Writer Ramblings: Inspiring Celebrities

Have you ever been truly inspired by anyone in your life? I have. I have several role models, some you might question as to why. I spent some time thinking about who really has influenced me in life the last few years. Well we all love lists, so here are four of my favorites and why. They are not all perfect people, some have been involved in domestic violence, some have said questionable things, but they all did something that inspired me to strive to be a better and stronger person.

King-Ali-Bradshaw-Dillon

#1 Stephen King: It's pretty obvious, since I consider him to be the best writer of the last 50 years, and not because he tells amazing and original stories, but because his stories are just the backdrop of the real story that he's writing. Stephen King doesn’t write horrors and thrillers, he writes about human nature and that no matter what is going on around us, we still act like stupid, greedy, selfish humans. There are lessons to be learned from our greed, desperation, loneliness, hate, love, fear, apathy, etc. When you read Stephen King you experience something terrifying and emotional. It’s like a real experience, even when it’s a possessed car that crushes people in the driver seat or a creepy fear eating clown hiding in the sewer, you experience the fear and anger just as King intended you to. He brings his nightmares to life like nobody else in the business. Now if only Hollywood could ever capture the true essence of his novels on the big screen. I can only dream that someday I can get close to what he has accomplished as a writer. Success aside, I want to write on that level in my own voice.

Dare to Dream

Some people don’t dream. They believe that a dream is something unattainable. If you dream you will get your hopes up and life will just let you down. Why would you want to chase after something that will always be just out of your reach? Life is not a dream. It’s dirty and it’s hard. There is no place in the world for dreams. I've heard all these before.

It’s hard for me to understand that way of thinking. I dream, I dream big. I don’t mean I dream that someday I’ll publish a book that I can show to my friends and family and say "I finally did it." No. That’s not a dream, that’s just too easy these days. Anyone could publish a book with just the click of a button, even terribly written ones. My dream is that one day, after I have about 40 books published, people will know who I am like they do King, Rowling or Rice. If you’re a reader, you know these names as well as their faces gracing the back inside cover of their books. I want that. To be known as a writer without being asked.

Writer Ramblings: Practice Does Not Make Perfect

Photo courtesy of Dave R Farmer on WANA Commons

I was always told by coaches and teachers that "Practice makes perfect," but I've realized in the last few years that is not true. The phrase should be "Practice makes consistent." If you are practicing the wrong methods, you will just get more consistent at doing it wrong. For twenty years I wrote by the seat of my pants. Whatever came to me is how I wrote it down, and I was never satisfied with my work. The story concepts and characters were good and well done. People loved the emotions and the action, but there was always something missing.

They say there isn't a wrong way to write. That has some truth in it, but there is a wrong way to approach writing. I'm no self-proclaimed expert, nor would I accept that title. What I am is a practitioner of writing. Like every great writer, the ones who are good at their craft are the ones who have practiced for years. They also listened when an editor or critique partner showed them a right way to approach their story.

Looking Back on 2012

The Chinese New Year is drawing to a close, and the time of the Water Dragons will soon be over on Feb 9^th. This year was the time for taking chances. The economy was struggling for many, but hording your money and trying to save isn’t going to put that back on track.

Took this pic from the boat, while passing an island of trees.

I went on that vacation out of the country, although our ship was rained out of the harbor in Canada, so I never set foot on foreign soil. I still got to see Alaska from the mountain tops and a glacier. It was beautiful and inspiring to see. Not even the pictures I took can really express the majestic beauty of those mountains coming right out of the water.

I began the work on starting that publishing company I always wanted and I’ve been helping writers as much as I can, but I never did file the paperwork to make it official. For two reasons, I was worried I’d have to pay some kind of tax after the year was up and I didn’t have anything prepared to publish to pay that tax. That, I’ll get into in a minute.

Write to the Death!

Some of you may know already, but for those who have not heard, my computer was attacked yesterday by a virus. It was a nasty one, real nasty, like the little growly ankle biter dog that gets your calf as soon as you laugh at its diminutive size and turn your back on it. The kind you want to take a shower after dealing with. Or stab yourself in the face for not backing up your work more frequently. Ok, so I don’t really want to stab myself in the face, not only would that hurt, but it would make it difficult to write with my brain pain split open. Don’t worry, my calf will heal, I have thick skin.

Long story short, I spent hours battling the virus to save all of my work, which included the Weapons Weekly blogs I had written for the next few weeks. So this week, I will be very late, if I post a Weapons Weekly at all. I did not win the battle and in the end, I killed the virus, but he took every one of my documents with him. All of the blogs will have to be rewritten and researched.

If not for having two flash drives that I stored a few things on previously, it would have been a total loss. The last thing I want to do is go back to square one on writing Devil Dog. It was 348 pages before today. The backed up copy is only 311, but that not too bad. I’ll have that fixed in no time. The biggest loss was losing all of my work on Devil Dog 2 and mostly everything on the Warlord.

The Year of the Water Dragon!

2012 is marked the year of the Water Dragon according to the Chinese Zodiac calendar. Are you ready for it? I know I am. This is the year for the free spirits to prosper and shine. The dragon is wise and a sign of good luck so 2012 should be a great year to take a chance and do something to improve your life. Whatever that may be, whether it’s starting a new business or career, or taking that vacation you’ve always wanted, this will be the year to do it. The New Year begins on January 23^rd and ends on February 9^th in 2013. That is how awesome the Year of the Dragon it, it’s almost 13 months!

Funny thing for me is, before I even realized this was the Year of the Dragon I had already set into motion the process to start a new publishing company to assist technologically challenged Indie writers get published and publish myself through the same company. I also have a vacation planned this summer in which I will leave the USA for the first time in my life.

Writer Ramblings: The Heart Knows Your Muse

The heart is a finicky thing. It’s strong and at the same time fragile. It works all day pumping blood but a few words from someone you're close to can make it feel like it wants to stop. It may even feel like it’s bleeding or broken, and yet, it continues on until that day comes where it finally does give out or the brain stops telling it to keep going.

I was a sophomore in high school. I had written several things, a short sci-fi and started a fantasy adventure. I had written a couple poems, but I hated them. I hated all of it. I loved writing but I despised what I wrote. It was raw, untrained and hard to read, probably something like this blog. Anyway, I had spoken to this girl in one of my geometry classes several times. She was smart, had a unique style that made her stand out in the crowd, and she was beautiful. The beauty thing intimidated me greatly. I didn’t know what I felt when she was around, but one day I realized I couldn’t stop thinking about her.

Wrtier Ramblings: Nanawrimo!

Believe it or not, that title is not a typo.

I’ve gone and done it! I signed up for the Nanawrimo for 2011. I have no idea really what that all is other than a writing marathon, but I figure it’s a great excuse to knock out the first half of another book. Since I can’t start the writing for it till November, that rules out the horror I was going to work on, I’m still in research phase for the Back to the Future Terminator crossover fan fiction I’m planning and I’m already 12,000 words into the fantasy. So I don’t feel comfortable writing any of those for my Nanowrimo.

Lucky for me, I already have an outline set up for another project. I’ll be done with my polishing on Devil Dog pretty soon and it will be sent out to editors and beta readers this month. I’m very excited and nervous at the same time. My baby is growing up already.

So the big question is what am I going to write if I’m already going to be pretty deep into the co-written horror, the fantasy is already started and Devil Dog will be in the hands of strangers? The only real solution is Devil Dog 2! Why not, the outline is written and I have concepts and plots designed for a full seven book series. I might as well start getting the sequel drafted.

50,000 words in a month! I am very excited to attempt this and somehow my wife is ok with it. So here I come. Bring it on November because I will write you down.

Writer Ramblings: Limitless

Limitless

This movie is about a pill that opens your mind to limitless possibilities. Can you imagine the ability to see the patterns of the things around us that normally we all see as nothing but chaos? With the ability to see every pattern in every aspect of life, you could literally predict the future.

Well, yes and no. The movie takes it to a whole new level, but in reality, we can all achieve this on our own. The only limits in life are what we set for ourselves. Obviously there are still some kinds of limits. Someone paralyzed from the waist down won’t ever be able to run a marathon right? Maybe they can’t, but if they really want to, they can find a way to roll in one. No dream is unachievable, except immortality. That is even questionable depending on what you believe immortality would require. Me? Two things make me believe in immortality. The afterlife, because I believe there is one, and my writing. Long after I’m dead, someone will still be purchasing and buying my novels. Let’s hope that is still very far off though.

Unbreakable Dreams

For some reason the world is full of negativity. I will never understand why someone would try to push someone down a path that would make them miserable and then pretend to care that the person they pushed is now struggling and miserable. Like many writers, I have been tested repeatedly and in the past I gave in to those fears of “responsibility” and walked away from my dreams.

Over the years, I’ve grown stronger and realized my dreams are not irresponsible at all. I no longer care if my own friends laugh at me and doubt me. It’s not up to them, and people like that are not really my friends. Luckily for me, my wife is 100% supportive of my choices in life, and she’s never read more than a few pages of anything I’ve written. I’m not here to say I’m the next Stephen King or John Locke. What I am is me, and I’m a writer. I would rather write than do anything else.

Sometimes it seems as if everything is pushing at me again to walk away. What I don’t understand is why my friends would assume I was going to fail, and for some it feels as if they would prefer I do. I’ve never failed anything I’ve tried to do in my entire life. What failures I have had all came because I quit. Well, I’m not quitting this time. I will be published, I will become a bestseller and I will make this a career. It’s not just a dream anymore, it’s my goal. It’s unbreakable. I’m unbreakable. I don’t care what comes against me to try to stop me. I will succeed.

If you have dreams, then wake up! Stop living them in your mind and go out there and pursue those dreams. Life is too short to just watch it go by because of fear of failure. If you fall short, that just means you need to give it a little more. There are two things that can stop you from achieving your life long dreams. One of them you have complete control of, whether you quit or try at all. The other is what happens if you wait too long. We all have to die someday. It’s better to live while you can, rather than waste away your life in safety and “for sure” things.

My day job involves working with car accidents, and it’s taught me a lot about living safely. There is no sure thing in life. It doesn’t matter how good a driver you are, if the other guy doesn’t see you and runs the light, then your life is over. So stop pretending you’re in control, throw away the negativity and live your life! If you’re a writer, then don’t let anyone or anything stop you from writing. You don’t know when someone else is going to run that light and end your dreams before you reach them.

Thought I'd share an awesome song that I love to listen to when those naysayers try to bring me down. Listen to the words, because what she sings is true.