I am happy to report to my readers that I was successful in my quest over school vacation to write the entire time! I locked my door and taped a sign to it… FINISHING NOVEL Do not knock…I will not answer and you know what? It worked!
I was able to get 20,000 words written and learned so much about my story. So much happened during the week. The first 2 days were light and fluffy stuff. Fun scenes with the kids in the novel interacting, and by the 3rd day, I was seeing sides of my characters that I had never met before. I even met a new character! That’s right, one was lurking in the shadows of the underground just waiting for me to see him. Now I am going to admit to something I thought I already knew. I remember hearing of writers talking about having their characters speak to them but I thought that was only a fancy way of saying they were using their imaginations. It turns out they meant it literally! I could actually hear (in my mind of course) the different characters interacting with each other.
I have always heard of writers going away to a cabin in the woods to finish a novel and now I know why. The uninterrupted writing is amazing because after writing if you feel like taking a nap you can, then get back up whenever you want even if its at 3am and start writing some more. Also, because you have no interruptions, the flow is NEVER stopping. Constantly with your characters and no one else. The story begins writing itself! I am going to take writing breaks more often.
If you never have and you are a writer you owe it to yourself to take a writing marathon or a break from real people and spend committed time to your story people.
School vacation is coming to an end. It was a tiring week trying to keep up with my little girls but a wonderful week none-the-less. It was nice to just hang out and get to know each other better. Life goes by so fast. These times where we just hang around the house together and knit or chat or play are precious although we did do lots of walking and mall shopping too! I am looking forward to getting back into the regular swing of our routines because lets face it, sitting around too much gets no work produced and I am not comfortable with that. This week I plan to catch up on my writing and painting so more will be posted that’s for sure! I just wanted to pop in to say to all those on vacation… get your last lazy day in tomorrow because Monday we must get productive!
e
Next Thursday my writer’s group officially meets! I am very excited to hand a couple of chapters over to my peers for critique. It has been a long haul alone and I am eager to have some fresh eyes look into the world I have been working so hard to create. On another note I have found a GREAT book that every author should own. It’s called Guerrilla Marketing for Writers. It is full of tips (100 exactly) for authors to utilize to market their books. Most of these are free or lost cost ways to gain publicity for your work. I encourage all of my writer friends to grab a copy of it and get started on your marketing right away! Good stuff!!!
Erin
Sketching some of my characters – here is a sneak peek of the ringmaster. There are so many more but I don’t want to spoil the
surprise! Keep your eyes on the blog for more info …
Erin
What a nice time I had at LEARN ALL ABOUT IT toystore today for Halloween storytime and booksigning. Please head to this store if you are local to purchase your copy of Charlie Gets Spooked to support Jeff and his family (owners of toy store). They are wonderful people! If you are not local feel free to head over to www.charlieshead.com and purchase online through me. I will autograph your copy for you if you specify that in the comment area of the paypal order form.
Thanks to all my readers for their continued support. I can’t wait to offer you my new novel in 2011!
I am happy to say as the weather cools, my writing brain is sparking up. I fall right into the writing zone when September comes around. I am writing at full speed now and even doing some sketching for it. I will be posting a picture of my artwork tomorrow. It’s on my big computer and right now I’m only on the laptop. Talk to you tomorrow!
Erin
Today I write with sad news…. Â my novel will not be complete as I had hoped by October. You see, this being the first long piece I have ever written I underestimated the amount of work i would need to put into it. That’s not to say I am not having a great time with it, but only to say that I want it to be the best it can be. I am extending the publication date to 2011. I feel it needs more work and I believe you will be so happy with the results.
I want to thank you for your patience and understanding.
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!
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.
