Writers discovered a long time ago that where the writing is
done is just as important as what is being written. Great scribes such as Mark
Twain and Jane Austin have had special places inside of their homes where their
muses were most inspired to work.
J.K. Rowling authored the first part of Harry Potter in a
coffee shop. Jim Harrison’s muse worked best in hotel rooms. The environment in
which writers surround themselves can effect the flow of words from mind to
page.
Perhaps your muse needs isolation like Virginia Wolfe who
had a writing shed in her garden. George Bernard Shaw also had a writing shed.
Only his had a literal twist, the shed was built to rotate allowing him to keep
the sunlight in his window, his preferred source of lighting.
What’s in that space can make a difference too. Invasions
into that space such as extra clutter, noise above the chosen novel soundtrack
or family distractions can throw off the muse. Yet sometimes nothing can be out
of sorts just being in the same place, surrounded by the same things can stifle
creativity.
While having a write environment is great, getting out of it
can be too. There are many wonderful places to write to inspire the story. Pack
up and spend a few hours writing in a location from your book.
Your local library has tables and free internet. Plus, resources
for research are just a few steps away. Coffee
Writing Room of Rudyard Kipling
houses are always fun, but try
writing outside the box of normal ‘writer places to go’
Find some place with a lot of activity like a mall food
court. People watching can get a little distracting but it can also inspire
some fantastic characters. In short your writing environment does matter.
Find your write place and what it takes to inspire your
muse. Even something as small as a scented candle or a framed photo of your
main character sitting near by can do the trick.
It can have the perfect lighting, an ergonomic chair and
keyboard, desk that’s just the right height. But is it inspiring? Does sitting
in that place make your muse happy and anxious to guide your fingers over the
keys?
Please enjoy this guest post by David Litwack, author of the gripping contemporary novel, Along the Watchtower, and the deep, dark dystopia, There Comes a Prophet. Then read on to learn how you can win huge prizes as part of this blog tour, including a Kindle Fire, $650 in Amazon gift cards, and 5 autographed copies of each book.
The Virtual World of Gaming and the Plight of War Veterans: A Guest Post by David Litwack
Gaming and war would seem to be as far apart from each other as you can get. But while you’re in the midst of them, they share one thing in common—a sense of being in an alternate reality.
I’ve always been fascinated by how much of what we consider to be reality is subjective, how each of us bring our own experiences and biases into play. But when we’re ripped from our normal lives and placed in extreme circumstances, our reality becomes totally fragmented. Such is the case with hospitals and war.
A couple of years ago, I became engrossed in the online game, World of Warcraft, thanks to my son. I’m on the east coast and he’s on the west, so we’d meet every Wednesday evening in the virtual world of Azeroth, where our avatars would go on quests together. I was struck by how immersed I became in the mood of the game as we wandered through castles and crypts, solving riddles and vanquishing demons, how for a short period of time, I could totally buy in to the alternate reality.
The fantasy gaming experience has a dream-like quality to it, which led me to wonder: how would this Along the Watchtower.
experience affect the dreams of someone whose reality has been fragmented by the trauma of war? These concepts—war, hospitals, and the fantasy world of online gaming—came together in
I began to research the effects of war on returning veterans. I learned that 30% are diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress. That means after six months they’re still dealing with flashbacks, disturbing dreams, depression and difficulty re-assimilating into their former lives. And that doesn't account for the many others who are seemingly able to adjust but continue to deal with inner turmoil. The war experience changes all forever. Many have suicidal thoughts (the suicide rate among veterans is triple that of the general population. More soldiers have died by their own hand than in the war itself). Many struggle with dark thoughts and have difficulty forming relationships, unable to “turn off” the normal flight or fight syndrome, leaving them suspicious in crowds and always on alert.
And then, there are the physical injuries. One of the ironic successes of these recent wars is the advance in battlefield medicine. The result is that far fewer die of wounds than in prior wars. The ratio of wounded to dead in WWII was 1.1/1, in Vietnam 1.7/1. In Iraq, it’s 7/1. More are saved, but more come home with debilitating, lifelong injuries. And 68% of the wounded have some form or brain trauma, penetrating injuries from shrapnel or non-penetrating concussions from the blasts of IEDs.
To learn more about brain injuries, I read In an Instant, the story of Bob Woodruff. The brilliant Woodruff had just been named co-anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight. Then, while embedded with the military in Iraq, an improvised explosive device went off near the tank he was riding in. Bob suffered a traumatic brain injury that nearly killed him. The book describes his recovery and recounts how fragile the human brain can be. At one point, the erudite Woodruff could rattle off the names of all prior U.S. presidents but couldn't remember the names of his own children.
And I read about post traumatic stress. One of the best books is Achilles in Vietnam. Written by Jonathan Shay, a Vietnam War era PTSD counselor, it compares his clinical notes from patients to the text from Homer’s Odyssey, showing how we as human beings have dealt with war trauma across the millennia. He shows how war disrupts our moral compass, leaving re-entry into normal life as a brutal and agonizing experience.
Playing a make-believe fantasy game and going to war both have a surreal quality that takes us out of our normal reality. But for war veterans, the sense of normality doesn't return without a struggle.
The Wounded Warrior Project is a wonderful organization, dedicated to helping veterans adjust. Their stated mission is: “To foster the most successful, well-adjusted generation of wounded service members in our nation's history.” How successful we’ll be at achieving that goal will tell a lot about who we are. It’s one of the most important stories of our time.
As part of this special promotional extravaganza sponsored by Novel Publicity, both Along the Watchtower and There Comes a Prophet by David Litwack are on sale this week. What’s more, by purchasing either or both of these fantastic books at an incredibly low price, you can enter to win many awesome prizes.
The prizes include a Kindle Fire, $650 in Amazon gift cards, and 5 autographed copies of each book.
All the info you need to win one of these amazing prizes is RIGHT HERE. Remember, winning is as easy as clicking a button or leaving a blog comment--easy to enter; easy to win!
To win the prizes:
Pick up Along the Watchtower at its discounted price of $2.99 on Amazon
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Author David Litwack
Along the Watchtower tells of a tragic warrior lost in two worlds; a woman who may be his only way back from Hell . Get it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or iTunes.There Comes a Prophet A thousand years ago the Darkness came—a time of violence and social collapse. Nathaniel has grown up in their world of limits, longing for something more. For what are we without dreams? Get it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or iTunes.David Litwack, the once and future writer, explores the blurry line between reality and the Visit David on his website, Twitter, Facebook, or GoodReads.
Gladiator's Pen welcomes Mark Barry to the ludis today for a conversation about his latest release Hollywood Shakedown. Refill your cuppa, prop up your feet and let's get acquainted with Mark.
We’re talking about
your book Hollywood Shakedown today. Can you tell us what
inspired this story?
I’m a huge fan of Charles Bukowski, and the main character in
Hollywood Shakedown is the mythical son of Bukowski’s alter-ego, Henry
Chinaski. He’s called Buddy and he’s just like his dad! Two friends of mine
inspired the novel. First, my friend in Houston, Paul Vani, challenged me to
write a short story, and at exactly the same time, my much more local friend,
Clive la Court, inspired me to write a fiction novel. I combined the two
challenges and wrote about some of my favourite things. Comics, horse racing,
football, LA, London, women, crime,
food and weirdly named worldwide pubs.
There is a scene that
takes place at HollywoodPark, which is sadly, about to close after
75years. Can you tell us about that and the roll the racetrack plays as a
setting?
I’m really annoyed and feel completely impotent about the
closure of HollywoodPark.
Over here, a place with HollywoodPark’s
kind of history would have a Listed notice slapped on its gates and the
developers clapped in irons. Did you know they’re replacing it with a retail
and residential development??? Like, LA doesn’t have any malls. I have four
months to make enough money to visit – it has been one of my ambitions. In the
first chapter of the book, Buddy is tracked down by two goons who discover him
in the stands of the Park. I try to put across the sounds and smells of the
racetrack (see below) and also the baffling decline of horse racing as a
spectator sport in the US.
The book is full of racing – Bukowski raced there, too.
Was there a chapter,
or scene, or part of the novel that was difficult to write, and if so why?
Most of it was quite tough. I once wrote a novel in eighteen
days. This one took nine months, labouring over
every line for this because it
was my first work of fiction. The last
chapter, which most people like, was very tough. I didn’t want to ruin the
payoff – nothing worse than that, as a reader.
If you had one day to
live inside of this book, how would you spend it?
I actually did! The gang watch an FA Cup match between
Fulham and NottsCounty
on the banks of the River Thames. I support the latter and the chapter is
exactly as it sounds.
Do you have a
favorite part or moment in the book you would like to share?
“The men walked up the stairs and into the
main betting hall. Five bucks a piece found its way into the hands of a stony
faced black woman in a red neckerchief. Like the track, she'd seen better days.
Ramirez said something under his breath but the woman scarcely noticed, de-sensitised to everything but the thought of getting out of
there.
It
was livelier inside than they expected: Bettors milled around the cacophonous
hall, hundreds queuing at the windows, sitting in the carrels, some perusing
the Form, others smoking, scanning the cheat sheets and Indian Charlie. The air
was blue with cigarette smoke and smelled of tobacco, tacos, cheese food, hot dogs and warm beer - all mixed up with the usual gambler's cocktail of sweat, fear, excitement
and anticipation. Yet even a pair of racing agnostics
like Bishop and Ramirez could palpably sense the tradition and the
heritage. The smoky trails of Walter Matthau's Marlboro, or Bing Crosby's briar
pipe; Hollywood was seeped in movie culture. Every
banister, every railing, every corkboard tile was dripping in it.
Despite
the best efforts of the hunched janitors in orange coveralls and their
five-foot brushes
wielded like pikes, dead tickets found the floor with
unerring accuracy. The joint was a firetrap waiting to happen. One reckless
cigarette butt in the bin could see them all go to hell. The crowd's optimistic
chatter and the frenetic pulse of the simulcasted commentaries from tracks
around the country, from Aqueduct and Sunland and Oaklawn, accompanied the two
men as they passed through the betting hall.
“Bet
the ponies, Bishop?” Ramirez asked as they made their way outside into the
sunlight, their brogue heels tapping sharply and noisily on the floor.
The
older man shook his head. His craggy features never moved.
“Stocks.” He replied.” That's the smart boy's
gamble.” (Chapter
One)
What are three things
you must have when you write?
The Inuit hunting cap my friend and reader, Kelly Sherwood,
gave me for Christmas 2010. Music. My writing voice nagging at me.
What element or
elements do you believe make a story great?
Do you write as the
muse hits or do you have a set ‘work day’?
For a year, I wrote full time. Now, I’m working again, so I
have to write when I can. As Paul Auster said,
really early mornings and late
weekend nights. I wrote the bulk of Carla in a weekend, so I am best under
pressure. I suffer from insane bursts of creativity.
How do you avoid or
deal with distractions when in the writing zone?
I’m lucky that I live on my own so I can do my own thing.
The Internet, and particularly Facebook, was once a huge distraction I
struggled to beat, but my addiction to social networks seems to have abated.
Who are some of your
favorite authors to read?
Of name authors, I worship Martin Amis, with the exception
of his latest, which is bemusingly bad. I have also read everything by Paul
Auster, Charles Bukowski, Henry Miller, Liz Jensen and John King. Of Indies,
Suzanne van Rooyen, who writes YA and science fiction, Emma Edwards, who is making
a stir with a quirky vampire novel set in Wales.
Mary Ann Bernal writes innovative historical fiction and Ngaire Elder is a
much-underrated children’s writer who should be much better known than she is.
What can we expect
next from Mark Barry? Is there another tale being spun and/or event coming up
that you can share with us?
I’ve just finished the sequel to my top selling football
book, Ultra Violence. It’s called Violent Disorder and it should be out on
August 1st. I’m also writing
a contemporary fiction novel about the lost generation in Nottingham,
called Keith The Philosopher; a crime
fiction novel called Painful Death
and an anthology about sex, death and food; so, I’m busy.
What would you like
to say to fans or fellow authors?
Try to push the boundaries in anything you do. Don’t listen
to gurus, especially writing gurus, because, invariably, they know much less
than you do. Listen to the voice within you and act on it.
Okay? Thanks Elise.
About Mark Barry:
Mark Barry, author of “Hollywood Shakedown”, “Ultra
Violence” and “Carla”, is a Psychologist and writer whose main interest focuses
on relationships between people. He has
been writing since he was twenty one, having his first piece published in
1986. He has written extensively on a
variety of topics including, horseracing, football, personality disorders and
human relationships. Influenced by the
great playwrights and screenwriters, much of Mark’s work transpires in
dialogue. He deplores exposition and in
his fiction, leaves the reader in a state of nervousness more than he probably
should.
Mark has had an extensive career as a professional project
designer and bid writer, having accrued over £20m for groups and organisations
working with disadvantaged people. An
ex-lecturer, Mark designed and delivered the UK’s first ever course in Criminal
Psychology in 1997. Much of this work
infils his fiction: Psychopathy and
Borderline Personality Disorders are featured heavily in “Carla”, for
example.
Currently, Mark is a full time fiction writer and freelance
blogger. He has been interviewed on
several Radio talk shows where he has given readings of his work. His work has been featured in The Sun and
Daily Mail and he has also been interviewed on Television.
Mark resides in Southwell, Nottinghamshire with
his teenage son.
The trick is getting those words on paper. It’s not a first
draft until it’s out of your head and on to the page. Unfortunately shaking
your head over a blank piece of paper doesn’t work. (Yes, I have tried it and
got nuttin but a few pebbles, an old commercial jingle and a few scattered
thoughts)
You have to write or type those words onto the page one by
one, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph until an entire page is
filled. Then another and another until The End.
The only way to do that is to make time to write. Daily word
count goals can be great motivators. So are those great “You should be writing!”
memes and posters. Encouraging us to find those little spaces of time to carve
out a few words, even on the days we think it’s impossible.
A scheduled block of time to sit down and write is the best
option. Yet sometimes there are distractions (Facbook… damn you Candy Crush) or
interruptions (Mommmm can you…(insert item/ food/ thing to get or look at here).
It is up to us to
make sure that first draft gets all the attention it needs by taking the time
for a few words
when that special writing time isn’t available or near long
enough. Are you in a long grocery line or a coffee line? Pull out your phone,
start the note pad app and start jotting down the next scene or ideas for it at
least.
You’ll be surprised how many words you can pop out that way.
Or, waiting for your order in a restaurant, I usually get at least a page out
of that. The point is even if there aren’t blocks of time to write, we can get
that first draft out of our head and onto paper if we grab a pen during those pauses
in life.
Just as you can’t wait for inspiration to show up you have
to club it. You can’t wait for the perfect time to sit and write. You have to
grab it when it appears, even if its one word at a time.
Update Goals for Round 3 Week 2:
1. 1000 words a day on novel
1k a day did not happen. Still there was writing done every
day. The second chapter of Outlaw Born is nearly finished.
2. Finish out this class to the next exam
The text for this section is a lot longer than I expected. I
was also assigned to visit a local historic attraction and write a report about
the business side of it. I am scheduled to do that next week. Yay! I wuve
museums. SeeSchool
really is fun!
3. Fill two more boxes of stuff to leave my abode.
This one was nailed. Two more boxes of things no longer
welcome in my house are waiting by the door to be evicted on our next trip into
town.
New Goals for Week 3 ROW80
1. Write on Outlaw Born every day and finish chapter 2
2. Get to that exam this week
3. Two more boxes of stuff to be evicted
How do you steal time to write? Do you have a favorite You should be writing
poster or motto?
OneWord.com is a website for getting the muse warmed up. Each day you get one word and sixty seconds in which to write what it inspires.This is my entry for today's One Word. What's yours? For more of my past One Word entries check out my One Word ProfileEliseV
The blood dampened messaged read. "I have the proof.
Meet tonight at the Black Pony. Bring the money and come alone."
By the knife sticking out of her husband's corpse in the
bar's parking lot she derived, he had been the victim of a payoff gone wrong. A
search of his body as she called 911 produced nothing but a wallet, broken
watch, and key ring.
As she played the part of distraught wife to the operator,
she glimpsed an envelope under the car. That was it, her darkness revealed. But
who else knew her secret?
"I used Grammarly to grammar check this post, because .a money in a barrel has better grammar than I some days."
There will be weeks that start off gangbusters then fall
into shambles mid-week. Roadblocks can pop up at any time to distract or
discourage from our goals. That’s okay because roadblocks are temporary.
You’re sitting on the road looking at a guy in an orange
vest holding a stop sign, road construction going on behind him. You turn the
radio up a little louder and watch for the dude with the sign to spin it around
from stop to slow for your turn.
Notice that every so often as cars go through you get
to move your car forward. Okay, it’s only an inch or two, but you are moving
forward until the road is clear for full speed ahead.
Take that approach when writing. Don’t just let LIFE
roadblock your muse. Inch that word count forward a word at a time. Even if you
add only 10 words that day to your manuscript that’s 10 words you didn’t have
the day before. The story is still moving forward and you’re still meeting your
goal.
You might even find a way to squeeze in a few hundred words
on those roadblock days blasting through the roadblock. Just try not to run the
dude with the sign over. :o)
Goal update:
1. Making that forward momentum on novel. Didn’t reach daily
word count every day but there was writing every day so I call that a win.
2. Degree progress is moving forward. At least this class is
interesting Historical and Adventure Tourism.
3. Clutter reduction was a plus too. There are 2 bags of
clothing and two boxes of books and things to go to Goodwill.
New Goals for Round 3 Week 2:
1. 1000 words a day on novel
2. Finish out this class to the next exam
3. Fill two more boxes of stuff to leave my abode.
Last week LIFE interfered and yet words still got on the page and things got done. That story will be written one word at a time. Now it’s your turn. Did you reach goals this week? Do you
have a tip that keeps you moving forward through the roadblocks?
July 1st has arrived with promises of adventure
and achievement over the next 80 days. Round 3 of Round
of Words has begun and
the goals for the quarter have been set.
Round 3 Goals
1. July 1st
is also the first day of CampNaNoWrimo!
30 days of novling around the campfire. A new perk for campers this year is the
ability to set your own word count. So my first goal is to meet my set camp
goal of 25k.
2. Complete camp novel and start Edits
3. Finish out my Hospitality Management degree.
The plan for successfully meeting these goals for now is to
simply take it one day at a time. Far
too often goals and stresses can overwhelm. We have a tendency to expect more
and pressure ourselves more than anyone else.
Here are 3 tips for keeping the forward momentum through it
all.
1. Break down your goal into daily bites. Daily goals allow
for a realistic approach and the flexibility to make adjustments for the large
scale. Plus those daily successes can build confidence and make you feel good
about yourself.
2. Don’t sweat the
big stuff. Stress and pressure are the two biggest goal killers. Stress can
make you physically sick if it’s prolonged. LIFE will always show up and it
will be unexpected. The key to keeping the momentum moving forward instead of
stress slamming the breaks is to not sweat it.
Have a moment or two of holy cow that suck monkey nuts. Then
get over it. Let it go and look at the big picture a head. Honestly what does
stressing over something do? Many times it can keep you from finding a solution
and make things even more stressful.
As the saying goes this too shall pass. Look at your goals
and make some adjustments then put the gloves back on and get in the ring for
the next match.
3. Celebrate. Celebrate even the smallest successes. Those
happy dances can get you over those moments that LIFE throws at you.
Celebrating helps you remember that you can make it on those days when
achievement seems impossible. Making a big deal out of the small stuff can even
take the sting out of the failures. Giving you the momentum to keep going and
not give up.
Now ring the bell my gloves are on and I’m ready to step
into the ring of Round 3 for the knock out.
How about you?
Want to know more about Round of Words in 80 Days just click on the button to the left :)
