Heyo everyone! So first of all... I totally skipped on a Friday in Review post. Sorry for that. In other news I getting super excited and psyched for Of Magic and Mayhem to release in a few weeks!! :D There will be a paperback giveaway in a few weeks, and right now I'm giving away a few PDF ebook copies of Of Magic and Mayhem and if you would like one, subscribe to my email list and the first ten people who subscribe will get a free PDF version of my short story collection!
Of Magic and Mayhem is a collection of ten short stories. These stories have everything from vampires, to magic, to goblins, to ghosts. All of them tales of magic and love and danger and even a little darkness.
This collection will take you from the colorful, vibrant world of Avalon in Magic and Mayhem to a contemporary city where magic and mythic creature are the norm in Infinity, The Invisible Thief, and Knox. You get to know the undying love of two brothers in Of Moonlight and Tombstones, learn that sometimes love can be dangerous in the Pool of the Lost, and that love isn't always peaceful in Peace at Last. The Rain Boy and Sky-Crossed Lovers will break your heart and make you soar above the clouds with tales of grief, and monsters, and thunderstorms. Enter a valley of magic and darkness in The Lonely Child and meet a thief and a ghostly princess in The Wolf's Blessing.
Delve into the bite sized worlds in Of Magic and Mayhem and let these tales whisk you away to dangerous and enchanting places of the imagination.
Sometimes being a writer is hard. And not for all the reasons you think.
Yes I can relate with you about writer's block and uncooperative characters and plot bunnies and plot holes and every other thing that drives writers crazy and makes it hard to be a writer. But for me, and I'm sure others too, sometimes writing is hard for other reasons.
Whenever I see those signs that says "you should be writing!" Or hear certain writing rules like, you need to write even if you don't feel like it and if you don't then you aren't taking your writing professionally.
It makes me feel kind of guilty when I sit down to write and I just... can't that day. Even if I'm in love with a story and I sit down and I just don't feel good or I'm overwhelmed or my brain is just a giant mess sometimes I shut the laptop -- usually in frustration - and go do something else (usually watch a show or read).
Sometimes I do follow those rules, but a lot of the time I just... can't. Sometimes I physically and/or mentally can not bring myself to write, which frustrates me and when I try to push through it that only makes it worse. My anxiety and depression sometimes escapes me and makes it incredibly hard to write. Sometimes my brain is fuzzy and I just feel faint and tired and no matter what I try nothing can get me out of those fuzziness and if you've ever tried writing with a fuzzy, tired brain, then you know how hard and almost impossible it is!
And then, sometimes I'm just tired or emotionally or physically drained and I feel awful about it, but I dot write on those days or in those moments. My body is difficult to me and I almost always have something wrong with me or some part of me that doesn't feel good and it distracts me from writing cuz sometimes I feel like crap and I don't write when I feel like that. I get sick super easily. I'm like a magnet for germs and depending on how bad the cold is, I do sometimes write when I'm sick or at least try and plot or do something creative, but a lot of the time I don't write when I get sick. I just don't have the brain power or the energy to write.
But I love writing. Writing is my life. It is my passion, one of the only things in my life that makes me truly happy. So when I can't write because my brain or body won't cooperate, it is maddening.
The last two weeks or so have made me realize that I can't force myself to write... I know that maybe that's what "real" or "professional" writers do, but sometimes - most of the time - it just isn't good for me and it doesn't help in the least bit. Yes, I am self-published and I do and want to take that seriously and I want to publish more things and be consistent and professional with how I release books and all that, but I'm not going to force myself to write as fast as I can just to churn out and publish another book. Or at least, I'm going to try not to. It's a work in progress, to convince myself that it's ok to take a break from writing if I don't feel good. To me anyways, writing shouldn't feel like a chore. Writing should be something enjoyable and that makes me smile and excited. I feel like I blog about this a lot, but sometimes I fall back into the mindset of, I need to write even when I don't feel good or I need to push through it because that's what "real" writers do, so a lot of the time I write these blog posts to remind myself to take a deep breath and come back to what writing should be and what it is.
I wrote this entire blog post about a week or so ago in my Notes app on my phone when I felt horrible physically and I was just so done and so frustrated and it's not huge or anything. It's more of just me rambling and I guess kind of a reminder to myself and to other writers with mental or physical problems that make it hard to write that they aren't alone and that it's ok to take a break from writing or do something else when you don't feel good. You are a real and a professional writer even if you do take breaks from writing because of how you feel. No one has ever told me that I'm not professional or real because of that, but my mind does sometimes and it's absolutely not true. So don't buy into that like that your brain or people have told you cuz it's not true at all. And when you see a poster that says you should be writing or you hear one of those writer rules that says you need to do this, this, and this to be a good writer, don't listen to them.
I mean... like read them and know of them, but you don't have to listen to them. I can't remember what the name of the book was, but it was a writer book and the author said to learn the rules of writing. Memorize them. Get really good at listening to them. And once you have, once you know them and know how to follow them, feel free to break them.
Or how I like to phrase it, writer rules (to me anyways) are more like guidelines (as shown above). Know them, respect them, but chart your own path and don't be afraid to break the rules or veer off course and do things your own way.
Of Magic and Mayhem is a collection of ten short stories. These stories have everything from vampires, to magic, to goblins, to ghosts. All of them tales of magic and love and danger and even a little darkness.
This collection will take you from the colorful, vibrant world of Avalon in Magic and Mayhem to a contemporary city where magic and mythic creature are the norm in Infinity, The Invisible Thief, and Knox. You get to know the undying love of two brothers in Of Moonlight and Tombstones, learn that sometimes love can be dangerous in the Pool of the Lost, and that love isn't always peaceful in Peace at Last. The Rain Boy and Sky-Crossed Lovers will break your heart and make you soar above the clouds with tales of grief, and monsters, and thunderstorms. Enter a valley of magic and darkness in The Lonely Child and meet a thief and a ghostly princess in The Wolf's Blessing.
Delve into the bite sized worlds in Of Magic and Mayhem and let these tales whisk you away to dangerous and enchanting places of the imagination.
*********************
Sometimes being a writer is hard. And not for all the reasons you think.
Yes I can relate with you about writer's block and uncooperative characters and plot bunnies and plot holes and every other thing that drives writers crazy and makes it hard to be a writer. But for me, and I'm sure others too, sometimes writing is hard for other reasons.
Whenever I see those signs that says "you should be writing!" Or hear certain writing rules like, you need to write even if you don't feel like it and if you don't then you aren't taking your writing professionally.
 |
| Me whenever I hear those things |
It makes me feel kind of guilty when I sit down to write and I just... can't that day. Even if I'm in love with a story and I sit down and I just don't feel good or I'm overwhelmed or my brain is just a giant mess sometimes I shut the laptop -- usually in frustration - and go do something else (usually watch a show or read).
Sometimes I do follow those rules, but a lot of the time I just... can't. Sometimes I physically and/or mentally can not bring myself to write, which frustrates me and when I try to push through it that only makes it worse. My anxiety and depression sometimes escapes me and makes it incredibly hard to write. Sometimes my brain is fuzzy and I just feel faint and tired and no matter what I try nothing can get me out of those fuzziness and if you've ever tried writing with a fuzzy, tired brain, then you know how hard and almost impossible it is!
And then, sometimes I'm just tired or emotionally or physically drained and I feel awful about it, but I dot write on those days or in those moments. My body is difficult to me and I almost always have something wrong with me or some part of me that doesn't feel good and it distracts me from writing cuz sometimes I feel like crap and I don't write when I feel like that. I get sick super easily. I'm like a magnet for germs and depending on how bad the cold is, I do sometimes write when I'm sick or at least try and plot or do something creative, but a lot of the time I don't write when I get sick. I just don't have the brain power or the energy to write.
But I love writing. Writing is my life. It is my passion, one of the only things in my life that makes me truly happy. So when I can't write because my brain or body won't cooperate, it is maddening.
 |
| Me trying to pull myself together and write |
The last two weeks or so have made me realize that I can't force myself to write... I know that maybe that's what "real" or "professional" writers do, but sometimes - most of the time - it just isn't good for me and it doesn't help in the least bit. Yes, I am self-published and I do and want to take that seriously and I want to publish more things and be consistent and professional with how I release books and all that, but I'm not going to force myself to write as fast as I can just to churn out and publish another book. Or at least, I'm going to try not to. It's a work in progress, to convince myself that it's ok to take a break from writing if I don't feel good. To me anyways, writing shouldn't feel like a chore. Writing should be something enjoyable and that makes me smile and excited. I feel like I blog about this a lot, but sometimes I fall back into the mindset of, I need to write even when I don't feel good or I need to push through it because that's what "real" writers do, so a lot of the time I write these blog posts to remind myself to take a deep breath and come back to what writing should be and what it is.
I wrote this entire blog post about a week or so ago in my Notes app on my phone when I felt horrible physically and I was just so done and so frustrated and it's not huge or anything. It's more of just me rambling and I guess kind of a reminder to myself and to other writers with mental or physical problems that make it hard to write that they aren't alone and that it's ok to take a break from writing or do something else when you don't feel good. You are a real and a professional writer even if you do take breaks from writing because of how you feel. No one has ever told me that I'm not professional or real because of that, but my mind does sometimes and it's absolutely not true. So don't buy into that like that your brain or people have told you cuz it's not true at all. And when you see a poster that says you should be writing or you hear one of those writer rules that says you need to do this, this, and this to be a good writer, don't listen to them.
 |
| I just had to put this in here haha |
I mean... like read them and know of them, but you don't have to listen to them. I can't remember what the name of the book was, but it was a writer book and the author said to learn the rules of writing. Memorize them. Get really good at listening to them. And once you have, once you know them and know how to follow them, feel free to break them.
Or how I like to phrase it, writer rules (to me anyways) are more like guidelines (as shown above). Know them, respect them, but chart your own path and don't be afraid to break the rules or veer off course and do things your own way.
 |
| Cuz there's no one who knows how to follow your own path more than Moana |
Have a great week everyone!!
Great post! Very unique and encouraging :P
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm glad I could encourage you. :)
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