Saturday, March 30, 2013

Disturbing the Dust....

When I decided to put together our little writers group, I wanted to create a place where readers could find a treasure chest full of great stories, a place that readers could belong to. I put the idea in the ears of a few writers and we began to build our brand. What would be a good name? What would our logo look like? Who would be invited to join?

And we definitely created a presence on the internet, without a doubt. Readers have heard of us and they know that regardless of which author you decide to try, you will get a story of excellent quality. The bottom line is that each of us cares deeply about what we create. We go over our story lines, characters and settings intensely. We have frequent discussions about what you, the reader, will think of this or that. We do our best to market ourselves. We are all over the different social media outlets, promoting ourselves and really supporting other independent creators out there.

And it's a struggle. No doubt about it.

Each of us has a day job and most of us, children. To find time to create these epic tales with sweeping landscapes, tension, romance, intrigue while balancing real life... well, you can imagine. We still get it done. I write during my lunch break at work. I write by hand in a spiral notebook and after a few days, I type what I've handwritten into my computer. I draw ink sketches in the margins of the characters. My mind is constantly working on plot and character development, going through the possibilities. Which road do I take the story down?

I'm a musician as well, so all of that crap is swirling around in the ole noggin as well. Strong structures, melody ideas, lyrics, guitar parts, etc. Seems like it would be a chaotic soup of nonsense, no? No. Somehow I manage to pull it all together into a cohesive whole, something that is hopefully pleasing to someone out there.

On top of that, I am an artist as some of you know. I draw, paint, work in CGI. Another outlet that I am pulled toward. Needless to say, I constantly shift things on to the back burner and then back again. I make these things because I want them to be seen, heard, experienced. I do these things because I have to. It is part of who I am. It's intertwined in my DNA.

I search for an emotional response to the things I create. Each of us do.

It's amazingly difficult to get noticed and it sometimes feels like no one cares.  We have our moments of doubt. We are human after all. If sales are down, it bothers us. Bad reviews bother us. But none of us are quitters, trust me. We are in this for the long haul. We each have a distinct voice and we have something to say.

If you read our tales, you will see that.

William


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