Do you ever lose the spark for writing? There are days and there are days for me. Sometimes I’m really enthused about whatever it is I’m writing about. Other days, it just isn’t happening. Nathan Bransford, has interesting comments on his blog forum about what happens when you lose that spark in writing and how some writers cope with it.
Which brings me to a couple of days ago when I was feeling guilty for not wanting to write but instead wanting to visit one of our local museums or missions. A waste of time away from writing, I thought. But then I read YA author Veronica Roth’s blog and changed my mind. As soon as I can, I am taking a special day off and will browse those historical places in town that I love. I believe it will make me a better writer.
Roth’s blog sort of connects with the same topic of losing that spark. That’s why I listed it here. She writes, “I am learning that you cannot write well if you are not engaged with the world. The writing mind is like an ice cream maker. It will always produce ice cream, but unless you intervene, that ice cream will always be vanilla. You have to acquire new ingredients if you want to make the ice cream taste like something else, or have an interesting texture.”
"Nothing one ever experiences or feels is wasted." -- Lynne Reid Banks
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| Have a great Thanksgiving! |
Congratulations on the launch of Battle of the Snow cones this weekend! That special day off of touring historic places will probably do wonders for your spark.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your congratulations. Hope a lot of people show up. Looking forward to it. Re historic places, I love learning the history behind them. Sparks ideas sometimes.
ReplyDeleteThe trouble with writing fiction in Texas is you keep finding out bits of Texas history that make you feel redundant. Any random place you go where you poke your nose down through the layer of cliche you hit this motherlode of Story that'll overwhelm you if you let it.
ReplyDeleteDid you know the author of Ben Hur came down at the end of the Civil War and presented the border Texans with a deal for a separate peace followed by an alliance to drive the French out of Mexico? (Rip Ford always regretted that the regular army nixed that deal.) Did you know that the small conservative town of Comfort was founded by atheists? Did you know about Lyman Wight guiding his family around according to mystic visions of millstones and civil wars? Did you know that the Veterans of Foreign Wars rioted and attacked the San Antonio Municipal Auditorium to keep a small group of Communists, led by Emma Tenauca, from holding a meeting in one of the side rooms? Did you know that the early court records of the state are full of cases hinging on whether a slave was ethnically black and could not legally be free or ethnically Mexican and could not legally be enslaved? Did you know...Seriously, the whole state's a minefield of stories! The trouble is to pick one and stick with it.
Hi Peni,
ReplyDeleteIsn't it wonderful about Texas history? You never seem to run out. No, I did not know half the stuff you know about Texas and I'm a native!! I did know about the Tenayuca riot because I did research on that. You are a walking encyclopedia, my friend.