have a few suggestions for it.

It is very highly based on a true story. One friend who read it said that she felt like she now knew the backstory behind the real story and loved it. Other people also had kind words about it, but I just don't like it as much now. I feel like I was recording a story, kind of like a diary or journal entry would be. So, now I want to rework it to make it more like a piece of fiction, which was its original intent.

I think my favorite comment that popped up from a couple of readers was how certain actions, pieces of dialogue, or other tidbits in the story couldn't possibly be true. They just didn't seem realistic. The funny thing is, a lot of the dialogue was verbatim from the situation. All of the actions happened. The people are all real. I just changed names and identifying details to protect the so-called innocent. And it made me think of that old line about how truth is stranger than fiction.

So, my new quest with this piece is to rewrite it. I am probably going to do it by hand, in a notebook, as I read off of the computer screen. I would rather print it off and decimate it that way, but I don't have access to a printer right now. I also love the feeling of connecting with the story as my hand touches the pen which touches the paper. Perhaps I will be able to make my fiction a bit more believable by the time I am finished with it.

Fawning all over myself

Yes, today I have been fawning all over myself. I needed to get out of the house, so I drove aimlessly looking for a new place for breakfast. After getting my nourishment, I continued to just wander around the suburbs, until I came across the Helmer Nature Center. I have been near it many times, but usually only when dropping off children at games or picking them up. Today was really cloudy, again, with the threat of rain later. No one else was there. I decided to check out the trails before the rain came.

I went around a bend and gasped. Just off the trail was a little fawn, nibbling away at a berry bush.

 

It turned to look at me, trying to decide if I was friend or foe. I quietly tried taking its picture and stood still until it decided to continue snacking. I decided to inch a little closer. Before I knew it, a second one had joined it!

 

I got very excited. The second one seemed even more wary of me. I continued to inch closer.

This was the closest that I got to them. Can you see the one under the bush? We stood there staring at each other for another moment, and then they took off across the fields. I was actually a little teary after the encounter.

Alas, soon after I saw the fawns, thunder started crashing, because a storm was blowing in. I made my way back to my car and eventually got home. I did some research about the meaning of fawns and what it means to encounter them in the wild. In a nutshell, they are supposed to indicate a new adventure starting in your life, thanks to the gentleness, love, and compassion that they represent and that you have in you. Again, I got a little teary.

I also got tremendously inspired. As of this posting, I have written one post for BubbleWS and one article for Examiner. I have a couple more in mind. 

I also wrote a children's story about the experience and started a nonfiction story for kids about fawns. I am working on a couple of other inspirational pieces that could make their way into book form some day, as well.

So, yeah, I am fawning all over myself, thanks to these beautiful creatures. 

What was your most recent inspiration? 

Thank you, Black Keys!

I have been so bad about keeping up with this blog to stay accountable! Here is a quick summary:

I got sick and far behind during the A to Z Challenge. I just couldn't do it this year. So, look out 2014! I will be better prepared next year!

I did finally complete an entire short story, that I submitted to an anthology whose theme was "Love Gone Wrong". I wrote the whole thing on Easter Sunday. Unfortunately, they didn't receive enough submissions, so it didn't get published. However, people who read it liked it. I've started working on a couple of related stories to go with it, to make my own collection. The second story for that collection is almost complete. I am in the middle and know how I want it to end. I just have to connect the dots to get there.

The other night, I went to my friend's house for dinner and movies. The back of his t-shirt read, "Rub Me, I'm Irish." It's for a spice rub company, but it got the wheels spinning. For the past two days, I wrote a short, steamy story based on that phrase.

Most of it was written sitting outside at my new outdoor writing office space. I can look at my beautiful flowers, breathe in the scent of lavender, and have enough space to eat and drink.

Sometimes, I even bring out the laptop. I have this thing about starting out by hand, though.

Anyway, today it was pouring rain all day. I couldn't work outside. I sat here listening to Pearl Jam and Black Keys concerts, in preparation for the ones I will be attending over the next few weeks. Once I got to the Black Keys, the writing bug bit me again. (Every time I listen to the Black Keys, my fingers fly over the keyboard.) I actually finished the steamy story, by hand! I went to my friend's house again this evening. When I came home, I turned on the Black Keys again and typed it up. I only changed a couple of words and phrases, so it is still quite rough. I am also not wearing my contacts, so who knows how many typos are in it and this post?

It has been sent to five people to read. Two are good friends who are also writers. The other three are good friends who are as voracious in their reading habits as I am.

And now, I must try to sleep as I await feedback over the next couple of days. I shall keep you posted!

Promote your book with a trailer by AuthorsBroadCast.com

**While this is a paid review, all opinions shared are honest and my own.**

A new trend in book marketing is using book trailers, similar to those used to promote movies. Book covers and other still photography are used to illustrate the story's plot and to introduce the characters to potential readers. Basically, they make the book blurb just a little bit more exciting.

If you follow any of my blogs, you will have seen many of these book trailers over various posts. Most of them consist of words going across the screen, accompanied by music. They only last a moment or two, and hope to get the point across and to entice you to purchase and read the book.

I have to say that I am impressed by the book trailers that I have previewed from AuthorsBroadCast.com. They offer basic promotional book trailers, and then so much more. But these basic promo videos are much more exciting than many that I have seen. The graphics are better and much more exciting. They also do trailers that interview authors, and longer episodes featuring multiple excerpts and titles and marketing tips. All genres, including both fiction and nonfiction, are represented on their site. Check out one of their videos that demonstrate their services:




Peruse their YouTube channel to get a better feel for the book trailers that they have created in the past, and to inspire you to have your own made. Then, visit their website at www.AuthorsBroadCast.com to view featured books and authors, read testimonials, and to see their price list. To make your book successful, it is worth the investment to have quality promotional materials to share on your social media and to embed in your own website.

#AtoZChallenge Creating characters

Creating characters is something else with which I tend to struggle. Yes, you are supposed to write what you know. Your characters almost inevitably end up being a reflection of you in some way. You are a part of them and they are a part of you. I keep finding that I put too much of myself into those characters. I get so wrapped up in their lives as my own, that I get stuck, because perhaps that situation in my life is stuck. I would love to create an alternate universe in which I can get every outcome that I want. But, I'm not sure how healthy that would be.

On occasion, I have come up with completely different characters. I have an early reader chapter book type storyline on which I have been working. Those characters speak to me in their own voices. Unfortunately, the last time that I was working on them, I wasn't at home. Someone deliberately interrupted me, thinking he was being cute. I haven't been able to find their voices again.

Again, I know that if I just keep writing and writing, I will find their voices again. That is part of the reason that I undertook this challenge on *cough* 12 *cough* blogs this year. I am hoping that by having to be more creative on these, I will better lubricate those wheels and channel those characters again.

Thanks for all of the words of support. It's helpful! :-)  

#AtoZChallenge Bunches of beginnings

Does anyone else have these laying around the house?

That is just a handful of the notebooks that I own that hold the beginnings of many stories and lists of other ideas. Every back to school season, I stock up on dozens of notebooks. Most of them end up being used by the students in my classroom. However, I always save a selection for myself. I prefer to use purple, which is my favorite color, but occasionally use a different one for variety.

I know, I know. Holy crap, woman, get busy and finish writing these!

If only it were that simple...

Beginnings are always easy for me. It's the endings with which I have a problem. I often have an outline in mind. A direction in which I want to go. And then for some reason, the characters and the story don't want to go that way. Sometimes, I end up at a crossroads and am not sure which direction is the right one. I have a hard time with that. It's a personal issue. :-P

Now that the first story is actually finished, though, I have more hope of actually getting the inspiration to finish more of these. I am spending more time this spring break week on my A to Z challenges than I had originally anticipated. (Gotta love it when life throws you curve balls that distract you from the task at hand.) I had hoped to get more original writing done. I have also come up with about a dozen new starts. One of these days...