Having a hard time motivating myself today!

Why is it so hard to write sometimes? I’m usually the last person to say this, but for some reason today I’m having a hard time. And yes, even as I write this I’m saying to myself, you’re writing this blog entry, why can’t you write your book? Sometimes writing with another character’s voice is challenging because I’m not sure what that character wants to say right now. I just finished editing a trailer, so I think a part of it is the fact that I used up a lot of my creative juices, but if I want to finish this book in the next month or two I need to write 1 to 2 thousand words a day. I’ve been hitting those numbers for the last two weeks, but today, I’m stuck. I’m sleepy. I want to take a nap, but whenever I take a nap I end up not being able to sleep at night. Blah, blah, blah. I’m a big complainy-box today. Maybe I should take a nap and then try and get some writing done. Wish me luck!

Writing on a tightrope...

I really don’t want to be one of those writers that I, myself, would criticize. I always threaten the Universe that I’m going to start a blog on all the injustices and gigantic mistakes that some of my favorite filmmakers and writers have made over the years.

Here’s a mini-rant to give you an idea of what I’m talking about:

Indiana Jones 4: Really? From the get go I knew I was in trouble. A gopher mound as the Paramount Pictures mountain, uggh! It just got worse from there: from a fridge that apparently can protect you from a nuclear holocaust, to swinging with monkeys, to the Aztecs worshiping aliens. Yeah, pretty horrible.

Aliens 3 & 4: There are only two Alien movies: Alien and Aliens.  3 & 4 shouldn’t even count. I mean in the beginning of 3, Fincher completely made the second movie meaningless by killing off Hicks and Newt. Stupid. Seriously. Only two Alien movies. Possibly three if Prometheus ends up being a good as it looks, but I could be jinxing myself!

Harry Potter book 5: Book not the movie. The movie actually ended up fixing the things I hated about the book. Now don’t get me wrong, the Harry Potter series is one of my favorite books series of all time, but five was a mess. Who can really blame Rowling? I mean the entire world was waiting impatiently for the fifth book, that’s an enormous amount of pressure! But the way she killed Sirius was… well… it was lame. Not sure of how else to put it. At least Gary Oldman gave it some emotion in the movie. In the book: nothing. Not even a single tear. And Sirius was one of my favorite characters! There were so many issues with book five I can’t even go into it, but needless to say, six and seven more than made up for it!

I could go on, but I’ll stop. My worst fear is that as soon as I spout my ramblings, I’ll have an ear load of everything I messed up in my books. No one is perfect. And as writers and creators sometimes we lose the bigger picture. It’s nice when you have a group of people you can run things by, but I feel a lot of these people are so famous that no one wants to be honest with them anymore. They tell them everything they do is great, so they don’t have anyone to give them critique anymore. I’m just grateful for all the people in my life that are willing to tell me if I write a piece of crap, lol!

Here’s to honesty!

The Riser Saga… This blog is dedicated to all the ups and downs of my writing process. Writing is my biggest passion and I can’t imagine my life without it. The Riser Saga is a series of books I’m writing that follows the harrowing adventures of teenager, Chelsan Derée, and her fight for survival in a dystopian future. I’ve written the first two books, Riser and Reaper, and I’m currently writing the third and final book in the trilogy, Ripper. It’s such a blast writing a character like Chelsan, her power to control anything dead within a four-mile radius, lends itself to some pretty crazy action sequences. Set in a futuristic world where as long as you take a little pill called Age-pro, you can live forever. Of course, it doesn’t stop death. You can still get hit by a hover-car or be stabbed by a mugger or fall off a cliff. But as long as you steer clear from freak accidents and take your Age-pro you can be immortal. I wrote the books in first person through Chelsan’s eyes. I’ve always said that I mentally never made it past fifteen, so writing as a teenager felt right at home. I can’t believe I’m on the final book of the trilogy. It makes me savor everyday. Some days are harder than others because sometimes I haven’t quite figured out exactly what I want to happen next. I always outline everything. But the outlines are loose and the story inevitably ends up evolving into something even I wasn’t expecting. That’s always the best feeling when your own characters rise up and tell the story for you, surprising you in ways you never predicted.

The third book!

I'm in the thick of it! The third book Ripper of the Riser Saga is well on its way and I'm really excited where it's going. This will complete the first trilogy of the series. I have an idea for another trilogy in the same world, but a different main character, which will be introduced in Ripper. I'm really delving into the messed up politics of the future I've created in this last book. From assassins that used to work with Turner, to Elisha coming back with full on Chelsan powers, this book will hopefully be even more action-packed than the first two.

Beginnings...

There’s nothing like the feeling of starting a new project. Your brain is bursting with new thoughts and ideas that can’t wait to get on the page. It’s my favorite part of writing (although the finishing part is pretty awesome too ☺).

I’m staring into the abyss of book two and I’m feeling pretty exhilarated. It’s all outlined and ready for me to get going. I’ve read and re-read book one a bunch of times so I’m back in my character’s heads and back in their world again. This time around it’ll probably be a little slower going since I’m working full time now. (For book one I was unemployed so I was able to write all day, aaaahh, I still remember the bliss of it all!)

But here I go, ready to put my characters through the proper amounts of mayhem, torture, love, laughs, twists, turns, horror and adventure. Here’s to book two!! Wish me luck!!

Marketing!

Marketing, marketing, marketing.

Seriously, this is a bigger job than the writing itself especially when you have little to no money. I’m hoping word of mouth will work in my favor, but I have to actually get it into people’s hands for the whole word of mouth thing to work, lol.

It’s been quite a road. I remember when I was about six-years-old and I made a pair of cardboard shoes. I thought they were just about the best pair of shoes EVER and I decided that I could sell them. So I spent all afternoon cutting cardboard bottoms and fastening ribbons to them. In the end I think I had about seven pairs of shoes that I actually went door to door to sell! I look back and it’s hilarious.

But I also feel a pang of jealously. I’m jealous of that six-year-old me that believed so much in my creation that going door to door felt like I was doing the world a service by offering them my homemade shoes.

If I could just tap into that part of me and come out swinging…

You could get hit by a bus...

I always use this saying because let’s face it: life is short and you could literally get hit by a bus.

I try to live by this motto though sometimes it’s hard. The practical, worrisome part of the brain tries to creep in from time to time, but overall the bottom line is that if you don’t do what you love in life you’ll be miserable. I know a lot of people that have settled for what pays the bills and have lost sight of their true passions in life. This is worse than death for me because if I gave up my dreams I’d just be a walking zombie.

I’ve been writing stories since I was five-years-old and never saw myself doing anything else whether it’s for movies, TV or novels. It’s been and still is a hard road to success, but honestly, giving up isn’t a part of the way my brain works. It’s unfathomable to me. Writing is what makes me feel alive. It’s what makes me truly happy. Whether or not I ever make a dime, I’ll be content as long as I have a pen and paper.

I try to keep myself as disciplined as possible so that I can have some finished products, but let’s face it; product has never been a problem for me. Quality, not so sure, but quantity, not an issue. I’ve written over forty feature scripts, at least twenty TV pilots, comics, graphic novels and I just finished my first book. I just wish they weren’t all sitting on my shelf collecting dust, lol ☺

A part of my “hit by a bus” motto is to swallow my fear of people and get myself out there. I’m ridiculously shy with people I don’t know and it’s held me back from some pretty great opportunities. I can’t tell you how hard it is for me to just ask for what I want in life. It’s like I don’t want to impose even though I’m fully aware that this is how the entertainment industry works, nepotism and “favor asking.”

So my first step to success will be to go for it no matter how socially excruciating it is for me because I could get hit by a bus. (of course, if the universe is listening, I really don't want to get hit by a bus! ☺)