The Thing about Energy

Yesterday, I had no energy left to do more than think of blogging, and then disregarding the idea. Because it was a really busy day.

Now, you could argue that every day is a busy day for authors, and you’d be right. But for me, it isn’t writing or editing that zaps my energy.

It’s being out and interacting with people I don’t know, dealing with noise, crowds, things to organize and making on the spot decisions. It helps when people are nice (and they generally are), and it helps when I go out at a time when it’s less crowded. It also helps a lot when I’m familiar with where I’m going. But it’s still exhausting.

And to be honest, it has gotten worse with age. (Ahem.)

Now, there are at least two things at play, and I will talk about them more later on, beause I believe they apply to many, many authors:

  1. Spoon theory.
  2. HSP

For now, it is enough to say that it was another lesson about how far to push myself, how to schedule things better, and how to take better care of myself.

I can see a lot of naps in my near future. A LOT. Thank the gods it’s a long weekend.

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Some Thoughts About Magic

As you know, I write fantasy. Which, of course, often contains magic. (Yes, there is magic in The Cloud Lands Saga. It’s just not very obvious.)

And I have argued often with other writers who insisted that I had to map out a magic system (often they were role players, too), or that I needed to finish creating my world before I could write stories in it.

I prefer a more relaxed approach.

You see, I like to step into my world and discover it through my stories. That is a never-ending adventure. After all, we’re still discovering new things right here on Earth.

And I’m the same with magic.

I like discovering what my characters can do – sometimes, they even surprise themselves!

I just think that magic has a price. Just like learning any skill has a price. And like doing anything with focus and concentration, magic takes energy. Big magic takes big energy.

You see, I like things simple.

And I trust my instinct for writing and world-building.

So go and enjoy magic, either by writing it or by reading about it. It does exist even here on Earth, in its own special form, after all.

 

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Musings on Birds

It is pretty much accepted nowadays that birds evolved from a branch of dinosaurs. And that most dinosaurs had feathers. And that some of them were quite intelligent.

Personally, I think it’s fascinating.

You see, my family used to have geese. Geese are fairly intelligent, too. They certainly can distinguish between people and they very quickly learn routines and where they are safe.

The Canada Geese in our local park don’t panic when a small dog comes running. They barely move aside for people. They have learned exactly how safe they are, and what few dangers to avoid.

Corvids are among the smartest breeds of birds. And I love observing crows on my walks. They get really creative when it comes to getting food and having fun. In fact, I once watched a crow deliberately provoking a pair of seagulls and outflying them.

And yet…

To me, birds feel really, really alien.

I’m learning to read their body language. I can usually tell what geese are thinking by reading their movements and voice. I can recognize the calls of many, many bird species.

But they are alien.

Unlike mammals. There’s a kinship with mammals that I feel clearly.

It’s not there with birds. At all.

And deep in the back of my mind, that starts a “what if…?”.

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The Aware Author – Noise

You may know by now that I walk to work. And in fact, I walk along a four-lane street, for about 2km. It’s safe, there is a perfectly good sidewalk that many people use, as well as a bike path.

But today, I focused on the sounds around me.

And as you can imagine, there is a lot of noise in such a street.

First, one notices the cars. But there are busses, trucks, bicycles and pedestrians, and they sound quite distinct.

A jangle to the left of me is a bike. The owner put the chain lock into a basket on the handlebars. Just behind her someone rides a bike with a loose cover rattling above the back wheel.

A deep, moaning sucking sound is a cleaning truck clearing the storm drains.

Then there’s the garbage truck, with the banging of the plastic garbage cans. And the rumble of the wheels on those large bins as they are dragged out of back yards and returned to their hiding places.

The wheezing woooosh is the pneumatic brake of a bus.

Steps behind me, hammering the flagstones. A man runs past, trying to catch the bus.

And suddenly – silence. No cars rushing by. For a few moments, I can hear a bird sing, a seagull scream. The rustle of the wind in the trees growing both on the middle particion, as well as on the sides of the street, in front of the houses. It lasts only a few seconds, then traffic is back.

Can you sense how rich that environment is?

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What to Write?

It’s always a bit of a decision to choose what to write next.

Because while we want to tell stories that are fun to write, we authors also want our stories to be read and enjoyed – and even to sell!

So basically, we have to decide whether to write to market or write to joy.

At least that’s what people say, and they always pretend you have to be in one camp or the other. Because it’s either a career (work hard! struggle!) or a fun hobby (and you’ll never sell anything).

I think there can be a happy mixture of both.

For example, I decided to focus on dragons for a while, for two reasons:
1) I love dragons.
2) Dragons were selling rather well.

That made it easy.

But now that dragons aren’t selling that well anymore (at least from what I can see), I still want to finish my series. There are stories to tell, and they are fun. So yeah, I’m on it.
(Want to motivate me more? Buy one of my books. Or leave a review. *wink*)

And on the other hand, we know that sex sells. (Many, many books!)

For years, I thought I couldn’t write sex. Wouldn’t even try.

Until last year, when I thought: “Why the f… not?”
(Yes, that was intentional.)

And I ended up with a huge writing binge for over two months, and two rather promising series in erotic Romance/SF. Unfortunately, now I have to finish what I started and edit the whole stash. Somehow, that’s less fun.

But that’s still part of writing. And I’ll get it done.

PS: My friend Diane Patterson and I did an interview with Susan Kay Quinn about that very topic. Listen to it here:  23 – Susan Kaye Quinn and the indie author mindset

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The Aware Author – People

Today, I walked through town, in brilliant weather. The first warm and beautiful Sunday morning.

And I observed people. I love doing that. I always learn more that I can use for my stories or characters. And I always give people at least some of my attention, if not all of it.

Many women smiled back at me. Some even greeted me, even though I didn’t know them.

Men were different. Some were drinking this early. Some were loitering and standing in the way of other pedestrians, oblivious to the fact. Some leered. Some were kind and smiled, too.

It was fascinating.

My impression:

More women are aware of their surroundings and the people around them than men. The women also react much more to what’s going on around them. Could be a survival instinct, even though women rarely get harassed in Germany. (No cat-calling.) That really is just an assumption.

Men seem to be more centered in themselves, to the point of being oblivious of who is walking near them. I don’t know if that’s true. I’m a woman. (Let me know if you have thoughts about that in a comment.) But men are definitely just as capable of smiling and reacting to someone as women are.

And a part of me would like to take this into a fantasy world and twist it. Not sure how. Just wanting to play with this and make readers share in my awareness.

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Introverted?

I believe I’m an introvert. I love silence. I love connecting with people through the safety of my computer screen. I think silent reading meetings are a great thing. So are libraries.

And yet… when I meet someone who thinks like me, who enjoys the same things – writing, reading, stories, horses, role-playing, and whatever else – I can talk for hours. And love every minute.

Sound familiar?

Maybe I’m not introverted. Maybe I just need the right people. Maybe so do you.

Think about that. Because we humans are social creatures.

We need the right tribe.

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On Writing Dialogue

I spent some time editing today. Nice time, sitting on the balcony, in my new writing place. However, editing is hard for me even in a nice place when the sun is shining and the birds are singing.

Oh, I don’t mean finding and fixing typos. I actually like doing that.

What is hard for me is to unzip a scene, add some more stuff or shift something around and then making it all fit seamlessly again. Because I like how my scenes flow, and sometimes, it’s near impossible to cut them open.

I wish I had some editorial superglue to make that easy.

Anyway, I was adding a lot more dialogue – and I usually find myself writing dialogue that is not straight and polished and to the point. Sometimes, it strays away from the topic, and one participant has to bring it back to where it belongs. People use shorthand and get misunderstandings. Sometimes, they need to double back to untangle things. And sometimes, they are downright funny.

I love it when that happens. Because that’s how real life talk works. Just watch a talk show to see that in action.

So that part of editing was actually fun.

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The Aware Author – Silence

This morning, it was quiet.

Even though I live in a large town. And right on a four-lane street.

But it was early morning on a public holiday.

I could hear the birds sing in the yard, and tell which kind was singing. The wing snap of a courting dove was really loud. I could hear the slow rumble of a ship’s diesel in harbour. I could hear the occasional car, and once, the sirens of an ambulance.

And most of all I could hear… silence.

Silence is funny. Because it exists below and beyond and within any sound. It’s so fundamental, it’s everywhere, even in screaming and noise.

But you have to look for it. Open yourself to it.

That’s easy on a quiet, beautiful morning. I love it when it is easy.

Because I love silence.

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What if…

… injecting brain dead people with stem cells actually works?

Yes, it’s a thing: Biotech Company Granted Ethical Permission to Use Stem Cells to Reactivate the Brains of the Dead

I mean, sure, what could go wong?

Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is Zombies. In fact, scientists in this project are hoping that simple functions like breathing and regulating body temperature come back, which means that machines can be switched off and the person/body can live on.

But taking this deeper, what will happen to memories, even if the brain can be restarted? It’s likely that memories are wiped since they are stored in an active brain, not in passive connections. Which means the personality won’t exist as it did before.

So bringing back a brain might not bring back the person loved by the families. This could simply be a human who just looks like the person that existed before. Who maybe moves like them. But that might be all. Why would anyone do this?

And why would they – still following the line of thought – subject a person to relearning everything in life? Are we this afraid of death?

Which in turn creates tons of story ideas – at least in my brain. How about yours?

I love how inspiration is everywhere.

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