Writing is Hard

This post could go in a few directions, but I’m going to stick to a direction that’s 1) clean and appropriate for all ages and 2) actually has to do with writing.

I’ve been a fan of Benedict Cumberbatch (I’m sorry, you can’t just call him Benedict – it’s all or nothing) since I first saw Sherlock on Netflix. I’m a bit of a Sherlock purist, so I was skeptical. Set in modern times? Pffft. But, I loved it. It’s so true to the original stories and he is the perfect Sherlock. Arrogant enough that you want to punch him, but still with a quality that makes you like him. I’m digressing; this is not supposed to be a post about Sherlock.

I’ll be honest, while I consider myself a fan, Sherlock was the only thing I had seen him in until about a week ago when I saw Star Trek Into Darkness. I was pretty geeked about his movie in general – Star Trek, JJ Abrams, B.C. (I guess I can abbreviate) and a whole bunch of other actors I really like.

I loved the movie, I thought it was great. But, I was really blown away by the villain played by B.C. (I think the fact that he is the villain is pretty much common knowledge so I hope that’s not a spoiler.) He was intelligent, he kept you guessing at times, he used a psychological approach, and he was absolutely brutal. Surprisingly so, in some regards.

That’s not something that he had really done before, from what I understand, but he mastered it in my opinion. If it’s possible to be poetic and brutal in the same action, his character was. He also has one of the best lines in the whole movie…

Chills, I tell you.

I feel like my villain worship might be starting to sound a little disturbing, but this has a point.

Watching this movie got me thinking about boundaries, and pushing boundaries; about villains that are terrible beyond anything you could imagine. There is a story I am working on that has a true villain in it. However, I tend to have a hard time putting my characters through too much, I want to protect them. This bad guy has potential though. He has goons, there are physical confrontations, a kidnapping, even a bit of torture for information. But I don’t just want the physical aspect, I want to get into the psychological side, too. This is nothing I’ve ever tried before, but I’m inspired to try it now. Because I think, if you have a villain that is the stuff of nightmares, it only makes the triumph at the end that much more meaningful.

So, I guess you could say Benedict Cumberbatch has inspired me to explore my inner villain…I’m off to see what kind of evil I can conjure up.

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May3

Very Inspiring Blogger Award

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Kayleigh

So, I was nominated for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award by the very inspiring Chris Allen-Riley.

Chris is not only a fantastic writer, but super talented at all sorts of creative, crafty awesomeness. Check out her blog at the link above for a sneak peek at some of her cross stitch (and to learn more about her). Also, she’s going to help me build a fort with a moat and long bow archers. How can you not love her?

As part of the blog award, we’re supposed to reveal seven interesting things about ourselves and then nominate 15 other bloggers. I’ll be honest, it took me a little while to come up with the seven things (hence the time lapse since her blog post), but once I did, I got a little long winded. Oops.

Also, when it comes to nominating people, I don’t think I’m going to. It’s not that I don’t find others inspiring, I absolutely do. But instead of nominating people, I’m going to direct you to the links on the right side of the page to blogs I read/follow. I find each one of these people inspiring for different reasons, I think you might, too.

Okay, so seven things about me. Here I go…

1. I am terrified of fireworks. Not the little ones you can light in your driveway, but the big overhead 4^th of July celebration kind of fireworks. Terrified to the point where when I was a kid, I used to try to bury myself in the ground. Now I just avoid them. Instead, I watch Pops Goes the Fourth or A Capital Fourth on TV and see the fireworks from the safety of my living room.

2. One of my dreams is to live in a house with a turret, with my office at the very top. There are a few houses in my town like this. I drive past them every so often and sigh with longing.

You can’t see me but I’m there at the top being clever and creative. 🙂

3. I rarely (very rarely) swim in natural bodies of water. Because…I was once caught in a jellyfish migration off the Gulf Coast in rough waters. I was stung repeatedly by the jellyfish as well as detached tentacles that broke off in the waves. I don’t recommend it. However, side note, if you are ever stung by a jellyfish put meat tenderizer on it. It helps with the pain but I have no idea why. My aunt used to keep a spice jar of it in her beach bag.

4. I love anything related to Ancient Egypt. One my of my life goals (I refuse to create an actual ‘bucket list’) is to learn Hieroglyphics.

5. My cat, Noah, once saved me from being locked out on my balcony. The balcony door had a security bar in the middle of it (as opposed to on the floor) and while I was outside, the bar fell and I wasn’t able to slide the door open. My ever-curious kitty decided to see what was going on and started batting at the security bar. I tapped on the other side of the door near the bar trying to get him to play with it. Eventually (after less than 10 minutes), he wrapped his paws around the bar and pulled on it. He moved it enough I was able to slide the door open and get inside. He got a catnip reward for that one.

Noah in his Halloween costume, its a rooster hat. Can you tell how happy he is?

6. I have this…thing, for lack of a better word, where I have intense reactions to certain sounds. Usually it’s something like another person coughing or chewing, but basically I get incredibly angry and I have to bite my tongue to keep from yelling at the person. I have learned that this is a real condition and there is a name for it, but I can never remember it (it has to do with sensory overload). Instead, my husband has taken to calling it my “climacaphobia.” (And if anyone knows where that is from, I’ll send you chocolate.)

7. When I was little, I had a killer goldfish named Charlie. He lived well beyond the normal lifespan of a goldfish and killed every other fish we put in the bowl with him. He either ate them (we found the leftovers) or would somehow convince them to commit suicide and jump out of the bowl. I think we went through three or four fish before we decided Charlie should probably just be a loner.

This blog post got totally out of control, but there you have a few things about me. I encourage you to check out Chris’ blog and the others I follow. You will be inspired by them just as I am.

Apr10

Thursday’s Children – Inspired by Roald Dahl

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Kayleigh

I had a conversation with a co-worker on Monday that lead to this post. Just a bit of background…

My co-worker (we’ll call her Katherine) has three small children, but this specifically centered around her eight year old daughter (we’ll call her Fiona). We were having a conversation about something else and it made me think of a scene from Matilda, one of my favorite Roald Dahl books. I told Katherine this and explained the scene, and was met with a blank stare.

“Have you ever read Matilda?” I asked.

“No.”

“Have you ever seen the movie?” I asked.

“No.”

“What about The Witches?” Another of my favorite Roald Dahl books.

“No.”

Okay, so, no reading of any Roald Dahl books. I was shocked but I persevered. I decided to ask if Fiona had read any of them. She’s eight but I know that she reads at a fifth grade level. I figured her teacher might have suggested one of those books (or even her own dad who teaches fifth grade). Nothing, Fiona had never read any of them. Now, maybe she’s a little young; but with her reading level, I don’t think so. The conversation then turned into my co-worker asking me what other Roald Dahl books Fiona should read and a list was made.

What surprised me about all of this was the fact that she was so unfamiliar with his books. (This story is taking a while, but I have a point, I promise. Hang in there.) It did make me glad to see that while my co-worker might not be a big reader, she encourages her daughter who loves it.

Then, I started thinking about this in terms of other conversations I’ve had with this person. There was one in particular that involved her sister’s wish list on Amazon and a birthday present. “She has three seasons of Doctor Who on here. I am NOT buying her those.” (I won’t even go into how mortally offended I was by her dismissal of Doctor Who.) I realized the bigger issue; there seems to be a lack of imagination here – no whimsy, no make believe.

Now, I’m not trying to be mean, I’m really not (although I’m sure it sounds like it). She is a very nice person and I like working with her; we just couldn’t be more different in many ways. It’s more like I’m just now coming to the realization that not everyone grew up in a house like I did where we read books by Roald Dahl and Tolkien and with a mom obsessed with dragons and fairies. Imagination was encouraged and was just…sort of…taken for granted I suppose.

So, what does all of this have to do with inspiration?

It inspires me to use my imagination even more than I currently do. I feel like imagination is slipping away from society in a lot of ways and I find that scary. Nothing is spontaneous anymore; everything is planned to within an inch of its life. You don’t see kids just running around outside making up stories, wearing bath towels as capes. At least, not in my little sphere of the world. Everyone is so obsessed with succeeding or being the best, they ignore being creative. As my husband would say, “No one’s fun anymore!”

So, I’m inspired by Roald Dahl who had a wonderful imagination and built worlds where kids saved the day. I’m inspired to be more creative and try new things. I’m inspired to find ways to get others to use their imagination. And mostly, I’m inspired to never let my own imagination die. To live without it would be, well, unimaginable.

Don’t forget to check out the Blog Hop, and join in, too!

Here’s the code for the Linky to put on your own post.

Mar27

Thursday’s Children – Inspired by…well…What I Don’t Like

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Kayleigh

The Thursday’s Children blog hop is about what inspires us as writers. This week I’m turning it around a little bit and looking at trends in current YA literature that I don’t like. Trends that are helping me figure out what not to do in my own manuscript.

These aren’t new observations; I’ve heard/read some of them before. Now I’m looking at them in terms of how I want to do things differently in my own work. And not just do things differently, but do my very best to push against the tide of troubling trends I’m seeing. Alliteration got a little out of control there, but I stand by it.

I’ll preface this by saying that I read a lot of YA that has some sort of paranormal aspect to it, so many of these observations are in that context. But, these trends are prevalent in non-paranormal works as well. Also, quite a few of these trends are intertwined and feed off of each other.

I’m pretty sure we can all think of examples of these trends/characteristics, so I’m not going to point any out. Instead, after I get through the bad, I’m going to give some examples of characters that I feel go against these trends or are good examples of strong characters.

The whiny/selfish female: Everything that comes out of her mouth or runs through her head is negative in some way. I don’t like this, this wronged me, I didn’t get my way on this, and it’s just not fair. Life ain’t fair, suck it up and deal with it.

I struggled with what to call this one (not wanting to betray the sisterhood), but I settled on “the stupid female”: This one is more prevalent in the paranormal genre. It’s the character who thinks, “I don’t have any powers but others do, but I can’t possibly let them help me so I’m going to put myself in danger and make things worse.” I know there has to be conflict and drama, but this is nothing but frustrating to me.

The female who has nothing else in her life but the guy: She has no hobbies, no other friends, nothing to do but think about him and how wonderful he is. Moreover, if the guy goes away or they break up for a while, the world ends. Again, I know there has to be conflict. But if someone is that dependent on another person, I think there are larger issues here.

The overprotective/stalker-ish male: We all know this character. His girl can’t go anywhere without him, can’t be trusted to stay out of trouble unless he’s there to protect her. He watches her when she doesn’t know it. While she’s sleeping maybe? Sorry – couldn’t resist that one. And he gets angry at her when he thinks she puts herself in danger. Which leads us to…

The angry male: This often goes hand in hand with the overprotective male. The female character has to watch what she does so she doesn’t make him angry, often resorting to lying about her actions or whereabouts. Which always leads to more trouble. In addition, he often blames her for his anger; if she wouldn’t do certain things, he wouldn’t be so angry.

The male that treats the female like a small child: This could be carrying her around like a piece of luggage (again, happens more in the paranormal genre) or essentially patting her on the head and telling her to be quiet any time she tries to speak. You know… “It’s time for the grown-ups to talk now,” in the most patronizing voice you can imagine.

There are a number of reasons these traits bother me. When it comes down to it, would I want my daughter using these characters as role models? No. Okay, I don’t actually have a daughter, but I have some close friends who do. Do I want their daughters using these characters as role models? Absolutely not. I want them to grow up as strong, independent girls whose lives don’t revolve around a boy. And I want them to look for boys who treat them well, treat them as equals, and respect them.

I’m getting a little feminist here, so I’ll flip it around. I don’t want the little boys I know to grow up thinking girls are helpless and the proper way to treat them is to lock them in the tower and tell them “Don’t worry your pretty little head, I’m a boy, I’ll take of everything.” I want the boys I know to grow up and treat girls, or whomever their significant other may happen to be, as equal partners. Partners that help each other and help make each other better.

As promised, here are a few examples of strong characters (in my opinion) within YA fiction:

Kaylee Cavanaugh in the Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent – she does what she needs to do to protect those around her and everyone else can either help or get out of her way. But, on the other side, she’s not a bitch about it either. She just knows what she has to do, she is protective of those around her and will do what needs to be done no matter the cost to herself. She has strength and integrity.

Grace Divine and Daniel Kalbi in the Dark Divine series by Bree Despain – she is powerful in her own right and Daniel accepts that (although it does take him a little bit to get there). By the end, they are true partners and he trusts her to make the right decisions.

Rose Hathaway and Dmitri Belikov in the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead – this is another example of a relationship where they are true partners. They make each other better, work well together, and treat each other like equals. There is still drama, and yes they are apart for a while (which seems to be a necessity in all YA series’), but it’s not what you expect and Rose does what she needs to do to try to fix it.

Dru Anderson in the Strange Angels series by Lili St. Crow – she gets thrown into a situation almost immediately that is way over her head. But, she uses what she knows, takes help where she needs it, and fights like hell to keep herself and others safe.

Apparently, I like main female characters who take on the difficult tasks. This may seem like it conflicts with my point above about the female who puts herself in danger unnecessarily. However, these characters have the skills they need to pull off the tasks at hand. They know their own power and use it, they don’t put others in danger because of an inherently flawed idea that people who care about each other can’t work together and help each other.

What it comes down to is this… Now that I know what I don’t like, I know what types of traits to avoid in my characters and their relationships. My goal is to write books that contain characters who are role models and who help to reverse this troubling trend.

Don’t forget to check out the Blog Hop, and join in, too!

Here’s the code for the Linky to put on your own post.

Feb28

Thursday’s Children – Soundtrack to a Book

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Kayleigh

First off, in case you can’t tell, I’m going through a bit of an identity crisis. I decided to change the name of my blog, but haven’t decided what it’s going to be called yet. I also changed my name *on* my blog, so don’t be confused. I’m still me. J

Ok, on to the Thursday’s Children portion of this post. This was not the topic I planned on writing about today. The topic I had in mind is more serious and I decided I just didn’t have it in me today to tackle it. So instead, I’m going to share my playlist for my current work in process.

I’ve talked about a song in particular that inspired a project, but never the playlist for my current story…the one I plan to finish this year.

I will freely admit that I have no idea why some of these songs make me think of this project. There are songs that I hear and I think of a certain character, or scene or place. And then other songs, it’s just more of a vibe, something I can’t really describe.

I fully expect this list to grow as I work towards the end of the book, but this is where the playlist stands right now.

Vanilla Twilight – Owl City

I Won’t Give Up – Jason Mraz

Brighter Than the Sun – Colbie Caillat

Where You Are – Gavin DeGraw

Burn it Down – Linkin Park

Brave – Josh Groban

Are We Afraid – Toad the Wet Sprocket

How Soon is Now? – Love Spit Love

Angel Mine – Cowboy Junkies

The Boys of Summer – The Ataris

Colorful – Rocco DeLuca & the Burden

Follow Through – Gavin DeGraw

The Great Escape – Boys Like Girls

Everybody’s Changing – Keane

Walk On – U2

All I Want – Toad the Wet Sprocket

Crushcrushcrush – Paramore

The Lighthouse’s Tale – Nickel Creek

Cry in the Sun – Better Than Ezra

No One’s Gonna Love You – Band of Horses

Now that I have the list typed out and staring at me, I’m not sure how some of these songs even relate to the same book. But they do, in my mind anyway! Below are a few videos I pulled off YouTube, for what I feel might be a couple of the more obscure songs (and one of my all-time favorites).

Click here to view the other blogs in the Blog Hop (and to join in, too!)

Feb26

Monday’s Musings – Sort Of

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Kayleigh

So I’m a day late with my post this week. I blame it on my lazy Sunday, which made me forget I had a blog to write. This week’s topic is “What do I need to write?” This can be interpreted a few different ways, I’m choosing to go with what are those quirky things I need to have so that I can actually sit down and write?

Be sure to check out my fellow Monday’s Musings bloggers at the links below to find out what they have to say:

When trying to come up with what I need to have handy to help me accomplish my writing goals, I had a hard time. I’ve never really thought about it much, to be honest. I’ve never thought about the entire writing environment and process in these terms. But I did come up with a few things.

Music, I have to have some sort of music playing. I can’t concentrate when there is no background noise. If it’s dead silent, my mind tends to wander more. It’s like there’s a part of my brain that needs to be kept occupied so the other part can concentrate on the task at hand.

No clutter is another one. I absolutely cannot concentrate if my office is cluttered in anyway. Even if the first floor of the house needs a good cleaning or straightening, I have a hard time focusing. It’s something about the disorder; it interferes with my ability to think. I was that way all through school, too. I couldn’t concentrate on homework if the area where I was working was a mess.

I also need to have some sort of comforting beverage on hand, be it Diet Dr. Pepper (I have a *slight* addiction there) or tea. It usually depends on how cold my office is to determine which one I go with.

Hand in hand with things I need are things I don’t need. I really need to learn to turn off the wireless on my computer so I can’t access the internet. I know it’s been said before, but the internet is the downfall of many a writer. There are way too many fun things that can distract when you’re already stuck and can’t decide where to go next.

I’ll tell you another thing I don’t need is my cat walking on my laptop, lying on my notebooks, curling up on my arm, and repeatedly rubbing up against the monitor as if to claim it as his. Every time he rubs the corner with his head, he jostles the laptop and closes it just a little bit more. At least he’s affectionate, I guess.

So, anyway, there are a few things that either help or interfere with my writing process. What do you need to get those creative thoughts flowing?

Feb18

Monday’s Musings – Favorite Movies and TV Shows

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Kayleigh

It’s time for another Monday’s Musings post and our chosen topic this week is favorite movies and TV shows. I’m going to narrow the field down a little bit because I feel like topic is one that could take on a mind of its own.

First off, I’m going to stick to movies. The main reason for that is, I’m completely addicted to a certain TV show at the moment (see last week’s office tour post) and I if I tried to write anything on that topic it would be way more than anyone wants to read and basically just an excuse to include pictures of a certain person. J So instead, I’m going to write only about movies, specifically my top five favorite movies that are based on books. These are in no particular order because I couldn’t possible rate them.

Check out the links below to see what movies and TV shows my fellow bloggers are into:

To Kill a Mockingbird

One of my all-time favorite books is also one of my all-time favorite movies. Atticus Finch is an amazing father figure and no one could have played him as well as Gregory Peck.

Robert Duvall plays the infamous Boo Radley in one of his first film roles. It’s almost strange to see him play such a shy, quiet character since one of the things I’ve always associated with the actor is his powerful voice.

The story is one that portrayed a very serious and touchy subject through the eyes of a child, and I think the movie was able to do the same thing in an equally impressive way. While Scout may not have understood 100% of the situation, she experienced the emotions of those around her and knew this wasn’t just any trial for her father.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Little Women

There have been many versions of this move over the years and I’ve seen them all, but my favorite is the version with Wynona Ryder and Susan Sarandon. No one could play Marmee like Susan Sarandon and who doesn’t love a young Christian Bale as Laurie?

I especially love the re-creation of Orchard House, which is such an integral part to the story. It was so true to life, it made you feel like a part of the March family and I always wanted to be Jo.

While the other versions of the movie are great in their own ways, this one stands out because the actors come across so natural, it pulls you in and you forget you’re even watching a movie.

Little Women

Pride and Prejudice

Like Little Women, there are many versions of this movie; my favorite is the BBC version with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy. Colin Firth *is* Mr. Darcy as far as I’m concerned.

This version, while close to five hours long, is totally worth the viewing time. It runs as closely to the book as just about any movie I’ve ever seen and the locations used are straight from Jane Austen’s imagination.

This movie is one I always watch when I’m sick, getting lost in the scenery and characters makes me feel better every time.

Pride and Prejudice

The Princess Bride

The love story in this move is timeless, but it’s the characters other than Buttercup and Westley that really clinch it. Inigo Montoya has one of the best lines in all of movie history. Say it with me now, “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

Andre the Giant is wonderful as Fezzik (he is the brute squad) and Billy Crystal is beyond funny has Miracle Max. Westley is the hero we all want who would fight for his love to the end of the earth, even when he’s mostly dead.

When I was younger I would get annoyed at the breaks in the story that pulled you back to the present and showed the grandfather and grandson. As I got older though, I realized the importance of those scenes and it just made me appreciate the story more.

The Princess Bride

The Last Unicorn

This one is a new addition to this particular list, I only recently found out it was based on a book. Like the story of Buttercup and Westley, I have watched this movie more times than I can count. So many times, in fact, that when I pulled it out a few weeks ago and watched it for what was probably the first time in five years I still knew every word.

The basic synopsis is this:

There is a unicorn in a forest who overhears two hunters talking and learns she is the last unicorn left in the world. She meets a butterfly who tells her the story of the Red Bull that took away all the unicorns years ago. She decides to go on a quest to find out if this is true and where the other unicorns are. Along the way she meets a magician named Schmendrick who is not the best magician in the world, although he does possess true magic. He decides to accompany the unicorn on her quest. They also pick up one other traveler on the way, a woman named Molly Grue.

Eventually they end up at the castle of King Haggard and his son Prince Lir. At this point, the unicorn is in human form (courtesy of Schmendrick) to prevent the Red Bull from discovering who she truly is. Eventually they learn what happened to the unicorns and there is a final showdown.

I’m not going to go through the rest of the story because I don’t want to give away the surprises and the ending. This is an absolutely beautiful animated movie; it was really my first exposure to Japanese style animation. The characters are voiced wonderfully (Jeff Bridges, Alan Arkin, Christopher Lee, Mia Farrow) and the band America performs the music.

The Last Unicorn

As you can see, I had a hard time toning down the hyperbole in this post; I just love these movies to pieces. If you haven’t seen any of them, I recommend putting them on your watch list as soon as possible. You won’t be disappointed.

What about you, what are some of your favorite movies and TV shows?

Feb11

Monday’s Musings – Office Tour

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Kayleigh

Happy Monday Morning! I’m trying a new take on the start of the week this time…something a little more chipper. I’m not really much of a morning person but we’ll see if faking it puts me in the right mood for the week. J

This week, the Monday’s Musings gang is taking you on a tour of our offices/writing spaces/corners of the dungeons where we work.

Please make sure to check out the links to my fellow bloggers below:

Finally, after months of adjusting and organizing, my office is just about the way I want it. I’ve gone through two desks, three layouts, a paint job and a really bad stenciling job that I still need to paint over, but my space is cozy and comforting. It’s not a very big space, but below are a few pictures to give you an idea of where I spend a fair amount of time.

Above is a picture of my desk (the second one I tried) with the green lamp I picked up on a whim. It doesn’t really match, but I don’t care, I like the color. I love the sloping ceiling above the desk; it makes me feel like I’m writing in an out of the way attic room in an old house.

My bookcase. I keep only certain categories of books in my office, the rest are on bigger bookcases in the dining room. This holds my writing and researching books, my physical ‘to be read’ pile (the rest are on my Kindle) and my more inspirational books I guess you could say. My Alcott, Austen, Shakespeare, Whitman, Dickinson, etc.

This is my board where I try to keep some sort of inspirational quote. This one has been up for a while, but I feel like it’s really appropriate for me lately. It’s from the movie Inception and is spoken by Eames (also known as the fantastic Tom Hardy). In case it’s a little hard to read it says, “You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.”

A picture of Louisa May Alcott’s home, Orchard House, that I purchased a few years ago when I visited Concord, MA. Getting to tour Orchard House was a total pilgrimage for me. Little Women has been one of my all time favorite books since the first time I read it in fourth grade.

Just a couple more pictures.

This is my squishy, book-reading chair. Although lately it’s been my squishy, Doctor Who watching chair. Not that I’m addicted or anything.

Ok, yeah, totally addicted. David Tennant has absolutely nothing to do with my office, but a random picture of the Doctor never hurt anyone. J

My little electric fireplace that keeps my room cozy warm in the winter.

Finally, a picture of purple lilacs (my favorite flower) that my mom painted for me. Can you tell purple is my favorite color? The color in this picture is a little off, the frame is actually silver, but you get the idea.

So, that was probably more than you wanted to know about my office and more pictures than you needed, but I’m quite proud of it. (Except for that terrible stenciling above the bookcase.) It’s comfortable and cozy and I love spending time here.

Where do you write? Do you have a dedicated spot or do you like to move around and change it up?

Feb7

Thursday’s Children – Where Did the Inspiration Go?

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Kayleigh

I’ve missed a few Thursday’s Children blogs recently (darn that annoying day job), but I’m back. Maybe not with a vengeance, but back nonetheless.

The Thursday’s Children blog hop is focused on inspiration and what stirs us to write and create. This time I’m going take a slightly different route…

See, I’ve been experiencing a lack of inspiration for going on about a month now. A complete and utter lack of inspiration.

Usually I have a few things that help when I’m feeling uninspired. Music is almost always a surefire way to get me, well, fired up. Reading something that someone else has written is another one. A lot of times I’ll go back and re-read one of my favorite books and that will help get the mind moving again. This time, nothing seems to help. I don’t want to read. I don’t want to write. The idea of writing makes me feel squeamish. Even writing this blog has been an exercise in sheer willpower.

As frustrated and disheartened as I am, I know that this too shall pass. I’ve gone through periods of little or no inspiration before (although not this bad) and I’ve made it through.

But I’m not very good at waiting for things to happen on their own. I’m more of a “make it happen” kind of person. I see the outcome I want and I go after it.

So, the fact that I’ve been trying to get inspired and have been failing miserably is nothing short of soul crushing. (And yes I’m aware that I’m being overly dramatic – it’s my inspiration crisis and I can be as dramatic as I want. J )

I have some serious goals for this year, two books that I want to finish. Both books are plotted and started, so I’m not going at this without a foundation. But that’s a lot to work towards, I know that. And I’ve lost almost a whole month already. I need to figure out how to turn this around and get back on track.

What do you do when you are suffering a lack of inspiration? Do you have any tried and true tricks that help pull you out of it?

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Feb4

Monday’s Musings – If You Could Live Anywhere…

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Kayleigh

This week for Monday’s Musings, we are talking about something a little less literary and a little more personal. The big question is, if you could live anywhere, where would that place be?

For my fellow bloggers’ postings, check out the links below…