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Celtic Wheel

A short overly-enthusiastic update today, for I am stuck in the wilds of well, the wilds and there’s really nothing to be done except write my way through it. So here goes:

Interested in free eBooks? (I hope, if you’re reading my website, that you are. . .) If you’re answer is “YES, PLEASE!” then visit this link at FlamesRising.com to add your favorite snippet of writing advice and celebrate NaNoWriMo.

There are already a few contestants who’ve proffered their glorious pieces of encouragement, but there’s still time to enter. . . The contest ends on Midnight CST, November 15th — that’s this Thursday!

Huzzah!

(Back to it then.)

    Mood: Yessssssss? May I help you?
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Ask me later.
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Bendy, twisty-related activities.
    In My Ears: You don’t want to know. Seriously.
    Game Last Played: Dragon Age: Origins
    Movie Last Viewed: MirrorMask
    Latest Artistic Project: In progress!
    Latest Release: “Fangs and Formaldehyde” from the New Hero anthology through Stone Skin Press

On The Thing You Won’t Talk About – Part II

You're An Idiot, Starscream

Today’s post is a continuation of On The Thing You Won’t Talk About Part I, from the makers of “things” and “talking.” I promised to talk about what makes me feel uncomfortable, so here it is.

For those closest to me, you know I’ve dealt with survival before in my own life. However, I don’t use this as a fuel for my work, because that’s not what I do to “put myself out there.” Instead, I tap into those tricky questions to tell a story that’s both mine and yours. Then, I tell another one. And another. And another. . .

I’m not going to consciously write about my personal relationships. In some ways, I have a photographer’s viewpoint; the stories I tell are mine and mine alone, sure, but it’s not like anyone else has taken pictures of birds, fruit, architecture, and people before. Rejection hurts, yes, but there’s always something to be learned from it, to apply for “next time” when you’ve missed your mark. I know when I fail before someone else believes it to be so, primarily because I have, with absolute certainty, a deeper understanding of those times when I don’t feel connected to my work. There are many ways to break that connection, and too much acceptance/tolerance is one of them.

Complacency, my friends, the slow trickle of acceptance that this is just the way the world works, this is just how things are and always will be, and there’s nothing you can do to change them – this is death to any writer and this I fear. When you become complacent, slowly, by inches, the wonder gets leeched out of your world and you no longer have a story to tell that you want to write – you pen tales out of obligation.

I am not saying that writing because you have to for income-related purposes is either a morally “bad” thing or something to be feared. That, my dear Readers, is poppycock. Everyone who’s ever written professionally knows that there are economic rules of scribing part-or-full time. What I’m saying, is that I feel that you have to protect and insulate and nourish the part of you that tells stories, either non-fiction (e.g. blogging) or of a fictional sort, so you can weather your ability to write regardless of circumstances beyond your control. And, of course, there are so many of them aren’t there? Besides our base emotions, which can infect our egos and force its way like a thorn into our hearts, there are other real-world concerns that can get in the way: money, opportunity, timing, perceived competition, etc. In other words, the act of writing should be the constant, not what you hope/want to get out of it.

We often lie to ourselves, masking in obscurity the hows and whens and whys we write, to justify our work so we can go through those ups and downs of the proverbial rollercoaster with grace and ease. (Even though, it is possible to fall from grace and stumble without any reassurance, whatsoever.) I’ve certainly participated in these lies. I’ve been privy to them, sadly, to argue with the voices in my head and also to witness them in others.

The terrifying truth my friends, is this: any writer can stop writing at any time. It is so, so, so real and it can (and does) happen, for a variety of reasons, in the blink of an eye. I’ve seen it over and over and over again – even with some who’ve completely given up, and who’ll never write again. You’ve seen it, too. While there are those that can and do imagine their lives would never be complete without writing, I feel that not writing is the eventuality that happens when complacency sets in, which leads to acceptance, or depression, or whatever. . . It’s a happenstance, a direct result, of not caring about oneself (e.g. one’s Muse or scribe).

So then, knowing that is one inevitability, one foregone conclusion, that perhaps it is easier to not write than it is to get the words out, and at the bottom of this justification lies the fact that this is “hard work” – especially if you haven’t gotten the movie/six figure book deal/etc. – what does that offer me? Comfort?

No. Discomfort. This is what makes me uncomfortable, that the easiest thing, more than anything in the world, is to simply give up Poe’s ghost – this is what fuels my work, because I do not want to quit. I have not quit. I will not quit. I will NEVER quit.

I don’t know what makes you squirm, but I hope you find that one thing you can’t talk about, and I hope you pin it to the wall and experience that emotion for all its worth, to keep w-r-i-t-i-n-g if that, truly and deeply, is really what you want to do. Because for me, not writing, this is the thing I fear the most.

    Mood: Anxious
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: That moment of perfect caffeinated bliss.
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Yesssss?!?!?! Are you guilt-tripping me, again?
    In My Ears: Muwahahahaha!
    Game Last Played: Dragon Age: Origins
    Movie Last Viewed: MirrorMask
    Latest Artistic Project: In progress!
    Latest Release: “Fangs and Formaldehyde” from the New Hero anthology through Stone Skin Press

On The Thing You Won’t Talk About – Part I

Soundwave Avatar

Where do you get your creativity from? When you’re writing a scene (action or otherwise) what do you use for fuel? I implore you to consider the one thing you won’t talk about. That is, to explore your discomfort in order to write. Seriously. What is it that makes you uncomfortable? Perhaps tapping into that, on a deeper level, will fuel your storytelling better than a personal experience ever would.

The thing is, deeply scarring memories will fade and you, too, shall pass through your current stage of drama. Perhaps you shall get a divorce. Perhaps you shall move cross-country to escape the uncomfortable heat. Perhaps you’ll get a part-time job so you have money to put food on the table, and then you’ll have more time to write.

Whatever the situation, if you’re always taking inspiration from your issues, what happens when those situations are resolved? Look around you. There is a literal wealth of stories in every corner of the internet, let alone the universe. What makes you uncomfortable? Apathy? Obesity? Murder or the justification thereof? Racism? An attack on intellectuals? Religious folk?

These are deeper social ills, true, but the secret to tapping into these particular veins is that they’ll never go away. There will never be a time when someone isn’t beating up someone else for land, power, money, sex, whatever. There will never be a moment when fierce forms of tribalism don’t exist, either, for this is part of what it means to be mortal.

These sample elements will always exist in some form or another, either quantifiable or not, and what you think about these things – perhaps what you don’t talk about openly, or what you don’t admit to yourself – it is these basic building blocks that you can tap into time and time again, eternally and ever more, to tell not just the one story – but 1000s of them. Not just the one story of the heroine who must resolve the differences with her teenage self to grow into a woman by facing her mother. Not just the singular tale of an unlikely hero who, time and time again, comes from the worst part of town to rise up and undo a terrifying foe. After all, if you tell just the one and only, what then? Will you get bored? Tired? Will you stop enjoying what you do because you know how the journey ends time and time again?

What makes me uncomfortable? More on that tomorrow in Part II.

    Mood: Creepy, crawly, slimy, slithering.
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: NOT ENOUGH ZOMG.
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Outside time. Necessary.
    In My Ears: The soothing sounds of the dishwasher.
    Game Last Played: Dragon Age: Origins
    Movie Last Viewed: MirrorMask
    Latest Artistic Project: In progress!
    Latest Release: “Fangs and Formaldehyde” from the New Hero anthology through Stone Skin Press

Thank You, Dark Horse!

Hellboy Avatar

A moment’s pause, to thank the excellent staff of Dark Horse, for being so awesome during my tour last week in Portland, Oregon. I came home with so many a-maz-ing toys, comics, and books, many of which will be worshipped on my alter of fabulousness, and I greatly appreciate the experience. (Yes, you too can add to your own collection… Just visit the Dark Horse online store…)

Special thanks go out to Mark B. for the story-telling and special glimpse where the magic happens; three cheers to the rest of the unsung heroes in both the creative and administrative sections of the company.

Also. HELLBOY. Just sayin’. :p

    Mood: Oh, crap.
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Rotten eggs and the safety of mankind.
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: She took his picture. DAMN. She took his picture. She took his picture.
    In My Ears: Sparky? Who came up with that? Myers?
    Game Last Played: Dragon Age: Origins
    Movie Last Viewed: MirrorMask
    Latest Artistic Project: In progress!
    Latest Release: “Fangs and Formaldehyde” from the New Hero anthology through Stone Skin Press

On the Importance of Good Chocolate

Aphrodisiac For Her

Today, I’d like to give a shout-out to a chocolatier of indeterminable size – DB Infusion Chocolates, which is located here in my fair city. This particular chocolatier has impressed not one, but three choco-lovers in my life recently, and I’m scheduling a trip back when the wintry special, that flavor of snowflakes — Peppermint – debuts. (That and I am recording a particular promise to pick up drinking chocolate here as a “Thank You” to that most excellent of writers AND hostesses with the mostesses, Lili Saint Crow, forevermore. :-p)

Hands down, at the moment my favorite chocolate of choice is the fall seasonal Cider Caramel. Is it messy? Ab-so-lutely. It has a fantastic complex of flavors founded upon that unlikely of textures, that surprising first floor – a dash of vinegar. Clearly, this is a lesson learned: take the sweet with the sour.

When was the last time you spoiled yourself? Hrmmm? Challenge thine tastebuds, be it chocolate or vanilla, dear readers. – YOU DESERVE IT.

    Mood: Must worship the gods of chocolate.
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Caffeine balance restored.
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: These Smurfs Were Made For Walkin’…
    In My Ears: The GTalk ding notification
    Game Last Played: Dragon Age: Origins
    Movie Last Viewed: MirrorMask
    Latest Artistic Project: In progress!
    Latest Release: “Fangs and Formaldehyde” from the New Hero anthology through Stone Skin Press
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