Creativity Myth #1: Waiting for Inspiration to Strike

Ok.

But if you ever find yourself sitting around waiting for inspiration, here's a little tip: you'll do more waiting than
writing.

Which brings me to the first myth about creativity: Waiting for inspiration to strike.

Waiting for inspiration to strike is a little like waiting for lightning to strike.

Sure it happens--but if you want to make it as a professional writer you can't bank on waiting for it.

Boy, when inspiration strikes, all bets are off. Pen goes to paper and you feel as if you've touched live electric wire. (or fingers go to keyboards, or paintbrush to canvas, or hands to guitar neck... you get the idea)


But what about all the other days when inspiration seems far away?

One trick you hear about is to seek out things that inspire you. Sure, this works sometimes. There's nothing wrong with trying to induce creativity by shaking things up or listening to Sigur Ros or Florence + the Machine. You don't wait in one spot for lightning to strike. You go out and chase storms.

But, there is something deeper than just scouring Youtube for creative videos to spark your imagination (besides, time spent online is time spent NOT writing).
Why not make inspiration a habit?

"What do you mean, Mason? What is this secret of which you speak?"

Ok, so no real secret. Making writing a habit makes inspiration a habit.

As you learn to express yourself more clearly, with less affectation or bad writing habits, the easier it is for any glimmer of inspiration to be seized and nurtured and developed.

You become a clearer conduit for your muse. You learn to fan into flame that little spark, instead of stifling it.

I love my critique group (The infamous Illiterati) because they always tell me when I'm clouding up the waters. And they challenge me to go farther, deeper, and swim in dangerous waters where inspiration lurks like a sea serpent coiling just under the surface.

But let me make one thing clear: You have to be able to write under duress.

Life doesn't slow down. Life doesn't pause or go on vacation for you to write.
You do it in spite of life sometimes.

Anyone who has children under 5 and who's written anything coherent recently can attest to that.

But now let's hear from you.
What things inspire you? Music, videos, blogs, people, thingamabobs?

~mason

So to spark some inspiration here's Florence + the Machine tearing your face off under extreme duress (outdoor festivals, electric instruments and rain = no bueno)

Rabbits and Catapults

Once again my blog is a repository for inane inside jokes.

Battle Bunny, one of the members of our infamous writers' group The Illiterati, failed to secure tickets to World Fantasy Convention 2011. Everyone else in the group got their tickets.

Battle Bunny did not.

To commemorate this tragic event I created this.

Photoshop you are my friend.

When It Rains It Gets Wet

So, my posts have been sparse lately, forgive me. I've been crazy busy.

I know I meant to share more info on my adventures as a ghostwriter, but MORE has happened!

A few of you might have heard of the SOUL SURFER movie coming out about Bethany Hamilton, a young surfer girl who was mauled by a shark, lost her arm, and not only returned to surfing, but became a champion surfer.
Well,

See, my dad's name right there in small letters!

I got a chance to work with my dad on the book "Raising a Soul Surfer" which he wrote with Bethany's mother, Cheri Hamilton. (Actually, my dad is the "with", it's Cheri's book)

It's a movie tie-in book. An "Inspirational Autobiography."

And I got to earn some industry cred... or maybe crud... by helping my dad to crank out the manuscript in record time. I edited, fact-checked, and occasionally rewrote chapters at Cheri's and my dad's direction.

It wasn't quite as legendary of ghostwriting 50k words in 50 hours, but it was close! haha.

Also it was an interesting glimpse into the professional world of writing.

Those of us who write take for granted that the written word is our milieu. Words are our spirit's limbs, moving them, arranging them, crafting them to convey and emote.

We forget that many many people who can communicate in person, on screen, etc, etc, etc, aren't as comfortable with words. They can say it, speak it to huge crowds with passion and clarity, but when they sit down to write a book it just doesn't come across like they want.

I suppose it's like people who are photogenic, and those who look normal until you take a picture of them and they seem to look goofy no matter what.

Or like otherwise accomplished people who can't sing in tune even with training. (I've met these people, they baffle me!)

It has been exciting to help a woman who has a pretty amazing story share it with the world...

But MAN it was a lot of work. I had to sort through a half dozen insertions and notes and possible scenes--and the deadline was like a bear gnawing on my shoulder.

It was new realms of intensity, frustration, and validation.
Sending it off to the editor on the last day before DEADline felt sooooo good.

Now I can actually spend time wroking on my book! sheesh. :)

Why My Writers' Group Rulez

When one of our members (Mercedes M. Yardley) needs a writerly kick in the proverbial pants, who's there to put their boots on?

The Illiterati, that's who:

http://abrokenlaptop.com/2011/02/16/bust-it-out/

You can be sure we are awesome. They should bottle our sweat and use it to fight fires, because everyone knows forest fires yield to awesomeness.

I'm Officially a Published Author!

Hooray for me!

Strange Tales of Horror (NorGus Press), an anthology featuring my short story "A Secret Amongst Boys" is now available for purchase through the wonderful world of amazon.com or on the publisher's website.

Look at that gruesome cover art! Awesome!

Super kudos to Matt Nord and the NorGus press people for an incredible job on their first big anthology. And a double thank you goes to them for liking my story enough to publish it!

Yes I've been published before, but it's been so long that I'm pretty much starting over and calling this my official first sale.

(I also had one or two nibbles which fell through for contractual reasons--see my post about contracts)

So to celebrate my big publishing milestone I'm going to go home and play with my two daughters.

Now that's a great way to celebrate!

What about you? Have any publishing news? When was your first sale? Got a link where we can find your stuff?

Enquiring minds want to know.

Pounding Out the Word Count

So doing this ghostwriting has really opened my eyes to pounding out the word count.

I've always looked for tricks and tips to help motivate me to write constantly, instead of just when the inspiration strikes. (Bradbury likens it to leaning out of a belltower gripping a lightning rod and screaming for the storms to come.)

Now let me just point out that there is a difference between having goals and being motivated.

One trick on the goal side is to set a word count goal. Every day you must hit 2000 words at the very least.
That's a pretty good goal, IMO. It's helped me churn through.

But, we can set goals for ourselves all day long and still get nothing done.

So what actually MOTIVATES you to write?

Well, I learned an interesting thing that may very well be a no-brainer: Money was a pretty darn good motivator.

When cold hard cash was dangled in front of my eyes, I wrote. And I wrote fast. And I wrote pretty darn good. (Did I mention I'm the humblest guy I know?)

How motivated was I?

I wrote 51K words in 52 hours spread out over one month.

Looking back it doesn't seem like that really was possible... but there it is, when i tally my hours (which i had to log) I spent 52 hours (stolen in 1-4 hour increments--sometimes several writing spots a day) and in effect wrote a thousand words per hour.

My keyboard is a little raggen now.

I won't lie. Sometimes I stared blankly at the screen. But the proof is in the pudding and the delivered manuscript stands currently at 51,357 words.

So folks, what motivates you? Figure that out, and make it happen.

Is it chocolate? Because i can come to your house and withhold chocolate from you (and eat is slowly in front of you) until you hit your daily word goal. I can do that. No really, I'd like to do that.

Is it money? Well, if you're a writer that dream will be nice and crushed soon enough...

Is it the burning need to say something into the void?

Well? Go find out and get back to writing!

Coming Up for Air

Hello people in the blogosphere, it’s been awhile since my last post and I’m here to tell you why.


I’ve been writing. Writing like a super-star.

And while I wish I could say I’ve been working on my WIP, I actually have not touched it in more than a month.

“Boo,” you say, “Boo mason, why aren’t you working on your book?”

Well boo is right. I’ve actually been at something I’ve never done before: I’m ghostwriting a book.

I really can’t give you details on the book, but let me tell you fellow writers, ghostwriting is a strange and wonderful process. It is also hard work, and the deadline is tight. I put in anywhere from 4 to 8 hours a day writing and that is on top of my two other jobs.

But writing this project has given me all sorts of new insights into writing—in particular I’ve gained insights into the nature of procrastination and earned some secrets to writing on-demand instead of waiting for the ole muse to show up.

It’s taught me tons about working with deadlines breathing down your neck, about writing in a voice that isn’t really what I consider “mine”, and taught me that to be a writer you have to be able to suck it up and put in the time.

Stay tuned for some interesting stories from my adventures in ghostwriting… when I come up for air, that is.