A Work in Progress

You know how I wrote about "Expanding your territory" last week, by branching out and writing in areas that you aren't familiar with? What if you could do that and not have to write a book, or even an essay for that matter? What about a plain and simple writing prompt that forces you to write -- and only write-- twenty five words? Writer's Digest has these incredibly cool exercises that do this. Writing prompts are one of them, and this one -- the super short one-- is not only fun, but hard. Twenty five words? That's like only being able to take a sip of coffee out of a twelve-cup pot. Hard to do, and not as easy as you'd think. Here's the contest: Take a look at this picture, and write the opening sentence to a story. Easy, right? Actually, no it isn't. Everyone has a million ideas, and yet, when it comes to writing, seems like those million ideas boil down to just a handful ... a handful of openers that everyone has heard of. Don't be

So, it's not that I don't like writing. That's like saying I don't like coffee. Neither one is true, and neither will ever happen in my lifetime. However, when things around my life get busy -- things that have nothing to do with writing-- it seems that this is not only the first thing to go, but the first thing I don't want to do. Okay, so sometimes I do want to write, especially when things get out-of-whack. It's an outlet of sorts; to get away from what I find myself so wrapped up in, and I can escape to a world of unreality. But more often than not, like right now, I just can't get the will power to sit down and write anything major. Why am I telling you this? Because, going through a dry spell, a writers' slump, is a normal thing. We go through periods of writing non-stop for days, thousands and thousands of words, only to look back a week later and wonder how we did that and now, more importantly, how we are going to write one measly sentence.

Somehow, in one way or another, I end up writing (even if in brief) about coffee in my blogs. This is a habit (not just the writing, but drinking) for a lot of writers, because it really may be the only thing keeping us in our chair -- trying to do what we were called to do -- but suffering horribly at times because of that enormous wall called “writer’s block.” But this post isn’t about walls, and blocks and such. It’s again, about the coffee. Did you know that Swedes (as in the folks of Sweden) are the highest coffee drinkers per capita in the world? My maiden name is Swedish, even though I’m a mix of all things European. And a whopping ¼ of me is Finnish. Though Finland isn’t Sweden, it IS next door to it. And I think that counts as a good explanation as to why I love the black gold so much. This picture is of my most favorite coffee mug in the world. My blog friends Erica and Christy are having a blogfest about coffee cups today. Each blogger is supposed to post their favo

Okay, so as my second resolution stated from the January 1st post, I don't wish anyone to acquire carpel tunnel from writing. That's not only painful, but really sad. However, if you did happen to get sore wrists, say without the Carpel Tunnel, then that may be a good thing for this year. Why? Because it means you are spending a whole lot of time doing what you told yourself you should do: write! The literal act of writing is probably one of the hardest things anyone will ever do--even for "authors" too (crazy people who want to make a living through writing.) But, take your plumber, or your firefighter, or your teacher and make them sit down to write a book, and really, they're not going to want to do it either. Writing, creating a world, visualizing dialogue and characters, scenery and hidden plots, well that's practically like coming up with an organized way to take over the world. It's that complicated. Yet, it isn't impossible (the writi

Have you ever had a wonderful idea for a book but when you got it on paper, things (i.e. the ENTIRE story) just sort of fell flat? The characters weren’t as deep as you’d like, the storyline not as punchy as you intended and as for actual material, well, just imagining writing another seventy thousand words made you break out into a sweat. If this sounds like you, then stop what you’re doing. This is the part when you don’t force yourself to write all because you though it should be a story. If you do, in a matter of days --if not hours -- you’re going to dread it. Your work will not only become laborious, but the very zeal and gusto you once had for the idea will fall so flat you’ll ponder your sanity for coming up with the idea in the first place. I’ve done this before, and not five thousand words into it, I wondered if there was hope enough that the story would be something even I would want to read in the end. So, what’s the solution? Well, don’t instantly think you have to

Okay, so you’ve all heard that a writer can write anytime he or she darn well pleases. And that writers should write whenever they can. But what about times when writers shouldn’t write? Are there any rules for that, or is this just an excuse to use when there’s a deadline looming? Sure, procrastination can be detrimental to your career. But maybe there are times when it’s not such a bad idea? That maybe stepping away from the computer can benefit your work? Here’s a list of times when I know I should NOT write for fear of losing the Muse and my mind. 1. After I’ve submitted a manuscript. This may seem counterintuitive, but it’s not. When you submit a manuscript, or an article or poem or hey, even a blog post, it’s time to celebrate! Time to focus on a job well done. Don’t start another novel. It squelches your current glory, well, at least mine anyway. Enjoy the satisfaction of hard work sent off into eager agent’s/editor’s hands- and then write. 2. After I’ve been out

Ah, the paper and pen: that duo is such a powerful and magnificent reverence to our literary past. So much so for me, that I used to write only long hand in the early days of my "authorship." It’s how I thought true writers really should write because in all honesty, there’s something to be said for feeling the words lick off the ink or lead, throwing caution to the wind, and getting those words out at which to marvel. But, this was erroneous thinking, and the error was believing it was the only way to write. I changed my thinking about this a few years ago when writer’s block was having at it with me. I decided to sit at the computer and write something, anything , that didn’t have to do with what I was currently stuck in with my paper canvas. Lo and behold, after typing away and finding paragraphs and pages of quick, good material appear, I realized I was beginning to understand how people wrote books solely on the computer. It was remarkable. What I first thought to be