The Realms of a Fantastical Mind

In October I took a full month off from doing what I love to do best.  Yes, I took off writing. Have you ever felt that you need to do something over and over again?  Have you felt the need to continue to do something because you've always done it? Try taking a break from that thing that you feel you NEED to do.  I know, it may be impossibly hard, but then, nothing is truly impossible.  So whether it be drinking beer, writing on your blog, or even writing. (I know, it’s a difficult concept, to not write, but bear with me.) I have to say that I did just that in October.  The stopping drinking the beer happened in my house too.  One thing I found out.  Not only did my hubby find out he doesn't need to drink beer, I found out I didn't need to write high fantasy all the time.  It was hard not writing at all, but instead of focusing on what I've been working on, my mind took different twists and turns...

Welcome to Zvi Zaks, author of A VIRTUAL AFFAIR, come on in and have a seat.  We'd love to hear a couple of Words of Wisdom. Part 1 @ Sandra – Monday, Oct. 15 Part 2 @ Dean – Tuesday, Oct. 16 Part 3 @ Terri – Wednesday, Oct. 17 Part 4 @ T.W. -- Thursday, Oct. 18  BRoP:    Tell us about your route to success –how did you land your agent/publisher? ZZ:  I haven't been able to get an agent (yet) but the website  www.querytracker.net  helped me write decent query letters, and websites like Ralan.com helped me find publishers for VIRTUAL AFFAIR and two other novels, IMPLAC and A TRUE SON OF ASMODEUS.  BRoP:   What tools are must-haves for writers? ZZ:  The noted writer John Irving uses nothing more than a pen and paper, so that must be the only essential, at least for someone with his skill set.  I can't imagine again having to write without a word processor and access to the internet for research. BRoP...

Welcome HEIDI GARRETT, this week’s Blog Ring of Power guest! She was born and raised in Texas, lived more than a decade in Southern California, and now she resides in Spokane, WA, with her husband and their two cats. So far, she loves the snow. Don’t miss the rest of Heidi’s interview at: Part 1 @  Sandra - Monday, Oct. 8 Part 2 @  Dean - Tuesday, Oct. 9 Part 3 @  Terri - Wednesday, Oct. 10 Part 4 @ T.W.- Thursday, Oct. 11 Part 5 @  Emily - Friday, Oct. 12 Let's chat about a few Words of Wisdom with Heidi  BRoP:     Tell us about your route to success – how/when did you decide to self-publish? Did you query an agent first? How did you handle the editing, proofreading, cover design, etc. HG:  I decided to self-publish in January of 2012. I queried two earlier drafts of the manuscript. Both were rejected. I had originally planned to query the published version, but in December 2011 I got an older version of the iPhone for a ...

There are times when everyone gets burnt out.  Yes even in writing. When words seem to come get you instead of singing sweet songs in your ears. It's not writers block but something more, as if the fire of writing has left ash in its wake.  As the forest fires of nature, seeds are left under the grey dust, but only time will bring forth the sprouts of new words, new ideas, and reinforce thoughts to old ones. Everyone gets burnt out at some point.  Thinking too much on a Manuscript, revising and rewording over and over. The words get jumbled together.  Thoughts fade in the mind before they get on page. The only cure is time.  This is why it is not always good to write every day. Rest from the words, read a book, or if that is also too much, play a game, watch a few movies.  Take a week or two off to refresh your mind.  Do anything else.  I would suggest not even thinking about the MS, but I can't even succeed in doing that, so I wont push th...

It's Blog Ring of Power Time!!!  Today we are wrapping up the interview with Danielle For the beginning parts check out Part 1 with Sandra Part 2 with Dean Part 3 with Terri Part 4 with T.W. Award-winning author Danielle Ackley-McPhail has worked both sides of the publishing industry for over seventeen years. Her works include the urban fantasies, Yesterday's Dreams , Tomorrow's Memories , the upcoming Today’s Promise , and The Halfling’s Court , and the writers guide, The Literary Handyman . She edits the Bad-Ass Faeries anthologies and Dragon’s Lure , and has contributed to numerous other anthologies. She is a member of the New Jersey Authors Network and Broad Universe, a writer’s organization focusing on promoting the works of women authors in the speculative genres. She can be found on LiveJournal (damcphail, lit_handyman), Facebook (Danielle Ackley-McPhail), and Twitter (DMcPhail). Learn more at www.sidhenadaire.com .  Thanks for ...

I think the first thing that comes to mind on this is... "All Hale George R.R. Martin!" Okay, maybe not everyone feels that way.  I've only read his first book and was wowed by it.  There is so much depth, so much to every banner, every household.  So much that I didn't think of... back to the drawing board. When writing fiction there are some basic backgrounds that need to be established. The Main Character.  Where did they come from?  How did they get to be the way they are at the beginning of the book?  What effects them the most positively and negatively? The Supporting Characters.  Again, where did they come from? How did they get to be the way they are at the beginning of the book? What effects them the most positively and negatively? The Land around them.  Yup even the land needs a history.  When writing Urban stories things are easier because the history was already made.  We know about what has happened in Bo...

Everyone drives inspiration from somewhere.  Whether for writing, painting, architecture, or any other creative outlet. There is always an idea hovering around to be plucked and used in some other form. So here is my idea for my writing friends.  Take what inspiration you usually feed your muse with, and put it away.  Now look for something different.  An old building crumbling from years of neglect, it has a story waiting to be told.  How about a old history lesson.  You heard about all the wars of the world, every living creature had a story through it.  Look for something different then your normal go-to. Here's a link for 31 ways to find Inspiration . and a link to some more links cause sometimes surfing the web is the way to go. Life is a very diverse thing, and so too are we. He told me that he wanted to hold the world in his hands. I thought that was silly when whoever controls the sun controls not just this wo...

I've been trying to get my crap together. Organize what I'm doing when and trying to get things running smoothly. And what happens but I find myself snuggled up to my kobo reading series after series of my favorite authors. Nothing I wanted to get done, gets done and my poor book is again neglected like the house plant that hasn't been watered for weeks. It sits with it's pages drooping over the edge of the table, practically begging to get picked up and revised fully into the 5th draft. 'Please' it whispers in the dark of night as I lay sleeping, 'please remember I'm here.' so after 2 weeks of my horrible behavior of reading, in which I've been poking and prodding at other writers work, only because I've done so much to my own book that I can't help but see what the holes are, I opened my critiquing folder and had a crack at a 1st chap of a MS that I should have opened the day I got it. I'm not even saying that out of duty, oh ...

So how busy can one person get that doesn't have a full time job, other then raising kids?  I can tell you, very busy!  I have to take care of the kids, like making sure my 12 yo has everything for school, first and foremost! Then there is the cleaning of the never-ending dishes, the floors need to be swept and mopped. The  bathroom... yeah that stuff that needs to be done, the kids, making sure they are doing their chores and keeping their space clean.  Cooking and then cleaning that never-ending dish pile again.  Sending my son off to kindergarten. Then 2 hours of me time, my youngest having nap-time.  Pick up my son, make sure my eldest has her homework done and making sure my son puts his school things away.  Then there is wedding planning and making sure I have everything done that I wanted to do that day, usually done when its my me time.  So my poor writing plans get pushed off to ...

I had a conversation with my family last night.  One of those after dinner random talks as one of us was on facebook.  We were talking about how no one seems to know how to create even the most simple sentence without adding lol or some thing of the like.  We also discussed the effects things like facebook twitter and texting has on the knowledge of words and grammar.  Even with built in spell check on most computers, the words never seemed spelled correctly and the grammar is always off.  I admit I am one of the afflicted of such mistakes. The new way of speaking through text could be considered similar to Tolkien's elfish language. Just sound out the words and you'll know what I mean. roflmao, lol, adip, urapita, fitb and so on.  I'm sure you could come up with much more then myself, since I am no master of txtng. It all makes me wonder how long it will be before the new words of our language are common place and words suc...