My Latest Writing Inspirations

As summer days crawl to an end, I'm gearing up for completing my 2nd major writing project. I'm hoping to complete the manuscript by the Christmas holiday season. Wish me luck! In the meantime, I've been filling my days listening to some very motivational writing books via Audible Books application on my iPhone. LOVE IT! Anyway, the first book I listened to was "The 30-Minute Commute" by stephanie Dickison. Ms. Dickison is a non-fiction writer on a variety of subjects including book and restaurant reviews, articles, essays, columns, profiles, etc. The book was a memoir about her writing life. Interestingly, I wasn't expecting that to be what the book was about--tells you alot about how I purchase books--but I was delighted, nonetheless. Immediately I was inspired by her recounting of the years she spent working at her day job and trying to find time in the evenings and on weekends for her writing life. I know ALL TOO MUCH ABOUT THAT! From there she goes on to explain how long she contemplated leaving the day job to writing full time. The most interesting and profound thing she said was something like this, "The time to leave ones day job is solely up to the individual. Most importantly, it's not for everyone. There are some writers who thrive off of having something else to do while writing and publishing on the side." So basically, the choice is for the individual writer. YOU choose how you want to live "the writers life!" The next writing book I purchased, which I'm currently listening to as we speak, is Telling Lies for Fun and Profit by Lawrence Block. Now, I almost didn't buy this book because it was copywritten waaaayyyy back in 1981, but believe me when I say  its content are timeless. Right now, I'm up to chapter 9, which is all about beginner writers preparing ones self for rejection when sending out ones work for publication. Is this relevant in this "self-publishing" dominated publishing industry, you might want to know? I say yes! Because, quite frankly, self-publishing IS NOT for everyone! However, there's been one thing Mr. Block has said thus far which spoke volumes to me as an aspring SUCCESSFUL, WORLD-RENOWNED author! It was somewhere about Chapter 6 or 7 in which he's discussing whether or not an aspring writer--specifically college students, but aspiring writers just the same--should prepare for other career options as they work on their writing careers. Simply stated, Mr. Block contends that "preparing for another career when you know that you want to be a writer equates to preparing for failure as a writer." Isn't that powerful? I mean, sure, we all have to pay the bills as we pursue our writing goals BUT earning a paycheck to pay the bills is not the same as pursuing another career which will surely take a greater level of time and dedication, which should rightfully be allocated towards your writing goal IF you're serious about it. Basically, if you treat your writing as a side gig, that's exactly what it will be! After hearing those words, I made some decisions. For starters, I'm done pursuing promotions on my day job. The last thing I need is more work, responsibility, and stress during the day. My job keeps me busy enough while allowing some freedom and peace of mind to explore my writing. Secondly, I'm going to give up my Avon business. It's pretty senseless operating a business that's not making any money AND taking up pieces of my time that I could be using for my WRITING business! From now on I'm going to be writing like my life depends on it and you should too! If I come across anything else interesting in my listening I'll let you know. And feel free to let me know what you know good :)

Share your writing motivations! How are living your "writers" life?

Oscars 2010

I'll be the first to admit that watching award shows is not always the most entertaining way to spend a Sunday evening. However, as an artist, I just can't help myself. When I watch shows like the the Oscars and the Grammy's my heart swells with grand admiration that, many times, has brought tears to my eyes. Now, I could be extra sentimental, but either way, after I watch these shows I'm always inspired to never stop pushing towards accomplishing my dream!

The most moving moment of this years Oscars--next to Mo'Nique's acceptance speech for her award for the Best Supporting Actress--was Sandra Bullock's acceptance speech. Towards the end of her acceptance speech for Best Leading Actress, she paid homage to her late mother who always made her practice whatever it was that she was interested in at the time--ballet, piano, acting, etc. "An artist must practice their art if they expect to be any good at it," Sandra quoted her mother.

Those words made me wish that I'd had that kind of support from my mother when I initially showed interest in the art of writing. But, the difference between my mother and Sandra Bullock's mother is that her mother was an artist and artist know what artists needs. What's good is that even though my mother didn't encourage me in my younger days, she's like my number one supporter now, passing out my business cards and telling people about my book more than I do :). And now I have a whole slew of artists--Mo'Nique, Sandra Bullock, Halle Berry, Whitney Houston, Alicia Keyes, India.Arie, the late Alliyah--who encourage and inspire me everyday. They worked hard be able to live their dreams and that's what I have to do. So as advised by Sandra Bullock's mother I have to practice my art everyday in order to perfect it, which means I have to write something everyday, whether it's daily blog entries, story ideas, character creations, etc.

To all my aspiring writing buds, happy "daily" writing!