A Spark of Creativity

I sometimes wonder what sparks our creativity. I live in a small town in northeastern Alberta. There's a triangle of towns here, all about an hour apart. My daughter and I often visit the neighboring towns to shop in stores not available in our hometown. Well, she drives. I quit driving a couple of years ago.

Funny, though. We get in the car, she turns on the radio or CD, not full blast, but loud enough to make conversation difficult, and off we go. As soon as we're on the road, my mind wanders to my novels.

Yesterday Andreas Cole, the vampire from my urban fantasy, The Hollows, sat behind me and whispered in my ear. He told me things like: "You know, I didn't take the road to The Hollows on a whim. I stopped the car and sniffed the wind and I could smell the undead." Lacy Copper, heroine of The Hollows, tells me how her first glimpse of Andreas knocked the breath from her lungs. "He was magnificent," she confides. "But he was a bit frightening as well. There's something...different about that man."

On a recent drive, I found out some surprising information about the characters in my story, When Gods Collide. I hadn't noticed the veterinarian's scarred face, or seen the strange silver sheen in the eyes of the heroine's son until two of the minor characters pointed out these obvious facts.

I'm not sure why my mind works this way. I can sit in front of the computer or curl up in a chair with pen and paper and although the thoughts do come, not with the frequency or power of those I get while I'm riding in the car. The music seems to make no difference. I often have music playing when I'm writing.

I can picture myself, year after year, riding from place to place, looking for, not new stores or new towns, but for fresh stories and ideas to spark my plots. I can think of worse ways to spend my time.

What is a Writer

What is the definition of a writer? A writer is, simply put, one who writes. Nowhere does the definition say a writer is one who gets paid for writing. Nowhere does the definition state that a writer is one who has his or her writing published.

I am a writer. Therefore, I write. Sometimes I write ceaselessly, for hours or days or even weeks at a time. Then, having written, I take off my writer's hat and become - a marketer.

A marketer, simply put, is someone who markets. As a marketer, I search for publications, whether magazine, newspaper or ezine, that might be interested in what, as a writer, I have produced. Occasionally I am successful and sell what I have written, even less occasionally, for a fair sum of money. More often than not, I am unsuccessful, so I put the writing away for revision or perhaps only another try at a later date. But this process makes me no less a writer.

A freelance writer is one who writes what he wants, where he wants, when he wants. Most writers do, at least to some extent, fall into that category. Only those writers who work at a corporate level producing, perhaps, ad copy or company brochures, are not really freelancing, but again, they have chosen to do this.

I write a regular weekly article for the same publication. But I chose, and still choose, to do that. I also write other things. Sometimes a publication sets a deadline but that makes me no less a freelance writer, because I have chosen to write for this publication and to adhere to the rules and deadlines set by the editor.

What is a creative writer? Simply put, a creative writer is a writer who creates. Again, this is all writers, because, whether we write fantastic opuses about life on a distant planet or an article on why eating spinach is good for you, we are still creating. We are painting pictures with words although those pictures are as different as -- well -- a bump by bump tale of a ride in a rocket ship gone mad or an egg by egg recipe for a spinach omelet.

And this brings us full circle, back to the original question: What is a writer? Simply put, no matter what you write, where you write or when you write, a writer is one who writes.

Why do We Procrastinate?

I started this Blog over a month ago, at the time vowing to myself to write a new blog every week. Then my old enemy stepped in -- procrastination.

Why do people procrastinate? A lot of writers have the habit, including myself. I'll get up in the morning, eager to work on my novel. Ah, but first I must shower and have breakfast. Maybe tidy the house and do the laundry. Finally all my household chores are done and I have the rest of the day to write.

Do I write? No! I read, play games, go shopping, and sometimes, in desperation, it seems, I'll wash walls or clean windows. Anything to avoid sitting down at the computer and working on my novel.

Why do we procrastinate? A handout I found on procrastination blames it on fear. We may not all fear the same thing. The two most common fears are "fear of failure" and, believe it or not, "fear of success."

With fear of failure, we're afraid that what we are turning out is inadequate, that no publisher will accept it, that we'll finally discover we're not proficient writers at all.

Fear of success, on the other hand, is being afraid our writing will be accepted, that we'll become famous and in demand. How is that going to change our lives?

Procrastination might also be the result of poor time management or a need for perfection.

Mind Tools has these tips to overcome procrastination:

"The key to controlling and ultimately combating this destructive habit is to recognize when you start procrastinating, understand why it happens (even to the best of us), and take active steps to better manage your time and outcome."

Don't let procrastination put your life on hold. Do something about it today. I'm going to. Let's not put it off