I reviewed The Adventures of Tilda Pinkerton and posted a giveaway on October 30th, here.  I adored it.  Today I have the pleasure of having the author, Angela Shelton as my guest.  She is going to share with us what she does when she’s not writing.

Welcome Angela!


Doesn’t every writer just want to write?


Don’t you crawl away into your writer’s cave – or that area you’ve carved out for yourself at the family table – and just write away all day?


Not.


I’m sure there are some writers out there who have the privilege of just writing. I read Stephen King’s book On Writing and was so impressed with his writing schedule. He gets up, he writes until a set hour, then he has lunch and spends the rest of the day making calls, running errands and being with his family at night. Then he rises early and gets back to writing.


He obviously does not have a puppy. Or small children.


You Need Experience to Write


I envy Stephen King’s wonderful schedule and I try, oh how I try to emulate it. But the truth is that I don’t write all the time because in order to be inspired to write about fantastical stories like The Adventures of Tilda Pinkerton, I have to go out and experience the world.


I hike in the woods and am fascinated by the myriad of mushroom populations. They make me think of little villages and my mind wanders to the small creatures who must have to walk past them in the forest. AND BOOM – there’s a chapter of a book or a moment of dialog between a bug and a horse.


Yes, animals can converse and walking in the woods to “hear” them is extremely helpful.


I let my mind wander – and yes, I totally space out. My husband calls me out on it all the time. “You’re writing, aren’t you?” He asks as I’m staring off into a field of ferns. “What? Oh, yes… I just figured out how Tilda gets out of that predicament. Were you saying something?” He just smiles at me as we continue hiking and says, “No, H Bear, go back to writing.”


Exploring the Writer’s Cave


Going into the writer’s cave for me is literally, looking for caves. We’ve spotted bears in our woods, which leads us to believe there must be a bear cave nearby and yes – that makes all kinds of stories pop into my head.


I talk to people desiring to write all the time who bang their heads against the wall, searching for something to write about or wrestling with an idea and I suggest they go look for a writer’s cave – literally.


Go look for caves. Go explore a mushroom patch (not those kinds of mushrooms!).


It’s amazing what you are inspired to write when you stop thinking about writing.


Bring a Notepad


A writer will always write, right? Yes, usually, but always writing doesn’t necessarily mean sitting at the laptop (I love my Mac) and punching out the great American novel every hour of the day. It doesn’t mean that you’ve got the best blog post idea – every single day!


Always writing for me is always allowing my mind to breathe, the expand and to open to new ideas.


And don’t forget your notepad. Seriously.


I don’t always have the cute little one that fits in my back pocket, but I do have my Iphone – where I have a Notepad app.


When you have your face in your phone, typing away, you may be accused of being a text addict or a twitter junky (follow me!) when in reality you could be writing the best blog post ever, a great chapter in a future book, or outlining the journey of your next hero for your next book.


So…


What am I doing when I’m not writing?


I guess, I’m always writing…


Angela Shelton
author of The Adventures of Tilda Pinkerton

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Be sure to enter the giveaway for The Adventures of Tilda Pinkerton, here!

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