Author: Seana Moorhead

I once asked a mountaineer if climbing a mountain was difficult. He said both yes and no. To climb a mountain, you only need to put one foot in front of the other and do that over and over again. Maybe a million times or more and that’s easy. What’s hard is to do that all day and sometimes, all night. To do that when you’re exhausted and you just want to sleep; to do that when your leg muscles are aching and your feet hurt; to do that when the wind and snow pound at your face and you dream of being home in your warm bed; to do that when the air gets thin and your lungs long for more oxygen. That’s when it gets hard but it’s still just about one foot in front of the next.

Read more

Success consists of going from failure to failure without the loss of enthusiasm.

– Churchill.

I attended a workshop on Friday this past week on how to give great presentations. While I listened to the speaker, I realized how much of his advice would apply to writing. I want to share 5 insights. Here they are:

Belief

To have belief, you need to have confidence. You need to have passion.

At the workshop, we had to walk around and introduce ourselves to at least 5 people as an extraordinary speaker. Sounds corny. But try it now.

You are an extraordinary writer. Say it out loud.

Okay, I know you cheated and you said it silently in your head. Say it out loud. Say it again. And again and this time louder, that is, above a whisper and like you really might believe it.

I am Seana Moorhead and I have written an extraordinary and world class fantasy book for young adults.

You want to read it now, don’t you?

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” – Churchill

Read more

Elmer Meeker was obsessed with basements.  When Elmer visited my previous house in Owen Sound, he insisted on checking out the basement.   He had to enter through a trapdoor in the hall closet which descended to a four foot high dirt canal that ran around the perimeter under the house. The rest of the “basement” wasn’t dug out more than about 1 foot deep.

“You know,” he said with his head sticking out the trap door, “if you do 2 buckets a day, you could have a full basement in about one year’s time.” He would even supply the buckets. He had some spares in his basement, which he had hand dug out over a two year period, 2 buckets a day.

After one year and no buckets done, I stared at that trap door. If only I had done it, I would have a basement. Instead, I had a spider-infested hole. After two years, I thought: if only I had done just 1 bucket a day, I would now have a basement. But I did nothing because I was busy with every day life. After eight years, I sold the house and upon walking around it one final time, I thought: I probably could have dug that basement doing only 2 cups a day.

Writing a novel can be like hand digging out a basement. At the start, it’s a daunting task. Maybe all you have is a few characters and a rough idea for a plot but there’s so much missing. We all make excuses about why we can’t get it done. I’ve told myself for years that I just can’t find enough time during the work week to write.

Read more

Do you have a desire to write in the wilderness?  Away from home and all daily distractions? I carry with me this postcard picture of a solitary person, surrounded by evergreens, sitting on a rock overlooking a sunlit lake –  maybe a loon calling from the water –  and writing my next novel.   Then the ipad or laptop runs out of battery, completely ruining my postcard picture! Read more

I dislike the word “marathon”.

Since it involves extensive sustained activity, there is an implication that it will take more than my average daily output of energy for achievement.

Even though there are many things that I love to do, such as eat, drink wine, play with my dogs, I don’t necessary want to do them in a marathon kind of way. So when Lori Twinning told me about a writing marathon in Huntsville and that it was the best writing event of the year for her, I said no. That was last year.

This year, I had made a new years’ resolution both to try something new outside my comfort zone and to write more. The writing marathon would sacrifice a weekend, but would achieve both goals with one swoop. So with trepidation, I agreed to try out my first writing marathon.

Read more