Ask the Author: Michael Haase
Answered Questions (7)
Michael Haase
Writing Bloc is first and foremost an author community. It was born from the frustrations I've experienced in Indie Author Communities...most of these groups seem loosey-goosey, disorganized, or entirely too controlling. While Writing Bloc operates under a set of rules that are necessary, we allow a lot of freedom--but not to the point of anyone posting whatever, leading to the whole thing becoming a mess. It's quite the little community thus far, if I don't say so myself.
The initial bit, and the only reason I get the Founder Badge™, is that I invited a lot of specific Indie Authors. I knew a bunch of professional, friendly, organized, talented, and motivated authors and basically asked if they wanted to form a productive tribe together. Next thing I knew, we had a website with articles, a Facebook group, an online bookstore, and big plans for a short story anthology. Escape! is the result of that hive mind. We put together a beautiful short story anthology and published it in less than eight months. We did it cooperatively, and from scratch...writing, editing, formatting, cover design...everything. And we are on the cusp of announcing our next anthology to be published in early 2020.
The group at its core is chock full of excellent people. We are writers and we keep each other informed and supported, and it's an excellent experience. We will keep growing, too. The seed was planted based on how grueling this writer's life can be to handle alone. We are a collective now. A team. And the tree bore fruit in its first season.
Come join us: https://www.facebook.com/writingbloc/
Thanks for asking, Susan!
The initial bit, and the only reason I get the Founder Badge™, is that I invited a lot of specific Indie Authors. I knew a bunch of professional, friendly, organized, talented, and motivated authors and basically asked if they wanted to form a productive tribe together. Next thing I knew, we had a website with articles, a Facebook group, an online bookstore, and big plans for a short story anthology. Escape! is the result of that hive mind. We put together a beautiful short story anthology and published it in less than eight months. We did it cooperatively, and from scratch...writing, editing, formatting, cover design...everything. And we are on the cusp of announcing our next anthology to be published in early 2020.
The group at its core is chock full of excellent people. We are writers and we keep each other informed and supported, and it's an excellent experience. We will keep growing, too. The seed was planted based on how grueling this writer's life can be to handle alone. We are a collective now. A team. And the tree bore fruit in its first season.
Come join us: https://www.facebook.com/writingbloc/
Thanks for asking, Susan!
Michael Haase
Cedric is a short story in "Escape!" that I've been kicking around for about three years. I've thought it was the prologue to a bigger novel, and it might still be. The idea came from entering the NYC Midnight short story competition. They gave me a word limit and a random character employment, setting, and genre and I had three days to write it. Though I didn't win anything, Cedric came out and I'm quite proud of that little story. It packs quite a punch for how short it is, and when I wrote it I was definitely outside of my comfort zone.
Michael Haase
I've finally come around to accept a built in routine. I get up early on weekdays and reserve that time for writing. There is no "waiting for the perfect moment" as I used to do. Now I just tell my brain, "It's time to get up and write. This is the most uninterrupted time you'll get for it today. I know it's 4:30am, but here's a pot of coffee. Now turn off your phone and get moving." I used to wait for inspiration, but I found that I wasn't writing as often as I needed to when I'd wait for "the right time."
Michael Haase
I'm editing a quirky book called An Adventure With Dada. I love this little book, but seeing as how it's a dark humor/mild horror story about a father trying to escape from Hell with his toddler daughter and two dogs before the birth of his son, I think it's best to just take it straight to the printer for self-pub. I'm also working on the next draft of my book "The Man Who Stole The World" to be published through Inkshares hopefully early next year.
Michael Haase
Write a lot and start calling yourself a writer as soon as possible. If you don't believe you are a writer, your lack of confidence will push the stories away. You are a writer, whether someone pays you to do it or not. There is no aspiring writer. You either are a writer or not. Decide.
"Do or do not. There is no try." -Yoda
"Do or do not. There is no try." -Yoda
Michael Haase
Every little bit of writing allows me to get to know myself better. It's also a bit like solving a puzzle I've created, which is an experience I get nowhere else.
Michael Haase
Just keep writing. Write something else. Or maybe play guitar. Whatever it takes to relax. My own writer's block is usually from overthinking a draft and forgetting that most of the work is in the rewrite.
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