Sarah J. Carlson

Contemporary Young Adult Author

Tag Archives: creativity

34,000 words in 4 days omg my brain is exploding!!!

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So my brain has been on fire the past four days! Writer’s high to the max, Ideas just itching and itching to get out of my head.

I finally made myself get started on the prequel to the other novel I’m wrapping up right now (which is off at a development editor), Hooligans in Shining Armour set in modern-day Belfast. I was putting it off because I don’t know why, probably because I didn’t feel like researching, but I finally found my spark. I’d already plotted it out a bit, which helped immensely. Plus as I was writing this, I found out I loved this character even more than I ever knew!

yes_napoleon_dynamite

Anyway… Have you ever written a sequel or a prequel? What did your process look like for that? Is it easier or harder to write than the first?

My brain is out of words… So I’ll post a picture instead

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ImageThe Singapore Super Trees with Marina Bay Sands in the background.

Confession…  I’ve been editing and revising too much. I have to get through my entire perpetually-nearly-finished novel by Friday to send it for development editing. I’m about two thirds of the way through. Now my brain….it’s…refusing…to work.

Has this ever happened to you? What do you do to recharge your brain?

iTunes Playlist Challenge! part 2

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Image(Retrieved from http://fungerms.com/music-quotes/)

One of my biggest creative writing fuels is music. I need to have music all.the.time. Riding Singapore’s amazing public transportation system, washing dishes, running, writing, shopping at the grocery store— music all the time. I create my own soundtracks for my books, with songs for different characters and events and setting. It helps me connect with the world I’m creating. This morning I ran my iTunes Playlist Challenge again because it was just so much fun last week. I put my iTunes on shuffle and wrote down the first ten songs (or so) that came up.

Here they are:

  1. “Attack on Murron,” James Horner, Braveheart soundtrack
  2. “Do or Die,” Papa Roach, Getting Away With Murder
  3. “The World Is Ahead,” Howard Shore, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
  4. “Exiles,” Bryan Tyler, Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune (Original Television Soundtrack)
  5. “House of the Rising Sun,” The Animals, Retrospective
  6. “Whispers & Confessions,” Trevor Morris, The Tudors
  7. “Thru The Eyes of Ruby,” Smashing Pumpkins, Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness: Twilight to Starlight
  8. “Ishwilf,” Disturbed, Asylum
  9. “Pinwheels,” Smashing Pumpkins, Oceania
  10. “Killing In The Name,” Rage Against the Machine, Rage against the Machine

So several of those were less than two minute songs, so I did one more for funsies:

“Tomorrow Comes a Day Too Soon,” Flogging Molly, Within a Mile of Home

Wow, that was a lot more random in terms of music…. But I wonder if shuffle got stuck on soundtrack mode or something. Now you know a little about what movies and TV shows I like I guess haha.

Try it for yourself and see what happens. Post your results here!

What my non-writer friends don’t understand… (part 2)

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You know that feeling you get when you’re writing and just amazing stuff’s just pouring onto the page? I’m dubbing it “writer’s high.” That’s been me this last week.  I got some just spectacular feedback from my critique group. Let me apologize right now to my husband and friends, but when I’m in the zone, I don’t want to waste it. Don’t want to lose all that possible geniusness.

Have you ever holed yourself up and not answered texts because you were in the zone?

Do you have any inspirations for the next “What my non-writer friends…”?

Happy writing!

 

What my non-writer friends don’t understand…

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ImageConfession: for the past few days, I’ve been a stalker. I’ve been obsessively going through my Reader looking for new writer friends, reading what people are up to, commenting on posts. I SWEAR I’m not a creeper or a serial killer. Anyway, I read a lot about people on the quest to publication, both self-publishing and embarking on the arduous, dangerous, gutting quest of the traditional route. I saw this meme character and BAM! Here it is for your enjoyment.

Okay, now I need to get back to my 2,495,456th revision on my perpetually nearly finished novel….  Just got amazing feedback from my fellow members of the Singapore Writers Group. Happy writing!