Tag Archives: Writer

Ignoring the shiny.

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We writers, we have a problem.

There is this thing, it’s called “The Shiny“.

It comes when we least expect it, but it screams its damn head off when it appears.

We’ll be working on a story, and it doesn’t matter the length of the story, and BAM, The Shiny appears.

It could be a new thought on the current story, something that we didn’t anticipate or worse, it could be a new story, yelling, ‘look at me, look at me. I won’t let you get stuck, but if I do at least you’ll be writing five-thousand words while you wait’. 

The more we’re blocked, the louder the damn thing screams, but we have to ignore it, we must. There’s a part of us that knows we have to keep going on the current story, because, no matter how blocked we get, we still have more words on the current story than The Shiny.

We want to stop because we’ll get The Shiny to be quiet, then we have the damn things popping up to yell at us. It will happen when we’re going to sleep, taking our kids to school, reading a book. That last one, that’s the most frustrating.

The only thing we can do, write down the idea, put it somewhere we can see it and work on it later after we’re done with the current story.

Don’t give in to The Shiny.

What I learned after a year of writing full-time.

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You have to know what you want in life in order to attain it.

At 14-years-old I wanted to be a writer but was rebuffed by my father. “You can’t make money doing that.” He said.

Well, I may not be making money, yet, but I’m closer than I was a year ago stuck in a dead-end job that left me hating my life at the end of the day.

In the past year, I’ve written four short stories and one novel and I’m trying to get a novel on Amazon by the end of October.

Here is what I’ve learned in the last year of writing full-time:

  • You must create a schedule for yourself and stick to it.
  • You have to write every day, even if that writing is a blog post, you must write.
  • You must have a damn outline. This is the biggest for me. It gives me a path to the finish line. Before I was only writing and not finishing, if I have an endpoint, I get there.
  • You must go it alone sometimes. There are times you must lock yourself away to get writing done. People you love will have to understand that. If they don’t, they’re not worthy of your attention.
  • It will be harder than you think. You must push through those moments when the words suck and you hate the story. You must find yourself in the words and never leave until they’re done.
  • You must have a creative outlet other than writing. It doesn’t matter if it’s photography, painting or anything else, but you must have another place to create or you can get fried.

I could put more than this and it might be too many but in the end the most important is that you get words on the page.

If you’re not getting words on the page, you’re not a write, period.

Peace,

Brian

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When we decide to follow our dreams, it will be harder than we thought it would be.

We must orchestrate everything to make sure it happens. This goes for our family life and how we’re able to afford to take the monetary hit.

I like to say I work three jobs, but only get paid for two, but that’s not really true.

I think my writing helps me do the other two.

My writing frees me up and lets me do the other things that help my family. When I’m published and I hopefully don’t have to do those other jobs, I’m not sure what I’ll do with the free time I may have.

Right now, I’m writing more than I ever have and that is what I’ve wanted for the last ten years.

I see the improvement in my writing by get words every day and I see how hard I’m working to make everything work and I’m more proud of what I’m doing than at any time in my life.

I love what I’m doing and more than any other time in my life, I love what I’m doing and how I’m helping the world get better, either through my words or through my actions working for campaigns.

Never Letting Go

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pablo (23)

We reach out to the world, trying to discover our soul.

It comes back to us in fits, stuttering and trying to stand.

We abandon what we loved of ourselves in the hope of finding something that was missing, to realize, it was there; we just weren’t paying attention to it.

Some days, weeks and months have been like this lately.

I feel my life, but yet, it isn’t where I want it to be, so I return to what I love about who I am.

I love that I’ve been given the opportunity to write, as much as I want and that my wife and kids support me as much as they do.

I see the gift of writing and being creative standing in front of me. I understand how precious the gift is and wonder why I left it in the first place.

I was chasing what I thought I needed but realized I have what I need. I understand how powerful writing is. I learned that at an early age, but often forget it.

Today, I’m writing something that is truly me, and I love that about it. I create from memories, dreams and thoughts, but now that I’ve fallen in love again, I won’t let this precious gift of writing go again.

Peace,
Bri

Creating…

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pablo (22)

Today, while I sat, reading Neil Gaiman’s new nonfictiony book, sitting next to my wife, who was multi-tasking, an ever-present sketchbook next to her, I watched a conversation.

Our daughter clambered between us to watch my wife’s colored pencils perform.

I don’t often see the interaction of teacher and student, of which I often think of them as.

I’m either reading a new book or writing something of my own.

The rarity of the occasion was more pronounced by the effort our daughter took to watch her mom create, color then create and fill the sketch with more colors.

I love the creativity in our house and the way in which our kids absorb creating through us.

My son crafted a lovely story a while ago. It’s one that I’ve asked him to expand upon and last night, he brought me cover sketches for it.

I told him, “Worry about the story, the cover will come later. If you need help, I’m here.”

I hope it helped him.

I wonder how why some kids don’t create things and I’m reminded of my childhood and having to hide stories I’d written, then I know.