Not All Who Wander Are Lost

The awesome thing about being a writer is that you get to jump from story to story, creating new worlds and new adventures all the time!

The problem with that is, as a writer wandering from story to story is not always helpful. You can get lost and trail from story to story never finishing even one. However, though it is possible it’s not always the case. 😉

I’m a bit of a wanderer myself. I love trying new writing styles, new techniques, and new story types.  However, I tend to get lost in the midst of my wandering. I have about twenty unfinished rough drafts for stories. I used to have more but they have long since been lost or deleted. I wandered from Space Age to WWII, and from Medieval to Post Apocalyptic! I definitely don’t like to stay in one place. And while that’s all well and good, I also have to avoid getting lost in my random stories because I also have a book that needs to be finished first.

Not all who wander are lost, but some really should pick one and try not to wander too far from home until one is finished. 😉

What do you like to do? Do you like to wander around and try new styles? Or do you stay close to home?

Penny Biscuit

Hush, Hush, Hush

Hello Hello! It has been far too long since my last post and I regret to say that I’ve been terribly lazy these past few weeks. It’s scary how much can change within a week, a month, or a year even! I wonder what would happen if we managed to write for a whole day at least once a week? It would probably help our writing to grow tremendously wouldn’t it?

I know that as I’ve been writing my grammar, spelling, and thoughts for writing have gotten better over time. But that’s just it, it takes time.

I used to keep all of my writing on the down low, hushed and quite because I didn’t want anyone to read my writing. I didn’t want to hear the critics or deal with all the problems in my writing and the embarrassment of having someone else read my writing.

But you know what? Not sharing just made my writing worse.

I began writing short stories and fanfiction with a friend a couple years ago. That was the first time I had really allowed someone to read all of my writing, all of my ideas, and all of my crazy stories. Beforehand my writing style was pretty lame, but now after sharing my writing with just one person, my writing style has become so much better.

I’ve started sharing more of my writing with more people recently. I go to a writer’s group that meets once a month and usually I wouldn’t offer for anyone to read my stories let alone myself read it. To me, I always thought that even though they asked, no one “Really” wanted to read my stories. Wow, what a lie I tell myself.

The problem with never sharing is that you never grow. You want to become a better writer right? Here’s my advice to you. Take the critics of others. Listen to their opinion but don’t change everything to suit one person. Make it your own but allow people to help you. The best writers are the ones who listen to other’s and grow in their writing.

Don’t keep your writing ‘hush hush’.

They say sharing is caring right? Well in that case if you care about your writing, you should share it. 😉

Penny Biscuit

The Invisible Writer

Hello all! Welcome, welcome back!

You know, I realized that there is something you may not be aware of as a writer. Let me introduce you to your own personal little buddy, the Invisible Writer. This little cutie is the constant ideas that you have secretly for a story or for your books even. He sorts the ideas out and keeps all those insane ideas in check.

Well that’s just nifty, isn’t it? Ideas all the time! How cool, am I right? It’s pretty common to have ideas constantly. I see only one problem… It’s called the Invisible writer for a reason. It’s invisible! I wonder why?

As writers, we tend to push back most of our ideas if they’re getting in the way of everyday thinking or they are just too crazy for you, so you decide that they can’t be done. Where do all those awesome ideas go you might ask? Why they all go to our little buddy of course!

This little guy holds onto all of them I figure and locks them in the backs of our brains. That’s all well and good until you need those ideas… They’re locked up and alas, the Invisible Writer wants to keep them all for himself!

That’s a huge problem when you’re looking for ideas and trying to remember thoughts and ideas that you had earlier. Lucky for you I happen to hold the key to keeping the Invisible Writer from hiding all of your awesome ideas!

Wanna know what it is? Of course, you do!

Write those ideas down. That’s it. There’s the punchline! The Invisible Writer can never lock them away when you write them down the second you have a chance! Bring a small pocket notebook everywhere you go, write down even the silliest or stupidest ides that first come to your mind. Slowly but surely, your Invisible Writer will become a Writer’s Companion and not just a locked and hidden idea generator!

What do you do when you get ideas for your writing?

Penny Biscuit

 

It’s All About the Questions

Hey, there Birdies! I’m back and intend to write every day for the rest of this week! (This time I mean it)  I have become the epitome of laziness as of late and I really need to fix that.

So! One thing that has been on my mind. Questions! Asking questions. You want to know one way to become a really awesome writer? Ask a question. It can be as simple as, ‘How did this happen?’ Or as complex as, ‘What causes this to happen?’

As a writer or even a reader, it’s important that we ask questions. If you’re a reader you can question why something is happening in the book, or perhaps what the author is intending for you to understand. Questions make us intrigued and as a reader that’s a really good thing.

As a writer, questions help you to write better. That’s right, you heard me correctly. If you went about as a writer and never asked a single question about it you’d more than likely land right on your face. Ouch. Definitely, don’t want to go there. Questions help you to grow,  questions help you to think, learn, and search for new information. A writer should be sort of like a reporter in a way. A good reporter never stops asking questions. They want to know everything about their story. From the very bottom to the very top.

What questions should you be asking as a writer? Well, that all depends on the type of writer you are.  You should always be asking where you’re wanting to take your story, what your character’s goals are, maybe even what you’re wanting to accomplish in your writing.

Questions can be a writer’s best friend.  Sadly, they can also be a downfall. Too many questions can make you ask more than you write. So don’t forget that you have to have an even balance. 😉

What questions do you ask before you write?

Penny Biscuit

Sometime Later

Hello, my little birdies! Long time no post I know. Ha!

I’ve been crazy busy and I actually got distracted working on my book instead of working on a blog post. (Oops)

One thing that definitely distracted me an awful ton was my own brain telling me, “I can write sometime later.” Wow, what a lie I tell myself.

Have you ever caught yourself in the process of being lazy? It’s a little irritating, isn’t it? I had that moment yesterday for sure. I had about two or three hours of free time before I had to be anywhere so I told myself I can always do writing in a little while. That obviously didn’t work out well now, did it?

Sometime later aways translates into not at all. As writers, we really shouldn’t be even allowing that little delay of a thought to enter our minds! If I said sometime later every single time I needed to post something or write another 1,000 words I’d never get anywhere!

It’s a terrible thing when we let procrastination pull us away from our work. It is distracting and an excuse not to do anything. How on earth are we to finish our book, finish our story, or complete our publishing if all we ever did was a sometime later?

We wouldn’t get much done.

I think we need to change our ‘sometime laters’ into a ‘how about right now’!

What do you think? How do you keep yourself from procrastinating?

Penny Biscuit

Booth Adventures!

Ahoy there me hearties! Recently I went on another book booth adventure with my captain, Isaiah T. Silkwood at a rather enjoyable art show.

You know what makes helping at a booth so enjoyable? Having fun!! Yes we have tons of fun! (Even in 90 degree heat). We get into character and play around and have sword fights. That by far is one of my most favorite things in the world!

You know, one thing is interesting to me. I notice it every time I help out but, a large majority of people still ask what we are selling even though the book is the only thing really focused on the table.That got me thinking; How do you make your book more noticeable? Or how do you present it in order for customers to know what it is you are actually selling?

Truth is, it’s hard. Some people just don’t notice the book first and that just happens. But how do you fix that?

I’ve been doing a little research here and there to figure that out and I’ve come up with a small portion of a solution.

A lot of what stands out is the tablecloth, decoration (If you have any), posters, awards, and any other thing that goes with it. Now, decoration if you have any is great because it does make your book look even more exciting! But, you have to be careful with it as well as any other thing. Too much will overwhelm your book.

I noticed and talked with a few people about tablecloths. The tablecloth can either be too boring or too exciting in most cases. I personally think there needs to be a better balance for sure. A soft pattern or classy elegant reworking of a tablecloth can really bring your book out to pop if done right. But it must suit your book as well! Style really is everything and if it pleases the eyes, most people will stop and look.

So make sure the style flows well and doesn’t confuse the eyes of the viewers. 🙂

That’s all for now Birdies!

Penny Biscuit

Distraction Free

What is something that distracts your writing?

I have told you all before that some days while writing I have to do many things at once while writing. But sometimes those things also become a massive distraction to me.

• TV
• Movies
• Talking
• Drawing
• Anything not related to writing 😉

You get the picture right?

But what really distracts our writing?

Sometimes it’s our own mind that truly distracts us. We worry about our writing, how good or bad it is, whether or not someone will actually like it, we think about the effects of our writing and whether or not we should be doing something possibly better with our time.

We distract ourselves with our own worry-wart brains.

Granted, there really may be something else that we should be doing instead of writing, maybe the sink needs fixing? The laundry needs to get done? Food needs to be made?

Those are things you probably should do, but you can also give yourself a break from such things to do something that you love to do as well. One hour out of your day to write probably won’t kill you. And depending on the day, one hour can get a ton of writing out of it if you’re feeling inspired!

Just one hour. More if you have the time for it! But really, first things first. Get your mind off of your worry! Worry will worry for itself. It never seems to get anyone anywhere, am I right?

Don’t you worry little birdies, you’ll be flying in no time. You just have to remember to keep flapping your wings. 😉

Penny Biscuit