Quiet Keystrokes and Midnight Ramblings

On September 1st I filled the whiteboard above my desk with a list of goals for the month.  So far, with the day still young and a couple more items to be completed, I have met 12 out of 20 goals and I know that I'll knock out at least two more before the stroke of midnight. Were we having a two sided conversation instead of this rambling monologue, you might ask me why I set so many goals for September.  The simple answer is: Because I want to succeed.  At this juncture in my life, I am blessed to have no boss and no one to answer to aside from my own conscience and as with many things in life this blessing comes with a double-edged sword. On the one hand, life is a breeze without the hassle of being micro-managed by someone who has little time for anything other than pestering me about projects past, present and future.  I don't use an alarm clock any more, can go run errands whenever the mood strikes and can spend as much of my day watching Judge Judy as I wan...

Now that I have several articles in the pipeline for Associated Content , three manageable blogs and 1/3 of my novel edited, I decided it was time to add something new.  I want to start writing for magazines! I decided that I should make an attempt at writing for a magazine that I currently buy and read and so I contacted Action Pursuit Games to see what it would take to write for them.  As it turns out, to submit articles and photos to their magazine is a lot more simple a concept than I thought it would be.  To get set up, I had to fill out a W-9, and fill out a release of content for any written content and photographs that I might submit through the end of the year.  APG's writers and photographers have to fill out new W-9's and releases annually, which is nice so that it doesn't have to be re-done every time I submit something. Now that I've got all the paperwork submitted, all that I have to do is find something to write about!  I love the ne...

I spent the last weekend roaming downtown Atlanta for Dragon*Con 2010, and the experience gave me so much writing material that 9 days into the month I'm already meeting  my writing goals for September. Whenever you are feeling the pinch of writers block or you are backed up against a deadline and can't think of what to write, get out of the office and live a little! One of the easiest articles to write is a review of a product, service or event that you have used/experienced recently. Travelling (whether around your home-town or across the globe) gives alert writers volumes of experiences to write about.  Airlines, restaurants, shows and events, classes and films are all fair game for your review, and all you really need in order to write a compelling review is your own opinion. Although writing reviews may not be your favorite type of writing, and may not spur your most creative thought, they can help you to keep the writing habit going.  Getting into a dry-spell of ...

There comes a time in every writer's life when it's time to walk away from the computer and head out into the world for some inspiration!  For me, that time is now and in 24 hours I will be on my way to experiencing the fantasy, fun and intrigue that Dragon*Con has to offer! Heading out to conventions, especially those that surround the literary world, will hopefully give me a chance to meet other writers and see what is happening in the world of fantasy/sci-fi/fanfic.  It sure does help to know that not only are there other writers out there writing fiction, but that some of them are actually a success at it!  I intend to leave Atlanta on Monday enlightened, encouraged, and bursting with new ideas and concepts. If you aren't familiar with Dragon*Con I encourage you to check out their website at www.dragoncon.org and check out the immense width and breadth that this convention has to offer writers, painters, musicians and people who aren't creative but wh...

One of the hardest parts of being a writer, or doing any type of creative work, is getting it finished.  Because we type away at our own pace, get distracted by the ding of Instant Messages, have friends and family that don't see our creativity as a "real job" and have no bosses breathing down our necks... it's really easy to put off the writing until tomorrow.  Or next week.  Or a month from now. I've discovered that there are a few things that can help us to create our own deadlines, and help ourselves to actually stick to them. Deadline Tip #1: Make A Goal It doesn't matter if your goal is to submit articles to 10 magazines a month, rewrite 5 chapters of your manuscript or apply for a job in the writing/editing industry.  Take the time to figure out what it is you want to accomplish, and write it down.  I have a white-board above my monitor for such goals which makes it easy to edit them, check them off and then erase them once they've been met...

For the first time this summer I finally sat down and started on the project I swore was going to be finished by July 1st.  I began to edit the first draft of my novel. Granted, family circumstances being what they are, I was only able to edit the first three pages (out of 150... I still have a looong way to go).  But those first three pages of work have been four months in the making.  Continuously this summer I have found the novel being shoved deeper and deeper on the list of things to do; falling into second, then fourth, then 100th on the growing list after family crisis, death, remodeling, moving and any other number of things that have taken priority. Finally today when trying to figure out which of the remaining 1,000 tasks on the list should be accomplished I decided that come hell or high-water I was going to do something with the novel at the bottom of my book-bag.  If you're one of my friends or family, the red and white bag may have become very familia...

There comes a time in each of our written lives when some injustice occurs that is just so outrageous that we are beside ourselves with emotion.  Be it rage, sympathy, hope or disdain; we writers deal with things in our own way.  We don't tend to go picketing and shouting in front of high-rise buildings, we don't raise our fists and aim for the chin, and we typically aren't found screaming red-faced at clerks or managers.  No, we writers take a different approach: we write. Somewhere along the way we discovered that the written word can be even more crippling than a well-placed throw of the fist.  We understand that we can sometimes bring more awareness and help to a cause we feel is worthy simply by writing our feelings out on paper and sending it out into the world to take on a life of its own.  And often, far more often than losing our tempers and telling the S.O.B. behind the counter just what we think of him, we feel relief and vindication as throngs of r...