Tag Archives: Inspiration

A Couple Lists Plus Some Inspiration

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One of the things I love about writing is that there’s inspiration to be found in anything.  Hate the ending of a book or movie (or even a tv show)?  Write your own version.  See someone wearing the most bizarre outfit?  Write into your novel.  Overhear a weird or interesting conversation or phrase?  Make it the opening line/conversation in your novel or short story.

Like, any job working with the public is writing gold!  I work at a museum, and the things you hear and see, provided enough material for 2 novels.  And if I’m being completely honest, probably enough for several more novels.

Reasons Why I Feel Like I Need to Write

  • I want to continue some of the projects I’ve started because I want to see how the story ends.
  • I have a few ideas that have some promise, and I want to see how they work out.  Plus, I want to get them out of my head, so I can have room for some shiny new ideas. 
  • I have quite a few prompts I want to write about, plus some quotes that I find very interesting and that “speak” to me. 
  • I’ve been feeling stressed/upset/worried/depressed/anxious, and writing in my journal seems to get that out of my head.

Reasons Why I’m Being So Hard On Myself About *Not* Writing:

  • I feel like I’m not writing, even though I am.  It’s like if I’m not working on my novels, I’m not writing anything.
  • I keep on telling myself that they’re not any good, even though there are some good things in the things I’m working on.  There’s always something good in everything I’ve written, even though there are spelling/grammar problems, major inconsistencies, and just some plain funny stuff. 
  • The work that I’d have to put in if I want to make it the best that it can be is overwhelming.  If I do it in baby steps, maybe it won’t be so overwhelming. 

Guacamole

Posted in Flash Fiction by

I actually did something besides work on Turning Point!  I’m really excited about this.  I actually found the prompt for this over at Flash Fiction, and I thought I’d share it.  It’s © Nicole R., so don’t steal it or anything.

Title: Back In The Argument

“So today, we’re going to look at some bungalows,” Katie said. 

 “Why?” asked Ryan. 

 “We have to live somewhere, and I thought it would be nice to live near the beach.”

 “I don’t really want to go gallivanting around town just because you want to see a halcyon,” Ryan retorted. 

 “But I love the beach!  And I thought you did too,” she said quietly. 

 “Not enough to live near it,” he answered.

 “But think about how convenient it would be!” she insisted. 

 “I don’t know what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours,” he said, “but you are not the empress of this house.”

 “My parents always told me I was their little princess,” she said.  “And I want to live near the beach.”

 “For the record, most girls grow out of it,” ryan said.  “It’s not normal.”

 “Are you saying that I am acting aberrantly?” she said.  “Wait, did I use the word aberrant right?”

 “You did,” he said.  “And yes, that is what I’m saying.”

 “But we can eat guacamole all the time at the beach!”

 “We can do that now,” Ryan said.  “Besides, if we move, we won’t have an avocado tree.  We’d have to buy them.”

 “I will not be deterred by that!” she insisted.  “We love guacamole.”

“I give up,” ryan said.  “You can go searching for your bungalow by yourself.  And for the record, Katie, I hate guacamole.”

If Only…

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Image Courtesy Of photocult

I love this picture.  I can totally see myself living in some cottage by a lake, just writing away.  Not necessarily this house or this lake, but a cottage (or house or cabin, whatever) on some lake.  By the way, I found the picture here, in case anyone is wondering.

Moving on, I know it’s stereotypical.  Writer alone in the woods or out in nature somewhere, just writing away.  Ignoring the hustle and bustle of the world, honing their craft.

It does have a certain appeal though.  Mostly because writing at home is something I’m finding more and more difficult.  I can’t afford to go out to a coffee shop everyday, even if I got something really cheap.  I don’t mind being productive in the middle of the night, especially since that’s the best time for getting anything done.  The house is quiet, because everyone’s sleeping.  However, it’s not practical, because I do need to sleep, no matter how weird my sleeping patterns are.

The only problem is that I tend to get at least some inspiration from the world around me- from interesting people I see, from overheard conversations, weird questions…if I completely isolate myself, I would lose part of my inspiration.

Maybe…it could be a vacation house!  And on vacation (if I ever take one), I could go there!  Or a long weekend, perhaps.  You know, when I’m not working on that list of things I want to do before I die.  I think I may be on to something…

When I Can’t Sleep

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Writing Prompt: What do you think about when you can’t fall asleep?

I have a lot of trouble sleeping, so there’s a lot I think about when I can’t sleep.  Mostly I worry and stress out about stuff when I can’t sleep.  Sometimes I think about why I can’t sleep and when I will fall asleep.  I think about why I can’t have a normal sleeping pattern.

I also think about things I need to do and things I should do.  Like go to the gym, or work on my novels.  Lately it’s been about how I’m ever going to read 100 books this year, and also how I’ve been putting off finding places to volunteer.

And like I said before, I tend to do most of my worrying at night.  I do worry/feel anxious throughout the day, but for whatever reason, it’s just terrible at night, and while journaling helps to a certain degree, it doesn’t completely make it go away, so I’ll still be awake at 1 or 2 in the morning, worrying about how I can’t go to sleep.  Perhaps I need to journal before I go to sleep instead of the middle of the night when I can’t sleep.  Knowing me, I probably need to change my getting-ready-for-bed routine.

We all know sleep is important, and when you’re writing, or in my case, attempting to write, getting a good nights sleep is a really good idea.  This is especially evidenced in this post I wrote back in November.  While it makes rereading my writing entertaining, it makes writing a bit harder.  I’m more distracted than normal, and it’s harder to focus on writing when I’m trying not to fall asleep.  It’s definitely a lot easier for me to get my thoughts onto paper if I’m well-rested.

I Have A Thing For Cookies

Posted in Crafts, Food by

Cookies are always my default dessert. I don’t know what it is about cookies, but they’re generally awesome, easy to make, and as far as writing goes, they make an excellent snack. Plus, there’s a ton of different cookie recipes because everyone has their own take on cookies.  Chocolate chip tends to be my default, but once in a while I’ll make peanut butter cookies or sugar cookies. 

I definitely need to branch out more as far as cookies go, and make something different. 

Cake Mix Cookies

Cake Mix Cookies!  These were by far the easiest cookies I’ve ever made in my life.  Cake mix, eggs and oil.  And I couldn’t help but eat them all.  They are definitely a keeper. 

Taco Casserole

In other cooking news, I made taco casserole, pictured above.  It was quite delicious, if I do say so myself.  Also another keeper. 

And speaking of branching out, I did make a marble cake for my grandma’s birthday.  I pretty much never make cake (unless you count cupcakes), so this was definitely a challenge.  Especially since the recipe I used was very precise.  And I used a bundt pan, which was fine…until I had to get the cake out of it, as you can see below. 

Marble Cake

Part of it stuck to the pan, and so it came it lopsided.  Cutting cake isn’t really my strong point, in fact, I’m not the best at cutting cake.  So I tend to make stuff that I don’t have to cut, except for the rare batch of brownies.  But other than the cake being lopsided, it turned out okay, and my grandma liked it.  Of course, she likes most everything, so I don’t think it means very much, but she did like it, which is all that matters.

Hurricane Vase

So I also made this vase for my grandma’s birthday.  Granted, all I did was paint it, and that was Plan B, after I broke the candlestick holder that was supposed to be glued to the bottom of the vase.  And then I filled it with potpourri, as seen below. 

Hurricane Vase With Potpourri

It’s been a busy couple weeks, what with the reading and the cooking and the being craftsy.  I’ll admit, my painting skills also need some work, but my grandma liked it, so all is good.

A Letter To My Muse

Posted in Turning Point by

Dear Muse:

What is going on in that head of yours?  I fail to understand why Kiora should be with Kyle.  I could have sworn we had decided that it would be Kiora and Dustin, who is closer to her age than Kyle.  Yes, we never settled on how old Kyle is, but we did decide that he is older than Dustin.  And Kyle’s married with a 10-year-old daughter!  How exactly do you propose they get together, besides divorce?  Kyle doesn’t strike me as the get-a-divorce type of guy, unless something tragic happens to his wife.  And furthermore, how do you propose we fix Kiora’s thing with Dustin?  I most certainly do not want to kill him off, and I am really starting to like them together, even if they can’t date.  Well, not yet anyway.  I suppose they could, but I have no idea how they’d manage it. 

While you’re figuring all this out, O Wise One, could you figure out what’s going on with Sienna, Luna, and Holly?  Like what happened between her and that secret service agent?  And why did Luna end up in a psych ward?  Could you explain to me why Holly thinks Kiora would be a good addition to her little group and what she wanted Kiora to edit?  Because these things are very confusing, and I’d like an explanation if at all possible. 

I do commend you on staying away from that ever-so-frightening inner editor, because she’s very scary!  It takes someone very special to ignore her, and you have done a fantastic job ignoring her.  I’d appreciate it if you could keep that up, because she is your enemy.

Thanks!

10 Most Played Songs

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I thought I’d share my 10 most played songs, according to iTunes. 

1- No Way by Starkid Potter; 34 times; this is one of my favorite songs from both AVPM and AVPS.  It’s no surprise I’ve listened to it so many times,

2- Days of Summer by Starkid Potter; 26 times; also one of my favorite songs from AVPM and AVPS. 

3-Teenage Dream by Katy Perry; 21 times; I think it got played a lot during November, since it was one of the songs on my Turning Point playlist.  Plus, it’s kinda catchy.

4-Wildflower by The JaneDear Girls; 20 times; I was mildy surprised that I listened to this song so many times.  I really have no explanation for it.  But it is a pretty good song.

5-It Is What It Is by Lifehouse; 15 times; for some reason, this song reminds me of Broken (also by Lifehouse) and You Found Me (by The Fray).  For some reason, this song always makes me feel better.

6- Today Was A Fairytale by Taylor Swift; 15 times; it’s a really cute song, which is partly why I like it so much.  But I also like Taylor Swift, so…yeah. 

7- Love The Way You Lie by Eminem; 14 times; this song is really heart-breaking.  At least for me.  And haunting.

8- Obliviate from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 Soundtrack; 14 times; this song is also really haunting.  It’s easily the most recognizable from the soundtrack, and everytime I hear it, I think of Hermione erasing her parents memories of her. 

9- She Is Love (Full Band Version) by Parachute; 14 times; this song is really sweet. 

10- Jump Then Fall by Taylor Swift; 14 times; the 2nd Taylor Swift song on the list.  It’s also a very cute/sweet song.

Weird Dreams

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I know I have a lot of them, but unfortunately, I don’t remember a lot of them.  There was one I had (sometime during the night) where I was at Cosmos (cool coffee shop) and there was this girl doing ballet dressed up as a walrus and was trying to make it look like she was trying to fade into a picture of a whale. 

Found this one in my journal and copied word for word from it: back in march 2010, “a little girl went missing, and people are still looking for her, checking new technology.  I walked around the museum.  There was a filmmaker in communist Russia telling people that they could still leave, and that those in Communist Germany couldn’t.”

Apparently, there was no connection between, the little girl, me walking around the museum, and the filmmaker.  Apparently I was walking around the museum talking about shoes, according to the notes I had. 

And another dream: In April 2010 (nearly a month after the dream mentioned above), “I couldn’t find the keys for the north doors, and had to stay at the museum all night.  there was a camp-in.  all of the leads were there trying to figiure something out.  Another vsa was there too.  I tried locking the doors with a different key but I couldn’t.  People kept trying to come in and I kept telling them we were closed.  One man wanted to know why we closed at  and I just stared at him blankly.”

This one was also taken directly from my journal.  Honestly, I’ve had a lot of dreams about the museum, and most aren’t too weird.  Or at least, they weren’t weird enough for me to write down, apparently.  Of course, I’ve spent enough time there over the last 3-ish years to where dreams about the place weren’t unusual.  I guess it’s a byproduct of working at such a cool place.   

And another dream, date unknown, although I think it might be from June 2010, taken from…my random notes document: ”

I was at a birthday party when three people disappeared.  The one boy felt like his protection had disappeared because he was turning a certain age (unknown during the dream).  There was a neighborhood of creepy two-story houses.  The trio were trying to sell harry potter’s biography to get people to support their cause (also unknown).  They were traveling at night down a street that appeared to be H st.  They also traveled by plane with a Dumbledore-like man, so they could be protected.  The one boy went to this one house where he could only go up to a certain point.  There was a woman standing on the second floor balcony.  She later came up to the one boy and asked if she could have a copy of the book so that she could have information on harry potter.  The two boys went to this factory type place and it blew up.  There was wreckage, and the boys couldn’t get out because there were too many things in their way.  The things weren’t their earlier.” 

It’s some weird twist on Harry Potter!  I do believe it’s my 1st harry potter dream…one that I remember anyway.

I’d have to go through my old journals to see if I have any other weird dreams written down, because there aren’t many in this current one, which goes back about 3 years.  Only in the last month or so have I started to write in it more often.  Entries became more sporadic in 2009, it looks like. 

I didn’t have many weird dreams over the last 3 years.  Or if I did, I didn’t make an effort to write them down.  Because I feel like I did make the effort to do so at one point.  Dreams can definitely be a good inspiration for dreams  for writing, especially if they’re interesting enough.  I may need to write some of my dreams into my novels, since these aren’t enough to spark a novel.  Well, maybe the first one I talked about is…

Odds and Ends

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Yesterday afternoon, I spent a good hour or so trying to figure what books I’m going to read for the 100 book challenge I’m doing this year.  I have 49 books over at google books, just waiting for me to read- and the best part is that they’re all free!  Well, the ones I decided I wanted to read are free.  Plus, I have a bunch of books I haven’t read that are sitting on my bookshelf (and they’re feeling very sad that they’ve been sitting there so long).  And a bunch of books that I need to re-read and haven’t yet entered into goodreads.  I know I’ve read more than what I’ve entered, but I honestly can’t remember all of the books I’ve checked out from the library. 

The other day, I realized that I have a lot of stations over at pandora, and they’re all really different.  And random.  And speaking of music/stations, I’m really glad Jeff and Jer are going to back on the radio tomorrow!  It’s been a long year and a half without them!  Nothing against any of the other morning shows, but Jeff and Jer are, without a doubt, my favorites.  I’m even going to be up at 6 in the morning so I can listen to their first show since they’ve been off the air. 

It is pretty interesting looking at my favorites at stumble upon.  Apparently, I’m really into food/cooking, nature, photography, crafts, dance, ballet, writing, and history.  Well, of course, food/cooking would be the most popular, since the last few months, I’ve really been taken with cooking and baking.  Just from stumble upon, I’ll be busy cooking, and that’s not taking into account all of the food blogs I follow!  It amazes me that there’s so many cool things just floating around, and I never would have found it if it weren’t for stumble upon.   

I’m also excited because later, I’m going to extraordinary desserts in little italy.  Any place that has dessert in their name is a place that’s cool.  Plus, the lemon bar and blackberry (at least, I think it was blackberry) tea that I had from my 1st and only visit was pretty good.  Not extraordinary, but still pretty good.

Random note: If you want to see what I’ve read/am currently reading, what I’m listening to over at Pandora, and want to see my favorites at stumble upon, click on the purple, and it’ll take you to my pages.

Another random note: I managed to write an astounding 654 words yesterday morning!  Usually I manage 100-200 words, at most, but the words just kept coming, which makes me happy.  Turning Point is still the only one I’ve managed to continue adding to, even though I’ve had some of my other stuff open.  I just sit there, looking at it, and then I close it a couple minutes later.  So at least I’m working on something, even if I’m not working on everything that I had originally planned.