My
inner world is filled with mythic gods and goddesses, emerald hills and
dimensions of shadow and mist, alien creatures and teenage girls finding their
heart and power. This is a glimpse of the
outer world I live in while I create my stories.
When I write, I surround myself with things that
inspire me. I have a particular totem that I have nearby when writing the
Akasha Chronicles stories – a beautiful, winged faerie of the wood that I named
Nissa. See that little bottle in front of her? It’s a spell bottle made for me
by a wonderful woman in Ireland. It’s full of Irish herbs, flowers and positive
energy. This is my little ‘shrine’ to Emily Adams that helps fuel my
imagination while writing the Akasha Chronicles.
This particular totem and the spell bottle are
fitting for the Akasha Chronicles. Both Emily’s House (Book 1) and Emily’s Trial (Book 2) deal with Celtic myth,
legend and Irish lore.
Speaking of inspiration and beauty, this is my
view outside of my office window.
Blue skies and mountains! Okay,
the roofs of the houses aren’t very inspirational, but you get the idea. I look
over the roofs toward the majesty of the peaks when I need a pick-me-up. When
I’m writing new material, I try to get outside for a walk every day. Is there
anything more inspirational than God’s beauty?
I create vision boards from time
to time, little inspirational pick-me-ups that help remind me of what’s
important. My current vision board reminds me of why I write in the first
place. That’s right – FUN!
Believe it or not, this is something that most
writers need reminded of from time-to-time. Sure, writing can be fun. But a lot
of the time, it feels more like this:
Even with mountains, blue sky, totems and vision
boards, writing is damned hard.
Most of the time, I write on my laptop. I have a
larger screen that I can hook it up to, but I like the intimacy of the words
being closer to me when I write. And I’ve GOT to have music – always – when I
write. Most of the time I listen to music without words when I’m writing –
don’t want to start writing a story that steals lyrics from ‘Moves Like
Jagger’! But I create a playlist ‘soundtrack’ for each book that I write. I
play my soundtrack before I write to help get me into the right frame of mind.
But sometimes, I write with pen to paper. I’m
picky about my writing tools. I only write new material for a book on Moleskine
notebooks with a Dr. Grip pen. I know – high maintenance! I’ll take notes on
lesser notebooks, but for inspirational words to flow, I need the smooth writing
surface of a Moleskine. (Notice my ever-present Diet Coke – my must-have drink
at around 3:00 p.m. each day!)
I’ve been using pen to paper more often lately. My
creativity seems enhanced by the action of the pen to paper. I’ll probably
write most of my next novel in a Moleskine. Can you say hand cramps?!
There you have it. A small peak into my writing
world.
Happy reading!
