An Invitation!

I wanted to take advantage of this week’s blog post to invite you all to a live stream!

For those who don’t know, I run a program at my day job called Writer’s Block. It’s an hour of relaxed, quiet writing with like-minded people. However, with the world going crazy and the library being closed, we haven’t been able to properly meet.

So, I will be hosting a live stream on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3-4 on Facebook. We will have bookish discussions and writing sprints to help motivate you to work on your writing. All are welcome, even if you just listen in.

I hope to see everyone there so we can get some work done together!

Find me at this link:

https://www.facebook.com/LoriFayreBooks

Writing in the Face of Adversity

The world is crazy. We all know this and it’s all I see on my news feed. But, I’m not here to talk about what’s happening. Well, not exactly.

My only message today is to keep going.

I’ve been struggling to see the point lately. Being stuck in my house, cut off from work (work is usually my biggest motivator to write), and terrified about what the future might hold is not conducive to a creative atmosphere. Yesterday was really bad, where I slammed my laptop shut after struggling all day to crank out a single chapter and asked myself why all of it mattered.

Here’s what I figured out: It matters because it’s what we need. Right now, everyone is in the same boat. We’re all stuck in the house with little to do. The way I see it, people need the escape that comes with a good book. And, as writer’s with too much time on their hands, it’s up to us to provide that.

This week’s message was short but it is simple: Keep perspective, keep clean, and please keep writing! Your story might be the thing that gives someone a bit of relief in these trying times.

A Novel Idea

I’m sure you’ve all heard the phrase ‘that sounds like a novel idea’. It’s a way of agreeing with someone or telling them you think they have a good idea. I’ve used it and heard it used before, but today I will be speaking about this saying out of context.

My editor recently posted something to Facebook that’s stuck with me. I’m paraphrasing here, but she basically said that you shouldn’t focus on writing a full novel every time- short stories and novellas are a great way to become established and get your name out there. And that was something I needed to hear.

When I plan a story, I like to plan for 50,000 words. Every. Time. There are projects sitting on my computer that I’ve put away because I couldn’t stretch the story. That’s not fair to myself or my writing. Basically, if I can’t force myself to write at least 2,000 words per chapter, I don’t write it.

It is wonderful to have that sense of accomplishment that comes with writing 50k. It comes with its own writer’s high that can be a bit addicting. But, we as writers have to realize that not every story needs that many words to be told. Novellas are extremely underrated. I read them all the time, so why is it a problem to write them?

The takeaway is that not every idea is a ‘novel idea’. It may just be a ‘novella idea’. And that’s fine! J