Thinking Traps

Do you receive The Morning Nudge from Suzanne Lieurance? If not, you really ought to give careful consideration to doing so. I've been receiving my "daily nudge" for a few weeks now and have found it of great benefit. In a recent message, Suzanne talked about "thinking new thoughts." She said,

"Replace old, worn-out thoughts that are keeping you in the same spot each day with new, more productive thoughts--thoughts that will help you move ahead to get what you WANT to have in life, instead of staying right where you are."

These words were such a lightbulb for me. Sometimes what we know is not always so clear until someone puts it into words so prolifically. Suzanne offers guidance, support and help to writers of all caliber. Check out her website and get your "morning nudge!"

You can find her at:

You will be glad you did--I know I am!

The Best Laid Plans

Today, I woke and started the day with such enthusiasm. I had my to-do list very well in order and knew exactly what I was going to tackle first, next, and so on. Then...kaboom! The day went to hell in a hand basket.

My humidifer had a problem and had caused water in the basement on the weekend, so I had to suck up water, call the repairman and deal with him this morning. In the midst of this process, I got the first call from the school about a sick kid needing to be picked up. I got her home and organized for a nap and then had to tackle the nasty sewer smell in our house--which I started to strongly feel was contributing to the sick kids as, by this time, I had gotten a second call to pick up another of my kids in the office not feeling well. Between sick kids, the repairman, the plumber and being on the phone for hours attempting to set up a new satellite receiver (our old one crashed to the floor last week when we were preparing our house to be painted), my writing day was shot--over and over and over again!

It took a while but, per the advice of a dear friend (thank you, Donna!), I tried to stop feeling sorry for myself and just go with the interruptions. I'm hoping for much better things to come tomorrow. What do you do when life gets in your way? I'd love to hear how you re-coup.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! Hope you get to enjoy all things Irish.

Creating Characters

Jan Field's KidMagWriters.com is always filled with an abundance of great information. I found the following today as I was reading:

Technique

Storytellers: Character Creation
By Jan Fields

Most stories for young people have one main character, the protagonist. Longer forms, such as novels, can handle two main characters and sometime when an author is attempting to capture an old-fashioned voice (in a novel), you’ll even find the story jumps from head to head of many characters. However, it takes room to make those things work and magazines stories are short and tight – which is why you see single main characters in almost all magazine stories.

Jan's article is filled with great suggestions on creating characters depending on age level. To read the rest of this article or explore KidMagWriters.com, go to http://www.kidmagwriters.com/technique.htm

Get Acquainted With Your Subconscious

A few weeks ago, I spoke of the odd moments of feelings or thoughts that would pop into my mind every now and again. These subconscious flashes of something have gone on for years with me. It took a very long time to consider them as something positive to cultivate into a story.

In the February 2010 issue of Writer's Digest, Kelly L. Stone, author and mental health counselor, talks of "waking up that subconscious." In an interview in this issue, she discusses the power of the subconscious when it comes to writing and says, "Learning to access your subconscious greatly enhances your creativity because whereas the conscious mind is limited and can attend to only one thing at a time, the subconcious mind operates independently from your conscious mind's field of attention."

I'm going to do my best to allow my subconscious free reign and see where it takes me--hopefully to a major case of writer's cramp because the words are flowing freely! I believe a good start will be to read Kelly L. Stone's book, Thinking Write: The Secret to Freeing Your Creative Mind.

How about you? As the article states, "...Can the unknown corridors of your mind be hidden pathways to creativity?"

Just Do It

I was catching up on some blog reading today and read the following on Alice Pope's, Alice's CWIM Blog:

"Not to get all Nike on you, but if you want a career as a writer, it's not going to happen unless you just do it."

It was another aha moment for me. I've been spending so much time preparing to write, catching up on market research magazines, getting organized, etc. that my actual butt-in-chair writing time has been slim. So, I've been trying to use every opportunity and few spare minutes wisely. I spent time yesterday trying to get organized, so I could hit the road running Monday morning. If I have a block of 15 or 20 minutes, I'm trying to use it to write rather than read or plan something to write. I am seeing the benefits already--a PB idea and wording hit me in the shower this morning and my daughter brought me a piece of paper and pencil to jot it down before I lost it!

I hope you all have a very inspiring week and are able to "just do it." I know I'm going to give it my best.

You can find Alice Pope's wise words at: http://cwim.blogspot.com/