I Guest-Blogged Today
Today I was proud to be the guest blogger at Seriously Reviewed. I talk about the difficulty of getting started and what I do to conquer it. I'm re-posting the blog here. Let me know what YOU do when you get "stuck". Open the link here: http://seriouslyreviewedarchive.blogspot.com/2012/02/samantha-combs.html?showComment=1328331064675#c8366555517035218445 or read below:
I want to write about an unpopular subject in the writingworld…..starting. After you have thefirst book under your belt, you sit back, try to relax and wait for the nextamazing idea to hit you. But before thathappens, I won't lie….it's murder.
I still treat every manuscript the same way I did withthe first. I don't open the Worddocument and stare at a blank page. Noway. That would make me insane. And I don't start in the beginning,either. I realize that might make you insane. But I couldn't, and still can't, force whatwon't come.
You see, I've been a writer my whole life. Oh, yes, I've written notes, and checks andTo-Do lists. I've written addresses andreminders and hate mail to the cable company. I'd even written short little tales for my kids. What I had never done was write a novel. I knew I had one in me, and back then I couldonly think as far as that one. Then oneday my four year old daughter announced she wanted to marry Edward theVampire. Really? A cold-as-ice interloper with abandonmentissues? Hell, no, that was not going tohappen. I decided I needed to give her arole model who was a real man, someone I would be proud if she brought himhome. Someone with heart and valor andcourage. I jotted a few words down, thena couple sentences, and soon, several paragraphs.
As I was enjoying shaping my characters andworld-building, I suddenly realized…..OMG, I was writing a novel! The very idea scared me so much that I closedthe computer and didn't open it again for two weeks. The laptop sat on the couch, blinking it'slights at me in an accusatory manner. Iwould glance at it, longing to be drawn to it, but never quite feeling thepull.
I turned to the one person in my life who would know whatto do. My mum. Not a fellow writer, an editor, or even myhusband, patient as he tried to be with my dark looks across the living room atan innocent piece of technology. "You'renot writing tonight?" he would ask. "No." I would snap, closing the door on further conversation. I was confounded, stymied,misunderstood. What was theproblem? What could help?
My mum knew. Iasked her over the phone if "it" had left me. The elusive urge to create, the need to divine, the absolute requirementto spill my imaginary worlds onto my laptop keyboard. I could hear her laugh over the phone. "You always do this," she said. "You get overwhelmed by the task. Just do the next thing on the list."
She was right, of course. I always over think things. It'sthe curse of the perfectionist, the detailed, the life-long list-maker. And I'm a Scorpio, just to complicate matters. But my mummy's words rang a bell ofunderstanding, of acceptance, even of empowerment. Damn right! I was the writer and I would not let a little story take medown. I hung up the phone and marchedinto the living room. I flipped up thelaptop and told it, "Okay, then. Bringit!" It took me only six weeks afterthat to finish my book.
Next time you are facing the same situation, don't go aslong as I did. When Mum gave me the keyto continue writing, I did. I wrote onechapter at a time. I set tiny, easygoals for myself. Write onechapter. Write 500 words. Write 500 words that aren't edited all tohell the next day. And one moregoal….never force myself. And I alwaysthink of the next scene, the next chapter, the next book, in the exact sameway. Just the next thing on the list.
BIO: SamanthaCombs writes YA and MG and currently has four books available. Her first, Spellbound, a YA paranormal fantasy, has won the Global EbookAward for Speculative Fiction-Fantasy. The follow-up, Book Two, called Everspell, released in January. There will be a third. She has another YA paranormal called Ghostlyand a self-published horror anthology entitled Teeth and Talons. Two more books are scheduled for release in2012, The Detention Demon, a Middle Grade horror, and Waterdancer, a YAfantasy. She is a proud author forAstraea Press and Musa Publishing.Samantha loves to connect with new and aspiring writersand authors. Please visit her blog at www.samanthacombswrites.blogspot.comor her facebook page www.facebook.com/AuthorSamanthaCombs.
I want to write about an unpopular subject in the writingworld…..starting. After you have thefirst book under your belt, you sit back, try to relax and wait for the nextamazing idea to hit you. But before thathappens, I won't lie….it's murder.
I still treat every manuscript the same way I did withthe first. I don't open the Worddocument and stare at a blank page. Noway. That would make me insane. And I don't start in the beginning,either. I realize that might make you insane. But I couldn't, and still can't, force whatwon't come.
You see, I've been a writer my whole life. Oh, yes, I've written notes, and checks andTo-Do lists. I've written addresses andreminders and hate mail to the cable company. I'd even written short little tales for my kids. What I had never done was write a novel. I knew I had one in me, and back then I couldonly think as far as that one. Then oneday my four year old daughter announced she wanted to marry Edward theVampire. Really? A cold-as-ice interloper with abandonmentissues? Hell, no, that was not going tohappen. I decided I needed to give her arole model who was a real man, someone I would be proud if she brought himhome. Someone with heart and valor andcourage. I jotted a few words down, thena couple sentences, and soon, several paragraphs.
As I was enjoying shaping my characters andworld-building, I suddenly realized…..OMG, I was writing a novel! The very idea scared me so much that I closedthe computer and didn't open it again for two weeks. The laptop sat on the couch, blinking it'slights at me in an accusatory manner. Iwould glance at it, longing to be drawn to it, but never quite feeling thepull.
I turned to the one person in my life who would know whatto do. My mum. Not a fellow writer, an editor, or even myhusband, patient as he tried to be with my dark looks across the living room atan innocent piece of technology. "You'renot writing tonight?" he would ask. "No." I would snap, closing the door on further conversation. I was confounded, stymied,misunderstood. What was theproblem? What could help?
My mum knew. Iasked her over the phone if "it" had left me. The elusive urge to create, the need to divine, the absolute requirementto spill my imaginary worlds onto my laptop keyboard. I could hear her laugh over the phone. "You always do this," she said. "You get overwhelmed by the task. Just do the next thing on the list."
She was right, of course. I always over think things. It'sthe curse of the perfectionist, the detailed, the life-long list-maker. And I'm a Scorpio, just to complicate matters. But my mummy's words rang a bell ofunderstanding, of acceptance, even of empowerment. Damn right! I was the writer and I would not let a little story take medown. I hung up the phone and marchedinto the living room. I flipped up thelaptop and told it, "Okay, then. Bringit!" It took me only six weeks afterthat to finish my book.
Next time you are facing the same situation, don't go aslong as I did. When Mum gave me the keyto continue writing, I did. I wrote onechapter at a time. I set tiny, easygoals for myself. Write onechapter. Write 500 words. Write 500 words that aren't edited all tohell the next day. And one moregoal….never force myself. And I alwaysthink of the next scene, the next chapter, the next book, in the exact sameway. Just the next thing on the list.
BIO: SamanthaCombs writes YA and MG and currently has four books available. Her first, Spellbound, a YA paranormal fantasy, has won the Global EbookAward for Speculative Fiction-Fantasy. The follow-up, Book Two, called Everspell, released in January. There will be a third. She has another YA paranormal called Ghostlyand a self-published horror anthology entitled Teeth and Talons. Two more books are scheduled for release in2012, The Detention Demon, a Middle Grade horror, and Waterdancer, a YAfantasy. She is a proud author forAstraea Press and Musa Publishing.Samantha loves to connect with new and aspiring writersand authors. Please visit her blog at www.samanthacombswrites.blogspot.comor her facebook page www.facebook.com/AuthorSamanthaCombs.
No comments have been added yet.
