Writing

Here I am Trying to Stay Motivated

/ Ajmorse / Leave a comment

I have this story that I’ve been trying to write a draft for. But after working all day sitting at a desk for 8 hours, do I want to come home and sit at my desk to write? No. It’s so frustrating. My notes/drafts/brainstorms are all on my computer, so it’s just so much easier to type out my draft for my story. Buut…I’ve been doing everything else tonight.

Here’s some things I’ve been trying to keep motivated:

Listening to Music ~ This has been doing a great job in keeping me relaxed, and I’ve switched to the Pop/Hip Hop workout station on Pandora, which makes me want to get up and dance, of course.

Stumbleupon.com ~ Mike’s really the reason why I know about www.stumbleupon.com. You basically create an account, edit your interests and click stumble. Next thing you know you’re surfing the web based on your interests. Can be very inspiring for writers.

Looked at Vacation destinations ~ This is really because Mike and I are shopping around for a place to go this coming summer, but this might be a good way to trigger a location for a story.

Also came upon this ~ 33 Ways to Stay Motivated. This was a stumbleupon result.

I’m jamming away, relaxed (now maybe a little sleepier) and trying to get that passion for writing. So funny how when writing becomes work, I suddenly am not inspired at all. Except when it’s like 10PM on a Sunday, and then suddenly all hell breaks loose. So typical.

What are you guys up to tonight? How do you stay motivated? Any tips?

Happy Writing!

5 New Year’s Resolutions for 2018

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Happy New Year!!! Got any New Year’s Resolutions this year?

This New Year’s was kind of pathetic for Mike and I. It was too cold to go anywhere, so we just hung out with a friend, watched the ball drop and then went to bed. We didn’t even drink!! How lame.

Anyway, it was nice and relaxing, though. And it was kind of fun to see all the announcers on ABC, (people who we don’t really like that much anyway) freeze their asses off in the New York weather. Bahahaha!

I think New Year’s Resolutions are kind of hokey, but it is basically a list here like any other; and for us anxious types, lists are great for organizing thoughts, chores, goals, work, etc.

Here are my New Year’s Resolutions for 2018:

1. Write More

This goes without saying, really. If I’m going to get something published, I need to write. Even when I am feeling down and tired from work. No, note to self: YOU SHOULD WRITE when you are tired from work. This is where I find my purpose. When I feel like I am truly doing what I’m supposed to be doing.

2. Read More, especially some new books!

I have several books on my bookcase that I haven’t read. And yet, I will still buy something new at the bookstore. I can’t seem to help myself. I will let books fill my life until I am drowning in them. I will breathe in the pages and choke on the words and I will never be satisfied that it is enough, even when they’re piled around me and I get anxiety about deciding what to read next. Huh…do I have a problem? Maybe. Just maybe.

3. Exercise, Eat Healthy, Take Care of Yourself

Tomorrow it’ll be in the negatives. No, I will not be going outside for a jog. But still, I need to remember to drink TONS of water, I never drink enough when it’s cold outside. I’ll also bundle up like a burrito in front of the TV. But I don’t need to eat cookies every night. Even though I want them…and they want me.

4. Make New Friends

It’s hard to put yourself out there when you spend all day being customer-servicey and you just want to shut yourself away from the world for a while after work. I need to find a writer’s group.

5. Find Writer’s Group

This isn’t the last because it’s the least important. Really it’s the last because I just thought of it…but this could be what I need to keep motivated, make new friends, AND get some writing done. So, really this is an essential part of getting a few things on this list done. I think I could be brave enough? Eee…baby steps! I know I can. This would be a good thing for me.

Anyway, that’s it…what about yours? Got any New Year’s Resolutions of your own that you want to share?

Happy Writing!

How Was your NaNoWriMo?

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Hi Everyone – I’ve been a bit MIA on this blog as of late…and I don’t know why.

It could be because I started a full-time job this fall, and I just don’t feel inspired after a long day of sitting typing at a computer. Also, about mid-November I was sick for like a week with a cold, and that about wasted my November.

On the positive side, though, I have been writing more as of late. I think it all started after watching Outlander one Sunday. I was curious about the books and I went on Diana Gabaldon’s website, and something I read of hers inspired me.

It was what she said about the first book of Outlander. She said she wrote it because she wanted to see if she could write a novel, and Outlander was just a trial, a for-fun novel.

Well, several books later and a successful TV Show and she is still writing. I guess it made me realize that you shouldn’t doubt yourself. It might not be as awful as you think it is, and if it is awful…who cares? It was meant to be a draft, right?

If Diana Gabaldon can do it, well then so can I. Plus, my writing process seems to be a bit similar to hers. I tend to just wing it…I’ll have a rough outline, but otherwise I tend to be at the whim of my characters: “alright, guys, where do you want to go next?”

How was your NaNoWriMo? Any words of wisdom for the rest of us?

(Also, my NaNoWriMo wasn’t all that successful, but I got some more useful scenes written for my novel-in-progress and that’s something!)

NaNoWriMo Day 8 Update: How’s It Going Guys?

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Hi Everyone! How’s NaNoWriMo going?

I haven’t got so much of a word count in, but I have been plugging away at 30 days of world building, which I found on this blog here.

Basically you spend each day working on the different aspects of creating your world. So far, I’ve created a climate, created a rough sketch of map, and selected what races will be in my world and how they will interact, etc.

The planning is so detailed and it’s been a lot of fun so far. Some of the stuff I’ve already come up on my own, but before I started doing the exercises I hadn’t even thought as far as climate and how weather (like a bad storm) could help drive a plot point.

Kind of neat! I think tonight I will do my world building exercise, (Economy and Politics!) and get down to some actual writing for once. I tend to not want to sit at my desk, because I sit at one for work all day long, so here I am propped up in bed and it is working so far.

How is everyone doing? How do you keep yourself motivated to keep writing?

Happy Writing Everyone!

NaNoWriMo is less than a month away!!

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So, apparently October is Preptober…

and that means that NaNoWriMo is just around the corner!!! (National Novel writing month.)

I have actually never heard of Preptober before, but I think it is something new that started last year. Now, let’s hope this year’s NaNoWriMo goes a lot better than lasts, eh?

Have you signed up for NaNoWriMo yet? Well, what are you waiting for!!

Should I Review Outlander?

/ Ajmorse / 2 Comments

I just had a thought: should I review Outlander on here?

Photo credit: Starz

Every Sunday I tune into Starz for a new episode…it’s become my replacement show to fill Game of Thrones. (Not so much, Mike, though, I think he thinks it is too girly…Star-crossed lovers and all that.)

But maybe it’s something I ought to consider. Any watchers out there?

I have not read the book series…(I know, shame on me.) But there it is. I’ve been enjoying this season 3, and maybe if there’s some interest out there…I’ll have something to talk about.

What do you guys think? Anyone else love it as much as me?

Happy Writing all!

A Quiet Walk By The Falls

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I never get tired of these falls by my house. I write about them all the time, I know, but I can’t help it. I love the sound of the running water. So relaxing. I like the way the water smells. I like jumping from rock to rock on the edge of the shore, like I used to do as a child.But that water. There’s no other music like it in the world…this is my crack. This is the sound I fall asleep to. This is the soundtrack for many of the poems that I write.

Adventure is found along the shores of creeks, and falls and rivers. When the water just continues on and on and beckons…it teases you to follow, to discover where it ends.

How I wanted to jump in and go with it tonight, guys. There is freedom here, and longing. I wanted to see where it would take me. I wanted to go, go, go…

Is there something like this that inspires you?

Happy Writing!

Our Vacation Out West Part 2: The Desert

/ Ajmorse / 1 Comment

After driving through the Rocky Mountains, Mike and I watched the landscape turn dryer, the rocks and dirt became a burnt red and orange. Small bush-like trees grew across the desert. And if you looked towards the horizon, the land continued for miles and miles in every direction. Flat and sparse and rocky, shadowed by giant mesas, we were just accessories to an already finished masterpiece.

This was the Utah that first greeted us. We drove for miles with no one around, except for the sparse trailer or house dispersed across the barren landscape. We drove through a good portion of the Navajo reservation and much of the landscape was the same; houses dotted a flat landscape of orange, red and brown.

Whoever lives here must drive for an hour to reach the nearest grocery store, or a half an hour at best to reach the nearest gas station. Little huts which promised finely woven Navajo rugs and pottery and jewelry, started to pop up every couple of miles alongside the highway.

We felt awed by the difference of this landscape compared to what we were used to back home. Upstate New York is green, the mountains are gentle hills, breezes tease the trees and rainstorms nourish. Here in this desert landscape was a harshness and a palette of colors we had never encountered before.

As the we drove into higher elevations and then drove back down, we kept our eyes out for eagles, and looked for big-horned sheep. We saw a few horses, and the occasional grouping of cattle, which chewed on the brown-yellow grass.

During our journey, I’m thinking about Star Wars, about a lonely teenager longing for adventure his desert home doesn’t provide. I’m thinking about science fiction stories of life on Mars, or a desert planet much like this one.

I fell in love with the desert’s stark beauty in a harsh and unforgiving landscape. Of dirt, and hot wind and a sun that blazes so hot and bright, it makes the sand burn underfoot.

I’m already in awe and we haven’t even made it to Zion National Park yet…and as we soon discovered, it’s always beautiful in Zion.

Our Vacation Out West Part 1: The Rocky Mountains

/ Ajmorse / 3 Comments

I haven’t been MIA on purpose…this month has been crazy. Started a new job that has a lot more responsibility than I’m used to and just yesterday, Mike and I just got back from a beautiful, ten-day vacation.

This year, we camped and went to Zion National park and then, the Grand Canyon. Our trip started in New York and then we cut across country; through a small bit of Pennsylvania, then Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, and then down into Utah.

The first night, we stayed over in a hotel in Morris, Illinois. That first day of driving was stressful. Between tolls and getting stuck in traffic in Columbus,Ohio, and the insane traffic in Chicago; we were ready for bed.

The next day, it was endless cornfields in Iowa. How many times a day did I say: “Is this heaven?” “No, it’s Iowa!”

Too many times!

If there is a purgatory, I imagine it looks something like Iowa. Flat, and sunny and endless. Miles and miles of cornfields with puffy white clouds and blue skies, and a road that cuts through it that goes straight and never ends. It is beautiful, and timeless and repetitive.

That second night was another rough one. This is only because it was pride weekend in Denver, Colorado, which was a bit of bad luck on our part, as many of the hotels we tried to get rooms in were sold out. Finally, we found one and spent too much money in a Comfort Inn and Suites.

(Note the blurry squished bugs on the windshield, bahaha. We hit a ton of them!)

The view the next morning, however, more than made up for it. We woke up and headed down the highway, and I got my first view of the Rocky Mountains.

They quite frankly, took my breath away. And I know that’s cliché, but I’m totally going with it. I probably took about two-hundred pictures of these mountains alone.

I grew up in upstate, New York, but our mountains are hills in comparison. In the Colorado Rockies, there isn’t just one shade of green. The mountains are capped with snow and then there’s the smell of pine trees and a sky so blue, it could be a mountain lake.

Barreling down a mountain at seventy-five miles per hour surrounded by traffic is both exhilarating and terrifying; and Colorado is such a strange combination of tree-hugging hippies and republicans.

Note how you can see my reflection in the side mirror taking the picture, as I bravely put the window down to get at least one glare-less photo.

I fell in love completely and would go back in a heartbeat. But this was only just the beginning of our vacation!