{"id":484,"date":"2008-10-06T23:30:39","date_gmt":"2008-10-07T03:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/?p=484"},"modified":"2008-10-06T23:30:39","modified_gmt":"2008-10-07T03:30:39","slug":"six-interesting-things-about-me-or-my-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/?p=484","title":{"rendered":"Six Interesting Things About Me Or My Work"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rhondaparrish.com\" target=\"_blank\">Rhonda<\/a> requested I post a few interesting tidbits about me or my work.\u00c2\u00a0 Since my blog has been more about reviewing lately I thought it would be good to focus on the writing side of me for a bit.\u00c2\u00a0 On the surface it&#8217;s an easy enough request to find six things but because I live with them all of the time others may not find them so interesting.<\/p>\n<p>Here goes nothing:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>In addition to a completed first draft of\u00c2\u00a0<em>More Than Blue<\/em> I have two incomplete first drafts of novels.\u00c2\u00a0 Though the genres of\u00c2\u00a0my novels are literary and fantasy I have managed to include a Pembroke Welsh Corgi in every novel.\u00c2\u00a0 I intend to continue this tradition in my next novel.<\/li>\n<li>Writing new material is easier when it&#8217;s a habit.\u00c2\u00a0 Writing on the same story or novel each day or on a weekly basis keeps me focused on the task at hand.\u00c2\u00a0 A good break to get my mind working in another direction is to edit a completely different work.<\/li>\n<li>A\u00c2\u00a0walk in my neighborhood usually gives me ideas when I&#8217;m stuck on what to write next.\u00c2\u00a0 It&#8217;s a time of reflection for me.\u00c2\u00a0 I may notice the chirpy chatter of the squirrels, the hydrangeas that have been cut down to nothing, or my mind will wander and I&#8217;ll end up with a first line or a plot point.<\/li>\n<li>I&#8217;m more productive (writing and editing)\u00c2\u00a0when I have deadlines.\u00c2\u00a0 Self-imposed deadlines usually don&#8217;t work but deadlines from editors or critique partners keep me producing more.<\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s good to fill the well of creativity from time to time.\u00c2\u00a0 It can be done with a short trip out of town, dancing in the living room (and not caring who is watching), looking at art, or reading a really good book.\u00c2\u00a0 In short, living my life but allowing room for the introspective moments lets me notice those small details that enrich my writing.<\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s difficult for me to remain focused\u00c2\u00a0on writing if I am hungry.\u00c2\u00a0 In fact, I end up writing about food in great detail which makes it worse.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;d like to introduce you to some writers you may not have heard of before.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.happybooks.de\/\" target=\"_blank\">Beate Boeker<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0&#8211; A romance novelist, Beate is just as funny online as her characters.\u00c2\u00a0 Beate&#8217;s romance, <em>Wings to Fly<\/em>, was released by Avalon Romance this year.\u00c2\u00a0 Her short story, &#8220;Between Floors&#8221; is currently available from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thewildrosepress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Wild Rose Press<\/a>.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/damiandaily.wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Lisa Damian<\/a> &#8211; Lisa writes for <a href=\"http:\/\/blogcritics.org\/writer\/lisa_damian\" target=\"_blank\">blogcritics<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0but I just go straight to her blog site so I don&#8217;t have to filter through everything.\u00c2\u00a0 Her book, <span id=\"btAsinTitle\"><em>Trout Valley, the Hertz Estate, and Curtiss Farm<\/em> was released this year.<\/span><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/journal.neilgaiman.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Neil Gaiman<\/a> &#8211; I think his blog is a good example of a writer who writes a lot but also has time to share part of himself with his fans.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rhondaparrish.com\" target=\"_blank\">Rhonda Parrish<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0&#8211; Rhonda is a writer and she&#8217;s the editor of\u00c2\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.niteblade.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Niteblade<\/em><\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 She&#8217;s an inspiration for me.\u00c2\u00a0 Without knowing it, she pushes me to reach my writing goals.\u00c2\u00a0 She&#8217;s a great writer, editor, and (most importantly) friend.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/leaschizaseditor.tripod.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Lea Schizas<\/a> &#8211; This woman has the energy of ten people.\u00c2\u00a0 She writes in multiple genres&#8230; she edits&#8230; and she runs The Muse Online Writers Conference each October.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sff.net\/people\/lucy-snyder\/\" target=\"_blank&quot;\">Lucy A. Snyder<\/a> &#8211; Lucy lives in the same town I do.\u00c2\u00a0 She writes short stories, poems and essays.\u00c2\u00a0 Her urban fantasy novel, <em>Spellbent<\/em>, is scheduled for release next year.\u00c2\u00a0 Lucy also coordinates the writing workshops for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.contextsf.org\" target=\"_blank\">Context 21<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rhonda requested I post a few interesting tidbits about me or my work.\u00c2\u00a0 Since my blog has been more about reviewing lately I thought it would be good to focus on the writing side of me for a bit.\u00c2\u00a0 On the surface it&#8217;s an easy enough request to find six things but because I live&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/?p=484\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Six Interesting Things About Me Or My Work<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[63],"class_list":["post-484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing","tag-meme","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=484"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":490,"href":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484\/revisions\/490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}