P.A. Pursley's Blog, page 2

Letting Go

As a writer, I live with many characters in my head waiting to be written about. As each one is complete and their story told, they kind of ride off into the sunset, or more like moonlight with what I write about.

It is almost heartbreaking.

I can keep the storyline straight in my head but I keep a dry erase board with all my characters names, who they are, who they are related to, and their specific place in the book. Since my second book is done and currently being printed, I must clear the dry erase board.

It is kind of sad because I have lived with these characters for over a year and now I will not be looking at their names every day.

I can't imagine what Stephanie Meyer and J.K. Rowling went through putting away their characters they have lived with for so long. It must have been very rewarding watching them come to life on the silver screen.

So I say good-bye to Alex and Gabby Jernigan, Daniel Post, Jayden Roberts, Detective Bill Hawkins, and Benjamin Parker.

Maybe we will meet again.

The Importance of Being Musical

Nano is almost upon us so I found myself last week going through my iTunes music and youtube looking for music to add to my book-writing playlist.

Last year I wrote my book to Duran Duran's new album "All You Need Is Now" which was the perfect music for that book.

This year Imagine Dragons' "Night Visions" album will provide more than one song, however, I added a lot of other music to my book-writing playlist. These include:

Linkin Park...Castle of Glass
Imagine Dragons...Demons
Puddle of Mudd...Blurry
Hinder...Better Than Me
Seether...Broken
Blue October...Hate Me
Thirty Seconds to Mars...The Kill
Crossfade...Killing Me Inside
Fuel...Hemorrhage
Imagine Dragons...Radioactive
Trapt...Headstrong
Breaking Benjamin...I Will Not Bow
Sick Puppies...You're Going Down (Radio version)
3 Doors Down...Kryptonite
Panic! At the Disco...This is Gospel
Green Day...Boulevard of Broken Dreams
The Fray...You Found Me
Hoobastank...The Reason
Imagine Dragons...On Top of the World

I don't know if I could live my life without music. It plays a very important part in my life. I can remember exactly where I was when I first heard certain songs. It brings deeper meaning to my life and my writing.

Very excited about NaNoWriMo!

Thanks to my daughter Christy for introducing me to NaNo!

Write On!

Space and Time Travel

My daughters and I went to the Friends of the Library book sale. This has become a bi-annual thing for us. We love leafing through all the donated books. Sometimes we find old classics, new releases, and sometimes even an old forgotten book that we read as children.

I already had my loaned canvas bag filled with books for myself and others when I strolled over to the children's books. I picked up several for my grandchildren. I was about to call it a day when my eyes fell upon "The Forgotten Door" by Alexander Key. It was the old 1968 book cover of a boy falling through a door in his planet into space. I was instantly transported back in time when I first saw this book when I was 9-years-old. The cover intrigued me and I gobbled up the words on the pages like Cookie Monster with his cookies.

I added the old book to my stack of newer published children's books in my hand without a second thought. And since I had not read it since I was 9...I proceeded to open the book and read the words to my husband from the old yellowing pages.

I felt like I was 9-year-old again not wanting to put it down. It is bliss!

On my FB today I asked the question...What makes you feel wonderful? Diving into the pages of a good book and letting it take me away to lands created by the imagination of a writer. That feels wonderful!

I feel proud to be among those millions of authors who take their thoughts and put them on paper so that millions of others can read them and get lost in the lands I created.

That feels wonderful!

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/forgo...

Things of the Flesh

If you think that this is the title of my next book...you are right!

I have submitted it to the publisher, Westbow Press, for review. I have picked out my book cover, written my author bio, synopsis of the book, and everything else that goes along with self-publishing a book!

So excited! I really love this book and hope everyone loves it, too!

Thank you to everyone who has supported me and have patiently waited for the next one. You don't know how much those few who have waited for it, helped me to get it done!

I Don't Think So...

I just read an interview with Neil Gaiman in July/August's issue of Poets & Writers. He spoke about being able to write what he wants. He said in all his time as a journalist he had the chance to interview many writers. He found it sad that some of the writers were not writing what they wanted but what the public, and their publishers, expected. Neil Gaiman was offered a huge contract if he would only write more of a certain kind of book. He turned them down. He wanted to keep the freedom he has of writing what he wants.

I thought his words were interesting, and I could see how writers could be taken in at the thought of a book deal. But them I pushed aside the thought and went about my daily life.

My new book is in the editing process. One of the dear English teachers at church offered to edit it after reading the horrible job I did on my first book. After the editing was done she wrote a summary of her overall thoughts. She made suggestions, and offered some constructive comments.

What caught me by surprise was that she said to "use your template to write multiple books that are based in different settings." So after reading Neil Gaiman's interview, here I am reading a suggestion that I create an outline and stick to it? Have a formula and stick with it? Write the same story, different characters? Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the work she did for me on my book, and believe me it was tons of work. But the last thing I want to do is be a "same character, different movie" kind of writer.

I want to be like Neil Gaiman, writing what I want because it is the story that speaks to me. Writing the stories that speak to different people. Isn't that what being creative is?

I write because I like to write, because I feel the need to write. I don't write to make tons of money, or to be the next Stephen King, or be well known. I write to pass onto my children and grandchildren, and hopefully those who need to know God, what is inside of me.

So thanks, but no thanks.

Be the kind of writer you want other aspiring writers to look at and say, "I want to write just like that."

Maybe Not...

My daughter and I went to see Neil Gaiman at the Majestic Theater in Dallas on Monday, June 24th in his last book signing tour! It was an experience! We got there at 5:30pm and left at 1am! Most of that was wait time. But it did give us a chance to get caught up on all our girl/writer-talk AND we got to see one of my favorite (and now one of my daughter's favorite) authors. The wait time also gave us a chance to think about what we were going to say to this man who we have been waiting to see for years. What do you say? "How do you get your hair to do that?" "How much hair product do you use?" "Were you born with that hair or does it take hours to get it to look like that?" Okay...I am fascinated by his hair!

I wanted to write a post about him and how he was a struggling artist like most of us, but...well, bad example. He was a published writer at 24 years old! He has written magazine articles, comics, graphic novels, books, novellas, short stories, biographies, fiction, and who knows what else! The man is a genius and he knew it early on!

So maybe he isn't the best example of what us older writers are going through but he does know the struggle of living with characters in your head, and as we all know, that in itself can be daunting!

The message remains the same...Keep writing! Don't give up! You're never too old! Hang in there!

Take your pick up what words motivate you and hang onto them. The words you write may very well be the words someone else clings to!

Leap of Faith!

So my goal was to self-publish all my books. I mean that is what God told me to do so I did. My first one is done and I am currently working on the next one in the series.

One of the ladies at church who is also an English teacher offered to edit my books. I accepted her offer and gave her the first six chapters last Sunday. She told me to send them in to publishers. She encouraged me and complimented me and I told her I would pray about it. So I did.

And out of the mouth of one of the most unlikely persons in my life came words of encouragement! Now usually the words from this person's mouth are discouraging or neutral. Those types of words like "it's up to you" or "that is your decision." Some of the more discouraging ones were "you can't do that" and "do you know how hard that is?"

But when I told this person this time that I was thinking about submitting my work to publishers and that I will get 5000 rejections before I get accepted, this person said, "then you better get it out there and get those 5000 rejections out of the way so you can get to that one who wants it."

Needless to say I was floored! It was God speaking through this person and I am so ready to listen!

So now I will be submitting some of my work to publishers and I will be picked up at some point in time. Don't know when but if God is for me who can be against me!

We Notice!

One of my favorite authors is Neil Gaiman! He is a genius! Neil Gaiman said,
"You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we're doing it."

After my husband and I did our weekly grocery shopping yesterday, we noticed our dog was walking on only three legs. She has all four. She had her back left leg pulled up and would not put any weight on it.

So we took her to the ER this morning and they found that she had a broken toe. How that happened, we don't know.

But we were sitting in the pet hospital and I was thinking, "well, I now have this experience I can put in one of my books."

Every time I have a new experience I think about where I am going to add it in one of my books. I need to start keeping a journal strictly for new experiences to that I don't forget them and can use them.

Neil Gaiman is right, "we notice when we're doing it."

Do I Dare?

When I was young and first read Edgar Allan Poe I was enamored with his work. I believe it was the fact that he was a tortured soul that I both loved and associated myself with him.

I just finished watching The Raven with John Cusack and I would give it three thumbs up if I had an extra hand! It was amazing and I am once again in awe at both the genius and pain of Poe.

Poe was a writer! (In case you didn't know that.) He wrote stories and poems and had an imagination that far exceeded other writers of his day.

What I can't wrap my head around is that I am a writer too! And not just that but that the same gift God gave to Poe, He gave to me! Both Edgar Allan Poe and I are writers!

Granted I am no where in the same league as Poe. As a matter of fact, I told my husband that if you said, "Poe is a genius and Pursley is a hack!" I would smile and thank you for just using both our names in the same sentence!

I don't dare compare myself to Poe. But I am proud to realize that in the most basic sense of the word we are both writers!

Another First...

A couple of weeks ago the ladies book club at church ready my book for the month of February. They met and talked about it and asked me to be their guest speaker. It was humbling knowing most of the ladies there had read my book and most had enjoyed it.

One woman said she started it and couldn't finish it. She couldn't get into the characters. She apologized and I felt bad for her, not because she didn't like the book but that she felt the need to apologize.

As an artist not everyone will "get" your work. I know that and I am bracing myself for that first negative review. I am waiting for the hit that will inevitably come. The one that tells me my book isn't worth the pages it is written on or that I am crazy or don't know what I'm talking about.

But this woman's view was not it. She simply didn't care for the book. That is fine! It's not for everyone. It is a strange book. I know that. It's not Twilight or The Hunger Games or The Princess Diaries. I understand that.

I wished I could have said something to help her understand more of what the characters meant to me but if you don't like the book, no amount of talking is going to make you like it. That is one of the great things about being an artist. Some people you will touch deeply and change their life forever. Some will take it in stride. Others will throw it on the trash heap. Whatever you do with the book the point is...you read it. That is what's important to an artist, is that you took the art, examined it and took the time to praise it or bash it.

The worst thing you could do to an artist's work is walk by it and not give it a second look.