New Paths, New Blog

I haven't been writing fiction much lately because I have been working some things out.  As my writing-related dreams go down different paths, so too must my blogs.  I will be working on separating out my fiction from this blog.  The new home is Weirding Out Fiction.  Once I get both blogs tweaked, I'll let you know my thoughts about my fiction and other things.  For now, bear with me, please, as some things get moved about.  Thanks!

Morning Coke, Morning Pages

I am going to replace my morning Coke with morning pages . . . soon.  In a few weeks.  I'm working on decaffing myself over the next few weeks.  Why?  Multiple reasons.  For one, some medicines don't go well with you consuming large quantities of caffeine while on them (I learned that recently).  Two, if the symptoms of gradual detoxing from caffeine are any indication to go by, caffeine is some serious crap that affects your body.  Dislike that.  Three, a can of Coke has 140 calories, and multiply that by how many I used to consume daily, that's about damn close to a 1000 calories that I drank in.  Daily.  And my body is showing it lately.

To help wean myself off after, oh, 20+ years of Coca-Cola-addiction, I'm drinking fake soda--that is, decaf, diet Coke.  And I am doing this with Julia Cameron's morning pages.  According to her Artist's Way book, you write three longhand pages of whatever comes to mind.  You write them first thing in the morning.  They helped me long ago when I was getting past some writer's block.  I figured I better start practicing at them now, making the morning pages an ingrained habit, before I take that final step and drop my last can of Coke.  In the end, both practices--being caff-free and doing daily morning pages--will prove beneficial in the long run.

(This post took me 18 minutes to create, from conception to posting.)

New Name, New Focus

This blog was formerly called Fantasy Fiction Addiction, and its focus was writing.  For a while now, I wanted to combine several blog concepts into one.  But it is only now, as I work on changing myself, that I am working on changing this blog.  This move is far from complete, but bit by bit, I am working on getting it ready.  For those used to the old blog, I still plan on posting snippets of my writing here.  I still will talk about writing.  But I hope to add other things here, such as interesting bits from my research.  Hope to see you around.

(This post took 6 minutes to create, from conception to posting.)

Caterpillar to Butterfly

Caterpillar, a photo by cicerocat on Flickr.

For several years now, we have raised butterflies as a hobby.  They start out as little yellow eggs, hatch into little black caterpillars, mature into green gremlins, and end up wrapped in green or brown chrysalises.  A few weeks later, they are something else altogether--a beautiful black butterfly.  Then the process begins again. 

Sometimes I think creative arts people go through a similar metamorphosis, perhaps several times over.  I think I am going through one now.  What I knew as writer's block, gently called writer's ennui to take out the sting, may be the creeping stages in my life cycle as a writer.  I feel I am close to something . . . else, but my past is still holding me back.  

You see, I have all these goals, most of which ended up in failure.  Most likely because what I was passionate about, my true goals, were changing.  That is why I need to let go of my past goals, and keep only the essence.  Meaning, I keep only what keeps me writing and striving toward publishing.  Meaning, I may have to change how I write, what I write, and how I seek publishing.  Meaning, like a caterpillar, I have some molting to do in order to grow into my new skin, my new goals, my new future.  But at least now, I know its waiting for me as long as I do my work.

butterfly2, a photo by cicerocat on Flickr.

(This blog post took 43 minutes to create, from conception to posting.)