First Blog Hop For 2014!

I’ve been tagged to take part in the first 2014 blog hop by the fabulous V. A. Givens @VAGivens — definitely worth following on Twitter sharing words of inspiration, quotes, photos and some laughs, too. I’m always happy to answer questions so feel free to ask. So, here we go!

 1) If you could achieve anything with your writing in 2014, what would it be?

I would like to write something powerful, worth remembering or reading again and again. It wouldn’t necessarily have to be fiction. I have a non-fiction project planned for this year too. I think every writer wants to write that “one” book that is remembered. Will that ever happen? Only time will tell.

 2) What are the top 3 demons you must slay to achieve your goals in 2014?

I don’t slay or fight demons. I work at wearing the down until they eliminate themselves. We all have demons like: procrastination, envy, fear, self-doubt , the inner critic telling us our writing is crap. The trick is to wear them down slowly so you don’t exhaust yourself fighting them. Last year I wrote a three part blog series on “What makes you a confident Writer” In my opinion the lack of confidence is the one “demon” so to speak most writers need to work at eliminating.

 3) Name 3 things that inspire you to write.

I could say I get inspiration from everywhere, and that would be true. But I’d rather answer the question differently.

The creativity: The pure act of storytelling inspires me to write. The challenge: The art of mastering the craft of writing. Connection: Building a bond between the story, the reader, and the writer.

 4) What advice do you have to a new writer who is considering writing fiction?

Most authors will say, “just write.” Writing every day is the most important thing you can do to help improve your writing. Reading is another valuable element to helping a person grow as a writer. I’d also add to that by saying, “Work on developing a healthy attitude to hard work, rejection, overcoming fear and developing the courage to step outside the box.” Writing is now a highly competitive environment. Depending on the reason for a person taking up the craft the fact remains that we are in the business of producing a product. Unless of course, you are writing for therapeutic purposes which is without a doubt a wonderful reason to tell a story. But for those of us who would like to earn something from our work we have to put in the hard yards, and that doesn’t stop when you finish writing the book. That folks is only the beginning.

Now here’s the best part. I get to tag my favourite authors to tell you all about their writing world.

I hand it over to the fabulous Tasman Anderson whose blog you can find here.

The amazing Candice Lemon-Scott whose blog you can find here.

The spectacular Karen Tyrrell whose blog you can find here

And the very talented Mark Odwyer and his blog can be found here.