There is a thrill about putting words down and having them shape into a fun story with a deeper premise. I cannot remember a time that I did not write. I had periods where I kept it all to myself and only produced a few words at a time with great labor to do so. Other times the words flow and when I sit down to edit, I’m like this is not what I thought I wrote. It’s better than what my mind mulled over in relation to it. Whether it is painstaking to pull out each word or it flows like a torrent, I must keep writing.
What gets in my way? Having too many ideas and being unsure of what I should be writing. It has taken many classes, writing in several genres, and tackling submissions to agents and publishers to learn what I should write and to whom. I had to learn how to write to an audience of one in order to nail my topic or premise. Writing broad does not allow you to write deep enough. I am learning how to write deeper still one blog post and one book at a time.
I always have ways to scribble down notes as they come to mind. If I don’t get them down when I think of them, they definitely get lost. My mind will spin out trying to remember it later, knowing that I need to write it. That is so distracting to get anything else done. This issue causes more writer’s block moments than anything else until I can delve in another way for what I want to tell the reader.
I hope to share the hard points of life with an overcoming theme of how you can do that with faith in God. My fantasy books boil it down to Light verses Dark, but if you look more deeply there is allegory to Christianity. You can find a path to the Light in two different ways with Versont and Rhoanda in Champions of Light. Truth Bearer will show more of how they must overcome to remain on their walk with the Lord of Light and share the truth. Like my characters, we all have stories of trials, poor reputations, and misconceptions we had to overcome.
But I also love a good story you don’t want to put down. Despite the truths I want to reveal in all my writing, I want my fiction to take you on fantastical journeys. We all need a break from life and some wholesome level of entertainment. I have fun writing my stories and I hope that shows through when you read them.
My multiple sclerosis is not healed yet, but it has remained fairly stable. Writing makes me feel productive. I can fit it in with my health, unlike the demands of a full-time job. I can wander, stretch, go prone on the floor or nap whenever I need to around my writing. It’s good to have something I love to do that fits with my unpredictable chronic illness.
I’m having too much fun to stop anytime soon, so expect the books, serial fiction, and shorter stories to continue. I just have to keep myself organized so the projects flow to completion properly.
Tools I use for my writing.
Scrivener - organizes each project whether blog, world building or novels into one place for ease of organizing
Word - for final edits and rolling into a format I can use to share or roll into a book formatter.
Atticus - a fun and always improving program for book formatting
Spreadsheets - character and place listings, project tracking, and expense tracking
Paper planner - note important times, note what I accomplished for tracking
Notebook - when it is easier to write thoughts or take notes that way
Why is it good to have a fairly clean and organized work space?
Your helpers need room.