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Tag Archives: Muse

Writing in November

31 Oct
Nabob and his new girlfriend!

Nabob and his new girlfriend!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s Halloween. Tonight at midnight, the real crazies will come out. They will be strapped to their computers and notebooks, writing as fast as they can. Motivated by that magical number 50,000, they will band together in small groups in coffee houses and restaurants for support. They have kissed they significant others goodbye, told their friends to call them in 30 days and gone into self-imposed exile from the rest of the world. November is a crazy month for writers. NaNoWriMo!

I sat down to write a few days ago and banged out what I think will be the beginning of the climax to my WIP. When I saved the file, it dawned on me how close I am to the end. Sure, there are a few spots in the story that I need to beef up. But, the light at the end of the tunnel does not appear to be a train racing back at me.

I write slow. That’s who I am. 50,000 words in 30 days is not something I want to even try. I understand my limitations and November is the worst month of the year for me to try it. A friend of mine said it’s not the word count that matters. It’s the count of GOOD words that’s important.

So, what does all this mean? I only need a portion of the magic number to finish my WIP. Even though it’s November, the muse is knocking on the door. Nabob has settled in with his new main squeeze. And, most importantly, I want to see how this thing ends. My intention is to finish my WIP by December 1. I’m not sure what the final word count will be and frankly, I don’t care. To make sure I stay on track with this and get my blog going again I will provide weekly updates. Please feel free to give me a hard time if I drop the ball.

For those of you who will disappear tonight and return in 30 days, good luck to you. I wish you well.

 
5 Comments

Posted by on October 31, 2014 in Thoughts on Writing

 

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View of the Garden

26 Aug
Some of My Daylillies starting to bloom!

Some of my daylillies in bloom!

I have not blogged about one of my other passions, gardening. I can’t say why. It just didn’t seem to be right for this blog. Well, I’ve changed my mind.

Do you believe in magic? If you answered no, I want you to go outside and take a walk in nature. If you still don’t see it, find a gardener and ask them to show you. You see, magic is everywhere in nature. As a fantasy writer, if I need inspiration, I look outside and watch the daylillies change from bare ground, to little green spikes, to fountains of green leaves, to rockets of stalks that explode into glorious colorful displays. The idea of fireworks had to come from man’s trying to copy the splendor of daylillies growing to full bloom.

These were "throw aways" from the hybridizer.

These were “Throw aways” from the hybridizer.

Here are a couple of my favorites that were actually throw away plants from a local hybridizer. The colors and petal structure are normal for these plants. Throw aways, Really? Yes.

Still another "Throw away"!

Still another “Throw away”!

Do you want to be a better artist? Paint detailed gardens. The variety of textures created by the foliage will force you to perfect every type of brush stroke there is. When I designed my gardens, I spent more time thinking about texture than I did about colors. The reason is that most plants only produce blooms for a short time. The foliage however, is there all season. Even the textures of a hosta glade vary as each cultivar has unique shape and growth habit.

Textures of the foliage are overseen by the Watcher!

Textures of the foliage are overseen by the Watcher!

Then there is the magic of water. Moving water is best but any water holds magic. The sound of water splashing over boulders that are older than time creates a vibration within one’s body that is both soothing and invigorating. Cool water flowing over sun-warmed rock. Softly sliding over hard surfaces, the clear fluid continues to move toward the center, wherever that might be.

Mystic Waterfall (My Backyard)

Mystic Waterfall
(My Backyard)

And lastly, a sure-fire cure for writer’s block. Find a well-textured garden and get down on your hands and knees. Better still, on your belly. Get your eyes down as low as possible. Crawl forward until you are right at the edge of the foliage. Look into it and imagine you are a rabbit or chipmunk. What adventures await you as you enter into the jungle before you? What dangers lurk beyond the first few leaves. Get closer. Try to move through the leaves to the next layer. How does the view change? How does this affect you? Now you see how this change of perspective can stimulate the imagination and open up a blocked mind to allow the muse a chance to work again.

My gardens are a source of peace, therapy, and inspiration for me. What do you use?

 

 
18 Comments

Posted by on August 26, 2014 in Garden Walks

 

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Imaginary Friends

17 Jul
Apprentice meets his mentor

Writer meets his not so imaginary friend!

I saw a quote the other day that I thought was worth passing along.

“Writer’s block is a condition that happens when your imaginary friends stop talking to you.”

Talk about a sad, lonely experience! What would you have to do to your imaginary friends for them to abandon you?

Seriously though, the Muse can be a “fickle bitch”. One minute he can be hammering at your brain keeping you awake until you get up and scribble a few lines to pacify him. The next minute she gives you the cold shoulder, slams the door, and leaves you with a sink full of dirty dishes, a lawn that needs mowing, a stack of bills to pay, and no story ideas.

At times when my current imaginary friends abandon me, I have a trick to get them back.

Wait for it.

Here is comes.

I create new imaginary friends. 🙂 That’s the great thing about imaginary friends, you can create as many as you want.  Sometimes they get me thinking about another project. I have to be careful with this as it can lead me away from my current project so far that I never do finish it.

Other times I consider adding an additional character. The character usually gets scrapped later but it keeps the creative juices flowing. Once in a while the new character gets to stay as it fills a before overlooked need in my story. Whichever method I use, before too long, my imaginary friends get jealous and come back to me. We start working together and the story takes off.

Before you call the men in white coats to come and take me away, listen to the voices in your own head. They are probably telling you to sit down and write something. Listen to them. You’ll be better off if you do.

 
6 Comments

Posted by on July 17, 2014 in Thoughts on Writing

 

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Just Weird!

14 Feb

Have you every sat down to do something and the next thing you know a whole day has gone by? It’s been eleven days since my last post and for the life of me, I have no idea where the time went. It’s not like when I was unemployed for five months and would play Harpoon on my IBM Model 50z from 9:00 PM until 3:00 AM. I knew what I was doing then. I was a conscious choice. I was trying to escape the fact that 250 resumes were sent out to 250 companies and only two interviews were generated. If you have to take off your shoes to figure out the numbers, that’s 248 reject letters!!! But I digress.

I got a flash update on MAVEN ans the next thing I know it’s Friday morning a week later and I don’t know where the time went. There is some good news. Wherever the time went, at least some of it went towards the WIP. Progress is being made and the writing habit I set out to create this year seems to be working. As you’ll see later even that had huge amounts of weirdness. Now that I know I lost time, I’ve been trying to find it. It’s strange there are just blank spots that I can’t account for. All of the important stuff got done like paying bills loving on the cats, and going to work. So, I was at least functioning physically. Quite strange.

Have you ever gone back to review your writing progress and determined that your word count for the last week has been EXACTLY the same everyday? I kid you, not! Every day since the 3rd the number of words spilling out of my head and into the laptop as been EXACTLY the same!!! The time spent writing varies from day-to-day by anywhere from five to twenty minutes.

So, what gives? Any ideas? Today is the full moon so that can’t be it. The waxing moon is my high energy period of the month. Maybe that plays into it? But, why do I write the same number of words? The scenes have been different in nature and feel. The one constant, which has been so for well beyond the period in question, has been writing have been fun. I like what’s coming out and it seems to be working. The muse is not fussing and the internal editor has gone south to get out of the extreme cold we’ve been dealing with.

Maybe this weirdness is a good thing? Oh, oh. i got an idea for the beaded moccasin scene, gotta go. See you later.

 
14 Comments

Posted by on February 14, 2014 in Other Strangeness

 

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Pick a story and write.

09 Jul

Dear Dennis,

As your muse I am asking you, no, begging you to pick a story idea and just write it. I have giving you world-class plot ideas, fascinating, multi-layered characters, and exotic locations only to watch you turn them over for a few weeks, maybe write a scene or two, and then set them aside in favor of a newer idea. It takes a lot of effort for me to create the ideas I send you. I would hope you would show me the courtesy of at least following through on one of them.

Frustrated,

Your Muse

Dear Muse,

I appreciate your concern and frustration. However, if you would just stop giving me new material to consider, I could concentrate on finishing one idea. Perhaps you could do what all those other muses do and provide inspiration for the whole story and not just layout a scene or two leaving me with a blank screen and 50,000 words to find on my own. There is supposed to be a beginning, a middle, and an end. Sure, I know what the plotline is. However, it would be nice if you could help out with the details.

Also, you must understand that I cannot type as fast as you can think. I’m not a touch typist and you should get used to that.

So, get back to work and give me a great gypsy fortune-teller scene.

Ready to write,

Dennis

P.S. You can still work on the Actress and the Warlock from time to time.

 
8 Comments

Posted by on July 9, 2012 in Other Strangeness

 

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