Downtime by Jane Kindred

I’ve been writing nonstop for more than 10 years—professionally for 7—completing almost 3 books a year for the last 6. Last week, I reviewed the galleys for Kindling the Darkness, my final contracted book in the Sisters in Sin series. And now I have no idea what to do.

It’s kind of nice to be able to take a breather, to not have a deadline looming. On the other hand, I don’t know what normal people do with their time. I’m pretty much doing nothing (other than the day job). I have time to read, finally…and I don’t know what I want to read.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had stories running constantly in the background of my mind, like a program that’s always running on your computer while you’re using other applications. It’s how I’ve always fallen asleep at night, dreaming up worlds and watching love stories play out in my head. And for the first time, I have no characters in there jostling for my attention. It’s quiet. And weird. Quite possibly, I'm depressed. But I don't really care. (Which is probably a sign that I'm depressed.)

You’d think all this existential contemplation would give me plenty of time to come up with entertaining content for blog posts, but, haha, joke’s on you.

Absent any productive ideas, I’ve been watching a lot of Murder, She Wrote. It’s different now, watching Jessica Fletcher deal with life as a published author. When I watched the show the first time around, it was my dream to be her. (I’m also much closer to Jessica’s age. Today, at Walgreens, the checker asked me if I qualified for the senior discount. Okay, so I‘ve been going gray since I was in my 30s, but at 51, I’m not ready for senior discounts yet, thanks. Or as the lovely lady on the Estroven commercial that plays constantly during my old-lady show, Murder, She Wrote, says, “I’m not ready for elastic waistbands!” Now, where was I? Oh, right; insisting that I’m not old. At any rate, I was buying this at the time, so you be the judge:

I also recently bought hair color to match. But that’s neither here nor there, I’ve been doing that for years.)

So me and the Peep (of course it's "the Peep and I," but I must admit, I like the sound of Me and the Peep; it’s a buddy cop show waiting to be written) are sitting here watching Jessica go to writers’ conferences and work on deadlines and snap at her best friend for interrupting her writing flow and put up with mansplaining dudes who belittle her genre, and I’m just nodding along. This is, in many ways, my life (minus the murders and the mad success). But I am, it seems, living the dream.

It isn’t exactly what I expected, but I edit for a steady paycheck by day and write fantastical romance by night that a few people read, and I think my teenage self would be pleased. Now if I could just snap out of this “four-poster dull torpor” and get back to making things up for strangers, that’d be grand.

When Your Motivation Takes a Nosedive

By Maureen L. Bonatch

Do you ever have one of those days when as soon as you wake up you know it’s going to be a fabulous day? You have a smile plastered on your face, and you’re showing your to-do list you’re the boss and you feel as if you can tackle anything that comes your way today. 

Then you go to bed and when you wake up the next day you wonder how in the world you can muster up the energy to get out of bed. 

What the heck happened to all that awesome from yesterday? Just imagine how much more we could accomplish if only we could bottle up all that feel-good energy .

Freeing The Muse

By Maureen L. Bonatch

~Happy Independence Day!~

Writers are often asked the question, “Where do you get your ideas from?”

Inspiration is different for every writer and sometimes that inspiration runs dry, or hits a wall and the muse becomes silent. Some call it writer’s block, others might say it’s a mental block, but most would agree in calling it frustrating when the faucet runs dry and the words that had flowed so freely have now sputtered to a stop.

Just as each writer has different methods of writing their story, most have their own method of getting their muse freed to keep the stories flowing.

One of my best ways to free my muse is right in line with the Bad Boys of Summer theme…

You know the ones…loud, leather-wearing, tattooed, sexy, confident…

Bikers.

Of course I must point out that this is the Stereotypical (though hot) image of a biker as many biking groups are well known for their fundraising rides, support of military, retirees or for a social group.

Recently, I attended Thunder in the Valley, which is known to attract over 200,000 bikers and is one of the largest Pennsylvania biker rallies.

With bikes, bands, a parade, food stands and more...it attracts both bikers and those of the four-wheeled variety as well.

Lucky for me I have my own Bad Boy Biker. It used to be that I was a tad jealous of his love for her (which you can read about on my blog...here) but then decided…If I can’t beat her, might as well join them. It’s been one of the best ways for me to awaken my muse as I cling to my hero’s back and watch the world rush by. 

So for me requesting a ride on the back of his big, sexy beast of a motorcycle helps clear away the cobwebs of my story for it to flow freely through my mind. Thus why I have tiny tablets stashed everywhere to jot down ideas.  

So it came as no surprise to me to find that in my upcoming release, DESTINY CALLING, my Bad Boy happens to be a biker who despite/because of his bad boy persona, my heroine has a hard time resisting.

 Here are other strategies a few of my fellow Paranormal Romantics offered to help defeat Writer’s Block and Free the Muse:

Sometimes I take a step back; stop writing and watch TV or read a book and then hit the writing the next day. Normally stress is what's blocking me so have to take the pressure off of myself and approach things with a clear head. ~ Selena Illyria 

I listen to music, all kinds, which usually sets my creativity loose again! ~Veronica Scott  

When my Muse takes a hike, I watch movies—esp. a science fiction thriller. If it has a romance, all the better.~ Diane Burton 

I let things rest and percolate in the background while I concentrate on other things, such as figuring out how I was going to market  my upcoming novel. Promoting other authors. Writing short pieces for blogs. Reading books for fun!

I am a creature of habit, so I absolutely don’t like change and it appears change upsets the flow of my writing. So after the great hard drive crash of 2014, my muse hit the highway, and did not return until I had my laptop fixed, was sitting in my office cross-legged on the daybed at 3:30 in the morning with a cup of coffee beside me.~ Sophia Kimble

If I'm writing on the computer I will switch to writing long hand. Sometimes I can squeeze out several more pages just doing that. 
 ~Beth Matthews

Thank you for stopping by! 

Paranormal Playlists

I'm one of those writers who usually likes to listen to music when I'm writing. I also craft playlists for my books that help me get into the world when it's time to write or do revisions. And every book usually ends up having it's own song. That one song on the playlist that just becomes inextricably linked with the book in my head.

Sometimes it's difficult, though, to find the right music for a given book. Today, I thought it might be fun to play you guys some of the songs that evoke a paranormal/fantasy feel to me.

"The Lady of Shallott"--Loreena McKennitt


I love McKennitt's voice. All of her stuff is really good for writing. This song in particular puts me right in a world of knights and fair ladies. Dragons and daring deeds to be done. Also, it's really pretty. :)

"Go Big or Go Extinct"--Ramin Djawadi (Pacific Rim soundtrack)


Now for something totally different. This is the kind of music you play when you need your characters to kick a little ass. I love this whole score. (In fact, I just love Pacific Rim period.)

"I'd Lie For You and That's the Truth"--Meatloaf


This one is more for a wild, Indiana Jones-esque adventure type of fantasy. But I love it. And the video is ridiculous amounts of fun. This was the "love theme" for my latest time travel story which is, funnily enough, a twisty, romantic, action adventure story.

"Gunpowder and Lead"--Miranda Lambert

Now this is the song you play when you need some inspiration for your kick ass, take no BS urban fantasy heroine. 

"I See Fire"--Ed Sheeran (From The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug)
 

"If this is to end in fire, Then we should all burn together...If we die, we shall all die together..."
Ugh, I LOVE this song. LOVE. IT. I suspect it will become "the song" for the Robin Hood story I want to write. I love all the Lord of the Rings music, but this is probably my favorite from any of the movies.

What about you guys? When you're reading do certain books have "soundtracks" in your head? Do you have any favorite music that just screams paranormal/SF/F to you? Share in the comments! :D

Ta,
Beth Matthews
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p.s. If any one is interested in the playlists I did for my books, I wrote about that a little bit before on my own blog:
Heir to the Underworld playlist
The Beauty's Beast playlist