{"id":511,"date":"2018-02-11T11:32:25","date_gmt":"2018-02-11T15:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/grimaulkin.com\/ljacob-today\/?p=511"},"modified":"2018-02-11T11:32:52","modified_gmt":"2018-02-11T15:32:52","slug":"when-the-muse-speaks-listen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grimaulkin.com\/ljacob-today\/?p=511","title":{"rendered":"When the muse speaks, listen!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I decided this weekend to tackle Earth<\/em>, to try and get it finished. As I talked with my publisher, he said, “How about you work on War Mage<\/em>?”<\/p>\n

Okay, for a different way of looking at things, sure. It’s been cooking for about a few months, so I should be able to get right back into the swing of it. A new story, a new character, new setting. I have an idea of where the story was going to go (after all, I’ve written eight drafts<\/em> of the damn thing) so it should be easy. Right? Right?<\/em><\/p>\n

I sat down, reread what I wrote up to the point I stopped and thought, “My God. This just sucks.”<\/p>\n

I’m tempted to say, “To hell with the whole War Mage<\/em> idea, let’s just not continue it.”<\/p>\n

This made me reach for the comfort food to console my depression. After eating a few Belgian waffles, I went upstairs to my Windows computer (the computer that has Scrivener, Internet, and game on it) and did some mindless button-mashing in game. \u00a0Then I said to myself, “What happens if I start Grimaulkin Redeemed<\/em>?”<\/p>\n

I left the game, started a new project in Scrivener, and started writing. An hour later, I had done a thousand words (would have been more if I didn’t self-edit) and it flowed! This, this<\/em> is what I like to feel when I write. The instant flow of words, the story just comes out, and it’s not work. It’s enjoyable. It’s play.<\/p>\n

This is what every writer’s “zone” is. When the work takes over your life, and you enjoy it. It’s not a job. It’s not something you keep wanting to procrastinate. It’s a flow, a river.<\/p>\n

I had a dream last night, and now that I think about it, I know what it means. There was a metal pipe that fed to a creek in the back of the house, and it was clogged, with water backing up against the foundation of the house. I had just grabbed a stick and planned on poking the end of the pipe to try and dislodge what was blocking it.<\/p>\n

That’s Grimaulkin Redeemed<\/em>. It’s unblocking the pipe of creativity. Maybe Grim will be my go-to for stories when I’m stuck. I still role-play him in the game (Champions Online–I’m @maulkin if you want to hit me up), so he may be around for a long time.<\/p>\n

Further updates: Water will be an audiobook very soon. Grimaulkin is in production for an audiobook (yay!). I’ll be at the Cumberland Library Meet and Greet from 10-2 on February 17. Come down for some exclusive swag! And buy a book, even!0<\/p>\n

Podcast is on hold for this week. I think I’ll try and get it together for next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I decided this weekend to tackle Earth, to try and get it finished. As I talked with my publisher, he said, “How about you work on War Mage?” Okay, for a different way of looking at things, sure. It’s been … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14,15,12,13,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brothers-of-the-zodiac-earth","category-brothers-of-the-zodiac-water","category-dark-mystic-quill","category-grimaulkin","category-promotion","category-war-mage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grimaulkin.com\/ljacob-today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grimaulkin.com\/ljacob-today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grimaulkin.com\/ljacob-today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grimaulkin.com\/ljacob-today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grimaulkin.com\/ljacob-today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=511"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/grimaulkin.com\/ljacob-today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":513,"href":"https:\/\/grimaulkin.com\/ljacob-today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions\/513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grimaulkin.com\/ljacob-today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grimaulkin.com\/ljacob-today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grimaulkin.com\/ljacob-today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}