inspiration Archives - Page 10 of 23 - Trisha Sugarek, Author, Playwright & Poet

Motivational Moments…for Writers! #31

You’re a Writer. You just received a critique. Constructive criticism. What Do You Do Next?

What you DON’T DO is answer back in the heat of the moment! If you contact the critic at all, you write a ‘thank you’ note and say how much you appreciated their time. Your job, now, is to be gracious, polite and calm. Even though inside you are seething. How dare they criticize your writing? Don’t they know you have sweated blood and tears over this manuscript? What do they know anyway?

I read and review books, for authors, all the time on my Blog. One time I was reviewing the book of a relatively new author. She had a good story.
She had first hand experience with her setting (the high country in Montana) but her characters needed massive fleshing out. Her knowledge of crime scene investigation was lacking and therefore she had made some serious mistakes in the forensics area of her story. Instead of taking my critique in the spirit of what was given, she wrote me a blistering email in response. When what she should have done was go back and looked at her work, to see if any of my comments had any value. She missed an opportunity to make her writing better.

Yes, I have felt the sting of the critique….many times. And you know what? After my hurt feelings calmed down, after my initial anger that my ‘writing was being attacked’ had abated, I saw that the critic had some valid points. That if I went back and applied the critique to my work I ended up with better writing and a better story. In the end I was grateful to the critic!

“I critique myself way harder than anybody else could critique me.” ~~ Wiz Khalifa

“I’ve always loved brainstorming with other writers, and I consider having my work critiqued a part of that brainstorming.” ~~ Jay Asher

“My most profound growth as a writer came when I joined an online critique group. What a harrowing, terrifying, wonderful experience that was.” ~~ Rae Carson

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MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? Johan Thompson (South African author) joined us in April. June: Mehreen Ahmed. July: Janet Macleod Trotter, author of Tea Planter’s Daughter and in August we say ‘hello’ to Cheryl Hollon.

Check out more Motivational Moments…for Writers!

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Interview with the author of The Pacifist, Mehreen Ahmed (part 2)

Q. What first inspired you to write your stories?

MA. Natural beauty gives me the thrill. Nature, more so than human society, inspires my stories. If there is anything I’m madly in love with, it is nature. My first stories were purely descriptive pieces, written during a thunderstorm or sitting in a garden.

Q. What comes first to you? The Characters or the Situation?

MA. Situations. Because, it is the situation that shapes personality. A character without situation is like a flat stick doll on a piece of paper. They don’t move, breath or talk. It is the situation that makes them choose and bring them to life.

Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing?

MA. All the time, which is problematic. I feel like I should always have a godlike grip over the writing process but I find myself slip away, getting caught up in one element of the story or another. It is always a challenge, which I have to contend with, every time I sit down to write.

Q. Who or what is your “Muse” at the moment?

MA. Nature is the source of my inspiration and my muse. I get inspired by rain storms, or the rustle of the dry leaves. I get a thrill from walking on the beach on windy days. These are emotions recollected in tranquility, as Wordsworth said. I feel nature is the anchor for all my artistic inspirations.

Q. Do you have a new book coming out soon? If so tell us about it.

MA. Yes, I do. The Pacifist. It is a romantic novel based in the gold rush period in Australia. It is one of the most romantic times in Australian history, in my view. The book is about an orphaned child with great expectations. He doesn’t want to remain in poverty anymore, so he strives to change his situation. With some very interesting consequences.

Q. When did you begin to write seriously?

MA. In 1986, while I was in Canada and had seen snow for the first time. I was so thrilled to see the first flakes of snow that I sat down and wrote my first introspective piece, A Winter’s Tale. It was published in the Sheaf, the campus newspaper of the University of Saskatchewan.

Q. How long after that were you published?

MA. After that I published at least four journalistic write-ups for the Sheaf. Then I moved towards writing nonfiction academic articles and academic book reviews, which were published in peer review journals. In 2011, I went back to writing fiction. Since then I have been writing and publishing regularly.

Q. What makes a writer great?

MA. I think it’s the passionate exploration of the human condition. The better one does it, the more successful one is. Without passion and without its proper execution, a writer cannot be great in my measure. My son had asked me a question once pertinent to this issue. He asked ‘how well do you think you represent the human condition? Do you do this better than Shakespeare?’ It gave me something to think about.

Q. and the all important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like for you?

MA. An accomplishment and a great sense of relief. Every time a book is done, I feel that I have reached another milestone. Parts of the processes itself are nerve-wracking. Working with an editor is sometimes difficult, being asked to change pieces of my cherished work. I understand the necessity but sometimes it’s frustrating. Also, I’m very anxious during the first couple weeks after my work is released. You just never know how it’s going to go.

Q. How has your life experiences influenced your writing?

MA. I’m deeply touched by the misfortune of the most vulnerable in our society. I think this takes precedence over anything else in all of my books. I have known many refugees, and orphans. I feel their pain. I know their plight. I express their sorrows through my writing.

Q. Have you or do you want to write in another genre`?

MA. I like writing literary fiction. I don’t think I want to move to any other genre. Not anytime soon, anyway.

Q. Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know?

I love my characters as my own. They are my flesh. They are my blood. They are my other world.

Did you miss Part I of this fascinating Interview? Click here

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Interview with International author, Mehreen Ahmed

TS. World Traveler, Mehreen Ahmed’s new book The Pacifist stirs the imagination and the heart. Come with me while we peek into her writing and traveling life.

Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing? Or tell us about your ‘dream’ work space.

MA. I enjoy bustling street-side style cafes, preferably with lilies and gardenias hanging over walls but I usually write in my bedroom. My dream workplace would be sitting on a beach with the waves crashing in, or a mountain resort where I could see the impressive Himalayas spread their majesty across the mysterious land. But enchanting cafes are also good working places.

Q. Do you have any special rituals when you sit down to write? (a neat work space, sharpened #2 pencils, legal pad, cup of tea, glass of brandy, favorite pajamas, etc.)

MA. I’m very messy and so is my desk. I have books scattered all over the place. My tea mug is a permanent feature on my desk, alongside the laptop and little notebooks. Sometimes I try to arrange scraps of rolled papers that spill over the laptop before I write. I suppose that could be considered a ritual.

Q. Could you tell us something about yourself that we might not already know?

MA. I also sing. I took singing lessons as a child, something my family encouraged me to do. I started singing when I was five. I had a private tutor who came to my family home once a week to give me lessons.

Q. Could you tell us more about the places you have lived?

MA. I was born and raised in Dhaka, Bangladesh. I had a very happy childhood. I come from an aristocratic old family in Dhaka. Because of
this, I had the good fortune of going to private schools, which is a huge advantage there. However, during the 1971 civil war, we became
refugees for a while. We were in Khulna then, and I was in grade 5. As a child, I saw some of the worst atrocities imaginable. Still, Bangladesh is incredibly beautiful and I loved it there. But after I received my first degree at the University of Dhaka, I decided to continue studying abroad. That’s when I decided to move to Canada.

I lived in Ottawa and Saskatchewan between 1980 and 1992. Saskatchewan was very cold. But I loved the snow. I could appreciate, “The big sky” of Canada and the northern lights from the flat prairies more so than anywhere else. However, I’ve also visited other places in Canada namely, Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto. Walking through the snow was never easy and I fell down frequently, slipping on treacherous slush piles. Once I remember, I lay there on a blanket of snow, just watching the night sky from that angle. I was in no hurry to get up as I didn’t want to miss looking at the sky from this perspective. The good Canadians looked over
me in concern as they passed by. But I reassured them, smiling, that I was just fine. I have visited Italy, Vienna, France, Switzerland, and Spain as well.

Presently, I live in Australia. By contrast, the landscape of Australia is rugged. The grass is not greener but much scruffier here compared to the tame Canadian lawns; the ones that I saw, at least. The weather much hotter, Australia can also be quite cold in winter, though not as cold as Canada. I have heard that it snows in some parts of Australia, but I’m yet to see it here. I really missed the snow when I first moved away from Canada. But Australia compensates with its warm climate, suitable for swimming and surfing.

Q. Do you have a set time each day (or night) to write?

MA. I usually write when I have a thought. Otherwise, I’d just be staring at the screen. If a thought comes to me, I usually pen it down almost straight away. If I get an idea in a dream, then I would jot it down in the morning. I have many dream-like scenes in all my books. A lot of these ideas were conceived in my own dreams.

Q. What’s your best advice to other writers for overcoming procrastination?

MA. Procrastination is harmful as a writer. Would-be brilliant writers sometimes get nothing out because of it. I think it’s important to write something creative each day. Even if it’s just a few lines, instilling a habit of writing is important. I have a difficult time giving advice, though. Every writer is different and each one has his or her own process.

Q. Where/when do you first discover your characters?

MA. I discover characters as the story is penned. I have a vague idea of who this person is but I don’t necessarily know how they are going to react until they are faced with a situation in the plot. It’s like I’m getting to know them through writing, not that I have imagined them beforehand.

Please join us June 16th for Part II To order “The Pacifist” click here
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Motivational Moments…for Writers #30

Pride Yourself on Your Great Dialogue!

Definition: the conversational element of literary or dramatic composition

I’ve often wondered if authors whom I’ve read, like Edna Ferber, wrote pages and pages of narrative/description because they never mastered the art of dialogue. Hmmm.

I got lucky because I began my writing career writing stage plays. And they are nothing but dialogue. So early on I learned from, not only writing plays but, reading plays…thousands of them over the years.

To be good at it, I think one of the tricks is to write more and more dialogue and then write some more. You have to be able to get in that character’s head. What do they ‘sound‘ like? Is their grammar messy? The character who hails from the Bronx, for example, is going to cut off words such as: walkin’, talkin’, eatin’, and so forth. There will be more idioms (such as ‘grill’, ‘to front’, ‘rachet’, ‘na’mean, and ‘spaz’) than a person who was raised in a household where grammar and diction were more valued. You have to be able to switch characters and write ‘flavor’ into their speech. How would an eastern Indian, whose first language is not English, ‘sound‘? Now write it that way. How would a southern ‘sound’? Be careful, people from Charleston, S.C. sound totally different from people in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Now, go back over your story and focus on how each character sounds. Is one character’s grammatical habits spilling over into another? Once in awhile I will read over my dialogue and suddenly one of my characters ‘sounds’ like me but they’re not anything like me. I let my own idioms slide right into my character’s mouth. It’s disconcerting because it’s so easy to do. When you’re out and about listen to other people’s speech patterns, idioms and speech habits.

“Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” E.L.Doctorow

“People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.” Logan Pearsall Smith

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

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MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? February’s author was Sheryl Steines. Johan Thompson (South African author) joined us in April. June: Mehreen Ahmed. July: Janet Macleod Trotter, author of Tea Planter’s Daughter and in August we say ‘hello’ to Cheryl Hollon.

Check out more Motivational Moments…for Writers!

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Motivational Moments…for Writers #29

All works in a series, sequel or trilogy must stand alone. Therefore the writer must duplicate information (set-up) about the characters, place, time, etc., in each book.

Being an avid reader and fond of series, I noticed that it didn’t bother me that I was reading duplicate information. It struck me that it was probably true of most other readers. I doubt readers even notice unless they are ‘binge’ reading an entire series.

My message here to you other writers, is don’t let it worry you. Each book must be written as if it’s the only book that your reader will read of yours.

It’s also acceptable to throw in teasers from books in the series. For example, I tell (in book #7, World of Murder) of my detective going to a cake tasting in preparation for his wedding. This might ‘tease’ my readers into wanting to know how O’Roarke and Summer met, fell in love, how he proposed, and so on.
And nothing is sweeter than to have a fan ask if there will be a sequel or if the first book will become a series. Both has happened to me!

“words like wine, words like blood, words out of the mouths of past loves dead. words like bullets, words like bees, words for the way the good die and the bad live on…” Charles Bukowski

“Mostly, we authors must repeat ourselves…that’s the truth. We have two or three great moving experiences in our lives…experiences so great and moving that it doesn’t seem at the time that anyone else has been caught up and pounded and dazzled and astonished and beaten and broken and rescued and illuminated and rewarded and humbled in just that way ever before.” F. Scott Fitzgerald

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MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? February’s author was Sheryl Steines. Johan Thompson (South African author) joined us in April. June: Mehreen Ahmed. July: Janet Macleod Trotter, author of Tea Planter’s Daughter

Check out more Motivational Moments…for Writers!

To receive my posts sign up for my On the home page, enter your email address. Thanks!

Motivational Moments…for Writers! #28

As writers, we are all guilty of using particular words or phrases WAY TOO MUCH!!

I was recently reading a delightful series by an author but it was very distracting when she used the same phrase over and over.
“Custom glass workroom”. The shop where the story takes place is just four rooms so it is my opinion that:

1] the author needed to change it up; There is an office, a retail room, a classroom and the custom workshop. Just a little chance would make all the difference. For example: ‘the workroom’ and ‘the workshop’ and ‘the specialty glass room’.

2]readers are smart and we should never underestimate their ability to follow along. If they can’t then we, as the writers, have failed at our job.
3] If we miss our idiosyncrasies, and we all have them, then the editor, beta reader, proof reader, etc., should catch it.

My most common ones are the words, ‘just’ and ‘that’. My watchdog, first defense, is to use Word’s ‘find’. Then I review the manuscript looking for when I over use the words and why.
“There is no way of writing well and also of writing easily.” Anthony Trollope

“All fiction is largely autobiographical and much autobiography is, of course, fiction.” P.D. James

Now available! Release date, May 15th.

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MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? February’s author was Sheryl Steines. Johan Thompson (South African author) joined us in April. June: Mehreen Ahmed. July: Janet Macleod Trotter, author of Tea Planter’s Daughter

Check out more Motivational Moments…for Writers!

To receive my posts sign up for my On the home page, enter your email address. Thanks!

How To Write Creatively~~ Writing Tips

For several years I’ve been writing posts for my Blog entitled, ‘Motivational Moments ...for Writers!’ I got to thinking that I should compile all 41 posts into one place. This new, exciting, instructional book is my sharing of over twenty+ years of my experience honing my craft of creative writing.

That first, all important, sentence.
How to develop rich characters.
Writer’s Block.
Procrastination and how to get out of it.
What does it Mean to be an ‘Indie‘ author?
How to handle constructive criticism
…and many more words of encouragement and tips
…including quotes from successful writers such as yourself
AVAILABLE : amazon.com

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MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS!

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“Writing isn’t a calling; it’s a doing.” T.Sugarek

Motivational Moments…for Writers! #27

I’ve always believed that to be a good writer you must read. Why?

I can only answer for myself. Other writers inspire me to improve my writing skills. This is true of my fiction, stage plays, and poetry.
Their styles are innumerable, their dash extraordinary, the story telling superb. Oh sure, I stumble upon the ‘not so good’ authors but they contribute to my self-confidence. I say to myself, “Oh! So I’m not the absolutely worst writer out there.” I learn from the great ones and I learn from the mediocre.

When I’m not writing, I’m reading. Fiction mostly. I love a good story…and better, a good story-teller. I recently discovered Janet Macleod Trotter, one of our hidden treasures and, I predict, her books will be considered some of the best modern-day classics of our time.

Here are more some quotes that I stumbled across recently and really enjoyed.

“That’s what the greats of literature did — they got their characters up a tree and threw rocks at them…” Robyn Carr (excerpt from ‘What We Find’) Another great weaver of stories.

“Be able to be alone. Lose not the advantage of solitude.” Sir Thomas Browne

“Technique alone is never enough. You have to have passion. Technique alone is just an embroidered pot holder.” Raymond Chandler

Coming Soon! Release date, May 15th.

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MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? February’s author was Sheryl Steines.
Johan Thompson (South African author) joined us in April. May’s author will be Cheryl Hollon and in June: Mehreen Ahmed. July: Janet Macleod Trotter, author of Tea Planter’s Daughter

Check out more Motivational Moments…for Writers!

To receive my posts sign up for my On the home page, enter your email address. Thanks!

‘My momma always said, ‘Life is Like a Box of Chocolates’….or words (part 8)

An argument was presented to me recently in the film Words and Pictures (movie, 2013 with Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche)

As the students looked up a word, on their electronic devices, the English, Honors teacher presented the theory that if the students relied on their device of choice they would see only the word that was assigned. If they used the (paper) dictionary, and while thumbing through the pages to find the word, they would be exposed to other words and mostly likely one or two would reach out and grab them.

I put it to the test. EQUIDISTANT Definition: equally distant <a location equidistant from two major cities>Origin of EQUIDISTANT
Middle French or Late Latin; Middle French, from Late Latin aequidistant.First Known Use: 1556

Nostalgia: A Greek word meaning to Grieve, to Ache
Modern Dictionary: a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition. And:

Meritocracy: A system in which the talented are chosen and moved ahead on the basis of their achievement

BUT then one can make a strong argument for ‘Pictures tell a thousand words’ too. Pictures almost always illicit some sort of reaction from us.

Can you look at any of these photos and say that you feel nothing?

The movie Words and Pictures is worth your time!

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MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? February’s author was Sheryl Steines.
Johan Thompson (South African author) will join us in April. May’s author will be Cheryl Hollon and in June: Mehreen Ahmed
Check out more Motivational Moments…for Writers!

To receive my posts sign up for my On the home page, enter your email address. Thanks!

New Poetry…Let’s Go Out West

The Circle Heart brand on the wet rump
rippled as the horse shivered with exhaustion
the sun lost its battle with night and
dropped behind the far peak

Chaparejos, worn thin and soft fit his legs
like they had grown there

dusty spurs jangled as he trotted into the sleepy town
a saddle that had seen a thousand miles
creaked and complained as he stepped down
the crown of his hat stained with sweat
from the hard ride

Reins dangled in the dirt
the horse hung his head, relieved
to not be moving

A drink or two to wash the Santa Fe Trail dust
from the cowboy’s throat
he stepped up onto the boardwalk,
turned and gazed at the town
the mountains beyond the color of old blood
as the sun lost its glory

He pulled a cigarillo out, with one smooth
movement wiped a match on his pants,
the tiny flame ignited
he puffed and blew smoke into the evening air
watched the town close up for the night
Across the street a cur scurried around a corner
a merchant keyed his shop closed and
lit the gas lantern beside his door

The work had been good at the Circle Heart ranch,
the grub even better
But the trail was his siren, always calling him,
luring him over the next hill,
down the next wash,
up the next canyon

sleeping next to a small camp fire,
staring at a billion stars
wondering if someone, something out there
was staring back

He wanted to settle but he hadn’t found
the right place
the right woman
the right time

Flicking the smoke into the street, he turned
and sauntered into the saloon,
honky-tonk piano played
the doors behind him whispered back and forth

The patrons saw another dusty, tired cowpoke,
looking for a few hours of pleasure
some music, some whiskey, and if he could afford it
the soft body of a woman

The cowboy saw weak town folk,
forever saddled to their days
the bit in their mouths dictating their lives
wary of any stranger, their gaze shied away

Set ‘em up and keep ‘em comin’, the cowboy barked
Show me your coin, the barkeep growled

His days were numbered,
the boys from the Circle Heart ranch
would find him and the horse
They would take their horse and probably string
him up to the nearest tree.

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A Review: “Stark reality saturates your little bit of ink.” from a fellow poet

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