A picture is worth a thousand words…

March 23, 2016February 26, 2019 ~ Meg ~ 30 Comments

Finding the inspiration to write.

New writers, experienced writers, amateur or professional —meaning you actually get paid for this stuff, at some point, will struggle to find something to write about. Even non-fiction writers may wrestle with finding new ways to express themselves so that their writing doesn’t become stale or monotonous. And yet, we do write on. Writers have unique ways of working through the times we get stuck and can’t move forward.

I am a very visual person. Even while I write, I am imagining the scene as if it is a film rolling in my head. I cast actors in the roles of all my characters, even minor ones. I’ve drawn the layouts of houses and other buildings, charted maps of my fictional locations and collected photos and images for all of it on Pinterest boards for each project. I’ve kept my ongoing project boards private, but you are welcome to check out the public ones here.

So because I like having a visual stimulus, I often use art as an inspiration to write.

Finding beautiful things to gaze upon does not require a trip to an art museum. Although, that’s not a bad way to idle away an afternoon. Speaking of Pinterest, they have an entire category dedicated to art. There you will find not only images of major works of art but also those of unknown and amateur artists, which are no less compelling.

How about street art? Do you live in or near a city or town that supports and/or encourages street art? Philadelphia has a fantastic Murals Art project.

Check out their website for more photos here.

Seriously, don’t you feel a story just begging to be written about some of those pieces of art? Go write one! There are street art photo tours online from different cities around the world. I encourage you to check them out.

Have you heard about the book Beauty In Decay: The Art of Urban Exploration? You can find it on Amazon. It is a stunning photographic collection of abandoned buildings accompanied by poetic text. Tell me that isn’t fuel for the fire of storytelling. What happened here? Who lived there? Why did everyone leave? Some images can be viewed online if you don’t want to shell out the $35 for the book.

Lastly, let me share a few of my favorite images, ones that have conjured ideas for writing. The header image is “The Grey Tree” by Piet Mondrian. I stared at that image on and off while writing a winter scene. It’s so stark and cold. And I love that you can see the brush strokes. It speaks of darkness, of cold, of death….

Or how about a masterpiece? Van Gogh’s Sunflowers? Monet’s Garden at Giverny? Picasso’s Guernica?

And I’m just dying to write something based on the sculptures by Matteo Pugliese. I won’t hijack an image here but I urge you to check out his work at MatteoPugliese.com. His bronze figures emerge from the walls like human forms escaping imprisonment from life in the second dimension. I’m telling you…

While you’re at it, explore the art and photography blogs here on WordPress. Some of the images are amazing. I follow a couple of bloggers who regularly post some fabulous images for the daily and weekly photo challenges they participate in. Stop and stare at them for a while. Based on what you see, imagine what happens next. Or ask yourself, what just happened here? After all the root word for imagine is image! I hope these suggestions help you find some inspiration. Happy writing my friends!

What gives you the ‘write’?

March 9, 2016March 9, 2016 ~ Meg ~ 30 Comments

Finding the inspiration to write.

Sometimes it’s just a lack of focus. This is where I find myself currently –dreaming about vacation, searching travel websites… You’ve probably picked up on that from some of my latest posts! Nevertheless, I have goals set, schedules to meet, and must find a way to press on. So with that in mind, here’s something that inspires me when my muse has wandered off to somewhere warm and sunny.

Music:

If you know me, you know I love music. I’m am a rock star in my mind. Or a groupie, at a minimum. Alice Cooper’s caddy, maybe. (The godfather of shock rock is a huge golfer!) But I digress… Music can be very inspiring. Think about the music you love, your favorite song. Think about how that song makes you feel when you hear it. There are songs that make me want to dance with joy, weep in misery and every variety of emotion in between. That emotion can be translated into your writing. Here’s one way.

One of the things that I love to do is use a song lyric as a writing prompt. A line, phrase or verse can have such deep meaning and can be personal to each listener. A story can arise from pondering what that lyric says to you. Don’t even worry about what the songwriter was thinking. What memory or feelings does it conjure in you? Where were you and who were you with when you first heard that song?

This doesn’t only work for short stories or poetry. There have been times where I’ve been staring at my computer screen, halfway through a novel manuscript –even with a thoroughly plotted outline– when I’ve drawn a complete blank. What happens next? I can’t summon the words. So finding the music that matches the mood of the scene I’m writing, taking a break and just listening, can prod my imagination. A word, a phrase, or just a feeling can propel the scene forward. And boom you’re off and running again!

Want to try? Here are a few lines from some of my favorite songs. Try writing a paragraph (or longer, if you’re really inspired) that tells a story based on the line.

1) “My uncle has a country place, no one knows about…” – Red Barchetta, by Rush.
2) “He’s gonna break her heart to pieces, she don’t wanna see…” A Woman In Love, by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

-Don’t like male vocalists? How about these ladies?

3) “When it’s you I find like ghost in my mind…” – Emmylou, by First Aid Kit and speaking of Emmylou.…
4) “It was a teenage wedding and the old folks wished them well…” –C’est La Vie, by Emmylou Harris.

Don’t like any of these? Use a line from your favorite song. Go ahead, give it a shot. If you like what you wrote, put a link in the comments. If not, no worries. I’m not starting a challenge or anything. But see if music doesn’t fire your imagination, poke an elbow your muse’s side and give you the ‘write’!

Here’s all of Red Barchetta by Rush. I love these guys! Neil Peart writes most of the lyrics for the songs and he’s an absolute god on the drums. Alex Lifeson on guitar and Geddy Lee, bassist extraordinaire, complete the trio.

More than words

March 2, 2016March 2, 2016 ~ Meg ~ 57 Comments

Yesterday, my friend Whitney who blogs about the huge renovation she and her husband are doing to their house, posted some before and after photos. She’s been blogging since August and I commented on how much had changed in that time. She responded by asking me if I knew how many words I’d written in that same period of time. Whitney and I met right at the beginning of both of our journeys. Honestly, I’ve never thought about it but she made me curious and reflective.

I started this blog very tentatively back in 2014. I posted a non-fiction piece about a trip to Ireland. I repeated a story a tour guide had told me about fairy trees. There’s just something about that place. It inspires the poet and the dreamer for sure.

Next, I wrote and posted three fairy tales set in the far, hazy past. Then nothing for a while — months, in fact. But then at the end of June 2015, I published my first novel. It was time to get serious. This blog was to be my author platform, my doorway into a community of other creators and poets and dreamers.

Since August 2015, I have written Second Chances (working title), the fourth book in my novel series at 91,853 words and started the fifth, which has a few chapters complete totaling 6,058 words. I’ve also written a ten part series called Diary of a New Writer which totals 8,118 words. My ongoing fictional piece Here Lies a Soldier has run up to 7,368 words so far. My short stories based on songs add up to another 13,451 words. The Year of Drinking Adventurously has yielded another 4,150 words. And all the other blog posts, poems, limericks and so forth add up to 27,314 words. For a grand total of 158,312 words in 7 months time.

Does that seem like a lot? It isn’t really. On average it works out to 754 words a day. For those of you who have participated in NaNoWriMo, you’d need more than twice that many words per day to complete the challenge. Obviously, I’m not trying to keep to a schedule as rigorous as that, but I am trying to be a consistent and productive writer. I return once again to the important role that discipline plays in successful writing. Without going back into exhaustive detail about it, I’ll just say that having a schedule –one that is practical and fits into your life comfortably, is key. When you figure out that schedule, stick to it.

I love to write, it brings me a lot of joy. But it’s more than words. I would go so far as to say that it’s been therapeutic. There are things I can write about in fiction that I’d be reluctant to talk about otherwise. And this community I’ve found? Absolutely priceless. I love you guys!

How about it, writers and bloggers? Have you ever counted up your words? And what do you love most about blogging?