The Nonplus Adventures of a Self-publishing Writer:
I THINK MY MUSE HAS ADD
I’ve been writing for a few years with limited success but don’t cry for me, Argentina. I know I have to do my time, learn th
e craft and all. Having said that, I must also say I have yet to understand my Muse.
She has certainly had my back based on the bursts of creativity I have experienced, but I think she must also have ADD. I wrote a mystery/ thriller, Pet Haven, in 2013. She was working hard because most of the story came to me in the 30 minutes it took to drive home from my writer’s group meeting.
After it was published, and as any good writer would do, I and began to gear up for the next in the series. I tentatively called the follow-on, 9 Bone and did my Muse show up to help with the second installment … YES, yes she did NOT. She gave me an unrelated scifi novel called, Just Us.
Uhm, how about some focus?!
I had several chapters of 9 Bones written but thought perhaps the talented little goddess was taking me into a genre for which I had much more experience. After Just Us was published in 2014, I set out to make notes for the next in the Just Us series called, Not Alone, because, you know, that’s what you’re supposed to do.
To break the monotony, of waiting on her inspiration laden passion to drop on me , I began writing a short story called, Nick Saint, but SHE decided the short story should be a 50,000 word scifi novel. Then before I could finish Nick Saint, she threw a quick pamphlet at me called, How to be a Happy Writer.
“It will encourage writers, do it!” she ordered.
Now I ask you, am ‘I’ the Muse? Is inspiration and encouragement ‘my’ job? I think not.
For the love of all that is holy, could I please get some focus!!
I ended Nick Saint with a hook to allow me a follow-on book or two, so I’m not sure why she has me writing the fifth chapter of a new, again unrelated, steampunk novel called, The Lightning Lord. I mean, I feel like I’m doing my part, for Pete’s sake! Maybe I should write a Children’s novel or how about a DIY on underwater basket weaving first. No, no, wait, how about a textbook on Phrenology? Yeah, Pren-freak’n-ology!!
Do they make Ritalin in a demi-goddess strength?
Daniel, my good friend and consultant in all things gun and bullety, tells me that, like George R. R. Martin, author of Game of Thrones (as if you didn’t know), I will frustrate my fan base by not putting out the next of a series in a timely fashion. To Daniel I say, TELL THAT TO MY FRICK’N MUSE!!
AD Faircloth, Pensacola, FL, 7/2015
Be sure and check out my webpage, anthonydfaircloth.com, for my other books and some short stories you’ll only find there.
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.
H. P. Lovecraft, “The Call of Cthulhu”
Read more at The Quotations Page
SEE MY SHORT STORIES ON ANTHONYDFAIRCLOTH.COM
Story Spotlight- Convictions
Cannons roar. Musket-rifles send bullets whizzing through the air above Alex McPhail’s head, but not once does he regret leaving Florida to fight for the preservation of the Union. For Alex, his four-year journey is riddled with hills and valleys; disowning by his father, a disciplined military life-style, the impact of first love, and the loss of a devoted family member each contribute to his belief that every man walks a solitary road. How it ends is a matter of true convictions.
_________________
Her writing often reflects her Canadian heritage. For the past nine years, she has belonged to the Panhandle Writers Group which has motivated her to publish short stories and six novels.
You can find, Convictions on Amazon.