What inspires?

One of the things, oddly, which inspires me to write, is old chants, no, not football or other sports team chants, but music, such Byzantine or Gregorian. At least for some of my writing, especially if what I am writing is Science-Fiction (commonly called speculative fiction by publishers these days) or fantasy. Other music also inspires me and can put me into the correct mood for writing.

Inspiration

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (NIV) 

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.  And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for  them and was raised again.

Remembrance Day/Veterans Day (U.S.A.)

Thank you to all of our vets for all you did, and for all those who currently serve, for all you have done and continue to do. We shall remember you.

Creative Writing Courses

I cannot emphasise enough how helpful the creative writing courses I took at university were. The instructor (Jay Ruzesky) was excellent. Other people were required to read and edit whatever I wrote, just as I was required to read and edit theirs. It gives an appreciation for how other people see your work, or how they don't see your work, how your words can be taken many different ways. The courses convinced me to continue writing.

Writing Tip

Check over your texts before submitting them, especially when you are creating a query letter.

Here's a couple of tips:

White space: make sure there is only one between words.

Quotations: The fist letter inside a quote should be capitalised. Now, there is a little
                    more to it than that (for example, a quote such as the following:
                    "Oh gee," Mary said, "look at him!" notice that this quote is split in two,
                    the second part of the quote begins with lower case, where the first
                    part begins with upper case.) there are other rules for different situations.

Grammar is important, it may not be to you, but if you wish to be a published author; get it right.

Thick Skin

Ah, social networking.

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Blogs... And more.

One of the things you must develop over the years:

Thick Skin.

People are always expressing an opinion, face it, everyone has one, some express
them, some express them well and tastefully... Then there is everyone else.

I often read movie reviews before I decide I want to view a new (or even an old)
release. If it looks really interesting, I'll find a spoiler - but that's a different subject.
Going back a few years, I used to watch Ebert and Siskel, and this is going to seem
nasty, often, if they gave the movie two thumbs down, I figured it had to be good,
if they gave it two thumbs up, it was probably not worth watching.

My opinion...

And I express it from time-to-time. I am also learning to recognise it
before I read it from others.

If you are on Facebook, have you ever noticed the "News" stories which pop up,
talking about such subjects as "24 Worst Casting Decisions Ever" or similar?

I have started to ignore a lot of these lately, as it is routinely turning out to be
an opinion piece flagged as news.

Social media... Ya can't live with it, ya need it for your platform.

I hope a lot of people mentioned have thick skin.