Overactive Imagination

I confess that after the month of April, in which I posted every day, I feel like my blog is seriously lacking ....

But that's to be expected as most people simply don't post on their blogs every day :)
Yet I am trying to make an effort to post every week at least.

As a writer I find that an overactive imagination can be a blessing, and a curse.
I love that it runs wild while I'm in story mode - you know, when I'm in front of the computer and the ideas are coming faster than my fingers can move on the keys. That is the blessing part of it. I love when I see a normal situation and my imagination kicks into gear. The next thing I know, this one simple event has become the basis for a great story that's developing and I have to run for one of my many notepads to write it down before I forgot, or before my mind moves onto different topics. And yes, my mind can jump through topic so fast that sometimes I can't keep up and I forget what I was thinking about in the hurry to figure out where it's going next.

Fun as that is, and as entertained as I keep myself and others around me, I also find that it can be a curse.
For example - the number one rule for my overactive imagination is this - NO SCARY MOVIES!! NONE!!!
For some reason my imagination cannot differentiate between reality and fiction. In college my roommates did not think I was being serious, and they insisted we watch a scary movie for Halloween. I tried to explain to them over and over that this was a bad idea. Let's just say they were warned! *grins*
They told me that if I seriously was too scared that they would stay up with me all night if they had to ..... well, we were up all night! They never tried to convince me to watch a scary movie with them again.

So the other night I was trying to imagine a scene, for one of my stories, in which a woman loses her husband to a car accident. I was laying in bed contemplating how she would feel, what she would do with her life, what her choices were and how she would react. Well, my overactive imagination worked a little too well ...
My husband had already fallen asleep but my active brain was keeping me awake. After a couple of hours I found myself curled up next to him sobbing into his shoulder and saying "Never die OK  You are never aloud to die on me! Don't you dare ever die on me!" Poor guy woke up going "wait, what?" Apparently my imagination worked too well. It was awful - but at least I can now write that scene convincingly, I think...

Yup, that's how my imagination works! And now here I find myself on 5 hours of sleep, wondering why I am awake at this hour ...... Oh yeah, that's right, my brain decided it wanted to be too active to sleep! So I'm up writing a blog and preparing to add more to my story.

What kind of trouble does your overactive imagination get you into?

Writer's Block ...

I'm stuck!
Seriously stuck ...
The worst part of this writer's block is that it's not like the usual writer's block. It's not that I want to write and can't think of anything .... it's that I have this idea rolling through my head like a movie and my fingers don't want to type it. The words to describe it just aren't coming and it's sooooo frustrating.

So .... I have decided to discover how most people get over writer's block. The suggestions I have found were from www.wikihow.com, and made me laugh. I felt like I had a problem. The first think it said was "1- Recognize you have writer's block"
Well the first step is admitting the problem right? :)

Other ideas I found, from a variety of sources, included:
- Free write about anything
- Try a change of pace
- rest, exercise, read, and resolve underlying issues
- set the mood and prepare before writing (such as get your favorite drink, a snack, go to you favorite writing place where you are comfortable, and just write whatever comes to mind - without thinking about if it's correct or sounds stupid.)
- Play a role - pretend you are someone else and write how they would write.
- Put everything aside for a day or two, try not to think about it, and then start fresh
- John Steinbeck about writer's block said, "Pretend that you're writing not to your editor or to an audience or to a readership, but to someone close, like your sister, or your mother, or someone that you like."
- take a break, take a walk, take a bath, bake a pie, etc, etc, etc.

So that's what I'm going to do .... I'm going to get a good nights rest, maybe a long shower, get chocolate, Dr. Pepper, my water bottle, and music .... and I'm just going to go for it!
Yup, that's what I'm going to do!
Wish me luck!

Oh, by the way, how do you get over writer's block? I just might need the suggestions as I embark on this endeavor ...

Review for Displaced

Displaced is a compilation of three short stories written by the very talented Joni Heirtzler. These are The Influence, Last Minute, and Rain.

The three stories are different and very imaginative. I was really impressed with how these stories made me think outside the box. Joni has created a small world where things are different and where as a reader I got to see and imagine things from a different perspective.
The first story, The Influence, was my favorite - sweet and thought provoking. The second story, Last Minute, opened up my mind to the possibilities of "what if..." and the many unsung heroes we have among us every day. And the third story, Rain, hit very close to home for me, taking a look into a reality that sometime we don't think about.
I thought Joni did a fantastic job on her three stories. They were well written and complimented each other in this book, although each of them clearly stands on it's own as an individual story.
I highly recommend purchasing this book. It's available at Amazon: http://amzn.to/17pW9PD
It's a light and easy read, despite being extremely deep and thought provoking. Also because all proceeds go to help Joni go to Lithuania with ILP where she will be helping teach students English.
Or, to make additional donations to allow Joni to share her time and talents with so many others, an account has been set up on Razoo:  http://www.razoo.com/story/Help-Joni-Teach-English-In-Lithuania


Bio:
Joni is the second of five children. She's active in track, plays the violin and loves to serve others. She's kind and compassionate and dreams of seeing more of the world before settling down to complete another two years of college to obtain her bachelor's degree. She's planning on pursuing a degree in marketing through Southern Utah university as soon as she returns from Lituania.

Excerpt from The Influence:
“Precious memories swam through my mind. I hadn't realized how dull life was without a body until I'd received one. The world had become vibrantly beautiful. I remembered the first day; all of the senses overbearing.”