writer

Old Characters Made New

Sometimes it’s okay to look back. I’m doing an author’s challenge on Instagram, and day 12 asked me about my protagonist. Now, I’m currently working on three stories, editing and updating them for publication. Not such bad work, especially since I’ve been living with these characters for a while. I do best with writing when I’m the most familiar with my characters, at least for a few months. I guess I’ll never be that writer who can pump out a new book every month, and I’m okay with that. I’m working with characters I’ve “known” since 2011-2012

For those of you who have read Second Chance Christmas, know that Naomi and Zach had a story before their Christmas story. Yep. They were the very first story that I submitted for publication. Unfortunately, it was rejected. I then wrote Kitty Wishes, and I never went back to the story. However, I ran upon it on my vast Google Drive, dusted it off, and decided to try to publish it. I mean, why not? It was over 90 pages of Naomi/Zach that I didn’t want to go to waste.

The story shows how bubbly and rather scatterbrained Naomi is, and I think that lends a fun aspect to their relationship. Plus it was fun to write and I’m having fun revisiting it.

Because I’ve been revising this story so intensely, I started to think a little more about Naomi, what makes her tick and how she and

Zach got together. So, as I said,as part of this author’s challenge, I created a mood board that represent what Naomi is all about. Check it out:

I always thought of Naomi as a poor little rich girl. Her parents gave her everything she wanted except attention. She went to the best schools, but never got a direction in which she wanted to go. She suffers from depression, and if you’ve read Second Chance Christmas, you know what that resulted in. If you haven’t read the story, it will be made clear in the new book.

I really enjoy working with Naomi. She’s young, kinda gullible, but always ready to look on the bright side of things. She’s sweet, empathetic, and always willing to help out. On the other hand, she is prone to depression and while she might wish for a companion, she doesn’t want to burden anyone with her problems. I’m sure there is a little of Naomi in all of us at on time or another.

I look forward to putting out the new and revised story sometime next month.

#MotivationMonday – 5 Ways to Kickstart Your Muse

We all have those days where we’d rather be writing, but nothing is flowing. Instead we putter around, catch up on programs or simply sit and stare at a blank page. Believe me, you’re not alone. It happens to everyone.

I don’t like wasted time, because you never get it back. I try not to dither away time on social media either, because that’s a hole you can get sucked down and not emerge until three hours later. While I do love the cat vids and the cool memes, there’s a time for work and a time for play.

This brings me to the point of my post. Sometimes inspiration doesn’t sit waiting for you, you have to run it down and beat it into submission. Inspiration is wonderful. Inspiration can get you writing 5k a day. However, when inspiration decides to take a little break, what do you do?

You jump start your creativity. You can do it! Here’s seven quick ways to get that brain churning.

1. Listen to music – Remember “The Mozart Effect”? While that’s kind of gone the way of the dodo, the premise can still be used. Grab a song or two that you really love and jam out to it for a couple of minutes. Sing, dance, get the blood moving to that stuffy brain. Then, sit down and dare that blank page to defy your words.

2. Write by hand – I can’t recommend this technique enough. There is something about putting pencil to paper which gets the creativity going, especially if you imagine yourself as the royal scribe for the kingdom of…whatever. Point is, the physical act of writing may send stimulus to the brain that it’s time to get to work.

3. Get out of the house – We spend a lot of time indoors, especially in those of us in areas of colder winters. Shake yourself out of a rut by going outside – bundle up if you need to! Even as little as ten minutes taking in nature will mostly like shake that creativity into submission.

4. Work with your hands– Activating your hands will activate your brain. Cooking, knitting, crocheting…even washing dishes has an effect. Something about focusing on a bit of a mundane task makes the brain want to entertain itself. I swear to you, I’ve had some excellent ideas when up to my wrists in dishwater.

5. Play video games – I have a terrible secret to share. When I feel I’m stuck and can’t write another word, I go onto Facebook….and spin those fake slots. Or, I’ll play Zuma, where a frog spits beads. In other words, I do something totally mindless. Again, the brain gets bored, and tries to entertain itself. And as odd as it sounds, it really does work.

One thing I don’t recommend is scrolling social media. Depending on your temperament, it might actually be detrimental to your ability to create, depending on what you run into on your feed. As we all know, news stories and other people’s issues can be stressful, even if we are not directly involved. Save your social media involvement for after you’ve finished working. You won’t be sorry.

Do you have a tip to get the creative motor running? Leave it in the comments.

1Love

Dahlia

5 Ways of Self-Care for Writers

As an author, sitting is an unfortunate by-product of the profession. When I first began my writing career, I confess that I spent too much time at my desk, desperately typing, revising and editing, so much so that I ended up in the emergency room with a pinched nerve in my back. I’ve had three children and I have never experienced something so painful in my life. Even now, as I write about it, I cringe at the memory!

Needless to say, after recovering from that ordeal, I made definite changes to my writing routine. By doing so, it has not only improved me physically, but also kicked up my mental processes, making writing that much easier. My muse is so much happier and she shows it by letting the ideas flow!

There are five things that I worked into my writing routine that helped me improve the way I work.

Please take these tips and mold them to your needs. Good health is important.

As authors, we begin behind the eight-ball because we sit for such a large portion of our day.

Without further ado, here they are:

Drink plenty of water. It’s easy to slurp down coffee and soda and juice while sitting at the computer. The sugar and caffeine give us a quick rush of energy and keep us focused on the task at hand. However, overloading on such drinks can cause a late day crash, jitters, and dehydration. I have acquired a cute little water bottle and fill it with ice water with a touch of lemon juice. Mind you, I do not skip my morning coffee, and will go for a refill if the urge strikes me. Bu if I am going to have the coffee, I’ll make a conscious effort to finish the water bottle by noon, then go back for a refill on that too. Sipping water also keeps me from snacking too much. The addition of the lemon gives the boring water a spiffy taste and has the small benefit of Vitamin C.
Take a Break – Try not to become so focused on your writing that you don’t get up from the computer because you don’t want to “break the spell”. Create a break schedule. Set a timer for fifty, thirty or twenty minutes, then working on your writing and ONLY your writing. No checking social media or paring down your inbox. When the timer goes off, get up. Walk around, check the mail, do yoga stretches – anything but sit. This gives your body a break from sitting in a fixed position and gets the blood flowing to your brain. Don’t skip the break, as tempting as it may be to do so.
Exercise – Yes, you’ve heard it many times before. Your brain feeds on the oxygen-rich blood circulated by the heart. Before I sit down at the keyboard with my fragrant cup of coffee, I complete a brisk 15-20 minute walk that gets my blood pumping and my brain receptive for the muse. During these walks, I am often able to work out any issues that I might be having in my story. Getting away from the keyboard and out into the fresh air helps immensely.I also enjoy yoga. It’s calm, low-impact and I don’t have to get too dressed up for it! When the weather is poor or I simply don’t feel like going outside, ten to fifteen minutes of yoga poses can serve the same purpose.
Get Enough Sleep – Most of us wouldn’t stay up half the night and try to function at the job on four or five hours of sleep, would we? If you write full time like me, your writing is your job. Treat it like one. Get enough rest the night before. A full night’s sleep increases your mental sharpness, emotional balance, and creativity. Sitting in front of your computer screen bleary-eyed and fuzzy-headed can only lead to frustration and writer’s block. It’s all about putting yourself in the most optimum frame of mind possible.
Pay attention to Posture – Nothing will fatigue you more than terrible posture. We’ve all done it: shoulders hunched, wrists smashed against the laptop and feet in odd positions. There’s no problem in doing it, the problem is staying that way. Check your posture: are your shoulders back, feet flat on the floor and your wrists relaxed? Hunching over can put a great strain on the neck, as well as the shoulders and forearms. My weakness is that I lean to the right side, putting too much pressure on my right arm. About fifteen minutes of that and I have to shake it back awake! Stay cognizant of how you sit.

So there you have it, my magical formula for staying alert and healthy while pounding out the word count. While I don’t always do every single thing on this list, I strive to ensure that I’m in the best mind frame possible when I sit down at the computer. It’s not easy sticking to this routine, and I have been guilty of hunching over the computer for an hour straight. However, as long as that remains an anomaly and not a regular practice, I’m looking forward to many happy, healthy years as an author with a happy, healthy, giving muse and no more ER visits!

1Love

Dahlia

5 Gifts for Writers

It’s that time of year again. Shoppers are hitting the stores and the Internet to look for the perfect gift for that special someone. Some of you lucky dogs out there have some stellar writers in your lives. I’m going to tell you what writers REALLY want for Christmas. Well, at least me.

Pens and Journals: Most writers love pens. Though we tend to dither between our beloved writing software, a writer almost always comes back to the pen and the paper, especially if experiencing a bout of writer’s block. Pens make us feel like REAL writers, with a cigarette clenched between our teeth and a glass of bourbon at hand. Debauchery aside, the physical aspect of forming letters and words often is a trigger for ideas. Often, we get more words flowing on paper than we do sitting in front of the screen. In addition, pen/paper keeps us from the distractions of the Internet, and is portable. Sure, we can compose on the phone in our car, but it’s so much more lovely to write in a beautiful journal with a great pen.

Some of my favorites:

InkJoy Pens – The name says it all. I simply love these pens.
Leatherette Journal with Magnet – Doesn’t have to be fancy to be useful.
Cherish You Journal – Pretty and practical
Moleskine Journals – Can’t go wrong with these.

Beverage Containers: Not all writers drink coffee, true, some of us have Coca-Cola as their breakfast beverage (not me, of course, I have both!) However a beverage container is the writer’s true friend. We don’t have to get up to get our hydration/fuel/liquid courage to keep pushing forward in our work. Plus, the little sayings make us feel important.

Heat Activated Banned Books Mug – You can’t get any more writerly than this.

Inspiration Assistance: Sometimes our best ideas come to us when we’re in the shower, seriously! Well, yes, we DO get ideas OTHER places, but let’s keep it PG and simply suggest Aqua Notes, a little doodad that sticks to the wall in the shower. Handy note taking at it’s finest, for sure! The pencil is also included. When I saw this little cool thing, I couldn’t resist putting it on my list. Writers will love this! Aqua Notes

Totes, T-shirts, and Hoodies: Working from home doesn’t afford us much chance to flex our fashion muscles. We do, however, enjoy cool accessories related to writing. And those accessories include T-shirts and hoodies, so we don’t get too cold as we hunch over our keyboards in the basement. Visit Out of Print for more goodies.

Where the Wild Things are Tote

Organizational Software: Next to writing, the biggest task is research. How far can an eagle see? How much blood is in the human body? How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? We search every day for answers to these types of questions in order to make our writing as realistic as possible. Well, some writers do. (Yes, I’m throwing shade.) How do we keep all those links and cool websites in one place? Why Evernote, of course! Evernote has two levels – free and premium. Be a doll and gift your writer person a year of premium. They’ll have a year to figure out if they like using it, and if they do ,then they can pay for it themselves!

Evernote Premium

With a list like this, there’s no way you can go wrong with your writer gift giving this year. Order early!

1Love

Music Monday – Goth Classical Music

Hey! It’s Music Monday!

There’s nothing I like better on a cold winter’s evening (and sometimes in the summer too) is a cup of Irish coffee and some dark classical music. Whether it be a mournful aria or a draggy dirge in a lovely minor key, the dulcet tones of a sorrowful violin or the lamenting mezzo-sorprano.

I thrive on that shit.

Forget about the dog dying in movies or some drama on television. Youwant to bring a tear to my eye, play me a tune in a minor key. Those gloomy chord progressions will get me every single time.

Here we go.

Dido’s Lament – Dido and Aeneas, Henry Purcell

In operas, someone always dies. Here, it’s Dido. She’s taken poison because her great love, Aeneas, has abandoned her. Grab the tissue and take a look at her first lines: (Belinda is her lady in waiting)

“Thy hand Belinda….darkness shades me….on thy bosom, let me rest…
More I would….but death invades me….Death is now a welcome guest….”

And the great, greatc Jessye Norman brings these lyrics right to your doorstep.

“Remember me….but ah! Forget my fate…..”

Goosebumps!

Moonlight Sonata – Beethoven

One of the comments on this video (paraphrase): “I listen to this in the dark with a cup of tea…like a psychopath”

Frederic Chopin – Waltz in A minor

Sergei Rachmaninoff – Prelude, Opus 2 #2 in C sharp minor

John Williams – Theme from Schindler’s List, Performed by Itzhak Perlman

Go ahead. Get the tissues, sob, breathe, then touch up your black eyeliner and tighten the laces on your Doc Martens. I hope you enjoyed my little gothy list of classical songs.

1Love

Peace, Love, Unity

Dahlia