Tag Archives: Inspiration

Open for Business – Orr What? Wednesday

Kindle Bargain, Writers Life, Writing Tips,

Open SignFall is here. New beginnings. I need that. Summer was jam-packed and fun-filled. The grandkids were here. Birthdays were honored with lots of chocolate cake. A 43rd wedding anniversary was celebrated. A vacation trip was made. Lots of excuses to be slothful on the work side.

Now slothful must end as we all open for business again. A hint of sharpness in the air and an equally sharp jab in the psyche tell us this is true. For me that means being on here with messages more regularly and reaffirming my writing discipline too.

We can find lots of excuses for avoiding the latter well into the new season. My go-to excuse is to blame the story I’m writing. I tell myself something is standing in the way of my getting on with it. I stop in my tracks and stare at that barrier as if it were impenetrable.

Have you ever experienced this road block syndrome? I’ll bet you have. It happens to everybody. And not just writers by the way. By the grace of God I’m not going through this myself right now. I’m shedding the summer slow-down for sure but I don’t feel blocked.

Unfortunately a dear friend of mine does. I hope she won’t mind if I pass on to you what I said to her not long ago – with some edits. Just in case you might be facing a road block or end up facing one in the future. Here’s my advice about that.

Believe me. You will get yourself and your work together. In the meantime you must not let yourself be encumbered by worry and agitation. Getting and staying unencumbered are among my personal themes as we begin this rejuvenating season. I invite you to share them.

Those two things in particular – worry and agitation – are what we need to jettison. We all carry too much of both and are equally weighed down and worked up by them. That’s not good for our work or for ourselves as humans deserving of joy in this life.

You will find the inspiration you need. You will find the pieces of your story because they are in your imagination waiting to be found. And when you put them together they will fit. Put each piece into words with passion in them and they will fit perfectly. Or perfectly enough.

I don’t mean to go all Pollyanna on you and pretend this is an easy task. Creativity is a re-assemblage of elements already within us into something new. This exercise may have a high PITA factor but it is definitely worth the effort.

So – Do It Anyway. The result will make you glad you did. The result will be that you’re Open for Business.

RR

A WRONG WAY HOME – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 1 – the eBook – is FREE at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T9RVGGC. It is also FREE at Barnes & Noble and iTunes and KOBO and other online platforms. A YEAR OF SUMMER SHADOWS – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book #2 – is available at those same platforms including http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZBOTH5O. These are my 12th and 13th novels and I’m currently open for business on number 14. Alice Orr – www.aliceorrbooks.com.

 

Real Life Heroism & Why I Write Suspense – Riverton Road Monday

Great Read, Kindle Bargain, Romantic Suspense, ,

Heroism imageI write suspense because I’m inspired to tell heroic stories. This inspiration doesn’t come from my personal experience with the kind of plot situations I write. I’ve never chased down or vanquished a murderer. As far as I know I’ve never met anybody who has.

My inspiration comes from the day-to-day heroism I witness in real life. Over and over I see and hear about people stepping into danger. Observing these everyday heroics – and sometimes living through them myself – helps me write my more outlandish heroism more realistically.

I’ve observed and experienced how we step up to perilous challenges one toehold at a time. We don’t often leap into the abyss. Leaping is common to the old fashioned storytelling we find in movies starring John Wayne et.al. I try to avoid writing old fashioned stories.

The exception to the non-leaping pace of real life heroism happens when somebody is under immediate threat. Somebody we care about or could care about simply because they’re human beings as we are. Then we may leap into the abyss in order to yank them out of it.

I think of these instances as fireworks heroics complete with crashing sound effects and cascades of colored light. They’re real but rarely necessary or so we hope. Everyday heroics are less spectacular but equally or even more amazing – partly because they are much more frequent.

What amazes me is that day-to-day heroism doesn’t involve split second no-time-to-think-about-it action. Day-to-day heroism is thought about and thought through upfront. The possibility of disaster is well understood. But we act anyway.

We step up – one fully aware step at a time. I’m not suggesting there’s no fear in the mix. Quite the opposite. The heroism arises from the fact that fear is definitely in the mix and we step up all the same.

Something horrible happens or is likely to happen. We’re shocked and frightened. We weep or curse or throw something or go out and drink too much or all of these. Then we grit our teeth and wade in to do what must be done. We may complain and let loose the less attractive aspects of ourselves but we wade in anyway.

Grace – which doesn’t always need to look entirely graceful – under pressure. This is the heroism I find inspiring. This is the heroism that inspires me to write suspense. Calamity happens. My characters are taken aback for a bit. Inevitably they stand up and step up – one often uncertain and always precarious action at a time.

What will happen to them? We don’t know. Will they triumph? Not always. Will they overcome in the end? If so – how will they manage that against the formidable odds I’ve mounted against them? We must read – or write – the story to find out.

Meanwhile I watch the people around me and feel the experience of my own existence. I ask those same questions about actions and outcomes. I see stories unfold and the courage it takes to get life done – sometimes only by the skin of our teeth.

Between and among the folds and the courage and the skin of our teeth lie the greatest of all page turner yarns. I may amplify the details but basically I pay attention and allow myself to be inspired.

What results is a suspense novel – with some romance thrown in – because hardly anything is more dangerous than falling in love.

RR

A WRONG WAY HOME – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 1 – the eBook – is FREE at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T9RVGGC. It is also FREE at Barnes & Noble and iTunes and KOBO and other online platforms. A YEAR OF SUMMER SHADOWS – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book #2 – is $2.99 at those same platforms including http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZBOTH5O. These are my 12th and 13th novels and they are all about heroism. Alice Orr – www.aliceorrbooks.com.

 

Let’s All Be Free at Last – Ask Alice Saturday

Kindle Bargain, Romantic Suspense, Writers Life, ,

Celebration image 5Question: It’s Independence Day. What do you want to be free of as a writer?

Answer: I wish for myself and all of my writer friends to free ourselves from the tyranny of our expectations.

I launched a book several days ago. Yet my celebration of that accomplishment is shadowed by my disappointment with myself. What did I not do well enough? What did I do too much?

I’m not saying a thorough debrief isn’t called for at the end of any major undertaking. Of course we should evaluate. Of course we should learn from our mistakes.

What I am saying is this. I find myself and too many other writers failing to congratulate our achievements. Failing to say – “I did that just right.” Or even – “I did that just right enough.”

Someone else had to remind me. “Look how far you’ve come in the past year. Look how much you’ve learned.” Typically I responded with a litany of my sins of omission. The things I’d left undone.

I was altogether wrong in that. A backward glance was in order. As I have absolutely no doubt it is also in order for you. Where were you a year ago today? Where was your career twelve months in the past?

Stop a moment right now. Take out a piece of paper and a pen. Cast yourself back a year. Ask yourself this question. “A year ago what were the 3 things I most wanted to accomplish in my writing career?”

Don’t overthink it. Let your first 3 thoughts be your best 3 thoughts. Write each down and leave a generous space blank after it. Put the paper aside and come back here with me for a bit.

In my opinion the worst of our sins of omission is committed when we fail to relish our experience. Stop another moment now and consider what it is we do. We set down words in a configuration that is brand new. Entirely our own creation.

We invent stories. We articulate thoughts. We build pictures from syllables. And if we are doing these precious activities as we should – we enjoy most of it.

This is a gift we’ve been given. A gift worthy of recognition and reveling. When we fail to do so we’ve fallen victim to the tyranny of our own expectations. We have forgotten to honor what we did accomplish by wallowing in what we haven’t yet accomplished.

Return to the piece of paper and your 3 hopeful ambitions for the year just past. After each one record every step you’ve taken along the path to that goal. The short steps – the long strides – the hops and hobbles in between. I’ll do it with you.

Fill the blank spaces. Carry onto the back of the page and across the desk and up the wall. Crowding the room with a record of our writerly deeds. We’ll read them over. Recognize and revel. Then we will have triumphed over tyranny and be free at last. Happy Independence Day.

RR

My current novel is A Year of Summer Shadows – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 2 – available in eBook and paperback at amazon.com/author/aliceorr and other outlets online. A Wrong Way Home – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 1 – the eBook – will be free for download soon at those same outlets. These are my 12th and 13th novels and I set myself free at last to honor them both. Alice Orr – www.aliceorrbooks.com.