Round Robin Blog Fest Jan 21 2023

 

Round Robin Blog Fest Jan 21 2023 

Yeah! We’re back! I hope you and all of my Round Robin friends had a great holiday season and are ready for this great new year. Thank you to Skye for taking charge to keep all these birdies in line and to Marci for the great new logo!!

What is the topic for January 21^st?

New Beginnings - how do you motivate yourself to get back to writing when life has interrupted your flow and/or, how do you begin a new writing challenge?

Interesting enough,  I have always found writing has helped me through a lot of interruption in my life. If circumstances block my creativity, I continue to write by journalling. Emptying my mind as Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way likes to call it by using Morning Pages. Having been through some major life changes in the past 7 or 8 years, writing is what has helped me keep my sanity. Kept me moving forward even on days I wanted to quit.

As for beginning a new writing challenge, I find for me the beginnings are always easy. Words and ideas tend to flow and not always when I consciously feel inspired. Sometimes, they seem to come out of nowhere.

·      A lyric from a song

·      A line in a movie or book

·      Something overheard in a conversation

·      A news story

·      A situation or interaction between people on the street

Any of these might set my writer’s brain into a tizzy of words and suddenly a first chapter is born. Then a second. Then a third.

Next thing I know, it’s a novel—or well on its way to being one.

If you've ever read Natalie Goldberg's book, Writing Down the Bones, you'll know how she espouses the joys of writing about anything and everything. "Write what's in front of your nose." I've recently started taking a virtual workshop with her and the very first thing we wrote about was mashed potatoes. For 10 minutes. Imagine what you could do with 15! 

It sounds simple enough but sometimes that novel is born 15 minutes at a time rather than in 2-3 hour blocks. Some days, 15 minutes may be all the clarity or time you have.

Use it.

Give yourself a few moments to escape whatever is going on in your life and take a mini break.

Those 15 minute increments will add up over a few weeks, months, and years.

Suddenly, you’ve written a book.

Just don’t give up!

Shut up. Sit down. And write!

Let's see how the other authors in the blog fest motivate themselves and what advice they have. Feel free to hop from one fantastic author to the next!

Marci Baun                https://www.marcibaun.com/blog

Dr. Bob Rich             https://wp.me/p3Xihq-2OQ

Anne Graham           https://goo.gl/h4DtKv

Connie Vines            http://mizging.blogspot.com/

Diane Bator              https://dbator.blogspot.com/

A.J.  Maguire            http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/

Victoria Chatham     http://www.victoriachatham.com

Fiona McGuire         http://www.fionamcgier.com/

Skye Taylor              http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea

 

 

August Round Robin Blogfest

Today's topic is NOT for the faint of heart! Reader be warned.

When you are stumped on moving a plot line forward, what do you do to reinvigorate your imagination and get your characters moving?

The term Writer's Block gets tossed around a lot. I find that by writing every day and keeping my characters in the back of my mind, my stories and plot usually move along well.

Usually.

When I'm stumped one of the first things I need to do to get my characters and story moving, is to get myself moving. I take a walk or weed the garden. Clear my head and either mull over the story or just set it aside and watch the birds fly and the grass sway. Seriously. Sometimes procrastination can help. So can a piece of chocolate or a cup of coffee.

Inspiration can strike in the oddest of ways:  meeting someone on the street who says something I can work with or just having a sudden "lightening strike" aha moment. Actually, I had one of those today while surfing the Internet trying to solve a problem in my latest novel "All That Sparkles." Today I saw an image of a necklace on a website and suddenly inspiration struck. I made notes to develop my story with later this week.

I find my writing and stories flow well when I am able to focus on my work and not be completely distracted by everyday life. Sometimes, however, things from my everyday life can seep into my story and take things in a whole new direction. Always for the better and never at anyone's expense.

One of the biggest reasons for Writer's Block is that authors try to write the best stuff they can. Honestly, sometimes in order to get a story moving, you just have to spill a little ink and write the worst crap you could ever write. Somewhere in the editing phase, you find the gemstones you'd like to keep and build on. Getting rid of bad lines is easy. I usually get rid of a lot of extraneous words and phrases to tighten things up for the finished product. The first draft is always full of stuff I threw in just to write.

A great way to get through the hurdle is to write with friends. Joining a writing group and having time set aside just for writing from a prompt is an amazing spark to rekindle your imagination.

In The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron suggests we write morning pages. Sit down every morning and blurt out at least 3 pages of everything on your mind into a journal. Be done with the chatter then move on to the good stuff. Your writing. 

Stop by and check out my books on Amazon!

Diane Bator, Author

Want to learn how other authors deal with moving plot lines and characters along? Stop by and visit our illustrious list of amazing wordsmiths:

A.J. Maguire  http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/
Anne de Gruchy https://annedegruchy.co.uk/category/blog/
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Victoria Chatham http://www.victoriachatham.com
Marie Laval http://marielaval.blogspot.co.uk/
Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/
Dr. Bob Rich http://wp.me/p3Xihq-137
Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog
Fiona McGier http://www.fionamcgier.com/
Heather Haven http://heatherhavenstories.com/blog/
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Rhobin Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com

Another year, more goals

On Friday a group of friends were at my house listening to music and slashing magazines. As part of our journey through The Artist's Way, we worked on finding images for Vision Boards. While Julie Cameron told us to create boards that reflect our lives, I used mine to create the life I want to settle into over the coming year. I have lots of images of yoga, reiki, writing and of bringing great things into my life that I've been striving for.

Actually, my Vision Board hasn't changed much over the past 5 years. I still want to write. I still want to paint. I want to learn more about yoga and get back in shape after barely being able to walk over the past year now that my back and legs are getting stronger. It's amazing what pinched nerves and a minor slip can do to one's back.

This year, I also have writing goals. I have already submitted a short story for one contest. I am working hard on getting The Bookstore Lady ready for my agent by the end of January (sooner if possible!) I'm also working on the second book, The Mystery Lady to have submitted in February. AND, if that's not enough to take on this year, I'm putting together a collection of short stories and a novella. The name is still a secret. Those are my goals this year, aside from the usual "get in shape", "eat better", etc.

Once the glue on my Vision Board dries, I'll post a picture of it. Hopefully it can keep me on track since it's going to sit right beside my desk - in the line of sight from my new exercise bike, which I'll use right after I take the laundry off it.

Best of everything in 2012!

The Artist's Way

I've been very fortunate to be involved with hosting an Artist's Way workshop over the past few weeks. When I say hosting, I mean it's in my house and a fellow writer and I faciliated the meetings. We have a small, comfortable group that has become very close and realized that we have more support for our art than we'd anticipated.

Support as a writer, artist, human being is the most we can ask for.
Support from our loved ones, our friends and family, is necessary to grow and develop our creativity.
As odd as it sounds, support from ourselves is vital.

Ourselves? Why wouldn't we support ourselves?

Interestingly enough, a lot of us have tuned in those voices that tell us WE CAN'T.
The voices of people we love and admire and respect that say WE'RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

That's what Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way teaches us.
She tells us to tune out those voices. Don't trust that critic, the monster in the back of our heads that tells us we aren't worthy.
WE ARE WORTHY. WE ARE GOOD ENOUGH. WE ARE ENOUGH.

I've done The Artist's Way exercises before. Years ago when I first moved to town and knew no one, had no support and didn't believe in myself or my abilities. I found it one of the best things I could have every done to feed my creativity and support my Inner Artist. That Inner Artist now thrives. She writes prolifically, creates amazing needlepoint ornaments and longs to finish editing the current novel to spend some time painting.

My current spin through The Artist's Way is a reminder that I still need to nurture and support myself. Feeding that Inner Artist with play dates like colouring, walking around town to see the Christmas lights or something as simple as soaking in a bubble bath all of these things ignite my creativity and allow me to write. Or draw. Or paint.

In short, to create.
Happy Creating!!

Time for Reassessing

This fall has been a whirl wind of misfortune, reassessments and renovating.
Lately in my life there have been four women facing the prospect of breast cancer. Cancer of any kind is enough to make you stop short and take a look at your life. Especially when there are children involved. In all four cases, there are.

One of the members of the Headwaters Writers' Guild, Alberta Nye, has produced a wonderfully touching movie called "So I'm Dying...Now What?" about a woman named Margaret Hackman. Margaret had tumours in her liver, stomach and brain. She knew she was terminal and respectfully declined treatment. What she did instead was live. Margaret flew a plane, snowshoed around her yard, became a Canadian citizen and became an inspiration to everyone around her. She asked Alberta to document her final months so she could leave behind a legacy of sorts. The final movie, being premiered in Guelph on November 5th, is a moving portrait of bravery. To find out more please go to Alberta's website http://www.spiritvalleypictures.com/.

In the meantime, since I have nothing better to do, I am working with my friend Nancy to bring forth an Artist's Way workshop. The Artist's Way is a life changing book written by Julia Cameron. I worked through it when I first moved 2,000 miles across Canada and it helped to change my life and improve my outlook. Now I'll do it to refocus my energies and make sure I write every day.