You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.
Don’t let yourself indulge in vain wishes. –
Rabindranth Tagore

This reminds me of my mom, who always said, I’ll win the lottery when the blue bird of happiness leaves the winning ticket on my doorstep. Guess what, she never won. You can’t win if you don’t play and the same can be said about any of our dreams.

You can’t be a ____ (insert your dream here) if you don’t try, study, learn, practice, set aside time to accomplish it or go for it.

That being said, my finding time to actually write is really hard! A short blog – no problem, a quick email – easy, update my website – simple, but actually write a chapter or even a few paragraphs – incredibly difficult.

Of course when you write, when you really write, you have to put yourself in that characters frame of mind.  You have to place yourself in that particular situation. You have to feel what that character is feeling, smell what they are smelling, taste what they are tasting, etc.  imag0637

If your story is going to be believable –
YOU have to believe it.

So I need silence (husband not home talking in the background), no music, no TV, no incoming emails pulling me from my imagination.  I need to know my work is done and I don’t have a set time limit. I need to have everything else work-wise caught up so there is no stress or guilt (maybe that is just me) and I need to be in the right frame of mind.

I can’t become the super-power Kaitlyn, the defenseless Kristen, the 11 year old Kate or the innocent Krystal if I am not ready to become that person. (Notice a theme with the first letter of each character name?)  Muchless can I figure out what the powerful Tom would say, the Dandy Lion would do or the Niko would envision if I am not literally in that place and time in my mind.  (Some current stories, some future stories)

So while I am an author facing a sea of challenges attempting to escape into worlds unknown, I’m at least attempting to swim in the shallow waters at least once a week (if not more) because I can.

Don’t let yourself indulge in vain wishes…
come on in – the water’s fine!