Battle Cry

Through all the world there goes one long cry from the heart of the artist: only give me the chance to do my very best!

--- Isak Dinesen

I think this "cry" is also in Steigan's heart. Maybe it's why his story is so close to my heart.

Is summer over?

I'm going to miss these nice summer and fall nights. They are passing by too quickly.

My youngest son and I have spent several nights outside talking about the Sacred Knight series. We sit on the swing and look at the stars. We wait to watch the International Space Station fly overhead on nights that it's visible. And we dive into where I'm at in the manuscript. There's some things I don't want to reveal to him because I want to keep him as an engaged reader too. But it's still been fun working in-depth over the storylines with him. It keeps me on my toes, makes sure I'm not missing obvious things.

Most importantly, it's been good time we've spent together. I am so going to miss it.

Thoughts and Passions

On my books for artists blog, I've posted a review for Seth Godin's Poke the Box. The one thing I didn't mention there was how I felt the book related to my own.

This whole Sacred Knight project has been my passion for such a long time. Godin talks about how you've got to try out ideas and you'll probably fail most of the time. But if you don't poke the box, you'll never find out what will happen.

Seventeen years I've spent with my characters, mainly my hero. Multiple drafts I've tried, restarted, written bits and filed them away, tried, failed, wrote more, failed, kept writing, failed, etc. But each time I learned more. I made a few mistakes, but I learned a lot about the story. How could I have grown it if I hadn't kept trying? There were times when I wanted to throw my large storage box of notes off the Perrine Bridge just to hear it splash in the Snake River. Or how about a barbecue in the back yard -- you going to bring the marshmallows?

When you're creating a fantasy world, you're making up everything: religion, culture, speech patterns, fashion, food, history, atmosphere, animals, plants, architecture, everything. It's not a small task. You've got to experiment. It's nothing but poking the box until you find what works.

To stay at such a project, it's got to be a passion. If it's not, it's allowed to fade away. So yes, this story is my passion. When you're reading it, you're seeing the collection of many failures until I had enough faith in it to let it be a success. Is it perfect? No, it's not. But I'm not referring to success here as meaning that it's perfect. Yes, I've already thought of lines I wish I'd been able to put in the book. Oh well, the book lives on and so do it. It is a success because I've put it out there and it speaks my message.

One other point that Godin makes is that too many authors are waiting for someone else to approve them. First they have to get an agent to take them on, then a publisher. He goes on to talk about an event coordinator who would be better off being a promoter -- saying that as an event coordinator, this person is at the mercy of the promoter who holds all the power, so why not move from being an event coordinator to being a promoter? I wish he'd carried through with analogy and just said what I know he wanted to say: why doesn't the author quit waiting for permission from the publisher and just become the publisher. In this day and age, it is easy to jump into being the person in power. It's a matter of remembering that you can do it, then doing it. I can understand why people don't do it too. It took a lot of effort to put together a book, especially carrying all the jobs from writing to editing to cover design. But if it fails at market, I have no one to blame by myself.

Want to know a secret? It can't fail.

My passion is in the story, in releasing it to the world for others to read. Guess what? That's already done. Well, book 1 of 4 is done. Book one is a success, and I'm committed now to finishing books 2-4. Each book will further that success to my commitment to this story. It's a cycle. Passion, commitment, success.

Where are you at with your story? Are you letting your passion fuel it even over hardships. Notice I didn't even mention failure in the above formula. Failures are temporary. When we're learning to walk, we fall down a few times. Being able to walk from one room to another keeps a baby trying. Seeing a published book on the shelf should fuel you to get your own done no matter what it takes. Don't wait for anyone else's approval. Do it.

The Three Book's First Review

I've received my first review and I'm absolutely amazed. Here it is:

(5 stars) "By Reason of Insanity" -- https://www.createspace.com/Preview/1076401 April 23, 2011

Your overall impressions?
Brilliant!

Would you continue reading? 5 stars = definitely!
(5 stars)

Would you recommend this book to others?
Without question!

Thank you to Bridgette Meddis Emery who posted the review -- you've made my day!

Think Only As You Can Think

I subscribe to Notes from the Universe from Mike Dooley at TUT.

Aside from me being very jealous that he's got the cool domain name (I'm a big fan of King Tut!), I love getting the Notes, especially when there's one that strikes a chord.

Today, I received just such a message. Here's my message for today:


It's the way you think. That's your purpose. It's never been about what work you choose, what gifts you develop, or what niche you fill - let these be for your pleasure.

Think as only you can think, which will lead to feelings that only you can feel, from which connections will be made, lives will be changed, and worlds will come tumbling into existence.


As writers, we have something we want to tell people, whether it's about a character, a theme, a message, or just a story. It is born inside us and needs to come out. I really liked the part about worlds tumbling into existence. Even if your story isn't a fantasy, you create a world. It starts off in your head. It is your thoughts that begin it. From there, yes, it is something you start to feel because from those thoughts manifest a change within you (and change always evokes an emotional response). Just as people then seek out like-minded friends, writers create like-minded characters to populate their stories. Of course, then comes the foes and foils that stand against the character(s) and thus the world is born. In that moment of being able to sink into that world that is entirely the writer's own, pure bliss is discovered.

I've likened this to a hole in the paper -- I've often told writing friends of mine that there is a hole somewhere on the paper (or screen for those of us who write on computer now -- it wasn't always this way though!) and you just need to find that hole to slip through to the other side. Once you're through and you're soaking in the world you created, don't you just feel like you're home? I do. Maybe that's why I get so cranky and have a tendency to throw things when someone disturbs me while I'm writing! Could it be? For me, being yanked out of my world is like being dropped from a hangman's noose. That choking, suffocating drop. Yep, just thinking about it makes me irritated! Always leaves me with the "I want to go home!" feeling.



Now I admit, the last few days have been really hard because I've been working very hard on getting my manuscript formated for publication (Boy do I have stories about that, but you'll hear them later). So I've been several days now without writing or painting. I can feel myself getting antsy because I want to get back in the game, yet I know this is a process I have to go through. In some ways, it's also been good because I've had time to work on my projects just in my head (what I want to paint next and the composition of the piece, as well as a change I need to make in the second storyline of Sacred Knight, which is going to mean a rewrite/edit, but not a severe one). It's been nice to have a moment to see an overview of all my thoughts. Maybe it was TUT that inspired me to look beyond what I was seeing.

And speaking of Tut, I was also thinking about my plans for the next few years. I know Sacred Knight will keep me occupied for a little bit (ha ha! 4 story arcs, busy for a bit, you think?! Especially if #1 son has his way and talks my subconscious into creating another arc or 2). However, there is also an Egyptian historical fantasy that's lingering around. I was just talking about that story over this last weekend. Maybe it's a sign that it's going to be next on my list. There's also my genie story that I've actually been working on longer than Sacred Knight (yes stories need time to percolate, some more than others). Not to mention the story I was working on right before I was struck with Sacred Knight.

Or maybe they were all meant to be manuscripts forever hidden away beneath my bed. Never meant to be seen by anyone.

I guess it depends on if I can find those holes again and slip back into those stories.

Well, I guess I'll just have to think about it and see if worlds come tumbling out.

Fodder

While I'll go into this more in a Creator's Journal moment sometime, I wanted to have a quick post about artists and their lives.

I've had the great fortune of knowing many artists and have always been surrounded by those who like to create. My writing mentor, who I miss dearly, had written not only her book, but the script and complete musical score for the movie. Her untimely death brought that to a halt, but she had been in talks with a studio at the time. She also created toys. I've added a link for her work, which is a shame you can get it so cheaply on Amazon right now, but maybe good for you if you need a book to share with your kids: Search Amazon.com for trish reinius

But to those who don't understand an artists dire need to create, artists look crazy. Sometimes our art pushes us so much we can't think of anything else. Worse is when the tragic moments in our life make us think, "Wait, I have to write this down. I'll need it for this scene in my book."

It's rare for humans to truly reflect on our emotions, but artists do it constantly. We analyse how things feel. We realize that though the circumstances may be different, emotions are universal. So we take our own feelings, rip them to shreds, and piece them back together on our characters. Or we pour that emotion into our painting or sculpture. We use our emotions as cannon fodder for our art.

Is it no wonder that so many artists have gone crazy?

Maybe you have to be in order to desire to create. But standing at this point now, I wonder why any non-artist would ever look at an artist and say, "Gee, I wish I could paint (or write, or sculpt, or whatever) like you do." I've said on my other blog several times that anybody can be creative. I still believe it's true. But maybe the ones who don't want to see the truth in it are the lucky ones.

Or maybe not because they aren't the one who will ever save the world! Creativity is a blessing - share yours with the world.