Fatherhood and the Stay at Home Storyteller

As you all know I am getting ready to be dad here in a couple of months. In many ways it has already started. I have been blessed with the situation of being able to stay at home and write “full time”. While that has always been my goal I feel that I have less time to write now then I had before. This is only compounded with the fact that my wife is pregnant and doesn’t have the energy to do a lot of things. As such I find myself spending more time trying to keep the house in order so that she can come home from work and crash on the couch.

Trying to come up with a writing schedule on top of all this has been difficult. I have always had a strong desire to tell stories. I have so many ideas in my head that it literally keeps me up at night. some may call that a good time to get it down on paper I find that come morning I have no idea what it was I was trying to say. So any time i have seems to go to working on my never ending, always growing book series that i cant seem to complete.

So now as fatherhood comes ever closer i ask myself when will i find the time to write? I then think of why I am writing at all. The only answer i have had for the longest time was  that I had stories to tell in a world desperate for new stories. I now have a new motivator, my little girl that is soon to enter that very world and she will want stories. I have become determined to complete my work on ‘The Therrian Legacy’ so that when she is much older she can see what it was her daddy did. I will also be writing her stories filled with the things that she wants. While I will be sharing these stories with the world they will still be hers and she will grow up never wanting for a good original story.

I look forward to again be working with my good friends here. I also look forward to working with others who eventually join our ranks as storytellers.

A Writer's Duty

This quote has stuck with me since I read it during the #trust30 project. Thought I'd share and see if it sticks with you as well.

"As a writer, your only duty is to be original, to inspire, to put something new on paper. Don't be reasonable--your job is to fire up people's imaginations, to give them permission to dream, and to lift their heads up to the incredible sight of the stars. They may forget what you wrote about, but they will never forget how you made them feel." --Ben von Burg

Is it too touchy-feely, or do you think it nails what a writer should be focused on?

The words are dead.

The words are dead.
They fall flat from my mouth.
Inelegant.
Ugly.
Broken.
They are stale from disuse.
Brittle and dry.
maybe even harsh and uncaring.
spit out without thought.
without relevant thought at least.

The words are dead.
They thud on the ground.
Shriveled.
Emaciated.
Consumed.
They are void of emotion.
Tired and old.
maybe even passed on to the afterlife.
never spoken, never used.
never to be heard from again.

The words are dead.
They screech like hollow demons.
Twisted.
Thorny.
Leathery.
They wrench good from it's throne.
Evil and uncaring.
maybe even intent on conquering.
using silence to oppress.
creating their own demise.

Welcome back... Take it easy!

Welcome Back!


It's good to be back.  It's good to be here.  It's fun to be here!  I'm excited!


I think Quill and Think was a great thing for a short lived time.  It had a purpose and it served it very well very briefly.  I still look back on it fondly, and didn't honestly expect the response I got when I brought it up... which was a nearly unanimous vote to bring it back in some fashion or another.  


I was just random browsing, noticed via Google analytics that Steve had linked me from his blog.  So I perused his blog and then clicked on his profile... which led me back here, where I read every post and comment.  


I don't think any of us need a regular 'assignment' to grow our talent and challenge ourselves anymore.  Not saying there's no growing to be done, and no challenges to tackle, for enjoyment or said growth.  I do think our weekly timelines and trying to come up with homework was putting too much pressure on ourselves though.  


Even if I'm wrong, I think that it may have been what we needed then and isn't now?


What do we need now?


Well, mostly I think we just want to hang out together a bit more, am I write... er right?


I think there's all sorts of things that we can do with this blog to bring it back for a short tour or for a longer stay.

Talk about writing in general - I know some of us already blog about the subject... but some community discussion could be a nice change of pace sometimes.


Write anything that hits your fancy.  Gabe... I miss your poems, man.  Seriously.  


Maybe even the occasional assignment, only this time without rigid deadlines, and pressure to get things done by a certain time AND come up with future projects.

In the end... none of us is expecting this blog to change our lives or anything... but we can have some fun.

In the interest of getting things started, I think a small easy project (again... no pressure, no deadline!) could be in order. 


We've all made strides as writers since 2006, I can say with some confidence.  How do you feel about writing in general now?  How do you think your views on it have changed?


I'll lead off with the first post later tonight.


In the meantime... I just snagged some fun quotes about writing.  Have fun!


A word is a bud attempting to become a twig. How can one not dream while writing? It is the pen which dreams. The blank page gives the right to dream.
Gaston Bachelard

The pen is the tongue of the mind.
Miguel de Cervantes

I don't pretend we have all the answers. But the questions are  certainly worth thinking about.
Arthur C. Clarke

It is not a bad idea to get in the habit of writing down one's thoughts. It saves one having to bother anyone else with them.
Isabel Colegate

Many books require no thought from those who read them, and for a very simple reason; they made no such demand upon those who wrote them.
Charles Caleb Colton

A writer doesn't solve problems. He allows them to emerge.
Friedrich Dürrenmatt

In my experience, the best creative work is never done when  one is unhappy.
Albert Einstein
 
Curiosity has its own reason for existence. The important thing is not to stop questioning.
Albert Einstein 

No Snow Plowing

     Kelly and I have been traveling all over the state of Colorado this year as we venture to visit all 42 Colorado State Parks. In the process we've driven over 5000 miles in the last three months and it's been a blast. One of the side effects though has been a sort of Sunday afternoon delirium as we head home. And it's led to some amazing moments of hilarity. The best example of this is a road sign that is rather common on the bits of nothing that connect one small town to the next. The sign reads as follows: "No Snow Plowing 7 PM - 5 AM". In my delirium I read it backwards, imagining a rogue townsperson regularly and  illegally driving his plow-truck down the interstate around 8:30, only to be sent home time and time again by the sheriff.

     It makes for a good laugh every time we mention it. The juxtaposition of the concept and the reality. The way the meaning is so completely different. I think Quill & Think can have that, and have it in a very good way. The tagline reads as follows: "A Casual Writers Group". Will you read it as 'a group for casual writers' or a 'casual group for writers'? Either way is acceptable. Welcome back. Write on.

Something New

I just thought that I would share something new with you all. You can read it on one of my blogs. ssmarks-crazy.blogspot.com . Tell me what you think.

Seeing Red: Giles' project

I sit, staring at it. The monster glares back; mockingly silent, almost daring me to do something. I can’t help but think how unfair this is; I mean, I worked hard only to be rejected. This wasn’t the first time, either. Rejection has become synonymous with my name.

It started over three years ago when I tried for the first time to gain acceptance. We met in the lobby of slick New York hotel, and she treated me to dinner so that we could chat, discuss the future. I didn’t know then what the monster truly was, so I brought it along, even showed it to her! She simply smiled politely, flashing those beautiful white teeth, and told me we would not work.

Undaunted, I flew to Seattle and met my next prospect in a coffee shop on the waterfront. I showed him the monster as well, and he seemed intrigued. So we met again, for several weeks we would sit and talk over coffee, and it was going well. Until that fateful day when he didn’t show up. I waited for over an hour, only to receive a phone call. He was polite, but he said this would work for him, or the people he worked for.

Denver was even worse: she led me on for almost a year, even working with me in my attempts to create new masterpieces. Every day we labored, sharing in each other’s lives. But she completely ignored my original creation. She would not accept that part of me, and so I could not accept her. They say rejection is easier when it is mutual, but that’s only another lie we tell ourselves to make it easier.

I tried again and again, each time falling flat on my face. It wasn’t as if it was my fault, it was this thing, this monster. So I sit, glaring. Now I’m going to fix this. I will not be rejected again.

I reach into my desk drawer and remove an ancient weapon. Unsheathed, it has the power to destroy lives or make me into a king. Naked, it sits in my hand; I’ve mastered it’s use over the years. I think I can see the monster change before me, but I no longer hear it’s plea for mercy. With due prejudice I slash! It lies before me, bleeding helplessly on my desk, but not dead, so I slash again, over and over! For hours I sit there, butchering the thing that ruined my life.

I cannot recognize it anymore, not as the work I carried with me all those years. I see it for what it truly is: a beast in literature form! To think that I could naively present this abomination to the public makes me sick, so much so that I nearly wretch. But I have found satisfaction so I will lay myself down to sleep.

And as the sun rises on a new day, I will begin anew. The monster is dead, and from the ashes of the creature, I will bring forth a true work of beauty, something they will have no choice but to accept.

Project Time:

You must write about something red and patience, 500 word minimum. Stop signs, stop lights, yield signs, do not enter signs, anything that has to do with traffic.......FORBIDDEN. Go for it. Deadline is Thursday, August 10.

New Posts Coming!!!

Quill & Think is back in the saddle folks!

Giles will be posting this weeks project soon!