When I started to plan this blog post, I couldn’t believe how many things I wanted to share with you today. So beware, this could be a long post.
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How has your creativity in life evolved since you began writing?
The awesome co-hosts for the November 7 posting of the IWSG are Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor, Ann V. Friend, JQ Rose, and Elizabeth Seckman!
If anything creative has happened to me since beginning to write, it has been that I’m more aware of people and events around me. I talk less, listen and look more. I’m more inside my head than interacting or sharing what I know or think I know. And as I’m soaking up voices and images, I’m turning them into scenes. Of course, these scenes have no stories to complete them, but they’re stored away for sometime when they’re needed. A small example happened a few years ago. I was in an ice cream shop and three boys all about ten years old came roughhousing their way inside. They were noisy, but not rude, just having some boy fun. They bought their ice cream and sat at a table in front of me, so I could see and hear them.
“Lookit,” one of them said. “My mom’s picking me up at 3, so we got us some time. What do you guys want to do?”
A few years later when I was writing The Great Time Lock Disaster, here’s what happened.
“Lookit. . . Dr. Wraith,” Weasel said, “I don’t like time travel. I hate it.”
Then with Sign of the Green Dragon, Joey’s voice had a lot of this in it. “Let me see that.” Joey snatched the yellowed paper from Sam. “We got us just one small problem.”
I’m not sure this counts as creativity, but maybe it does. Since I began writing, I’m taking snippets from real life and using them in my stories.
My EMAIL CONNECT this month is called NETWORKING 101, and that’s because I just attended a book event at a local library where I picked up some interesting ideas, so I wanted to share those with my followers. If you’re not on my list and want to be you can link up HERE. I’m also featuring DENISE COVEY. She’s a great writer to know and she does some very interesting online networking.
I hate this picture. I look kind of ghoulish (October appropriate, but definitely not a good November look). However, it does show some of the authors I sat on the Fantasy/Sci-Fi panel with. L-R: Donald Craghead, Andrew J. Stillman, Ajax Minor, Brian Paona, Ned Huston moderator, R.L. King (not shown) and me.
Fantasy/Sci-Fi Panel at Monterey Library, October 2018
My favorite month has just arrived. If it were up to me, we’d have three months of October; then January. I’d make pumpkin pie every four weeks because, of course, I’d have to carve fresh Jack-O-Lanterns and have them at the door for the Trick-or-Treaters that would come at the end of each October. At last, I could really get some good use out of my witch hat, and I wouldn’t have to do my hair–the messier and witch+ier the better. I love orange and black together, so seeing that theme for ninety days would be just fine by me. I’d have to stock up on more apple cider and cinnamon sticks than usual, but Trader Joe’s has plenty of each. As to the ghosts and gremlins that hang out during this season, I’d use them as writing inspiration. So I think this year, I’m keeping October around until the ball drops in Times Square.
