Writing Junk to Become the Artist You Were Meant to Be!

My mornings start with a pen, paper, and a cup of coffee!

“When you write, don’t say, “I’m going write a poem.” that attitude will freeze you right away. Sit down with the least expectation of yourself; say “I am free to write the worst junk in the world.” You have to give yourself the space to write a lot without destination…If every time you sat down, you expected something great, writing would always be a great disappointment. Plus that expectation would also keep you from writing.”

- Natalie Goldberg/ Writing Down the Bones

I cannot begin to tell you how many times I’ve shot myself in the foot, and probably been my own biggest source of writers block by my determination to write something amazing when ever I get sat front of my computer.

I, like many of you, write a lot. I am currently working on three novels, updating and re-editing my short stories (over 300) to start re submitting, working on two collections of poetry, writing three or four articles for the Examiner every week, devotionals and encouragement articles for The CypressTimes, and I send off 3 poems every four days to a card company, because they pay good for greeting card poems. Not to mention trying to keep up with my website, and blogs, and my social networks. I am also beginning a new international project called I AM POETRY: Poetry to Save the World. I am still collecting names of poets, pen and ink, pain, and sketch artists, as well as tattoo artists (so if you are one, send me an e-mail and I’ll send you some info, and you can decide if you want to get involved..sam@samthewriter.com) It’s sad but I do have a Twitter account, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, and I frequent FaithWriters, and other networks.

As a freelance writer it is my goal to sell enough articles, poems, and short stories to get me enough cash to buy some more time to finish one of my WOPs (Work In Progress), so every time I sit in front of my computer, I want what ever I am writing to be good (which means) salable. But that is not always going to happen, as we all know. I remember one night I submitted a poem to a editor, (who I had just sold three poems to, and got rave reviews) and he sent me an e-mail back saying, “Thank you Sam, for completely wasting my time. You wrote it fast, submitted it quick, and it is literary …”let’s use the word ‘poo’ here, it’s less colorful that the one he chose to use. I learned my lesson.

The key to writing great and producing real literary art more often, is by being consistent with our craft. Feel free to wake up in the morning, get your cup of coffee or tea, sit in front of your computer, and just write what ever is on your mind. It may turn out to be a poem, a great short story, the beginning of a novel, a blog entry, or a nasty piece of poo; and you know what: that is just fine.

Feel free to write stuff that stinks. Be ready and expect junk to pour out of you from time to time. It’s like literary detox. Pour yourself out on paper, over the key board. Because as you begin to do this, you’ll discover that you’re setting yourself free to the artist that you were born to be. In Natalie Goldberg’s book, Writing Down the Bones, she shares a story about how a young writer who lived in the same apartment complex came over to visit and Natalie let her take a bunch of her old note books. After a few days of reading the girl came back and told Natalie how reading some of her early ‘crap’ encouraged her. It made Natalie more real to the young writer. It also made the dream of someday becoming a great writer something to be grasped.

Everyone one has their junk. I have a lot of poo to put on paper, and so do you. Get to writing that nasty stuff. It will help shape you, make you, give you direction, hone your skills, discover the artist within, and most of all, by just letting go and letting it all out, it will help you set yourself free to be who you were meant to be.

Above all, have fun with the process and write, write, write.

SamTheWriter,

Signing off.

www.samthewriter.com

sam@samthewriter.com

Summer Love: The Writer’s time to revitalize and refresh their writing life

The best part of waking up

Coffee is first thing

it helps my pen write smoothly

sip and write: perfect

- a little fun haiku, from my haiku collection “Coffee & the Pen“

What gets you going in the morning? Do you have to be out of bed at a certain time to get to work or get the kids to school? Or are you one of those amazing people who have in inner alarm clock that goes off every morning without fail?

Personally, I need an alarm clock. Actually I need three of them: One sets on my night sand, and it is really annoying. The second one is my cell phone alert, and the third, and my most effective, is my wife getting angry that I am letting the other two blare forever. Then, I hit the brew button on my coffee maker so when I am finished taking a shower, I have a hot pot ready to be sipped on, and a project laying on my desk calling me.

Summer is a really great time for writers. If you have kids: you do not have to wake them up early and go through the morning routine of hurrying them through their morning rituals of clothes, breakfast, teeth, hair, shoes, lunch box, backpack (do a quick check to make sure your son’s new friend frog he found at the park yesterday didn’t mysteriously end up in his back pack for show-and-tell, again), rush out the door.

They usually sleep longer.

I have also read studies on sleep, and discovered that in the summer, when it is hotter and more humid, our body feels that it needs less sleep. We wake more during the night, sleep lighter, and can wake up earlier without too much of a fight with our wills. “Yeah right”, I can hear you say now. I use this these months as a summer-cleaning time mentally.

Some people talk about spring-cleaning, being a time when they go through their house and clean like a crazy person. Not that our homes are horrible messes, trash centers, or hurricane epicenters, but it is a time to refocus, restore, revitalize.  That’s how I view summer. Since I have more time to spend on writing in the morning, I don’t let it go to waste. If the summer heat is going to help me sleep less and still feel good, so be it.

I use to turn the ac way up to make up for the heat, but now I open the windows and let the morning warmth and birds chirping out side (which is actually the chirping of gossiping neighbors sitting on the porch next door, smoking, drinking coffee mixed with vodka, and chattering about the latest desperate house wife on the block.) which is perfect motivation to get me out of bed and down stairs.

Summer is so full of inspiration for the writer. The beginning of summer is a perfect time to clean out old files, dust off and revisit that manuscript your hammered out last summer, pull out your poetry notebooks and get them all typed into organized files on your computer, and get ready to start submitting like crazy, while writing new, fresh pieces, which you may use now, or, set aside for next summer.

Where ever you are, and whatever your schedule is, try and use all the opportunities this season provides you to reset, revitalize, and restore the goals you have for your personal writing life.

I hope that your summer starts out with a bang. Have a blast.

And if there is something that you like to do in the summer to kick off your writing, I’d love to hear about it. Comment here and share it with other readers, or drop me a line at Sam@samthewriter.com

Write, Write, Write

SamTheWriter, taking advantage of sweet summer love.

A Writer never has a Vacation: be Prepared

“ A writer never has a vacation. For a writer, life consists of either writing or thinking about writing.”

- Eugene Ionesco / Gothem Writers’ Workshop

I am constantly writing. Most freelance writers know exactly what I’m talking about. When I got my new cell phone (Centro), I was very excited to discover that it had come fully packed with Microsoft word.  Cell phones are one of the most amazing tools, for everyone, but especially writers.

My first week with my new phone I got stuck in a very small town, for a week, and couldn’t find an internet connection anywhere. But, because of my new, sweet phone, I was able to write and send off four poems to Blue Mountain Arts, which within a few days, proved a good idea.

Being equipped, at all times is so important as a writer. I keep a small notebook in my back pocket at all times, and usually two pens in my pants somewhere. Since I write so often, and for a few different places, I don’t want to miss a great idea. I use my pad to write stuff as it comes and when I get a chance later I either read my notes onto my Centro’s voice recorder, or make a note right then on the word program.  Many times I’ll even send myself a quick e-mail to remind myself later to read my notes.

No matter what I am currently working on, I never stop taking notes for other projects. I may be writing ideas for poetry I’m sending to Blue Mountain, or a few other literary mags, an idea for this blog, my personal blog, a journalism article for the Examiner ( I’m Wichita, Ks. Christian Faith & Culture Examiner), sending off short stories, or ideas for one of few novels, or poetry project.  Doesn’t matter what it is, I have to keep ideas flowing.

I was on Ray Bradbury’s website about a year ago, and he made the comment,

“I never got anywhere without a pad of paper and a pen, I am a writer, so I am naked without them, and I hate to be naked.”

I have to agree, about being naked that is. I have, unfortunately, found myself naked in public: no pen, no paper, no cell. And, without fail, every time I had forgotten my literary clothes, I would meet the most amazing idea. By the time I got home, I had forgotten most of it and was left with an ok idea, but without the magic.

If you are a writer, you should be writing all the time, or thinking about what you will write. After you have some great ideas and you know how you are going to use them. take some time and let them marinate in your mind. Mental marination can add an amazing depth to your work. I usually let an idea marinate at least a few weeks. But after two weeks, I write it down and send it off.

Well, my kids are calling me upstairs to read them a story before bed, so I’m out.

Have fun, writing. Write a lot, write often. Write, write, write, then edit and submit.

oh yea, and to all of you parents: Happy first day of Summer! We are writers, but we are parents first! Make sure you don’t neglect your most important responsibility, greatest gift, and most valuable possession.

Later,

Samuel Connelly

Visit my writer’s site @ SamTheWriter

And if you have a comment or just want to drop a line, you can rech me at Sam@SamTheWriter.com.

Because we must write to save the world!

Today was a very busy day for me.

I woke up at 7am and worked my morning job till 5pm. Then I got off and rushed home in time to sit at the table and scarf down an amazing meal with my wife and two kids. It actually looked amazing and the smell that filled my nostrils, as I crashed through the front door of my house with work bag in hand, instantly made me salivate. As for taste, I don’t know, I had to literally open my mouth and throat, set the plate inside and run to the restroom to toss some deodorant on, shower myself with aftershave (not to get rid of a smell but blend the nastiness of work with the clean irish scent, and hope for something normal out of it.

Then off to my daughters dance class, which ended in enough time to rush to church at 7pm, so the kids wouldn’t miss out on a prize for bringing their bibles four weeks in a roll. Soon as church is over at 8:30pm, I take the kids home (wife is already at work at the hospital now) give them a bed time snack, read a story, hugs, kisses, prayer, one last glass of water, one last…no two last kisses..9:20pm they are down, I only missed their bed time by 40 minutes. YES!

I take a shower, make a pot of coffee, clean up the left over dinner and kitchen, sit down on the couch and watch the news- ok, who am I kidding,  watch the sci-fi channel for 10 minutes to un-wind – whoops, open my eyes, it’s now 2:15am…darn, I fell asleep. And now I’m too tired to get up and right because my alarm will go off in 4 and a half hours, to get me ready for another episode of the same thing, just tweeked  a little.

The next day, while I was at work, (in between meetings) a buddy of mine came in, and wanted to see if I could grab lunch with with. I thought about it, and decided that I needed a break from reality, so I went to lunch with him (I figured I would just tell my boss that I fell asleep on the toilet…strange enough who’d make it up, right?)

At lunch, I told my friend about the craziness of my life.

“Why the hell do you write?” he said.

“Wha” I started to say before my diet Pepsi came through my nose and dripped on my shirt.

“Writing” he continued “no way, I’d do it.  If you stopped writing do you realize that you’d have time to sleep?”

NOW right here I want to stop. Nothing else matters but the question that got my nostrils stinging:

” Why the hell do you write!”

I know why I write. I write because I am a writer. Because I must. Because I can not fathom the thought of putting down the pen. Because I refuse to stop being a day dreamer. Money, or not money, I will work two jobs to support my family if I must, but I’ll not stop doing what I was born to do.

What about you?

Why do you scratch down your stories, poems, articles on that wrinkled up small pad of paper in your back pocket, or purse. Why do you stay up strange hours pounding the key board?

A few nights ago I had a dream that we were in the distant future, and there were NO writers, no books, just computers to speak literature to us. Nothing new. Can you imagine living in a world without literature? Living in a world were there is no written word.

When I woke up I thought about why ‘the hell’ I do it. I have to tell you the truth: I am scared to death of a world without creativity, without art, without poetry.

All artists are in the business of expressing the beauty of the human mind and the awe and wonder of the planet we live in.  And in these times fear, war, injustice, hunger, pain, and terror, there is more a reason for us to stay awake all night, scratching away on our tattered note pads on lunch breaks, sneaking a minute here and there to switch our work computer over to our WIP (work in progress) on Word.

I say the world needs a Creative revolution. A re-birth of creativity. A fresh look at the written word. I say write, write, write until you can not write anymore. Send your scribblings everywhere, to as many people as possible. Let everyone see that the writers are not going to fade away, but we will help forge a future that demands literacy and creativity as a diet for every human.

I sent a collection of sci-fi short stories I wrote, to a friend of mine who runs an orphanage in Thailand, and another to a buddy that leads a missions team in Uganda. They translated them to the kids and watched them listen intensely, (momentarily forgetting their hunger) I sent poetry to friends in the military who are in Iraq, and to a brother on a submarine for the next 8 months. He sent me an e-mail telling me that they have passed through the whole sub.

People want to escape. We offer that ability. We are the guides for time travel, we are the doors to alternate realities. Write, write, write.

Why should you write?

You should write as if you know that you are saving the world.

Samthewriter

Taste Something New- The Literary Buffet

“We have always found the Irish to be odd,

they refuse to be English

Winston Churchill”

I love this quote. Partly because I am half Irish blood, and half because I think Churchill made some of the funniest, simple, and profound statements.

What does this statement have to do with writing?

A few years ago I while flipping through the channels, I was captured by this statement, “Everyone has some measure of prejudice.” I stopped for a moment to listen to this lady try and convince everyone of their inability to be non-prejudice. Soon I just laughed at the fact that she was referring to like and dislike. “Check this out,” she said, as if about to reveal some great, deep truth, “this young man told me, before the show that he did not like creamer in his coffee, because, ‘I like my coffee to be manly’, see that is a form of prejudice.”

I watched for about ten more minutes only to discover that I have some deep issues of prejudice-ism. Yea, my intolerance goes very far and includes: buttermilk, tomatoes, radishes, fried okra, cheap toilet paper, crotchless underwear, and much more.

All joking aside

Most of my life growing up in a Christian home, (nothing wrong with Christian homes, I am a Christian and hope I am creating a wonderful experience for my wife and kids in my Christian home) I was not allowed to read or listen to anything that was not bluntly and boldly Christian. I liked Jerry B. Jenkins, but I did not like the fact that he was my only option, “He is better and more wholesome than that evil Steven King. You’d never see those two guys socializing with each other, never!” my mother once said to me.

As my passion for writing began to increase my hunger for literature began to become harder and harder to satisfy. I started to visit libraries more, but I was afraid to pick up anything ‘secular’ for fear that the ground would open and swallow me alive, or lightening burst over my head.

I quickly discovered that I was raised to be prejudice towards most of the arts. One day, years later, I was home by myself watching the sci-fi channel, and I saw the Green Mile, edited for television (of course J). I loved the movie and wanted to find it at the local bookstore. When I finally got my hands on it, and discovered that it was a novel of short stories, I started burning through it like it was a juicy steak and I had not eaten for months.

I sat in the bookstore, laughing out loud, commenting, and just being stupidly absorbed, in that novel.

Then is happened

I took a moment to turn it over and see who this amazing author was and holy crap, it was Stephan King – basically I knew I had lost my soul. He was a master of horror, a messenger of evil, the King of kill, and …totally brilliant.

In that moment I found myself at a catastrophic intersection in my life. That day I put the book down. Later, however, I came to the conclusion that literature is an art, It is beautiful, and I can not believe that this wonderful beauty was not in some way a gift to man, by God. Call it God, the spirit of creativity, the muse, whatever- it is incredible.

As writers, we must write, but we must also read. So many creative minds work hard to wordsmith a literary masterpiece that we will miss, if we get hung up on silly rules (which count for nothing where eternity is concerned). If we allow our personal prejudices to create a wall, we can still be writers, but we limit our creativity.

I am not saying that we should all write horror, or mystery, or sci-fi, or whatever other genre there is out there, but in reading what you love (no matter who write it) and tasting other writers and genres, we discover writing techniques, new and amazing ways to describe a moment, and tips for plot that we may never find if we refuse to crack a few covers out side of our circle of preference.

I encourage you. Dom’t compromise your writing convictions, but feel free to explore the literary world. Be mature, not dictated by a specific taste. Believe me, once you just experiment and try new authors, you will find a lot of stuff you hate, but you will also connect with and discover a wonderfully wide expanse of beautifully crafted lands.

Feel free to browse the fields of sci-fi, or the hills of fiction-lit, the valleys of mystery and horror. Taste the refreshing waters of poetry, and climb the mountains of spiritual encouragement. If you have never read a ‘secular short story’ get your hands on some Ray Bradbury, Poe, or even Richard Matteson. If you have never read a spiritually encouraging story; grab some C.S. Lewis or Joan Anderson.

Try it all out.

Today I picked up the Writer’s Digest, and to my astonishment, guess who is on the cover? You guessed it, Steven King & Jerry B. Jenkins… together. Come to find out, they both really enjoyed and knew each others work. Steven was a fan of Jerry’s Left Behind Series, and Jerry was a huge fan of Steven’s Green Mile, and The Stand. These Goliaths of the writing world met and found that they could fully enjoy each other. Sure King said that he did not personally believe that the world would end like the book of revelation says it will, and Jenkins feels a little uncomfortable with some of the more horrific work of the horror King, but they could agree upon one unmovable foundation,  writing is art, and it is a gift from God.

Let the English be English and the Irish be Irish. Taste it all, try something new. We writers stand before an international literary buffet. Grab a few plates, stuff yourself. It won’t all go to your hips, but it just might fill your head, with something wonderful.

SamTheWriter

Signing off

Do It On Purpose, Or It Won’t Happen

I recently had a friend e-mail me and ask me why I write so many articles and blogs about dealing with the obstacles that keep a writer from writing.

“Why not spend more time sharing your ideas about writing, and talk about the stuff you have sold.”

Maybe  she is right. I do like to write about all aspects of writing, but I think that I tend to spend so much time writing about the ‘obstacles’ because there are so many ‘would-be-writers’ out there that should be and could be writers, but are not.

So many creative minds quickly loose a real passion for the art because of all the obstacles. I have ran into way too many people that have handed me off a great story, at a coffee shop, e-mail, bookstore,etc., and it is a real shame to hear them say that they would love to write but do not have the time to pursue it.

There are thousands if not millions of amazing stories, right now, sitting somewhere, unpublished, and unenjoyed. I once read a statistic that said 89% of writers do not get published, because they do not follow through with the process.  I can believe that too. Published writers are published because they followed through.

Writing the actual story is the funnest part of be a writer for me, but it is not the only part of writing. Writing, is 75% writing and editing, 20% studying the market and writing a learning how to get your masterpiece in their hands, and 10% walk out and put it in the mail (or e-mail).

I sold a few poems this week. Between this week and last week I made $2,500. You know, that was worth every bit of the time it spent me to push ’send’ on my keyboard to get those poems to the editor. It’s funny, but after I sent off a couple poems last week the editor e-mailed me back and said, “If you want to make money, and let your writing pay for you, you need to keep sending me stuff.”Not many editors will do that, but when I read it to my wife, jokingly, she said, “You have an open invite, if you can make that kind of money in a week or two, why are you not writing all the time. If I could writing like that, I’d be writing every single day.”

She is right. And I am.

I guess that this blog is really going to be about you. I want you to know that the difference between those authors who get published, and those who do not, is that they who get published did it on purpose.

If you have a passion to write, then write. If you want to make a living at it, there is no better time to do it than now. There are publications that buy anything that can be written. You like to write, you want to be published, then write and don’t stop sending those manuscripts off.

And once you’ve sent it off. If you get a rejection notice, I like to send a thank you note and ask them if they would recommend another editor to me. This is really successful.

Just get out there. You have stories or poems that someone is dying to read. Don’t keep it hidden away, get it out there, and be the writer, you were born to be.

SamtheWriter

signing off

www.samthewriter.com

Tuning Out The Static

Static: Not to be confused with:,

• “Static“, the 1988 funk music single by Full Force and James Brown
• Static-X, the American industrial metal band
  • Wayne Static, co-founder, front-figure, vocalist and guitarist of Static-X
• Static (bass player), bass player in the band Anyone
• Static (Ditko), the superhero created and owned by Steve Ditko
• Static (film), the 1986 cult movie directed by Mark Romanek
• Static (musician), Australian drum & bass producer
• Static (comics), the Milestone and DC Comics superhero
• Static (The Twilight Zone), second season episode 20 of The Twilight Zone broadcast on March 10, 1961
• Steve “Static” Garrett, the member of R&B group Playa and songwriter for Aaliyah and Ginuwine
• Static (DJ), the Danish DJ and hip hop producer
• Static , the British stencil artist & graffiti writer

(Thank you Wikipedia!)

No, I am talking about STATIC:

1. Interference on a broadcast signal caused by atmospheric disturbances; heard as crackles on radio, or seen as random specks on television.
2. (by extension) Interference or obstruction from people.

It is the white snow seen on a television screen, or the irritating crackle that interrupts your favorite song on the radio.

In the writer’s life static is anything that interrupts you (the writer) from accomplishing you writing goals. Static can be something that you consider unpleasant and intrusive; something that comes into your writing time without invitation:

• A loud neighbor
• Your friends friend who intends to talk to you while you try to write
• The blasting radio of a family member
• Constant visitors
• A never-ending ringing telephone
• Spouse watching TV while you are writing

Static is not only those things that we do not want to in our lives at the most inoportune time, but it can also be things that we do like around.

• Your boy or girlfriends surprise visits
• The music you love, that you blare while you write
• Your spouse deciding to get frisky when it is time to write (this one stinks the most because I fall for it every single time…and don’t feel too bad about it)
• Letting your favorite show play in the next room while you write.

There are so many things that create static for writers. Why is static bad? Well, it is not really bad, as much as it is an opportunity for you to be inactive. Static is the reason that most writers stop pounding computer keys, or put their pens down and don’t quite make it back to their project until after they have long lost the inspiration they originally sat down with.

The fact is that you are a writer. A writer must write. The majority of writers do not accomplish their goals and dreams. And the truth is, most writers do not finish because…they do not finish. Why? because they allow the static in their lives to push them around and demand their constant attention.

How to get rid of the static.

You can never quite get rid of all of your static. You can, however, create more opportunities for personal success. these opportunities will help equip you with the tools, time, and discipline to filter most of the static out…and you don’t even have to wear a hat made of foil!

Make boundaries and set rules

• Give yourself a specific, timed, writing block. I make sure that I write at least 2 hours a day.
• Have a strategy. Don’t make your writing time the same time that your kids are playing in house. Don’t wait until your spouse is ready for lovin. For me, the best time to write is early in the morning (before kids wake up and get ready for school) and nights that my wife works-just after I’ve put my kids down. I also bring my laptop to work and write on lunch breaks.
• Close out the world. Turn the tv off, put your cell phone on vibrate, turn the music down. If you must listen to your music, keep the volume low enough that you do not get consumed and start singing out loud. This gets your mind on the words of the song and not the words that are going on the paper in front of you.

STATIC will always be around, and it will get greater and great in and around us. Choose what kind of static you are going to allow in, and how much, but don’t let it steal your creativity. Don’t let the static drown out the muse.

Get control of your writing time and your life. Be productive. Tune Out the Static.

Samthewriter,

Signing off

Prose – KEEP OUT: Writers Block

I stare onto a half empty worked piece of literary art. It is half worked, and half empty, lonely; a white lined dessert. I am at a loss. No inspiration cometh. My well is dry, my fountain dribbles bitter water.

It is in these times that I struggle for anything to help and find that the worlds O have been creating will not let me in – No Access Pass! The hundreds of characters that I have intimately inked hide themselves behind this mysterious door of my brain.

I look over the various stories I have passionately begun to write, the several novels I had started, some nearly finished. I know the outlines and try to move them along, yet they remain motionless. I am the Writer, yet my characters refuse to move; plot will not play out, conflict stands still, and characters avoid development.

Even tonight, a perfect night to stay awake all night and write – I am frozen, literally and literally. Creativity has given me ideas to build upon, but, at the same time, the door into my mental workshop stays tightly locked- keeping me out.

I am Blocked.

Writers Block. Why? Is my mind blocking my ability to write, or is creativity (as if it were a person) blocking my entering in to these worlds I need to enter into to finish these great stories.

It is as if the characters have locked the door. The created have conspired. Mutiny. The Created vs. Their Creator.

Or could it be that the stories have called to me, and knowing my present stress forbid me from telling their stories; they fearing mis-interpretation?

I will attempt to sleep and wake early. Maybe the quiet and darkness, the calmness and peacefulness of the early morning will bring to me the blessing of the Muse (or whatever creative spirit there is that sets artists aflame) which will help me to hear better.

Possibly then, I will fall asleep to the stresses of the busyness and wisdom of the world of selfish men and awaken into the realm of creative imagination, and then -only then, I will be given access into their worlds. Them: the characters, which live only in my sub conscience until their exodus to white, paper filled promised lands, will finally turn the key and open the door to me, knowing that I am finally fully listening.

www.samthewriter.com

FIGHT to WRITE

Sometimes the hardest thing about writing, is…well, writing.

I love to write. I think one of my biggest problems as a writer is that I have too many things that I am usually working on at one time.

Currently, my work in progress (WIP) is my sci-fi novel, but I am also working on a horror book, a nonfiction book based on myself and some struggles I came through as I child and adolescent, a mystery thriller called ‘Breaking In” (can’t talk about) and several short stories, which I am working on intertwining them into two novels in shorts.

But many writers out there that are like me, and love to write, and plan on it being their future careers, have some stumbling blocks to deal with. the biggest is TIME. For me, I could finish my WIP, and move on to finish other projects, if it were not for the restraints that time puts on me. For one, time only allows 24 hours to a day, and I am sleeping for 4 to 5 of those hours, at work 10 of those hours, eating, picking up the kids and taking the to basketball practice, bringing them home and getting homework done, baths, stories read, and them to bed for about another 4 to 5 hours, and occasionally my wife and I have the same nights off, and I have to make sure that I use that time wisely. My family comes first. Oh yeah, since I’m diabetic, I am supposed to be working out four to five times a week (which is working out great right now). But this leaves me with little time to write.

Working a job that is not at all set on a normal schedule makes it hard to set a daily schedule that I can get use to. At times I want to forget about my passion to write, because it seems like writing has become, for me a daily ritual of hunting down any spare time and filling it with writing. But about the time that I decide I’m going to forget it two things happen:

1. I get so much stuff inside, that I almost bust. I have to write, it is what I was made for.

2. I look at all the things that I need most – time. Time to spend with my family, time with my wife, time to be at all the games, time to take my wife on dates, time to write, time to sleep, and also the money it brings. If I complete my manuscript, get an agent, and let him self my manuscript while I start working on the next, a couple book contracts would give me the money to stop my full time job and get writing full time.

With these things in mind, I have no choice but fight to write. Fight to find time. Fight the temptation to watch tv when I could be pounding out a few thousand words. Fight the desire to sleep all day on my day off because I’m pooped and I want it real bad, when I could brew some dark roast coffee, take a cool shower and hit the keyboard.

I have to fight discouragement when I submit a manuscript and it comes back rejected, and have to remind myself that just as I’ve had them rejected, I’ve have a few accepted; sooner or later with consistence and persistence I’ll get the big manuscript sold instead of just shorts and articles here and there. When I read an editor’s note that says “Sorry, but we are currently not looking for this kind of manuscript.”Have have to follow it up and read through a few of the wonderful critiques that I’ve received on my writings from the writer’s sites I am apart of. (If you haven’t joined a writer’s site look them up there are some really good ones like critters, Author’s Den, or Faith writer’s)

I have had to look at my crazy schedule and and find time, by knocking out where ever I am using time in excess or using it for unimportant things, and put in writing blocks there. Example: I get an hour lunch every day, so I bring my lunch with me, and set up my laptop and write during lunch. If kids go to sleep, and my wife is at work and I do not have to get up too early, I will stay awake later -tv off- and write, or I’ll go to bed when I put the kids down and set my alarm to get up real early and start writing. I carry a pen and little pocket note pad with me all the time for ideas, new directions, character development, story change. And believe it or not, I carry around a little recorder, incase I am having a real busy day and no time to jot down ideas. This way if something good hits me at a bad time (which seems to be the Muse’s way of having fun) I pull the recorder out, walk around the corner and record my idea quickly and then listen to it later.

Well I just put my daughter down for a nap with my wife, and I have to head off to work to meet with two district managers that have flown in to talk about cafe changes. Got to go, guess I’ll be writing at lunch again.

SamTheWriter,

Signing Out

When Your Creativity Calls You In Several Directions

So right now, as I am taking the time to pour over the first draft of my CWIP (Current Work In Progress), I am finding that anytime I take a break – go pick up my kids from school, go to one of their games, lay in bed at night, or just get a few minutes to sit on my couch in the quiet of night – I am pulled into creative thoughts about some of the other stories and articles I have worked on in the past. It’s like the different masks of creativity the muse has given me to wear while in character for different writings, are all trying to wear me at the same time.

I know that the most important thing for me right now is to finish this novel so I can send it off and start working on another one, but images and scenes for other works start playing out so clear in my mind that I have to grab a note pad and start writing.

Is this wrong? Is it some mind trap, keeping me from completing my CWIP and a paycheck? Well to be honest, I don’t know. What I do know is that some of these little creative ideas have opened doors for me and led to other publishing opportunities.

I Guess that my dilemma here is more an issue of when I will finish this project. After all it is this project that is most important for me. Because of this I have to look at it as just as much a job as it is a work of passion. As it is with all my writings, they start as a work of passion; something that I seem to give birth to. I can’t just push these stories out pre-maturely, and I have a problem sometimes pushing them out at all. Sometimes the are so over due that they finally just force themselves at, no matter where I’m at:

• The Switch: Pushed it self out at 4am on a Sunday morning and kept me up till 8am, and I had to be at Church at 10 am – leaving me about an hour of sleep, with a very full day ahead of me.
• Arbor Day: Forced its way out as quickly as I sat down at work to place a coffee order. I sat down and opened up my Outlook e-mail and WHAMMO, it hit me and I had to grab a close note pad and write.
• SHE: (a poem about my wife) came to me as I was driving down the high way from Doge City, to Wichita. My wife was in the car ahead of me with her cousin Traci, and I had the kids with me following behind. They had not seen each other for a while and I thought it would be nice for them to ride together. As I listened to Maroon 5, the kids slept, and I could see my wife in the car ahead, this poem just started to pour out like a broken fountain, and I reached into the glove compartment for my recorder, but the batteries were dead. So I grabbed a pen, and started writing – where else; my arm.

This has happened to me several times. But just as it has happened that quick, forceful, and fluid, I have also suffered from the CWIP’s taking forever to come out. I was reading an article in The Writer’s Digest, about working out your current projects, even though your creativity seems dry. The article gave great, but tough, advise. The truth is, you must finish your WIP if you intend to get paid. Sometimes creativity forces you to pick up your pen and flow with the raging rivers of the Muse’s current. Other times you have to pull out your WIP and say, I am not leaving my seat until I have worked it out. WORKED it out.

WORK IT OUT! That is the key. I am a writer. You are a writer. A writer writes, he/she does not think about writing, consider writing, read all the books out there about writing, but WRITES. The truth is, most of the time a writer has to WORK at his craft. Sometimes I sit for long periods of time, some times I walk back and forth talking to myself, interviewing characters, write out my problem and then start several ‘What if’ questions and write out the possible outcomes. Sometimes I sweat, strain my brain. Many times, WRITING is WORK.

When creativity speaks, I listen, I write it down. But then I file it and keep plunging forward into my CWIP. Let the many faces and masks of creativity wear you. Let them give you ideas, take you on short trips, vacation on strange planets, but don’t forget that to be a writer – full time, you have to complete that which is most important. To be full time, you have to get paid to be full time.

Sometimes the Muse will make you work, under an almost drunken state, and it is beautiful. Others times, you need to pound on her door when you she doesn’t want to come out, and make her work for you.

That’s it for today.

SamTheWriter,

Signing out.

Where Commeth My Inspiration?

I am honestly a strange cat that loves to write. On many occasions I have had a reader, friend, or editor ask me, “Where in the world did you come up with this idea?”

There is no real secret. Ideas are everywhere. It’s just taking the time to recognize them and then answer the Muse’s favorite question: ‘What if…” Fortunately I have a lot of places to look for ideas. They come to me on a consistent basis. It’s up to me to grasp each opportunity and own the moment (I’ll talk about that in a sec).

Opportunities come in a couple different ways;

1. Undeniable Opportunities:

I was sitting in a cafe shop one day leading a coffee tasting with four friends. As we sat there I noticed a man, with seventy clothes (velvet shirt, bell bottom pants, and a Beatles looking hair cut – you know the straight look that they had in their young albums) he walked quickly up to the barista and said, “Are you from London?” To which the barista laughed and said, “Nope, not all all.” The man then asked him if he was sure. The barista, then confirmed it with a hearty (Yep, born and raised in Wichita Kansas. I would know if I were from Europe.” To which the other man said, “Really? That is so strange because you look like a rock star!” To which the barista started laughing and responded with, “If is were a rock star I surely wouldn’t be wasting my time serving coffee for $7.25 and hour.”

As the guy walked away, looking back at the barista every few steps I thought, This is funny, I have to turn this into a short story – and I did, in fact I wrote three different stories all bases off of the short interaction that had taken place. I did a short fiction, a short comedy horror, and a short mystery. And two of the three have sold.

Point is that we all get these great moments that just throw themselves at us. In those moments, as a writer you have to be ready to react – as a writer. Don’t let the moment and the feelings pass you by. Instead stop, think about what happened, look around at others, get a feel for the moment, and then take some notes so that later, when you are ready to produce some creative word count, you can write about that.

2. Reflective Opportunities:

These opportunities seem to come by themselves too, but they are soft moment, quiet moments, and they are very easily passed up. It could be a moment in your car – it’s hot outside, your stuck in traffic, creepy along at a snails pace, the radio is on, and you suddenly realize that everything is moving in slow motion, and you just kind of slowly flow with it. You look out at other drivers – a man yells on his cell phone at someone, but his voice is lost in the background of reality, a group of teens walk along the side walk laughing, the woman in the car ahead of you uses the rear view mirror to fix her makeup. The issues of life, and humanity come into your mind. You experience a sense of oneness with the planet, and then, as quickly as you were caught up into it, a horn blares, and your realize that your holding up traffic. Your back to the present travailing at a quick speed of one second by one second into the future.

These moments can very easily pass you by, you not even realizing that you had a great experience that was full of thought, feelings, concern, and realization. This is a great writing opportunity. I write these moments out as a short story or prose, and then I put them in a file and go back over them later to see if there’s anything there to work with.

Most diaries and online journals or blogs are basically inspired by these moments: what happened to me today, what I’m feeling right now and why, how I reacted to something I heard or seen. These are all reflections, and many inspirational stories, novels, and screen plays come from these moments. You just write down the moment as clearly and precisely as you can, and then ask questions like; “How can I get this point across to more people? What can I change in this story so that it becomes something that everyone can really relate to and understand.

Practical Application (example, all fictitious):

• Thomas Kline finds himself sitting at a bus stop waiting for his bus. to his left is a mother and her six year old son, who has a mental disability. To his right is a lawyer who makes a rude comment about people with disabilities and their weight on society. Thomas is offended for the boy and later on that day he stews and stews over it. He thinks about how he’d love to see that lawyer come face to face with a disabled person who is better at everything than he is. ‘That would be awesome. Put him in his place. Just because a person does not talk or interact in a socially acceptable way does not mean that they can not do many many great things’ He thought. Rekindling all those emotions he grabs a pen and paper and begins writing about a man named Forest Gump. (Again, this was a fictitious example)

Reflective opportunities come to you when something moves you, or gets you to momentarily question life. Many times questions you ask yourself about religion, spirituality, life after death, will give birth to these moments, but also those things that move you towards happy experiences, or angry feelings will bring these moments. Ask yourself, what do I love, and what to I hate? then write.

3. Created Opportunities:

These are moments you can create yourself. For me, I’ve created several play lists on my computer. I have; happy, dark, melodic, joyful, strange and interesting, angry, misery, triumphant, and depressing – lists. To create an experience for the piece I’m writing, I think about what it is the moment is calling for, what the character is feeling, and then I try and create the moment and feelings for myself, by turning on that play list and relaxing, allowing the feelings the music creates to craft images and stir imagination and then I grab my pen, or put my fingers to the key board and take off.

Music is a great tool for my creative process. You may have something else you like to do that does it for you. I also find that mowing the lawn, taking hot showers late at night, a walk in the park, taking the kids to a playground and sitting back and watching them play, and working out at the gym cause my creative juices to start marinating my brain with great ideas.

Lastly - Own The Moment:

If there is anything that I can say in all of this that you are actually going to commit to memory, and take away with you I really hope that it is this: No matter what you experience. No matter what kind of circumstances you find around you. No matter how good or bad things seem to be, remember that the circumstances and issues do not own you, you own you and if you look at every single thing that comes your way as an opportunity to better your self, you can own every circumstance. If you have a really stressful day – write about it, turn it into money. If you are in a bad relationship, don’t let it own you, as a writer, write about it – own it, and make it work out for you.

EXAMPLES:

a. I was irritated with my wife for something. Later we both found that it was a big miscommunication issue. Instead of stewing over it, I changed the people and places, and events, and wrote a short story about it. I also took what I learned from the situation and sold an article to a couples magazine.

b. My wife called me one night about a month ago and told me that a man had cut her off and actually ran her off the road. Luckily she was able to run off into a gas station. I was furious about it and wished that I could jump in my car and go find him, but that was impossible, so to release my feelings of vengeance, I wrote a short horror story about a man whose wife was killed by a truck driver who fell asleep at the wheel. In the story, the protagonist was able to track down the man and hand deliver some extreme justice – I sure felt better after getting it out of my system.

c. I was closing a job down one night. I was sitting at my desk and my co-worker, (a beautiful women about my age and the only other person in the building) came over to my desk and sat down in my lap. I quickly let her know that that was really inappropriate. She text my cell phone later asking me if I wanted to come over while both of our spouses were at work. I declined and shared a few strong words with her. That night, however, I was really bothered about how much sexual tension can be created in the work place, and even more so, how many couples cheat on each other with co-workers. I decided to do a study on the matter and produced a great article called “A Time to Work… it?”, which I sold to an online magazine.

These are ways to take Ownership of the issues and circumstances that you face day in and day out. Life is really just a progression of circumstances after circumstances. You are thrown into a never ending flow of issues, all calling for your reaction. It is the science: For every action there is a reaction. How you react to every action that comes to you will determine the level of ownership you obtain.

I write, I am a writer, and the more I write the better I get, it’s evolution – the process of personal growth – the mechanics of life. As I writer, I have decided that I must view every moment as an opportunity to take ownership of my writing future. I will Own the Moment – the moments will not own me. I will write.

Hope you found something good here today…I did.

SamTheWriter,

Signing off

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