The Importance of Chasing Rainbows

rainbow“Chasing Rainbows” is a phrase that describes someone who’s going after a dream that’s impractical and foolish. The phrase has often been used to describe writers who have unrealistic expectations of how well they can write and what they are worth. “He thinks he’s Hemingway, but he’s never published anything before. He’s just chasing rainbows.” “Can’t believe she thinks she’s going to make $100,000 off of her first book, she’s just chasing rainbows.”

No one can catch a rainbow, right?

We’ve all known writers who had unrealistic expectations. By “unrealistic” I mean that they expect to make millions of dollars on an uncompleted project or believe that they’re famous and everyone knows who they are — even though they’ve only written one short story for a free magazine. We’ve laughed at them, we’ve made snarky comments privately, and we’ve all rolled our eyes at them — up until one of them does “make” it. Then we wonder how the heck that happened. Was it luck? Fate? What?

The reason why I believe any writer finds that proverbial pot of gold at the end of their rainbow is not because they were lucky or because fate deemed that they were successful. It’s because they were persistent. Not only did they chase the rainbow, but they did everything they could to find that pot of gold by persistently improving their craft, submitting fiction and non-fiction, networking, etc.

We all know that being a writer isn’t easy, which is why our rainbows are so vital to us. Sometimes, when we talk about what could happen we allow ourselves to believe that it might. It’s up to us then to doggedly pursue those rainbows in the best way that we know how.

So the next time you think a writer is chasing rainbows, I encourage you to take a step back and find out if they’re really wearing rose-colored glasses. All writers need a rainbow, and as long as we’re actually writing? I’m okay with that. How about you?

March 6, 2009
Permalink ∞

Happy Valentine’s Day! Enjoy Your Love Haikus!

two-heartsHappy Valentine’s Day! Today’s the day to celebrate all things love and I can’t think of a better way than to share with you the love poetry from Twitter.

Poetry is a great way to get those creative juices flowing, especially if you need to flex those “descriptive” muscles. Here are the love haikus from the event, and I hope you enjoy reading them no matter how you choose to celebrate Valentine’s Day. I linked to the Twitter profile of everyone who contributed as well, so if you’re on Twitter — be sure to check them out.

Enjoy Reading Love Haiku Poetry

@coffeesister careful consideration / opposing opinions offered / eros expressed

@coffeesister friendship found / communication deepens / love is born

@J_Dalgliesh blazing grass behind / they emerge from smoke and flame / handclasped and alive

@J_Dalgliesh brushed skin quivering / burning trails of wild desire / molten body yields

@J_Dalgliesh the back of his hand / gentle on her autumn cheek / their golden wedding

@kaliphonia My dear you’re the bomb / mushroom cloud of destiny / love’s a battlefield

@ldydisney Second time around – Deeper love, pure honest love – Love my Valentine

@debsoul Love ever present/Illusion washes away/Light filled brand new day

@bigbookofyou You are the pebble, In the Center of your life, The source of ripples (From the Big Book of You)

@kimfalconer Dark wings touch my face/ when a shadow flees the heart/ love has come at last

@carliepaiva The sweet lovers sigh / thumping hearts fill their ears / together as one

@coffeesister sun sparkles / hope joins in / heart warms

@mlvalentine Show a writer love / read a book today and smile / we love our readers

@madkane Love Haiku / St. Valentine’s Day— / One day each February? / No. Daily each year

@ielliott Come the day of rest // Saturday will have then passed // Did you show your love?

@tombedell Saturday, is it? // A day-long dip in the stream // Of raging currents

@music_notes fall in love again / music fills our hearts and minds / thanks to songwriters

@mlvalentine music of the spheres / angelic voices singing / faithful, loving hearts

@_justen_ crisp air, chilled wine / she is out with her best friend / this Valentine’s Day

@_justen_ so many roses, / candies, and expense to say: / I love you, baby

@slacey Noble tetanus // Oh where have your eyebrows gone? // Stolen by an attorney

@_justen_Oh powerful wind/ weathering worlds, lives, and hearts:/ terraforming love

@mlvalentine delicate, pale Spring / knocks Love’s door to awaken / slumbering lovers

@suburban_cat Crepe myrtle petals / Dance in the summer breeze as / Tears run down my cheeks

@mazzycat the familiar/comfortable feeling of/knowing each other

@mazzycat the sun in your eyes/a glance, a turning away/the slowest of smiles

February 14, 2009
Permalink ∞

Spread a Little Love with Haiku Day on Twitter! #littlelove

twitter-haiku-dayWhat is Twitter? And what the heck is a haiku? A haiku is a form of poetry that is really short. I mean, really short. This form of Japanese poetry is based on syllables. In English, a haiku would be written in three lines, with the first line containing five, the second seven and the third five.

Jane Reichold offers really great resources for reading and writing haikus on her website, if you want more detailed information and articles to read.

Twitter is a “micro-blogging” service that allows you to set up an account and follow interesting people. I use it for link-sharing, networking and friendship; one of its benefits for me is that it connects with my Facebook and LiveJournal accounts.

When you “blog” on Twitter, you are limited to 140 characters which can make some “tweets” quite challenging but can make for some interesting bouts of creativity.

After putting some initial feelers out there, many fellow writers were interested in my idea for a “haiku day” on Twitter. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I thought we could have our first #haikuday next week and have a love theme.

For those of you who are new to Twitter, when you put the “pound” sign on Twitter in your tweet, it allows other people to references your topic of conversation. Using #littlelove will ensure everyone’s haikus can be read, regardless of whether or not you are following that person.

First Haiku Day is Thursday, February 12, 2009

Join me in spreading a little love next week on Thursday by sharing your own love-themed haiku poems. If you aren’t already, I invite you to Follow Monica on Twitter. I don’t auto-follow new people because I’d like to get to know you, so be sure to introduce yourself and say “Hi.”

Here’s a sample 5/7/5 format using that love theme:

red flowers remind / cold, blue winter is melting / warm hearts all year round #littlelove

Let’s see if we can get the word out there so we can all get our creative juices flowing for a Haiku Day on Thursday, February 12th! In the meantime, I’ll definitely work on my haiku writing skills!

February 5, 2009
Permalink ∞

10 Things You May Not Know About Me

It’s been pretty frigid here the past couple of weeks, and I spent a lot of time embracing Twitter and Facebook moreso than I had in the past. Part of that “social media” hug was to keep up on the tools since I’ve been using them for work. The other part to that online touchy-feel goodness, was because I needed a boost in this post-holiday slump.

Since there’s so many new people that I’ve come into contact with through various channels, I thought I’d offer ten things you may not know about me, as a way of “breaking the ice.” (So to speak.) Without further ado, here they are in no particular order:

    1. I don’t have a favorite color. Meh. So many to pick from, why choose just one?
    2. My cats are named after ancient Mesopotamian gods. Zakar (god of dreams) was a rescue cat. He’s a manx, orange tabby with lots of toes, very sweet and VERY spoiled. They were going to put him to sleep because he “wasn’t perfect.” Needless to say, he’s got a great life now. Rimmon (god of storms) is just like his namesake. He talks pretty much non-stop and enjoys following Zak around, causing trouble. They both like jalapenos, though. Go figure.
    3. Typically, I only read a book once. I read pretty fast, to the point where I inhale books. If the book is fairly complex, I may pick it up again to ensure I didn’t miss anything. Otherwise, I just read it the one time.
    4. Growing up, I wanted to be the female version of Indiana Jones. World-wide travel? That massive compendium of knowledge about ancient cultures? And a cool hat?
    5. I don’t believe in astrology. As part of my writing, I’ve researched a lot of different unusual topics that range from ghost hunting to astrology. I know some people really believe in it, but it’s not something that really resonates with me.
    6. Haven’t run a mile in years. *sob* Yeah, so I’m on a program right now. It’s called the “couch potato to 5k” program. Just when I was getting started, I had to get new running shoes. Then? I made the mistake of working through my lunches instead of taking that invaluable “off” time. So getting back on the wagon and hope to change this shortly.
    7. I’m actually quite shy around people I don’t know. Hard to believe, eh? I practiced like crazy for my last interview and — whenever possible — I’d prefer to know people at a “new” face-to-face outing. Kind of glad a few conventions are coming up; since I spend a lot of time writing and with my loved ones, it gets harder and harder to be outgoing and bubbly every year. ‘Course, this frigid icy winter might have something to do with that.
    8. I have a background in music. Played piano, choir and flute for a number of years with a strong focus on classical. My favorite composer was/is Mozart; I used to memorize (on average) 15 pieces every quarter for performances, contests and such.
    9. I don’t really like roses. Roses are not my preferred flower of choice. I like really brightly-colored, sweet-smelling flowers like carnations and wildflowers.
    10. The first horror writer I read was Edgar Allen Poe. Most people might respond with “Stephen King,” but not me. I remember “The Telltale Heart” very vividly. Oddly enough, I didn’t read Lovecraft or understand his influence until about five years ago. Strange how pulp and literary worlds don’t collide, but should.

What about you? Have anything to share?

January 19, 2009
Permalink ∞

How to Infuse your Creativity by Researching Tropes, Myths and Beliefs

As promised, I’d like to give you all a little exercise that my fantasy author friends might appreciate and immediately recognize. This is an example of how I do my research, and I’m offering it to you to put more questions in your mind than answers, to challenge not only what you write—but how.

For those of you who are familiar with research methods, you will notice that some of the steps are out of order. For my own work and curiosity, it has become necessary to formulate my hypothesis after I read my source material to reduce personal slant and remain objective.

Research Exercise: Avoiding a Common Trope in Your Setting

Step One: Identify your Intent

Create a dark-skinned race of characters that do not adhere to the common fantasy trope: all dark-skinned characters are primitive, barbaric, or villainous.

Step Two: Recognize Potential Sources of the Belief or Trope

Specific to fantasy there might be: Dungeons and Dragons, Tolkien’s the Lord of the Rings, or Conan the Barbarian. In this area, I would also recognize the need to read history or other nonfiction source material.

Step Three: Investigate a Major Influence for the Belief or Trope

Tolkien is often considered the father of fantasy and, in fact, heavily influenced early Dungeons and Dragons.

Step Four: Create a List of Author Influences

In this bucket, I sometimes either write down or note a variety of things about the author. For example: When was the book written? Where did the author hail from? How did the author create the trope or belief? Was the trope intentional? Did the writer have any prevalent or outspoken beliefs?

Step Five: Formulate your Opinion

Here is where you, the author, come into play. In this really basic example, you’ve done your homework to pinpoint what you believe is the reason why this trope was created and where it came from. Knowing those two things can really help you engineer other ways to avoid the trope or realistically portray a belief.

Step Six: Read Others’ Opinions

When appropriate, it might be a good idea to read other people’s opinions when appropriate. Literary criticism might be a great resource in this example or even commentaries from other writers. This step ends up becoming more important if you’re researching the origin of Halloween, for example, or myths and legends that cross time, cultures or countries.

Step Seven: Return to Your Original Goal

As the last step in the process, I recommend circling back to your goal and writing one paragraph to complete your thoughts. Sometimes, the act of writing down how you’d like to infuse your story with that different perspective can make all the difference.

What process do you use to marry research elements with your work? How do you manage collective thoughts and creativity into your projects? If you have other methods you use, feel free to share! Happy scribing!

May 11, 2008
Permalink ∞
Previous Posts Next Posts




Monica Valentinelli > creativity

Looking for Monica’s books and games that are still in print? Visit Monica Valentinelli on Amazon’s Author Central or a bookstore near you.

Archives

Back to Top