Deby Adair's Blog
January 27, 2023
Join our journey down Unicorn Kisses' Blue Bubble Lane
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If you love The Unicorns of Wish, beautiful gardens and intriguing adventures, this might be for you!
If you love The Unicorns of Wish, beautiful gardens and intriguing adventures, this might be for you!
December 24, 2020
Season's greetings
Here's wishing a WARM AND LOVING SEASON for all.
Humans, animals and the planet!
Best wishes from
Unicorn Kisses.
Humans, animals and the planet!
Best wishes from
Unicorn Kisses.
December 23, 2019
An intense 2019...
It's been an intense year full of highs and troughs. Hence no posts or updates from me on this blog, but things do eventually change and the light at the end of the tunnel into 2020 is shining bright.
Best wishes, kindness, gratitude and love to all into 2020 and beyond!
Best wishes, kindness, gratitude and love to all into 2020 and beyond!
February 22, 2019
Rejection perspective.
A discussion took place with another writer about rejection of manuscripts. So, the way I think of it is like this: Writing and our work is important. Being paid for it is great, (if you are.) Self-publishing is fantastic for its freedom and rewards. Belonging to the ASA is a huge help in keeping Indies informed and educated. Have a top drawer editor, no matter what. If you're picked up by a publisher, well done. And this: Although our worlds revolve around our writing, they should also revolve around many other things; that gives us stability in a very difficult field.
If peer recognition never happens, so be it. If no one ever destroys your precious work by making some truly hideously incorrect movie about it, all the better. If there is no other wage, or way of earning a living, ouch.
Perspective can be lost when agents or publishers reject our work. If there's one thing I've learned from this big journey, it's that it's worth it when: readers write to you and value your words, buy your books and tell their friends to buy your books. When you still want to write even though it's a pain in the neck.
And that the other just-as-important-projects you have going on in your life mean that if you stop writing tomorrow you still have a life that means something to you and has value.
If peer recognition never happens, so be it. If no one ever destroys your precious work by making some truly hideously incorrect movie about it, all the better. If there is no other wage, or way of earning a living, ouch.
Perspective can be lost when agents or publishers reject our work. If there's one thing I've learned from this big journey, it's that it's worth it when: readers write to you and value your words, buy your books and tell their friends to buy your books. When you still want to write even though it's a pain in the neck.
And that the other just-as-important-projects you have going on in your life mean that if you stop writing tomorrow you still have a life that means something to you and has value.
December 30, 2018
November 29, 2018
The holidays... again!
I have been out of the loop for quite some time but somewhere still finding the time to write and even produce one little book.
I came across one of my early articles, just the other day, and in sharing it on social media found that readers and writers were generously telling me they needed the reminder. So, I'll re post, just for the fun of the thing, before wishing everyone an early 'wonderful holiday season and joyful 2019'.
'Imagination is our greatest tool. When you create something meaningful, you share it with the world, even if no one ever sees your final effort. When we imagine, and then create, we are stating by our thoughts and actions who we are, and that person follows us around day and night for everyone else to see, interact and share with.
If we have music in us, then we strum, sing or write our lyrics. If we have art in us then we sketch, draw or paint. And if we write, we are usually sharing our deepest thoughts and projections.
Writing is a tool that can captivate an audience in a way that no other art does. A book presents an opportunity to immerse ourselves, sometimes completely, into the lives of others, and in the process, it changes us forever…we have now walked in another’s shoes and we will never be the same again. Although it may be argued that a movie will do a similar thing, the difference between reading a story and watching a story, is that a reader must go that extra mile and play the movie in their head, their way, with only the writer’s word to prompt the screen inside the mind.
As writers, we hold the world in the palms of our hands and, like all projections, how we do it is what counts.
Remember that what you write will reach inside the minds and hearts of others and, by the power of your words, resonate. How do you choose to create what resonates in others?
Writing is something that comes from within a writer; a deep need to share a story, a theme, experience or something which the writer themselves chooses to explore.
When writers ask me how to deal with writer’s block, I have one response: Writer’s block comes to you because you are trying to write what isn’t you. When a writer ‘blocks’ they are experiencing these key things: fear, self doubt and a desire to please others.
When writers ask me how they should fix their writers block, or indeed, why is it such extremely hard work to write, then my responses are simplistic, based on the need to change something that they’re doing.
At first, my answers can be met with some resistance. ie: Often, a writer has a preconceived idea of what kind of writer they are, or want to be, and that may be the problem… in not knowing what you truly should be writing as opposed to what you think you should be writing. ‘Writers block’ will always begin there.
Do you love writing? Does the written word in and of itself give you incredible joy? Does the thought of composing a sentence and describing a moment, a scene, a sensation, a palette of colour, transport you with inspiration and excitement? What entices you, the writer, to capture an audience and transport them?
I’ll ask a question: Can you effectively captivate with something you don’t know, or don’t understand or have never come close to experiencing? Perhaps, or perhaps not.
During the process of writing, part of the joy is for us as writers to explore how a scene, projection, moment or situation may occur, creating that rush of creativity, the adrenalin and thrill that actually makes us want to write!
If you have decided that writing is in fact for you, that you have the guts, determination and the hard-driven discipline required to master your much loved skill, but you sit down to write and falter, then you must ask yourself why.
A highly skilled young University student asked me to read a piece of their work and to offer a critique. It was an evocative piece. Very dramatic, very intense, extremely wordy, descriptive, exciting… but it lacked something. It didn’t ring true. It was a good piece of writing but I was left unmoved. I thought carefully about the piece before I gave her my critique.
Finally, this was my response: When you write, the most important thing to remember is not to try to impress the reader but to find your own individual style. Don’t try to write with someone else’s style. Don’t copy the sort of writing that will outwardly impress you but feel to the reader as if they’ve read your book at least a hundred times everywhere else!
Write what you know. Write what you feel. By all means, use the power of your imagination, but don’t try to construct what isn’t innately a part of you because it will read cleverly, but not reach hearts and, as writers, our job is to reach hearts, otherwise we have just added to a high pile of pulp.
When a writer writes from deep inside themselves, reaching into what they know, how they’ve grown, the insights, the hurts, the joys, the depths of their being, then they lose writer’s block. They may have decided to sit down and write that great money-spinner and instead, written a poignant or meaningful story of something that jogs a memory of a day in their schoolyard. The piece they actually may end up writing may seem totally un-commercial, however, it may leave the writer, and ultimately the reader, deeply satisfied. I assure you that when you write from your inner truth you will always become a better writer and that is what really matters in the long run. You want to reach the hearts and minds of your readers.
When people read, no matter what the genre, they unconsciously go there to learn something, even if they feel they only want to be entertained. When they read, they want to leave your book/short story/poem, prose or paragraph, and feel that it was a moment in time that you loaned them and which they have captured; that borrowing from your ‘knowing’ it will leave them stronger, better able to face the world. Write what you own… share with us, the reader, what you know and feel.
Writers often ask me why they can’t seem to get the discipline of the thing. My response, based on experiencing the roller coaster of life, is this: No matter what is happening in your life, and I mean no matter what, write something every single day; every single day go to your work and at least sit with pen in hand, with computer open and ready; if you find nothing there, then edit something you have previously written; look at your writing and be ruthless with it; teach yourself to know if that flowery sentence is valid or just satisfying an itch to be vocal; train yourself in excellent sentence structure and that often, less is more.
Readers these days want to get to the point… so learn the skill of writing brilliantly with a sentence well built, rather than a paragraph that repeats itself.
Take the pain from losing loved ones, your illness, a job you hate, the spiteful neighbour and use it to write! Don’t wait for when life will get good, for when you live in the right house, have the right amount of money, have the perfect relationship, have wonderful heath… all or some of those things may never happen, so write! Be your own best creator!
Write something, even if it’s for two minutes a day, every single day until the hardship of the discipline becomes your addiction and your high… then you have learned the true love affair of writing and have built a solid relationship that will let you call yourself a writer, a marriage where you have learned to merge words with the love of making it happen.
Remember, the entire fantastic residue of living, is stored within all of us. Don’t write about things you don’t know just because you think that’s what readers want, and worse, because someone else got rich from it… write what YOU know and, if you do it thoroughly, seriously and with real craft and commitment, readers will love your tale about the day you dropped your lunch at school and ten kids laughed at you but one stepped forward to help… because when it’s genuine, we, the reader will know it and cheer you on!'
Deby Adair © 27.08.2012
I came across one of my early articles, just the other day, and in sharing it on social media found that readers and writers were generously telling me they needed the reminder. So, I'll re post, just for the fun of the thing, before wishing everyone an early 'wonderful holiday season and joyful 2019'.
'Imagination is our greatest tool. When you create something meaningful, you share it with the world, even if no one ever sees your final effort. When we imagine, and then create, we are stating by our thoughts and actions who we are, and that person follows us around day and night for everyone else to see, interact and share with.
If we have music in us, then we strum, sing or write our lyrics. If we have art in us then we sketch, draw or paint. And if we write, we are usually sharing our deepest thoughts and projections.
Writing is a tool that can captivate an audience in a way that no other art does. A book presents an opportunity to immerse ourselves, sometimes completely, into the lives of others, and in the process, it changes us forever…we have now walked in another’s shoes and we will never be the same again. Although it may be argued that a movie will do a similar thing, the difference between reading a story and watching a story, is that a reader must go that extra mile and play the movie in their head, their way, with only the writer’s word to prompt the screen inside the mind.
As writers, we hold the world in the palms of our hands and, like all projections, how we do it is what counts.
Remember that what you write will reach inside the minds and hearts of others and, by the power of your words, resonate. How do you choose to create what resonates in others?
Writing is something that comes from within a writer; a deep need to share a story, a theme, experience or something which the writer themselves chooses to explore.
When writers ask me how to deal with writer’s block, I have one response: Writer’s block comes to you because you are trying to write what isn’t you. When a writer ‘blocks’ they are experiencing these key things: fear, self doubt and a desire to please others.
When writers ask me how they should fix their writers block, or indeed, why is it such extremely hard work to write, then my responses are simplistic, based on the need to change something that they’re doing.
At first, my answers can be met with some resistance. ie: Often, a writer has a preconceived idea of what kind of writer they are, or want to be, and that may be the problem… in not knowing what you truly should be writing as opposed to what you think you should be writing. ‘Writers block’ will always begin there.
Do you love writing? Does the written word in and of itself give you incredible joy? Does the thought of composing a sentence and describing a moment, a scene, a sensation, a palette of colour, transport you with inspiration and excitement? What entices you, the writer, to capture an audience and transport them?
I’ll ask a question: Can you effectively captivate with something you don’t know, or don’t understand or have never come close to experiencing? Perhaps, or perhaps not.
During the process of writing, part of the joy is for us as writers to explore how a scene, projection, moment or situation may occur, creating that rush of creativity, the adrenalin and thrill that actually makes us want to write!
If you have decided that writing is in fact for you, that you have the guts, determination and the hard-driven discipline required to master your much loved skill, but you sit down to write and falter, then you must ask yourself why.
A highly skilled young University student asked me to read a piece of their work and to offer a critique. It was an evocative piece. Very dramatic, very intense, extremely wordy, descriptive, exciting… but it lacked something. It didn’t ring true. It was a good piece of writing but I was left unmoved. I thought carefully about the piece before I gave her my critique.
Finally, this was my response: When you write, the most important thing to remember is not to try to impress the reader but to find your own individual style. Don’t try to write with someone else’s style. Don’t copy the sort of writing that will outwardly impress you but feel to the reader as if they’ve read your book at least a hundred times everywhere else!
Write what you know. Write what you feel. By all means, use the power of your imagination, but don’t try to construct what isn’t innately a part of you because it will read cleverly, but not reach hearts and, as writers, our job is to reach hearts, otherwise we have just added to a high pile of pulp.
When a writer writes from deep inside themselves, reaching into what they know, how they’ve grown, the insights, the hurts, the joys, the depths of their being, then they lose writer’s block. They may have decided to sit down and write that great money-spinner and instead, written a poignant or meaningful story of something that jogs a memory of a day in their schoolyard. The piece they actually may end up writing may seem totally un-commercial, however, it may leave the writer, and ultimately the reader, deeply satisfied. I assure you that when you write from your inner truth you will always become a better writer and that is what really matters in the long run. You want to reach the hearts and minds of your readers.
When people read, no matter what the genre, they unconsciously go there to learn something, even if they feel they only want to be entertained. When they read, they want to leave your book/short story/poem, prose or paragraph, and feel that it was a moment in time that you loaned them and which they have captured; that borrowing from your ‘knowing’ it will leave them stronger, better able to face the world. Write what you own… share with us, the reader, what you know and feel.
Writers often ask me why they can’t seem to get the discipline of the thing. My response, based on experiencing the roller coaster of life, is this: No matter what is happening in your life, and I mean no matter what, write something every single day; every single day go to your work and at least sit with pen in hand, with computer open and ready; if you find nothing there, then edit something you have previously written; look at your writing and be ruthless with it; teach yourself to know if that flowery sentence is valid or just satisfying an itch to be vocal; train yourself in excellent sentence structure and that often, less is more.
Readers these days want to get to the point… so learn the skill of writing brilliantly with a sentence well built, rather than a paragraph that repeats itself.
Take the pain from losing loved ones, your illness, a job you hate, the spiteful neighbour and use it to write! Don’t wait for when life will get good, for when you live in the right house, have the right amount of money, have the perfect relationship, have wonderful heath… all or some of those things may never happen, so write! Be your own best creator!
Write something, even if it’s for two minutes a day, every single day until the hardship of the discipline becomes your addiction and your high… then you have learned the true love affair of writing and have built a solid relationship that will let you call yourself a writer, a marriage where you have learned to merge words with the love of making it happen.
Remember, the entire fantastic residue of living, is stored within all of us. Don’t write about things you don’t know just because you think that’s what readers want, and worse, because someone else got rich from it… write what YOU know and, if you do it thoroughly, seriously and with real craft and commitment, readers will love your tale about the day you dropped your lunch at school and ten kids laughed at you but one stepped forward to help… because when it’s genuine, we, the reader will know it and cheer you on!'
Deby Adair © 27.08.2012
December 14, 2017
Holidays and New Year
Wishing a wonderful, safe holiday season to all and a better, brighter 2018 for the world, humanity, the environment and all the incredible species that make up this amazing planet.
April 12, 2017
Book Giveaway and a thanks to all who entered to win!
2017 has been a peculiar and interesting year with many twists and turns, as was 2016, meaning that my posts have been few and far between.
Despite that, I have been slowly preparing the final two books of the series of 'The Unicorns of Wish' and hope to have them released no later than 2020, which seems a long time away but which I'm sure will fly by just as the years seem to be doing more and more.
I would like to thank everyone who entered to win the latest Goodreads giveaway of 'Hope -The Ambit of Light', and would like to wish the lucky two winners a hearty, 'congratulations' and a wonderful read!
Despite that, I have been slowly preparing the final two books of the series of 'The Unicorns of Wish' and hope to have them released no later than 2020, which seems a long time away but which I'm sure will fly by just as the years seem to be doing more and more.
I would like to thank everyone who entered to win the latest Goodreads giveaway of 'Hope -The Ambit of Light', and would like to wish the lucky two winners a hearty, 'congratulations' and a wonderful read!
December 31, 2016
2017 arrives!
In a world filled with chaos and really weird stuff, let's all work toward 2017 overcoming the madness, the mayhem and the inexplicable and create a planet that has compassion at its core for all of us: the environment, the animals and those of us we call human beings... it's in our hands to shine love.
Happy New Year to everyone. 2017!
Happy New Year to everyone. 2017!
December 19, 2016
Safe holiday season to all.
Wishing every living being on the planet a safe and kind holiday season and a joy filled 2017.
Unicorn Kisses to all!
Unicorn Kisses to all!
