Monday, December 31, 2012

2013

Here it is, less than an hour for another new year. The first question anyone asks - even before they tell you to have a happy New Year, is do you have New Year Revelations?

The usual response may be to lose ten pounds. You know, fit into those jeans that's been sitting in your closet for years, and have been mocking you instead of motivating you.

Or it could be something along the lines of getting that promotion you've been working your butt off for.

The truth is, there are plenty of revelations out there - things you want to achieve, goals you want to make it to. I've had them, you've had them, everyone has had them.

I don't want to make revelations or predictions on what I want to achieve for the year of 2013. It's not just another year, like most will say when they shrug away your curious on what they plan to do with themselves for another twelve months.

I'm happy to be working in my art. Writing again, to be more exact. Yes, I touched on this in a facebook post, but here, on my blog, I would like to get more specific.

In truth, I barely remember 2011. I barely remember the beginning of 2012. I cannot say that I had a bad year in 2011 - I just don't remember it. I remember my college graduation and I remember not wanting to be there. I had the GRADUATION BLUES and it was like cramping with a cycle while you were in hundred degree weather and wearing white jeans.

A nasty metaphor, but I want you to understand the place I was in my head. I was having a huge moment, walking across the stage, recieving my B.A. with honors and I didn't want any part of the celebration.

One year, two years, more years if you're lucky. Time speeds up on you. I remember celebrating 1997, alone in my room and much has changed since then and now, but here I am, alone in my room, not really celebrating, but only preparing for the trails and tribulations of a goal I want to achieve. Back in 1997, I wanted to be an awesome athelete. I succeeded my goal and then some.

This year, I want to be an amazing Story Teller. These things take time. You have to build connections, meet people and be prepared to open your mind to them when you hand them a book. You will gain fans, or really thorough critics, or nothing. It's all by chance, but what never changes is the drive.

2012 was my coming back year. I have written several novels, none that I am a hundred percent proud of, all by a different name. I am not afraid to reveal a name to you and let you find my earlier works, but if you do not ask, I do not share it. That was the past, my starting point and I'm proud of that starting point to that extent.

KaNeshia Michelle is the name I go by. I have grown these last few years, jumped into my skin, shredded away the uncertainity and the fear of really putting yourself out there. It's the grind that makes you falter. The pool of Indie Writers are huge - I've met plenty that have been friendly and inspiring, but we are all at competes with each other. Sure, we enjoy the freedom of doing our own thing without a publishing company up our butts, telling us to change this and that, but nine out ten, if the oppurtunity presents itself we would sign a contract and deal with those head aches.

Any achiever simply wants breathing room and stability. You want to know that you are taken care of. We love what we do, but it's even better when we are compensated - financially - for the work. We are proud of our hard work, sweat and tears we put into our art with no money and only passion for what we do to keep moving, but we all want that one thing.

Stability and a peace of mind that what we work so hard to do won't be in vain. That we won't wake up twenty years later from this moment forward and still be in the same boat that we are today. We want to be remembered, liked and celebrated for our work. We want that fresh breath of air, the knowing that we are remembered.

It may sound bad, it may sound like I'm getting a head of myself, or you may simply don't agree. That's okay. I love every fan I have, even every pair of eyes that touches these pages, but I don't think I will make friends of everyone that knows my name. I simple can't befriend every person that tells me I'm good at what I do.

2013 is going to be a good year. I've learned from my mistakes, I've pulled myself out of a slump, I like who I am again and I have faith in who i will be.

That's why I hit such a deep dark part last year and 2011. I lost sight of myself. My dreams grew too big around me and everything i wanted out of life just seemed too far away. The fear overtook me.

Fear is part of life, part of the journey. You need to be scared at times, it may keep you pushing, keep you going, keep you grounded. It can destroy you too. It's part of life, we live it, we do our best and if we can be sorry for less and proud of more of what we became, then we are all winners.

KaNeshia Michelle 2012 - at least for the next thirty-six minutes.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Holiday Slowdowns

Yes, it's been days since I've posted up a new blog post. It's been days - weeks, maybe - that I tweeted. It may have been even longer since I posted a new post for facebook.

The root of the problem is the holidays. It has been terribly hard to stay active, to stay productive when there's food to eat, drinks to be drank and gatherings to attend.

Writing requires so much thinking, depending on what stage you are on in the process, and it becomes so hard to stay focus when your physical pressence is needed.

Okay, with the slight holiday rant is over, I guess it's time to get this blog on the way.

Staying Productive may not be in the easiest thing to do. As writers, we may have control over our creative world, but we do not have control over the comings and goings around us. When you have a full work load, and your time for creativity may only come from a small window of  time, your day to day life, and even human reactions and interactions can get in the way.

I applaud anyone who can work in the creative sense and still go to a Christmas party aftwards. I had a huge Thanksgiving. I knew that Christmas would be much smaller for me - in terms of my participation.

I was still a little gung-ho from my progress through the Thanksgiving holiday. I managed to finish my rewrite on The Playmate and start on the final copy once my editor sent it back to me - yes, we were on Superman coattails - during the Thanksgiving.

I just knew that Christmas would provide me the same engergy.

It did not.

The moral of this is not to worry if you aren't getting work done like you hope. This is where I messed up at. I worried myself silly because there were things to do, work that needed to get done and it wasn't happening. I had wanted to take a MENTAL BREAK until the New Year 2013. For the last solid months I have been writing and jumping from one project to the next.

It's safe to say that I am tired.

I do not like not producing work. I know what it feels like to have ideas in your head and go to hammer it out, but nothing comes or gets. I spent a very confused and lonely year like that.

So when I hit a time span of no productive work, I get a little shifty. Writing is apart of life for me. I do it to get a line of fresh air, it's a way to go through life. It's my filter. It's like smoking a cigarette without a filter. The tobacco is way too strong and you will soon be coughing a little too thickly on the tar. A bad scenerio, but hey, for smokers, they may get it.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Letting The Mind Rest

It's close to the holidays - two days till Christmas to be exact.

Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas and the cheer, the holiday songs, the cookies and milk, but this year I can't wait to get it all over with.

For the last four months I have been jumping from one writing project to the next. Ruck's Nightmare went in first then The Chase and then The Playmate.

Now, I'm moving on to my final novel, which is set to come out in the beginning of 2013: Rogue.

My mind is blah... Between my own indiviual writing projects, I have had paid gigs to keep up with. A script writing job, which is now completed - well, the first rough is. And a comic book job, which needs the final touches and then it's shoved right out the door.

If you asked me a few months ago, if taking on several projects at one time was a good idea, I would have told you 'yes.' But now I'm not so sure. I have experienced plenty of set backs from this spurt of insanity.

SET BACKS:

Sleep...
Rest...
Solid Mind...
Coherent thought...

Sleep is a sailing dream. Resting goes hand and hand. I can't stop my mind from working. I keep a tally in my head which project needs what... My mind doesn't feel solid or strong at all. No, does not mean I'm going into a straight jacket, but it makes me feel tired and tired and doesn't help with my mood at all.

Coherent thought... I get slightly scattered brain. I move from one thought to the next... unable to plan out one solid detail.

The moral of this story is take your time with your planning and your writing. Your mind, as a writer, is the most valuable thing. I am fortunate to say that I have made it through my writing obligations, but I will go about a solid brick of writing much different the next time. I'm not an outliner, but from now on I will be.

I won't rush my work, but effeciantly plan things out.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Writing vs. Social Media

I'm starting learn that writing isn't the hardest part of being an Indie Author.

It's the social media. Don't get me wrong, I like it - I love meeting new people and authors. Still, it's a lot when you still have to try and crank out, at least, fifteen pages a night on your next and upcoming book.

Now, on this blog, I have talked about ways to write around Story Snags and ways to keep your head free in order to do your work.

For the social media... I'm at a lost. Yes, to write, you need to keep your head free, but how do you do that when you have to respond to emails and do interviews and keep up on friends. Being an Indie Author, you have to be apart of the community. No, you can't act like the golden child - like your work is so great that it's only a matter of time before someone will read it and that one person will turn into millions.

No, you have to give back to the community if you think the community is going to do anything for you. I have met wonderful people on Facebook. I have learned from them because they opened the door for me to learn.

I will figure out a formula on how to deal with the attention requirement for Social Media and I'll do a post on how to keep your head clear, you mind fresh and ready to create.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Simply falling into your words

My editor tells me that I have a way of using camera directions in my writing. Again, I went to school for film and the way I write and layout a story, is in a way that I can see it being shot like a film.

This simple technique - writing in a way that I would see it on a screen or in a movie - has done wonders for my detail. I love to feel like I'm in the story.

I enjoy giving my characters mudane things to do. To me, in a way, it makes the character more human, more real. Like giving your character a moment to sit in a cafe to drink a cup of coffee or read a newspaper. Or even taking an extra moment in a kissing scene to allow your character to savor the taste of another's lips.

It's the little things that make you fall into a story. Yes, action is great. Yes, conflict is wonderful, but every story has conflict and some sort of action. Our minds, as we read, has come to be used to this, so we expect it. In stories that just have action and some sort of drama/conflict, we watch these things from a third point of view.

Give your reader a moment to rest inside the character's shoes. Just like in a movie, you are the main character, you put yourself in their shoes, ride the ride with them. You have to give your reader a chance to sit down with the character, learn the important facts about them, but watch them take a moment in their story. You will be surprised how you will fall into the words.

When you, as the writer, fall into your own story and you see every detail as you type them, then your reader will experience the same.

Just think about that.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

RUCK'S NIGHTMARE

Mark Anderson was the typical small town, football player - a quarterback, no less - and had the cheerleader girlfriend.

Yes, we've seen it a thousand times. We've seen it in Friday Night Lights and movies like Varisty Blues. We know the story of a young kid, mostly always a boy, is given fame, and a free pass because he knew how to toss a lemon shaped ball.

So why did I write a story about a high school quarter back? I did it because I lived in a small town for six years. I saw how interesting things could get on a game night. No, the town wasn't football crazy, but there was an energy there. I wanted, if only for a moment, to capture that. Only a few, yes even fewer, will know what it feels like to be treated like a God for four years.

Yes, to be treated that way can be bad for a person later, but it's that moment, where no one can see the reprecussions of bowing to a simple seventeen year old.

In Ruck's Landing, Mark Anderson has the usual small town dream of leaving the small town life with his girlfriend to be in a huge college and become a pro football player. Well, not only does this not happen, but he takes major, major combinations of bad misfortune.

This book was the first of my So Thrilled Collection, which may have been a mistake. Ruck's Nightmare is a thriller but the thrills truly don't happen to the end of the story - more or less, the last twenty pages of it. I enjoyed painting the picture of Mark's life. I was fascinated by his play on the field, the way his love for his girlfriend seemed to elevate his life to a euphoric level.

With all that said, Ruck's Nightmare is a book that slowly paints a picture, but not fast enough for those that are looking for a thrill. I have gotten nothing but good reviews back for the book, but I have been told on more than one occasion that the book started off slow, that they loved the football scenes but there were parts that could have been taken out.

I do not regret anything about Ruck's Nightmare. Like I stated, I enjoyed capturing the small town and the football craziness. I did learn that despite being an author and writing for you, you may have to gain an eye for when you need to trim down detail. I say this plenty of times not to FALL IN LOVE with your writing. Writers have to be adaptable and easy with change.

I would like to think that THE CHASE was a much better story in regards to it's pacing. I have gotten awesome reviews on that one, and I am very smitten with my character Fall Pryor.

I wouldn't be surprised at the impulse to give him another story, this time giving him a full novel to work with to really see him flourish.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Half Here, half there

I touched on this on facebook and on twitter. A writer's mind is constantly in two places. Half of that mind is in the world, in the now, in the living - and other is in the world they create on pages. As a writer you are constantly thinking. Your mind - rather you want it that way or not - is constantly on the hunt for the next story. If I was not a writer, I really do wonder why kind of person I would be. Writing is an escape, an outlet, a way to understand the world. Don't get me wrong, my day to day life is not hard. I enjoy my life, but life still can be a little cruel at times, a little tough. Everyone should have a filter, a way to deal with the world as it changes ever so quickly all around you. Nothing is for certain. This is why I'm half here and half somewhere else.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Respecting your writing flow

There's something to be said about respecting the way your creativity comes to you.

I am a night writer. Only, in the wee hours do I feel like my mind is opened enough to begin writing. My professor was a morning writer. He found the beginning hours of the day much easier to create.

Now, during my day, I do keep a journal on me to log in any ideas that may strike.

The point I'm making is that you have to respect the flow of your creativity. Your writing something you can force. You have to deal with it when it comes. Yes, I get it, some of us have deadlines and have to force the work. I am not saying that this cannot work - sometimes we train ourselves to do darn good work under pressure, but you should still understand when the best ideas come.

Structure is always a good way to deal with your writing abilities. It's like a diet. You want your body to respond to what you put in it that is supposed to be good. You want your mind to respond to way you treat it.

Think about that.