Roses and Rowling

Nature and exercise: a great combo for inspiration. When I just don't want to write or can't get past a certain part, taking a walk--preferably in the mountains or forest, at the beach or on the moon--revs my creative engine, and by the time I get home, I want to rush for a notebook.

Another source of inspiration is the success of other writers, and imagining some of that success for myself. The fact that people will read and love and hate something I wrote. They'll talk to me about it and ask questions and that's also terrifying because I'll have to know everything inside out and backwards, yet so, so sweet because the readers are so excited by my world that they want to know more. Sigh...someday. I watched a documentary on J. K. Rowling last night and thought it was so cool that, the night of the Deathly Hallows release, she signed autographs until almost 8 in the morning.

What's playing on my mental mp3 player: The Rose, Bette Midler
***Note that I have no control over said player, nor do I always like the song that is playing. I recently watched Napolean Dynamite, hence the above tune, which is not on my real mp3 player.

Freight trains and worms, among other things

Today, riding freight trains from the 50s, running from wild dogs and dealing with fears. Boy, I'm tired.

Truthfully, I just wanted to write a post so I could post what's playing in my head now. :D

What's playing on my mental mp3 player: Guess I'll Go Eat Worms, ?

One year later...

Just taking a moment to remember Japan's horrible quake/tsunami last year and to be thankful it wasn't worse.

Buzz buzz buzz Was was was

Read an interesting article about the use of was and passive voice. I've been killing was's and had's like adverbs and awkwardly screwing my sentences around. I thought finding ways to avoid using those grammatically necessary three-letter words made me a Better Writer. While it's good in most cases to use active voice, I'm going to stop starving my manuscripts. I still feel an anorexic twinge of guilt every time I write was or had, but I feel more freedom to express things differently. Thanks to Patricia Wrede for that reminder.

What's playing on my mental mp3 player: Undisclosed Desires, Muse