Akting Out

I can do almost nothing without music, least of all, write. Plus, I can’t listen to anything with lyrics because it intrudes on the creative process.
I’ve fielded a few questions as to where I find the music I listen to, as most of what I like comes out of a video game or trailer. So I thought I’d share here, complete with links, my ten favorite tracks for writing. Enjoy!

1). Prelude by Pusher Music-I first heard this in the trailer for Transformers: Dark of the Moon and have been hooked on it ever since. Slow-building and intense, I put this on if I need to write a building scene before a conflict. This music…you just know something epic is going to happen, like there’s gonna be this big battle, and this music sets it up.

2). Heart of Courage by Two Steps From Hell-God, I love this group. I must have at least thirty of their tracks but this is by far my favorite. I first heard it in the trailer for Mass Effect 2, and yes, I admit, I imagine something similar to what’s here when I need to do a scene like this. In fact, a large part of Universal Warrior: Atherean Defenders was written to this. A group of reluctant heroes must band together, and work together against something that will destroy them all. It simply has to be done, nothing else matters. I use this music to write scenes like that.

3). To The Last Man by Jack Wall-Another one from the Mass Effect 2 soundtrack, this track inspires my characters to get the hell out of wherever they are. It’s like “Oh shit, we did what we had to do, but now they know we’re here, and there’s a couple million of them, so let’s get the hell out of here.” Especially the last twenty seconds or so of the track. Sure, my guys will fight their way out, but still, no one’s trying to prove anything. Sorry, couldn’t turn up a link for this one.

4). Hope Always by X-Ray Dogg-Upbeat, positive, happy! The conflict is over, the wounds are being licked, but everyone is grateful to still be alive. I also use this to wake up; puts me in a good mood almost all day. First heard it on the trailer for the new Karate Kid movie.

5). Hell’s Army by Epic Score-This is “Let’s Do This” music. Dark, ominous, with rapid beats, this is what I imagine Universal Warrior: Heir To Fire (the sequel to Atherean Defenders) too. All of the bad guys are together, and there are more of them than there are good guys. They’ve been waiting for this moment to strike, they believe that what they are about to do is the right thing, and this is the last little powwow before they strike.

Quick hits; After the Fall by Two Steps From Hell (slow, calming down, rising from the ashes), Protectors of the Earth by Two Steps From Hell, (uplifting, rousing, the good come together), Turning of the Tide by Future World Music (rousing, building, epic battle seemingly going the wrong way until the good guys spring something the bad guys weren’t ready for), Red Warrior by Audiomachine (quickening, the Chosen One), Time Will Remember Us by Epic Score (slow, peaceful, inspiring, epic battle remembered).

So that’s it; my top tracks for writing. Truthfully, I have more than two hundred tracks organized into four playlists I use for writing, but this is what I listen too more than anything else. Anyone out there have anything they’d recommend, or anything they have to listen too when they’re doing something?

Thanks for reading.

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Akting Out LLC

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As fiction writers, some of us find ourselves watching our characters settle their differences, as Eminem once put it, “in the bloodier way”. Some writers have been fortunate enough to go our entire lives without getting into a single fight (their characters always seem happier, too), while others have been in too many. The experiences one has with physical fighting almost always determines how plausible their fight sequences will be, and a poor fight sequence, no matter the medium, can often spoil an otherwise good story.

Alan Baxter, author of RealmShift and MageSign, hopes to make writing fight scenes easier with his companion piece “Write The Fight Right”. In this e-book, Alan, an accomplished martial artist, is good enough to demonstrate the subtle nuances of what makes a good fight while simultaneously warning others of the danger of real-life fighting.

I wish I had this book when I was still a kid, and still thought I was king of the world. Alan’s mastery of fighting is daunting and extremely well-expressed here. Nothing is overlooked, from the importance of descriptive footwork, how to detail character is in trouble, utilizing all five senses, especially the sense of smell. Even writing plausible scenes that involve weapons is included. The detail in each chapter is staggering; Alan simultaneously tells us how to create brutally realistic fight sequences while, on every page, all but screaming at us not to pursue real-life, in-the-street fighting. He’s right.

The book is only about twelve thousand words, but it’s also only $1.99. This is an absolute must-buy for fiction writers who even think they may write a fight sequence. Action and adventure writers will benefit from it as well. At its asking price, you can’t really go wrong.

If you want to learn more about Alan Baxter, or his books, hop on over to his webpage and give him a shout. Purchase Write The Fight Right from Smashwords for only $1.99.

Personal Note: I’ve been studying martial arts for more than twenty years, I only recently began training for the art, rather than the violence. Before that, I used to do a lot of fighting. I got hurt a lot, and I hurt a lot of people. As I get older and understand more the consequences of my actions, Alan Baxter’s “Write The Fight Right” was a humbling reality check. Movie and video game fighting is fun, and safe; real-life fighting is as dangerous as it gets. I think I’d almost rather have a gun put at my head then fight again because my survival odds are better. There’s nothing fun or cool about beating someone into unconsciousness and perhaps crippling them for life. This is especially true for martial artists, who are trained to do this very thing. Avoid a fight if you can; screw the name-calling and your ‘rep’. Just walk away. It’s not even about you living to fight another day, it’s about what you live with if you go too far.

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Akting Out LLC

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For those of you who haven’t seen “The Matrix” (if you haven’t seen it, seriously, stop reading and go watch the Matrix, right now. I’ll loan it to you if you need a copy.), the title of this blog was inspired by an two scenes from the iconic film; in the first, Neo (Keanu Reeves) visits the Oracle for the first time and meets a child who is telekinetically playing with a spoon like Laffy Taffy. She gives him the spoon, and of course, Neo being new to this and all, can’t do it. The girl tells him not to focus on bending the spoon, which is, of course, impossible. She tells him instead to realize the truth; there is no spoon. It is he who must bend, not the spoon.

A short time later, Neo and Trinity (Carrie Ann Moss) are standing on top of an elevator in a shaft, about to shoot the last cord holding the elevator in place. If this goes right, the elevator will plummet, and they’ll be rocketed to the roof and land safely. If it goes, wrong, well, there’s really too many things to list, but the end result is, they’re dead.
So just before Neo pulls the trigger and sets the plan into motion, he whispers to himself “There is no spoon.” And pulls the trigger. I won’t spoil what happens, but if you don’t know, really, please stop and go watch this movie.

I field a lot of questions about writing, but the one I hear the most is; how I do I do it right? What if I do it wrong?
That’s the beauty of writing, and every writer’s first step; there is no right or wrong way to do it; you just do it. No, really, it is that simple. There’s no trick, no gimmick, and most importantly, no frakkin shortcut; you just write.
It doesn’t matter is you misspell every single word that you put on paper; the only thing that matters is that you put it on paper. You don’t have to worry about right or wrong at this point; you don’t have to show it to anyone (that comes later). You don’t have to worry about formatting, grammar, or any of that other nonsense that keeps most of us up late at night. You want to write something? Fine, do it. Quit worrying about it and do it.

The best writing in the world comes from what’s purely written, when the author isn’t worried about what it looks like. When you’re just writing with reckless abandon, whatever story you’re trying tell comes through pretty clearly. Yes, you will make two million writing mistakes along the way. At this point, it doesn’t matter. True story; I took part in National Novel Writing Month two years ago and just went crazy. It led to a publishing deal two years later.

There is no right or wrong when it comes to writing. Don’t get hung up on the process and just do it. You may be surprised at what happens.

There is no spoon; it is you that has to bend.

Thanks for reading, and good luck. More to come.

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Akting Out LLC

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“Let’s end this!!”
Adamantium tears through metal sheaths on the back of X-23’s hands (at least, I think they’re metal sheaths. I’m not too up on my Marvel these days). Her elbows are tucked at her sides, her knees bent, her eyes ablaze, she looks like Wolverine-Lite. Capcom got this right.
She slides as though on grease towards her hapless opponent (in this case, Spencer of Bionic Commando fame) and with a flurry of extremely-painful looking slashes dealt from her hands and feet, because she has claws on her feet too, she utterly decimates poor Spencer, capitalizing the knockout blow by leaping and descending with two slash marks meant to resemble an “X” as ominous sound effects signal the end of Spencer and the arrival of the new victim.
I can’t help but think when I play these games and read these comics; this would never fly in the real world. I try to imagine how a real-life Wolverine would survive today, and I always get the same answer; however he wants. I confess; even at thirty-four, I still sometimes look down at my hands and wonder how much simpler life would be if I had STEEL CLAWS. I know there are greater powers to dream about, but the idea of watching someone piss themselves when metal knives shoot out of the back of my hands? Priceless.

You have to take joy in the little things.
I remember praying at the beginning of the year; I wanted to make some changes. I wanted to be done with diabetes, I didn’t want to be afraid of anything anymore, and I wanted to have my legal troubles resolved. A little secret about God; eventually, you learn what to ask for, and how to ask for it, in order to receive it. But it always comes with a trial.
I really don’t have much to complain about these days, I certainly have it easier than a lot of people, and for that, I’m grateful. I have a good place to live in a nice part of town (although I have a hard time thinking of any area of Jefferson City as bad, when you stack it against north side Saginaw, east Oakland, Jersey City, or a hundred other ghettos out there), I have food in the fridge, I’ve got all the materialistic things that make me happy, I have a very good job that I am very good at, and very good at bitching about, I have people who care about me and I’m learning not to push them away. Even now, I sit in my living room, Law and Order: SVU is paused, and I’m writing this from my laptop as I take in the morning coffee and hope it has its usual effect. Even the writing is going really, really well.

As writers, we can’t afford the luxury of fear. It’s easy to hide behind being afraid and tell yourself that you’re not good enough, that no one else will ever like what you do. Then, when you choose inaction, in your own mind, it’s justified. You suck, right? So why bother trying? And to be honest, it’s not a bad way to think. Chances are no one will ever develop the same attachment to your characters and worlds that you have. Chances are even greater that some people will hate your work simply because they have nothing better to do. Others may not like and offer constructive criticism (and we’d be wise to take it), but that’s just the way it goes. The fact is; you never know how good, or bad, you may be until you try.

Someone may hate your work. Someone else may love it and recommend it to others. These others may want to help you advance. But you won’t know until you put yourself out there.
This is philosophy with which I try to live my life; take the chance. Yes, you might suck, but at least by trying, you know. On the other end, what if you’re really, really good, and someone’s just waiting to discover you?

Fear is a test; you can let it cripple you, or you can look at it logically and overcome it. Heights; it’s not the height itself that will kill you, it’s not even the fall. It’s the frakkin landing. Hence, don’t put yourself in a position to fall, sit back, and enjoy the view. Snakes, spiders, bugs, and the like, same thing; it’s not the critters themselves that will harm you. It’s the bite, or sting, or squeeze or whatever. If you don’t put yourself in a position where these things can happen to you, you have nothing to be afraid of. Or, if you get stung enough times, you get used to it. Some people around the world are bitten so often that their body builds immunity to the poison. True story.

I’m past all of the materialistic fears; heights, snakes, spiders, and all that stuff. I’m afraid of being successful because I don’t know what it feels like, and I’m afraid if it happens, I’ll lose it all and end up at rock bottom again. I’m afraid that I can’t make it on my own on a professional level. I’m really afraid of personal relationships (but who isn’t?)

Universal Warrior: Atherean Defenders has a publisher. The announcement will be coming in about one month. So that’s beginning my dealing with the fear of success.
My relationship ended not too long ago. Rather than throwing myself into something else quickly (as has been my habit), I’m feeling this. It sucks. She’s going through something I wouldn’t wish on anyone, something that had nothing to do with us. We still talk, we’re cordial, and I like to think we’ve both been very accommodating. It still sucks, but it’ll pass.

I’ve been on the same performance-based schedule-changing job for the past two years now. I’m afraid that with the new system we’re learning, I won’t be able to keep up. I won’t be able to use the same tricks that got me this far. In my heart, where God resides, I know that things will be okay. They always are.

I have one less warrant in the state of Michigan.

This is set to be a difficult year. But a good one.

Thanks for reading, I wish you all of the best in your endeavors, and thank you for sticking with Life As I Play It thus far.

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Akting Out LLC

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Life has changed a lot since I became published, not all of it for the better. Suddenly I’m fielding a lot of questions, none of them I mind, and none of them are stupid. What I do find rather grating, however, are the common misconceptions that writers have it easy. I’ve actually been told on a number of occasions that writing a book is easy. My personal favorite is; “I don’t see what the big deal is. You sit, you write a book. How hard is that?” Oh, I don’t know, about as hard as it is to keep myself from throwing you out the window. It’s pretty flippin’ difficult.

Thanks to Stephen King, Dean Koontz, James Patterson, and the like, there seems to be some myth that we writers sit at a keyboard and whip out bestseller after bestseller with little to no effort and spend the rest of our days doing whatever we wish. We write these books, sleep till noon, and spend our free time doing whatever it is we nerds too. Well, I got news for you. Not even close.

So here, in my very first blog of 2011, I’d like to present ten hard truths about writers and writing. Those of you who labor under the delusion that your work will make you millions, I’m not saying it’s impossible, but consider this your reality check. Those of you who think we have it easy, read on.

5). Most of us never see a dime from our work. Most of us don’t do this for the paycheck. Most of us do it because of an impossible push from our imagination, to see our work in print or on screen, or both.
Once again; MOST OF US WRITERS DO NOT GET PAID FOR OUR WORK.

A little side-note to that last one; if you ever bought a book with the front cover ripped off, the author didn’t see a dime of that money.

4). It’s never, ever easy. We drive ourselves, and our families, crazy because we are perfectionists, what we do is never good enough, and we have to keep refining over and over until we’re too tired to go on, or if we’re lucky, it comes out right. Nothing of the process is easy.

3). Finishing a book is sometimes the greatest thing we can hope for.

2). It’s a 24/7 job. Very rarely are we doing something that doesn’t tie back to our writing. We can’t help it. It’s how our minds work. And we normally get the best ideas when we’re furthest away from anything that even resembles a writing tool.

1). Behind every bestseller is a killer marketing team. I mean the type of marketing team that runs on millions of dollars. For every “bestseller” you’re aware of, there are a million titles that may be a million times better that you may never heard of. If you’re a writer, there’s a very good chance that you will be one of the millions people never hear of.

Now, for those of you who’re new to writing or considering a career, please don’t let this discourage you. I love writing, I love everything about the storytelling process, I love the research, the rewrites, the late-nights, and the continuous refinement of what we do. But have no illusions. Unless you’re incredibly lucky, talented, or both, you’re not going to get rich doing this. At least, not right away. But you can indeed generate income as a writer, you can even make it a full-time profession if you’ve got what it takes to make it happen. But don’t think for a second that it will come easy, or overnight. It will take years. Maybe a lot of them.

And for those of you who think we have it easy…we don’t. In fact, there are times we envy you because you seem to be able to relax on occasion. We can’t, even if we wanted to. We do it because we love it, because we can’t imagine doing anything else. We don’t have dollar signs in our eyes, and pounding out sixty thousand words is as draining as an hour at the gym.

Those are my five hard truths about writers and writing.

Thanks for reading, and good luck.

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Akting Out LLC

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I started writing two or three years ago; up until then, I was only bitching about my childhood on myspace. Somehow, I found out about the wonderful world of web fiction, and it was off to the races. I’d been living with Universal Warrior, in one form or another, for almost two decades. I had originally wanted to start the story in the modern period, the era I knew best, but I had never explored the actual battle between Angels and Demons before, so Uprising became my first public venture as a writer. By my own standards, it started well, but was a disaster by the time the story finally wrapped up last year; suddenly, I’m managing blogs, promoting the story every which way on every social networking site I can get my hands on, and most importantly, writing copy. The story was released as a weekly serial, and cramming everything into seven days turned out to be more than I could handle. I kept pushing things back to the point where I walked away from the story altogether for almost a month. By the time I came back, I had no idea what was going on, and, well, let’s say the comments stopped coming as quickly. I’m glad the story wasn’t eviscerated. To my face, anyway.

Then, amidst the blogs, stories, and delays, something amazing happened; someone found my work and shared it with the world. Suddenly I was meeting all sorts of people who were just as creative and passionate about it as I was (mostly in Australia). I was introduced to this very supportive network of writers and artists who just wanted to make it, plus, they were willing to help anyone else along the way, once they saw one was willing to make the effort. Through this network, I met someone from my hometown, ironically, who was putting together a horror anthology and asked me to contribute.

There was no way I ever imagined seeing my writing in print, holding it in my hands. Suddenly a dream and hobby turn into a very attainable career. And now that I’m here, I’ve found myself asking what the next step is.

I’ve never thought you could stagnate and be successful. You have to keep growing, keep acknowledging your own weaknesses and then overcoming them. You have to keep challenging yourself.

I’ve never been good at planning, that’s where I’m weak. I still struggle with the fantasy that I’ll write a miracle best-seller that will land me the world’s fattest payment, allowing me to walk away from whatever job I may have at the moment and spend the rest of my life doing what I love. Yeah, that’s probably not going to happen.

I can write, though. I do have several goals in mind, and someplace I’d like to be in six years. Instead of wishing on a miracle (because let’s be honest, even for people who work hard, miracles are hard to come by), I can plan to see my dreams through…one step at a time. Patience is something else I’d like to be better at, anyway.

Honestly, it’ll probably be a long time before I’m able to quit my job, but luckily, I’m good at it. Here’s what I’d like to do next year, and I’ll have to flesh this out on my own this week.

• Complete at least two books, which includes the nearly-complete Atherean Defenders, due out early next year.
• Complete one screenplay (which will either revolve around my own IP or DC’s Blackest Night)
• Develop a Writing Blog
• Explore other storytelling mediums, such as podcasting and machinima
• Earn a certain amount of money on my writing)

Doing this will allow me to develop a backlist of titles and provide my readers with a catalog. It’ll also allow me to expand my skills as a screenwriter, and maybe sometime in 2011, I can finally get into animated filmmaking. It’s not much, but it’s something to build off of.

Thank you for reading, and all of the support thus far.

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Akting Out LLC

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Ywriter: I cannot believe this software is free. This may be the most comprehensive novel-writing software on the net today. Ywriter allows you to create a novel from beginning to end, even allowing you to create notes that encompass the entire project or individual scenes. That’s just the beginning, though; Ywriter allows you to create major and minor characters, complete with JPEG imagery and goals you can rate your own scenes based on tension and problem resolution, there’s even a built-in reader that will read your work aloud on command. What I’ve listed here scratches the surface of the best novel-writing software you’re not using. If you’re even considering writing a book, you won’t do better than this. I’m hoping for smartphone and Evernote integration, but as long as it stays free, I won’t complain.

Warning: Occasionally, especially on battery power, Ywriter can become slow and unresponsive, especially if you have other programs running. It’s a good idea to run Ywriter by itself if your computer isn’t plugged in.

Celtx: You may want to snag this software while it’s still free. While a number of its extensions require purchasing, the core product is still free of charge. It’s also among the best scriptwriting software on the internet. It functions in the same manner as Ywriter, only Celtx is geared for screenwriters. You’re allowed to create and detail characters, note individual scenes or the entire project, and tag characters for easy reference when your script gets lengthy. You can also upload your completed script for free to the main server for critique.
A vast number of add-ons start from $2.99, and you’re prompted to get these when you initially download the software—which leads me to believe that Celtx may not be free forever. Right now, it’s a great alternative to paying hundreds of dollars for final draft, so again, if you’re even thinking of writing a script, go get this now.

Evernote: Every writer needs to be using this software. In my opinion, this is the best note-taking software ON THE PLANET. Put simply, you download it, open it up, jot (type) down whatever it is you want to remember, close the program, and move on. What makes Evernote stand out is that it integrates with most browsers, including Chrome and Firefox, which allows you to ‘clip and save’ entire webpages (graphics and all) to the program. You can also create notebooks to better organize your thoughts.
Where Evernote really sets itself apart is in its portability; Evernote is available for both the iphone and blackberry. While a premium membership is not mandatory to run the applications, if you want to sync your notes across your platforms, you’re going to need one. Even then, it’s a steal at five dollars per month. If you’re a heavy user, you can go with the yearly option for forty-five dollars.

This is, in my opinion, the best free software for writers. If you have a resource of your own, I’d love to know about it. Please comment or contact me directly, and I’ll take a look! Best of luck and thank you for reading!

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Akting Out LLC

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So you’re new to writing? You probably already know that a lot of your success will be based not just on your writing, but by the number of people who read your writing. That being said, you may already have a twitter account (and if you don’t, go get one before you read any further). Here are the top ten writers you need to be following.

10). @problogger
Darren Rowse may as well have written the book on professional blogging. Anything you want to know from writing compelling material to discovering an audience can be found, either by following his tweetstream or checking out his site, which you can find here.

9). @jchutchins
Famous for his Seventh Son series as well as hilarious one-liners on his Facebook page, Mr. Hutchins found success by turning his novels into a free podcast series. Friendly, funny, and very much a nerd, you may be better off friending him on Facebook than following his tweetstream; he updates Facebook more often, and it’s almost always good for a laugh.

8). @AngsCopywriting
Almost every writer needs to know what SEO is, and very few know more than Angie Nicolychuk. Angie is a professional writer who provides consulting, coaching, and copywriting services for a fee. She’s listed here because she is very friendly, engaging, and willing to pass on what she’s learned. Follow her tweetstream for the occasional article on SEO writing. Check out her web page if you’re interested in what she does. If you’re trying to set your blog apart from the pack, you need to be following her.

7). @lauraeno
Laura is a perfect example as to how one delivers quality fiction on a scheduled basis, thus building up a loyal fan base. Her page, A Shift In Dimensions, boasts nearly two hundred fans, with good reason; Laura’s writing is excellent. Check out her latest entry into her series, Under the Sea, to find out what I’m talking about. Laura also engages all of her followers (provided you have something good to say) and regularly supports the Friday Flash tradition by retweeting the works of others.

Also, her take on the Immortals is a great example of bite-sized, quality writing. All of her stories standalone and the character’s plights are both tragic and lighthearted. A wormhole at the bottom of the sea? You need to be reading this story.

6). @Keikomushi
Dianne is a great example as to what can result from hard work. I first met Keiko through Universal Warrior, and we’ve been friends ever since. Our friendship demonstrates what twitter can do for you when you put something into it; Keiko is a gamer and fantasy author who deftly blends mysticism with the old west. Keiko is also an avid learner and researcher, and truthfully, I wouldn’t be where I am now if it wasn’t for her support. I recommend Keiko because I enjoy her work, she’s very easy to relate to, she’s a geek (and she’s married, sorry). Her interests are varied and she’s very open. Pay attention to her and what she does; you may learn something. Read more about Dianne at Keiko Online.

5). @AlanBaxter
Alan has completed two self-published novels (which I need to get around to reading) and parlayed his success into his own small publishing firm. He’s another example of what you can do when you put your mind on something. I also appreciate Alan’s blunt nature and low tolerance for self-pity; it’s served as a reality check on a couple of occasions. If you’re trying to write action-based fantasy (and I am, which is why I shared), then following Alan is a great start. He also occasionally posts dark Flash Fiction on his blog, with is always worth a look.

4). @Jsubject
Jessica is kind enough to give me #WriterWednesday and #FollowFriday shouts every week, which is what led me to her. Jessica authors the Mark of the Stars series; I share her because her blog features interviews with authors, book recommendations, and reviews.

3). @MeiLinMiranda
MeiLin Miranda is one of the founding mothers of Web Fiction. She brings so many things to the table that it’s difficult to name them all; follow her, and you will learn how to attract a fan base (I believe hers is at 10k and growing), write a story with such depth and breadth that it attracts fan art, create a blog that anyone can read (her entries from life excerpts to recipes) and even do the impossible; make money from your writing. Check out her page here, along with one of the web’s best stories, An Intimate History of the Greater Kingdom.

2). @CPatrickSchultze
Mr. Schultze regularly posts excellent articles on the art of writing, everything from writing convincing dialogue, the importance of setting in a story, and working with agents. His posts are must-reads for anyone trying to turn their writing into a full-time career. Check out his web page for the goods.

1). @thecreativepenn
The lovely Mrs. Joanna Penn easily gets the top-spot. There is not a single writer, published or unpublished, who should not be following her. Through her extensive podcasts, articles, and interviews, Mrs. Penn has dedicated herself to helping writers advance their career, and much of what I’ve learned on being a writer comes from her. If you follow no one else on this list, you need to be following the Creative Penn. You need to be signed up on her web page, you need to be hearing her podcasts, you need to be listening to everything she has to say.

Hope you find this list, which is a fraction of the great writers on twitter, useful. Thanks for reading and best of luck in your endeavors.

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Akting Out LLC

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As writers, we all feel it. It’s inevitable.
It may start as a tingle at the base of our spine, a mild pressing at the back of our skull, or in my case, a growing weight at the pit of my stomach. We may try to ignore it, block it out (no pun intended), or press through it, but as we reach our trembling fingers for the keyboard, we find it more difficult than we imagined to ignore our ever-encroaching nemesis, that which acts as a dam against the spring of inspiration and keeps us from expressing our imagination on paper. I speak of the dreaded, tyrannous writer’s block.

Oh, how I despise it so. It usually comes at the worst possible time, after I have spent days, or even weeks planning out an epic drama to the most obscure detail, only to find that I can’t think of a bloody word when it’s time for execution. Even if I have all of my notes right in front of me, my mind is a new chalkboard; completely blank.

It took me months, a lot of banging my head into the wall, some spackle and a ton of ibuprofen before I came up with a solution that works, for me, anyway.

Walk away.

I don’t mean some halfhearted attempt to forget your work, i.e. leaving your computer on, or your pen and paper laying around while you figure out what’s for dinner that night. I mean walk away. Put away the pen and paper, as though you won’t touch it again that day. Fold up the notebook. Turn the computer off. Find something else to do.

I find that my best moments come when I’m doing manual labor, especially the dishes, for some reason. I say this to say; find something else to do with your time. Do something that keeps your moving, but has nothing to do with your writing. Try to make it something you normally don’t like doing, because you’ll find that undertaking this chore may put your mind further away from your writing. Trust me on this. Clean your house. Do the dishes. Plant a garden. Go for a walk. Ground the kids; more than likely, they’ve done something you didn’t catch along the way.

I mean it. Completely walk away. Don’t even do research. Let it go. Don’t wait for the muse to pay you a visit, because s/he never will.

Then, something miraculous happens. During the time you’ve had writer’s block, you’ve actually accomplished something, maybe several things. You may have actually learned something. The point is, you have completely forgotten about your writing when the muse strikes you like cops with a search warrant.

This is the time to return to work. Finish the task at hand, pull out the paper, pen, notebook, computer, or whatever it is that you use and get back to work. You may find that you have a hard time stopping.

This is how you make the most of writer’s block. You put the object of your frustrations out of your mind for a moment, because it’s very difficult to be creative when you’re frustrated. You accomplish something else, it doesn’t matter what, because you’re still getting something done. During this time, you find that your frustration subsides when you’ve stopped worrying about it so much. Then you return to work, stronger and more refreshed than when you were when writer’s block struck.

Thank you for reading.

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Akting Out LLC

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We all have our moments, or places, when we do our best thinking. For me, it’s either on long walks, or when I’m doing the dishes.

In my socks.

On the tile floor.

But we’ll get back to that.
So there I am, doing the dishes, minding my own damn business when my old, familiar, finicky friend, the Muse, decides to drop by. And oh my, the things she has to say. Utter brilliance, they are. The kinds of things that would make old Will Shakespeare himself stand up and applaud.

It’s always a sequence. I freeze in mid-scrub. I no longer notice how hot the water is. My eyes widen as the Muse pours inspirational gold into my mind. The words. Such words. They must be recorded and now.

And I’m off. I’ve learned to keep my computers on for just such an occasion. I go racing out of the kitchen, looking like Daffy Duck going downhill. In fact, I’ve actually fallen flat on my face before. But the pain doesn’t matter. Nothing else matters but getting the Muse’s words on paper.

But I have learned that the Muse plays a dirty trick on you. As she speaks, she’s actually placed a time bomb in your imagination. There’s no timer, although it seems to go off the second you’re ready to bring her words into reality.

So I sit at the computer, raise my hands to the keyboard, and then…pleh.

The bomb goes off. The Muse is gone. The finicky little…we won’t go there…took her words with her.
I hate those moments; those first few seconds when my mind has frozen and I can’t think of anything to write. It’s like being abandoned on date night by someone you were really excited about seeing.

I have ways of coping. I pace. I talk out loud, trying to remember what she told me while questioning my own sanity. But it’s okay, I tell myself. I passed crazy a long time ago, but if I get these words out of my head and into the real world, it’ll all be okay.

So after wearing a groove into the carpet and having full-fledged conversations with myself, convinced that I’ve plucked the important aspects of the Muse’s visit out of the pit, I take my seat at the computer, and then…pleh.

At this point, I usually scream, cuss, moan, or turn on the 360 and lose myself in somebody else’s world, but since the latter isn’t an option anymore (yet) I had to find another way around it.

And then, just last week, it hit me.
The Muse may be finicky, but she demands hard work and total dedication. As well she should, considering what she brings to the table. You don’t just walk into the mine and picking gold off the walls. You have to dig for it.

So now, I sit down and just start writing. It only has to be relevant to what the Muse has told me; it doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t even have to make sense. It just has to be out of my head and in the real world. I’ve churned out five pages of crud not even the sanitation department would touch. It doesn’t matter, because no one else has to see it.

Then, when all the crud is out of my head, I go back through it, sometimes tracing the words with my finger, and there. That one sentence, quote, or scene. That’s what I’ve been looking for. That’s what the Muse was trying to tell me.

When the Muse hits me now, I try to let it happen instead of making mad dashes for my computer (it keeps me out of intensive care). I get to my computer and pour my imagination onto the screen. I mine later and keep the good parts.

Thanks for reading, and good luck in your endeavors.

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Akting Out LLC

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