Diving Into Your Imagination

Well, it's been quite a while since I've posted on my blog, and I promise you that the reason is mainly because I have been very busy working on writing and reading!

What's interesting to me is the reading part since when, as a writer, you consider sitting down to spend an hour or two reading, it seems to be counter-intuitive. Why should I waste an hour reading for pleasure when I should be creating content? Do more work, damn it!

That is what my brain has been telling me. And it's basically screwed with my imagination for the better part of a week. Writer's block is basically the fear that you have run out of ideas. Essentially with my brain telling me to constantly produce, produce, produce, I was backing myself into a corner, afraid that I had run out of ideas.

This is not the truth. If you are struggling with this, don't let your brain do this to you! Our realistic and pessimistic side loves to tell us that we only finished that first book because we were lucky. I'm here to say that it wasn't because I was lucky - it was because I was inspired and my creative juices were flowing. When I was stuck a few weeks back, it was because my creative juices were too terrified to flow, and a drought was happening.

To continue to write inspired fiction or any type of writing, we need to feed our imaginations. This includes reading for pleasure and, in my case, forcing myself to enjoy reading for pleasure again.

And, wouldn't you know it - reading for pleasure also forced me to do something else that I haven't done in a long time, and something that is essential to being inspired - I read some books and authors that I've never heard of! It was so exciting! After being transported to some new fictional vistas, I wondered why I was so scared to create more of my own in the first place.

Then I sat down and started to write.

It feels good.

If you're checking out the blog, you will see that I've posted a widget to enter into my Goodreads giveaway for an autographed paperback edition of my latest book, (Can You Survive) The Zombie Apocalypse. It will be open for entries for a month, but if you don't want to wait that long, you can pick up a copy here. The Kindle version is available for the low price of $0.99 so that you can use that extra penny for something else!

In short, summer weather is here, and that means time to read, explore, and above all, write.

Podcasts For The Win!

I'm guilty of trying to consume information faster than my schedule - or my brain - will allow. The stack of books on my nightstand is high, and the number of eBooks on my Kindle that I intend to read won't be done until the end of the year, unless I magically come across some free time that I didn't know about.

The fact is, we all have day jobs. Those day jobs take up a lot of time. When you look at your schedule on paper, you probably block off the forty hours devoted to your job and, in my case, twenty extra hours for the second job on weekends (student loans are expensive!). I then take out the two hours a day for the commute back and forth to said jobs, and that leaves me with a few hours before I need sleep.

I'm not a morning person. I'd love to be, but the reality is that I can never get up earlier than 7:00am, and I never jog like I wish I did because when I get home, it's dark out and I'm scared of the bears that prowl around the woods - not to mention the lynx that devoured our last chicken!

So, if I only have so many hours in a day, and I can only spend a few reading (if I'm lucky), my only other option to get the information that I desire processed into my brain is to listen to podcasts on my commute. Currently I have three different writing podcasts on my iPad that are fantastic and entertaining. I'd highly suggest subscribing to "The Creative Penn" and "The Self Publishing Podcast". These are both very informative. I've learned so much on my commute that wouldn't have been possible without these generous writers recording their thoughts and interviews for others to listen to. It reminds me a lot of taking an interesting course at the University.

The third podcast that I check out regularly is "Writing Excuses". This one is another panel of writers and artists who talk about the elements of craft and the struggles that writers face and how to overcome them.

I don't listen to these podcasts on every drive, but I certainly listen to a few hours a week. It's a great use of time that would otherwise be wasted just waiting to get to my job. When the hours in a day really count, listen to some great podcasts. I can't imagine being without these great resources throughout the week.

Maybe someday I'll get my brothers to make a podcast of my own. Hmm...