Blogging is hard!

So i haven’t blogged in quite a while, sorry about that. Two reasons, firstly iv been swamped with work, everything from interviews and articles to chicken poxy children and summer hollidays! Yes. Its been hell in my home. And secondly, because blogging is hard!
I must have opened the application on my phone hundreds of times and my mind has gone completely blank. I could tell you what i did today? Ok here goes, i woke up, got out of bed, got washed and went to play with my kids. Whats that? You dont want to know what pictures my kids drew for me in what colour while telling me all about how they are going to be astronaut vets? Good, cos i have no idea what those scribbles are!
I could tell you about my new book? Ok then iv had a fantastic idea for a new book involving vampires and mermaids. I had the entire rough story within 24 hours and within one week i am ten thousand words into my first rough draft. But i dont want to tell you too much about that, except its a lot more adult which my first book Awake Again was before editing!
So… That pretty much leaves nothing else. And after pondering this issue for so long and eventualy thinking “i HAVE GOT TO post something NOW!” I decided to post about how hard it is to find something to post about! When i decided to go for it and get my book published i think somewhere deep inside i just assumed my life would magically change. But guess what, i still have mouldy toast inbetween my sofa cushions and my kids still throw up on me. Seriously??? Grass greener? This was NOT suposed to happen lol.

My point is i followed my dream and even though it might not have worked exactly as i wanted it to… Im no worse off 🙂 and thats always a bonus in my book! No pun intended

Overcomplicated Simplicity – My article for AHA Authors Helping Authors.

Overcomplicated simplicity.

 

My last article was based on writers block and I suppose this one sort of hovers around the same topic. You see as a writer for the last lord knows how many years it has been extremely frustrating that I could not write my book. The ideas were in my head so why were they not coming out on the paper? I would have sticky notes covering the wall above my computer filled with all kinds of notes and words I found inspiring yet every time I opened my word document and tried to write the first sentence I was immediately stuck.

Dean turned to Dillan about to ask a very important question.

A simple sentence yet in my mind other questions where spiralling. “Do I need to introduce Dillan earlier? Should I explain more about his background? What if I need some background history on him later? Should I write that now? Yes I should. So where would I like this character to have grown up? A small village or a big town? Which country? Should I make him exotic? What colour eyes and hair should he have? What personality and build should he have? Maybe I should start with Dean and go from there? So where would I like Dean to have grown up? And what could have happened in his life to make him what he is today? Should I add another character to that? They could show up later out of the blue and save him? Or try to destroy him? What if the readers don’t think this question is as important as the next question. Should I move that sentence down and use it later? But then what sentence do I use here?” these questions were circling my mind constantly until I just gave in assuming it was because I had no idea what I was doing.

One day I opened a word document, and I wrote a short story. Reminding myself that if something doesn’t sound correct or make sense it doesn’t matter, it’s only a rough draft. There is always time to go over and fix the problems when you are done but if you try to do it as you go you will get stumped. The other thing to remember is that nothing will get published until you are happy with it, so relax and just have fun with it. Stop beginning a story imagining the book you want at the the end of it or you will completely forget what you are trying to say. Another thing I myself am guilty of. See my first book Awake Again is based on legend and myths from vampires to mermaids and includes awareness of my daughters rare disability, it is my way of raising awareness in a fun way instead of leaflets with statistics and facts which let’s face it just aren’t interesting. But once I started writing it seriously I started to forget that the aim was to make this disability more known about and support easier to find and began aiming on making it exciting for the reader, it grew into an exciting romance story between a vampire and a demon that began with a horrific rape scene of a prostitute and it was only after a publisher friend had read it and asked me one simple question that I realised what I had done wrong.

“That first chapter is amazing.” He had said. “You managed to make a violent rape scene inviting and enjoyable to read and I couldn’t put it down.” Obviously these words had me beaming from ear to ear. But then he continued. “But I am confused, you said you wanted this book to help raise awareness of a rare condition so other parents with children born with the same condition could feel more relaxed. How did you feel after Jessica’s diagnosis? How do you think reading a violent rape scene of a prostitute would have helped you to relax?”

I was speechless that I had made such a horrific error in judgement. I remembered the main goal was the book being for disability awareness, but I forgot that the readers I wanted would be affected by a disability. See what I am trying to say? Again I focused on the book I wanted at the end and forgot what it was I wanted to say.

My point is that wether you are trying to write a book, a short story, an essay for school or even an article for a website you must try to forget about what it is you want at the end and always remember what you want to say and that the keyboard has a delete button you can use at any time. There are no limits with writing so we do make it so difficult for ourselves?