Continue the Artist's Way Journey!

Continue the Artist's Way Journey!

For anyone who has been inspired by Julia Cameron’s The Artists Way, there is so much to be gained and so much to be learned by following her advice with morning pages, Artist’s dates and all the rest. However, what do you do when morning pages, Artist’s Dates, exploratory essays, inspirational readings are not doing it and your muse is silent? How do you juggle everyday responsibilities and still live the writerly life you yearn for? The life that allows you to create, be who are, explore the inner you and what makes you tick? How do you stay focused with so many distractions?

Well the answers vary for every author. I find that my muse likes down time. Time when I am not in the zone creating, no plugged in, no thinking about all that I have to do, and being physically active. I think the mind/body connection is very strong for me. I have found that taking time for exercise—be it a walk at the beach, a bike ride in the city, or a hike in the mountains is just what my muse needs to show up and be present. Of course, chocolate and wine go a long way as well.

How do you pamper or jump start your silent muse?


Con un pan y cafecito, seguimos adelante

Zulmara

Living the Writerly Life

Living the Writerly Life

The success of NaNo for me was living the writerly life with wild abandon, juicy pens, thirsty paper, and lots of inspiration. I suggest all Wrimos connect with other Wrimos. No one knows what you are going through, except other Wrimos and no one can connect with you and what you are doing, except other Wrimos. Once I met up with the other Wrimos, I knew I had found my group. From our first meeting in the park to our wonderful Build a Muse then let’s have lunch at the Storybook Café in Disney’s California Adventure to our Midnight write-ins at DCA, we had a blast. We were all writing in different genres, we all had different ideas, but we were all writing our hearts and souls during the month of November and having a great time. I loved meeting my group and spending the month of November living the Writerly Life and being totally tuned into my writing. This is what I imagine a full time writer’s life to be...going on artist’s dates, connecting with other writers, sharing time to write, and just being together to offer support and encouragement.


As your month progresses, I hope you look on the site and see what the Community Liaison has planned for your area and find some Wrimos to connect with.

Leave a comment here or Like my FB page for a chance to win a Writer's Tote at the end of the month.


Con un pan y cafecito, seguimos adelante


Zulmara

NaNoWriMo 2011--Here I Come!!!

Hola mis amigos,

Well, I did it. I wrote my novel, Just Once, during NaNo of 2010 and it was fantastic. I wrote it for pleasure, I wrote it for myself, and I wrote because it had to be written. I started writing at midnight on November 1, and had my 50,000 words within a week. Then I proceeded to write about 50,000 more words to complete my novel. Words cannot describe the euphoria I felt when I had finished, both the 50, 000 words and the completed novel by the end of the month. It was so inspirational.

I am now on track to write another novel in November of 2011 and this time I have started with Character Development and Character Sketches. I realized how much fun it is to write, imagine, develop, and get to know my characters and I am going to be sharing some of my characterization exercises that I do with all of you.

These are tried and true and I have used them with both high school and university students. They are a nice way to get to know your character without having to pin a character down at the beginning. The most fun is that they are not set in stone and you can always change them depending on where your character leads, and where you follow.

They are a perfect companion to Scriveners, if you use that for organization, or for any word processor. Just copy and paste and modify to fit your needs. And if you come up with something way cool, please share, I’d love to have it in my archives.

Con un pan y cafecito, seguimos adelante!!!

Zulmara