Head, meet Wall

Have you ever head a song that you absolutely love, and then the radio stations get a hold of it and plays it so many times you would rather rip your own eardrums out before you listen to it again? There is nothing, I hate more than that. (well not literally there are plenty of things I hate more than that but you get the drift - big Petpeeve )

Anyway, this morning I made a decision to take a step back from my current work in progress. I've been stuck for a couple months, and I just keep pushing and pushing, trying to break through it but I'm getting nowhere. Hence the title of the post Head, meet Wall (over and over again). Its just time to take a step back and give myself a breather.

That being said, I'm not taking time off from writing I'm merely changing my focus. My plan is to work on outlining a different story I'm been fumbling around with in my head. It is completely different than my current wip. And when I say completely I mean COMPLETELY. I'm hoping the drastic change will help get the juices flowing again.

So my writerly peeps, has this ever happened to you? Have you ever had to make the decision to keep pushing or to take a step back? I only ask because this was a hard decision for me to make. I kind of feel like I'm surrendering and I don't like it. :/

Family

Today, I'm curious about your family's reaction to your aspirations of becoming an author. Mine was more than a little confuse to begin with (too say the very least) but they were always supportive.

My mom thought it was just going to be another hobby, but when I told her that I wanted to get published she was unsure of what to say other than, "if you want me to look at it I will". My hubby didn't get how I could pour all that time and effort into something that I had no way of knowing if it would even be picked up by a publishing house or not - let alone writing it without having an agent under my belt. I had to explain that's just how it works.

Aspiring to be a published author is a hard thing to explain to people on the outside. Having that drive to weave a story into fruition no matter how hard or complicated it is, is something damn near impossible to put into words. I guess the easiest thing to say is "Its for the love of it." Thats it.

We love writing...We love creating stories in all forms. That is why we do it!.

So how did your loved ones first react when you told them?

IFTD - "Stand in the Rain" by Superchick. This one makes me cry every time. :)

Wait…How did I get here?

I figured today I would talk about how I got into writing. I’m sure everyone has their own story about how they suddenly went “Hey wait! I could do this writing thing!” and this is mine. :)

When I was a kid, I had this great big overactive imagination and a huge time love of stories. In fact, most nights I would fall asleep to crafting my own in my head. Here’s the hitch. I didn’t have any love for books. (This is where you say “What were you thinking?” ) I know right! But I digress.

As a kid I only knew that school told you that you had to read these crappy classical stories for homework or summer reading and I hated being forced into anything. In fact most of the books they required us to read I found as boring as watching paint dry. :/ Johnny Tremain…anyone?

Anyway I would fall asleep making up stories for tv shows that I loved. My own little kid version of fan fiction I suppose. But as I got older – third year in college in fact – I finally found that there were stories out there that were amazing to read all on their own… without being made to read them. Harry Potter ringing a bell? :D It was all downhill from there.

I ended up minoring in writing in college but for some reason it never clicked that there were actually people out there who make a living as fiction writers! I tried a newspaper internship for a small town paper but it wasn’t for me. (I'm way too opinionated...I know, I know. You say that's really hard to believe. :p) So life went on. I kept reading but the writing was left by the wayside. Eventually I graduated, got married, had kids, etc. And it wasn’t until after my second little one was a toddler that I stumbled upon another amazing series of books and thought “hey I could do this too!”

I picked up a pen and haven’t looked back.
So without making this post any longer than it already is….How about you? How did you figure out that you could actually do it too?

And the IFTD - because I heart them.

One step forward...

Two steps back. So a day or two ago, I had come up with an amazing new aspect that I want to add to my current story. Its fabulous, grande and fixes a large number of problems I had in my own manuscript. It was one of those things that you knew must have always been there I was just too blind to see it.

But it is a major change which means major renovations to my exsisting work. Like BIG TIME overhauling. I had to sigh because I was making such amazing headway with the manuscript and felt optomistic but now I have to go back and rewrite a good 50% of it.

The main dialogues and stuff can say the same I just have to alter the exterior portions to it. Lots of work none the less.

But will I do it? Heck yeah. It means a far richer story in the end.
Ah the things we do for our craft.

I think this video sums it up quite well. Enjoy!

Epiphany Moments, Outlines, and Bonus Points

I love epiphany moments when I’m writing - LOVE them. They are those special little moments when you just want to smack yourself on the forehead and yell “Why didn’t I think of that before!” Brilliance shinning and immense relief all at once. Love it.

Anyway, I had one of said moments yesterday. (And yes I did smack myself on the forehead. :D) But it was fabulous. And it was like a dam releasing after that. The ideas just flowed. I tacked on three more outlined chapters to the story I haven’t really made any headway on since last summer.

So I give bonus points to my outlining experiment. Since I’m just outlining, I don’t have to have every facet of every conversation and every movement set in stone before moving on. I can quickly jot down notes on how the chapter is going to flow and then keep moving. It’s great!

I’m officially an outline person now. :D

What about you? Outline or winging it?