Terry Persun's Blog, page 11

Dream Big

 
I keep a half dozen notebooks around the house, in my car, and in my office…just in case I need to write something down: a poem, an image, an idea. And the notebooks are filled with all kinds of things, from business ideas to marketing ideas for my clients, from whole poems to a few lines of an image I found interesting, from book ideas to the table of contents for a nonfiction title.    I can’t help myself.
But if I’m going to be addicted to something, it had might as well be writing. These notebooks are used for other things, too, like grocery lists or budgets, a website someone recommended, or a book title. I also keep notes from workshops and classes in these notebooks. At times – often actually – I run across quotes I read in another book or something someone said that I thought was profound. These are tagged with a book title and page number or a person’s name. But since I come up with a lot of short items, too, sometimes they’re my quotes.
And so, when I found, “There is no big dream unless you dream big,” in one of my notebooks, I wasn’t sure where it came from. Honesty has me wanting to attribute the words to someone else’s book, but there was no attribution to the words, no page number written down.
I was going to look it up, but then stopped. Why would I do that? It wouldn’t make the words any more or less true. And who cared? Even if someone else said it first, that doesn’t mean I couldn’t have come up with it as well.
And what is most important is that it’s true.
All this concern over nothing. The saying is what’s important. And it reminded me to dream big. Wish for everything. I’d like to be a best-selling author, of course, but the big dream is to know…really know…that I’ve contributed to the world with all my scratchings, that someone was helped, learned something new, opened to a new viewpoint, and, dare I say, was saved in some small way. That is my big dream.
 Don't forget to get your copy of my newest release, Revision 7: DNA, while it is still 99 cents for the Kindle and Nook! http://amzn.to/Qoz3PH

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Terry Persun writes in many genres, including historical fiction, mainstream, literary, and science fiction/fantasy. His novel, Cathedral of Dreams is a ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year finalist in the science fiction category. His novel Sweet Song just won a Silver IPPY Award, too. His latest novel is, Revision 7: DNA , a sci-fi thriller. Terry’s website is: www.TerryPersun.com or you can find him on Amazon HERE.

Overcoming Writer’s Block

[image error]  First off, let’s get clear about one thing. Whenever I’m asked about writers block, this is what I say: “I don’t believe in writer’s block.” The truth I try to get across is that I’m never out of words, am never with someone when we’re not talking about something, and am almost always (meditation is one exception) thinking something. Writing is putting that stuff down.
I know a lot of people are concerned about getting to a place in their latest novel and not knowing where to go next. At those places, maybe all you need to do is give it a rest, work on something else for a while. Or, maybe explore your character deeper. His or her back story might give you an idea what the character will do next. If we were together, talking about the situation, I could probably come up with any number of things to help out. In fact, my daughter, Nicole just gave a very informative talk on the benefits of writing in multiple formats and genres.
For poets, I have a book for you. I just picked this book up after seeing it at BookExpo America. It’s one of the best books about writing poetry that I’ve read in a long time. It’s called The 6.5 Practices of Moderately Successful Poets . I love the way Jeffrey Skinner makes it so easy for me to learn new things. This list is just a small part of the great stuff he offers in this book.
About overcoming writer’s block:·        Write anyway.If you write in short lines read Whitman and C.K. Williams, then try only writing long lines. If your poetry is generally accessible, try writing poems even you don’t understand. If you write impenetrable poems, then read Mary Oliver and Billy Collins and write something even your Uncle Phil would get. Write in a different genre. Write plays, journalism, creative nonfiction, lyric essays. Write a spec for a new sitcom. Write “conceptual poetry.” (Which you don’t actually have to write, and will delight your academic friends.) Write a letter to your spouse, your boss, a dead relative.  Find a book written in the seventeenth century only you find interesting. Write a series of poems inspired by the book. Write an instruction manual, an obituary, a paper on composition theory. Write an honest tribute to someone you hate. Buy a magazine on ebay from the 1950s and write poems only with words found in the magazine. Write a poem about your worst humiliation. Write something, anything, you KNOW you will not try to publish.

As always, thanks for listening (well, reading) to my rambles. And, whether you’re a poet or not, go out and buy The 6.5 Practices of Moderately Successful Poets . It’s an enjoyable read.
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Terry Persun writes in many genres, including historical fiction, mainstream, literary, and science fiction/fantasy. He owns and operates a PR agency in the Pacific Northwest, and teaches business and creative writing at conferences across the U.S. His latest novel, Cathedral of Dreams is a ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year finalist in the science fiction category. His novel Sweet Song just won a Silver IPPY Award, too. Terry’s website is: www.TerryPersun.com or you can find him on Amazon HERE.