Okay…here’s some tough love! Get your butt in that chair and write something………..or finish something !!! You’ve read my interviews with famous, best selling authors for about a year now. And the recurring theme is DISCIPLINE!!
Forget what others might think of your scribbles…they’re yours and they’re PERFECT! And what if they aren’t perfect? So What!!?? If I thought I was going to get perfection when I first began writing, I would never have written a word. All I hoped for was to grow as a writer and keep growing with every new project. Still not perfect………….
Write a short story. Write a poem in prose. Write a play. Finish your novel. WRITE SOMETHING!!
Now, here’s the tough part. You have to be selfish to be a writer. You have to tell your spouse, or kids or friends that you aren’t going to be available for a couple of hours. And mean it!! Then go lock yourself in a room and WRITE!! Then tomorrow (or this weekend) do it again. Continue reading “New Year’s Resolution for Writers!”
I can’t believe that it was just this past September that I wrote this blog about an idea becoming a one act play and NOWI’m writing my fifth book in the World of Murder mystery series. The first four novels are available here and on amazon.com and now are audio books at audible.com So I am thinking it is worth posting this again to let my fellow writers see how an idea can grow into something pretty damn amazing!!
If you missed the story here it is again:
Let’s see….I think it was 2005 and we were in rehearsals for “Cheatin'” in Port Aransas, Texas. I was the director and we had pulled together a terrific cast. The title pretty much tells you the story line but the fun part and what made it so funny was it was set in….where else?…… Texas and was filled with good ole’ boys and girls. It was the highest grossing play for that theatre in many a year and won Best Production and Best Set Design (thanks to Janis Johnson’s contribution). I was very proud of the cast and crew! Continue reading “An Idea..A New Mystery Series! “The World of Murder””
My two Golden Retrievers, Gus and Rocky and cat, Fiona (dog dressed in a cat suit) and I want to wish you the happiest of Holiday Seasons!!
These photos are from many family/dog albums of people who have discovered the special love and devotion that only a dog can give you….especially a Golden.
My three (to date) Goldens were rescued and I adopted them from “Grateful Goldens“, a tri-state rescue organization. They vet YOU thoroughly and they have vetted the dog you are going to bring to its ‘forever home’.
I don’t really know why I’m writing about this topic…could it be because the writing for “Brave” was so exceptional?...filled with double entendre like the Mama Bear fighting to protect her ‘cubs‘. Once in awhile I enjoy a good Disney animated film. And I hadn’t seen the advances of animation in a long time, so I rented ‘Brave’.
We all know the timeless, underlying theme, the girl is looking for her Prince Charming. Her Prince finds her, usually rescues her and they live happily ever after. Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Snow White, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Robin Hood, The Little Mermaid, the list goes on and on.
God knows that’s how I was raised; that my Prince Charming would come someday and I too would live happily ever after. After all, when all was said and done, every movie (in my days of growing up) had an underlying story with this result and girls of my decade pretty much sat back and waited for HIM. Now, fifty years later and three husbands ago, I finally achieved some wisdom and the fact is there are NO Prince Charmings and all three men that I married were just as human as I was. What a huge expectation I put on them! Continue reading “‘Brave’…Brilliantly Written…an Overdue, Alternate Ending to Prince Charming”
I have a little section of my brain that resembles a hound dog. Nose to the ground, tail at half mast, she is relentless seeking a hot trail. Until she sniffs out an idea. Then the moon can hear her baying, the tail going like a pinwheel, the nose making a furrow in the soft dirt, it smells so good.
A friend shared a post with me on Google+ and it inspired me to write.
Inspiration: As some of you may know I have written 28 short plays for teenagers in the classroom.
Subjects that challenge them every day: bullying, cyber-bullying, cutting, drug use, texting and driving, date violence, breaking up, running away, etc. But I haven’t written one about the damage that an indiscriminate photo or posting can do…..forever!
When I first saw this photo, I chuckled and wondered if the teacher realized that there was a fire extinguisher behind her. Photos and gossip spreads like ‘wild fire’ on the Internet because of one supposedly innocent posting. And no fire extinguisher, fire hose, or fire truck would be big enough to put it out once it’s out there. Do our young people realize that a posting on a social network could follow them forever? College applications, job interviews, credit reports.
Stop!! Don’t Do It !! This photo will follow YOU forever!
Young people don’t think much of sending each other (sometimes) inappropriate photos. Or they say things about others (often not true) and think it’s funny, not to be taken seriously. A prank in the moment. They don’t realize that they may be harming themselves (or others) for a long time to come. THINK! Before you Post!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! “The Writer’s Corner”
So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!
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The final segment of my Interview with this fascinating author!
Q. and the all important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like?
A. I guess references to the Jonestown Massacre would be inappropriate? For some people it’s a pretty orderly process. I envy them and I try to be more orderly with every book. But I also think it’s important for the writer to be on a quest of his own, to be trying to understand the story in a million ways, and learning new things through the whole process of writing. When the writer figures something out, about the characters or the story– that generates real excitement for the reader. I’ve generally needed an editor at the end, the way one needs an obstetrician at the end of a pregnancy. And sometimes the editor has needed forceps.
Now in AUDIO books ! Book 1 of the series, ‘The World of Murder‘
This short novel is available at www.audible.com TODAY and at www.amazon.com and iTunes.com
Monty is a struggling, unknown artist, living in Soho in New York. From his third floor walk up, he watches his beautiful neighbor as she comes and goes. Too shy and reclusive to ask her out, he paints her again and again. Suddenly the police are at his door.
Detective O’Roarke and his partner, Stella Garcia sift through the forensics, motives and physical evidence. At first glance it seems that all the evidence points to the strange artist who is obsessed with the beautiful actress. But, as time passes, several other suspects come to the attention of the two murder cops and the case is now not so open and shut. As the detectives immerse themselves in her life, it turns out that she has more than one secret.
Also in Audio books: Art of Murder
Dance of Murder
Act of Murder
Angel of Murder
Taste of Murder Coming Soon! Video of Murder
HJS: “Procrastination is the way of avoiding the suffering involved in seeing that what you write doesn’t live up to what you CAN write.”
Q. Who or what is your “Muse” at the moment?
A. Outer Cape Cod, or my own imaginary (but carefully mapped) world based on Outer Cape Cod. Place has always been terribly important to me. The other pole of my childhood was the thick countryside I lived in, among dairy farms in Connecticut. We were miles from civilization and we were often without a car. I spent hours and hours walking in the woods, the fields, following the brook that ran through that area, just paying attention to every bit of it. I’d try to draw a tree with every leaf exact. It was a deep, deep comfort.
Now I’ve lived out here for 30 years, and this is the place I know best–I’m lucky because it’s inherently a fascinating place. Provincetown has been the wealthiest and the poorest town in Massachusetts over the last two hundred years. There are layers and layers of history here, and in the winter when the tourist life fades away, there’s a community of very different people who live together in an unusually intimate way. I could write a novel about it…oh, wait, I did! Continue reading “Cape Cod, the Outer Banks…My Interview with Heidi Jon Schmidt (part 2)”
Okay…here’s some tough love! Get your butt in that chair and write something………..or finish something !!! You’ve read my interviews with famous, best selling authors for about a year now. And the recurring theme is DISCIPLINE!!
