Corey M.P.'s Blog

[image error]Hi friends!

I will be moving my blog to a different site very soon. If you haven’t already, please click on the FOLLOW BLOG VIA EMAIL button on my sidebar, so you don’t miss a thing.

My updated blog will have more tips, advice, and inspiration for writers. There will also be giveaways and contests and more surprises. It’s all for you guys!

THANK YOU to all my old and new followers and friends. You are why I do what I do.

Cheers!

“Mostly, we authors must repeat ourselves-that’s the truth. We have two or three great moving experiences in our lives-experiences so great and moving that it doesn’t seem at the time that anyone else has been so caught up and pounded and dazzled and astonished and beaten and broken and rescued and illuminated and rewarded and humbled in just that way ever before.”

���F. Scott Fitzgerald,��One Hundred False Starts

“Writing has laws of perspective, of light and shade just as painting does, or music. If you are born knowing them, fine. If not, learn them. Then rearrange the rules to suit yourself.”

���Truman Capote

���If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.���

���Elmore Leonard

���Just write every day of your life. Read intensely. Then see what happens. Most of my friends who are put on that diet have very pleasant careers.���

���Ray Bradbury, WD

���Anyone who is going to be a writer knows enough at 15 to write several novels.���

���May Sarton

���You do not have to explain every single drop of water contained in a rain barrel. You have to explain one drop���H2O. The reader will get it.���

���George Singleton

���When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people, not characters. A character is a caricature.���

���Ernest Hemingway

���Write while the heat is in you. The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with.���

���Henry David Thoreau

���First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him!���

���Ray Bradbury

���If I waited till I felt like writing, I���d never write at all.���

���Anne Tyler

I left��my��umbrella in the car��and opted to walk in the rain today. Now my pants are soaked and��my hands are cold. But I’m happy.

I recently went through a writer’s lull.��I was trying to work on my second novel but for some reason, I couldn’t focus. I knew how I wanted to rewrite and edit the story, I just couldn’t get myself to sit in front of the computer and do it. This went on for weeks and it was beginning to frustrate��me.��The ideas were all there, but��somehow I wasn’t motivated.

Determined to get back on track,��I changed my routines and tried new things. It worked.

If you’ve��been feeling uninspired to write lately, here are 12 ways to get you back on track:

Take a break. Working on the same manuscript for days or months can be daunting. Give it time to rest and go back to it a few days, a few weeks, or a few months later.
Take a walk. Writing is sedentary. Get some fresh air and go for a nice long stroll to get your creative juices flowing again. Check out this article: http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/walking-helps-us-think
Change where you write. If you usually write in the living room, try writing in the kitchen, or in the bedroom. If that doesn���t work, leave the house and try writing at a coffee shop, at a library, or at a park. A change of venue could do the trick.
Change when you write. If you usually write in the mornings, try writing at night. And if you usually have a set time for writing, don���t have one. Instead of writing for three hours straight, try writing for just an hour and then take a break.
Switch it up. If you find yourself staring blankly at the computer screen, try writing on a piece of paper. Get a notebook and a pen and start free writing. This always works for me.
Listen to Music. And not just the same music you normally listen to. Change it up and try new genres.
Watch a Movie. Pick your favorite blockbuster flick, or check out a new movie. Take advantage of your Netflix membership and explore old films, new films, foreign films, and independent films. Movies always help inspire me.
Pack a bag and go somewhere. If you���re on a tight budget, taking a day off, or a little weekend getaway somewhere close by could be all you need. A nice vacation���short or long���will help you recharge.
Write something else. Put the current manuscript aside and try writing a poem, a short story, or start a new novel. Then go back to the previous manuscript when you���re ready.
Read a book or a magazine. You don���t have to read an entire book, unless you want to. Even reading a few pages could be enough to get you back on track. I���ve done this many times. Whenever I feel stuck, I flip through different books and read a few pages. Reading a beautifully written paragraph or dialogue is sometimes enough to inspire me to write again.
Go back to your old notes. Remember the notes you wrote down on that napkin, or that notebook, or the one you typed up on your phone months ago? This is the time to read them over. There might be something there that could inspire you.
Write. Sometimes the cure to feeling uninspired to write is to simply keep writing. Write anything. That anything could turn into something. It doesn���t have to be good���yet. Just write it. The whole idea is for you to start writing again. You can always edit later.

Happy writing!

I recently went through a writer’s lull. I was trying to work on my second novel but for some reason, I couldn’t focus. I knew how I wanted to rewrite and edit the story, I just couldn’t get myself to sit in front of the computer and do it. This went on for weeks and it was beginning to frustrate me. The ideas were all there, but somehow I wasn’t motivated.

Determined to get back on track, I changed my routines and tried new things. It worked.

If you’ve been feeling uninspired to write lately, here are 12 ways to get you back on track:

Take a break. Working on the same manuscript for days or months can be daunting. Give it time to rest and go back to it a few days, a few weeks, or a few months later.
Take a walk. Writing is sedentary. Get some fresh air and go for a nice long stroll to get your creative juices flowing again. Check out this article: http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/walking-helps-us-think
Change where you write. If you usually write in the living room, try writing in the kitchen, or in the bedroom. If that doesn’t work, leave the house and try writing at a coffee shop, at a library, or at a park. A change of venue could do the trick.
Change when you write. If you usually write in the mornings, try writing at night. And if you usually have a set time for writing, don’t have one. Instead of writing for three hours straight, try writing for just an hour and then take a break.
Switch it up. If you find yourself staring blankly at the computer screen, try writing on a piece of paper. Get a notebook and a pen and start free writing. This always works for me.
Listen to Music. And not just the same music you normally listen to. Change it up and try new genres.
Watch a Movie. Pick your favorite blockbuster flick, or check out a new movie. Take advantage of your Netflix membership and explore old films, new films, foreign films, and independent films. Movies always help inspire me.
Pack a bag and go somewhere. If you’re on a tight budget, taking a day off, or a little weekend getaway somewhere close by could be all you need. A nice vacation—short or long—will help you recharge.
Write something else. Put the current manuscript aside and try writing a poem, a short story, or start a new novel. Then go back to the previous manuscript when you’re ready.
Read a book or a magazine. You don’t have to read an entire book, unless you want to. Even reading a few pages could be enough to get you back on track. I’ve done this many times. Whenever I feel stuck, I flip through different books and read a few pages. Reading a beautifully written paragraph or dialogue is sometimes enough to inspire me to write again.
Go back to your old notes. Remember the notes you wrote down on that napkin, or that notebook, or the one you typed up on your phone months ago? This is the time to read them over. There might be something there that could inspire you.
Write. Sometimes the cure to feeling uninspired to write is to simply keep writing. Write anything. That anything could turn into something. It doesn’t have to be good…yet. Just write it. The whole idea is for you to start writing again. You can always edit later.

Happy writing!

A dear friend of mine introduced me to this beautiful poem. Thought I’d share it with you.

The Invitation by Oriah

It doesn’t interest me

what you do for a living.

I want to know

what you ache for

and if you dare to dream

of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me

how old you are.

I want to know

if you will risk

looking like a fool

for love

for your dream

for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me

what planets are

squaring your moon…

I want to know

if you have touched

the centre of your own sorrow

if you have been opened

by life’s betrayals

or have become shrivelled and closed

from fear of further pain.

I want to know

if you can sit with pain

mine or your own

without moving to hide it

or fade it

or fix it.

I want to know

if you can be with joy

mine or your own

if you can dance with wildness

and let the ecstasy fill you

to the tips of your fingers and toes

without cautioning us

to be careful

to be realistic

to remember the limitations

of being human.

It doesn’t interest me

if the story you are telling me

is true.

I want to know if you can

disappoint another

to be true to yourself.

If you can bear

the accusation of betrayal

and not betray your own soul.

If you can be faithless

and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty

even when it is not pretty

every day.

And if you can source your own life

from its presence.

I want to know

if you can live with failure

yours and mine

and still stand at the edge of the lake

and shout to the silver of the full moon,

“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me

to know where you live

or how much money you have.

I want to know if you can get up

after the night of grief and despair

weary and bruised to the bone

and do what needs to be done

to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me

who you know

or how you came to be here.

I want to know if you will stand

in the centre of the fire

with me

and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me

where or what or with whom

you have studied.

I want to know

what sustains you

from the inside

when all else falls away.

I want to know

if you can be alone

with yourself

and if you truly like

the company you keep

in the empty moments.

By Oriah © Mountain Dreaming,

from the book The Invitation

published by HarperONE, San Francisco,

1999 All rights reserved

Sometimes all it takes is that one perfect song to get you going—to get you writing that short story, or that novel. Other times it takes a good long stroll, or maybe a vacation, or last night’s dream to inspire you to write. But as writers, we must write even when we aren’t inspired to. Even on days when we think we don’t have time to write—we make time to write…anything. A sentence, a paragraph, a page, or a chapter. Because it is from writing every day that we are able to start a story and finish it.

I came across this short, but inspiring clip of authors sharing some invaluable advice on writing. Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the video:

“Write a story for yourself.”

“Investigate on what your truths are and have faith in it.”

“Let the audience that’s meant to find it, find it.”

—Wally Lamb

“Write every day.”

—Diane Hammond

“When you have writer’s block—write. That’s how you unblock.”

“No book is written. Every book is re-written.”

—Ridley Pearson 

“Read. The more you read, the better you write. Write. Keep writing because the more you write, the better you write.”

—Anthony Horowitz

“Trust yourself. Write exactly what you think you want to write.”

—Lee Child

“If all else fails, just keep trying.”

—Graeme Base

“There’s one thing that all writers have, that you have…your voice.”

—Dennis Lehane

“Write what you know. Write what you believe in.”

—Robert Crais

Here is the link to the video:

Happy writing!