After a\u00a0fairly lengthy absence, I'm finally on the road to recovery.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No, I haven't had\u00a0the flu or been diagnosed with some dread disease. It wasn't really me who was\u00a0MIA.\u00a0\u00a0I could deal with little ole' me being down and out.\u00a0 This was much, much worse.\u00a0 This was every writer's worst nightmare.\u00a0 Yeah, that's right - my Muse bolted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Too much stress at work, too much stress at home and WAY too much of a very bad reality everywhere sent Muse on the lam.\u00a0\u00a0Reality kidnapped my\u00a0Muse.\u00a0 As days stretched into weeks and the long Labor Day weekend passed without my fingers touching a keyboard, I started fearing the worst.\u00a0 Maybe Muse wasn't just on vacation.\u00a0 Maybe she'd\u00a0taken up residence elsewhere.\u00a0 She might even be ... dead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It took several things to bring her back, and that's what this blog post is about.\u00a0 There's more than one way to lure your muse to return.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
One thing that helped a lot was an exciting development in my life.\u00a0 After I commenced writing pretty seriously, I started reading a lot of\u00a0blogs.\u00a0 My absolute favorite writers' blog\u00a0was by a group of romance authors.\u00a0 It was called\u00a0 Romancing The Blog<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0I checked it at lunch time every single weekday without fail.\u00a0 The blog covered topics as varied as the group of writers involved.\u00a0 One day's might cover\u00a0plotting, dialogue or the craft of writing generally.\u00a0 Another\u00a0might discuss a hot button issue in the romance industry.\u00a0 It might\u00a0cover how\u00a0relatives feel about having a romance writer in the family, a holiday season, or struggling with blogging verses writing.\u00a0 It was an amazing and diverse blog and it gave me, the beginning writer, a real window into the authors' world.\u00a0\u00a0I used to\u00a0read Romancing the Blog<\/em> and imagine that one day I'd be asked to contribute to a blog like that and that brand new writers might see my blog entries as englightening or inspirational.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n So this past week, on the Tuesday after the long Labor Day holiday\u00a0passed without my having written a thing, I trudged back to work.\u00a0 I didn't mind going back to work this time because the stress at home meant it wasn't much of a break.\u00a0 Going back to work just traded\u00a0one set of stress for another.\u00a0 When I got a break during the day, I checked my home email.\u00a0 And there it was .......\u00a0 an invitation from romance author Marianne Stephens<\/a> to join a brand new, about to be launched blog\u00a0of romance writers named\u00a0Mary Anne or some form or fashion thereof.\u00a0<\/p>\n The new blog will be\u00a0called All Day, All Night ... Romance Blogs<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0It even refers to little ole' me as a romance diva.\u00a0 But - how could I\u00a0inspire other writers to write in these dark and troubled days if I couldn't do it myself?\u00a0 Besides, by Wednesday or so, I started getting a knock in the noggin.\u00a0 It was Muse, saying she liked being called a diva and maybe she'd come back.\u00a0<\/p>\n Muse started me thinking about a book I'd read recently.\u00a0 It showed me how different taste is and (once again) reminded me that the popular taste isn't always my taste.\u00a0\u00a0Some time ago, as a free download from the Sony store, I'd gotten a paranormal romance anthology called Half Past Dead<\/a><\/em>. \u00a0I'd never read a zombie romance but the new articles all over the place are calling zombies The New Vampires<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0 (I haven't read a vampire romance either but we'll just let that pass for now, okay?)\u00a0 I like some light paranormal stuff like Jayne Anne Krentz's Arcane<\/em>\u00a0 series<\/a>.\u00a0 Heck, I've written some light paranormal stuff (A Faerie Fated Forever<\/a>, A Sixth Sense of Forever<\/a>).\u00a0 <\/em>So why not give zombie romance a try?\u00a0 I could be part of the new trend.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reading the zombie romance reminded me WHY I've\u00a0never been good at following a herd.\u00a0 I read the first of the two-part\u00a0anthology - a story called The Undying\u00a0Heart<\/em> by Zoe Archer.\u00a0 It showed\u00a0me that zombie romance ain't my thing.\u00a0 Don't get me wrong - I'm not throwing off on Ms. Archer.\u00a0 She must be one heck of a fine author because despite my discovery that I don't find zombies to be good romantic fodder, I finished the story.\u00a0 And I'm not one of those who'll finish something just because I've started it.\u00a0 If a story loses me, I'll lose the story.\u00a0 But I finished Ms. Archer's piece, which is pretty darned astonishing since I couldn't read a word of the thing without wondering how zombies get hard ons.\u00a0 (Think about it.)\u00a0<\/p>\n There are others like me who look for something a little different, who'd rather wander off\u00a0on their own path than follow the herd.\u00a0 This blog gives me one way to reach out to those folks who can't feel all warm and fuzzy about romancing the undead.\u00a0 All Day, All Night<\/a><\/em> will give me another, bigger,\u00a0broader forum for that.\u00a0 It'll also hopefully attract readers to this blog where they can be educated and enlightened about many things in the romance and ebook world AND still\u00a0learn\u00a0about the current happenings\u00a0on Grey's Anatomy <\/em>from time to time.\u00a0\u00a0(Next week look for a season preview from the vantage point of my twisted and warped perspective)<\/p>\n Getting the new blog invite was exciting.\u00a0 And it started me thinking about it providing a forum for folks who don't follow the crowd, but it didn't quite get my fingers back to the keyboard.\u00a0 It brought Muse back, but\u00a0she and I were still feeling a little stressed and despondent.\u00a0 We still felt\u00a0a little disconnected and a lot unimportant (another product of recent events in my world).\u00a0 I\u00a0felt like even if\u00a0I still have something to say,\u00a0who'd listen to me?\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n You know what it took to finally get my fingers back to the keyboard?\u00a0 Laughter.\u00a0 Cliches are sometimes cliches\u00a0because they're so frog-kicking true.\u00a0 Trust me on this - laughter really is good\u00a0medicine and laughter shared with your spouse or lover - that's the best medicine in the world.<\/p>\n Friday night I was flipping through the TV -\u00a0over 600 channels and nothing on.\u00a0 Then I turned to Starz On Demand and there it was.\u00a0 A movie called Old Dogs<\/a><\/em> starring Robin Williams and John Travolta.\u00a0 It's about two \"old dogs\" still chasing the golden ticket through the ad agency they own in New York City.\u00a0\u00a0One day a woman from Robin's past shows up with 7 year-old twins.\u00a0 She tells Robin that they're his and before you can say presto, chango, he's stuck taking care of them for 2 weeks.\u00a0 The experience changes\u00a0the old dogs' view of the world, teaches\u00a0them what matters, and shows\u00a0Robin that no matter how unimportant he may be to everyone else, he'll always be one of the most important people in the world to his kids.\u00a0<\/p>\n The message resonated with me on a bunch of levels for a bunch of reasons.\u00a0 And the way it was delivered kicked me in the ass and nudged me toward my keyboard.\u00a0 It's an over-the-top farce with big, broad humor that\u00a0had me and Mr. Quack doubled over with laughter.\u00a0 Together.\u00a0<\/p>\n I needed that experience in today's reality much more than I ever would've needed it in the olden, golden days of yore.\u00a0 It reminded me that\u00a0out there somewhere are readers who need that over-the-top, bigger than life experience in a romance novel.\u00a0 And they need it more in today's reality than they ever did in yesterday's.\u00a0<\/p>\n It took the zombies, the comedic movie romp, and the blog invite to get me\u00a0back to the keyboard.\u00a0 But here I am again,\u00a0right in the middle of writing \u00a0The Duke of Eden<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>I'm\u00a0doing a scene where the emotions are played\u00a0so big and so broad that it'll keep readers who like the view from over-the-top glued to their books or ebooks, anxious to flip the next page.<\/p>\n I've remembered that this old duck can still quack.\u00a0 And soon, I'll be quacking in a new pond once a month.\u00a0 So keep an eye out for the launch of All Day, All Night ... Romance Blogs<\/a>.\u00a0 It should launch around October 1st and I'm currently scheduled to blog on the 18th\u00a0of each month (my birthday is on 8.18 so it'll be easy\u00a0for me to remember).\u00a0<\/p>\n Romancing The Blog<\/a><\/em> folded\u00a0up and shut down on December 31st.\u00a0 I've really missed my old friend and though the site said it was looking to re-launch in mid-year, it hasn't yet.\u00a0\u00a0I\u00a0hope to see it back but for now, I'd urge all the blog's former fans to check out ADAN<\/a> around October 1st.\u00a0 It's a new day, a new dawn and a new start.\u00a0\u00a0So mark the date on your calendars!\u00a0 There will be something for everyone and I hope lots of folks will take part of their lunch hour every day to read up on what's new and happening with a NEW group of romance writers that's every bit as varied as the folks who'll read the blog.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Now back to The Duke of Eden<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/em>The hero's desperately seeking the heroine who's been toted off by another man who is.....was......might still be one of the hero's best friends.\u00a0 Remember, this one's being published in serial form on Amazon.\u00a0 Check out the first part, Chapters 1-4<\/a> that's available for only 99 cents and look out for part two that should be posted very soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yep, this old duck is quacking along again, headed over-the-top and paddling\u00a0towards\u00a0another happy ending.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After a\u00a0fairly lengthy absence, I'm finally on the road to recovery.\u00a0 No, I haven't had\u00a0the flu or been diagnosed with some dread disease. It wasn't really me who was\u00a0MIA.\u00a0\u00a0I could deal with little ole' me being down and out.\u00a0 This was much, much worse.\u00a0 This was every writer's worst nightmare.\u00a0 Yeah, that's right - my ...continue reading \"All Day, All Night With Zombies & Old Dogs\"<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,4,5,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1174"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1174"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1183,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1174\/revisions\/1183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}