Jinxed

I knew I should have kept my big mouth closed, but nooo… I just had to go out and brag about how well I was doing.

Well…that bit me in the ass. I’m now completely sunk in writer’s block. I have tried everything! Writing, brainstorming, watching anime, watching House almost kill someone, playing with the baby, cleaning (it gives me time to think! Don’t give me that look, Mom), EVERYTHING! And nothing works. I know exactly where I want to go with it, but the details are being sneaky. And you have NO idea how frustrating this is…

I take that back. Some of you  might be writers yourselves. You might fully understand my pain. One of my favorite quotes is from Gene Fowler: “Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.” So true… I can feel them already. It hurts just thinking about it! Ugh…

So, since I cannot write for lack of words (hell has frozen over, btw) I shall go garden. Maybe the sight of something green amidst the dying gray buildings of my apartment complex will shake something loose. Hopefully it’s not my porch rail.

Dusty Files

As promised to everyone on the lovely site BookRix.com, I’ve uploaded the first chapter of an old WIP. It’s not in the condition I would like to “publish” it in, but I’m going to try and hold myself to the deadlines I’ve placed. Plus, I’m really getting into the story again. It’s strange to see how my writing has changed over the past 5 years and how it hasn’t. Honestly, I’m surprised that my high school self would start something that was so complex. It seems I’m incapable of writing anything that doesn’t require serious consideration.

I have four or five beginnings to stories, but only two of the starts were ever finished. Then, there’s the ten or so story ideas. Part of me hopes I’m not the only writer to give up a story part-way through… I feel bad leaving them behind. In the end, though, I hope to come back to them, like I did with Kerista. Maybe it’s just not the right time to finish a story. Maybe there’s something that needs to happen in life before I can finish it. Or maybe I just need to read more books before I finish it. Whatever the reasons, I’m glad I’ve come back to Kerista. Calypso is still in progress. I will finish Calypso by May 30th (hold me to it…), but I’m having fun with my monthly diversion.

 

Do you have any works in progress that are no longer “in progress?” I’d love to hear about them.

Science or Fiction?

So, I’ve been thinking all day of something to write. Seriously. All. Day.

 

And, I can’t think of anything. Weird, I know, given how much I blab. It’s kind of annoying, especially because I’ve promised y’all that I’m going to keep up with the blog this time around.

 

So, I figured I’d write about something that’s been a popular topic on my ever so lovely BookRix.com. (Yes, I have already written about this before. I fully intend to beat a dead horse.) Science fiction. Yes, science fiction. No, not necessarily Star Trek or Star Wars, although those are classic. Science fiction is so broad! And, in our talks, I remembered one of the biggest sources of inspiration: reality. So tell me, which of the following is real.

 

3D holographic maps

A space elevator that goes from Earth to space

A space ship that uses sails instead of engines

A city on wheels

Artificial “leaves” that can make energy and oxygen without plants.

 

 

If you guessed any of those, you’re right. They’re all real. Can you imagine? (All those scientific wonders were found at popsci.com, the best place to glean ideas.) I mean, honestly, a post-apocalyptic Earth devoid of plant life but surviving off artificial photosynthesis. A city on railway tracks, hovering just above the surface of a water or marsh planet. A “Treasure Planet”-esque space ship that sails through space. A space elevator that can take tourists out of this world! And the 3D holographic wonders… Lord, the ideas are endless!

 

And the best discovery of all? Calypso could very well exist! Ok, so Calypso really is made up in my mind, but there hadn’t been a known planetary group of two planets sharing an orbit. Moons do it, and then there are the moons themselves which orbit planets, but not a planetary relationship like the one in my mind. Until now… Check this out. http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-02/two-planets-discovered-sharing-same-orbit

 

Amazing, isn’t it? There’s so much out there that blows my mind. Every time I step outside or read a PopSci magazine, I can see hundreds of possibilities. How can science fiction be so stigmatized when it is so full of wonder? C’mon guys, sci-fi isn’t all full of invading aliens and Captain Kirk. It’s full of science! There’s the post-apocalyptic versions. There’s the fantasy-tinged space stories. There’s steam punk (which is amazing, btw. I can’t write it, but it’s awesome.) and so many more. Anything that has a scientific slant can be science-fiction, I think. Ah….

 

Well…I’m off to create and elaborate on some of the ideas I’ve read about. I think I’ll write about the end of the world by drug-resistant bacteria. Yeah… That sounds promising!