I’m excited to share some good news. BiblioBoard has chosen to add Love Lies Bleeding to Indie Ontario and Indie Canada! This means Love Lies Bleeding will be featured and promoted in libraries as a local indie book. Check it out:
The submission process was a long one, so it was great to find out that Love Lies Bleeding made the cut. And now, assuming this pandemic will ever end, I can look forward to participating in events and signings at libraries around the province and country.
If your local library (or bookstore) doesn’t carry Love Lies Bleeding, not to fear. Let them know you’d like to see it on their shelves. (If they ask, you can tell them it’s available through Ingram.)
In other news, I’m making progress on the new book. Part of what’s slowing it down is that I keep adding to it lol. I think the changes will make for a better read, though, and I hope you’ll all agree when it’s finished. This book is going to offer more insight into characters from Love Lies Bleeding, as well as introducing a major new character, and bringing back newbie vampire Trina, whom you’ll remember from Blood Magic. I’m really looking forward to being able to share it with you.
Finally, I just want to wish my fellow Canadians 🍁 a Happy Thanksgiving! Stay safe and enjoy your feast with family and/or friends (or solo, because a quiet holiday can be the best kind of holiday).
A while back I read a great article about how travelling can enrich your writing. In it, the author outlines how travel is unpredictable, fosters empathy and reflection, and creates authenticity in your writing. Now that travel is slowly getting to be possible again, it seems like a good time to remind ourselves of how much it can add to our lives. Here are four more ways travelling is good for creativity (even if you don’t go any farther than the other side of town)…
It breaks up your routine
Even the most imaginative person needs inspiration, and, as many of us have learned these last couple of years, nothing is less inspiring than doing the same things and seeing the same few places over and over again, day after day. Going somewhere new shakes you out of your rut, gives you a fresh perspective, and re-ignites creativity.
If you go somewhere you’ve never been, you’re bound to learn something, whether it’s a few words in another language, facts about local history, or even a new skill (so many places offer classes and workshops for tourists). What you discover can be the spark you need for your current project, or the inspiration for something new.
It gives you the chance to be a different kind of creative
There are all kinds of opportunities to be creative while you travel, and if you can do so in a new (to you) way, even better (I’ve written before about how creativity begets creativity). Take pictures, write a journal entry (or poetry, short fiction, a song…) about your trip, sketch what you see, take part in a workshop, visit galleries and bookstores, talk to interesting people you meet along the way. Use it all as creative fuel.
When I was having trouble finding the right image to use for the cover of Love Lies Bleeding, a photo I’d taken in Paris turned out to be just what I needed (I posted about it here). My Paris trip photos also came through for the cover of Blood Magic, and I have a third one in mind for the next book. I didn’t go to Paris to take photos for my covers, but my travels led to exactly what I needed. You never know what going somewhere new could end up doing for you.
You don’t have to travel to be creative, but it really does help. Even if you can’t make it to another country, try exploring a different nearby town, or visit a neighbourhood in your own town that you’ve never been to. The important thing is to break out of routine and try something new. It could lead you to places you never expected.
Has travel helped your creativity? Share in the comments…
Download my books and find out how my travels have influenced my stories, and not just the covers…
If you prefer paperback, use this link to order Love Lies Bleeding from Bookshop – a portion of each sale goes directly to independent bookstores, as well as to myself. Thank you for supporting indie! ♥
Happy long weekend to all who have one (and happy weekend to everyone else)! If you’ve read and enjoyed any of my books, and have a minute to spare, please show this author some love and leave a rating and/or review (links below)!
I am a slow writer. I’m talking snail slow. Molasses on a cold day slow. George R.R. Martin slow.
I don’t like writing at this pace. I have ideas, stories, entire series impatiently waiting to be written– but they all just have to keep waiting. It’s not only the ideas that are on hold, either; interested readers have been waiting for the follow-up to Love Lies Bleeding since… *checks calendar*….2017. Yikes. I’m really sorry, guys. I promise I’m working as fast as I can.
It’s especially frustrating for me when I see other authors putting out books like clockwork. Some can get one completed every year, some every few months. Some even manage to deliver new books every few weeks. Meanwhile I’m over here trying not to think about all my lost potential.
I have reasons, of course. Too many to list, some probably more valid than others. The last several years I’ve been dealing with a lot: grief, major disruptions in my living situation, an ongoing attempt to buy a home and finally settle down, and– oh yes– an apparently never-ending pandemic. Isaac Newton may have been able to discover the theory of gravity while isolating from the Plague, but I find the stress of trying to not catch a deadly disease isn’t particularly conducive to the creative process.
Even if all these issues disappeared tomorrow, I’m pretty sure I’d still be a slower-than-average writer. That’s because the main reason I take as long as I do is one that will never go away. Simply put: I don’t want to force it. When the Muse is with me, I can get pages and pages done. Those are great days. But the Muse isn’t always so generous. The thing is, you can still write when you’re not inspired. You can sit in front of your keyboard and tell yourself you need to produce X number of words, and then you can do it. We’ve all been there, with a word count and a deadline and grim determination.
But just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should do it.
Reality is, no one produces their best work when they’re forcing themselves. They’re lucky if they produce anything halfway decent under those circumstances. I could churn out books like some writers do, but those would never be books I’d be happy with. I’ve read my fair share of rushed books, and I think it’s safe to say that the authors who write that way probably aren’t really happy with their work, either.
When I take my time with my writing, I can make sure I’m producing something worth the effort. I can put together a story I would want to read and, hopefully, one that readers will find worth reading.
Maybe once life settles down a bit, I’ll be able to pick up the pace. But I hope my readers will understand if I can’t get a new book to them as often as we’d all like.
How about you– is there something you prefer to take your time doing? Share in the comments…
My next book is coming along, but in the meantime give these a read:
If you prefer paperback, use this link to order Love Lies Bleeding from Bookshop – a portion of each sale goes directly to independent bookstores, as well as to myself. Thank you for supporting indie! ♥
It’s your last chance to get Love Lies Bleeding for 25% off! The Smashwords July Summer/Winter E-Book Sale ends this Saturday (the 31st). And don’t forget that Blood Magic and Tooth & Claw are always FREE…
