I hope everyone survived the holiday. Mine turned out to be pretty enjoyable. One of my favorite gifts was Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear . I'm really loving it. Years ago I read Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way which I also loved. So I must enjoy reading about creativity. There have been times when I think about creative projects and I wonder what the point is. Why am I spending time on this? Does it matter? Who is going to care? What would it be like if I stopped making things? For anyone who also has these questions, Elizabeth's book is just the pep talk to shake one out of his/her creative doldrums. I like that the focus is on living a creative life. And that doesn't have to mean quitting a day job and making full time income with one's art. She also shares that her writing is for her joy and if anyone else enjoys it that's great but she creates things for herself first. This is something I need to remind myself ...
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I was just talking to a friend about Christmas. When she asked if I was excited about the holidays, I grumbled a little. "The thing is, now that I'm a mom, instead of receiving magic, I have to make the magic," I said. It's my job to pick meaningful gifts for everyone including my six year old. And I'm still like Santa's personal assistant. Like when is that man gonna come down the chimney already??? There's the decorating, baking and the race to get deals in the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I love doing nice things for my family. And seeing my kiddo light up is the highlight of the holiday, but I could do with a little less "stuff-ness" in Christmas. And this friend I was speaking to, has hard holidays because of grief that comes around every December. I have some of that too. But I will push aside my first world gripes and think of all the things I'm grateful for. We try to make donations d...
I'm happy to welcome author Christine Hartmann to the blog today. Her new release, a romantic suspense, Wild Within has an intriguing premise. She was kind enough to answer a few questions about her writing life. Her book is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. What is your process for plotting out your novel? I make a rough outline of the plot. Then I work on the scenes. I love the book Story by Robert McKee. I don’t do it his ideal way, but I have used a lot of the advice in that book. What is your greatest challenge as a writer? Finding the balance between my busy full-time job and my book writing career. I love my job—it’s meaningful and important to me. But so is my book writing. Finding a balance sometimes involves compromises, and it’s usually the book writing that has to compromise. Do you write in one genre or multiple genres? Why? I write in multiple genres. My first book was a memoir, So Far Away: A Daughter’s Memoir of Life, ...
Sometimes I'm lucky enough to get an Amazon gift card for Christmas. I've been adding lots of books to my Amazon wish-list lately just in case I'm gifted one this year. I admit to getting lots of books from the library and from a good friend who is always loaning me good paperbacks from her collection. Now that I'm a writer, I'm going to make a resolution in the New Year to actually spend money on more books. To that end, I thought I would share my list here for writers or readers looking for something to do on the cold winter nights. Elizabeth's Gilbert's Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear Jenny Lawson's Furiously Happy For Love or Money by Susan Kaye Quinn A Window Opens by Elizabeth Egan
Author Alexandra Moore discusses why she writes and answers some other questions about her writing process and her new book. Her recently released New Adult Suspense Novel Exit Wound is now available on Amazon. What Compels You to Write? If you ask some members of my family, they’ll tell you I’m a good liar, and always have been—but if you ask any other family members, they’ll tell you I tell stories. When I was thirteen, I was at the beginning stages of what would become some of the darkest times in my lifetime. Depression, self-harm and PTSD to list off a few things of what was circulating in my life; I didn’t want to go to school. I didn’t want to shower, I didn’t want to do a damned thing, except for one: write. I write to keep those horrible memories at bay, and yet utilize them to help others who may grab my book, expecting a good story and see themselves and their rarely spoken of traumas laid out right in front of them. That was what I aimed to do from the beginning...