Tag Archives: Inspiration

Binge Watching and Binge Reading – Riverton Road Monday

Storytelling, Writing Tips,

Alice's Nancy Drew TitleI not only love writing series. I also love reading series. This love affair began in my childhood Nancy Drew Books days. Of course reading under the covers with a flashlight. What better way could there be to experience The Secret of the Old Clock?

Did you know I wrote a Nancy Drew once just for the thrill of being Carolyn Keene for a month or two? It went to #2 on the kids’ bestseller list. Talk about fulfilling a childhood dream. I loved doing it. But I only wrote one. I don’t know why since I enjoyed being a teen again.

The title by the way was Danger in Disguise – and I’m flabbergasted to find it still available. D in D is even an eBook though I wrote it long before that format existed. If you don’t believe me – check this out. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HB62LKI.

I digress. Because what I’ve really been thinking about is how binge television-watching may be conditioning all of us to be ripe for binge book reading too. As in series – series – and more series. This is great news for writers. But it’s great news for readers also.

When I get my teeth into a story that carries me along lickety-split and absorbs me with its absorbing characters – it puts me in a foul mood to read THE END. I want to stick with this story. Most of all I want to stick with this experience. I want to be carried along and absorbed some more.

We’re all getting a succulent taste of this these days via television series. Look at the excitement accompanying anticipation of every new Downton Abbey season. In fact some of us have been so afflicted with separation trauma at season’s end that we binge the whole thing again.

We not only binge that preceding season – we often return to previous seasons and binge those too. Some of us even search out full seasons of Upstairs Downstairs just so we can remain in that delicious Brit place of “Blimey” and “Egad.”

We have been captured. We have been seduced. We have been immersed. We have lived in that delightful though obviously idealized milieu for episode after episode and we can’t stand to leave it. That milieu is what I’ve written about in previous posts as “the world of the series.”

We not only want to spend a bit of watcher time there. If the truth were told – many of us would love to live there and fantasize doing so. I’ve heard there are Downton Abbey parties where people dress in pre- or post-World War I posh and affect lock-jawed nasal accents.

My granny was British and tried to make me British as well so I’m all for this. She and I would have tea at four with little sandwiches and cookies – or biscuits as she called them. She taught me conversation. First I’d talk then she’d talk while I listened instead of itching to talk again myself. Those were the rules.

I digress yet again because what I’m really all for is the long game of story-loving and storytelling. This is the antidote to the here-this-nanosecond-gone-the-next attention span. Or maybe it debunks the myth of that phenomenon. Maybe the internet and the screened device haven’t rendered us all incapable of long-haul commitment after all.

My vote goes with debunking the short-span myth and hanging on to my devices too. What glass-half-empty person said we can’t have it all anyway? I’m definitely down with the have-it-all faction – for my stories if nothing else. I say old chap. Might you jolly well feel the same?

Alice Orr – https://www.aliceorrbooks.com.

RR

A Vacancy at the Inn  – coming soon – is the first Christmas Novella of my Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series featuring the Kalli family – and now the Miller family too – in stories of Romance and Danger. A Wrong Way Home is Book 1 of the series. A Year of Summer Shadows is Book 2. A Villain for Vanessa will be Book 3.

All of my titles are available at http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B000APC22E.

 

Go Confidently – Ask Alice Saturday

Kindle Bargain, Promo Tip, Writers Life, ,

Go Confidently Coffee Mug imageQuestion. What is your most important advice at this moment?

Answer. “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined.”

 That message is printed on the mug I gave away to ten of my newsletter readers. It’s the same mug I have my coffee in every morning. Not the exact same mug of course. I sent brand spanking new clean ones to the winners.

I wanted to share this particular gift because of what it means to me. I read that Thoreau quote every day and on many of those days I need to be reminded of his words. Whatever path we each may have chosen – life can be daunting. I definitely feel daunted sometimes.

It’s easy to forget how essential it is to “Go Confidently.” Even easier to feel we’ve misplaced our confidence altogether. That’s when we must behave “as if.” Act as if you are your most confident self. Ham it up even. Until you convince others and maybe yourself too.

We must also figure out exactly where “the direction of our dreams” may lie. Most of us have done that already but some are still sheepish about saying the words. As if we might shatter those dreams and prove them illusive after all. Shout your dreams to the universe. Do it now.

Plus we often tend to tell ourselves on some level that we don’t truly deserve “the life we’ve imagined.” Or at least we don’t have a chance of achieving it. I disagree. We each deserve fulfillment and we’re more likely to find by going confidently in our dream directions.

A lot of advice to gulp down with a cup of coffee. That’s why this is an extra-large mug.  I find having these words in front of me every day keeps me mindful of keeping my mind full of the positives. I hope it does the same for my ten contest winners and for you too.

P.S. To sign up for my newsletter and be eligible for my next giveaway go to my website at www.aliceorrbooks.com.

RR

 

A WRONG WAY HOME – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 1 – the eBook – is FREE at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T9RVGGC. It is also FREE at Barnes & Noble and iTunes and KOBO and other online platforms. A YEAR OF SUMMER SHADOWS – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book #2 – is available at those same platforms including http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZBOTH5O. These are my 12th and 13th novels and I’m headed confidently toward finishing number 14. Alice Orr – www.aliceorrbooks.com.

 

Open for Business – Orr What? Wednesday

Kindle Bargain, Writers Life, Writing Tips,

Open SignFall is here. New beginnings. I need that. Summer was jam-packed and fun-filled. The grandkids were here. Birthdays were honored with lots of chocolate cake. A 43rd wedding anniversary was celebrated. A vacation trip was made. Lots of excuses to be slothful on the work side.

Now slothful must end as we all open for business again. A hint of sharpness in the air and an equally sharp jab in the psyche tell us this is true. For me that means being on here with messages more regularly and reaffirming my writing discipline too.

We can find lots of excuses for avoiding the latter well into the new season. My go-to excuse is to blame the story I’m writing. I tell myself something is standing in the way of my getting on with it. I stop in my tracks and stare at that barrier as if it were impenetrable.

Have you ever experienced this road block syndrome? I’ll bet you have. It happens to everybody. And not just writers by the way. By the grace of God I’m not going through this myself right now. I’m shedding the summer slow-down for sure but I don’t feel blocked.

Unfortunately a dear friend of mine does. I hope she won’t mind if I pass on to you what I said to her not long ago – with some edits. Just in case you might be facing a road block or end up facing one in the future. Here’s my advice about that.

Believe me. You will get yourself and your work together. In the meantime you must not let yourself be encumbered by worry and agitation. Getting and staying unencumbered are among my personal themes as we begin this rejuvenating season. I invite you to share them.

Those two things in particular – worry and agitation – are what we need to jettison. We all carry too much of both and are equally weighed down and worked up by them. That’s not good for our work or for ourselves as humans deserving of joy in this life.

You will find the inspiration you need. You will find the pieces of your story because they are in your imagination waiting to be found. And when you put them together they will fit. Put each piece into words with passion in them and they will fit perfectly. Or perfectly enough.

I don’t mean to go all Pollyanna on you and pretend this is an easy task. Creativity is a re-assemblage of elements already within us into something new. This exercise may have a high PITA factor but it is definitely worth the effort.

So – Do It Anyway. The result will make you glad you did. The result will be that you’re Open for Business.

RR

A WRONG WAY HOME – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 1 – the eBook – is FREE at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T9RVGGC. It is also FREE at Barnes & Noble and iTunes and KOBO and other online platforms. A YEAR OF SUMMER SHADOWS – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book #2 – is available at those same platforms including http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZBOTH5O. These are my 12th and 13th novels and I’m currently open for business on number 14. Alice Orr – www.aliceorrbooks.com.