Tag: stories

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let me tell you a story

There is something to be said about the ways a round of interviews during job hunting can help narrow your focus on what it is you do and why.

Sure, I get tired of talking about myself all the time (I’m not really all that interesting to be honest), but as you answer the same or similar questions, it really does help you hone an understanding of what you love about what you do.

The last few rounds of job-hunting helped bring a few things into focus.

  1. I love helping people to help themselves. That really is a lot of what technical writing is all about. My job is to make the instructions so clear that a user can do their job without needing to access customer support.
  2. I am a storyteller at heart. You may not think that’s something that pertains to technical writing, but you’d be wrong. The story I’m telling is about the user’s journey in using the product, or it’s about the product itself and how users can make the most of it.
  3. I am at my best as a writer, both technical and other, when I can get out of my own way and just let the words flow. It can be a challenge for me to turn off my internal editor, but my writing is always stronger when I do. Editing can come after the words are down.

This being my first week in this new job I’m on the other side of the story, the part where I am learning the story of the company and the product and what my place will be. It is a necessary step toward being able to then help write that story.

And that step needs more coffee! I’m off to start my day, Readers! I hope yours is awesome and filled with kindness.

Photo by Nong Vang on Unsplash

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the writing part of writing

Being an author is an odd sort of thing, I suppose, especially to those who are not *people who write* and especially not for those who also do not read. I was a voracious reader as a child. I absorbed words like a sponge. Stories were vehicles that transported me out of my bedroom and into worlds larger than any one mind can conceive.

Maybe it was inevitable that I would pick up a pen and start writing. I wanted in on that magic! I loved creating new worlds, new characters. I wrote science fiction, fantasy, and poetry. I tried my hand at mystery and romance. I studied and tried to emulate my favorite authors. I wanted my prose to be lush and invigorating. I wanted the worlds in my stories to come to life.

For that to happen, I learned, the author needs to spend a good amount of time prior to words hitting the paper. There is world building to do. There are characters to build out so that they are realistic and not just cardboard cut outs. There is plot to invent, stretch, turn, twist and resolve. Inevitably, that plot has holes that need to be filled.

And all of that comes either before or during the actual writing part of the writing process. Okay, sometimes after the first draft is done.

I can spend months (or longer) doing all the stuff that happens in my head before I start writing. My muse loves world building more than anything, so the worlds I see in my head are amazing landscapes of complex societies that I can only hope I capture as I begin to write.

This last weekend saw over ten thousand new words in the second Blood Witch book, signaling an end of the mental block 2020 clamped on my muse and ushering in the period where the words begin to spill from my fingers. It’s the part of the writing process that wants to just devour my life. The story spins out in my head faster than my fingers can translate it to the page, and I am best able in this phase to tune out my inner editor and just get it down.

I maybe feel the most like myself when I’m doing the writing part of writing. Unfortunately for me, today is Monday…and that means a return to the day job, so more word craft will need to wait, though I am hoping to get through this scene before I open the work computer.

I hope you are safe and sane, Readers, and that your week is filled with magic and kindness.

Cover Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

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combat boots and tutus

It’s little secret that my muse, whom I lovingly call Brain, has been out on walkabout since I lost my job.  Between the stress of job hunting and the stress of Pride, she couldn’t handle the pressure and took off.  It happens.  Muses are fragile creatures, after all.

There have been signs of her return, however.  A small plot fix here, a bit of dialog there.  Then there came the deluge.

It was yesterday, when I was meant to be working on an edit, and suddenly there was Brain, rattling off ideas at a hundred miles per hour, scribbling notes and shoving them at me, stamping her combat booted feet to get my attention.

It would be nice if she could focus on the stories we already have in progress, but I’ll take words of any sort after this drought.  She seems to have picked up a half an idea for a story that we started ages ago and has been busily world-building around the idea since her return.  I have about a thousand words hastily written to try to contain it.

Meanwhile, Brain is dancing through my brain in her combat boots and purple tutu, swinging her strand of cheap psuedo-pearls, painting word pictures for me to capture and put on paper.

It’s good to have her home.  And yes, I realize I am a little bit on the crazy side of normal.

Photo by Marjorie Bertrand on Unsplash

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so many irons in the fire

This time of year is my busy season.  Being out of work hasn’t eased any of it, in fact, in a lot of ways it’s made it harder, busier.  Looking for work is a full time job, as they say.  Add in the work I do for SF Pride, and some freelance editing, not to mention my own writing and you get one busy little author!

I have an interview today for a job I’d really like to get at a company in San Francisco that is working to change the landscape of finance for those who are un-banked or under-banked.  It’s a wonderful combination of work that I love and a cause I can get behind.

Yesterday, I spent most of my day working on Pride stuff…paperwork that all needs updating to 2019, contracts and acceptance letters…all kinds of fun stuff, then I cut out about two hours of my afternoon to read, an indulgence to be sure.

I recently won a leather bound edition of The Song of Ice and Fire, and have paused in my Sirens reading to start reading these.  I’m not quite two thirds of the way through the first book.  I’m interested to find how the books differ from the TV show.

I’m up early this morning, and hope to work on a short story that I’m writing before I have to start getting ready for the interview.  It’s a sci-fi piece about a girl who accidentally becomes an assassin, first out of necessity, but then discovering that she is good at it.

Right then, I should get to those words, and my coffee while it’s still hot.

 

Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash

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to boldly go…

Among my earliest memories, there is Star Trek, you know, the original series that started the phenomenon.  I couldn’t tell you how old I was, but I can tell you about the ugly brown couch with the weird texture that we sat on to watch it, and that I watched it with my father.

I know it came before Star Wars, which came along when I was nine, and I know that it started my love of sci-fi, and more than that, my love of space.

The only thing that kept me from pursuing a life in the sciences was my extreme hatred of math, and the more advanced the math, the more I disliked it. So, I opted toward the science fiction side of space.

But, things like this…this image of a black hole a ridiculous distance from earth…a beautiful, amazing image that took a team of scientists working together for years…things like this make me dream of a different life a little bit.

katie-boumanAnd then there’s this picture of Katie Bouman, one of the scientists on the project as she sees all of that work coming to fruition.  Look at the joy and wonder on her face.  That is the face of someone who loves her work, who has passion for her work and is genuinely in awe of the universe at her fingertips.

Of course there are trolls out there set to destroy the legacy Katie’s accomplishments for little more than the fact that she is a woman, but forget them.  They can’t take that joy, that sense of wonder from this picture.  They can’t hold a candle to the work that she’s done in her young life.  Forget them and let their legacy be one of the silence that comes when one is ignored.

Look instead to this beautiful image, and recognize the scientists, all of them including women and gay men and straight men,  who made it possible.  Imagine what else they can show us!

And, while I’m here, Readers, a quick reminder that Where Shadows Fall is available for your Kindle for free today and tomorrow, so get yours now!

Want more from me? Visit me!

Weight Loss: https://aweightyjourneysite.wordpress.com/
Current Events: https://myweightinwords.wordpress.com/
Poetry: https://weightywordspoetry.wordpress.com/
Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/nataliejcase

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (be warned I post a lot pictures of my cats).

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come play with me

I have rededicated my efforts to build on my Patreon, and decided that a good way to kick that off is a special offer.  For the next 30 days, through 4/16, all new patrons, and anyone increasing their tier, will get a personalized, hand written postcard from my stash of postcards, some of which date back to before I could read, write or appreciate the value of a good postcard.

You can come join the fun for as little as $1 a month, but to qualify for the postcard offer, you must choose the $3 tier or up.  And what do you get for that money?  Well, let me tell you!

At the lowest tier you’ll get the occasional glimpse into whatever I’m working on at the moment, and as you climb the tier you get access to bigger and better things including fresh-from-my-pen poetry, a look at moments in the life of a writer with an insane muse, flash stories, short stories written specifically for my patrons, first chance to see announcements, video content from time to time and even copies of my books.

All the money that comes in from Patreon is specifically earmarked into my “buy books” fund, which I will use to keep physical copies of my books on hand for signings and events.

So, come visit my Patreon page and join the fun!

 

 

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books, reading and inspiration

A few years back, a friend who is also an author, turned me on to a conference that takes place in Colorado in October. It isn’t a writing convention, but a lot of the people there are authors.  It isn’t a readers convention, though everyone there are readers.

I couldn’t go last year because I chose Italy (and do not regret that decision), but I’m all signed up for this year.

One of the things I love about Sirens, is that on top of all of the conversations, panels, and learning experiences, they provide you a reading list, filled with books written by strong women authors in genres where women are often overlooked.  It is a huge list of speculative fiction that hits multiple genres and sometimes mixes them together.

This year’s theme is Heroes, and the guests of Honor, on top of being kickass authors with heroes in their books, they are diverse and the words they offer bring you to new places.  I started at the top of the list and bought the first three books from our Guests of Honor.

The first one I read was The Bloodprint.  Bloodprint

A fantasy set in a world where religious extremists have taken over and twisted their holy text to keep women out of sight, with no voice or presence, and keeping the men in line with fear.  It’s easy to see the parallels to our own world.  The hero, in this case, is a woman who knows how to use the scripture of that religion to perform magic.  Her journey takes her far from home in search of a legend in hopes of freeing her world.

I loved how different this world was from the familiar fantasy story.

 

 

Trail of Lightning

 

Trail of Lightning was the second book I read, and I devoured it in a single day.

This falls into post-apocalyptic and dystopian type categories, and our hero is a Diné, a monster-slayer with a dark past and powers that burst out of her, giving her speed and the ability to kill.  The world is filled with old gods and monsters, and she needs to come to terms with her past before she can survive to see the future.

This book sucked me in and held me through the end and at the end, I really, really wanted more.  I have already ordered the next book.

 

I love books like these, that fill my head with ideas, that make me think and rethink.  Inspiration struck me yesterday and I spilled over 2000 words on a short story before 5am yesterday after finishing this book the night before.

Want to join me on this reading challenge?  Grab some books and get reading!  Better yet, want to join me at Sirens?  Denver, October.  Dive in.  You won’t regret it.

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telling stories

When I was still in high school, someone from the church we were attending found an old typewriter and had it cleaned up and repaired and I found it under my Christmas tree.  We were barely making ends meet, and with little money left over for gifts, my mother had reached out to the church for help.

I had a head full of stories, it seems that has always been true.  And suddenly I had a way, beyond my terrible handwriting, to tell them.  It was an amazing gift, one that likely changed my life.

I wrote my first “novel” by hand when I was thirteen or fourteen.  It was truly awful, and a rip off of every science fiction movie or book I had read. But, it started something in me.  My friends read the hand written words and clamored for more.  The sequel to that first awful book was the first thing I wrote on that typewriter.

I’ll admit, it was a heady feeling to be met at the school doors before homeroom by four or five people wanting to get the next ten pages.

I learned a lot through that experience.  I learned to translate my thought processes differently.  I learned about plot development and foreshadowing.  I learned the joy of having readers who loved my work, even when I broke their hearts.

None of the novel length stories I banged out on that typewriter were any good, but that didn’t matter.  I was a writer, and that, as it turns out, wouldn’t change even as I aged.  I am quite a few years past that Christmas and those stories.  My head is still filled with plots and characters and words.  I still work at putting them down on the page, though my paper is now digital.

Best Christmas present ever?  Maybe so.  It gave me so much more than just a tool.  It gave me confidence, joy…it sparked a passion that still burns inside of me today.

The rain is really coming down outside my window, and the wind is howling on this cold Wednesday afternoon.  I think a cup of coffee is in order, and a start to the work day.  I hope you are all safe and warm, Readers.  Fill your day with kindness, and reap the joy it brings.

 

Photo by Camille Orgel on Unsplash