Writer's Block

So I reached a point in my novel where I knew I had to go from point A to point B. And I had no idea how to segue. I had opened my WiP day after day—and nothing happened. I fiddled with the wording in some of the previous pages, tightening stuff up here, expounding on stuff there. But I still had a wall that was keeping me from continuing on with it.

OH NO! I had Writer's Block! That dreaded malady that puts terror in just about any writer. I went to multiple sites that spoke on how to get past the block. I tried dozens of tips and tricks—to no avail. I still had a mental block that was keeping me from moving forward on my novel.

So I took it on the road with me when I went to work. Every day as I drove down the highways I'd let my mind wander a bit and hope that some spark would jump me over that block. Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into a month. I was starting to think I might have to shelf this piece, and go fiddle with something else. Speaking of fiddling, my Bostrom Air Ride Seat in the truck wasn't quite right. So I reached down to fiddle with the switch to adjust the height to where I needed it. Great. It got stuck in the full up position and—*BAM* I hit a seam in the road from one county to the next and jammed my head into the ceiling of the cab.

The words began to flow. No, not profanities—new words. For my novel! New ideas! A smooth transition from where I was, to where I wanted to go! YES! I was past the block!

So the next time you have a bad case of writer's block, try this: Get in a 80,000 lb concrete truck, run it up to 65mph, and jack your seat all the way up so when you hit a bump you slam your head into the ceiling! Hey, if it worked for me, it just might work for you! Maybe...

0.o

Vocabulary

I've been playing with Vocabulary.com trying to improve my vocabulary. Why? Because I like words, and I enjoy learning new ones.

The following words have continued to bollix me:

inchoate
encomium
eleemosynary
prorogue
orison

While I have been expanding my vocabulary, I had to pause to think--are these words anything that I will ever have a need to use, in either my writing, or in my daily speech?

Then I went into the Vocabulary.com's Top 100 Words that other users are having problems with:

consider
minute
accord
evident
practice
intend

...and I realized that if these words are typical of what this country is having difficulties with, the American populace, taken as a whole, is ignorant and stupid.

But whose fault is it? Is it their own fault? Are they lazy? (lolwut?) Is it the fault of the schools? The fault of media that writes down to them on an eight-grade level? Or is it the fault of the authors for not learning words such as eleemosynary, and using them, thusly forcing our readers to break open their dictionaries (or, as in most cases, run out and purchase one)?

*peering down*

HEY! How'd I get up on this soapbox? -.-

Plugging Away

It has been a very productive week for my writing. I was late crew at my day job all week long, and had quite a few short days. As such, I was able to get thousands of words written on the two works I've been plugging away at: Sherpa Holmes, and Airship Follies. Both are Steampunk. Sherpa is a standalone alternate history work that has almost reached novella length (and will by the time I am done with it). Not quite sure how long Airship will go--it started off as a short-short and ballooned on me. That one is set in my Aeropæia world, the same as Tunk (from Will Write SciFi for Food, Too).

I had two major storyline problems I dealt with in Sherpa yesterday. Fixed them both, but created a new continuity problem that needs to be dealt with. Even with that, I still managed to get over 2,000 words written on it. I don't remember how many words I managed to get written on Airship during the past week--it was a case of 200 here, 700 there. I believe, when totaled up, it came to more or less an additional 2,000 words on that piece as well.

I intended to write more today, but after I made that scrumptious lunch (spaghetti carbonara) I had a severe case of the doldrums. But the time I worked past that, it as time to start dinner. We grilled some moist chicken out on the grill, and we had that plus some fancy cheeses my son made a platter out of. Again, writing was not to happen.

I probably should be working on either of the stories now--and yet, here I am, playing with my blog. Meh.

No, I don't see any productive writing happening tonight. I see a shower, and the reading of a good book happening. With that said, I'll leave you with a link to one of my cats. I caught her in that cat trap she's hanging out of.

Cat-trap

New Book!

Did I mention that I have a new books out? No, I didn't. Why? Because I neglect my blog.

So . . . I have this new book out called Phobos. It's slightly SciFi, slightly fantasy, slightly a thriller, and slightly paranormal.

So trot out to your local eBook store and grab a copy for your particular flavor of e-reader device today!

Phobos for Kindle

Phobos for Nook

Phobos for Everything Else

And don't forget to grab my other books if you don't own them already!

Indie Author's Starter Kit

So I have a friend who has decided that she is going to write a book. Mazel tov! I hope she does it. It's a lot of work. Trust me, I know. I have two anthologies and two shorts out in publication now. My three, full length novels are still in work. I keep plugging away at them as life allows. Alas, life keeps getting in the way of my creativity and writing.

But that's not what I came here to talk about. Nope. I went through all my writing links and dug them out for her, weeding out the 404 URLs so every link she'd click on would work.

Then, after I sent them to her, I tossed the list in one of my editor's laps and said, "Here, an Indie Author Starter Kit. Everything the budding author will need to beginning writing and editing their book. You're on your own for publishing links."

And y'know what? It's a good deal. So here, for all my own fans is my Indie Author's Starter Kit. My suggestion is to spend 2x the amount of time writing as you do reading all the excellent information in these links. So for every hour you spend learning the craft by reading, you need to spend TWO hours writing and practicing the craft. Because the best way to get better at the writing craft is to write, write, write.

I'm being lazy and not making these active hyperlinks. Cut'n'paste, baby, Cut'n'paste. :D

http://download.openoffice.fm/free/

http://dictionary.reference.com/

http://www.bartleby.com/141/

http://grammatic-effects.com/

http://www.facebook.com/GrammaticEffects

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/

http://www.phrases.org.uk/index.html

http://www.thecreativepenn.com/

http://www.how-to-write-a-book-now.com/index.html

http://www.refdesk.com/index.html

http://litreactor.com/essays/36-writing-essays-by-chuck-palahniuk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latin_phrases_%28full%29

http://www.fracturedhorizonnovel.com/2011/05/02/a-simple-novel-outline-9-questions-for-25-chapters/ http://www.writing-world.com/index.shtml

http://www.creative-writing-now.com/index.html

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/psychology-writers

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2011/06/07/25-things-you-should-know-about-character/

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/06/28/50-free-resources-that-will-improve-your-writing-skills/

http://truthmafia.com/archives/6957

http://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-level/havent-written-anything-yet

http://www.caroclarke.com/fourfaults.html

http://writing-for-beginners.blogspot.com/

http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/

http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/40-great-name-resources-lists-and-generators/

I've written a guest post for the Must Read Mysteries blog. Check it out.

Coupon!

Been thinking of checking out Will Write SciFi For Food, Too but didn't want to spend $1.99?  Well, then--I have some good news for you!  In celebration of the one year anniversary of WWSFFF1 I'm offering a 50% coupon for it on Smashwords.  Just use coupon code, PC67U.  (Coupon is good for one week.)