Inspiration.
It comes in many forms. A radio interview, a song, the shower, random things you hear other people say while eavesdropping in the line at Starbucks and OTHER WRITERS. What you do with it is your choice. You might say…write a novel. Or, start to write a novel. But what do you do when the momentum slips away?
Last week Sarah gave me an AMAZING book that she happened to walk by at Barnes and Nobel and couldn’t leave without purchasing. The Kick-Ass Writer by Chuck Wendig.
Today it is my pleasure to share with you some of the passages that have lit a fire under me! Remember these are just my FAVORITES this whole book is jam-packed with amazing/funny/motivation tools that make you laugh (or cry) but also inspire you to sit your behind down, open your computer and put some letters on a page!
1.
Quit Quitting
It’s all too
easy to start something and not finish it. Remember when I said you were a
legion? It’s true, but if you want to be separated from 90 percent of other
writes (or “writers” depending on how pedantic you choose to be) out there,
then just finish the sh*% that you started. Stop abandoning your children. You
wouldn’t call yourself a runner if you quit every race halfway through.
Finishing is a good start. Stop looking for the escape hatch; pretend your work
in progress just doesn’t have one.
This passage is by far my favorite and Mr. Wendig
can’t say it any better!
2.
Go to Real Places, Look at Them, and Take Notes
Anywhere you
go, note the details of the place. Like with fiction, note most of all those
details out of place – from this not only will you get good descriptions for
your work, but you might even nab a story idea or two out of it. Bonus: Hey,
you get to travel!
I love this passage for many reasons but the main
is that one of my favorite past-times is people/place watching. It gives me
license to just stare at things, use them, and get inspired!
3.
(Last but certainly not least): You Have 15,000 Chances
to Screw It Up
But, you also
have as many chances to make it sing. What I’m, saying is, the average novel is
15,000 sentences. Each on can’t be poetry. Find your own tricks to write a
kick-ass sentence from the get-go – a sentence that sings, a sentence that
bites. A sentence that conveys information clearly and without confusion and
with a cadence beating in its heart.
This is a great nugget of advice because it helps
you (the writer) break down your work into one tiny sentence at a time. It
helps to take the BIG PICTURE and break it down into all the little tiny pixels
and look at each one at a time.
One last note to Mr. Wendig: Sarah and I have had so much fun reading this we decided that this book should be made into a daily calendar, what better way to start your day then with an insightful, funny, truthful and inspiring quote!
You should also check out Mr. Wendig's blog Terrible Minds! Here's the link: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/blog/
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