The Crow upon my Shoulder

Like most, the coming of a new year arouses my “Go get ‘em!” attitude. A fine and dandy mindset to have… that is, if you don’t have a starving scavenger beast by the name of Anxiety perched and twitchy upon your shoulder.

Nevertheless, I will scatter the fertile plains of 2017 with all the writing seeds I can scoop out of my pockets and hope childishly for the best. After all, the carrion fowl upon my shoulder will eat no matter what. Might as well feed the monster well.

Until Saturday (travel day tomorrow)…

Chloe

Seedy Intentions

There are always seeds rattling around in my pocket. Little specks of storylines I like to plant in the soil of a manuscript’s early chapters.

This is all well and good… when you’re actually writing Chapter One.

However, when the cogs of progress have churned sufficiently to crank the novel into edits, this seed-laying mania is a bit not good.

Case in point: As I’ve reported this week, I have decided to jumpstart the editing of The Hushing 

Days by abandoning the corrections of Chapter Seven and turning my eraser and white-out to the always challenging Chapter One.

So, while I’m editing away at the chapter, adding this and that while marking out a whole bunch of other, I keep finding myself reaching for the seeds in my pocket…

Bad, bad author!

The editing process is not the time to add tangents, side roads or off-shoots.

Plant one seed in Chapter One and you’ll be tending it the whole novel long.

This is not the time, girl!

Or so I keep chiding myself every time I stick another storyline into the ground.

*sighs*

Maybe the 2050 book market will be hungry for a 300K The Hushing Days? One can only hope.

Until tomorrow…

Chloe

When Inspiration Runs Dry

With a little bit of “Poltergeist” activity accompanying me on the television screen this morning, I welcome you to Thursday.

It is one of those a.m.’s when inspiration in any form has failed to make an appearance.

There certainly have been no grand ideas arriving on a thunderbolt.

Neither have any old fashioned light bulbs popped up above my head. (I checked in the bathroom mirror this morning, just to be absolutely sure. *winks*)

Leaving no stone unturned, I even dug around in my backyard for a good while looking for those elusive seeds of brilliance. But I got nothing.

If this is a sign of how today’s creative process is going to run, I might just call in sick.

Perhaps as the day grows from dawn’s leavings to a full robust noon, a bolt, a bulb or a seed might pop in for an unexpected visit.

It is my full belief that these days without inspiration nipping excitedly at your heels are the times that a writer earns his chops.

Writing can be hard and grueling work. I think we authors forget that sometimes when the creative flow washes over us in beautiful regularity.

Hopefully this spate of drought will pass in a blink of an eye.

Is the blink over yet?

*smiles sadly*

Until tonight…

Chloe