You stare at
the blinking cursor on the page, the blank page you’ve stared at for the last
hour. You rifle through your story ideas folder for inspiration, and none
appears. You open your current WIP and read, hoping to get the urge to continue
writing: nothing.
Writer’s
block. Writer’s drought. Writing slump.
Whatever you
want to call it, the inability to write when writing is your passion is
painful.
It’s even
more so when that inability turns into a way of being. You go through your busy
life, taking care of every single thing on your massive to-do list but your
writing. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Not when you have Make Your Writing Bloom.
Make Your
Writing Bloom is
a tool to help writers who are stuck get unstuck. Through a seven-day process,
you will examine and write about your
love of writing, your favorite writing experiences, the fears and daily
goings-on that usurp your writing, and the work needed to blend writing into
your busy life. Once you complete those “therapy” sessions, you’ll be ready for
the last leg of this journey: picking a story idea, doing some timed writing,
and planning your writing for the next 30 days.
If you’ve
lost your zest for writing, Make Your
Writing Bloom is the book to help you reclaim the zest and put
pen to paper.
About the Author
Writing evangelist
Shonell Bacon is the owner of
ChickLitGurrl, a company that publishes her books and offers editing and
manuscript evaluation services. In a span of 18 years, Shonell has worked with
indie authors and small presses to edit thousands of projects—from loglines,
synopses, and short stories to novels, self-help books, and theses and
dissertations. For over 17 years, Shonell
taught courses in English, mass communication, and fiction at the university
level, and now she combines those experiences into ChickLitGurrl to help
writers become better writers with
each project they write.
When not reveling in words, Shonell is crafting,
collecting pens and journals, drinking sexy java and demure teas, spending time
with her family, and singing her life like a musical.
Learn
more about Shonell at the following outlets:
Website: http://chicklitgurrl.com || Facebook: http://facebook.com/shonbacon
Twitter: @chicklitgurrl || Instagram: @chicklitgurrl
Let's start with a
topic most writers cringe at: writer's block. Do you believe in writer's block?
I find this a funny question because Make Your Writing
Bloom is for those writers who are stuck in their writing--for whatever reason.
I do believe in writer's block--to an extent. I think the writing is always
there, but something causes it not to flow. Maybe we have too much going on in
our daily lives to give writing the breathing space it needs to flow. Perhaps,
you're letting your own doubts and fears that keep you from writing. Writing is
always there, tapping a foot, waiting for your return. It's US that have to
come back, settle in, and get the work done.
Speaking of your
latest project, why should someone buy Make Your Writing Bloom?
First, let me say to all readers: do not let the
sweet-looking cover fool you. MYWB can be for every writer who feels stuck, who
needs to remember their love of writing, what writing does for them, and fall
back in love and into the swing of writing enthusiastically. If you're stuck,
MYWB can get you unstuck. Also, don't let the "7-Day" in the subtitle
make you feel that the book requires you to apply a quick fix to your writing
journey. The book can be used in 7 days or in how many days you need to work
through the activities and get to the point that you can start work on a new
(or yet-to-be-finished) project.
What experience do you
have to write this book and to have others buy it?
Well, I taught university courses in English, mass
communication, and fiction writing for 18 years; most of those classes were in
writing: English Composition, Writing for the Media, Fiction Writing, etc., so
I have experience in helping others develop content for various media outlets.
In addition, I have been an editor for the same amount of years, working with
indie authors and small presses to edit loglines, synopses, short stories,
novels, non-fiction projects, and academic work, such as theses and
dissertations. Couple my experiences with my sheer love of writing, words, and
helping writers hone their craft, and you have me.
What was your favorite
part to write in Make Your Writing Bloom?
I'm not sure I would call it my FAVORITE, but the
section on fears was an important one to me. We ALL, at some point, have fear,
and fear is so freaking crippling. It kills. It kills our spirit, our minds,
our bodies, our hearts--and even our writing. It's something that I fight
nearly every day of my life, so I felt compelled to write about it and to help
writers fight fear, kill fear in their writing, and get back to the safe spaces
that provide maximum productivity.
Does writing energize
or exhaust you?
BOTH. When I am writing, the energy thrums through me.
However, there are those scenes that completely drain me because of the
emotions built within them.
Did writing Make Your
Writing Bloom energize or exhaust you?
Ha. Again, both. I love writing, and I love helping
other writers to write better, so writing MYWB totally energized me. However,
this book is also a personal one in some respects because I ask writers to
reflect on things like why they love writing, what was one of their favorite
writing moments, what does writing mean to their lives, and as I'm writing, I
can't help but to recall my own answers, some of which conjured up emotions
that exhausted me.
Aside from self-help
or how-to writing, what other types of writing do you do?
I write fiction. I have some projects published in
mystery (Death at the Double Inkwell and Into the Web) and
rom-com (Saying No to the Big O). I have other projects completed or in
the process of being completed—mostly mysteries. As I move through this journey
called life, I see my writing consolidating into a few arenas: mysteries, books
on writing, and faith-based self-help works. I have also written screenplays
and currently have an adapted screenplay making the rounds with some production
companies—fingers crossed!
Does your family
support your career as a writer?
Yes, they have always supported me, which at times, I
felt odd about because I had the mentality that I expected them to
have--"Oh, you want to write? So, you think you can have a career doing
THAT?"
Do you view writing as
a kind of spiritual practice?
Yes, yes, I do. SO very much. They both need faith and
a walk in that faith to stay deep in your practice. Three books I'm reading
(and highlighting and notetaking like crazy) deal with this very thing are Pray
Write Grow: Cultivating Prayer and Writing Together by Ed Cyzewski
(http://bit.ly/PrayWriteGrow), The Art of Spiritual Writing: How to Craft Prose
That Engages and Inspires Your Readers (http://bit.ly/ArtSpiritualWriting) and
The Soul Tells a Story: Engaging Creativity with Spirituality in the Writing
Life (http://bit.ly/SoulTellsStory) by Vinita Hampton Wright.
You talked about
writing and spiritual practice in the last question; here’s something that ties
to that: inspiration. What inspires you to write?
One word: LIFE. I once had a short story-turned-novel
come to me on a bus ride when I saw an empty swing set and sadness gripped me.
I took that sadness and that swing set home and ruminated over them for days
until a story began to unfold itself. I sit at cafes and watch and listen to
those around me, and pieces of conversation will turn in dialogue; the bright
pink strip of hair in the mane of someone who looks like a schoolmarm will have
me conjuring up a new character to write about. Being smack dab in the middle
of life will inspire most to write.
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