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Thoughts

How do you keep going when you think your writing sucks?

March 15, 2015 by Rachel Bostwick

Isuckst’s not a problem exclusive to writers. Artists and creators of all kinds suffer this annoying problem. For many of us, all it takes is one negative comment at the wrong time to send us into a spiral of self-doubt and disillusionment. Here are some practical tips.

1. Keep a praise file.

Take all your good reviews, write down all the sweet things your friends say, even the offhand ones, treasure them like gold. Put them on little notecards and put them into a recipe box. When you start to waver, pull them out and sort through them. They say it takes five good comments to undo a bad one, but sometimes it seems like for us artists, it takes at least fifteen! So write them all down. Don’t have any? Ask for some. Ask your fellow artist friends – they will totally understand and be thrilled to help you out. Which brings me to my next point.

2. Have an encouraging group of friends.

If you don’t have a group of like-minded people, you will fall. It is not good for humans to be alone. We’re not made for it. Starting right now, start looking for a group of encouragers. People who know what the struggles of an artist are. If you’re a writer, find people who love words as much as you do.

It’s critical to find a group that lifts its member up, rather than competing or gossiping. I belong to a group on Facebook called The Dragon’s Rocketship. We’re dedicated to fantasy and scifi. Some are writers, some are artists, some are just fans of geekdom. But our number one rule is “Don’t Be a Dick.” When we catch a whiff of bullying, hurting, racism or sexism, or any other kind of dickishness, we boot the culprit from the group. We cultivate a friendly group that likes to work together and lift each other up. For that reason, we are able to have members of all walks of life, from all religions and all places on the political spectrum, just together to make and enjoy art. It is wonderful. If you like fantasy and scifi, join us. If you’re into something else, I am sure there is a group like us out there – just start looking and don’t stop until you find the one that makes your heart sing.

3. Practice the buddy system

Having a group support system is good. It’s vital. Just as important is having one or two tried and true friends you can ALWAYS turn to. Someone who you could send a thousand words to and they’ll read it within twenty-four hours, just because it’s you sending it. Do you have a friend like that? Know how you find one? Same way you got a partner in science class in grade school. Look around for someone who doesn’t have someone yet. But they have to be the right person, the one who gets your jokes and doesn’t care if you spell things wrong. Or maybe there are different criteria for you. But find that one right person. Then be their friend. Offer to read their things – or read what they already have out there and tell them what you like about it. Do you know how many author blogs are sitting out there with no comments on them at all? Pick somebody and make them a special friend. The right one might not be the first one you try. You’ll know pretty soon whether they are a vacuum who will suck up your friendship and offer nothing back. Walk away quick and try again until you find the right one. THen when you feel low, you’ll have someone you can tell it to, someone who will really care and you can do the same for them, too.

 4. Choose Your Music

Liften to the right kind of music. You know what makes you feel happy and what lets you stay in depression longer. Pick the happy stuff. What music lifts your up seems to vary from person to person, so don’t listen to other people’s suggestions. Pick your own. Save a playlist that you can turn to in the future during sadness emergencies.

 5. Laughter

What makes you laugh? Silly puns? Fart jokes? Physical comedy? Whatever it is, laughter is healing and refreshing. Have a stock of movies or comedy specials you can pop in when you’re just taking yourself way too seriously.

6. Most importantly, remember this in case you think you really suck

It’s okay if you really do suck. No, seriously. It is completely impossible to get good at something without being absolutely terrible at it first. It takes many, many hours of work to be good at something. Early works are not good. That’s OK. You probably don’t actually suck, but if you do, you’re still hours and hours ahead of the person who isn’t trying. So rejoice and keep going. Two things to remember about your work not being perfect right now.

First, this:

jake

Second, this:

 

Filed Under: Thoughts

Guest Post and Giveaway by Eric Swett,
Author of Apocalypse in the Balance

November 6, 2014 by Rachel Bostwick

Before I finished my first novel, Apocalypse Rising, I wrote a post apocalyptic novel that I called Alone. When I first started writing the story it was all about a single survivor. I shared his perspective on the world as it was after the collapse of civilization and how the collapse occurred. Author Eric Swett
The days, months and years that followed took up a large portion of the book. I enjoyed playing through the scenarios that would lead to the end of the world and then showing what the aftermath would look like. As the story continued I wrote more and more about the character’s present life and a different story started to take shape. Soon it became less about the world and more about the people that survived within it.

Once I was finished writing the first draft and started the editing process I realized the two did not quite fit together. I thought that maybe I could take the first part of the book and move it to the middle as some sort of flashback the main character could share with the few people he meets along the way, but the more I think about it the more I think that it might be better to break it up into two separate books so that each can be the focus of what is important in each of them.

Why split them up? Why not make the make one part a smaller part of the main story rather than abandon the connection altogether? Well I’ll tell you why.

Overgrown by Joakim Olofsson

Apocalypse and Aftermath

There are a few books I have read that spent time dealing with the lead in to the apocalypse, the time during, and the time immediately after everything goes bad. Some excellent examples are Stephen King’s The Stand, Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, and The Grey Matter by Billie Sue Mosiman. In all three we see what leads up to the apocalypse and the author guides us through the events that take place during and after the end of the world. I really enjoy these books as much for the details of the collapse as the human story that follows. They satisfy me in ways that so many Hollywood movies fail to. Usually in Hollywood the movie is about diverting the apocalypse or the aftermath that follows, but rarely are both covered in adequate detail.

Think of Independence Day. Aliens come down and destroy all of the major population centers on the planet. The humans fight back and beat the enemy, but the movie fails to address what happens in the aftermath. Millions of tons of crashed alien spacecraft littler the planet and the population of the planet has been dramatically curtailed, so what happens afterward? And what about 2012? A massive planetary shift, depopulation of the planet and ecological devastation on an epic scale, and all we get to see is the ships full of people sailing off to Africa. Where is the follow up? What happens next? I suppose the same can be said of any Hollywood movie or novel for that matter. As the consumer we are left with questions of what next, assuming we care to ask the question.

The aftermath is every bit as exciting as the destruction itself, so I think it is important to show that rather than take it for granted. Human suffering is the perfect fodder for the novelist and I couldn’t help but try my hand at exploring the world as it fell apart.

Shopping Mall by Joakim Olofsson

 

Survival in a Time Beyond the Collapse

The other popular end of the apocalypse spectrum is the time when the death throes of civilization have subsided and the survivors must forge a new existence. Whether that existence is one of solitary survival or a return to civilization is the only real difference in the genre. Some classic examples of this are David Brin’s The Postman and The Road by Cormac McCarthy. The struggle for survival and to forge a new world with those that survived is a classic theme that has countless movies dedicated to them. There is nothing wrong with these stories, in fact I think they are fantastic, but to do them by themselves leaves the genre short. I feel cheated by the lack of detail regarding what happened to the world itself. The setting is important to these stories, but it is treated like a secondary concern. In the movie version of The Road we are never really told what caused the apocalypse, only that it happened.

These true post-apocalyptic stories focus on the story of the individual with a backdrop of a world that exists after everything else has failed. The interpersonal relationships are what matter most and drive the story beyond the events that take place in the world around them.

I want to tell a story that covers both the time before and the time after, but in a way that is personal and drives the reader to wonder about the possibilities. Can they imagine themselves in the middle of the collapsing world and consider whether or not they could survive it all? If they managed to make it, would they be the lone survivor cast adrift or the community member striving for a better tomorrow. By breaking it into two books the writer can share the collapse in a way that is personal and tell the story of survival that is easy to relate to.

So what do you think? Is all in one the way to go, or does it make more sense to break it all apart?

GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About Apocalypse in the Balance:

Apocalypse in the BalanceFive years have passed since the Angel of Death made a very public appearance in the middle of New Arcadia. Since then the city has become a hub of activity for the supernatural. Most people are blissfully unaware of the powerful forces at work in their city, and the darkness bubbling under the surface could not be happier.

Businessman and criminal kingpin Kohaku Hitaratsu finds his world turned upside down, and he is forced to seek refuge in the slums he left behind. He no longer rules the neighborhood that was the foundation of his empire and he must find a way to survive on the streets with little more than a pickup truck to his name.

When Kohaku finds his neighborhood and his new found home under siege by monsters better found in nightmares, he chooses to stand and fight rather than simply survive.

Standing up to the darkness draws the attention of forces better left alone, and Kohaku is caught in a tug of war between the all too familiar evils of his life and the light within that is struggling to get out.

Friends and relatives choose sides in his struggle, but ultimately it is the love of a woman that will determine his course and could decide the fate of the world.

BUY IT NOW FROM AMAZON

Author Eric SwettAbout the Author: Eric Swett is an author and IT professional living in Mooresville, NC. He is the husband of Tracy and the father of Zachary, Connor, and Kaitlyn. Eric is a rabid Arizona Cardinals fan and a lover of most things geek, and hes been before either of them were cool. When he is not writing or spending time with his family, he is reading and playing the occasional video game. His favorite authors include Ben Bova, H. P. Lovecraft, Robert Jordan, J. R. R. Tolkien, and L. Ron Hubbard. His favorite Bands/Musicians include The Beatles, KISS, AC/DC, Yoko Kanno, John Williams, and Imagine Dragons.

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Filed Under: ~Rach, Thoughts

The Ten Commandments of Social Media

October 16, 2014 by Rachel Bostwick

10 commandments

1. Thou shalt not post a polarizing article unless it is important enough to lose friends over. A few things are, but choose carefully.

2. Thou shalt not read the comments on a polarizing article. Ever. Trolls are real and their hateful comments will ruin your day.

3. Thou shalt not let games steal all your time. Play one or two that build your friendships, then mercilessly block the rest.

4. Remember to hide haters from your feed. Gossip and scandal are contagious and they will kill your joy.

5. Thou shalt block those who hurt you on purpose. Life is too short.

6. Honor your family and others you love in spite of value differences by using list-based privacy to share sensitive things only with those who will enjoy and appreciate them.

7. Thou shalt use your words to make someone feel loved today.

8. Enlighten others gently and with love.

9. If you can do it sincerely and with love, cultivate friends you disagree with. This is how humans grow in understanding.

10. Thou shalt learn something awesome every day. Be filled with wonder. All the world’s knowledge is laid out for you. Take a bite.

Filed Under: ~Rach, Thoughts

I Had A Nightmare

August 6, 2014 by Rachel Bostwick

I had a bad dream last night.

It was such a casual dream at first. We were milling around a sort of hardware store that was on its last legs. Holes in the ground everywhere. One with a slit that was so dark you could almost see stars in it, like it were torn into the fabric of the universe. Basements half-dug and then given up on, full of old, rusty junk. Men were standing around as if they were waiting for the someone or something to die so they could collect what was left of an estate.

Nightmare Cavern

Our car, it was parked by a deep red barn. The ground around it was eroding, but it was time to go. So I began the simple, daily act of loading up the children.
But there were deep holes around the car. The ground was falling away. If we could get to the car we’d be fine, and I wasn’t scared yet, but I knew I should be soon, and then Julius got too enthusiastic. Leapt past me into the car.

He didn’t make it. And the starry abyss was right next to us.

Time frozen. He smiled at me, as sad little smile to say, sorry, mom. Guess I messed up.

My heart tore out of my body.

As soon as his face disappeared, I looked around but only for a second before I leapt into the hole, too. Either I would catch him or I’d die with him. Either way.

The first part of the hole was dark brown. I saw him and could almost grasp him. My heart was still screaming. But just as I reached for him, a spring carried him away from me, far deeper into the hole. I followed again.

This time the deeper hole was light. White and green striped marble, roughly textured but wet, a very close tunnel but fully light. I grabbed him again but he went deeper still. I followed him into a deeper tunnel.

There no good way for this to end, my brain said. WAKE UP NOW.

I woke up. So suddenly it hurt, like ripping a scab away without being careful about it.

I lay in bed shaking. Trying to run through the scenarios. The tunnels had been getting narrower. Eventually he wouldn’t be able to go farther. But maybe he’d be able to go farther than I. ARGH.

Or maybe I’d catch him but they wouldn’t be able to help us and we’d die of starvation together. DOUBLE ARGH.

Or maybe, and this one kept coming back, they’d send down a rope, but we’d have gone so far and it was so wet, how would we ever be able to scale back up?

God, it must sound so stupid from outside. I hid under my covers shaking and crying and finally left the room, climb into Julius’s bed and wrapped my arms around him. Kissed his head. Cried, but better, because he was in my arms and we’d be able to eat soon.

Husband came and called me back to bed. Scolded me, reminded me that I am a thirty-three year old woman who knows that nightmares are not real. That didn’t help. I cried some more. And I swore that I’d never, ever write about this. Because I would like to forget that little sad smile he gave me.

But this has been bothering me all day.

Why did my dream have foreshadowing? That gaping hole, visible in the first act?

Why the textures? The deep red barn, the white and green speckled tunnels? The stars in the dark? The cold of the water on the stone?

And why do dreams add layers of emotion? We know they do it independently of the stories, because sometimes dreams feel sad without seeming that they should be.The rush of grief and pain that flooded over me when my precious son fell into that imaginary hole, that was unnecessary.

Human brains are strange.

Or maybe dreams are really there for something. To warn us, or maybe just to remind us that things are sacred and that we are not immortal.

Filed Under: ~Rach, Thoughts

How to Make Movie Theater Popcorn at Home

June 16, 2014 by Rachel Bostwick

popcorn

 

So the Chief and I love popcorn, and we find it’s a very affordable snack for our big family. But we have always hankered after that magical, salty-buttery taste that movie theater popcorn has. There are a few factors that go into making the very best movie theater popcorn.

 

First Variable: What Kind of Popper Should I Use

 

The healthiest popcorn is made in an air popper They are cheap and very easy to use, and I used one for years. They look like this:

airpopper  

 

…and you dump a handful of kernels into the slot, put a bowl in front of the chute, plug it in, and watch the magic. They are a lot of fun. Add a little salt and they are the cheapest way to make popcorn, too.

 

Does the scoopy thingy up top work to melt butter? Thank you for asking. It does not.

 

Another fun way to make popcorn is in a Whirley Pop Popcorn maker. They sit on a stove eye, you dump a little butter in, and churn the crank to stir the kernels. This is fairly cheap and it can make delicious movie theater popcorn. It is also a LOT of work.

 

For $10 more, I prefer this kind:
stircrazy

 

The Stir Crazy 

The Stir Crazy takes oil in its base and will stir your popcorn for you. Totally worth the extra ten bucks.

You can also just use oil in a sauce pan and stir it constantly, but for me the guess work of getting it the right temperature and the constant stirring would have me making popcorn less.

 
Second Variable: What Kind of Oil to Use?

First, let me save you some heartache. Do not use butter or margarine in your popcorn maker. Movie theaters do not make it that way, and if you do, you can burn out your popcorn maker. Yep, I’m saying that from experience.

You can use any good vegetable oil for your popcorn, but we have had a slightly better experience with coconut oil. Coconut oil doesn’t lend any taste to the popcorn. It is light and clear. For our ideal popcorn, we use two tablespoons of solid coconut oil.

When we run out of coconut oil, we use canola oil.

Last Variable: Seasoning (Movie Theater Popcorn, the secret ingredient)

In our research, we discovered that there is a salt you can buy for popcorn that makes it taste exactly like movie theater popcorn. The salt is called Flavacol. You can buy Flavacol right off Amazon, or you can look for it at your local restaurant supply store. For us it was a little cheaper locally.

The process:

We melt two tablespoons of coconut oil in our popcorn popper.IMG_3081

Once the oil is hot, we add a cup of kernels to the popper – we don’t have a favorite kind of kernels right now. We’re just buying cheap store brand corn. I’ll update this later if that changes.

Sprinkle 1-2 teaspoons of Flavacol right over the kernels.

Wait for your corn to pop.

If you love movie theater popcorn, you will never go back to cooking it any other way. Enjoy!

popcorn

p.s. There is also a glaze you can buy to make kettle corn at home. It cooks right in the machine just like the Flavacol. The kids love it!

p.p.s. There are affiliate links to Amazon in this article. Thank you for your support!

Filed Under: ~Rach, Thoughts

How I Feel About Facebook, Part 2

June 1, 2014 by Rachel Bostwick

So here is one that she loves instead.

Originally published in 2012

Today my mother left sleepy central PA to visit her friends in Bangladesh. If you don’t know where that is, don’t worry, you’re not the only one. But they make a lot of our clothing. Now that I told you that, you will start to notice more and more of your clothing labels … “Made in Bangladesh.” I apologize in advance for that.

I can never remember things like dates and times so I was puzzling over whether she left today or next Saturday. In other words, we didn’t say goodbye. But it was cool, because she sent me a Facebook message from Chicago O’Hare telling me about the people around her and about how she got bumped up to first class for the 13 hour portion of her flight, which is pretty awesome. And I know, it’s not the same as being in the same room, so people say we are becoming disconnected as a society. But I know what O’Hare looks like, I’ve been there a few times myself, and I know what it feels like to fly, and I know what my Mom looks like, from her smile and the texture of her skin, and if I hear her coughing in a restaurant I already know that it’s her even if I didn’t know she was there, because, you know, she’s my mother. So, really, it’s not that big of a deal that she’s not here, because I got to peer into the things that I don’t know, like what she’s thinking and how she’s feeling right this second. And if it weren’t for the bizarre interconnectedness that Facebook brought us, it wouldn’t be there at all, it would just be, oh, I guess Mom did leave yesterday, because there aren’t any posts on her wall and my siblings are a bit more wild than usual.

And, really, that’s just magic.

Part 1

Filed Under: Thoughts

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