Website

I'm really happy about how my "Author" website turned out. I had no intention of creating one today, but when I went to check out my MuseItUp Yahoo groups I went to visit a site of a fellow MIU author and Bang! the inspiration hit me.

www.lisaforget.weebly.com

It's simple but I have time to get it looking a little slicker before my stories are published - which is the reason I needed a website - for self-promotion. All authors have one and I'm going to need one too, apparently! I've linked this blog to the site - another thing I was happy about.

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I belong to the online writing group on author Kelley Armstrong's website. One of the things I love about the OWG is how we all share ideas on a variety of writer's issues. Here are my thoughts on one topic and my own cry for advice as well:

What we do when we have Writer's Block
(no I don't mean my sick and twisted 50 word story...LOL!)

In my experience, the best thing is to keep writing. That doesn't necessarily mean keep working on the thing that's got me in a knot. Sometimes I just have to write what's on my mind at the time to help unblock the flow.

I usually take my thoughts, paragraphs, pages of seemingly unconnected material and file it under whatever the subject is, ie: Fight Scene or Meeting a Stranger. Those pieces have often helped spark just what I needed to get back to my main writing project. I've even used some of those random bits in my main work (I don't delete anything). For example: I've sourced the sexy scenes I wrote a year ago for my Dark Lover WIP (work in progress) which I realize has the same title as JR Ward's first of the Brotherhood of the Black Dagger series, so I'll have to change it! lol! (book titles - definitely a topic worthy of a blog posting of its own) Of course, I didn't use the whole thing word for word but it was a great launching pad for the scene. I figure, I write what inspires me at the moment and somewhere down the line I'll need a little kick-start - using my very own words.

Another thing I like to do when my thoughts hit a wall is to turn to my favourite books, especially the ones that inspired me to write, and I read, read, read. Then when I'm pumped with creative juices, I write, write, write.

When someone uses the same idea you had...

Okay....so, I was reading "City of Fallen Angels" the latest by Cassandra Clare (a Mother's day gift from my 14 year old Emily) when I landed at the bottom of page 322 and started getting a little dizzy. The reason was not because I was sick or hungry but because of the beginning of the "who I am" speech made by a new character.

It went like this:

"I knew Adam before Eve did. I was his first wife, but I would not be obedient to him, so God cast me out and made for Adam a new wife, one fashioned of his own body that she might ever be subservient...." "....you may call me Lilith, first of all demons."

No. Freaking. Way!!!! And here I thought I had an "original" idea using the Lilith of this myth/story in the little sexy piece I've been posting to the OWG. Argh!!! This was frustrating. I bursted out a couple of no-way-no-way's using a a very loud "outside voice" (LOL!)

Now, I realize that the story of Lilith is ANCIENT and is out there in a variety of ways - but to be honest, I only recently came across her story while I was researching demons (for a story, of course) and it gave me the idea to start writing the darned thing! I feel like if I continue people will think I stole the idea for my character from her when, in fact, that is so untrue!!!

Has this ever happened to you, where you're in the midst of writing something and then BAM! someone else has done it first?? What did you do? This was the question I put to the members of my group.

Responses were that I should continue with my character as is and write the story I intended. Authors all have a different vision and my Lilith is definitely not the same as the one that appears in Cassandra Clare's popular YA novel.

I'm going to take their advice!