That's me, I'm a Fire Bug

“Lighting a fire under your ass,” is a term given to show motivation and passion. “She/he is on fire!” says that you’re a person who is moving forward, totally motivated, “That’s hot,” is said to display our approval/desire for someone or something.

Fire is the source of life for cultures around the world, if you’re a "Survivor" aficionado, fire represents your life in the game. Some of the symbolism behind fire is passion, energy, motivation, growth, fresh starts, cleansing and on the flip side, destruction, death, pain and wildness.

What has this all got to do with my post today? Have you ever started a fire while camping or maybe in your woodstove? It can prove difficult if the wood isn’t dry, you don’t have a match or kindling, the wind is blowing too hard. But if you have all the pieces, paper, kindling, wood, matches and no wind or rain, it’s a great deal easier. Better than that, once the fire is going, it’s really easy to KEEP going. Do you see where I’m headed with this folks?

Writing can be hard, one of the most difficult things out there when you think about it. Here’s the analogy. The paper to start a fire is the paper under your fingertips. It won’t do anything until you apply something to it. The kindling is your ideas and your outline. The larger chunks of wood are the hours you put into your writing be it research, outlining, writing or studying the craft. And the match is you, your motivation, your drive and commitment to what you want to accomplish. Don't worry about the wind (naysayers) and rain (rejections) don't let them put your fire out. They're just part of the process, something we all need to go through to have a bigger and better fire (book).

Once the writing fire’s going, despite how hard it might seem, it’s actually a heck of a lot easier to keep going, just like a real fire. You’ve developed your routine, you’re beginning to write every day and now it’s only a matter of keeping at it. So keep at it and most importantly, don’t let your fire go out.

Call me Mayer, Stephanie Mayer

I want to start this post by saying it is not a bash of anyone, their writing or their choices. I know this author and I think highly of them.

We're going to call said author Bob Smith, if he chooses to comment that would be great and I will gladly give him a shout out. Bob is a great writer and has chosen to e-publish like so many writers have with the advent of that technology. The problem was, like so many going it on their own, Bob was struggling with selling his books.

Bob re-vamped his covers, re-named the books and gave himself a pseudonym. This is where my curiosity perked up. Sales improved drastically and Bob is very happy. Why would my curiosity perk up you may ask? Because Bob chose his pseudonym to be the equivalent of Stevie King. Meaning the name he chose was almost identical to that of a best selling author. Now, I wondered, was this a type of infringement on the national bestselling authors rights to their own name? If not, it's a very smart marketing move on Bob's part. I believe he writes in the same genre as the author who's name his pseudonym is so close to, and I think people would see it and think that they're related, most likely twins.

Please remember (you especially Bob if you're reading this) this is not meant as a critique. More only an observation that I found very interesting and really wanted to share with others. I mean hey, if this is a plausible way to drum up business, call me Stephanie Mayer ;P

What are you're thoughts on this? Was Bob making a smart move or do you think he might have given himself more trouble down in the long run?

Balancing Urban Fantasy and Beliefs

Two posts in one day? I know, it's hard to believe you get a double dose of moi. But since I'm trying to keep up with my own 30 day challenge and I missed one yesterday (the second day no less!) I'm doubling up today.

I wanted to see how other writers dealt with sensitivity when it comes to religion within their writing. When I wrote a blog about Urban Fantasy and using other backdrops rather than vampires an interesting comment came up. I would like to paste the comment made by Rosehips because I think it brings up an interesting point and a good topic for discussion.

On the suggestion you made to mine Indian "mythology"--here's the thing. Many Hindus have worshipped the deities and believed in the demons, etc., of this cosmology for thousands of years (which I realize you alluded to in your post). My concern is that by using it in fiction, I may disrespect the faith of those people. Did you ever watch Xena? She eventually starts traveling the world, and there's a series of episodes in India. And as I recall, a lot of Hindus objected to the episodes.

So the question would be, regardless of the religion or myth, how do we as writers give religions the reverence that the followers would expect and still use the ideas in our stories?

I know that for myself I have tried to use a blend of many cultures, myths, religions and my own smattering of ideas when it comes to belief in the otherworldly to make sure that I don't pick on any one theology. That said, I think that I still have the potential to offend by doing that very thing, by blending beliefs.

I am very curious to hear your thoughts on this as I at least want to show respect for other cultures and religions yet still be able to tap into the uniqueness that each culture brings and blend that with my stories.

Rock Bottom and the Growth it brings

Hitting rock bottom sucks. Whether it’s with your job, your marriage, your family, or your writing. Rock bottom in writing can be the rejection letter that is one too many. It can be the editor who doesn’t connect with your work and tells you to quit writing. Or it can be something as simple yet as destructive as writer block.

All of these things have happened to me, made me question my skill, desire and dreams. As many of you probably know, rock bottom isn’t very comfortable. It hurts in so many ways. But when I was in one of my pits, a good friend gave me the best piece of advice.

“The good thing about Rock bottom, is there’s only one way to go and that’s up.”

As a writer it’s easy to get in a funk, harder to get out. My advice? Get a cheering section, people who can give you the pep talk be they friends, family or maybe a writing group like I have

Rock bottom is not fun, but it can also be the driving force behind a new idea, an inspiration or perhaps just the desire to prove that you can do it. Believe in yourself and you’ll see rock bottom in a whole other light. You’ll see that it’s there to burnish off the rough edges of your personality, to get rid of the excess in your life and ultimately will make you a better person and a better writer.

What advice do you have for those that are feeling rocks on their posteriors right now?

Blogging that Rocks your Socks Off.

Day one of my, self imposed, thirty day challenge. A few rules on writing a blog post that I have

A)Learned the hard way

B)Learned off of other blogs and

C)Used my good ol’ common sense

The first thing I’ve learned is keep it short and sweet. Get to the point and don’t dawdle while you get there. Some writers can ramble and it’s fun to follow along but those are few and far between. More than that, ask anyone who frequents blogs, most won’t read to the end of a Looooong post. So cut it off when you find yourself contemplating the meaning of life in a free flow form of writing. I try to keep it under 400 words if possible.

Use catchy titles. (This goes for your novels too of course. Think "Skinny Bitch".) Catchy titles get people’s attention and that will get them reading your blog. Hence the oh -so -snazzy header of this post.

Using pictures is great, but not thirty per post. One or two will suffice. Again, short, sweet and pertinent will rock it.

Controversy can be fun and make for great debates, but only if you truly believe in what you are writing about. Don’t dive into a trendy topic JUST BECAUSE. That’s just dang irritating.

Finally, try to keep it interesting. (This could get tough for me over the next thirty days) If you’re writing the same type of posts (Woe is me is another no-no) over and over and over and over again, people tend to notice. Mix it up a little. If you only write about writing, tell a story about your childhood and how you came to be a writer. Only talk about yourself? Do an interview with a new author, editor or agent.

A last thought. One thing that’s good to do is to ask your readers a question at the end of your blog to try to engage them and start a dialogue. That one I learned from Creepy Query Girl. Hence the next line! These are only the things I try to avoid, what have you learned either by reading posts or blogging yourself?

Blogfest 30 day Challenge - With Prizes!

There's this great yoga studio in our area and they have put on a thirty day challenge to it's members. What that means is that you have to attend a class every day for thirty days or if you miss a day you have to make that missed day up by doing two classes in a day.

My little brain got to thinking. Maybe that would make a great blog challenge, in fact, I think it would make a great blog challenge and one anybody can participate in.

I know that some of you are groaning and already contemplating the great difficulties that are ahead, the cramped typing fingers, the frozen brain that will no longer produce cognizant thoughts. But that's kind of the point. How many of us actually work on our writing every day? We should if we want to be serious writers (I am still working on this concept myself)

Think of this challenge as a way to train yourself for writing that next novel, a way to get into the swing of things. It will also be a way to get into your blogging if you struggle with regular posts, something that I think is important if you want to keep your followers coming back for more of you quirky brand of writing. You can use interviews, contests, funny blurbs, personal thoughts or anything else that relates to writing in some way.

The start date for this challenge will be April 4th to give you a few days to come up with a list of posts you want to write about and the end date will be May 4th. If you want to participate please make a comment as I think there should be prizes for a contest like this and yes, I will provide them!

And if anyone is super savy and knows how to make a button for this awesome sauce challenge, please feel free to do so we can put that up too.