Write on...

One of the most popular pieces of advice that writer's get is to write everyday. Something I haven't been doing. Something I've felt that I can't do.
Usually when I have ...gulp!...writer's block I just keep writing stories. Some bad, some terrible, occasionally a diamond in the rough surfaces, but I could always keep writing.
Now?
eh

I've even failed my blogs. It's like I've crawled into a dark hole with no desire to come out.
I spend my time trying to fix everything around me. Even things I have no control over. Maybe it's the Virgo in me. Maybe it's a place to hide.
So now I'm ready to write every day again. It's going to be hard. I'm not sure there's anything in my head to write about.
Ideas used to be easy. I always believed ideas were everywhere. Wherever you go there's something there to build a story on.
Grocery store? Hmmm, see the lady in the black coat? What if she has a gun in her pocket? What is she going to do with it? And what would bring her to the grocery store before going on a mission to kill?
Doctor's office? ...What if that person sitting across from you in the waiting room is being poisoned? Who's trying to get rid of her and why? Will the doc figure it out and then be a target also?
Walking the dog? ...As you walk through the wooded area next to your house your dog goes crazy barking at a clump of bushes and flushes out a creature you've never seen before. Do you take it home and make it a pet? Do you discover a new species? Or is it not of this world?
Work? ...If the next person who walks through that door brings a check for 10 million dollars and you've suddenly won the big lottery how does your life change? Who becomes your friend? Who becomes an enemy?
Ideas flow...
Wait! I think I'm starting to get the spark back...

Mud Dogs

Had a bit of an issue this morning. I went to call the dogs in and Frieda (the basset hound) was missing. After searching the whole house and yard I couldn't find her and started to worry. She's my foster dog and I couldn't lose her!
Then I'm standing out on the back deck I hear crying coming from under it
so I go to the spot near the middle stairs where the dogs had been digging and call her. She cries louder and starts to howl. Our deck is very low to the ground and my husband nailed lattice to all the sides to keep the dogs from going under it.
I get down off the deck, high heels sinking in the mud and peer into the hole. All I can see is her nose.
She's behind the other big piece of wood and can't get out.
I walk all around the deck trying to call her out. Not an easy feat in high heels and mud… it's been raining in New Jersey for like---ever! Our backyard is a swamp and I'm dressed for work trying hard not to mess up my good clothes.
Finally I got a hammer and had to remove part of the lattice to get her out.
However after I got the lattice off Halston tried to go in (no way is the hole big enough for her so she just kind of laid in the mud with her head under there harrassing Frieda who was howling again. I finally get Halston out and Frieda crawls out covered in mud.


So How did your day start?

It means Freedom

This little girl came up from North Carolina a few weeks ago. She went straight to a forever home. Unfortunately, she didn't get along with the two year old in the house and now she's here.
Frieda (I'm told her name means Freedom in German) is about 3 years old and very nervous. She was dumped in a shelter heart worm positive. They treated the heart worm and now she is doing good. A very sweet dog who needs a calm family. Maybe with older children. I've only had her a few hours now so I don't know anything else about her yet. She's trying to be the alpha dog here and Halston isn't allowing it. We've had a few skirmishes. Nothing big but I'm definitely going to have to crate her when I go to work. I absolutely hate to do it but until I know she's going to get along with Halston and Gizmo it's for the best.
Adopt don't shop.

Shelf life...

Since I haven't been writing much lately - which I attribute to stress - I've been bringing some of my dinosaurs down off the shelf. These are dino's I love, poured my heart into and bled on.
And now I can see they need more blood. It's time to tap a vein for them.
This led me to see how valuable that shelf time is. If I hadn't let this go and stuck it in that dark corner of my office I don't think I'd see what I see now.

One is a story I love and I basically tried tried to write from two heads. The heroine and the hero. And now, rereading it, I can see the error of my ways. I think this would definitely be better from the hero's head since it's really not a romance. (Although we do have a sexual interlude.) I can see hero being the driving force in what happens here, but there are times when we have to see the heroine's point of view because she's the only one in the room. So do I write as the omni presence in the room or do I go into her head?
Dilemma.
Help!
Any advice?
Do you shelve it for awhile before going back for the final draft? Does it help?

Waiting for her new life to begin...

This is Sally. She's a one and a half year old Feist mix. I think she might have some chihuahua in her too. She's about 10 lbs and pretty solid. She came up from North Carolina shelter yesterday with her five puppies in a truck that had about 50 big barking dogs. The truck stops at a designated meeting place and all the rescue groups show up to claim the dogs they agreed to take. For a little dog this can be a very scary situation. Sally was absolutely terrified. Even now her tail is tucked between her legs and she stays right by my side. At first she growled at Halston but now seems to accept that Halston is just a big goof who only wants food and attention. She spent most of the afternoon exploring the house and back yard then jumped up on the couch with me to nap. She slept for about two hours. I think she was exhausted.
The puppies were 10 weeks old and have gone to different foster families. Sally is staying with us until her forever family shows up.

Bad books, Good plot

I'm reading a book by a very popular author. Same one who's audio book I finished last month and I have the same issues.
Head hopping. I've counted up to four heads on the same page and it's driving me crazy. But I keep reading because the plot is good. Sometimes it's hard to concentrate. I'll be reading along and then suddenly it's like hitting a pot hole...bam! Where am I? Wasn't I just in Claire's brain? Why am I remember things his sister said when they were four and Claire wasn't even a thought then? Okay, back track...yes, I was reading in her head and flip! now I'm in his.
And through all this I still want to know what happens next.
Good writer? Bad writer?
Now I want to go back and find the first book this author ever wrote to see if she was actually published with this rhythm or was it something now overlooked because she is more popular then Obama.
I write, I study writing, I read about writing so now I'm wondering if someone who really doesn't know that much about writing dynamics would pick up on this stuff.
What happens when good writers go bad?

Failure is not an Option...

I was wandering around over at Mark Terry's blog where he said something about NASA and that their code is "Failure is not an Option".
The post was mostly about Stephen Parrish and his new book The Tavernier Stones. (Quick! Everyone needs to order a copy right now!) and how he helped nudge Stephen to the place he needed to be to find success.
This toggled me over to Stephen's blog and how he got published. He's done more rewrites then I ever thought possible. But more than that...he never gave up.
Failure was not an option.
It was the push I needed.
It's time to get back on the horse and if I can't find the old horse. Maybe I'll just have to write me a new one. I think I'm going to take back my 20 minute rule (every time I have 20 minutes I write--something) and just write. Good or bad I'm just going to write.
I think when real life throws us curves it's easy to forget our motivation and what moves us forward toward our own successes. Imagine if Stephen Parrish had given up at one of his many rewrites?
I think sometimes we need to remember that Failure is not an option we're going to accept.
The dream you hold could change the world.