Write a Book in a Month? Let the Writer's Block Begin!

NANOWRIMO The challenge of all challenges...at least for me. I'm horrible at staying focused, keeping the faith, and carrying my story on to completion. I'm a great idea person. Stories come to me all the time, but what I find the most challenging is remaining focused in the midst of the sea of life. Also, if I focus on critics rather than my story, my work is bound to stall.

What has been great is my decision to love the stories I have in me. If I don't put in the time to write them, develop the characters (love them and hate them), I find I don't care so much about praise but the story itself. As a creative being, I am chock full of emotions. I want people to enjoy what I have created, but as a creator my concern needs to center on my creation.

This is just a few random thoughts. Something to fill my blog, but hopefully will be food for thought for writers struggling to get to the end of their story as he or she maneuvers through the maze of the day to day.

Life Happens...Keep Writing

I'm tired. I need a sandwich but I still need to put in some time to write. Granted, I haven't been slacking, i.e. Facebook surfing, cruising the internet for Christmas swag, or just plain goofing. I have been working on my website and crafting a Christmas campaign to shine a light on my novel Minor Mischief. I had fun writing it. I'm in love with quite a few of my characters and my hope is that the contest will draw readers to pick it up.

Everything I'm doing is good, productive, but it's easy to pat myself on the back and call it a night. I have to write. It has to be everyday whether its a paragraph or several pages. I cannot not write. I've been dong that for a while which only dulls my craft and reinforces my insecurities as an artist.

I'm not much of a blogger. My goal is to do a bit more of it, as the new year creeps in. At least one to two new posts a month.

Back to writing.

If Opportunity Knocks Would it Find You With Your Pants Down

"One secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes." - Benjamin Disraeli

I will confess. Opportunity has knocked several times and has found me very unprepared. As I attempt to branch out, I'm discovering there's still a lot about the industry that I just don't know. I'm doing my best to learn as much as possible as fast as I can.

This year, I made a decision to invest in my craft. I am spending as much of my meager wages as I can spare to promote my novel, network and actually take a class or five on the craft of writing. I'm trying new things. Stepping off the ledge as they say and going for it. I did my first Twitter interview today. I am grateful to Sezoni Whitfield for the opportunity and to Toya Nicole for setting it all up. I felt like a klutz but practice makes perfect. Try and fail. Get up. Try again until you get it right.

Organization. Getting one's act together. Being still while in a constant state of readiness. These things have been on my mind quite a bit. Being prepared is a lot of work. Opportunities come and go. Opportunities bear fruit when the person it visits is ready to receive it. It can be seen as a spiritual thing or a practical and/or logical fact. I, like most humans, feel awkward as I move through uncharted territory. Interviews online and on the phone. Being ready with an elevator speech. Finding time to write when there is no time. Being able to work when the world is chaos. Still working on this. 

Back in the Writing Field

It's been a while since I've really dug into my writing, let my imagination take the reigns and my hands transcribe the tale unraveling in my head. I miss it. I've been fighting against the typical insecurities: Can I write this? Can I finish this? Is it even worth reading? I'm not a grammar wiz. The list goes on.

What I've learned, which seems to be an old and repetitive lesson: Just write. Don't worry about the other stuff. Just write.

There are so many stories itching to be set free on a page. Will I grant them freedom or keep them imprisoned in my psyche?

Dreams are not Made for Boxes

It's been a while since I posted anything. I've been busy with a lot of positive events. Growing my presence in the writing and reading community. Growing myself for the many stories that whisper in my ears. They make my fingers twitch with longing. I need to write them. I want to write them but I have to finish the stories that are ahead of the wisps that are ideas. 

Dreams are not Made for Boxes: It's a truth that finally settled within me. Dreams are seeds that when watered and tended grow. But sometimes, I've learned, that it is the gardener that needs pruning and fertilizing before the garden that is "the dream" can finally thrive and bear fruit. Like flowers, their life and death bear fruit. Life brings beauty, fragrance and joy upon viewing. The death of a flower creates food for the next generation. My dream started with short stories that evolved into novels, now those novels are branching out into series. The challenge: pacing myself. Speed walk. Run/walk. Jog. Run. I am currently at the working my way to the jog stage. I've been running/walking for years. The year is at it's quarter mark. The question to those reading this blog: Where are you with your dream(s) and or goal(s)? Are you still working at them? Moving them toward reality? Are they still in a box? When I say, still in the box, I mean it's the "hope" but you are doing nothing to make it a reality. 

If you are an artist of any kind. Are you meeting other artists? Getting that encouragement. Feeding off the energy of those chasing their dream? Are you being spurred along with a healthy spirit of "I can get there too" as you watch others in your craft inch their way or leap their way to the next level? (This isn't only for artists. Do you want to go back to school? Get a better job? Loose weight? Whatever. It applies. You have to do something to attain it.) 

A dream in a box is not a real dream. Something in a box is useless. It's when you remove the contents of that box does anything begin to happen. To my fellow dreamers, I encourage you to keep it up, but pull the dream out of the box. Let it's magnitude terrify and excite you. Anticipate it's achievement. Be giddy when that little idea slips through your fingers only to morph into something bigger. Follow that dream. Chase it like an adored lover. Give it your all and don't quit on it. As long as you have breath you can make it happen. Dreams are not confined by time. They don't age. Like a child they keep growing. Don't shove it in a box. 

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. - Anatole France

“Don't dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer.” - Denis Waitley

It's February 2013 and I'm still writing! 

Fear is Stronger than Love

“Fear is stronger than love” 
― Tupac Shakur, Resurrection, 1971-1996

I like looking up quotes. I post them on Twitter and Facebook and I post them around my house and jot them on index cards I carry around. This one in particular stands out. I can identify with it. It's a daily struggle to overcome the fear of the ghosts of "what if's,"  the demons of "past failures"  and oddly enough the terror of "what will I do when I succeed"? It's crazy, but fear can be the water that douses a dream's fire (if you let it). Fear can be a sledgehammer to the knee caps of progress as you fight your way to the next step toward your personal goal.  I'm quite familiar with this one. There have been times when I've had my manuscript and contemplated taking a lighter to it out of frustration but reading Twits, Facebook posts, talking to actual "full time" writers and friends, I put the lighter down and write on. It's hard chasing a dream. Sometimes your legs give out. Sometimes you catch a cramp. Sometimes you let yourself go, on the physical or skills level, and you get fat. 

Fear.

Fear can paralyze and kill. It can scare the love of what you do right out of you, but as long as love burns, even if it's a tiny spark-you can overcome fear. I've sat for months at a time fearing that I'm not a good enough writer to move my story forward. I've learned to recognize the internal critics, the doubts and nay saying that goes on inside and kill them with truth. Being devoted to anything is hard. It takes work and it can and most assuredly is a lonely journey. I've learned to take the water that threaten to douse my dream's fire and turn it to gasoline so that my dream burns brighter. I am willing to do what it takes to sharpen my craft, so that I am worthy of, and able to tell the stories that rattle around in my head. I aspire to be on the bookshelves (or virtual bookshelves) with an actual readership. (Woo Hoo!). This year I'm doing things that scare me in order to evolve. I've slacked up on my virtual presence but I'm not quitting. How about you? How are you doing with your dreams? Are you letting fear beat you into paralysis or are you pushing forward? 

Pushing past fear gives birth to courage. Without love you won't have the courage to overcome fear. Fear+Love=Growth  

Just an unknown sharing a stumbling block that when viewed properly can be a ladder up.

“During your life, never stop dreaming. No one can take away your dreams” 

― Tupac Shakur