Welcome to Krahe's Nest

Leap, and the net will appear.

Have you ever seen a piece of artwork or read a poem or a book that was done so beautifully that it seems simple and effortless? And then you think to yourself, I can do that. I thought that about writing. I have a degree in English so I have all the rules of grammar covered. And I read. I read alot!

I’ve read books where the prose just rolled off the tongue. And the story was woven so intricately that you can’t even tell you’re hooked until you try to put the story down or until it comes to a close and you find yourself saddened by it because you have become such a part of the character’s lives that you don’t want to see them go.

I woke up one morning to find a complete novel banging around in my head dying to get out. It never required any thought at all. I saw it play out before my inner eye as though it were on the big screen at the theater. I knew the theme, the plot, the characters, the twists and turns and the ending as well as I knew my own name. So I think hey why couldn’t I be the next J.K. Rowling or Cornelia Funke?

Why? That seems to be the biggest question of my life now. Being someone who thrives on researching “How To” books, of which my personal library is full. I began the task of learning what it takes to write a book. I must’ve spent a cool grand on them. Well they all basically had the same information in them. How to write a character sketch and a plot outline and how to strategically keep your reader turning the pages. So I spent the better part of this year filling up notebooks and computer files with all the information I already had in my brain. I researched the things I wasn’t sure how to make work and I starting pounding away at the keyboard. I got about five chapters into it before I printed it out and read it back to myself and while the story is there, it is just not flowing the way I want it too. It seems awkward and lurches along like an old car with a clogged carburetor. So I knew I had to go back to the drawing board. The problem with that is now my confidence is waning and I’m not sure how to proceed.

Then I was sent this tiny clip of an artist performing her craft, and it inspired me so that I wanted to share it with you. What this artist does is exactly what I want to feel when I am spinning my little yarn. I want it to appear effortless and awe inspiring and just plain beautiful. I want to reach my readers in such a way that my story becomes a thread woven into the fabric of their lives. In order to accomplish this daunting task, I am going to shelve my chapters for a time, and get into the zen of writing. By this I mean,  I will be making it my religion for an undetermined period of time and writing freeflow exercises for ten minutes everyday with a really fast pen and some cheap paper. Somewhere in the midst of the non-thinking out pouring of words that will ensue from these exercises, I should be able to un-block my chi and begin my novel fresh and with more confidence. 

I want to thank all of you who have supported me through this entire endeavor. I know I’ve been a little crazy at times and have probably driven you all a bit crazy. I think I’m moving in the right direction now.

Now for those of you that would like to see what I’m talking about please click the link at the bottom of this page. (I hope it works) it should just open up in your media palyer, if not just copy and paste it into your browser. And Enjoy!

http://www.sandfantasy.com/videoclips/just_imagine_long.wmv

P.S. Thank you Rochelle for sending this to me you’ll never know how deeply I felt its message.

The urge to write fiction seems God given for some, a learedskill for others. One thing is certain –

it requires practice and a particular mindset. But, if you’re a beginner, where do you start?

The following 10 tips will help kick-start your writing habit, whether you’re a complete novice,

or perhaps a pro who has lost their way!

1. Step Away

Slightly detach yourself from your surroundings. Stop participating and begin observing.

In social situations, watch people, see how they act and – more importantly - interact.

Don’t pass judgment. Take it all in – and draw on it later when you write.

2. Look Harder

Stop and look around you. Consciously notice the buildings, what’s underfoot, overhead, and

what’s right in front of you.

At home, look at something you take for granted. An iron, for instance. Find yours and study it.

3. Write Thinking Will Be Rewarded

A simple technique. Your mother is making tea and you are chatting to her. Take a mental step

back and describe the scene. Similarly, when you’re outside, describe your environment as though

you were writing it down.

4. What Reasons Do You Need?

Don’t wait for inspiration – just write!

Force yourself to write anything at all. A shopping list. An overheard conversation. Describe your bedroom.

It doesn’t matter how personal it is, or how trivial, just get it down!

5. The Early Bird

Set your alarm clock for an hour earlier than normal.

When the alarm goes off, get up. Don’t dress, bathe or eat. Don’t even make coffee. Just stagger to

your writing space and write the first thing that comes into your head for five minutes.

6. Oh God – Not That!

Think of the most awful and embarrassing thing you’ve ever done - the more cringe-worthy the

better. Now write about it. All of it, in all its gory, horrible detail.

Then hide it away for a year or so before you read it again!

7. Like Your Style

Don’t limit yourself. Write poems, songs, dialogue, fact, fiction, even practice writing advertising copy or horoscopes.

Your expertise improves in all areas – an improvement in one area can reap benefits in another.

8. The Sincerest Flattery

Take out a classic book from your bookcase. Copy out a paragraph. Think about the words as you write them. Don’t get intimidated!

9. Wanna See My Invention?

When you’re not writing, string together stories in your mind. Think of plots, characters, settings, dénouements.

Ask yourself what you should do next to improve your writing.

Develop this technique into a habit.

10. It’s A Goal!

When you start writing regularly, set yourself small goals. Anything from 200 words a day, or just a commitment to writing in your diary.

Later extend to finishing a short story, or an article or a poem. Perhaps one in a week.

The trick is to set goals you can achieve easily.

Perhaps you’ve managed to get into the habit of writing every day, but you’ve also acquired the distraction habit. You sit down at your computer, fire up your word processor and type a couple of sentences – but then an email arrives, and once you’ve replied to that, you check Myspace, Covenspace and Facebook … then a friend rings to chat about weekend plans.

After an hour-long “writing session” your output is a few sentences, none of which seem particularly good. You need to avoid distractions if you want to write fast and fluently, following four simple steps:

Step 1: Work somewhere quiet

The biggest move towards avoiding distractions is finding somewhere quiet to work. It doesn’t need to be silent, but it should be free from people who’ll wander in and interrupt. Not everyone can write easily at home: if you have young children, or if you still live with your parents, you might struggle to persuade everyone to leave you in peace to write.

If you can, get out to a public library – or if you’re in college, use the library there. The quiet atmosphere will help you to write. Alternatively, some freelancers rent shared office space: yes, you’ll have to pay rent, but if you manage to fit in an extra five or ten productive hours per week, it’s probably worth it.

Step 2: Get comfortable

Once you’ve found a good spot to work, make sure you’re not going to be distracted by physical factors. Sit somewhere comfortable, with a good desk and chair, and have your monitor at the right height (level with your eyes.) You might want to get a gel pad to rest your wrists on whilst typing.

Keep a bottle of water at your side, along with some snacks: you don’t want to stop half an hour into your writing session because you’re thirsty and hungry. If you drink a lot of tea, coffee or cola, get your caffeine fix in too … feeling sleepy or headachy won’t help your concentration.

Step 3: Turn off electronic distractions

So, the environment around you is perfect: quiet and calm, with food and drink within reach. Now it’s time to consider mental, rather than physical, distractions. With most of us writing directly onto computers, there are a huge number of electronic diversions that need to be put aside during a writing session. You can’t write well if you’re constantly flicking between your writing, Myspace, Facebook, instant messenger, etc…

Turn off any instant messaging programmes and close your email client. Switch off your mobile phone (especially if you’re in a library!) Some writers, myself included, prefer to unplug their internet connection altogether whilst writing – I’m offline as I type this. Others use a program such as WriteRoom or, for PC users, Dark Room.

Step 4: Set a stop time for your writing

The final step is to set an end time for your writing session. If you try to write for a whole afternoon, you’re likely to procrastinate and get distracted; instead, give yourself an hour and see how much you can achieve. Set an alarm on your computer to alert you once the time is up.

You’ll know that this works if you’ve ever had to rush to meet a deadline. Did you surprise yourself with how quickly you could write that essay or report, when it was due within a couple of hours? And do you find that you speed up before a break (such as lunch-time) to finish whatever you’re working on? This is called the “end effect” by time coach Mark Forster, who recommends working for short, timed periods to take full advantage of your mind’s ability to use an imminent deadline for focus.

During your timed period, if thoughts like “I should check my email” or “I wonder what everyone’s saying on Myspace” come up, pause for a second or two and dismiss them. You can check all of these after your end-of-session alarm goes off. Stick with your writing, and you’ll be replacing the distraction habit with the focusing habit.

What techniques have you used to avoid distractions in your writing? Have you found any tips and tricks which are especially effective?

It occured to me that I have been terribly remis in blogging. I sometimes get so hung up in the routine of my life I can’t seem to find the time to do much more than check my mail and let me tell you between the groups I belong to and the crazy things I sign up for that in itself can be a full time job. Any way I’m not going to expound much more on that this morning but I wanted to let all of my friends (you know who you are) know that as busy as I am, trying to get this book written and rewritten and hopefully off to the publisher I do think about you all on a daily basis and I miss you all terribly. I miss the ideas we used to share. The chats we had. I miss it all. I hope we can pick up where we left off soon. If you want to keep track of my progress just check in here daily. I plan on squeezing this in to my schedule. And thank you for being so patient with me. See ya in the funny pages!

Is it about crows or witches or writing or art? Answer: All of the above. These things are what makes T.W. Krahe tick. First and foremost I am a writer. I currently publish a quarterly ezine entitled Krahe’s Nest and you will be able to download the next issue from this site, free. What is the ezine about? Witchcraft, of course. I have been a practicing witch for close to ten years now and it is the driving force behind most of what I do. I believe in magic, whole heartedly. I’m not talking about the kind of magic that Samantha Stevens does. I don’t believe that I can twitch my nose and make things happen. But I do believe in the power of faith. And in my faith, when we want or need something, we pray about it like anyone else but we add a little oomph to the prayer and then we act as if it already is. And if you believe in that thing hard enough chances are you’ve got it coming to you! Now, about the crows… they are just something that please me. They’re big, beautiful, black and shiny and besides that, they have the most complex launguage system of any species of animal around and for a writer that is something to crow about! Pun intended! They also go after what they want and if there are obstacles in their way they immediately find a way to overcome them. Now that’s my kind of magical creature. In these pages you’ll hear alot about my beloved crows in the form of stories which I’ll write. You’ll also get to know a little about the type of magic I perform and you’ll share in my struggles and my triumphs as I muddle through the process of writing my first novel, Returning Remy. And if by some chance you are someone with the dream of writing your first novel, I’d like to hear about your trials and tribulations as well. I also invite you to check out my links page. There is a great site to check out if you need some extra guidance in the how to go about it department. Until next time follow your dreams and make the magic happen!

Okay, I said in the previous post that you’ve got to write everyday. Well, that may have been a little misleading. What I meant is you’ve got to work on your craft everyday and that can include alot of things. Sometimes working can be more fun than you imagined. First, I learned from a writing course I just recently took about mapping the places you’re writing about. That’s right folks get out your paper and your crayons and doodle, legally! It’s an incredible way to move your project forward and have some fun, plus it is a very helpful tool when it comes time to moving your characters from one place to another. Now keeping that in mind, you’re going to need to add cool landmarks to this map so it’s time to hit the streets and act like a tourist! Go anywhere in your own town with your notebook and a camera and snap pictures of cool places that you might want in your world or even in future worlds. Browse through some of those shops that you’ve always wanted to check out but never did, and take notes on all the things you see. They will help make your story come to life. Now, if you just can’t break away from the office but you’d like to describe cool stuff in your book or places you’ve never been here’s another way… www.earthcam.com and www.uswebcameras.com both provide 24-hour web cam views from all over the world- your next visit to an exotic locale is just a click away! So climb the Eiffle Tower on your coffee break or take a stroll through Times Square before lunch! And that is the stuff books are made of. Happy traveling.

I have learned many things on my path to completing a first novel. I have always written articles for things like journals, news papers, magazines and reports. The research is still murder but there is usually a clearcut way of doing things. You decide on your topic, you research it and write about it in an organized manner. Not so with a novel, not if you want to make it a page turner. You have to know all your characters as intimately, if not better, than you know yourself. You have to draw yourself maps and pictures so you know clearly how your characters get from point A to point B and what they saw along the way. You have to have twists and turns and cliffhangers to make it interesting but most of all you have to work at it everyday. That is where it really gets difficult. How do you write when you’re not in the mood or simply can’t find the right inspiration to do so? Well for a witch the answer is clear, you turn to your Muse. Most anybody who is artistic in any possible way has heard of a Muse, right? Well you may not believe in them, but I am sincerely telling you that if you’re stuck in the middle of something and can’t seem to get that forward motion to get through it you need to start believing in that Muse and somehow if you believe and you treat her right she’ll get you through it. Here are some techniques for getting her to appear.

Things You’ll Need:

• Athletic Shoes
• Running Clothes
• Journals
• Cassette Tape Recorders
• Aromatherapy Candles
• Candles
• Bubble Baths
• Sandlewood Incense
• Music For Zen Meditation
• Notebook Papers
• Pens And Pencils
• Printer Paper

I don’t know about anyone else but getting organized to write these two books has been  a gigantic hurdle for me. One that I just couldn’t seem to get over. I had bits of paper stacked in literally every corner of my house and couldn’t ever find what I needed when I needed it. So I went in search of some soft ware that would help me gather everything up into one place but still allow me to work with it and change it periodically. The thing is the man that designed my website got me hooked on free software. He said that if there’s a software program out there that is expensive there’s a free equivolent so I looked and found just the thing. It’s called “Text Block Writer” by http://softwarebybrian.com what it is, is a virtual index card file in  which you can enter text in and move around to where you need it and it’s totally free. Quite a gem I’d say. So if you are looking to get organized in the writing department, go check it out.