On the things that inspire.

I think the biggest lesson I've learned as a writer is that I tend to find inspiration when I'm not looking for it. When I try too hard, that's when I get struck with writer's block.

I've recently started working more on my third novel - I posted the prologue to it on here a while back. I'd been lagging on it due to a lack of motivation and life taking over, but lately I've been finding inspiration in the political climate and the happenings across the world. Hate and oppression is a horrible thing, but when writing something about hate and oppression it becomes an unfortunate source of inspiration.

What else has been inspiring me lately that one wouldn't expect? My husband started teaching me the principles of Shaolin martial arts, and each style sends my mind reeling with potential short stories and poems inspired by their distinctions.

I guess the moral is not to try too hard to think of something to write about. Let the world inspire you. Let life happen. Until next time!

Always explaining my absence.

The honest truth is that I'm terrible at social networking. Sorry.

I haven't been writing very much lately. I've been told I have the beginnings of carpal tunnel syndrome (yes, already) and as such I've been trying to take it easy. And of course my favorite hobby is writing and my favorite workout is boxing. But I digress.

The ease is about to come to an end though. The current political climate and all that's going on in the fight for progressive rights nowadays has me inspired to work on the book I was already planning; I posted the prologue here earlier in the year. I should start churning out chapters soon. I love feeling motivated.

I've also been working on formatting and organizing my poetry volume. The problem I'm facing is that I need more poetry. How unfortunate.

In other news, two and a half straight weeks of thunderstorms is wearing thin. Sigh.

Hope all is well in your world!

Themes and chronology.

As I've been saying for a while, I've decided to put together a volume of poetry for publication. Now, I'm nowhere near complete - I know that it's currently a little scant, and I've been feeling like writing more poetry lately anyhow. The problem I've been facing is deciding how to organize all of the poems I have. Chronologically? Alphabetically? Thematically? Some combination of these?

I asked for feedback on my Facebook page, and the answer I got unanimously was to organize alphabetically within themes. After doing so, however, I realized that they didn't read well together. But chronologically in themes? The poems almost tell a story if read in order, and that's too good to pass up. So chronologically in themes it is.

Here are my rough ideas for divisions thus far:

1. Poems about mental health and feelings of depression, etc.
2. Poems about both the good and the bad of a particular past relationship; when read chronologically, it's ridiculously obvious how unhealthy that relationship was.
3. The Feminine Obsession. These poems were written for a project with the same name, and it's about unrequited, nearly stalker-like love towards women.
4. Poems about a hypothetical succubus who makes for interesting subject matter, who I simply refer to as "she."
5. Poems about my current relationship. Hooyah.
6. The rest of the poems. There are quite a few, but they don't fit neatly into themes.

Aside from "The Feminine Obsession," I have yet to name any of these sections. I will definitely keep posting as more happens. Have a good week!