Category: Motivational Moments for Writers

Quick motivation for writers

Motivational Moments…for Writers! by fellow author, Mike Wells #18

1..girl.write..mouse_1TS: A fellow writer that I have interviewed was kind enough to contribute to my Motivational Moments…for Writers!  Thanks, Mike!

‘One of the most common questions that novice writers ask me is “How do you overcome writer’s block?” I would define Mike. Headshotwriter’s block as a heavy psychological state in which you’re completely out of ideas about what to write. Usually writers seem to experience it somewhere in the middle of a story rather than near the beginning or end. It can last for days or even weeks and can really get you down and undermine your confidence.

My solution is a simple one, and many writers report that it works for them as well. When you experience writer’s block, jump to some other point in the story, some other scene or episode that you already know will be there, and start working on that. This can included jumping all the way to the very end and working backwards. Writers who prefer to write their stories sequentially, from start to finish, may feel uncomfortable with leaping over to some faraway section of the story, but believe me, if you force yourself to do this, there’s a strong chance that you’ll break through the barrier.

Mike.onBench_nI don’t know how this solution works–maybe subconscious plot connections take place or it’s simply getting your creative energy flowing again, but it usually does. Give it a try next time you’re stuck and see if it works for you.’ ~ Mike Wells

“Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing more to say?” ~ Kurt Vonnegut

“A straight line is not the shortest distance between two points.”― Madeleine L’Engle

Did you see my interview with Mike Wells? Click here

Visit Mike at: http://mikewellsblog.blogspot.com/

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MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!   October Author, Lisa Jackson.  November will be best selling author, Grace Burrowes and in December, Reed Farrel Coleman, contributing writer for Robert B. Parker series

Check out Motivational Moments…for Writers!

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Guest Blog from Best Selling Author, Jodi Thomas

Jodi.photo (Small)How to Jump Start a Writer’s Day ~~ My Guest Blogger, Author, Jodi Thomas

‘ As I was saying in Trisha’s Motivational Moments for Writers: The hardest thing a writer does each day is sitting down to work.  In 28 years as a working writer I’ve published 45 books and 13 novellas.  The hardest thing wasn’t learning to write, but learning to managing time. I picked up a few tricks but it is still the dragon I fight every day.

First, remember this is your job.  If you worked in an office or taught school you wouldn’t stop and answer every friend’s call.  So leave the phone in the kitchen or garage.  You’re at work.  One phone call might not knock you out of fiction, but the third one might.

Second, build your nest.  I find this makes it easy for me to step into fiction.  It doesn’t matter if your nest is in a secret room in the attic or a small desk in a hotel room, it needs to be your nest.

I usually start with a notebook.  My facts book, my bible for the series.  It includes all characters’ names and basic facts.  Maps of the area—if you’re making up a town, make up the map.    Sometimes pages of research like maps of the area or dates that need to be considered.  If you’re writing about a time in history you need to be aware of what was happening on that day in history.  If Lincoln was shot or 9/11 happened your fictional characters need to react. Continue reading “Guest Blog from Best Selling Author, Jodi Thomas”

Motivational Moments…from a Fellow Writer! #17

1..girl.write..mouse_1TS. My friend and best-selling author, Jodi Thomas, did me the honor of contributing to Motivational Moments.

‘The hardest thing a writer does each day is sitting down to work.  In 28 years as a working writer I’ve published 45 books and 13 novellas.  The hardest thing wasn’t learning to write, but learning to managing time. I picked up a few tricks but it is still the dragon I fight every day.

Jodi.photo (Small)
Jodi Thomas

Build your nest.  I find this makes it easy for me to step into fiction.  It doesn’t matter if your nest is in a secret room in the attic or a small desk in a hotel room, it needs to be your nest. I usually start with a notebook.  My facts book, my bible for the series.  It includes all characters’ names and basic facts.  Maps of the area—if you’re making up a town, make up the map.’ ~~Jodi Thomas

‘Peace and rest at length have come, All the day’s long toil is past; And each heart is whispering “Home, Home at last!’- Thomas Hood

‘Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference.’- Robert Frost
 

This piece came in a full posting when Jodi joined us in a guest blog

Did you miss my INTERVIEW with Jodi? Click here 

http://www.jodithomas.com/   for more information about Jodi’s books.
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!   October Author, Lisa Jackson.  November will be best selling author, Grace Burrowes and in December, Reed Farrel Coleman, ghost writer for Robert B. Parker ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Check out Motivational Moments…for Writers!

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More Motivational Moments…for Writers! #16

1..girl.write..mouse_1Why momentum is more important than quality. Blasphemy, right? Wrong. Momentum is more important, in this writer’s opinion, than quality.

The writer with momentum is an author who is MOVING FORWARD.  Writing every day, six or seven days a week, if only a page or two a day.

The writer who is so stuck on ‘quality’ that they have only written one book in their life time, and they are still writing it, is the writer who is not moving forward or growing.  If you only write one or two words a day, your manuscript is moving forward.

Many writers, who believe as I do, say that if you leave a project for a month, six months, a year, it is likely that you will never go back to it. And during that time the doubt creeps in: “who do I think I am?” “I’ll never be a great writer.”  “I’m no good at this.” “My mother was right, I’ll never amount to anything….” “how good could I possibly be?” “I should go get a day job.” “How dare I?”

Remember, Quality gets layered in, draft by draft. Some newbie writers think that the first draft should be perfect. Sorry, that’s simply not the case. You’ve heard me say over and over:  ‘that’s what rewrites are for.’
Quality is a multi-draft proposition. Momentum is the only thing that will get you a FIRST DRAFT!

“Write until it becomes as natural as breathing. Write until NOT writing makes you anxious.” Unknown

“The role of the writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say.” Anais Nin

“When we deny our stories, they define us. When we own our stories, we get to write a brave new ending.” Brene Brown

 

   ‘As a writer, I marinate, speculate and hibernate.’  Trisha Sugarek
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!   September’s author will be Joseph Drumheller and October: Author, Lisa Jackson. November’s author will be best selling author, Grace Burrowes

Check out Motivational Moments…for Writers!
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More Motivational Moments…for Writers! #15

1..girl.write..mouse_1When characters stroll into your story….LET THEM!  I just completed an interview with FreshFiction.com and was relating to her that several characters had walked into my story (Song of the Yukon) and I welcomed them in. It happens to me frequently.  They contribute interesting tributaries to my main story stream. Even though I had to stop and do some extra research it was so WORTH IT!

Keep writing, my fellow writers!

 

‘This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap.’~~George Bernard Shaw
‘An original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate.’ Francois Rene De Chateaubriand
‘I’m not the heroic type, really. I was beaten up by Quakers.’ ~Woody Allen
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!   September’s author will be Joseph Drumheller and October: Author, Lisa Jackson.  November’s author will be best selling author, Grace Burrowes                          Check out Motivational Moments…for Writers!
To receive my posts sign up for my blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  On the home page, enter your email address.  Thanks!

More Motivational Moments…for Writers! #14

1..girl.write..mouse_1How to Love Not Hate Rewrites

A writer has to find a way to love rewrites. No matter how good you are writing your first draft I guarantee you will find an awkward sentence structure, typos, a section that is not germane to your story.  Best of all, if you’re like me, you’ll discover extra content when you explore some unfinished business in your story.

Love those rewrites! You’ll have a better book for it!

 

“Rewriting is a large part of the whole job. And get rid of stuff that’s not working. Just pare it down until it’s a beautiful thing you can hand in, probably late, to your editor.”~~ Kurt Loder

“More than a half, maybe as much as two-thirds of my life as a writer is rewriting. I wouldn’t say I have a talent that’s special. It strikes me that I have an unusual kind of stamina.”~~ John Irving

“Artistry is important. Skill, hard work, rewriting, editing, and careful, careful craft: All of these are necessary. These are what separate the beginners from experienced artists.”~~ Sarah Kay

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                    ‘As a writer, I marinate, speculate and hibernate.’  Trisha Sugarek

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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!   September’s author will be Joseph Drumheller and October: Author, Lisa Jackson.                          Check out Motivational Moments…for Writers!

To receive my posts sign up for my blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  On the home page, enter your email address.  Thanks!

More Motivational Moments…for Writers! #13

1..girl.write..mouse_1Is your process the right or wrong way?

As I write my story I make notes, on the last page of my document, about story ideas within the story, lest I forget. We all have such interesting processes, none of them wrong. The important thing is to write EVERY DAY. Good, bad or ugly you must write to become a writer.

I’m certain that my style would drive some writers crazy. I’m what’s known as a ‘pantser’. I write by the seat of my pants. No story outline because I want to experience that magical moment when my characters take over. I never try to wrest the story away from my characters.  No plot line because who knows where my story will end up?  No character list because new characters are always walking into my story. Why would I keep that door slammed in their faces? And I try to never ‘force it’. If I run dry on one project, I switch to another and wait for the story to pile up in my head.

“If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn’t matter a damn how you write.”
– Somerset Maugham

This from Charles Bukowski on forcing your story, “...too much just doing it for the sake of doing it? Just not waiting for the words to pile up inside and then explode of their own volition.”

“It’s none of their business that you had to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.” – Ernest Hemingway
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!  A long awaited interview with Kathleen Grissom (The Kitchen House) September’s author will be Joseph Drumheller and October: Andrew Snook.  Check out Motivational Moments…for Writers!

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Bullies! Déjà-vu in the most horrific way!

cyber-bullying, bullying, girls who bully, short plays for teens, high school, middle school   A few weeks ago I published four short plays addressing cyber-bullying and verbal bullying in our schools.  My hope was that if teens and their teachers read these plays (and performed them in their classroom) it would maybe open a dialogue about this deadly practice.

In “You’re Fat, You’re Ugly…”  Aanya is a beautiful, talented student, much like Amanda Todd, who is driven to attempted suicide by her peers’ relentless bullying.  In “Cyber-Hate” Cathy is the victim of bullying that leads to violence. “The Bullies” is about boys who bully.

I wrote these plays depicting different variations of bullying…..Fiction based on dry statistics.

And now in today’s headlines we read about Amanda Todd, (age 15) a beautiful young girl who just couldn’t take anymore.  She felt her only option to escape this form of terrorism (bullying) was to take her own life.  It saddened me and my love and prayers go out to her family and friends.  This pointless loss of a young woman’s life also outraged me. Amanda’s cry for help (I assume) was a previous attempt at suicide by drinking bleach.  Her stalker-bully wrote a message to her, “Try harder.”  What kind of monster does this??

‘Amanda Todd, a Vancouver-area teenager who posted a story to YouTube last month about being cyber-bullied, was found dead Wednesday night in Coquitlam, Canada. Authorities believe she committed suicide.  Amanda’s video tells a heart-wrenching story of the bullying she was subjected to — both online and off. “In 7th grade,” she begins, sharing her message on cue cards, “I would go with friends on webcam [to] meet and talk to new people.” At one point, a stranger flattered her into flashing the camera…..

One year later, a man contacted her on Facebook, threatening to send around the picture of her topless “if [she] don’t put on a show.” Terrifyingly, the stranger knew everything about her: her address, school, friends, relatives, and the names of her family members. Soon, her naked photo had been forwarded “to everyone.”Amanda developed anxiety, depression, and anxiety disorders, she says in the video, followed by a path into drugs and alcohol.’ ~~ Huffington Post

We, as the adults, MUST take control of this deadly game that teens are playing.  Maybe the bullies need to see their parents go to jail for their actions.   After all, these bullies are just children,  and the parents are ultimately responsible for their child’s behavior.  The buck stops at the parents’ door step.

STOP THE BULLYING!

                                                                                            SAVE LIVES!

More resources re: Bullying, Cyber-bullying
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