Feeding the muse…

December 26, 2017

Writing can be so demanding that it swallows one whole.

One can spend days sequestered with the doors firmly shut against the world. Even a day’s writing can leave one tired, eye-sore, with fog on the brain. We writers can look up from the computer, see family members and say, ‘Wha…, huh? Who are you?’

It’s a double life. One has mistresses, lovers, enemies and friends that no member of the family has any idea about. A secret life…I tell you, spooks and MI 6 have nothing on a writer.

So how do we anchor ourselves in reality and at the same time, fuel our creative fires? Inspired by Writers’ Unboxed, I decided I’d ask a few writer friends what they do to unwind and yet fuel their creative fires…

Chasing the dream: a shortcut to the soul…

July 4, 2017

We all chase dreams. Some more than others. But the writing dream is one that comes with its own issues. In this honest and revealing post, Gordon Doherty, writer of spectacular Roman and Byzantine fiction explains how the profession of writing really tested him!

The Slow Writing Movement…

January 2, 2016

Prior to new Year’s Eve, Joe Konrath said: This year, I’m boiling my resolutions down to the essence:

WRITE!

Elizabeth Hunter wrote: I NEED the writing. It’s still my most-fun-thing. My escape. My happy place.

I love writing and want to write more books, but they can’t happen as fast as I would like and that’s okay. In fact, that’s better than okay. It’s normal and I’m perfectly fine with that.

And then there’s Kristine Kathryn Rusch, a commentator whose words always hold a distinct resonance and clarity for me personally. In her annual ‘Close of Business for the Year’ address she pointed out a couple of salient things…

‘The new world isn’t actively hostile, but it is difficult. And why shouldn’t it be? We’re working on an international level.

But one of the degrees of difficulty we’ve been dealing with since 2009 is that the new system hadn’t stabilized yet. Things changed, sometimes weekly, and those of us who jumped into indie publishing from the beginning were constantly revising expectations as well as ways of doing things.’

I joined the new world of publishing along with some of my closest writing friends, in 2008. We were published POD by an organization in the UK that was government funded with an annual Arts grant. We sold, we did well. But then we stepped out on our own and by 2010, dived into e-books.

Not just diving in I might add, but swimming whole marathons because the industry was mega-populated and the technology seemed to change by the hour…

The Big Red Chair…

August 11, 2013

Yesterday, I wrote a post called Missionary Position, a post about a writer’s aims, which was introduced to the world of the writer by acclaimed commentator Joanna Penn. It occurred to me that the questions Joanna asked were perfect for the Big Red Chair which hasn’t appeared on the blog for quite some time …. being re-upholstered as it were.

The Red Chair – a needle in a haystack…

October 23, 2012

I’ve known Jane Nicholas for a number of years since I met her when I enrolled in a ‘how to’ class for stumpwork at our local embroidery shop, A Stitch In Time. In the course of conversation, she found out that I was a book and paper-artist and our friendship developed on a number of levels because we have similar backgrounds and we both deal in forms of communication and creative expression. I felt the ringing of those kindred spirit bells, – a sure sign there is a good friendship in the offing.

‘You still have a choice…’

July 11, 2012

I’ve known today’s Big Red Chair guest since I was seventeen. She has always seemed grounded in the face of adversity, and being less grounded, it fascinated me how she found such surety. Faced twenty- five years ago with the birth of a disabled child, this woman didn’t once allow difficulty to strike her down. Rather, she became stronger, and a staunch advocate for those less fortunate than ourselves. She has wisdom and profound thoughts,

Category: Inspirational words