Category: In the writing zone

books · daily · erin · In the writing zone · norberg · novel · publishing · Story · whalen

Sunday dinner with loved ones

Erin T. WhalenLeave a comment

Today was absolutely perfect. Sure I was exhausted from staying up all night with my little girl and her earache. Sure I was exhausted from having to run her to the doctor’s office on Sunday all while cooking a chicken. However, I find exhaustion is best tolerated when shared with loved ones. As a matter of fact, I believe that through tired eyes and a slowed brain that has lacked a bit of sleep, everything around you tends to go in slow motion. It is not until then that you realize how special your family and loved ones are. Did you ever notice when you are extremely tired it almost feels like you are watching a movie instead of watching actual people around you? I did that today. I sat around a table and listened to my family joke back and forth and chatter endlessly but because it looked as though I was watching a movie i could really pick up on how much everyone really cared about each other. I guess you could say I was living in the moment. Why am I telling you this? Well, I am telling you this because I learned something today – something that applies to writing.

Slow down and be in the moment. When you do this you will catch all of people’s true mannerisms, dialogue, quirks, and quite frankly, the truth that is sitting right behind their shiny eyes.

With this Sunday dinner in the back of mind, I look forward to watching my characters in my mind tomorrow while putting some more words down on my computer. I don’t want to just rush to get to the end of my novel and publish it, I want to sit with my characters and enjoy them like I did with my family today. As a matter of fact, I am going to be quite sad when all the words have been written and bound into pages. It will be then that I have to say goodbye and seek out my new cast of characters to sit and eat with but until then, I will enjoy the characters I am with and savor every moment of it!

Erin

art · artists · books · charlies · daily · erin · In the writing zone · Nest · novel · sketch · whalen · Writing studio

Boy can I get lost…

Erin T. Whalen1 Comment

I have to say WOW, I just looked at my blog and saw the last time I wrote was August 28th and on that day I told you I would post a sketch the next day! So sorry. I can really get side tracked. I am writing like crazy this month and very happy about that. It seems I never want to go on the internet now because I am so into my writing which is a great thing because as any writer knows its usually the opposite. When it flows, it flows right? Gotta hold your hands under the faucet and catch every drop of creativity that is coming out! I have now put my bed in my art studio so I can absorb my project, it helps to see all of my sketches and notes posted everywhere before I go to bed and first thing when i wake up and its great, I don’t have to go far to get back to the drawing board! I just wake up, meander into the kitchen to grab my cup o’ coffee and head back to my lair. It’s wonderful when the writing flows. As a matter of fact, I don’t believe there is anything I can compare it too and only those that have experienced it can understand, all the rest just get to enjoy the literature that’s born from it.

~Erin~

artists · books · daily · erin · In the writing zone · novel · Uncategorized · whalen · Writer's Block · Writing studio

Moving on ahead…

Erin T. WhalenLeave a comment

Hello again. I am happy to say that I am BACK in the writing zone! Oh boy that was not a fun bout of ‘the block’. I am also happy to say that I am moving to a perfect apartment. It is over looking a pond. What a perfect way to get up and write and write every day, right? My writer’s dream has come true (and perhaps it removed my writer’s block as well.) I am so excited to set up my new writing studio near the window that overlooks the pond. I will post pictures as soon as I move into the new home!

artists · erin · erinesque · In the writing zone · Nest · novel · Uncategorized · whalen · Writer's Block

Sometimes you need to stop and look

Erin T. Whalen2 Comments

I was working on putting up a sign on the outside of a building the other day and heard something in the bushes. This picture just goes to show you how important it is to stop and observe and DEFINITELY always have a camera on hand! Isn’t it sweet?

I have to admit, I am blocked. I haven’t been able to write a word in quite a while. It really hasn’t been that long but it seems like forever to me. You see, I have never believed in writer’s block (or at least never experienced it for myself) I am really experiencing it now. I’m not sure if it has anything to do with my oldest child getting married and leaving the nest – no pun intended 😉 I want to reassure my readers that I am working very hard to get through it. I am filling my non-writing time with photo taking, drawing, and capturing ideas in my writing idea notebook so when writing does come back to me, I will be armed and ready with lots of material.

Oh yes, and for all those writers out there who I never believed really had writer’s block, I DEEPLY apologize. It certainly is real.

Until next posting… Erin.

books · charlies · erin · head · In the writing zone · Uncategorized · whalen

The Ever-Changing Novel

Erin T. Whalen1 Comment

Once again my novel has morphed into something I never expected. I outline and plan and write and then BANG – my story takes me in a different direction. Not a bad thing though, because the story is taking on a deeper meaning for me. I have learned one thing while writing this book, well actually I’ve learned many things 🙂 but the one thing I learned that I am talking about here is how many levels the author can go into a book. The best I can explain it is like a deep hypnosis where you start with one thought and you go deeper into the trance and go down to another thought. While doing all of this you learn so many things about yourself and the issues you are dealing with. It is such an amazing process and that is why it takes so long.

Sometimes you hit a place you never knew existed and you just have to explore it. You can’t ignore it and go back to your original outline. Your story is telling you something, leading you somewhere that NEEDS to be explored and like any good writer – you put on your explorer hat (you know the kind with the little light on the top) and go deeper into the dark to see what your story is telling you. I think the best way to describe writing a story to all the readers out there is that the writer is the first to FIND the story, explore it, take notes along the way, and come back to tell about it.

We don’t make the stories up, we find them and explore them, then come back and report on them. The next time someone asks me what I do for a living, I am going to tell them I am an explorer.

I have to go back to my expedition now… I will report back to you a little later.

Erin

art · artists · erin · illustrator · In the writing zone · sketch · whalen

Mother’s Day

Erin T. Whalen2 Comments

It’s Mothers’ Day – a very happy one it was. I spent the day with 6 of my kids – my 7th was nowhere to be found. He didn’t even call which makes me sad but at the same time I know he is preparing for a big move to Idaho and planning a wedding as well so of course I can forgive the forgotten phone call. He is 21 and no longer depends on me but that never stops a Mom from thinking about her child every day. When the kids are little all we can think of (we being artist/mothers) is when will I ever get the time to write or draw or paint? Funny – now that my little ones are getting older I find I am sitting at the drawing table unable to focus because I am wondering where they are and if they are all right. Seems to me its a lot easier when they are running around making noise while I work. Yeah, now that I think of it, I can create much easier with my kids under foot. Just yesterday I was sketching and all my littler ones were running in and out of the house. I drew at my art table while watching them out the picture window and when they ran inside to give me an acorn I just smiled and placed it on my tabletop. It added to the value of my writing and brought  a whole new level of meaning to it. I really enjoyed my weekend creating with my kids running around me and I am going to enjoy it for as long as I possibly can because I know it doesn’t last forever, it didn’t with my first born.

To all those mother/artists out there, enjoy your creative times with the chatter in the background while you can… you will miss that precious chatter. I know I will.

Erin

In the writing zone

My Mental Vacation

Erin T. WhalenLeave a comment

I often ask myself is it possible to keep up with the technology today? I get excited as it grows however frustrated that I need to keep learning at an amazingly fast pace. I’m not sure if you’ll agree with me but at times it feels as though my head is swimming (drowning is more like it) in a sea of knowledge. I can’t drink it all up and at times, I even feel waterlogged.

I am currently working on the follow-up novel from my Charlie’s Head picture-book series but find it difficult to carve any time out for it because all of the new technologies to learn to get my stuff out there. It almost feels to me like we are living in a schitzophrenic society. Our thoughts are moving faster than our bodies can keep up with.

Okay… with that said I am pleased to announce I will be taking the entire school vacation week off of this merry-go-round of cyberspace and focus on my N.I.P (No that is not a drink – it is my NOVEL IN PROGRESS) I feel that by devoting an entire string of full days and nights to it, my mind will be focused enough to stay in the fictional world I have worked so hard to create. I mean, as a reader you must know how frustrating it is to get deep into your book only to be pulled out of it to start dinner, or even worse and unexpected interruption like an unwanted in-law dropping by for just a few moments. Now imagine actually being in the middle of creating that fictional world and getting yanked out of it. The feeling I get when this happens is best described as getting woken up suddenly out of a dream and all you want to do is go back to sleep to re-enter it… only you can’t. The moment and momentum is gone.

I guess it is safe to say I will be M.I.A in the ‘real’ world for that school vacation week. If not physically, definitely mentally.