The Writer's Inspiration

The Perfect Season for Writing

2010-12-14T12:29:00.000-08:00

Its cold, even in Florida and that makes me happy! Why? Because cold weather is perfect writing weather. I have to type fast to keep my hands warm, and I don't feel the urge to go outside and savor the outdoors because its freezing and windy! My mind feels calmer too, with less outdoor distractions, and this will be even truer once the craziness of the holiday season has passed! If only I had a cozy warm cottage with snowy mountain views to write in, but alas, its Florida!

How to stay creative while being an exhausted corporate drone

2010-09-17T06:44:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, Im struggling to find the balance between a 40 hour work week, evening college classes, gym, cooking, cleaning, my dogs and my friends/man PLUS finding time to read/write/photograph/draw and just let my mind wander in order to spark those creative thoughts!

Any tips?

Im thinking that perhaps I need to set time to do NOTHING.....turn of all technology and go sit in nature or a quiet room with a pen and paper and see what happens..........

great link

2010-03-16T13:30:00.000-07:00

http://www.underdown.org/sffantasy.htm

A great website about the fantasy/sci-fi genre

Here are some points I liked-

"At Cricket Books, Saller finds that inexperienced science fiction and fantasy writers waste creative energy thinking up quirky names for characters that are purely good or evil, rather than complex people with whom readers can sympathize. "They are too often content with one-dimensional characters and plots that depend on coincidence."

I also think that putting my novel aside for the moment (it is a big task and I am doubting it more and more- is fantasy even selling to young adults these days? All I see on the 'popular' shelves at walmart is chicklit...ugh!) and I am going to concentrate on reading and writing SHORT stories- writing shorts will help me improve my craft and if I can actually get published by a SciFi/Fantasy magazine that will boost my ego TREMONDOUSLY and I seriously NEED some encouragement right now as Im in the pessimistic stage of my novel and filled with self doubt)
I am thinking I may submit here-
http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/glines.htm
after I read one of their actual magazines at Books-A-Million to see what their 'flavor' is. The previous link also has a lot of publishers they mention =)
http://www.cricketmag.com/pages_content.asp?page_id=22 maybe here too-but I only have until my 24th birthday!!

Now for some short story ideas!

Fun writing contest by an YA Agent!

2010-01-27T13:01:00.001-08:00

Kidlit Contest

Read, read, read!

2010-01-21T10:53:00.000-08:00

How can you write a fantastic book if you haven't read a book in a while? You can’t. Reading is so essential to being a great writer!

To jump start your creativity, make a list of books in the genre you are interested in writing in, go to the library- and read them! Note things you liked about the books- style, dialogue, characters- as well as things you hate! If you find your mind wandering- stop and examine the page and note why- and how to avoid doing that to your readers yourself!

Read books completely unrelated to your genre- you never know when that knowledge will come in handy in your writing- it invariably finds a way to seep in! For example, a book on fashion could easily influence the design of your character’s costumes in your novel, a modern political autobiography could help you create realistic power struggles in a period piece, a book on gardening could help you form a realistic farmer character…

The one thing I struggle with is finding the time to read. Look at your day and see where you could fit in some reading, and find a way to do so. You can read on your laptop or kindle or even an old fashioned book ;) For me, reading during down time at work is the best- there are thousands of free books online!

I found this treasure trove of suggestions here - forum

50 Places for Free Books Online

2020k

Large collection, divided into categories and sub-categories for download in a variety of formats.

Alive and Free -

Links to free ebooks of living authors

AllBooksFree

A small, but unique, listing of free fiction ebooks, available for download, mostly in pdf.

American Mathematical Society

has a pretty complete listing of books involving mathematics.

Arthur's Classic Novels -

Over 4000 novels covering a great variety of topics, nicely separated into categories and "best" lists. Some very interesting entries here. Available for online viewing.

Ask Sam -

A small collection of classics, including Shakespeare, and legal, resource and government texts.

AstrologyWeekly

10 books for online reading and about 30 for download. All on astrology.

Authorama

offers a few hundred books, searchable by author, for online viewing.

Baen Free Library -

A small library of downloadable science fiction novels in a variety of formats.

BaenCD -

A small collection of science fiction books from Baen's promotional CDs. They are downloadable in a variety of formats as well as viewable online.

Baldwin Online Children's Projects

520 classic children's books in a variety of genres for online viewing

Bartelby -

Harvard classics and encyclopedias. HTML only.

BBC (Dr. Who) for those who like Dr. Who,

this is a collection of 8 books for online reading or download in a choice of 3 formats

Berkely SunSite Classics -

A small collection of classics. HTML only.

Bibliomania -

Over 2,000 classic novels, study guides, biographies and more. HTML only.

Book-bot

14,571 books available for online viewing in their easy to view reader. Very nice find by fellow editor Rhiannon.

Book Glutton

is a collection of 1200+ books for online reading with the added feature of groups available for discussion of the readings. Nice combination of reading and socializing. Suggested by an anonymous poster.

BookRags -

Small collection of free with many paid. Hard to find the free ones. Available in Word or PDF.

Bookstacks

is a small collection (100+) of classic works available for online viewing, with many also available in Adobe PDF and Microsoft Reader versions. Nicely set up.

BookYards -

16,000+ books, videos, educational material.

Bored.com

has over 15,000 books available for online viewing. Nicely divided into a good variety of categories.

Chessville

40+ ebooks on Chess available for download (mostly in PDF)

ChestofBooks

Large collection, divided into categories, for online viewing. Nice collection.

Children's Books Online

is an excellent collection (600+) of illustrated antique children's books for viewing online. They are also available for download at a fee. This little gem was suggested by an anonymous poster.

Classic Authors.net

contains the works of over a hundred authors (and short biography for each), with a varying number of works per author. Online viewing only.

Classic Book Library

is a small collection (100+) of classic works arranged by genre. Online viewing only.

Classic Book Shelf Electronic Library

offers the works of 50+ authors in varying amounts. Online viewing only.

Classic Literature Library

Decent size collection that has complete works of a small variety of authors and works of others and a nice children's section available for online viewing.

Classic Reader

offers thousands of free classic books for online viewing.

ComputerBooks.us

larger collection, subcategorized and available for download in pdf

CrankyLibrarian

3011 books by 752 authors available for online viewing. Complete works of several authors and some interesting categories.

DailyLit -

Read books online by daily email or RSS feed. Over 700 titles.

Diesel eBooks -

Offers 750+ ebooks formatted for Microsoft Reader and MobiPocket

DivineLifeSociety

over 200 books on Yoga, religion and philosophy available in pdf or HTML

DragonBytes

Nice collection of horror novels available for online viewing. Separate section for Vampire novels.

Earthbound

The 5 book science fiction series of Earthbound available for download in lit .pdb .pdf .txt .rtf.

E-Books Directory

944 books in 344 categories available for download in varying formats.

eBooksJustPublished

Interesting collection of DRM free eBooks listed daily. Most are free.

eBooksRead

Over 41,000 books available for download in pdf or text. Search by author or title

eLibrary -

Thousand of free eBooks

encyclopedia of the self

has a nice children's section, divided into nursery through eight grade as well as a nice classics section. Available for online viewing.

eReader.com

has a small collection of free ebooks for download, but a couple interesting entries. Registration required.

eServer -

Over 30,000 works covering a variety of interests

eText.lib

The University of Virginia online library has a large collection of works available for online viewing (some are available in Microsoft Reader). Even though a good number are limited to UVA students and staff, there is still a good amount of interesting material available to the general public. Suggested by poster mikedutch.

Federal Citizen Information Center

offers informational booklets on a great variety of subjects. Many are free and most of the paid ones are available for a free download. Suggested by an anonymous poster

FeedBooks -

Thousand of eBooks downloadable in a variety of formats

FindingFreeeBooks

Links to author sites with free eBooks and promotional giveaways. Nice way to find eBooks that would not be listed at the larger sites.

Fiction

eBooks is a interesting small collection of works of fiction (including some Beatrix Potter illustrated childrens books) as well as some books for writers and works philosphy and sociology. Online viewing only.

FictionWise

has 35 books available for free download in a great variety of formats. Most are the usual classics avialble elsewhere, but there are a couple of unusual ones and a few reference books that might be interesting.

Franklin -

Thousands of free titles available in text and HTML format

FreeBookCentre

links to thousands of computer ebooks divided into many sub-categories

FreeBookSpot -

5,000 free eBooks downloadable in 96 categories available for download in a number of different formats. Suggested by devinathann.

FreeBooksClub

1500+ books, in a wide variety of non-fiction categories, available for download. Registration required.

FreeBooks4Doctors

Over 650 works (in varying languages) dealing with medical matters. Available in pdf download.

FreeBooksforAll

A fairly large collection of non-fiction books availabe for download (mostly in pdf)

FreeComputer Books -

Free computer, math, technical books and lecture notes

Free eBooks -

Smaller collection divided into categories

Free eBooks Net -

Free books and resources for authors. Also magazines

FreeOnlineBooks

Interesting collection on individualist feminism and libertarianism available for online viewing.

Free Online Novels

Interesting collection for online viewing. Several hundred novels separated into categories.

FreeRead

a bibliography of Australian writers who died before 1955, with links to a good number of them for download or viewing.

FreeSFReader

Collection of links for mostly science fiction, fantasy and horror novels and short stories, but also some other genres

FreeTechBooks -

Computer science and programming books, textbooks and lecture notes.

FullBooks -

Thousand of free full text books.

GetFreeEbooks -

Smaller collection of all free ebooks.

Globusz -

A place for new authors to post their work and for readers to check them out for free.

Google Book Search -

Good selection of free ebooks available in a variety of categories.

GrtBooks -

A large collection of great books and classics.

Gutenberg -

Over 25,000 books for download there and over 100,000 available through their affiliates.

Heygidday

Thousands of works in a great variety of categories available for download in pdf (zipped).

HorrorMasters

2100 classic horror novels available for download in pdf, plus links to horror novels at other sites.

Infomotions -

14,000 listings from full classic novels to Western philosophy. HTML only.

InternetArchive -

Over 500,000 texts available for download

Internet Sacred Text Archive

very interesting and large collection of books on religion, mythology, folklore and the esoteric available for online viewing.

Islaam Pure & Clear

around 50 Islamic books for reading or download

Kellscraft Studio

Around 250 books available for online viewing. Kellscraft lists out of print, public domain novels, most published prior to 1923. Searchable by title, author and topic.

Kidspace

A small collection of childrens books, available for online viewing, from the Internet Public Library.

LearningIsland

Nice collection of children's books available for online viewing.

Librivox

Although mostly know for its excellent collection of audio books. A poster named Les has pointed out that they also have links to online viewing sites for all of its large collection of audio books and also download links.

LilFingers Storybooks

Small collection of books for very young children for reading and being read to.

Linux Online

Around 25 linux, open source and programing, books for download or reading

Literature.org

has a collection of classics, arranged by author, for online viewing.

LiteratureNetwork

has over 1900 full books and over 3000 short stories and poems by over 250 authors available for online reading. Searchable by author and they have a few unusual ones.

LiteraturePost

825 works from 71 authors available for online viewing.

LookyBook

has a large and very nice collection of children's books for online viewing.

ManyBooks -

22,000 books available for download in a variety of formats

Mary Jo's E Texts -

Small collection has not been updated in a while, but links still work. Palm.

Master Texts

is a collection of 30+ authors for online viewing.

MedLine Plus

is a great, trustworthy site for general health information, including tutorials, clinical trial updates and the latest news in medicine. You can also find plenty of books, including some intended for children.

MemoWare -

Free books for PDA

Mises Institute

Several hundred books, mostly on economics (and from a libertarian point of view) available for download as pdf. Some unique entries here. Suggested by poster, Bill Starr.

MIT Internet Classics Archive -

Over 400 works of clasical literature available for download.

MobileRead -

Forum listing thousands of free ebooks.

MobiPocket

over 10,000 works, in a variety of categories, available for download in MOBI.

Molwick

Small collection of scientific and educational books available for download in pdf

Munsey's -

Over 18,000 ebooks available in a variety of formats

NetLibrary -

Small selection of free. But annual membership is only $8.95 for over 500,000 works.

OnlineBooks4free

large collection of links to other sites for online viewing or download. Nicely categorized.

Online Books Page from the University of Pennsylvania

is a listing of over 30,000 free books on the web. Mostly this references to other sites, but they do have the Gutenberg listings available for download as well as some interesting special exhibits.

OnlineComputerBooks -

Good selection of free computer books.

OnlineFreeeBooks -

links to various ebooks (mostly pdf) in 9 categories

Online Library of Liberty

hosts over an interesting collection of over 1,100 books available for online viewing and also for download.

OnlineSapiens

has a small collection for online viewing, but a few unique entries worth a look.

OxfordTextArchive -

Over 2,000 classical texts downloadable as ASCII or DOC

PagebyPage

a few hundred works available for online viewing.

PDFBooks -

4,700 pdf ebooks

PDFFreeBooks

Small collection of children's books and two rare books on Syriac grammar and Arabic-Enclish lexicon. Available for download in PDF or DJVU.

PerseusDigitalLibrary -

A large collection of classical texts broken down to time period written.

PlaneteBook -

Free classical literature

PlanetPDFeBooks -

Small collection of classical works.

Project Gutenberg Australia

over 1600 novels and an assortment of other works available in varying ways, including test, pdf and online viewing

PublicBookShelf

around 150 books in varying categories for online viewing.

Publi****erature

Has some unique public domain novels among its classic collection of around 100 books. Also has a large selection of writings submitted by authors which are free and legal to download, but not to distribute. All are available for online viewing and download in several formats.

PubMed Bookshelf

is an engine which lets you search for books containing keywords of your choice and then browse them.

PubMed Central

This search engine covers all the open-access articles [rather than books] available on PubMed, the National Library of Medicine's main scientific portal (where you can also find abstracts from many restricted-access articles).

Questia Online Library

offers over 5,000 classic and rare works for free online viewing

Qvadis

hosts over 6,000 free titles available in Palm Database (.pdb) format.

ReadBookOnline

has a nice collection of classics available for online viewing.

ReadEasily -

Small collection of works that has option for larger print. HTML only.

ReadPrint -

Thousands of books, poems and short stories.

ReadTheseLips

short fiction, poetry and other writings especially for and about lesbians.

RealTime -

Free media for IT professionals

Scholastic

Small collection of children's books available for online viewing (or read to you). Featuring Clifford the Big Red Dog.

SnipFiles -

Small collection of free ebooks and software.

Starry FreeOnlineNovels

small collection, but some interesting entries, available for online viewing.

TechToolBlog

Links to 345 online programing books

TopMystery

A good amount of each of the few mystery authors listed are available for online viewing or download

Webooks

is a small (150) collection of "How To" books on unusual topics available for online viewing or download as pdf. Suggested by an anonymous poster.

Web Literature

has 6500+ works of over 350 authors available for online viewing. A nice feature is that they try to display the full works of the listed authors

WitGuides -

Small collection of free ebooks in a variety of categories.

WordIQ

Nice collection of over 10,000 books available for online viewing. There are some unusual entries here, but hard to find unless looking for specific title or author.

Wowio

- Good size collection of novels and also comic books.

Witch of Words

2009-12-01T07:50:00.000-08:00

We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection." Anais Nin

'For all writers, writing is a brave act. It is especially difficult when the writer is young, for then she is searching for her own voice, seeking a comfortable framework, comparing herself to other masters, and justifying time spent at this activity to others. Creative-writing teachers have their own ideas about what should be written and are often not so acute in perceiving the student's uniqueness. The English novel is usually taken as the standard for demonstrating literary method. Writers also face rejection slips and so building confidence becomes an endurance test'

Indeed, Anaïs Nin can be described as a witch of words. Very early she sensed the magical power of words to produce states of being, such as ecstasy, languor or dread. Her ambition was to transform the ugly realities of life into beauty, as the beast in fairy tales becomes the handsome prince after achieving a certain wisdom. She desired to distill the pure from the dross, and writing was her charm. Through writing she can inhabit other worlds for herself. Writing is a drug of the imagination. It casts spells on others, putting them into new worlds with her. Dreams can be lived out. The magic of words has also a healing effect. By writing she can examine her wounds privately and confront all the loose ends of her daily life, the unspoken but very present psychological currents. The act of creation itself is a balm, a tonic. The work of art is the witch's marvelous gift to the world. It is created from intense living and contemplation. Life itself is the witch's cauldron. The writing witch uses words to transform, heal, and teach wisdom. Her fresh awarenesses about the meaning of life for men and women have the capacity to change their lives.

Another way Anaïs Nin casts a magic spell is her ability to influence others by wishing them to be busy at their own creations. Countless people have testified to having experienced this. She inspires people to make creativity a way of life in the sense that the Balinese mean it when they say, Art is doing anything well.'

* sourced from http://www.anaisnin.com/booktastings/stars/part1.htm

Quote of the Day

2009-11-19T12:55:00.001-08:00

“You don’t have to be a genius to be a writer, you just have to have the passion to do it.” - Julio Zambrano

Beginnings...

2009-11-19T12:19:00.000-08:00

Empty blank white pages…waiting…expectant, for you the daunted writer to mar them with the black letters that you feel are ever so important.

Beginnings are hard. As it is with this blog, and the first post. But here I am, laying words down sentence after sentence, getting that oh so hard first post out of the way.

Let me start out by saying this -I am a distracted writer.

I start projects and then meander off course as daily routine and life. I can’t quit though. Writing is as necessary to me as eating. The un-finished novel I have stuffed in a drawer has a little piece of my soul in it and what sort of person would I be if I just left part of soul in a dirty drawer?

I want this blog to be a place where I can find the inspiration, motivation or plain old instruction to get myself going again. I want it to get me to my work sooner and with greater courage and confidence, but not to substitute for the process of writing itself…

You don’t need to be a writer or artist to struggle with goals that seem beyond your reach and a lack of appreciation from others- it’s just a little more pervasive in the art making world. Writing takes self motivation and can be a lonely and overwhelming undertaking. So that is why this is not just a personal journal, but a blog. Because your comments and input are important.

Not all writer’s went to creative writing workshops but they did have each other’s inspiration and critiques to feed off. Hemingway denigrated the idea of writing schools, but he had in Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound arguably the two best teaching editors in Western letters. Faulkner sought out Sherwood Anderson, Robert Lowell spent a summer with Allen Tate, and we have Famous Pairs: Coleridge and Wordsworth, Melville and Hawthorne, Eliot and Pound, Joyce and Beckett. So please, join me on this journey of inspiration and honing of our craft as writers.

It is worth mentioning, for future reference, that the creative power which bubbles so pleasantly in beginning a new book quiets down after a time, and one goes on more steadily. Doubts creep in. Then one becomes resigned. Determination not to give in, and the sense of an impending shape keep one at it more than anything.

-Virginia Woolf