Artistry With Words

Happy May 5th to you all!  I hope this finds you happy and sassy, I hope this week produces the perfectly-written article you’ve always dreamed about.

I’m twenty-thousand words into my new book, “Shadows Over Innocence,” and I have to tell you, when writing a series, the second book, for me, is infinitely easier than the first.  For one thing, the main characters have already been developed in the first book, but more than that, in the second book, you have a better feel for the main characters.  You understand better how they would handle certain situations, and their voice develops over time.  I just find the second one infinitely easier to write than the first.

And, of course, I’m still sending out query letters to agents and publishers for the first in this series.  I’ll do this for a year. If I don’t find an agent in that time, I’ll self-publish both novels, print up some copies through CreateSpace, and go hit the road marketing them myself.

In other words, life moves forward.

Usually, on Mondays, I write my articles for the week for HubPages.  Today I came up empty.  I finished one that I had worked on earlier, but nothing new came to me.  Zero!  The muse would not respond when I called her.  In fact, she yawned at me and turned her head…towards the novel.  So I listened to her.  I worked today on the novel and I will maybe, or maybe not, have more articles this week for HP.

That’s just the way it goes for this writer.  I don’t force it.  If it’s not there it’s not there, and I never want to be accused of publishing writing that looks like I was just meeting some quota.  I want it to be of high quality or I won’t publish it.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”

Steve Jobs
Truer words were never written!

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

I have talked to countless students over the years about this topic.  Do great work.  Work at what you love.  Don’t settle for less!

My father worked, after the war, at a sand & gravel pit.  He worked there for twenty years.  He worked hard.  He hated the job, but it was a job and he had a family to support.

He died three days before his fiftieth birthday.

I admired my father greatly, but I gotta tell ya, I can’t imagine working a job I hated for twenty years.  It’s just not in my DNA, and I’ve got a lifetime of experiences to prove it.  I quit a full-time teaching gig that paid $60,000 to become a freelance writer.  My first year of writing I made $16,000, and I loved every minute of it.

For this boy, money does not buy happiness.  I know other disagree with that, but for me it is a truth.

TIP OF THE DAY

Do whatever you need to do to find happiness and satisfaction in your work.  The average person works what, forty years?  More?  That’s one hell of a long span of time to be doing something you find no satisfaction in, don’t you think?

CONTEST OF THE DAY

The Banff Mountain Book Competition is taking submissions until the end of June.  Read about it here.

Also, Unicorn Press First Book Contest is now taking submissions through the end of May.  No entry fee required.  Check it out here.

PROMPT OF THE DAY

I haven’t done a prompt in a long time. Sorry, Sha!  Here’s a picture that might nudge your imagination in the right direction.

SITE OF THE DAY

Stop by and say hello to my friend Greg at his site Lancer Life.  You can find it by following this link.  Greg is a freelance writer with great insights that I’m sure you will find helpful.

SEE YOU NEXT WEEK

I hope you have a fantastic week of writing. Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you soon.

Bill

“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”