Mecca Fest '13

There are few things in this world I enjoy more than hanging out with fellow writers and artist, except meeting new and old readers.  Most of a writer’s life is spent alone sitting behind a computer or in isolation somewhere as they get lost in their current work.  But we have to be careful not to disconnect. 

One of the most important and crucial part to a writer’s life, in my opinion, is interacting, learning, communicating, and being in fellowship with other writers and readers.  No matter how much of an introvert we are, we cannot isolate ourselves from the very tools that are meant to sharpen our skills.

I learn something from every interaction I have with my fellow writer friends and responses from readers; every time.  This past weekend was no exception.  Though I’m exhausted, I enjoyed every minute of the 2013 Mecca Fest at the Carrollton Cultural Arts Center.  When I move away, this will be one event I hope I never miss.

Till next time,

~T.L. Gray

http://www.tlgray.blogspot.com

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Finding Hidden Treasures

I remember a time when writing stirred such an excitement, often keeping me up all through the night as beautiful words swirled in my imagination and then shot out the tips of my fingertips onto the page.  It’s such an erotic moment, euphoric even.  I’m not saying I still don’t have those moments, but I can confess I’ve let the business of writing and marketing take too much dominance in my life that it’s squeezing most of those moments into the land of the neglected.

Not only has my own creativity suffered by being too business-minded, but so has my enjoyment of reading the beautifully written words of others.  As someone who devoured a minimum of fifty novels a year, so far this year I can count five.  My focus is so much on business, survival and meeting basic needs, I just can’t get lost in a good, long novel, not even ones I’ve waited months and even years to be released. 

I can’t express how much I appreciate my writer friends who dabble in flash fiction and short stories, because those have sustained me this year, or else I’d have been lost.  I’ve really come to love and appreciate flash fiction and short story writers like Christian Fennell, Jeff Suwak, Kelly Shackelford, Sarafina Gravagno, Frank Wall, B.R. Asher, Lucien Knight and a few others on Scribophile.  Their stories have fed, nurtured, inspired and sustained me as I work hard to clean up this train wreck of a life. Some of them don’t know how much their words have helped me. I crave them.  I need them.  I look forward to their next blog posts, short stories, and their next flash of humor, romance, satire or tragedy. 

My writer friends have also inspired and pushed me.  My best friend, Jenna Sands, has inspired me more than she’ll ever know.  Those members of my local writer’s group who refuse to let me quit or give up (Denise, Maggie, Kathy, Lorien and Dawn) will always have a place in my heart.

I used to be a novel snob, only reading full length (often epic–sized) novels and never giving short stories a furtive glance.  I’ve grown such a fondness for them now and am sure I will always keep them a beautiful part of my life as I once again focus on my next novel.  I’ve also grown an appreciation for the novella.  I really hope it comes back in fashion and more writers dare to publish them.

What hidden treasure have you stumbled upon lately?

Till next time,

~T.L. Gray

Http://www.tlgray.blogspot.com

http://www.authortlgray.wordpress.com

Trailblazers & Visionaries

Picture by T.L. Gray - Olympic National Park - 05/30/2013

There are all kinds of people who make up the writing community, where not everyone is alike; it’s filled with diversity and a panacea of talent.  Just as we are all individuals, our tastes, styles and skills are exercised in diversity. Differences sometimes set us apart, or even pull us together, through the impassioned expressions of our preferences.  These differences don’t make us right or wrong, just individual, but there seems to a consensus to the contrary and the spark of much debate.

In a recent conversation with a friend of mine, I had an epiphany moment when I tried to describe how I saw this person and the way they related to our philosophical inspirations. The conversation went a little like this:

“But, I see the way you look at the world - you seek what's behind the obvious and try to peek into the depths to 'understand'.  You don't just like a poem for its rhythm and pacing (which you do enjoy), but you take Bukowski's words and meditate on them, and contemplate who, what, where, when, how and why behind the poem, applying it into your life to see if you relate.  You're more interested in what McCarthy means than how he wrote his stories (that's the way you are with literary too - and why you don't understand this focus on 'style', because you can live with style changes, but you can't deal with a story that doesn't mean something.

“It's one of the first things I noticed about you.  You're like an explorer - wanting to know what's beyond the wilderness, unafraid to venture off the common paths to blaze new trails. Yet, you're surrounded by a bunch of conformists who think following the established and popular trail is the only way to go.  They're following the person in front of them; you're following no one but your heart.”

As Cormac McCarthy states above, “I don’t know why I started writing,” I too often have to take stock of who I am and determine what I believe, because I’m going to have to hang onto those beliefs as I enter the writing world, shielding them from the bombardment of different opinions, and confidence in myself to make the decision that will be right for me.  I’ll only know what the right thing will be – because I’ll know who I am as a woman; as a writer.

We must think for ourselves, be trailblazers and visionaries, lest me fall into line with the conformists and lose our vision, our way and what truly makes us individual by trying to fit in. That path may be the comfortable and worn, but it’s also one that produces art, work and writings like everyone else.  Being ‘common’ may sell books, but if you want to touch souls, you must be faithful to your gift and brave enough to be lead by your heart, because it is rarely popular.