Writer's Block...a possible solution

As I have stated on my Way of the Horse Series blog, writer's block is really keeping me from my goals of finishing the #amediting on Book 2.  I have tried all kinds of things including starting back into Book 3#amwriting.  Nothing has seemed to work. Of course this also means that my blog posts on ALL my blogs have slipped as well.

But the other day I was looking at being somewhat disconnected from the internet and decided I needed to try reading a book.  I looked the house over and found several books that I had borrowed. Then I came across a book I had gotten for my wife for a Christmas a while ago.  She had never read it and it had been a while since I had.  So I picked it up.

I have to say, sitting at the feet of an accomplished and celebrated story-teller and reading their work was very motivating.  It gave me new ideas for how to convey and form the craft and other ideas of why we write.  It was refreshing to not have to worry about what I was reading because it was my work and I was revising it or trying to make sense of it in the grand scheme of themes and plots.  I just got to sit back and enjoy the story.

The author you ask?  Why it it Stephen King's The Gunslinger.  Well worth the few days off of reading and not doing anything else.

Has it worked totally, not quite, but I am finding the spark is struck and the ember glows brightly.  Maybe this week I can get going on my projects and feel like I have accomplished something too!

Enjoy your week!

What is in a name?

So suggestions have come in that I change my pen name from M.D. Robinson to something more discover-able such as Michael D Robinson.  Now I have thought on this a lot and wondered if there is anyone with an opinion out there [I know there are...].

The reason I use M.D. is because it is somewhat more unique in names from Mike or Michael since there are millions of those.  There are online databases that list combinations of names and last I came across it there were over 4 million people named Mike Robinson if I remember correctly.  The down side is that MD is also a very popular title and so I lumped in with all of those in that profession.

So the question I pose is, what do you think?  M.D. Robinson or Michael D Robinson or some other idea?

Useful Quotes

Been a while since I have posted here.  Between #reallife, #amediting my beta reader reviews and now #amreading, I am struggling to keep my life balanced.

Today I decided to share a short list of quotes I have found useful for the last few years.  Some are a little dark, others are, well, just plain funny (Reagan's).

So here they are:

"Tactics is knowing what to do when there is something to do. Strategy is knowing what to do when there is nothing to do."  Savielly Tartakower

"The tactician must know what to do whenever something needs doing; the strategist must know what to do when nothing needs doing." Savielly Tartakower

"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” -Edmund Burke

"...I know it's hard when you're up to your armpits in alligators to remember you came here to drain the swamp. (February 10, 1982)." -Ronald Reagan

"And he whom you cannot teach to fly, teach to fall faster." -Friedrich Nietzsche

"When you stare into the abyss the abyss stares back at you." -Friedrich Nietzsche

“Death is not the end. Death can never be the end. Death is the road. Life is the traveller. The soul is the guide.” - Sri Chinmoy 59

“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.” -Martin Luther King Jr.

 “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” -Eleanor Roosevelt