Fun Stuff to go With Cherished Preserver

If you've read my book, Cherished Preserver, you know that the heroine, Sarah Scott, has an interesting time in tomb KV38 in the Valley of the Kings.  If you'd like to have a better look at her tomb, try this link to the Theban Mapping Project sight.http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/sites/browse_tomb_852.html

Sarahs Journal November 26, 1910

         I don’t know why I need to write about this, for I’m certain sure that I’ll never in my life forget it.  My jaw still drops when I think of the sight my eyes beheld today on the deck of the steamer:  Professor Ross in his shirtsleeves AND NO TIE!!  For three long years I’ve never seen the man in anything but a tidy suit. Even on field study he wore a dressy, many-pocketed coat, but not today.  What a handsome figure he cut.  The girls back home would have fainted dead away, especially because his hair too was soft and free.  It wasn’t slicked back as usual.  AND IT’S WAVY!  With curls on his forehead.  I almost fainted myself.  I at the very least stared for longer than was proper.  My, but he looked younger.  If I didn’t know he was ten years my senior, I would have thought him twenty-five, but for his eyes.  They may be brown and kind, but they’ve seen many things: grand and evil.  I can tell.  And if I ever found it difficult to focus before, well, the difficulty has magnified a hundred fold.

Writer's Block, What's Up With That?

We've all heard about it, that dreaded condition that affects even the best of writers: the evil and terrifying writer's block.  I for one don't believe in it.

I just don't see the point in frightening a writer by stating that their creativity is "blocked" just because they haven't written for a while.  Every writer has gone through dry patches where nothing seems to be transferred from brain to paper, but I take this for more of a break, not a block.

To craft any story, a certain amount of percolation must occur and anyone who's tried percolated coffee as opposed to the auto drip variety knows that a little extra time amounts to a much more robust brew.

I have a dear friend in my writer's group who is also a working mother.  We laugh together about how we seem to take turns writing.  It seems that when she is hot on a new idea, I'm dry, and vice versa.  But we both get so excited about the other's writing that it seems that we are writing ourselves.  My other friend in our group takes a different approach.  She reads stories she loves, and writes short stories, fan fiction or funny commercials when a new story or new characters are being stubborn about showing themselves.

So don't fret, dear writing friends, when you find yourself not writing for a bit.  Stress and deadlines can make our creativity take a nosedive.  And sometimes other aspects of our lives need our attention more at the moment.  So just relax and let that new idea brew.  Go for a day trip and see new places.  Also you could think about finding a few writer friends to share your life and creativity with.  Whatever you do, don't worry about the term "writer's block," because you are a writer, and no silly trumped up term can change that.

Have fun!