Yes, I’ve Been Away for a Long Time
Hi there to all those who have stuck with me this past year. To say it’s been crazy is an understatement! Blogging has been one of those things I had to put aside for a while because, well, I just couldn’t make the effort when other life events seemed so much more important. Even my writing has suffered, but not to the point I totally stopped, thank goodness!
Since last October I have moved house to the UK and back, and I have lived without my husband for eight months, not a good thing when we have such a great relationship. We wanted a new life but the British government are assholes and their ridiculous laws archaic, to put it mildly, so we had to make the tough decision to return to South Africa for the time being. Whether it’s permanent, temporary, or temporarily permanent we don’t know yet 🙂
So, due to this upheaval of life and the awful emotional strain I’ve been under, I have not blogged this entire year. I will, however, make a much bigger effort next year. It’s not a new Year’s resolution, by the way, because I don’t believe in those, but it is an intention and those usually work for me.
I want to wish you all a very blessed and merry Christmas. May it be a wonderful, magical time, because who doesn’t want that for Christmas? 2016 promises to be interesting and eventful for me, at least. Let’s set our intentions to make it a powerful, mind-bending one, too, what do you say? So many exciting movies and other global events in the pipeline that I’m looking forward to. Let’s intend for peace to prevail and evil to wan.
Have a great one, guys, and I WILL see you again next year!
You Might Be a Writer If…
Hello friends! Sorry I haven’t been around for awhile but having some major upheavals in my life is not that conducive to lots of blogging so I do apologise. You will love this humorous blog from Kristen Lamb. Have a fantastic weekend, and I will write again soon. Promise!
A lot of “stuff” has been going on in my life lately. Hard stuff. Heavy stuff. The kind of stuff that just makes me want to write massacre scenes….except I am so brain dead I had to google how to spell “massacre.”
Masicker? Missucker?
WHAT AM I DOING???? *breaks down sobbing*
I am supposed to be an adult an expert okay, maybe functionally literate. Fine, I give up! I have nothing left to saaaaayyyyyy. I am all out of woooords *builds pillow fort*.
I figured it’s time for a bit of levity. Heck, I need a good laugh. How about you guys?
We writers are different *eye twitches* for sure, but the world would be SO boring without us. Am I the only person who watches Discovery ID and critiques the killers?
You are putting the body THERE? Do you just WANT to go to prison? Why did you STAB…
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Don’t Let ‘Stuff’ Get in the Way of Your Writing
Jeff Goins has a point!
I’ve written about the importance of resting and also about finding time, even in a hectic day, to write. But, as we all know, balance is the key to allowing the flow of creativity to remain constant as it reduces that awful guilt when we don’t do at least a little bit of writing every day. It really is okay when you miss a day here and there because there will be days when you can’t stop writing you feel so inspired and energised. But if you’re not inspired don’t stress; there’s nothing like worry to kill the Muse.
But today I’m writing about those things in our lives that take up time that should be dedicated to our beloved craft, and as I write this I am, of course, speaking to myself as much as I’m speaking to you, dear Writer. I can procrastinate brilliantly. Actually, I believe I’ve made it into an art form. The only justification I can give my lax attitude is that I’ve just finished doing an epic rewrite of my last epic fantasy novel in my tetralogy and now it’s time to face the mammoth task of editing. My other three books I’ve written and published in a year. This last one is way overdue because I’ve moved to the UK. Talk about stressful! Unfortunately, I’ve used this as an excuse to take my time with Book 4 (The Sword Bearer’s Ascension) and now I regret procrastinating so fervently. People are waiting impatiently for my last installment and I feel awful about it!
When life gets busy we tend to shift our focus onto the external and neglect the internal. What I mean by that is, as soon as our external environment takes up all our attention we lose touch with that spark inside us that ignites our creativity, our passion for storytelling, our inspiration, our desire to get it down on paper so that we can share it with the world. The external, monotonous, stressful, rushed world – professional and personal relationships, careers, responsibilities – keeps our attention away from what makes our hearts sing with inspiration, that part of us that gives us a reason to get up in the morning.
It is vital to understand that if we do not allow ourselves to be revitalised with the fire of our passions then life becomes meaningless and dull. We have to feed what makes us laugh and dance and sing because then we can deal with the external world – all that ‘stuff’. As a writer, you know that the only place you can find the buzz that makes you get up in the morning is turning inward and basking in the power of creativity. This is where your true life resides, not ‘out there’ but only inside where it’s quiet and peaceful and where all the answers will be found.
This is a lesson I’ve learned since moving to the UK and dealing with the ‘stuff’ that snatches away my attention from that which I love to do. It’s easy to lose sight of what is important (inside) by focusing only on the external world and being drained physically and emotionally by circumstances. I’ve gone days without writing because there’s been so much to do – unpacking, finding work, settling down in a foreign environment, new relationships, missing home and friends and family, etc. ‘Stuff’ got in the way of my passion and I truly resent it, which adds to my stress, which in turn drains me of creative energy.
Find your inspiration within!
Separating myself from the external and being alone and inward-focused has proven a creative lifesaver. I encourage you to not only find time to write, but to remove yourself from the external world and sit quietly with yourself and remember where your inspiration really comes from. You’ll never find it ‘out there’ only inside you.
I’d love to read your thoughts and if you’ve had similar struggles with the external world draining you of creative energy and stealing your passion and inspiration. If this is still going on in your life then I encourage you to step away and remove yourself to a quiet place where the only thing you can hear is your own heart speaking to you.
Merry Christmas, One and All!
This has been a very challenging year for me and I have unfortunately been a bit lax in blogging, but I have a good reason. I decided on the massive (and insane!) undertaking of moving to another country with my hubby, and I think I’m still recovering!! It’s been a tough six months but I believe I managed it quite well, although some things in my life suffered, like blogging and writing, which I fully intend to remedy in the new year. I have had the time, thankfully, to continue editing the fourth and final book in my epic fantasy tetralogy titled The Sword Bearer’s Ascension, which I am planning to publish before the middle of next year. I also managed to successfully complete NaNoWriMo and almost have an entire new scifi novel to work with when the time is right.
I haven’t done this for a while, so here goes. A very warm welcome to my newest followers. I hope you find my page and what I have to say enjoyable enough to remain and engage with me and my other fellow writers. Please feel free to share what’s on your mind and what you are working on for 2015 as I, for one, am always interested.
This is just a quick stop before the new year to wish you all a fantastic Christmas or festive season, whichever you prefer. Have a good one and be safe and wise. I’ll be back soon!
NaNoWriMo: It’s Here Again! Will You Be Joining In?
Yup, it’s that time again and I’m ready for it! I wasn’t sure if I could handle NaNo and still work on my novel (The Sword Bearer’s Ascension: Book 4) and get it finished for publication early next year, but I think a specific goal of reaching 50 000 words in 30 days will encourage me to set aside a few hours every day to do both NaNo AND Book 4 and complete them by the end of November. Hey, I’ve never done anything in small measures in my entire life and I’m not about to start now!
The South African Flag – SA, my first home on this earth.
Moving from South Africa to the UK was utterly exhausting, as you can imagine. Picking up your entire life and dumping it in another country is not for the faint of heart and should not be attempted too often in one’s life. Exhaustion aside, I am thrilled to be here in a country that appreciates fantasy and science fiction authors more than they do in SA. Sad but true. I was told by an agent in SA that the fantasy genre is a difficult sell in our country, local author or not. As it is, there isn’t much room for the arts in any form there unless the community does all the work and finds private funding. Thankfully, there are the handful in each field, including a few corporations, that have the passion to make things happen in the face of ignorance and apathy; our leaders have no idea that without the arts a nation has no soul and will soon die. They are oblivious to the enormous potential of its highly skilled and talented people, of which there are thousands, therefore these struggling artists get no recognition or support from their useless, unaware leaders.
I have many South African author friends and they are doing fantastic things on their own and raising awareness in their field. They love what they do, and despite how hard it is to be an artist in SA they are thriving because they’re doing what they love. They make me proud to be a writer and an artist.
Make time to write every day even if it’s just for a few minutes! Feed your soul!
NaNoWriMo is growing in leaps and bounds, and I am proud to be part of it again this year. South Africa did brilliantly last year and I just know they’ll do even better this year. I will always support and encourage them. This year I am thrilled to be part of a huge writing community in the UK that is participating in NaNo. Hello, Kent! This year I am sticking to a scifi novel. As I work on finishing my epic fantasy tetralogy I am looking forward to having new projects to focus on next year, and since I will have two novels – one, a mixed genre of fantasy, scifi, horror, and western from 2012 – and this year’s scifi, along with another horror/scifi short story, I will have lots to keep me busy in 2015.
So tell me, dear Writer, are you participating this year? I would love to hear what you have up your sleeve and which tactics you will be implementing to succeed. Do share. If you need to chat and discuss issues and even your fears of not making the word count goal then let’s chat about it and encourage one another. I wish you luck and word count success by the 30th! I will keep you updated on my own progress right here. Now, go write!
About 180 Days of Preparation are Drawing to a Close
Since I started this crazy mission to move to the United Kingdom with my in-laws and hubby life has been chaotic, to say the least!
It’s been a crazy ride – some good, some not so good – but through it all I’ve learned a lot about myself and what I’m capable of achieving if I believe that the Universe has my back. I discovered the power of my mind and how easily I can achieve what I want, and also how easily I can sabotage my life. When making such a huge life-changing decision there’s no room to entertain negativity in any form.
Keeping the last book in my epic fantasy tetralogy going has been the hardest because to rewrite and edit one needs time – hours to just sit by myself and focus on it. Truth be told, time has been very scarce and I haven’t made as much progress as I’d like.
That being said, I know that there are other priorities in my life at the moment and that every cent (soon to be pence) I possess has to go into our move. That means I have to wait until we’ve settled down a bit before collecting the coins I’ll need to publish The Sword Bearer’s Ascension: Book 4. I don’t like it, I must tell you. Delaying the urge to publish and get out number four tugs at my heart every day, but for now I have to trust that it will get published when the time is right.
I have delayed everything from writing to blogging to promoting until my life has some normalcy again. I am both excited and fed up of this move, but like everything else in life that requires all your attention it simply must be done. Once I have the time back to refocus almost exclusively on my writing then the book will get finished and published. Patience is always something I have to work on, especially when instant gratification is my mantra (he-he, not really! I do have some self-control, you know).
Having balance is the wisest choice and always leads you in the right direction. One step at a time.
I have learned to trust my intuition telling me to be at peace, that everything will get done at the right time, in the right way. Despite a few annoying obstacles, from our decision to move, to me getting my UK visa, to our belongings travelling by sea and arriving a whole month early, to getting the cats sorted to take with us (a scary expense!) it’s all gone pretty well. We’ll be flying from South Africa to the United Kingdom on Tuesday the 30th of September and arriving on the 1st of October with high hopes and great excitement for what the future holds for us. I reckon it will take about a month before I am fully settled to finally finish rewriting and editing Book 4 and then focus on the publishing process.
How has life been for you these days, dear Writer? Anything exciting to share? I encourage you to trust yourself and whatever Power you believe in to guide you to goodness and greatness at the right time like it has for me and my family. Through this tough process I have learned to let go of all the negative thoughts and emotions that want to drag me down. I am being taken care of and all I have to do is trust and set my intent for what I want. This I have done and now I watch with awe as it unfolds. I urge you to do the same, whether it be for work/writing or your personal life, let go… You’ll get a lot more done when there’s nothing in the way, including yourself.
The Indie Author Manifesto
I LOVE this! Please share. I think every Indie author and every reader should know this manifesto. I’m proud to be Indie!
Indie Authors.
Each and every one of us should post this on our websites, blogs, etc.
THE INDIE AUTHOR MANIFESTO by Mark Coker @ Smashwords:
THE INDIE AUTHOR MANIFESTO
We indie authors believe all writers are created equal, that all writers are endowed with natural creative potential, and that writers have an unalienable right to exercise, explore and realize their potential through the freedom of publication.Â
I hold these truths to be self-evident:
- I am an indie author
- I have experienced the pleasure and satisfaction that comes from self-publishing
- I have a right to publish
- My creative control is important to me. I decide when, where and how my writing graduates to become a published book.
- Indie does not mean “alone.” I choose my partners.
- I shall not bow beholden or subservient to any publisher. In my business relationships, I seek partnership, fairness, equity and mutually aligned interests.
- We indie…
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Elmore Leonard: 10 Rules
More great writing advice. Simple and easy to remember. I agree with all the points. What say you, dear Writer? Are there areas in your writing that need tidying up and analyzing? I have learned over the years how to tighten up my writing and make it sound less like writing and more like storytelling. Is there a difference? I think so. Do you?
Elmore Leonard: 10 Rules
Among all the lists of writing rules and advice, this one ranks high, in my opinion. Simple, yet so important.
- Â Never open a book with weather.
- Â Avoid prologues.
-  Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue.
-  Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said”…he admonished gravely.
- Â Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.
-  Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.”
- Â Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
- Â Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
-  Don’t go into great detail describing places and things.
- Â Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.
My most important rule is one that sums up the 10.
If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.
 * Excerpted from the New York Times article, “Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle”
Some…
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How Do You Face the Page When You’re Exhausted?
Editing Book 4 of my epic fantasy tetralogy, The Sword Bearer’s Ascension, has been going slower than expected. The reason? We’re in the process of moving to another country, and for the last month we’ve done nothing but pack and make arrangements for the movers to first come over for two days to wrap and then take our stuff, hoping we’ll see everything in one piece and all present when we get there! Sorting out what we want to take with and leave behind (and the fact that once you’ve decided, even if you’ve made a mistake, once it’s done it’s done!!) is mentally and emotional draining, to say the least!! This includes my entire life of stuff accumulated over 45 years that I must now fit into a few boxes and what’s left gets thrown away, the latter being more stressful and painful than can be described in simple language.
It has taken a few months to make the final decision to move to the UK and leave behind all I know, including my poor mom. During this chaotic time I have done very little work on my book, and with teaching ballet (my afternoon/evening  job) five days a week, finding the time to sit down for a couple of hours and get something significant done has been nigh impossible.
Now I know some of you will say that even getting in half an hour is better than nothing and I agree. But what level of quality will my work exist at if I just squeeze it in quickly here and there? Surely I need a good 2-4 hours at least to lose myself in my story once more and connect heart and mind to ensure it doesn’t become superficial and amateurish? Doesn’t that cheat the reader out of the best of me?
You see, I know myself too well. I need that full emersion to get the entire spiritual experience. I have to live my story and my characters, to see their world and partake in it again every time I sit down at my computer in order to feel what I did when I wrote that frenzied first draft, when the true magic of creation happened.
Everything you do has the potential to be brilliant – but if you’re too tired to see it then you and your readers won’t experience the magic you’ve created!
No, I MUST find the proper amount of time to spend on the book, to edit it well so that my existing fans, and future ones, will not be cheated out of the final installment that I worked so hard to create. They deserve all of me – all of my emotion and attention and creative force, that which makes magic on the page and leaves them wanting more. Isn’t that our duty as storytellers, anyway, to ensure that our readers get what they want from a story – laughter, tears, love, joy, excitement, fear, adventure… It is vital we bring our readers what they want and need, and to do that we need to invest all of ourselves into every word. Therefore, I will make the time to edit and edit well so that I and my readers are completely satisfied.
What do you say, dear Writer? Do you write when you’re tired? I have heard it works and I have experienced an interesting emotional effect when I do the same. But when it comes to editing, that extremely detailed process that requires a clear mind, isn’t it preferable to be more alert? I’d love to read your thoughts. Please leave a comment and let’s discuss.
“When I am writing, I am trying to find out who I am.”
Wonderful words from the incomparable Maya Angelou! Let’s celebrate the life of this phenomenal writer and artist!
Maya Angelou by Spanglej, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.
Find a beautiful piece of art. If you fall in love with Van Gogh or Matisse or John Oliver Killens, or if you fall love with the music of Coltrane, the music of Aretha Franklin, or the music of Chopin — find some beautiful art and admire it, and realize that it was created by human beings just like you, no more human, no less.
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.
When I am writing, I am trying to find out who I am, who we are, what we’re capable of, how…
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moniquerockliffe 
