Tell The Story That Excites You

Last night, we watched the movie Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. It was suspenseful from beginning to end and the cinematography was superb. I enjoyed every moment, the critics are raving about it, so why didn't husband appreciate the movie? As authors, we cringe whenever someone criticizes our books, but the truth is, we don't all have the same taste in movies or books. My husband enjoys comedies and old movies. I enjoy comedies, but I love a good mystery. I once heard someone say, "No matter what you do, someone won't like you." It's the same with the story you tell. Tell the story that you get excited about writing. If you get excited, it will come through the pages and others will enjoy it as well. Not everyone, but that's okay, too.

Until next weekend,
happy reading and writing.
Tina Swayzee McCright

Which Way Do I Go?

Whenever I complete a project, I have an idea of where I want to go next. This time, the day I sent my proposal to my agent to begin pitching, a brand new story fell from the heavens into my lap. It is more intense than anything I've written before. But...I had plans to go down another path, a lighter path. What do you do? My grandmother often said, "When you don't know what to do, don't do anything at all." That lasted half a day and then the rest of the story came to me. The new story, the one given to me on a silver platter is the one I have to write. Even when I needed to do a bit of research, the perfect article came to me on the first try. I've decided that if there are times this story becomes too intense, then I'll take the other one out and work on it for a half hour or so to lighten my spirits. We'll see what happens.

Writing is a journey. You never know where it's going to take you.

Until next week,
happy writing and reading.
Tina Swayzee McCright

Challenges Are a Good Thing

You are probably wondering why I have a picture of cappuccino and candy with a blog post about challenges. I have learned the best thing for me to do when I have a challenge is to relax, preferably with a cup of coffee and something sweet. I have a Type A personality, which most people would not suspect. Over the years, I have learned to control the raging beast inside. I've made it a point to let life happen and not get upset whenever possible.

When my pulse races and I'm afraid my blood pressure will get too high, I meditate. I also look for the positive in any situation. I once read that there is an imaginary circle around you representing what you can handle in any given situation. New challenges widen the circle making many more events manageable.

Lately, I have been faced with challenges, which have turned into positive learning opportunities. Last night the Irish Charmer and I got married. (No, I did not wake up the day after I got married to go my blog. :) This is a scheduled post.) My focus over the past few weeks has been to turn the wedding into more of a party. By not having certain expectations, I have found the event more enjoyable and friends and family have surprised me with their kindness.

While preparing for the big day, my upstairs neighbor's pipes have leaked through my bathroom ceiling for the third time. I definitely had to meditate over this one. My tendency is try to control the situation and resolve everything immediately. My fiance stepped in to help and I have discovered how great he will be in an emergency situation. He is intelligent and calm. Qualities I respect. Also, by not taking charge myself, everything is falling into place. In the end, the situation will finally be resolved and I will have a nicer ceiling. It doesn't have to happen today.

So, while I am planning for my wedding and watching the paint fall from my bathroom ceiling, I received an adjusted tax statement from the AZ Dept. of Revenue and due to the high volume of calls, I can't get through to a live person. Apparently, they are not recognizing that I did pay my taxes through my non-writing career because they are looking at a tax ID number and not my social security number. In the past, I would have been extremely upset and ranting, but I have decided this can wait until after the wedding. I have learned to prioritize and put some things aside until later when it can be dealt with in a more relaxed manner.

Looking over the past week, I am amazed by how I have managed to stay sane with so much going on. I am learning to allow others to help - something new to me these past few years - and to let some things, although important, to take a backseat for awhile.

Of course, meditating more often is helpful and I'll blog about that another time.

Until next time,
happy writing!
Tina LaVon

Overcoming Hurdles

This evening, my fiance (The Irish Charmer)

and I were watching the movie My Big Fat Greek
Wedding. In one touching scene, the main character,

Toula, is discussing the future with her brother.

He says, "Don't let your past dictate who you are,

but let it be part of who you will become."

Since that quote hit both of us,

I decided to pass it along. The brother claims it

came from Dear Abby. I don't know if that is true,

but it sounded like something she might have said.

As writers, this quote could tell you to let the pass

go. If you received rejections or harsh criticism

from contest judges or critique partners, learn

from it and let it go. Don't let negativity keep you

from writing and submitting. It could also mean

to let your childhood or past relationships go.

If someone was cruel to you or you loved them and

they still left you, let it go. You took with those

experiences emotions that will help you as a writer,

but don't let them trap you in the past

and keep you from writing.

Each day you wake up, decide what your goal is

and work to accomplish the baby steps that will

help you achieve that goal. You are the only

one keeping you back.

Until next week,

happy writing!

Tina LaVon

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from Tina LaVon and The Neurotic Writer!

No matter what your religious beliefs may be, we

hope you spent quality time with your loved ones today.

When we reach our final hour, I doubt many of us will

wish we took the time to write an additional book.

We are more likley to wish we spent more time

with those dear to our hearts.

I know I am striving for balance in my life.

We all need to remember, time is short,

so let's keep our priorities straight.

Here's wishing all of your days are wonderful!

Learning to fly

As I walked into my office the other day, I noticed a baby bird on the patio. Even though I don't particularly like birds--a childhood nightmare that would take too long to explain here--this poor thing was kind of cute. I sure hope Mama was around to teach Junior how to fly because the snakes have come out of hybernation and are on the slither.

A few hours later as I'm sitting at my desk, I see Mama bird has decided to show up to take care of Junior. In between processing our daily accounting functions, I see Mama flapping her wings and hopping away. Junior is trying to mimic her. It's so cute to see the struggle and how many times Junior spread his wings. It reminds me of being a writer.

In the beginning we struggled to learn the craft. Each passing day or moment, we honed it, like Junior was trying to do with his wings. A little hop--a paragraph, a bigger jump--a chapter. Then hopefully flight--or a book. And each time, we had our own cheering section in our family, friends or critique group--or in Junior's case--Mama bird.

Flash forward to the next day. Junior is still on the ground, having survived the night, but he's not looking very good. He hasn't learned to fly yet and Mama bird is gone. Not knowing anything about how to take care of him, it's time to call in some help.

I believe at every point in our career, we all need some sort of reinforcement, whether its in the form of a class, workshop or editorial/agent input. Occasionally, I take classes to refresh or improve my knowledge. I also have a critique group, two final readers and a wonderful editor to help me along.

Junior has the local Bird Lady. She swoops down (drives up) and takes Junior home in the hopes of saving him. Is she successful? I don't know. I couldn't bring myself to call and find out since I'd become attached to poor Junior.

As I sit here at my desk again a few days later, I hear a bird chirp. I'd like to think it's Junior, but even if it's not, I know that whichever bird made that sound had his own struggles while he learned to fly. You will, too. The path of a writer isn't easy.
How do you now if you'll be successful? First of all, learn to fly--or finish the book. Don't be afraid to spread your wings and learn new things because the reward is well worth the struggle it took to get there.