What’s our Ceiling?

sanibel_island_doc_fordsEach of us has our own idea of success in writing. I’ve found that out the past few weeks in the comments on my past few blog posts for Indies Unlimited. Some are in it for the pleasure; others are in it for the dough. By no means does that represent every reason for pursuing our passion for writing, but I believe that it does provide for the two bookends of our main reasons for what we do. The question is … have we really thought about how far we can take this thing? Continue reading “What’s our Ceiling?”

A Room With A View

I am writing in the rain. My computer is exactly eighteen inches from my office window.

Outside, the trellis is heavy with climbing jasmine and trained plumbago. The soft sounds of the falling rain are echoed in the movement of the leaves they pelt.

I am warm and dry, yet somehow a part of the dripping scene in front of me. This landscape has been my food for the day, a rich diet of wet leaves, green vistas, and periwinkle blue flowers.

Writers need to be nourished. We are, after all, artists. To create we must refuel our tanks. To “find our art” as Pablo Picasso famously said, we must be able to draw in, process, and send out a piece of ourselves.

How one does this is entirely dependent on the personality of the individual. We writers are a unique lot — and what refreshes one will exhaust another. I have listed some of my favorite ways to keep the words I am looking for flowing freely. Continue reading “A Room With A View”

Getting Started in this Business

This past Tuesday night, I had the pleasure of attending a book signing by one of my favorite authors, Randy Wayne White. Known for his “Doc Ford” novels (over twenty and counting), he has been writing for over thirty years.

What made this event possible is an Independent bookstore, Books and Books, just two or so blocks from a Barnes and Noble. Randy started his talk by remembering the beginning of his career. He had just published his first novel and the publisher had set up a book signing at a bookstore in Ft. Myers, FL. The bookstore had stocked SIX books for the signing. Continue reading “Getting Started in this Business”