Ten Reasons You Know You Are A Writer

1.Inspiration strikes at the most unexpected moments.
2.You know the terms: "Follow me to Twitter", E-Book, Book Trailer, Feed.
3.You develop a blog and/or website.
4.Your creative muse wakes you up in the middle of the night with an idea of something to write about and you have a small notebook on your night stand for when it does.
5.You keep a small writing pad in your purse for just in case.
6.You find yourself eavesdropping and people watching more at a restaurant, coffee shop, bookstore, etc. in hopes of getting an idea for a story.
7.You observe your surroundings more and pay more attention to details.
8. You subscribe to writing magazines, buy books on the craft of writing, attend writing classes/workshops, writing conferences, join book clubs, enter writing contests.
9. You buy file folders to organize your writing with words on them such as: best seller, illustrate, fairy tale, novel, thriller.
10. You read everything and anything and you write, write, write.

Sonnet - Lost Love

I wrote this sonnet when I was 16.

LOST LOVE
The sky is light and thoughts are dark. When
will my big love be back. Many a time
the soft cooling breeze against us. Again.
His gentle touch; his sweet lips upon mine.
The memories, the laughter and kindness.
Far gone. Sadly the hours go by, leaving
one with nothing inside. Her lovliness,
perfection were always with him. Being
by her side. Eyes light brown, but so profound.
When will I see her smile again? Today?
Thinking of each other, apart, but bound
so close in dreams. Will it be July, May?
These lovers in the fog; till pace by pace
they came; and she wept in his close embrace.

The Journal's Pen

A journal without a special pen cannot be. The pen must write freely across the page, not stopping, just flowing with words. Words that become images. Images that come alive again when someone reads them. I think that you need a special pen or pens when you are writing. I have a ballpoint pen (some in different colors) for each journal I keep. I have not written in all my journals but if inspiration strikes I will be ready. It is a writer's tool and it is important to connect with it, next to the journal/writer's notebook you keep, this is the next most important thing.

Sensory Lists

Writing Class Notes: Sensory Lists
A writing exercise in writing a series of five sensory lists. The purpose of this exercise is to go back to the list when doing descriptions in your writing. My teacher said to assume every reader is blind, so you need to use description when you write. The reader wants details and can connect to you better if you do: "Show, don't tell". Another point she made was to not repeat words in the same writing. These are the five sensory lists and my responses to them as they relate to me. I only gave a couple, but you can write as many as you like.

1. Things that are magical - rainbows, unicorns
2. Favorite Smells - scented candles, freshly brewed coffee
3. Sounds I love - rain, wind chimes
4. Favorite Sights - watching people dance, ice skating
5. Favorite Feels - holding hands, cashmere

Romantic At Heart

I am not ashamed to say I am a helpless romantic. This probably came from reading so many fairy tales as a child. The Princess stayed with the Prince at the end and lived happlily ever after. In my journey into the world of writing, aside from learning the craft, I want to write a romantic suspense novel. The whole notion of romance and mystery really interests me. Of course my story will have a happy ending. A happy ending does not mean all troubles are over, but now there are two people to share it and grow together as a couple. I have done some of (in my opinion) my best writing when in love or a romantic gesture touched me in a special, profound way. I have added books that I have on writing a romance to this blog, I have not read them all yet, but will. If you go to a bookstore, they have at least two to three shelves of books on romance. Some of my favorite romance/romantic suspense authors today are Sandra Brown, Nora Roberts, Tami Hoag, Jayne Ann Kravetz, and Karen Rose. I have a lot of their books and one of my goals this year is to read them all. This will help me learn how they write and I know my idea to write my story will come from this.

Something To Think About

One of my best friends sent this to me. As a writer, I look for things that motivate and inspire me. This is one of those things. I had to include the picture, it was too cute not to.

"Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Love the ones who don't just because you can. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Kiss slowly. Forgive quickly. God never said life would be easy. He just promised it would be worth it".

Creativity Tips

I found this very interesting and informative website: www.thefictionwritersjourney.com. I subscribed to her email newsletter and recently got this email relating to creativity tips that I want to share.

Ten Tips on Creativity - www.thefictionwritersjourney.com
by Emily Hanlon


1. Don’t think. Creating a story or book has little to do with the intellect or language when we first begin. Our best ideas will emerge as a spark or image. Like dreams, they will make little sense. Followed, they will hold the key to the creative unconscious.

2. Creativity is cyclical. You cannot and will not be creative all the time. What is full must empty and what is empty will fill. Creativity has its own internal rhythms. Learn to listen to yours.

3. Nothing kills creativity faster than criticism. Don’t share your work-in-progress with people who are critical or those whose opinions leave you vulnerable, no matter how much you love them. Good critiquing should leave you inspired, not deflated.

4. Spend time listening to your inner critic. He or she is not comfortable with the risks demanded by a creative endeavor. By becoming aware of the foul jabber of your inner critic, you can see how your own mind puts up roadblocks to your creativity.

5. Being a creator is risky business. Don’t underestimate the tremendous emotional and psychic risks the journey demands. Learn to push ahead even when you are afraid. Learn to love the risk.

6. Don’t be afraid to fail. Every successful creator has failed hundreds of times. Failure is an integral part of creativity. It doesn’t mean you’re wrong or stupid. It only means you’ve uncovered a path or technique that does not work.

7. Don’t be afraid to write garbage. Every successful writer writes mounds of garbage. Give your work time to percolate. Play the What If game. For example, if you’re writing fiction and a characters is sweet and loving and you’re stuck, have the character mean and hateful. In the world of the imagination, anything can happen.

8. Nurture your creativity. It is as fragile as a budding flower. Open to the dance. Listen to music that makes you feel like flying. Go for a walk. Laugh with a friend, child or lover. Creativity is about feeling.

9. Be passionate. Creativity is passionate. Passion is always creative.

10. Learn your craft. And write, write, write! The more you write, the better you will get. Discipline yourself. Successful writers are disciplined writers.

Writing Daily Planner/Calendar/Journal

I have tried many different types and brands of calendars/planners to write down my doctor's appointments, school activities, to do list, etc.(I do not like to use the electronic calendars) I forget things if I do not write them down. I started out with a small, weekly pocket calendar. I outgrew this because I was writing too much and ran out of space. I advanced to the desk weekly planner/calendar, but again, I found I needed more space to write. Finally, I realized I needed to get a daily (page a day) planner so I would have plenty of paper to write on. I have used the DayTimer, Franklin Covey, and others that I cannot remember the name, page a day calendars/planners with time slots to write your appointments. Still, I did quite like these either. In 2007, I finally found the one that fit me best at Barnes and Noble: "Exacompta", Daily, One Day Per Page, Journal 21, Refill 2201, for $18.95. Their website is www.quovadisplanners.com. The size is 6x8, lined pages, soft cover, refillable, looks like a journal, has appointment slots and plenty of room to write anything you want. Some of its other features are a personal info page, holidays and world holidays, international telephone access codes, USA map with time zones, semi-annual calendar, monthly calendar formatted in a column format, and also in a monthly calendar page, yearly planner and pages to keep addresses, phone numbers, emails. In keeping this type of daily calendar/planner/journal, you can historically keep track of your life, year to year and at the same time use it to write whenever the moment strikes and you are not home. This is my "bible", I would be lost without it, if I go out, it comes with me.

To Pen or Click

I have been debating whether I should just type anything I write on the computer or continue to use writing journals (I have a lot of these that I have bought and/or gotten as gifts). I guess the advantage of using the computer is that you can organize it better and put your different types of writing in folders on the computer (making sure you also save it to a flash drive, in case your computer crashes). I would then just keep actual file folders for things of interest that I clip out of a magazine, newspaper, etc. (photos, writing articles), and all of the writing I have done until now. I like typing because it is faster, but I find that when I write with a pen, I connect more with what I write. Eventually, when I start to write my story I will probably use pen and paper and then type it in the computer for editing, etc. I don't think there is any right or wrong way to write, it comes down to what the writer is comfortable with. At this point, I like both, though lately I have been using the computer more. However, when I have a poem in my mind, or a thought, I write it down in one of my notebooks.

Write Without Fear

I want to say I started writing at age 9. I wrote some lyrics to songs I made up. My other writing was short stories as projects for English class. Then at 14 I wrote a short story relating to my life as a teenager, and again at 15 I wrote another short story about a girl meeting a boy kind of thing. I put these away and never looked at them again. Luckily, as I have moved, I have not lost them. One of these days I will reread them and now that I know more about writing might rewrite them better. I don't remember writing anything from 15 to 18. My mom passed away when I was 18. I was very distressed, felt helpless and alone after that. So I started writing my feelings on a 6x8 notebook. I wrote for the next 4 years anything that was happening in my life, mostly things that made me happy, sad, mad, etc. One day, I do not know what got into me that I threw all these notebooks away. I was afraid that if someone should find them, they would read about things that were private to me and I did not want this to happen. In retrospect, this was a very foolish thing to do. I regret this now. When you write, whatever it is, don't be afraid of it being discovered and read, don't let this stop you from writing negative or mean, angry things. You can't always write positively. I have written about events that made me upset or people that made me upset. If they were to read my writing they would know who I was talking about or not. I am not afraid of someone finding my written work anymore. I am, after all, a writer. I will not hold back on writing something for fear of it being found. If someone takes offense to it, I am sorry. I don't mention names, just feelings and thoughts, I don't use curse words, I try to avoid this because I don't like to use them, but if I have to use them to get my feelings or thoughts across, then I do. I use any words that I first write on the paper. For me, it feels good. You never know when one of these or any writings you do might lead to the start of a story.

Morning Pages

One of the first things I learned when I took the class "The Writers Way" is to do "morning pages". You write early in the morning or as soon as you get up, this would be the best time since you are the most fresh. However if you are not a morning person, then afternoon, evening or night is just as good. Keep a separate notebook for this type of writing and write 3 pages, of anything. I have done this and I kept two notebooks. One in which I wrote anything that came to my mind and the other I wrote things I wanted to get out of my system: something that was hurting me inside or that I was mad or upset about. I feel good when I write things like this down, it sort of "cleanses" me. You can throw this writing away(the "negative writing" if you will) if you want, but wait at least 8 weeks or keep it if you want. I must confess I have been a little lax in keeping up with this. But I think to start it is good practice to get you writing everyday. My morning papers today are the blogs I follow that have writing prompts. For the morning pages, it is important that you have a notebook that you like and will be inspired to write in and also as important a nice pen that you "connect" with. Pick a pen that feels nice on the paper, that flows, does not smudge. I have a collection of over 100 pens, but I only use the ballpoint pens to write with that have a good grip. I have a pen for each journal I keep. There is an interesting article on the writers notebook, on Juiced On Writing, www.juicedonwriting.com.

Cafe Press Website

I was checking the web for sites that sell fun things for writers and came across CafePress, at www.cafepress.com. If you put "writing" in the search box, it will bring up all kinds of products with different writing logos, such as "will write for food", or "writer at work". They have journals, notecards, calendars, mugs, caps, shirts, signs, mousepads, buttons, all with different sayings related to the writer or writing.

Writers Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers

I subscribe to Writers Digest magazine and in last year's June issue,they had a list of 101 Best Websites for Writers. I did not pay much attention to it at the time, but now, since I am more focused on writing and writing resources, I realized how much information you can get from these websites. I am looking forward to this years issue with updated website information. You do not need to subscribe to this magazine because you can go online at www.writersdigest.com and search for this issue and get the list of websites this way. I highly recommended looking into these sites for anything and everything relating to writing.

Writing checklist for 2009

I have learned that writing is something you have to discipline yourself to do and you need to work on it every day, if at all possible. In addition to writing, it is also important to do a lot of reading. I have made this writing checklist in hopes of accomplishing both and one day actually write a novel.

-Write on my blogs, read and comment on other writing blogs
-Research more writing resources: such as local book clubs to join, writing conferences, writing workshops or classes, new books on writing, writing websites/blogs, etc.
-Read two novels and a book on the craft of writing a month
-Read my monthly writing magazines: The Writers Digest, The Writer, and Poets/Writers
-Do a writing exercise a day: in addition to blog writing, I recommend The Write Brain Workbook, by Bonnie Neubaur, 366 daily excercises to get you writing and The Writers Book of Matches, from Writers Digest, which is full of writing prompts
-Stay in touch with family/friends whether via email, phone calls or on FACEBOOK. There are online writing book clubs and writing networks you can join on this site too.
-Just plain write on anything that comes to mind.

Blogs

I started my two blogs as a way to get me writing on a routine basis and to explore other writing blogs that could be resourceful to my writing. So I would recommend that you start your own blog too, just make it about something you are really interested in. It is also great to read other blogs of writers and non-writers; you can join the blogs you like as a follower and some of them even have a way for you to get an email when they update their content. The blogs I have listed on this blog deal with writing prompts, writing resources, etc. and provide very useful, interesting information. I particularly like the blogs: The One Minute Writer, Pictures, Poetry and Prose and She Writes, You Write. My other blog, Just To Write, is like these blogs I mentioned because they all have a daily prompt on things for you to write about and they will keep your fingers moving.