Tag Archives: writing struggles

FINDING INSPIRATION & MOVING ONWARD

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FINDING INSPIRATION & MOVING ONWARD

Natalie Bright

 

Hello WordsmithSix writers!

Hope this finds you all safe and well. Are you starving for writerly interaction? I’m going crazy!

With writing conferences canceled, and my local WordsmithSix critique group taking a break over the entire summer, I really need inspiration. We love our families, but they have no clue why we spend hours at the keyboard. The two questions I continually hear are #1 What are you working on? AND #2 Are you cooking? Answers to the first question are hardly worth my time in explaining, but I do appreciate their interest. But it’s just not the same when a fellow author asks the question.

Thank goodness for email and texts. We have managed to type THE END on Book #2 in a new series working with my co-author who lives in Georgia. How in the world did we manage with snail mail and telephones in the olden days? My kids think I’m ancient, but it wasn’t that long ago.

Thank goodness for podcasts and online classrooms. With everything shut down, I have had more time to indulge in learning mixed with the writing. Have you looked at MasterClass.com? I’m watching David Baldacci this month. Wow! Price is based on an annual fee, or for a little more you can have unlimited access. You can also choose from Neil Gaiman, James Patterson (excellent!), Judy Blume, playwright David Mamet, Margaret Atwood, and more.

If it’s podcasts you like, my weekly addiction includes:

Thriller author J. F. Penn interviews influencers. https://www.thecreativepenn.com/podcasts/

Mark Dawson and James Blatch, great interviews covering the business. https://selfpublishingformula.com/spf-podcast/

These are short and full of info. https://bookmarketingmentors.com/

The business of writing with J. D. Barker and J. Thorn. https://writersinkpodcast.com/

May you find enough inspiration to keep moving onward until we can come together once again.

Writing Life Struggles

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Writing Life Struggles

Natalie Bright

 

Is there any other profession that you can think of in which, once you’ve achieved the knowledge of actually doing that work, the entire universe conspires to prevent you from doing the work? I might be whining, but good grief. A new week is upon us and I did not write one word on the current WIP in the previous week. It’s very frustrating.

I’m reading an excellent self-help right now, OVERWHELMED WRITER RESCUE by Colleen Story (review forthcoming). As a writer, I think most of us struggle to fit writing in between life, because life can’t be shoved out of the way. Our writing is the thing that becomes flexible. Our obsession becomes the thing we can’t achieve.

At the beginning of this week, I’m at the cross roads again between family and my writing. Do I adjust my scheduled air flights to leave a writers conference early to attend another function? That’s two days spent at a five day conference, and two days spent in an airport instead to attend one event. The writing conference is very important to me because of the knowledge gained and the connections I might make. I’ve had this on my calendar since last year. The other event is a last minute invite, has nothing to do with my writing, but is important to someone else that I be there. The people in my life are important too, but I can’t be in two places at once. Why should we have to choose?

That is how my writing journey has been; guilt wins out over the characters in my head every time. The struggle is real. But this time I’m choosing me. I’m acknowledging the deep, very selfish desire to become a more successful author. I choose words and story and hanging out with people who understand the struggle. Have I chosen well? I’ll let you know in a few weeks.