Nightmares

I have dreams and I've had nightmares. I overcame my nightmares because of my dreams ~ Jonas Salk

What nightmares do you have think about? For me, it seems to be about not being happy at work in life.  So how do I overcome that? With my further dreams of a success!

Sometimes these dire thoughts fuel me to keep working, especially when I'm struggling. It also helps to fuel my daily routines because I don't want those dire thoughts to come true. I turn the dire thoughts around into positive actions to prevent them from coming true.

How do you handle negative self talk along your dream journey?

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Is it possible for two Civil War veterans to find their place in the world on the Kansas Prairie?

When the War Between the States ended in 1865 many Americans emerged from the turmoil energized by their possibilities for the future. Frank Greerson and Gregory Young were no different. After battling southern rebels and preserving the Union, the two men set out to battle the Kansas Prairie and build a life together. Frank yearned for his own farm, away from his family—even at the risk of alienating them. Gregory, an only child, returned home to claim his inheritance to help finance their adventure out west.

Between the difficult work of establishing a farm on the unforgiving Kansas prairie, and the additional obstacles provided by the weather, Native Americans and wild animals, will their love and loyalty be enough to sustain them through the hardships?

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The Color Blue

Here's to all the shades of the color blue ~ Jill Badonsky

I love today's quote because blue is my favorite color.  It's always been my favorite color, even when it wasn't as fashionable as it is today.  But that's OK, because I stuck with it through the 1990s and now it's back. 

My sticking with the color blue is like sticking with a dream goal.  You have to stick with it through the good and the bad to see it through.  Now that I have some professional feedback, I am working through the editing and re-writing process on A Place to Call Their Own.  I am placing all other projects on hold, except reading for research for The Higher Law and reading a newly published book for a friend and writing a review.

Write now, pun intended, nothing is as important as getting A Place to Call Their Own published.  Just like in the past even though there were other colors more fashionable, blue was always my favorite color.

The Subject is of No Account

The subject itself is of no account; what matters is how it is presented ~ Raoul Duffy

Presentation is everything.  Have you seen the opening to the movie The Phantom of the Opera, the 2004 version?  What starts very slow and calculated eventually gives us a grand opening as the decaying opera house fades from the decay into the grandeur it was during the time of the story.  That is a Hollywood opening worth remembering  that just fuels the suspense of the grand story you're about to experience.

Yes, presentation is everything.  No matter what your dream journey, make the presentation of your final project worth experiencing and you will find success. 

What have you done on your dream journey to make the ordinary seem extraordinary?

Don't Worry About What You're Going to Get

My father used to say to me, "Show 'em what you can do, and don't worry abut what you're gonna get.  Say you'll work for free and make yourself invaluable." ~ Clint Eastwood

I have lived with the principle of making myself invaluable in my career really my entire life.  It really sunk in about fifteen years ago.  That's also when I stopped asking how much new jobs paid, whether they were just different jobs within my same company or they were with a new company. 

If you're pursuing a creative dream, like I am, this is very much the same.  As any writer will tell you, you have to toil away day after day, night after night, working the writing around a full time job and familial obligations.  But just like anything worth doing, it's very worth it to me to do it for free for a bit until I can attempt to parlay that into a full time career.

With the new season of America's Got Talent just starting, this quote also makes me think of most creative pursuits.  If one loves something, you'll keep on doing it, no matter how one fairs in contests or commercially.  If you work hard enough, one day the rewards one is looking for will pay off.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!  Let the summer begin!

The Best Way to Have Good Ideas

The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas ~ Linus Pauling

No matter what dream journey or task that you’re focused on, you normally have to some sort of idea how to accomplish your task or tasks.  The best way to come up with a good idea is indeed to come up with a lot of ideas and then whittle them away until you come up with the best ones for the project for the moment.

On my dream journey of writing and publishing a novel, I have found out, the hard way, the value of good brainstorming sessions before setting out on the actual writing.  Now don’t get me wrong, fellow writers, I know there were times when just sitting down and pounding out the thoughts on my mind helped me push forward and get the novel finished.  But because I didn’t do enough outlining, there I’ve had some pretty long stops because I didn’t know where the story was going.  So my lesson learned was to do as much outlining and preparation up front so that the writing process was smooth and fluid.  By knowing exactly where the story was going, I was able to easily write 1000 words or more a week, some days I wrote as many as 2000 or 3000 words in one day alone.  And the other lesson I learned is that when I do get stuck or haven’t done my outlining, that it’s OK to take a step back and do more brainstorming to get the story moving along again.

And all along the way I am gathering new thoughts for future chapters and future novels.  During the writing of A Place to Call Their Own, I came up with the rough idea for five sequels (That’s why I like writing historical fiction, there’s usually a lot of history to write around), at least two non-fiction books, another trilogy, and a standalone story.  As the ideas started pouring in around the work in progress, I found more ideas that didn’t fit.  I just moved those notes elsewhere and those WIP’s are just waiting for me to work on them in the future.  And sometimes, I work on them instead of the primary WIP because I find some inspiration that I can’t sit aside with some notes.

So if you are trying to come up with some ideas, come up with as many ideas as you can.  You’ll find as you get going you’ll just keep coming up with more.  Take the ideas from the stories you read in the newspaper, online, and the novels you’re reading as well as TV shows and movies you’re watching.  Creative ideas to help you on dream journey are all around you!

What’s the most creative idea you’ve had lately?  I’d love to hear about it!

Here's to Life's Conveniences

Here's to life's conveniences ~ Jill Badonsky

Today in Kansas City, it was over 100 degrees and it's supposed to be even hotter tomorrow. Thank goodness for air-conditioning.

Another of life's conveniences is the farming equipment that our farmers have today.  I'm knee deep in researching harvesting in the 1860s for A Place to Call Their Own. And even though I was a "town kid," I knew that much of the farm work, even in the 80s, was done in air-conditioned cabs of the tractors and combines.

So here's to life's conveniences, most specifically air conditioning, during this extremely hot and humid summer. And here's to meeting my #writinggoal for the day.

Reflections After Reading Letters From Home

Letters from Home, by Kristina McMorris, is the story of three young women and their relationships with each other and their families during the last year of World War II.  As the war comes to a close and the world finds peace again, Liz Stephens Julia Renard, and Betty Cordell find themselves.  Life will never be the same for any of them after the war.

The heart of the story is a love story inspired by the author's own grandparents.  It's a beautiful story, but I had to stop reading at many points along the way.  This was not because I was tired, not because it was late, not because I was bored.  I had to put the book down because I could no longer read through the tears I shared the emotions that the characters were feeling on their journeys during this turbulent time in history.

As a writer, I learned how to construct the plot around multiple characters in multiple locations.  The chapter headings help, but there's a bit more to the construction of the plot than just the chapter headings.  The choices on how what happens to each character, in each location, at each time, is integral in the telling of the story.

Letters from Home would be a great addition to your summer reading list.

As One Gets Older, One Sees Many More Paths That Could be Taken

As one gets older, one sees many more paths that could be taken. Artists sense within their own work that kind of swelling of possibilities, which may seem a freedom or a confusion – Jasper Johns

The best advice about writing, or pursuing any goal, has been to do it and do it everyday. I work hard everyday to complete at least 250 words on A Place to Call Their Own and a blog post of 250-300 words.

Some days, the creativity just flows. Last Saturday was one of those days. I was able to get through five hundred words in the novel and had four blog posts ready to go, In addition to four blog posts being complete, I had the subjects/inspiration ready to go for ten more posts. That's enough to be able to post once a day for two weeks.

Work on A Place to Call Their Own is moving forward again. It's moving along quite well, considering I've been a bit reserved about how to proceed. I've been off work the last two nights, so waking up at 4:00 AM has turned into some extremely productive time for me.

What I've learned about he last two weeks, is just go with it. Force yourself to write, or work towards your goal, and you will see progress. I'd also let you know to take advantage of the times when the words, or whatever you produce, flow freely.

How about you, what do you do to keep yourself going? I'd love to hear your comments...have great day, everyone!

Here's to an Abundance of Art One Finds in Nature

Here's to an abundance of art one finds in nature. - The Awe-Manac by Jill Badonsky

What a wonderful toast and how appropriate. I'm tired of being frustrated with my bouts of insomnia, either at night or during the day, so I've been claiming those times for productivity. This morning, I pounded out 718 words from 2:00 am to 3:00 am. I have to tell you it felt pretty good.

This toast of the day grabbed my attention because I wrote about a particularly pastoral scene and thought about the beauty of the scene and the survival aspect. Yes, the whole humankind against nature theme. Then, I was able to write great paragraph where one of the main characters reflects the events as they've happened thus far and build some foreshadowing of events to come. I pick up a great example this while reading Motion to Kill by Joel Goldman. I love taking devices that work well in crime and mystery and using them to make my historical fiction piece even better.

Earlier today we went for a walk and found a beautiful memorial garden in the heart of our city. We've only lived in Kansas City for a little over the year so we're still discovering what our new city has to offer. Just taking a few minutes away from the house and getting outside has energized me enough to want to get home and get some productive writing done this afternoon. I would like to get some future blog posts started and I need to return to A Place to Call Their Own this weekend as well. 

What about you? If you're a fellow writer, how has nature inspired you? For my other followers, how has nature inspired you on your success journey?