I am a hypocrite!

Yes, it's true, I am a hypocrite.

I've been preaching for a while now about the power of spending even a half-hour each day for a week and brainstorming ideas . . . and it's something that I sorely needed to do myself.

Most mornings, I get up around six and work on further editing Beholder's Eye.  Then, just last week, I've been tossing around the idea of a new blog, a slant on this one, with even the possibility of putting together an ebook within the next month or so.

The concept for the ebook has been tumbling around in my mind for quite a number of years--the reason I haven't written it yet is because it's nonfiction and I'm usually writing or editing (or both) a fiction novel.

I won't share quite yet the details of the concept, but look for it in the next few weeks to come.

Now, back to my hypocrisy.

I woke up at six, as usual, but I had just finished a section in my thriller, when I decided to take a break for that morning, take a pad and pen to the dining room table, and brainstorm ideas for an hour or so.

WOW!  I can't believe all of the ideas I came up with.  The concept for the nonfiction ebook really begun to take shape and the possibilities for future ebooks in the same realm as this new blog came flooding at me.  I was amazed.  At my full-time job, I even brainstormed on my breaks and lunch, finetuning details and expanding the ideas I came up with before.

Please do not forget the power of sitting alone, with a notepad and pen, and just drumming up with ideas.  Were all of my ideas good?  Gosh, no!  But the ones that I did consider good definitely outweighed the ones that didn't.

Try it this week.

Spend 30-60 minutes of uninterrupted time and brainstorm.  You'll be amazed at what you find.

If you have any brainstorming tips, please share and comment below.  I'd love to include them on future blogs.

The days of old are long gone

At last week's writers' group meeting (named Permanent Ink), aside from reading our latest works, we also talked about what the future of publishing has become and will be.

Hence, we talked about blogs.

Obviously, if you're reading this, you know I have a blog.  I've been blogging every weekday since the middle of October 2011.  The other two members attending the meeting do not, but I encouraged them to do so.  One member is a retired school teacher, an accomplished speaker (who's spoken all across the country and has even gone into Canada), and has written a column for the local newspaper for 15 years, so the content that she could share is astounding.  She's even published a few short pieces for Christian publications.  The other member is an aspiring playwright and writer, who actually had a short piece published in Redbook I believe when she was in grade school (holy cow!!!).  She writes fictional life-stories for her nieces and nephews, which have been a real hit with her family.

When their blogs get up and running, I'll make sure to feature them in an upcoming blog.

I recently finished reading Seth Godin's book Meatball Sundae which deals with the way people are successfully marketed to today.  Gone are the days of buying a Super Bowl ad or spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on an ad campaign to blast your message out to as many people as possible, because most will ignore it.  Instead, by starting a platform (i.e. a blog) and having it filled with a lot of content, if you were to advertise a new product on your site, the number of people who will buy will go up exponentially.

My favorite quote from the book is this: "If you want to thrive, you need to do two things: make something worth talking about; and make it easy to talk about."

If your message is worth talking about, and you engage with your followers, you will succeed.

A milestone!

I am posting a quick note of thanks to all who have been reading my blog, as I just hit a milestone.

I surpassed 1,000 total views!

This may not seem like much to those who have been doing this a while, but I've been watching the number creep up and up, edging closer to the 1,000 mark.  I set a goal earlier in the month to hit this number by the end of January . . . and I did it.

Most of these views have been in the last two months, so once again I say, "Thank you!"

The four-letter word NOT to avoid

Nobody, and I mean nobody, is entitled to anything.

To create a successful life, you must put in the work.  Nobody is going to bail you out, not your parents, not your employer, not the government.  Nobody.

Stop waiting for a hand-out and go out into the world.  Go something.  Even if the work you do is temporary, imagine what that better life is for you.  As financial guru Dave Ramsey says, "Leave the cave, go kill something, and drag it back home."  Okay, okay, we're not actually killing anything, but it's a metaphor for putting in the work.

Leave the safety and security of your home.

Go to work.

And do it today.

W.O.R.K. is not an evil four-letter word.

The great inventor Thomas Edison once said: "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

Well said.  Now get to it.

The true tale of our inspiring writer's "day in the life"

Wake up at six to two sets of alarms, torn between another forty-five minutes of sleep and fifteen minutes of writing or a full hour of writing.

I hit the snooze.

At ten after six, the snooze alarm blares.  I shut it off, blurt a few choice swear words, and get up, feeling so tired that I could probably sleep for a week or two.

I drink a cup of lukewarm coffee (made it the night before and forgot to put it in the carafe), go to the bathroom, and then sit down to write by six twenty.

Seven o'clock comes too quickly, for I only wrote two pages.

Now is the time to get the kids up, make their breakfast, tame arguments that seem to crop up for no reason except for one kid looking at another (because what else are they going to look at?).

By seven forty, the kids are out the door and I can finally get back to writing.

But no, the wife is stiring awake and is asking me constant questions, and is pissed when I don't give her the answers she's seeking.

Eight thirty rolls around and I finally say what the hell and start getting ready for work.

Spend both breaks and the half-hour lunch editing the hard copy of my novel or writing a new story long-hand in a tablet.

Back at home for supper finds me putting out the same arguments from the kids as before, except now their mother throws in her two cents and demands that I do something to stop it.

Between nine-thirty and ten, the kids are finally asleep.  I sit down to write--and do it for a half-hour or so and crank out a handful of pages--and then start to fall asleep.

I set the alarm for six and promise myself that tomorrow I'll write more.

A day in the life of an aspiring writer

As dawn breaks, the birds fly onto my windowsill and chirp.  I rise to their sweet sound, fully rested from a fitful sleep.  The night's inspiring dreams sparks the day's creations.

I step into the kitchen, and a pot of herbal tea is already brewed.  It's the perfect temperature, and I sit out on the porch, my feet up, while a small herd of deer wander through the yard.

Once the sun is fully up and I drain my third cup of tea, I take a long soak in the hot tub, letting the bubbles and the intense heat remove any aches from my back.  I grab a hand-rolled Cuban cigar from the humidor, light it up, and breathe in the rich, smooth smoke, blowing smoke rings that float ever-so gently up into the treetops.

Afterwards, I take a long, slow walk along the trails, taking note of the spry wildlife and gorgeous sunny weather.  I find a large stump, cut out into the perfect pattern for a chair, and I sit.  I remove a leather-bound notebook from my pack, uncap my gold Montblanc pen, and write down the perfect prose.

I fill up eight to ten pages without a single scratch-out when I see a small table has been set up, covered by a gleaming white tablecloth.  On the table is a plate of rare China, filled with two slices of white toast, a matching bowl of strawberries, and a creamer filled with rich, cold milk.

"Is the meal to your liking, master?" a tiny elf asks, standing off to the side, dressed in a white and black tuxedo.

"Yes, it is."

"If there is anything else, master, please ring for me."

The elf places a small crystal bell on the corner of the table.

After breakfast, the elf clears the table away in a puff of magic, and I write another eight or ten perfect pages of perfect prose before walking back home.

I enter back at home, only to find that the family of elves that live in the attic have dusted and cleaned every surface, and have even set out a pair of silk pajamas for my late morning nap.

Lunch is followed closely by another soak in the hot tub, another cigar, and another pot of tea.

I ring for the elf.

"Yes, master?" he asks.

"I'm ready for my afternoon drive."

"Which will it be today, master?  The Harley-Davidson, the Porsche, the Lamborghini, or the Corvette?"

"I'm feeling dangerous today.  Let's go with the Lamborghini."

The elf smiles.  "Good choice, master."

Writing Prompt Wednesday - Episode #7

Take your favorite fairy tale.

Change the protagonist and antagonist around (example: the Three Little Pigs are now the Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig).


Happy writing!