Ever get tired of those bookshelves of yours bursting with unread books that you just can’t get excited about reading?
At least once a year, I fall into the book doldrums. It’s a reading lethargy that writers will identify with, because it very much resembles writers’ block. It’s where you can’t get inspired or motivated to read books, and I hate when this happens, because I’ve loved reading books since I first learned how to read.
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I have spent years crafting my language. No, not English specifically, I’m not responsible for that mess, but the English words I choose when talking or writing are my language.
And you have your own language as well. When you tell a story there are grammatical constructs and turns of phrase that you favour. Even your choice of spelling when there are options speaks to “your Language.”
And there are many things that have informed my language, I want it to make people think, I prefer it to be a bit witty, I want it to be clear and concise without being Read more
Over the last few years, Friday nights have become date night for my husband and his favourite writer… That would be me.
We are both book lovers that challenge each other to find books that have been adapted into movies. We read the books, watch the movies, and then we discuss the differences between the literary version versus the cinematic version. We discuss things such as:
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This year, more than usual, I am desperate for spring’s arrival.
A cluster of personal and professional situations has really sent me into a tailspin in recent weeks. It has been impossible to bounce back easily and quickly as I normally do. The hours spent working and worrying are seriously disproportionate to time spent having fun. I am rarely reading these days and writing has come to a full stop. Even recognizing the possibility that what I’m experiencing right now may be helpful to a future character, there is no energy for writing daily pages.
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Our furnace broke again. The news came last Wednesday. Because we have a dual hot water-on-demand and in-floor heat system, this means that we also have no hot water in addition to having no heat. Of course this happens in February because the last three times this happened (oh yes, I am now experienced in this particular calamity), it always occurs in the winter. Never in July or August. The good news, I am not sick or dead. The same cannot be said for the mice.
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Planning to set aside the time and space to write new words can be one of the best ways to amplify your creative process. Whether your space is an early morning coffee shop, an Irish pub, or a planned writing retreat–scheduling the time to write is essential. For myself, working full-time, raising kids, attending figure skating & hockey with family, and carving out time to cook healthy meals… tends to demand most of my daylight hours. Therefore, dedicating the time to write must be deliberate.
Over recent years, I’ve been blessed to join a couple of writers who similarly battle with this time crunch challenge. We’ve found that planned writing retreats with chunks of undisturbed time, are paramount to moving our writing projects forward. The following is a list of key ingredients to a successful writing retreat.
“Transition: (a) a passage or change from one place, state, condition etc. to another; (b) passage in thought, speech, or writing, from one subject to another. ” (From the Canadian Oxford Dictionary.)
If we’re lucky and kind to ourselves, we will live long lives. And in that life time we will be different people, wear different hats, be different ages. Some will change more than others, but we will all change to some degree. When we take that same concept to our writing, we’re talking about the character arc. How does the character change over the course of the novel?
(There are stories where the protagonist doesn’t change, but I don’t particularly like those stories.)
All stories have characters, but I love stories where the main focus is the character development and plot is secondary. I’m interested in people: how they live, how they feel, how they function, how they survive. They say that fiction is the art that comes closest to representing human consciousness. I want to know what goes on inside people’s heads.
What are you writing? And how exciting is it? And can you be sure it will keep someone’s attention?
Studies are currently being done to determine what the effect of sound bites and multi-content video screenings are having on people. But the real question for a content creator is Read more