The Key to Finding Inspiration

Whether you're a writer, artist, poet, crafter, or any person willing to look outside themselves for inspiration to create or do, there is never a short supply of places to find it. Recently I was loitering on Erin Morgenstern's blog and saw a link to a small etsy shop. What I saw there, sparked a domino effect of inspiring ideas which will be used in the sequel to Burning Spirit (the novel I'm currently editing).

Although it didn't look like much and wasn't very large, the simplest of things, a ring, has made all the difference.

What Writers Should Be Doing While Writing

Every writer has a list of naughty things they do when they write that all but destroys the movie magic imagery of the creative type whisking themselves away to sit at an old table to focus and bang out a novel in a single weekend on a typewriter. If you're looking for some insight into my dirty writing habits, then you're in the right place.

Before I get started with my list, however, I must bash upon the rocks those "movie writer" notions. Novels aren't written from start to finish in one sitting and no one can seclude themselves for a weekend to complete the task either. There's a reputation/stereotype that writers hang out in their slippers all day, and while that's a possibility, the writing life is anything but comfortable. There's a lot of mental anguish going on that requires slippers, coffee, snacks, and a few other things to get the job done. No writer can snap their fingers like Mary Poppins and have the story told.

There is Hope

There's a dark place in all of us where we fear if the things we want in life will ever come to pass. We painfully yearn for relief from depression(me), to find a home, to publish a book(me), to cure a sickness, to find love, or money to afford the essentials of life(me). This dark place of fear and trepidation, however, isn't sold separately. It always comes prepackaged with Hope. Through my own depressive states, when things feel totally awful, I know somewhere deep down that my problems will lull and resolve...eventually. I have Hope, even when I have to really dig deep to find that sucker, and you should know there's always Hope for you as well.

My Advice for New Writers

If you're a would-be, wannabe, gonna-be, aspiring writer and you're just getting started (or you've dipped your toe into the pool, but have yet to make the plunge) a quick Internet search will provide you with a mound of both helpful and less than helpful information. There's no shortage of dos and don'ts about everything from plotting entire novels, to how to craft a good sentence. Want advice about descriptions? It's there. Need to find a suitable name for your character? You won't have to look far.

As for the actual task of "being a writer," there's a plethora of that, too. Stephen King insists you be a reader and I couldn't agree more. Neil Gaiman says to finish your work, also sound advice. There's also a lot of caution delivered by successful writers for you to quit while you have the chance. Writing is, after all, a terribly cruel and difficult business which requires the thickest skin and many hours of solitary work. My advice for new writers is this:

Publication News: The Jump

Super happy! My short story "The Jump" has been published in From the Depths, a literary journal put out by Haunted Waters Press. I'm so excited to be included in this great journal and hope you'll check out my story, as well as others' stories and poems, in the Spring 2012 issue found here.

Book Snob: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

A while back I mentioned I wanted to share great book covers with you since I'm basically a big, fat, judgemental, book cover snob. So, here's a beauty: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. This cover is simple, yet vibrant and the picture along with the title font can't help but create a sense of mystery and build intrigue. Flip the book over and the back is just as suited for the fantastic: solid black with electric blue feathering on the top and bottom with a strong pitch for the book. The back reads: She had been innocent once, a little girl playing with feathers on the floor of a devil's lair. She wasn't innocent now..." and that's all. No kudos from editors/writers/critics. Just the pitch in blue text. Great stuff and I can't wait to dive in.

Jacket design is by Dave Caplan and Alison Impey.

Getting Trapped in the Gap

Like a lot of people, I go through spurts of heavy creativity followed by plateaus of blahdom. Either I'm terribly intensive, slaving away on my story and annoyingly stuck in my own head, focused on the world I'm building for Elsbeth and Burning Spirit,...or I'm not. I'm either the crazy chick from The Craft, or I'm the girl next door: someone calm and fun.

The problem is that you can't really get any work done in either situation. If you're girl-next-door (GND), then you're out having coffee and not working at all, and if you're crazy-bitch-from-the-craft (CBFC) you can't be objective about your work and you, my lovely readers, get left behind.

Embracing the Fantasy Genre

There's something I've been trying to wrap my head around for going on a year now, and that is the Fantasy genre and how I come to greet it. The second I think of Fantasy I picture dragons, fairies, knights, princesses in thick gowns, goblins, days of old, and a bunch of fresh bread baking in open flame ovens. This is clearly a stereotype of the genre since so many fantastic books are Fantasy without containing any of that, and a lot of books with those features are also great and engaging.

Burning Spirit - The Pitch

February, so far, has been a busy month. Between housesitting and just about everyone coming down with some kind of temporary sickness, it's been hard to keep up with the blog and talk to you. However, when things get busy, I keep writing. I keep working on my witch novel, A Burning Spirit, editing, cutting, adding, etc.. But, to be honest, when the squeeze of time happens, I'm sorry, I choose the novel over the blog. If I didn't, then I wouldn't have anything to submit to agents/publishers down the road but an idea, a first draft, and a lot of blog entries.

The Name Change

In case you've been here before and suddenly your world has been turned upside down and you think you're losing your mind because this lady won't use commas fear not! It's okay. You're in the same place you used to be in when you recognized everything but now it's all very different and somehow smells better.

What am I talking about? (I don'tknow, I'munder the weather andmy spacebar is still actingup.)

Actually, I do know, I've changed the name of my blog from Confessions of a Fiction Writer to, simply put, Margaret Telsch-Williams' Blog.

While I love to write about writing, and talk about writing, and sing about writing, and dream about critiquing writing (true story), I think the old title was restricting all of the wonderful things I wanted to say to you fantastic readers all because the title of the blog told me not to. Not about writing somehow equalled, don't share.

So, tah-dah, here's the new shebang blog, just like the old one, but with more me.

Whatdya think?