do you trust me?

I don’t have a contract, but I do have an open door to step past the slush pile.

And while I had great plans for this website, they ran amuck at the end of May, and are not going to get back on track any time soon. I do plan to return here, just not sure when it’s going to happen.

So if you’d like to follow my continuing adventures, please stop by my Video Novelist website.

good advice

The new goal is two posts a week, regardless of date.

A subtle yet important difference for me. It relieves the pressure and guilt, and I’m still writing two posts a week. It also means the new two post goal is a minimum, unlike the maximum it used to be.

I have pages of notes in my WritShel blank book that I will make into posts. I have books on my shelves that I have read that I will review as posts. I still have a lot to do with this project and revising my plan will help me achieve that.

There are many ways to do many things, especially when it comes to writing. Having observed myself over the past eight months, I have a much better sense of how I can make this website what I want it to be: a resource for writers featuring original art and posts that take less than 3 minutes to read.

I’ll also be investigating an email opt-in for those who would find it easier to have my posts delivered to their in-box. I do this with several writing/agent blogs and find it very convenient.

Thank you for visiting and reading and I hope you found some useful information. I look forward to continuing this project with my revised writing plan, knowing it may face another revision eight months from now. Such is the writing life.

Aaron: Because what the world remembers, the actuality, the last revision, is what counts, apparently.
- Primer

steam punk snow flakes

At 5:30 am, I knew it was a Tuesday because I had to get up early to catch a plane.

At 4:30 pm, I was vaguely aware it was Tuesday but was more concerned with getting to the new gate that my connecting flight was now departing from.

At 11 pm, I wasn’t aware nor concerned whether or not it was Tuesday as I was at my final destination and after dinner and conversations with my family, I was going to bed.

Today I realized it was Wednesday and I had not posted a WritShel post on Tuesday.

After a few minutes consideration, I decided that WritShel is going to take an end of year holiday, and return on January 5th, a New Year Tuesday.

Best wishes for a wonderful holiday and may you & yours enjoy a prosperous New Year – all year!
– Heidi

Patsy: Take a holiday, darling. South of France.
- Absolutely Fabulous

flower box

I have incorporated this website into my life in a way that keeps it fun and something I want to do. I’m pursuing my writing career in the same way.

Which means I don’t write every day.

It just doesn’t happen.

What does happen every day is something to do with my writing:

• reading how to improve my writing craft
• reading articles or interviews about the publishing industry
• planning a plot
• fleshing out a character
• researching details about [insert topic here]
• going to a convention and talking with people
• going to a writer’s workshop or seminar

I am persistently pursuing my writing career, every day in some way, but not churning out a daily word count. If you can write every day, you are very impressive to me. I do not, and for now, that works for me. I finish my stories, and I get my WritShel posts up every Tuesday and Thursday.

Odo: Commence station security log, stardate 47282.5 – At the request of Commander Sisko, I will hereafter be recording a daily log of law enforcement affairs. The reason for this exercise is beyond my comprehension, except perhaps that Humans have a compulsion to keep records and lists and files …. Everything’s under control. End log.
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Season 2, “Necessary Evil”

boku

1. Name five things on your book shelves.
ARIA manga, Rodney the Reindeer plush, The Dresden Files novels by Jim Butcher, Doctor Who DVDs (David Tennant seasons), and hand written notes for stories that have yet to achieve ascension to the digital realm

2. What is your advice to a new writer?
Learn about the business of publishing but write your stuff first. You have to come to the table with something worthwhile before you can get a royalty check.

3. What book do you not have a copy of that you want to have someday?
The Art of Michael Whalen

4. Where do you spend the most time writing and is it cluttered or clear?
Futon in my living room, cluttered with several projects, not all of them related to writing

5. What do you wish you would have done differently regarding your writing career?
Kept writing through college and the early day job years instead of waiting to get serious about it in my 30s

Bonus: The answer to a question you have never been asked but want to answer.
$500,000

Be yourself, no matter what they say.
- Gordon Sumner

The URL is an evolution of my original concept which was WritersHelve.com. A helve is the handle of a tool or weapon; depending what you put on the end of it, you’ve got a hammer or an axe. Therefore the website would contain basic information that people could use as they wished to create their own tools.

When I registered the domain, I realized no one but me would parse it between the “s” and “h”, and thus WriterShelves.com was born. And it still works, because I enjoy the metaphor of shelves, both physical and mental.

What do people put on their shelves and why? It’s a place of storage, of display and visibility, of filed and forgotten. Writers often talk of their “brag shelves” – the place they keep copies of their published works. And anyone, writer or not, can understand a shelf, whether there are books or only dust bunnies sitting on it.

So these shelves are now open to the world, and will be filled and piled and filed and stacked as the days go on. I hope you enjoy your visit.

my freedom

And as today is a celebration of the United Stats of America, I wish to thank all those who serve here and abroad, now and then. I would not have such freedom without you, and I am truly grateful.

Citizen G’Kar: No dictator, no invader can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power tyrants and dictators cannot stand.
- Babylon 5, Season 2, “The Long, Twilight Struggle”

If you see something you like, I’d appreciate it if you did the same.

River Tam: I hear crickets.
- Firefly, “Safe”

[insert drum roll here]

Cyan!!!

Which doesn’t really mean anything to anyone but those involved, but once this place officially opens on July 4th, I’ll post snippets of the design as it progressed.

Now must write more posts …

Put your whole self into it, and you will find your true voice. Hold back, and you won’t. It’s that simple.

- Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity, by Hugh MacLeod

Second round mockup will be ready middle of this week. Now I need to get serious about writing content.

Following the advice in Chris Guillebeau’s 279 Days to Overnight Success, I’m creating a backlog of articles so there will always be a post on this site on Tuesdays and Fridays, regardless if I am traveling, conventioning, or writing for a deadline.

Constable Benton Fraser: You know, I’ve always thought it was the bravest thing a man could do. Writing down his innermost feelings that any stranger could read.
- Due South, Season 1, “Gift of the Wheelman”

My expectations have been nicely set, and I know not to poke the designers lest I distract them from their making their magic. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to, poke, just a little bit, with my pinky finger, gently, on their shoulder, for a chance to sneak a peek at their fledgling creation.

But I don’t.

And I won’t.