Fiction's Footsteps

>Holy crap! Has it really been two and a half weeks since my last post? What a slacker, eh? Writers beware – this is a profession that easily sucks you into a) procrastination (like we need any help in that area anyway, right?), b) slackerdom (my own word – different from procrastination in that a slacker actually DOES something albeit in small quantities), c) self-esteem issues (again, like we didn’t have those to begin with…), and finally d) panic mode (brought on, of course, by the aforementioned big three…).

I suffer all these yet I write. The key is write. How the hell many times do we have to be told this? I visited Ann Rice’s FaceBook page and she’s on there repeating the mantra. I even friended 6 people (mainly because when I clicked on “like” as I’ve done hundreds of times on other peoples comments, a box popped up asking me to friend the 48,000 people on her FB page). 4 people actually friended me back! I have no clue who they are, but I’ll be finding out soon I suppose.

What is interesting are the two who did not friend me. One in Texas wanted to know when we met and the other clearly and concisely told me it was apparent we did not know each other but we are currently writing back and forth on each others wall because she is interested in my connection to writing. I may have actually made a friend. Too cool!

I have to answer the one who wants to know when we met. I’d hate to have her think I was a one night stand she had while bingeing or something of that ilk. On the other hand, I’ve never been a one night stand. This might be the closest I ever come… Hmmm. Ethical dilemma…

Back to the post at hand. Creating content that drives people to read you is tough. You must step out there and make yourself vulnerable to criticism. This is something that comes very hard for me and I’m sure many others. If you can’t do it, you need to move on. I’ve tried to be the nice, vanilla kinda writer that doesn’t offend or challenge people negatively. No one wants to read my shit. That’s the bottom line. Yes, I put the word “shit” in there on purpose. What a rebel, eh?

Post consistently. Find your niche and invite people in. Crap! That’s precisely what I’m missing here! I haven’t invited other writers to my blog. Oh yeah, I invited people, but not specifically writers. I must do this. If you are a writer reading this, then that means I’m doing what I need to do.

Hub Pages has been my most successful outreach to writers. I need to get out there and write more articles. I also need to promote like by fellow Rogues Gallery Writer – Rebekah Hunter Scott. Check this out. She landed the following radio interview scheduled for May 2nd. Here’s the link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/esteemyourself

It’s stuff like that a writer must do to get recognized and sell books. Consistent blog posts are another. I need to post like Rebekah – two to three times a week. I also need to write something that grabs. This is good advice for all writers. Step out of comfort zones and safe places. Hey, if they throw tomatoes at us, at least these days they’re virtual tomatoes, not nearly so messy…

As promised, I will be posting the next portion of The Cold Bite of Autumn this week. Come back and see if I’m as good as my word…

>Wow! Publishing can take a toll on your writing career. I need to pick up my story where it left off and allow it to grow like I know it can. Instead, of course, I pursue the business aspects of writing – especially publishing – and let all that creativity die on the brain stem.

The Cold Bite of Autumn aspires to be my manifesto work that grows from my innermost mind into the most ultimate of writing complexities – a novel. At this moment the story is nothing more that a cheap trinket in a curio shop.

The power needed to complete the writing cycle of nothing, creation, refinement, re-creation and finally nothing overwhelms the writing mind with visions of impossibilities rattling around their cortex…

Writers create from nothing but the space between their ears and the maze within their hearts. Writers understand each other up to a point. We all fight our demons. We all suffer our pathetic excuses. We all nod our heads and even forgive others of their time-management conundrums. Yet we seldom forgive ourselves purely. We do it temporarily, but ultimately we blame ourselves for not pressing forward in a more timely fashion.

These types of things are apt to happen to creative folk. We bounce around in our right brained world never considering how poorly this world melds with the analytical left brain universe. We wander around, staggering buffoons for the world to see and we have the audacity to ask this same world to read just how inept or imaginatively corrupt we are. Fiction’s Footsteps appear to be less than baby steps at this point, but if you’ve never attempted to write a book, don’t come bitchin‘ to me about dangling participles and incomplete sentences. At least I’m giving it the old
heave-ho!

Until next week…

>Writing takes on many diverse faces. “Faces” does not go deep enough on second thought. The depths of the writing psyche can overwhelm any writer. I should go out on a limb and say ALL writers suffer at one time or another the debilitating complexities of writing.

We stumble over our lives as writers, searching for that next connection with the ever elusive muse. Often we stress and force ourselves into non-production because we need to work. We need to connect with that aspect of ourselves that screams to be let out, but we find we cannot lay siege to free our creative side – we must softly approach and coax it out.

I know, I’m very abstract today, but I’m moving toward the ultimate goal of getting quality word down on screen. Just keying those last two words of that sentence, my curiosity is piqued and I want to divert off to all the cliche’s that have to change to stay modern. The ‘get it down on paper’ applies less and less these days. I don’t often write longhand anymore because I don’t like to transcribe (as well as have to decipher my own penmanship…).

I have promised more fiction on this blog, and I shall deliver. I personally enjoy writing The Cold Bite of Autumn. For me, fiction writing is vacation time! I could key forever on stories and be a happy camper. It’s what Tiggers do best! One day, I will get there.

Today I am working on the blogs, websites and any other more ‘business’ aspects of my vocation. I’m quitting my last remaining “job” where I actually receive a regular paycheck. This drives me into minor panic mode as well as major excitement mode. I do not possess an income necessary to meet my bills, yet I’ve hired an employee, and I’m quitting my only guaranteed money.

All for the greater good, though. I’m telling you writers – you MUST go after your dream. Passive approaches do not yield results. You commit to it and stop playing with it or all your writing dreams become intellectual toys. Pay your dues. As Popeye would say, “takes your chances”. As you live and breathe, your chances stand before you.

I’m in New York writing this. I had to escape the drudgery and prison of preconceived notions about what I’m supposed to be doing as a writer and publisher. I’ve spent money I don’t really have, I’ve abandoned my wife and three of four children for a week and I’ve taken on the ‘monster’ of my life – will I pursue and handle success.

Again, abstract, I know. But I suffer from a fear of success. This is insidious. I’m my own worst enemy. But I’ve surrounded myself with people who are positive, supportive, and progressive. The more I’m in this writing business, the more I see where the vast majority of people will bring you down. My encouragement to any writer who stumbles across this blog – find those writers who are “doing it”. I don’t mean necessarily the ones who have already made a big splash in the writing world. I’m speaking of the writers who doggedly move forward and who offer positive support. You desperately need these people in your life.

I’m thankful for the Rogues Gallery Writers. They are there for me and I for them. We are “doing it”. I’m also very glad to have made connections with writers who have reached a level of success and are still hungry. Margie Lawson is a wonderful writer who has excellent material that puts incredible tools into writer’s hands. Connecting with successful writers is good too!

This is my third day away from the pressures of home, business and many of the things that squelch my writing. As writers, though, most of the writing “baggage” is carried around in our hearts and minds. I’m freeing myself of some of those tethers. Sometimes a writer simply must ‘detox’ from the toxic world in which we live. I too often find myself surrounded by negativity. Negativity is the slayer of your muse and we as writers hand our creative side over to this destructive concept. The only negativity that can live within you is that which you allow.

Easy words to live, much more difficult to practice. Walk away from the negativity in your writing life. Hell, walk away from it in your everyday life. You do not need it. Negativity will rob you of every dream you’ll ever have.

Admonishments from the Fiction’s Footsteps author.