I’ve written several times about letting life get in the way of writing. And uh, no, I haven’t figured out how to shut out the world and write. But, I’ve found a few writers with suggestions to help me with this problem. (Fingers crossed.)
Does doubt dog your writing?
Every damn day. Doubt I will ever finish, doubt no one will read my book, and doubt that anyone will really ever give a damn. Thank God for writers who share their doubts and fears too. I learn something every day. Don’t let doubt kill your dreams.
Do you find excuses to NOT write?
Yep. I sure do. I mean a good movie can help a writer, don’t you think? I just received a new book and can’t wait to read it, 2 days later I’m still engrossed in someone else’s story. Well, I guess it’s time to give up the excuses, again.
“We are so scared of being judged that we look for every excuse to procrastinate.” – Erica Jong
Maybe it’s simply the act of sitting down and starting that is stopping you, not your talent.
Thanks to a few good writers for help in overcoming:
Write even if you don’t want to. (Put writing in the same category as a chore. Someone has to wash the dishes, right?)
Accept writing is not easy. (If it were easy, everyone would write.)
Admit your book may not be the next Great American Novel. (But then again it might.)
Remember no one can write like you. (Thank God, there’s only one of me.)
Don’t worry about what other people think. (They don’t use all their brain anyway.)
A comfort zone is a rut. (Climb out and write your truth.)
Now go read the entire posts (links below) and find a few more tips to help you ‘Get Er Done.’ For those of you who said, get what? Click the video. LOL
The answer is simple, the application not so easy.
Do you enjoy books that make you want to laugh, cry or throw things?
Maybe, you prefer a story that gets your motor running. Or a Steven King type horror book after which sleep is never gonna happen.
If we enjoy these gut-reactions books, so do our readers.But the question is how to grab a reader and twist until they laugh or scream.
Thanks to Lisa Hall Wilson for a terrific post on how to do just that. Make our readers feel something visceral, something real.
According to Lisa, a story needs 3 things to elicit feeling in a reader.
Emotional trigger
A reaction that catapults us without thought.
Often quick-sudden and irrational.
We all have a trigger that makes us react, starts the waterworks, makes us want to scream, run or fills us with shame. A fictional character is no different. Find that emotional trigger in your character.
Specificity
Specific sensory details and descriptions ratchet up the tension.
Don’t skimp on details that will pull your reader deeper into a story.
Choose wisely which incidents to describe in detail, don’t bore reader.
Sensory means relating to sensation or the physical senses; transmitted or perceived by the senses. Adding enough details that a reader can relate to will paint a picture.
Authenticity
Although your character is fictional, how they act must ring true.
The reader should be able to understand the reactions.
The reader doesn’t have to agree with the characters actions but does need to understand why.
Means: real or genuine, not copied or false, true and accurate, made to be or look just like an original. Knowing a character in depth and relaying that info on the written page isn’t easy. Dig deep and help the reader understand the why.
Click and read her entire post and find the truth within your fiction.
Right or Left all agree on the need for term limits.
I’m taking a break from my usual subject to write about change.
So here’s an interesting fact.
According to McLaughlin & Associates who in January 2018, conducted a National Survey regarding term limits in Congress. The result…
McLaughlin & Associates National Survey
The American people overwhelming approve of term limits.
This isn’t news. Most voters have stated in other surveys, again and again, they believe term limits are a good thing. Unfortunately, most of our esteem elected officials disagree. I understand why. Really, who wouldn’t want to stay put in a job that pays well, has a great pension and lifetime healthcare? But, unlike Congress, most people are forced to retire after twenty-five or thirty years on the job.
But voters don’t need a law to enforce term limits. We, the people, can instill our own set of limits. How?
Vote out lifers.
So many of our representatives in Congress have no idea what is happening in the life of everyday people. Many can’t send an email, they’ve got interns for such menial stuff. They don’t even understand how to search the Internet. Or how to discern fake news from real news. When an elected official can’t speak intelligently about current changes in society or relate to their constituents, it’s time they go.
After too many years of an ineffective Congress, it’s time for a change.
It’s time to vote in new blood, and younger representatives. Representatives who understand how, with the click of a button, a person’s life can be turned upside down. That, thanks to the internet, our world is becoming a little smaller every day. Without the knowledge and understanding, Congress cannot protect us from a tsunami of technology surely coming.
Electing the same Senators and Congressmen, year after year and hoping for a better outcome, for an effective government, we are in the words of Albert Einstein, insane.
Let’s get off the government hamster wheel, going nowhere and accomplishing nothing. Send a message to Congress – Vote this November and let your voice count.
Let’s elect new blood into the House and Senate. It’s time to thank the old guard for their service and send them home. Vote this November.
![The Memory String by [Bunting, Eve]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51AJwRYgUzL.jpg "The Memory String by Eve Bunting")
![The Worst Class Trip Ever by [Barry, Dave]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51rspDkS6cL.jpg)
Jean's Writing 