Daily Inspiration

Prompt: There is a very strange egg in a basket on the neighbor's doorstep.

Suggested Listening: Call Me - Shinedown

Quote: Our destinies lay not in the stars, but ourselves. - Unknown



There is a special throne in heaven for poets who labor in obscurity. The rest of us harbor an unexpressed hope for fame and glory.

You might be tempted to write for a market. You might be tempted to ride the crest of a trend.

That kind of writing is about as stable and fulfilling as day-trading.

Write what moves you. Write what interests you. Write what frightens you. Write what thrills you. Take a cue from the poets, bless their underfunded little hearts. From: The Pocket Muse by Monica Wood.

Daily Inspiration

Prompt: When God made the world, he asked: What's my motivation?

Suggested Listening: The Alice In Wonderland soundtrack - various artists

Quote: We are blessed and sustained by what is not said. - Unknown



Butterflies. No deep, insightful piece of wisdom today, just . . . butterflies.

Daily Inspiration

Prompt: Cookies made with fresh Espresso.

Suggested Listening: Can't Come Quickly - Scissor Sisters

Quote: Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker. - Willy Wonka, the Remake


If you're stuck and have been for more than three days, move on. Leave what you're stuck on and just skip ahead to the next plot point or character conversation. It won't vanish if you don't finish it, I promise, and you can always go back later when you feel you're ready to do it.

An Apology

To all my readers - all two of you that I know about, and all the ones I don't - I am extremely sorry for my week-long radio silence. I wish I could say that I'll be updating very, very soon, but that would be lying and I dislike doing that. I've been working very hard to graduate - going to college is just a little more important to me than keeping regular updates in a blog at the moment.

The crunch is over on Monday, June 14th. Regular, daily posts will resume then.

Keep writing,
Seriah

Daily Inspiration

Prompt: "Well. That was entertaining. Now what's for dinner?"

Suggested Listening: Once Upon A December - from Disney's Anastasia

Quote: Jesters do oft prove prophets. -William Shakespeare



Writing can be hard on the body. Don't forget to get up and stretch, often! While you're stretching, say a prayer, recite a poem, hum a song . . . keep yourself in a meditative state. - From The Pocket Muse by Monica Wood.

Daily Inspiration

Prompt: You're going on a date with somebody you met on the bus on your way to work this morning.

Suggested Listening: Will You Remember - The Cranberries

Quote: How quaint. Somehow, you've managed to delude yourself into thinking that I care about you, when really . . . I don't. - Angeline Devries



Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Cleanliness is also very good for your mind. Today, take all the projects you haven't touched in weeks, put them all into a folder on your desktop (or a three-ring binder if you're working with a pen and paper) and put it away. I think you'll find that once you've got a nice clean, clear space to work with, it'll be easier for you to concentrate on the here and now, as opposed to getting distracted with things from the past.

But don't throw anything away. Who knows? Something might be worth going back to eventually.

Daily Inspiration

Prompt: A macaroni picture of a gruesome murder.

Suggested Listening: Rat In A Cage - Smashing Pumpkins

Quote: People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest. -Hermann Hesse



Description, description, description. The extremes are nothing but, and everything but. The happy medium is just enough. Today, pick one aspect of your least favorite character and apply both extremes to the description. Aim for three or four pages of floral, vapid, disgusting prose about one aspect of this trait, and maybe one sentence on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Once that's done, find the happy medium.

Daily Inspiration

Prompt: "Apparently, my coffee cup is a ninja."

Suggested Listening: Fatal Tragedy - Dream Theatre

Quote: Other things may change us, but we start and end as family. - Unknown




Write a scene that isn't supposed to be read. It may be the antagonist's first act of villany, or the protagonist's last bathroom break before the climax. Take yourself out of your comfort zone for this one scene just to see what happens.

Daily Inspiration

Prompt: "What's the monkey for?"

Suggested Listening: Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles

Quote: Listening to cool music does not make you cool. -Maddox



There's a fine line between devotion and obsession. Don't let your devotion to writing be an obsession - allot yourself a certain amount of time in front of your notebook or keyboard and once that time has passed, don't go back to it until tomorrow. Want to type more? Want to keep writing? Go ahead - but when it becomes a need to continue instead of a desire, give yourself a pat on the back for what you've already done and leave your work where it is.

Again, I promise that it will be there when you get back.

Daily Inspiration

Prompt: "Are you going somewhere, or are suitcases in living room the new "It" thing for decorating?"

Suggested Listening: This Love This Hate - Hollywood Undead

Quote: You either need to get fast enough that I'm not stepping on you, or get out of my way so it isn't an issue. - Yours truly, Seriah




The Mighty. If you've never seen it, you're missing out on something big. It's an inspirational movie about a dim-witted giant of a boy, and a brainiac kid with a degenerative condition who create an amazing symbiotic relationship. There's a line near the very end that every writer should be able to relate to:

He showed me I could read a book, so maybe I could write one too.

Sometimes, in order to keep writing, we need to close the notebook or turn off the computer and go look at what somebody else has written. (Yeah, you can totally cheat with this. "Why, just look at how hard somebody must have worked on the script for this TV show!" ) Just take it easy for a few days and read a good book.