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.”

Z: zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Do writing ideas keep anyone else up at night?

For several years I have had this idea rolling around in my head but I could never get it to click into the story I wanted it to be. So I left it stewing in the back of my brain while I worked on other writing projects. Then, this last summer, It clicked. I sat down at my computer and wrote for a week straight. I mean, almost literally, one week straight. I slept for 2-4 hours a night and got up to get back to work typing. I had to get it down, and put together, and finished.

Sometimes I'll pop out of bed in the middle of the night knowing exactly how to get my character out of the situation I left him/her in several hours before. Sometimes I just keep typing and forget to go to bed until I look at the clock and it's 3:30 in the morning. Writing steals my sleep time. Even when I say I'm going to get to bed early, and even when I claim I'm going to sleep for a full 8 hours, the author inside me scoffs, "yeah right!"

Ergo, sleep is one of the many sacrifices we make to get our stories out.

But sometimes we get refunded sleep also. When I sent my last manuscript off, and didn't know what to do with myself, I took a week off and relaxed, slept, and read. It was fantastic!
And when I finished writing that novel in one week, I basically slept for 2-3 days after it was done.

So yes, we are tired and groggy and maybe half our story ideas come from our semi-conscious, delusional  sleep deprived state. But it's a sacrifice most of us are willing to make.... I think :)

And now that I have reached Letter Z and fully completed this challenge .... I'm going to go take a nap!

Y: Yo-yoing

Yo-yoing by definition is: To undergo frequent abrupt shifts or reversals

This is my method of writing stories ... yo-yoing. I never write just one story at a time and here is why:
When I'm writing a story and I get stuck in writer's block, I have learned that changing directions, abruptly  and writing about another story - usually of another genre - will get me back on track.

Since I have the ability to write about one subject and work on another at the same time, I can work on the current story while subconsciously thinking about the first story.

For example:

When I get writer's block while writing my historical romance novel, I switch to my YA fantasy novel in order to keep me writing. I have found that by the time I come to a stopping point with my fantasy (or the point in which I hit writer's block) I have subconsciously fixed the problem with the romance and can continue. Then I abruptly shift back to the first novel and keep going. And so it goes, back and forth between the two novels (sometimes 3 when I am really stuck) ... yo-yoing

This may be considered insane, my husband calls it multitasking, others call it talents, and I call it a necessity. It's worked for me for many years, so why stop something that's working so well?

How do you get past writer's block?

X: X-treme love ....

I am extremely in love with office supplies! The school/office supply aisle at the story is my cryptonite. I go weak at the knees and probably start drooling every time we are in that aisle. My husband has to pull me away, telling me I have enough pens, pencils, paperclips, etc, etc, etc.
I LOVE OFFICE SUPPLIES!! (And it because even more extreme and dangerous when I walk into Costco! They sell office supplies in HUGE packs!)

Despite my husbands objections and careful reasoning - I know he is wrong!

As an author I can never have too many pens or pencils. Do you realize how easily those things wander off? I have to have several in every room of the house, the car, my purse, my other purse just in case, my laptop case, etc, etc. Pens like to run away! So you have to keep a huge supply of them on hand.
Also, stick-it notes (yes, I have already been told it should be sticky notes or post-it notes. But since nobody seems to agree on what they are called, I have merged the two into one! Stick-it notes they are!) I am endlessly jotting down ideas on these and sticking them to my walls, computer, and the cover of my notebooks. Bringing me to notebooks. They are priceless, they are always needed, and yes they are different from the stick-it notes. they are for longer, complete thoughts :)
Markers are a must - maybe I just like the colors ... maybe that's why all my pens are different colors ... or maybe I just like the markers ... I like drawing on my whiteboard ....

Do you see where I am going with this?

I would like to know if any authors out there every said, "you know, maybe I have too many office supplies ..." because I certainly have never said this, and I'm pretty sure few of you have ever said it either.

I love my office supplies! I love them! And I can never have enough.

My husband has gotten smart though .... instead of explaining to me why I can't buy more, he carefully keeps us clear of that aisle in every story we enter
Crafty!
But two can play at this game! I'm going to get him to buy me those colorful stick-its I saw at Costco ....

W: Writing for Professors

Now for my rant :

The one thing I did not like in college was that despite the fact that I was taking "creative writing" courses - my writing really wasn't that 'creative' due to one simple fact -- When you are in college you don't write for yourself or for the world - you write for professors.

Now, just to clear my name very quickly for any professors who might be thinking "now wait a minute!" - no this does not apply to all professors, nor every creative writing course track. But it did apply to several of my professors and possibly might hit home for several of you as well

I quickly discovered that the point of some of my courses was not to see how creative I could be, but rather to see if I could write what the professor wanted to hear. Getting a good grade in the class came easily to those of us who learned what the professor liked to see in an essay or story. So in a way I guess we did learn to be creative - but not in the sense that most people imagine for creative writing. No, we learned to be creative in writing the same thing in many different ways to keep our professors appeased. Once you had it down, life was a breeze.

Side note - or rather tangent -

I didn't study like most people do. I was working full time to put myself through college. So I did learn to be creative in many aspect apart from writing. For example, one of the best things I discovered by book on CD. Yup, I listened to my assigned reading list during my drives to school, work, and home. Also while typing up other essays and even while at work (because I had an amazing employer who would let me do that as long as I was still working while listening). I also learned how to type several different essays on several different topics at the same time, and how to do an assignment for, say, poetry, while in my creative non-fiction class while my teacher thought I was taking notes on his lecture! :)

Back to the point:

So yes, through my creative writing courses I did learn many things: I learned how to creatively make it through college. I learned how to creatively appease the professors for whom I was writing.  I learn how get that coveted degree before putting my work out there for the world to enjoy. But the ability to write and the creativity I need to write has always been part of me. I didn't need to learn how to write creatively -- I needed to learn how to creatively write.