Tag: Guest Posts

Blocking Writer’s Block – Encore

Author JD Mader

[This is an encore presentation of JD Mader’s post. Please tune in on Thursday for JD’s victorious return.]

I want to talk for a second about how to deal with writer’s block – don’t. Writer’s block is a myth. It is a psych-out. I have been writing for half my life and I have taught enough writing workshops to honestly believe that writer’s block does not exist…unless you let it exist.

Let me qualify that a bit. There are times when I am blocked on a certain piece, certainly. But that doesn’t mean I can’t write. Writer’s block is fear, pure and simple. And it is easy to let that fear dominate you. But it is easy to avoid, too.

I write every day. Usually around 500 words. A lot more lately. There is never a day when I ‘can’t write’, because I don’t try to force it. If I am working on a novel and I feel jammed up, I write a story. If I can’t think of a story, I look around me…I start describing something. Usually, that leads to something. Sometimes it leads to 500 words of description. So what? Continue reading “Blocking Writer’s Block – Encore”

What I did today

Sometimes, work is plain fun.

The Perth foothills

Exhausting, demanding … but you get a blast. That’s what happened to me today. I was facilitator at a workshop organized by the KSP Foundation at their Writers’ Centre in the hills, at the edge of the Perth metropolitan area. Because this blog is read by an international audience, it’s necessary to describe some stuff in more detail than I otherwise would. So let me describe how the Perth foothills – visible for quite a few miles away, and which surround the coastal plain where the city stands – rise from the plateau, and seem green-grey and hazy from a distance. Continue reading “What I did today”

Blocked but Not Forgotten by Barbara Ann Derksen

Barbara Ann Derksen

Andrea Wilton, the female protagonist in my current mystery series, scurries through the gray matter in my brain with partner Brian Strait. They seek people who, for the moment, are lost but I know that they are only lost for the length of time it takes Andrea and Brian to discover their whereabouts. That’s what keeps me writing. I need to know how the story ends.

I seek to uncover the plot devised by the antagonists but once in a while, as the plot thickens, my characters are stymied. They are at a loss to explain what has happened to the person they seek and the antagonists seem to have the upper hand. This is the point when, if I am watching a movie or reading a book, I want to throw something. I know the answer is just around the corner but I just can’t seem to grasp it. I am blocked. Continue reading “Blocked but Not Forgotten by Barbara Ann Derksen“

Weaving a Tale – by Kristina Jackson

Author Kristina Jackson

The casual observer looking in on me today will see me at my desk, my favourite red and white spotted mug steaming away near my right hand. Open on my desk is my jigsaw board, with a Wasgij in process. This is not the scene normally associated with a writer.

My laptop is resting, open, on a box to the side of me. Its innocent looking screen asleep for now …

What I am doing here is weaving the story. Once I have the fabric made it gets laid down within my latest work. This may seem like a waste of time, no not at all. It might not be everyone’s method, but it works for me, along with knitting. Continue reading “Weaving a Tale – by Kristina Jackson”