Kelley Grant, Unabashedly Fantastic
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 What if your novel is stalled blog post

5/4/2015

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So, for some reason only one of the guest blog posts I did got posted - over and over on three different blogs! No idea how that happened, but I'll post here what I was going to guest post on my blog tour!

This post was written for the I'm Shelfish blog.
Three things to ask if your novel is stalled.

I often hear “I’ve been writing a novel for decades. Somehow I just got stuck and can’t finish it. What is the key?”

Some writers have dozens of novel beginnings that they never finish. These writers lose focus, or did not have a clear focus to begin with. Then the writing becomes difficult, right about the middle, and they abandon the novel, waiting until they unlock the secret of finishing. But the key to that middle ground is really simple – keep going.

But you’re stuck, right? It isn’t fun any more. You’d rather watch NCIS than stare at a blank screen, as your insecurities rise up. I get that. I’ve been there with every one of the novels I’ve written. Here are some things to ask yourself when stuck.

Do you have a clear idea of how the book ends? Often, the direction isn’t clear. I tend to be a “pantser” instead of an outliner. But once I get stuck, I have to plot and plan to find where the plot is going. I have to settle on a vague ending. It will probably change as the writing picks up again. But clarifying your end, knowing where the plot is heading, will spur imagination. It gives you a dot to connect your wonderful beginning to. The brain likes to connect things – it will imagine the possibilities in between those dots and creativity will follow.

Are you sitting down to write on consecutive days? Related - Are you sitting down at the right time for you? Writing on consecutive days spurs creativity. The first day is for fidgeting and despair (nothing will come!) and writing descriptions of what to write when inspiration strikes. The second is for writing the novel itself. Days 3-6 are when I hit my stride. Some writers sit everyday, but I find I need a day or two off occasionally for the creative well to refill. Also, think about the time of day you sit down to write. You may feel the only time is after the workday, in the evening. But if you are a morning person, it might be best for your imagination to get up early. Or during a noon lunch break. No specific time will be best for every person.  Simply changing what time you write could give you the breakthrough you need.

Are you editing too much as you write? Or not enough? Every writer has a different style of getting the words to paper. You need to find what keeps yours moving. Natalie Goldberg advises to put pen to paper, and never look back at what you are writing – just keep moving. Others outline completely and edit as they go, their imagination spurred more by organization than intuition.  Outlines stifle my writing, but writing by keeping the hand moving ends up in a jumbled mess of thoughts rather than a novel. So I find a happy medium. I write until I am done for the day. The next day I read over what I wrote the day before, make edits, and then continue the story. This reminds me of what I was excited about yesterday so I can move forward, but gives me enough structure to get a good first draft. Perfectionism can stifle your imagination; but sloppy organization can create novel-killing frustration.

Writing consistently is about knowing where your sweet spot is. Once you understand where your story is going, sit down consistently at the time that is right for you and get your level of structure – you will conquer the dreaded middle to finally finish your novel.

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Blog Tour and Guest posts

4/15/2015

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I've been asked to do some guest posts as a part of a blog tour. I've learned that sometimes they appear on the blog, sometimes they don't. If you missed a guest post on the tour, I'll also be posting it here, never fear! 
Curling Up with a Good Book is featuring Desert Rising today, April 15h. This is the guest post I wrote for them.


 I’m often asked how do you get inspired? How does a fantasy writer find all that crazy imaginary stuff to put down on paper? And – how do you deal with writer’s block? I can’t respond for any writer but myself because every brain, every imagination is different.

But for me, both answers are a type of focused daydream. That’s right, the thing teachers and parents told you to stop doing. Daydreaming and staring off into space are the most important things I can do to avoid writer’s block. I don’t even really get writer’s block – it just means that I haven’t taken enough time to imagine the scenes that need to be written and run them through in my moving picture mind in detail before sitting down to write. I am a visual person, so I need to run the “moving picture” of my scenes through my imagination before writing them down.

 Today I was feeling “blocked” so I did what works best for me. I went for a walk by myself. My shaggy black pooch Sherlock gazed at his leash, then me, reproachfully, but I closed the door on him and left so I could unfocus and dream.

And here is where being a yoga teacher and learning meditation has aided me in writing. As I was walking to our local park, my brain started rummaging through the rubbish bin. Yoga teaching problems, class reunions, bills, all started running though my mind, with the accompanying imaginary conversations. I have had billions of conversation with people that never actually occurred in real life. And I have won all of them. Unlike meditation, where the goal is to completely quiet the mind – I used the same principles of breath and redirection to make my thoughts focused, one-pointed.
 

“Did you call Mom? Did you pay the bills?” my brain moaned.
I whispered back “Sulis, in the desert. Let’s go there right now.”
"Classes, should I do yoga workshops?" it whimpered.
"What's the Crone doing these days?" I asked it.

They call that constant chatter of voices in the brain “monkey-mind” in Buddhism - the way the mind jumps from subject to subject. Training the monkey to hold still is the goal of classical yoga and meditation. Gently guiding it again and again to where you need it to go is an achievement.

On this day, it took about a mile. Right about the time I usually circle back, I had a huge revelation that will set up the third novel. So I kept walking. And then another, so I turned another block.  I’m certain the people I passed thought I was nuts as I whispered to myself and gestured. 

 “Sulis isn’t going to like that,” I shook my head, and turned towards home. It was time to write, to at least get this cascade of imaginings down in a few memory jostling paragraphs before they disappeared completely.

And that’s it. No magic really. Just a constant juxtaposition of unfocused gaze turning to focused typing, of the spaciness it takes to create turning to the focus needed to actually get it all down.

This is my blog tour schedule:

April 13 featured at 3 Partners in Shopping
April 15 Guest blogging Curling Up With a Good Book
April 16
Book featured at Confessions of a Reader Book reviewed at Forever Lost in Other Words
April 17
Book featured at Romance for Every World
April 19th  Barren Island Books interview
April 20
Interview at Qwillery, Book featured at Chosen By You Book Club,
             Book reviewed at A Novel Kind of Bliss
April 21
Interviewed at Examiner,
Guest blogging at Bibliophilia, Please 
April 22 Book excerpt at Reader Girls
April 23
Book excerpt at Review From Here
April 24
Book featured at Lover of Literature April 27 Interviewed at Literal Exposure
April 28
Guest blogging at I’m Shelf-ish
April 29
Book featured at Bent Over Bookwords
April 30
Guest blogging at The Revolving Bookshelf

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    I am a writer, with a three book contract with HarperCollins Voyager Impulse for my Desert Rising Fantasy novel series.  I also teach yoga and give yoga workshops and sing kirtan with my husband, Brian.

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