Today is my 'every second Saturday' turn at posting on the Writing, Wranglers & Warriors Blog but since the post I've written for it is very dear to my heart...not to mention my nerves... I'm re-posting some of it here on my own blog.
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,976 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #10 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Historical Romance > Ancient World
- #22 in Books > Romance > Historical > Ancient World
- #398 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction
But...Last night I wasn't feeling quite so elated as pondered what to write about:
(A Reblogged variation of today's Writing Wranglers and Warriors )
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...“What am I to write about for this Wranglers Blog?” Last
night the muse hadn’t exactly fled but the topic I’d written about just wasn’t
coming out right, so I did what all sensible authors do - I flicked TV channels
as a distraction. Now, I have to say I watch almost no live TV, apart from news
and local Scottish politics. Film watching is pretty rare but it just so
happened that I flicked to the very beginning of a film I hadn’t seen before. “Olympus
Has Fallen” was an interesting title, though it had zilch to do with my
historical obsession about Ancient Romans... and sometimes Greeks!
However, I’m quite partial to my fellow countryman Gerard Butler - even
though films he’s in are pretty varied in quality and deliverance. I sat down to watch “Olympus
Has Fallen” and it definitely had its moments.
Gerard Butler as Mike Banning (a disgraced member of the
Presidential detail who has been sidelined to a desk job at the Treasury) almost
one-handedly rescues the President and his son from an invasion of serious ‘baddies’
at The White House. My Paisley Buddy Gerard downplays the bloody, frenetic,
shoot em’all dead action…just a tad, when he’s on the phone to his OH giving
her an update. (I'm sure I can say my Paisley Buddy *wink, wink* since I'm from just across the River Clyde from him)
Try to picture this if you haven't seen the film: Banning’s slumped on the floor amidst a littering of dead bodies in the corridors of The White House. He’s having a
catch-his-breath moment before he jumps up to complete his avenging rampage and
this classic line comes forth after his worried OH asks something like “How has
your day been, dear?”. Can you hear his breathy gravely voice saying
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“Paperwork’s backing up…”
* smiley face here* At this point, I was grinning like a typical Glasgow eejit, and collapsing with a fit of the giggles. It really was a most memorable shoot em' up action flick! Full of dips and troughs, highs and lows...though mostly highs since it was an all-action thriller. (BTW I always like Morgan Freeman as well, who provides more of the calculating, slowing down the action dips or lulls in the film)
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So, here are my... 10 soars and 10 idles of writing
10 Soars first…flying free and in no significant order.
- Procrastination (self-)Pats on the back: in other parlance…engrossed by new information, some of it useful but most not immediately relevant, though later on is another story. RESULT: Celebrate, but NO MORE coffee…
- Cheshire Cat Condition: the new WIP writing is flowing, building and you’ve written thousands of words and don’t care if it’s complete rubbish or not. RESULT; ICE CREAM TIME- with toffee bits…
- Free Fall excitement: having written some really memorable phrases or paragraphs written (the ones you think you’ll remember forever but probably won’t!) RESULT: NEEDS real chocolate…and that means Cadbury's for me!
- Character Drool Disease: Falling in love with your characters as they develop into real live (on paper that is) people. RESULT: PINTEREST gets a good airing…
- Final First draft eu(F)phoria: eejit whooping, ear to ear grins, flinging the sheer exhaustion aside with that final flick of the finger. RESULT: TIME for wine…
- Edit Enjoyment: Yes…some authors actually like the nit picking of edits— at all stages. RESULT: NEEDS everything non-alcoholic…
- Cover Design revelations: Vague concept morphs into a design with massive impact. RESULT: DEFINITELY any/all of the above…
- Launch Day Live-it-up: Virtual or real book launch exhaustion. Keep a party going when you’re a typical recluse. RESULT: BREAK OPEN THE BUBBLY!
- Marketing Mania; find some stamina, frenzied anticipation when new marketing strategies seeing ebook sales rising RESULT: Bubbly if affordable!
- Parting with Print: delights of selling paperback copies to customers at my craft fair venues RESULT: Post event celebrating with any/all of the above
And now for 10 niggly idles… Readers- please add your own 'RESULTS' and tell me in the comments box.
- Wrist slaps: you’ve researched all day and not done ANY new writing.
- Doldrum Diddling and lost at sea: AARgh – real life got in the way of the writing process; breakers too massive for surfboard riding and backward flips are as endless as the waves are predictable.
- Baddies ain’t all bad syndrome: creating the balance of conflict in the WIP but even baddies can have some nice traits
- Way past the sell by date: dissatisfaction over length of time to write 1st draft
- Timeline Shock horror: painstaking tying up of unmatching loose cannons
- Terror time: Is the MS really ready? Gut wrenching doubts before sending to the publisher
- Design Dilemma: knowing what isn’t working for a cover design but not knowing what might
- Balloon Burst Book Launch Blip: soaring in the Amazon charts followed by the depression dip
- Social media Sucks: that 80% social media drawdown on reserves—emotional and time drains
- Book Sales Despair (i.e. lack of) : that nothing seems to make a difference feeling.
So, what can you add as soars and idles during the writing process? I'd love to know...
Slainthe!
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