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Appreciating Those Moments of Clarity

July 12, 2019 by in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as , ,
Photo of sunset over Lake Tahoe with sun peeking through clouds with words Appreciating Those Moments of Clarity by Denise M. Colby for blog post header image

Isn’t it nice when an idea becomes crystal clear?

Sometimes there are moments of clarity where the next idea is so strong, it’s obvious what to do.

 

Other times, you keep pondering over an idea, knowing there’s something more pronounced underneath but not able to give it the bandwidth needed to figure it out.

Sometimes I’m just too busy and miss the opportunities right in front of me.

 

If you are anything like me, my to-do list is fifteen miles long and has everything on it; laundry, take my son glasses shopping, help get another son ready for college, figure out what to cook for dinner. When all I really want to do is sit down and write and breathe and let all my thoughts come to the surface. Of course even in my writing list, there is so much there it’s hard to figure out what I should work on first and what things would make the biggest impact now.

Just the other day I had a moment of clarity and it felt so motivating and I want more of them.

 

So I’m trying to figure out what got me to that moment and then ideas of when they’d happened before popped up in my head.

  • I’ve had moments of clarity when I’ve met someone new that inspired me.
  • Or came when I attended a writers’ conference/meeting/seminar.
  • Or when I was out and about and something triggered an idea. (Why is it always when I’m driving or in the shower?)
  • Or on those rare occasions when I have a moment to just stop and think.

And voila! Something clicks. It feels right. Confirmed inside your heart and soul.

As a writer, I want these moments more than they happen, but when they do occur I can at least now recognize it as something important and write it down and move forward with it.

Of course, now I have to find time to make it happen, but that’s an entirely different blog post!

 

Do you get these moments of clarity? Where are you when they come? And what do you do when you have one?

Happy Writing,

Denise

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The Fun of Being A Writer by Linda O. Johnston

July 6, 2019 by in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as , , , ,

 

What’s the fun of being a writer?  Everything!

And part of that includes the fact that writing is always there.  It becomes part of you.  At least it has with me.  Everything I do, everywhere I go, my writerness is part of it.  And yes, that’s an unusual word although when I Googled it, other people have apparently used it, too.

I was on a cruise to Alaska last week with family and friends.  It was lots of fun.  We sailed near land going north, then south through the Inside Passage, visited several cities, took a few tours, and enjoyed the onboard food and entertainment.  That entertainment sometimes included dogs, and you can imagine how much I liked that.

I particularly enjoyed the wildlife we saw, including young and adult bald eagles, other birds including those that flew over and sometimes dived into water like marbled murrelets, a few bears on the shoreline in the distance, some spouting whales, including humpbacks, and small breaching dolphins. 

We got to wade in the water in the middle of a river—because, as you might surmise, that river wasn’t full of water.

We visited Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and took a tour that included visiting a formerly private castle.

And, oh yes, I did some writing and editing . . . and came up with an idea for another mystery series.

Will I ever write it?  Who knows?  But plotting and researching it will definitely be enjoyable.  Plotting is who I am, and my subconscious is always at work.

And yes, that’s part of the fun of being a writer.

~Linda

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Writing and Visual Arts: What Do They Have in Common? by Will Zeilinger

July 3, 2019 by in category Partners in Crime by Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger tagged as , , ,

I’ve been a graphic designer/illustrator/cartoonist for most of my adult life, but as I approached fifty years on this earth, I finally began writing. The first things I wrote made no sense because I had no idea what I was doing. My writing experience had involved writing headlines and snippets of ad copy, as well as a stray brochure here and there.

What I learned from this transition was that different forms of writing are like creating artwork in various media.

Novel Writing and Oil Painting

Take writing a novel, for instance. I compare that to making an oil painting on canvas.  First, a sketch and color study is made of the proposed image.  The paint is selected and applied according to the artist’s plan. If alterations, changes, or corrections are needed, oil paints can be very forgiving as they take quite a while to dry.

The artist may want to repaint a section or replace parts that don’t work.  While the rest of the painting can remain undisturbed, one can use little paint thinner or turpentine in a cloth, and voila, the area can be repainted, over and over until it is just right. Some parts of the painting may be finished, but others may still be in a rough state.  Keep in mind; the oil paints take a long time to dry – days sometimes weeks to be totally dry.  A novel is much like that in that the writer has many pages to develop the story and create the story arc or arcs, while other parts of the story can develop separately until it is blended, shade, and glazed, and it all comes together.

Flash fiction and Water Colors

A short story or flash fiction I compare to making a watercolor painting. While both appear to be somewhat spontaneous—although they aren’t. Much preliminary planning must take place. First, quality watercolor paper must be selected and what colors will be applied first. Watercolor paints dry very quickly. Certain areas must be given a few minutes to dry, so when transparent layers are added, the whole thing does not become a muddy mess. Once it is on the paper, that’s it! No going back and changing it.

Some stunning watercolor art can be created with proper planning and bravery on the artist’s part.  Next time you look at a watercolor painting in a museum, look at how the artist makes the images with as few strokes as possible.  In writing, plots need to be simplified, and the number of characters reduced because the story has to do its job with fewer words on fewer pages quickly.  The story arc is going to be right up front.  Next time you read a short story or flash fiction, look to see how quickly the writer has to make their point.

Each type of writing requires a different mindset. The same goes for painting in various media.

Co-Writing and Fold Doodles

Now, how do these approaches apply to co-writing?  Have you ever played the “Fold Doodle” game? Someone takes a sheet of paper and folds it horizontally into narrow sections then draws the head of a person or thing on the top section. They fold that section under and another adds to the drawing on the next section then folds it over and passed it on. This process continues until the paper is used up. It is then unfolded to reveal the drawing by many different hands. Sometimes it is hilarious, other times a disaster.

People have asked us many times how we write together, and the answer is communication and planning.  Whether we are writing a novel, a short story, or a blog post, the best thing to do is check in with your co-writer along the way to make sure you are both in the right mindset for the story at hand and the results will be beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

~Will

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June Featured Author: Denise M. Colby

June 29, 2019 by in category Featured Author of the Month tagged as , , , ,


Denise Colby |The Writing Journey

Denise M. Colby loves to write words that encourage, enrich, and engage whether it’s in her blog, social media, magazine articles, or devotions. With over 20+ years’ experience in marketing, she enjoys using her skills to help other authors. She treasures the written word and the messages that can be conveyed when certain words are strung together. An avid journal writer, she usually can be found with a pen and notepad whenever she’s reading God’s word. Denise is writing her first novel, a Christian Historical Romance and can be found at www.denisemcolby.com

She’s a member of RWA, OCC/RWA, Faith, Hope & Love Chapter of RWA, ACFW (where she is a semi-finalist in the Genesis contest Historical Romance Category), OC Chapter of ACFW, and SoCal Christian Writers’ Conference (where she will be teaching two workshops in June – Brand and SEO Marketing for Your Website).

 

In addition to Denise’s column The Writing Journey on A Slice of Orange, you can read some of her magazine article here.

 


 Denise M. Colby’s Books

 

 


 

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June Author: Denise M. Colby

June 21, 2019 by in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Featured Author of the Month tagged as , , , ,

Denise Colby |The Writing Journey

Denise M. Colby loves to write words that encourage, enrich, and engage whether it’s in her blog, social media, magazine articles, or devotions. With over 20+ years’ experience in marketing, she enjoys using her skills to help other authors. She treasures the written word and the messages that can be conveyed when certain words are strung together. An avid journal writer, she usually can be found with a pen and notepad whenever she’s reading God’s word. Denise is writing her first novel, a Christian Historical Romance and can be found at www.denisemcolby.com

She’s a member of RWA, OCC/RWA, Faith, Hope & Love Chapter of RWA, ACFW (where she is a semi-finalist in the Genesis contest Historical Romance Category), OC Chapter of ACFW, and SoCal Christian Writers’ Conference (where she will be teaching two workshops in June – Brand and SEO Marketing for Your Website).

 

In addition to Denise’s column The Writing Journey on A Slice of Orange, you can read some of her magazine article here.

 


 Denise M. Colby’s Books

 

 


 

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