Neil D. Ostroff's Blog, page 15
July 15, 2013
Wow, an agent!
I was recently contacted by a prominent NY literary agency who shall remain nameless at this point, about possible representation. They got wind of me because of my constant promotional efforts and then explored a little deeper into the kinds of books that I write. They have not said they will definitely represent me but want to see more samples of my writing and my future projects.
I am having a tough time trying to decide what to do about this sudden interest in me so I’ve listed the pros and cons of having an agent at this point in the game.
First the pros: It will open me up to a higher level of the industry; also, I may get a large advance (though advances are rapidly disappearing), I can tell all my friends I have a big-time agent… that’s about it. I’m sure there’s more, but that’s the gist if I don’t have to worry about contracts, clauses, and timeframes.
Now the cons of having an agent: I can’t write whatever I want and must adhere to what someone else will think will sell, I can only put out a book a year even if I write more, I have to wait a minimum of two years for a book to go through the publishing process before it even gets on a shelf, (if bookstores still even exist at that point), my royalties will be less than half what I make now, I have to wait for committees and meetings and budget proposals before I even know if my book will be published, it will only be published if the house thinks it will make them money— I’ve had enough!
Although it is as alluring to sign with an agent as it is to eat the forbidden apple, I must confess I think I’m done with the corporate BS for good. When I was signed with FinePrint Lit and then Signature Lit., my agent and I came close to signing a deal so many times my heart just couldn’t take it anymore.
The last straws for me were when one of my middle grade sci-fi novels was rejected, not because the editor didn’t think it was good (he said it was great) but because their marketing department said it wouldn’t appeal to girls age 9-12. Another editor (the VP of Random House Children’s Division) requested and read one of my other YA fantasy books in one night. He got back to my agent the next day praising the book, but said he had no idea how he would get it passed the dozens of hurdles needed to publish when the story was so non-mainstream. He rejected it.
Sitting here, thinking back to those heartbreaking days and thinking about the joy I feel every time I see another one of my books sell on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, or through Smashwords, I just can’t justify signing away my artistic freedom just to boost my ego. I think I’ll stay indie, thank you.
To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING
Click here to read my blog!
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
I am having a tough time trying to decide what to do about this sudden interest in me so I’ve listed the pros and cons of having an agent at this point in the game.
First the pros: It will open me up to a higher level of the industry; also, I may get a large advance (though advances are rapidly disappearing), I can tell all my friends I have a big-time agent… that’s about it. I’m sure there’s more, but that’s the gist if I don’t have to worry about contracts, clauses, and timeframes.
Now the cons of having an agent: I can’t write whatever I want and must adhere to what someone else will think will sell, I can only put out a book a year even if I write more, I have to wait a minimum of two years for a book to go through the publishing process before it even gets on a shelf, (if bookstores still even exist at that point), my royalties will be less than half what I make now, I have to wait for committees and meetings and budget proposals before I even know if my book will be published, it will only be published if the house thinks it will make them money— I’ve had enough!
Although it is as alluring to sign with an agent as it is to eat the forbidden apple, I must confess I think I’m done with the corporate BS for good. When I was signed with FinePrint Lit and then Signature Lit., my agent and I came close to signing a deal so many times my heart just couldn’t take it anymore.
The last straws for me were when one of my middle grade sci-fi novels was rejected, not because the editor didn’t think it was good (he said it was great) but because their marketing department said it wouldn’t appeal to girls age 9-12. Another editor (the VP of Random House Children’s Division) requested and read one of my other YA fantasy books in one night. He got back to my agent the next day praising the book, but said he had no idea how he would get it passed the dozens of hurdles needed to publish when the story was so non-mainstream. He rejected it.
Sitting here, thinking back to those heartbreaking days and thinking about the joy I feel every time I see another one of my books sell on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, or through Smashwords, I just can’t justify signing away my artistic freedom just to boost my ego. I think I’ll stay indie, thank you.
To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING
Click here to read my blog!
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
July 12, 2013
10 – 5 star reviews!
10 – 5 star reviews! Indie Book of the Day award winner! Kindle Nation Daily says it’s “the sleeper hit of the summer!” Kindle Fire Department says “a must read!”
What would you do you if you knew you had a limited amount of life left? Would you freak out? Would you waste it in self-pity and resentment and denial? Or would you go do everything you’ve ever wanted to do?
DROP OUT
Nearly a decade had passed since Nathan stood inside someone’s home, since that terrible September morning when he lost everything he ever loved. Outside, a hurricane sounded like it was beating palm trees against the siding. Nathan didn’t know the sickly woman who’d rescued him from the throes of the epic storm. Her name is Miriam and she is about to change everything he ever thought about the meaning of life and what lies beyond. Nathan discovers the strength of love can piece his shattered world back together and heal wounds that cut deep into his soul. With the clock ticking toward the end of Miriam’s life, he never figured the perils he and this dying woman were about to face by knowing the most horrible knowledge one can know.
DROP OUT is a beautiful tapestry of life, love, and acceptance that is powerful, romantic, and real. You will be touched deeply. Order today.
Kindle-
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FX0K7U
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005FX0K7U
Nook-
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/drop-...
Kobo-
http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Drop-O...
What would you do you if you knew you had a limited amount of life left? Would you freak out? Would you waste it in self-pity and resentment and denial? Or would you go do everything you’ve ever wanted to do?
DROP OUT
Nearly a decade had passed since Nathan stood inside someone’s home, since that terrible September morning when he lost everything he ever loved. Outside, a hurricane sounded like it was beating palm trees against the siding. Nathan didn’t know the sickly woman who’d rescued him from the throes of the epic storm. Her name is Miriam and she is about to change everything he ever thought about the meaning of life and what lies beyond. Nathan discovers the strength of love can piece his shattered world back together and heal wounds that cut deep into his soul. With the clock ticking toward the end of Miriam’s life, he never figured the perils he and this dying woman were about to face by knowing the most horrible knowledge one can know.
DROP OUT is a beautiful tapestry of life, love, and acceptance that is powerful, romantic, and real. You will be touched deeply. Order today.
Kindle-
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FX0K7U
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005FX0K7U
Nook-
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/drop-...
Kobo-
http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Drop-O...
July 10, 2013
No normal morning
I’ve reach that much sought after and elusive milestone of finishing a book. My latest novel (my thirteenth to date) is now complete and awaiting a second read. This new novel took exactly one hundred and twenty-two days from first sentence until the final sentence.
As I sit here on this first day of non-novel writing I find myself feeling quite odd and at a loss of how I should spend my morning. I could market and promote, but that’s usually an afternoon activity done after my mind has already squeezed out the creative juices for the day. I could answer emails. Again, something I usually do later in the day. This lack of focus always happens when I’m not working on a book, a feeling of disconnectedness.
Without a few hours writing and living in my imagination, the day takes on an oddity of unfinishness (artistic license with this word), like not having brushed your teeth in the morning or taking a shower without using soap or shampoo. I had planned on taking the next few weeks to concentrate on promoting my other books but I’m finding it difficult to go even a few hours without working on a story. It seems I’ve forgotten the trick to having a normal morning, an addict without his drug of choice. Very strange feeling.
To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING
Click here to read my blog!
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
As I sit here on this first day of non-novel writing I find myself feeling quite odd and at a loss of how I should spend my morning. I could market and promote, but that’s usually an afternoon activity done after my mind has already squeezed out the creative juices for the day. I could answer emails. Again, something I usually do later in the day. This lack of focus always happens when I’m not working on a book, a feeling of disconnectedness.
Without a few hours writing and living in my imagination, the day takes on an oddity of unfinishness (artistic license with this word), like not having brushed your teeth in the morning or taking a shower without using soap or shampoo. I had planned on taking the next few weeks to concentrate on promoting my other books but I’m finding it difficult to go even a few hours without working on a story. It seems I’ve forgotten the trick to having a normal morning, an addict without his drug of choice. Very strange feeling.
To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING
Click here to read my blog!
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
July 8, 2013
Seize the day!
Ebooks have surpassed regular books in sales for the first time ever! What does that mean to the 21st century writer? It means that the future of publishing is here! It means that the stigma of reading ebooks has passed. It means a world-wide audience can download a book in seconds. It also means we will probably soon be seeing the end of traditional bookstores.
Though it has been a lifelong dream of mine to see the cover of one of my books prominently displayed on a Barnes and Noble new release shelf, I’ll gladly trade that dream for achieving thousands of sales across the globe (which I have accomplished in the last two years). However, there are some artistic drawbacks to this new digital revolution. The most significant I believe is that an author cannot sign a hardcopy of his book and personalize it for a fan.
Book signings of hard copies and author appearances may eventually disappear altogether. Author headshots on the back cover and biographical information have been easily replaced by author pages and social media pages. Authors will become recognizable faces and readers will know daily what the writer is up too, what new drafts they’re working on and so on.
I once considered myself an introvert and dreaded the one-on-one marketing and promotion it used to take to sell a book, I now welcome and embrace readers wanting to know more about me. I happily spend hours each morning personally answering all email and loving it.
Ebooks are the future of reading entertainment and I am excited to be a part of this new author revolution in publishing. It inspires me to write “outside the box” and create characters and storylines far from the mainstream without fear of what a publisher would think is WORTHY of being given a chance to show the public. It allows me to be more creative in ways that were never acceptable before.
Without ebooks and the new acceptance of indie writers, 15,000 of my books that have so far been downloaded would never have gotten into the hands of readers. Write whatever kind of story you want, get a good editor, get a good cover artist, and publish away. Let the public decide if you’ve got talent, not some corporate necktie-wearer who’s more worried about making his sales numbers than the story you’ve got to tell.
To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING
Click here to read my blog!
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
Though it has been a lifelong dream of mine to see the cover of one of my books prominently displayed on a Barnes and Noble new release shelf, I’ll gladly trade that dream for achieving thousands of sales across the globe (which I have accomplished in the last two years). However, there are some artistic drawbacks to this new digital revolution. The most significant I believe is that an author cannot sign a hardcopy of his book and personalize it for a fan.
Book signings of hard copies and author appearances may eventually disappear altogether. Author headshots on the back cover and biographical information have been easily replaced by author pages and social media pages. Authors will become recognizable faces and readers will know daily what the writer is up too, what new drafts they’re working on and so on.
I once considered myself an introvert and dreaded the one-on-one marketing and promotion it used to take to sell a book, I now welcome and embrace readers wanting to know more about me. I happily spend hours each morning personally answering all email and loving it.
Ebooks are the future of reading entertainment and I am excited to be a part of this new author revolution in publishing. It inspires me to write “outside the box” and create characters and storylines far from the mainstream without fear of what a publisher would think is WORTHY of being given a chance to show the public. It allows me to be more creative in ways that were never acceptable before.
Without ebooks and the new acceptance of indie writers, 15,000 of my books that have so far been downloaded would never have gotten into the hands of readers. Write whatever kind of story you want, get a good editor, get a good cover artist, and publish away. Let the public decide if you’ve got talent, not some corporate necktie-wearer who’s more worried about making his sales numbers than the story you’ve got to tell.
To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING
Click here to read my blog!
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
July 2, 2013
Why do it?
Being a writer means experiencing dizzying highs and terrifying lows as a novel transforms from mere idea bubbling in the brain into reality on the page. There are times when you believe that everything you’ve written is total crap and there are times when a character reveals something or does something that you hadn’t expected and you find yourself on this emotional high. This emotional high is also true when it comes to sales.
I’m obsessed with checking my sales numbers so my emotions can swing greatly from one day to the next (sometimes hourly if I have a day with an excessive amount of free time to constantly check). Today is a good day however, even if I end up having no sales. Why? Because I just received my largest payment yet from KDP. It isn’t just the amount that excites me it’s the fact that I’m only receiving about sixty-fives cents a book in royalties. This means that several hundred people have purchased copies this month, which for me, is the reason I write.
Sure, I’m happy for a big check, but I think for many artists and musicians having an audience for your work is as soul-satisfying as hitting it big. If I never write another word, I’ll always be happy in the knowledge that all the time I’ve spent alone writing has been worth it. I wish I could appropriately express how it feels to not only entertain readers with stories that I love telling, but for readers to think highly enough of my work to shell out their hard earned cash to retain a copy for themselves. But alas, it is an experience unique to each individual artist.
Thanks to all my readers for making this possible.
To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING. Click here to read my blog!
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
I’m obsessed with checking my sales numbers so my emotions can swing greatly from one day to the next (sometimes hourly if I have a day with an excessive amount of free time to constantly check). Today is a good day however, even if I end up having no sales. Why? Because I just received my largest payment yet from KDP. It isn’t just the amount that excites me it’s the fact that I’m only receiving about sixty-fives cents a book in royalties. This means that several hundred people have purchased copies this month, which for me, is the reason I write.
Sure, I’m happy for a big check, but I think for many artists and musicians having an audience for your work is as soul-satisfying as hitting it big. If I never write another word, I’ll always be happy in the knowledge that all the time I’ve spent alone writing has been worth it. I wish I could appropriately express how it feels to not only entertain readers with stories that I love telling, but for readers to think highly enough of my work to shell out their hard earned cash to retain a copy for themselves. But alas, it is an experience unique to each individual artist.
Thanks to all my readers for making this possible.
To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING. Click here to read my blog!
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
June 30, 2013
Will the author go extinct?
I’ve been contemplating the future of the author in today’s high technology society. What will become of us and the books we write? Will the paperback go the way of the compact disk and disappear forever? Will publishing houses dissolve into nonexistence the way most record labels have? Will a paperback book become a rare object of antique art? I don’t know. But one thing I do know is that there will always be authors and there will always be stories.
What is uncertain is what medium will sell those stories? Something we can all agree upon is that ebooks will replace traditional books to a large degree. People will carry libraries of their favorites in nearly weightless ereaders the size of a sheet of paper or less. We all know how easy it is to pirate a book and place it for free all over the internet. So, how will an author make money?
As I see it, the traditional book industry of buying through a bookstore will soon become ancient history. An author will become writer, publisher, and marketer of their works (a lot of us already are). There will be no middleman between author and reader which opens a whole new world of getting the author noticed. Blogs and websites will allow fans direct access to their favorites which will generate a much closer bond between storyteller and reader.
I see a new kind of literary relationship evolving in which the populous will decide what they want to read by their own selection and not just books pre-approved, stripped down, and ground out from the corporate publishing paper mill. I find it exciting to think that any one of my fans can literally reach out electronically and ask me a question or just send a little note. I can read it and respond as if we’d known each other for years on a personal level. It is this inter-connectivity that will sell books in the future; by word-of-mouth.
To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING
Click here to read my blog!
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
What is uncertain is what medium will sell those stories? Something we can all agree upon is that ebooks will replace traditional books to a large degree. People will carry libraries of their favorites in nearly weightless ereaders the size of a sheet of paper or less. We all know how easy it is to pirate a book and place it for free all over the internet. So, how will an author make money?
As I see it, the traditional book industry of buying through a bookstore will soon become ancient history. An author will become writer, publisher, and marketer of their works (a lot of us already are). There will be no middleman between author and reader which opens a whole new world of getting the author noticed. Blogs and websites will allow fans direct access to their favorites which will generate a much closer bond between storyteller and reader.
I see a new kind of literary relationship evolving in which the populous will decide what they want to read by their own selection and not just books pre-approved, stripped down, and ground out from the corporate publishing paper mill. I find it exciting to think that any one of my fans can literally reach out electronically and ask me a question or just send a little note. I can read it and respond as if we’d known each other for years on a personal level. It is this inter-connectivity that will sell books in the future; by word-of-mouth.
To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING
Click here to read my blog!
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
June 26, 2013
No promises
Nobody said it would be easy. Nobody said it was always going to be fun. Nobody promised me that after spending twenty-plus years holed up in my office writing novels that anyone would ever read them. Nobody promised me anything would ever come of my writing, and yet I still do it.
Day after day, year after year, I sit in front of this keyboard and tap out characters and worlds bubbling inside my brain. To date, I think I have more than sixty unique, fully-fleshed characters in all twelve of my novels. I’ve been to other planets, experienced other dimensions, felt unimaginable loss, murdered, loved, hated, been promiscuous; I’ve done just about everything I’ve always wanted to do without ever leaving this room. And yet, nobody ever promised me that anything would ever come of this hobby.
Did I ever think of giving up? If you’re a real writer than the answer is of course, most certainly not! It’s not even possible to stop. Telling a writer to give up the craft is like telling a person with the most cataclysmic bout of diarrhea to stop pooping (thank you Stephen King for that analogy). There is no giving up and there is no stopping an artist with the drive to create.
If the digital revolution had never happened and I never had made a dime off my books would I still be spending hour after hour day after day in front of my keyboard? Writing is a habit I can’t stop and I don’t know any other way to live my life. For more than two decades I have not given up and have not stopped writing and as a result in the last two years I’ve sold thousands of copies in five countries. Sample and free promo copies have been downloaded more than 25,000 times.
Funny thing is, none of this would have ever happen if I had just taken the easy route and given up. Never! Nobody ever promised me this would be easy.
To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING
Click here to read my blog!
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
Day after day, year after year, I sit in front of this keyboard and tap out characters and worlds bubbling inside my brain. To date, I think I have more than sixty unique, fully-fleshed characters in all twelve of my novels. I’ve been to other planets, experienced other dimensions, felt unimaginable loss, murdered, loved, hated, been promiscuous; I’ve done just about everything I’ve always wanted to do without ever leaving this room. And yet, nobody ever promised me that anything would ever come of this hobby.
Did I ever think of giving up? If you’re a real writer than the answer is of course, most certainly not! It’s not even possible to stop. Telling a writer to give up the craft is like telling a person with the most cataclysmic bout of diarrhea to stop pooping (thank you Stephen King for that analogy). There is no giving up and there is no stopping an artist with the drive to create.
If the digital revolution had never happened and I never had made a dime off my books would I still be spending hour after hour day after day in front of my keyboard? Writing is a habit I can’t stop and I don’t know any other way to live my life. For more than two decades I have not given up and have not stopped writing and as a result in the last two years I’ve sold thousands of copies in five countries. Sample and free promo copies have been downloaded more than 25,000 times.
Funny thing is, none of this would have ever happen if I had just taken the easy route and given up. Never! Nobody ever promised me this would be easy.
To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING
Click here to read my blog!
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
June 23, 2013
The magic of imagination
I’m often asked by media and friends how do I create my characters? At last count I have somewhere in the neighborhood of seventy-five to eighty spread over my nine published and three unpublished books. These characters have histories and vivid personalities. Some are absolutely terrifying, some are adventurous, and some are tragic, yet beautiful. All of my characters have one thing in common. They are not modeled after any single person I know.
I can’t say that one certain character has more of someone real than another character. My characters are a conglomeration of people I’ve known and associated with over the course of my life. This always perplexes my friends who often tell me that a certain character is just like them in every way. I think they are hoping their personality will be immortalized in story form and somehow that gives them recognition.
I’ve even had an old girlfriend get angry with me because she thought a character in one of my novels was too much like her. I had to assure my ex that the psycho girlfriend in my novel was not based on her, but on at least eight different people, most of whom I went to college with. I’m not certain if she believed me or not even though it’s the truth.
When I write I transform into and become my characters. I become the clairvoyant prostitute or the daring young man fighting an alien insect invasion. I am the disfigured 9/11 hero or the dignified young woman dying of cancer. I immerse myself in those worlds and live in the fantasy. It would be hard for me to pretend to be someone I know as a person, if that makes any sense.
To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING
Click here to read my blog!
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
I can’t say that one certain character has more of someone real than another character. My characters are a conglomeration of people I’ve known and associated with over the course of my life. This always perplexes my friends who often tell me that a certain character is just like them in every way. I think they are hoping their personality will be immortalized in story form and somehow that gives them recognition.
I’ve even had an old girlfriend get angry with me because she thought a character in one of my novels was too much like her. I had to assure my ex that the psycho girlfriend in my novel was not based on her, but on at least eight different people, most of whom I went to college with. I’m not certain if she believed me or not even though it’s the truth.
When I write I transform into and become my characters. I become the clairvoyant prostitute or the daring young man fighting an alien insect invasion. I am the disfigured 9/11 hero or the dignified young woman dying of cancer. I immerse myself in those worlds and live in the fantasy. It would be hard for me to pretend to be someone I know as a person, if that makes any sense.
To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING
Click here to read my blog!
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
June 20, 2013
Engrossing summer read
Want to read something that may change your life? Check out what Kindle Nation Daily called “the next great sleeper hit”. Read the reviews and then decide. Thank you.
Power was out. Flickering strawberry-scented candles lit the room. Nearly a decade had passed since Nathan stood inside someone’s home, since that terrible September morning when he lost everything he ever loved. Outside, a hurricane sounded like it was beating palm trees against the siding. Nathan didn’t know the sickly woman who’d rescued him from the throes of the epic storm. Her name is Miriam and she is about to change everything he ever thought about the meaning of life and what lies beyond. Nathan discovers the strength of love can piece his shattered world back together and heal wounds that cut deep into his soul. With the clock ticking toward the end of Miriam’s life, he never figured the perils he and this dying woman were about to face by knowing the most horrible knowledge one can know.
DROP OUT is a beautiful tapestry of life, love, and acceptance that is powerful, romantic, and real. You will be touched deeply. Order today.
Click here to buy.
Kindle-
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FX0K7U
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005FX0K7U
Nook-
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/drop-...
kobo-
http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Drop-O...
Power was out. Flickering strawberry-scented candles lit the room. Nearly a decade had passed since Nathan stood inside someone’s home, since that terrible September morning when he lost everything he ever loved. Outside, a hurricane sounded like it was beating palm trees against the siding. Nathan didn’t know the sickly woman who’d rescued him from the throes of the epic storm. Her name is Miriam and she is about to change everything he ever thought about the meaning of life and what lies beyond. Nathan discovers the strength of love can piece his shattered world back together and heal wounds that cut deep into his soul. With the clock ticking toward the end of Miriam’s life, he never figured the perils he and this dying woman were about to face by knowing the most horrible knowledge one can know.
DROP OUT is a beautiful tapestry of life, love, and acceptance that is powerful, romantic, and real. You will be touched deeply. Order today.
Click here to buy.
Kindle-
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FX0K7U
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005FX0K7U
Nook-
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/drop-...
kobo-
http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Drop-O...
June 19, 2013
Writer’s zone
When I start to really get into writing a story I go into what I call a ‘writer’s zone’ where all distractions are muted. Time slips away and my surroundings blur into the images in my mind. This is creating something from nothing at its finest.
There is no television show or video game that can compare to playing with characters and scenes inside my own mind. There is no illicit drug or alcoholic drink that can take me to the places my imagination can. The writer’s zone is a place all for myself.
Sometimes I regret that I cannot share the zone with anyone else. My wife doesn’t understand why I sometimes get miffed when she calls me out of the office for such trivial matters as taking out the trash or catching an errant fly buzzing the kitchen sink. My biggest problem is once that bubble of solitary thought is burst it’s very hard to re-inflate it.
My wife doesn’t understand that the stinky trash may have just disrupted the deeply spiritual connection between Nathan and Miriam in DROP OUT or allowed Tommy Fielding to murder another innocent victim in DEGENERATES (had to get some plugs in here somewhere). I’ve heard athletes talk of the zone, but that’s a physical dimension. For me, the zone is purely mental.
Right now, I feel the tingly beginnings of the zone coming on and a writing session will soon follow. I already checked that the trash cans were empty and no insects have stowed away in the kitchen corner in predatory wait for a forgotten morsel, so I’m good to go.
To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING
Click here to read my blog!
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
There is no television show or video game that can compare to playing with characters and scenes inside my own mind. There is no illicit drug or alcoholic drink that can take me to the places my imagination can. The writer’s zone is a place all for myself.
Sometimes I regret that I cannot share the zone with anyone else. My wife doesn’t understand why I sometimes get miffed when she calls me out of the office for such trivial matters as taking out the trash or catching an errant fly buzzing the kitchen sink. My biggest problem is once that bubble of solitary thought is burst it’s very hard to re-inflate it.
My wife doesn’t understand that the stinky trash may have just disrupted the deeply spiritual connection between Nathan and Miriam in DROP OUT or allowed Tommy Fielding to murder another innocent victim in DEGENERATES (had to get some plugs in here somewhere). I’ve heard athletes talk of the zone, but that’s a physical dimension. For me, the zone is purely mental.
Right now, I feel the tingly beginnings of the zone coming on and a writing session will soon follow. I already checked that the trash cans were empty and no insects have stowed away in the kitchen corner in predatory wait for a forgotten morsel, so I’m good to go.
To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING
Click here to read my blog!
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
