Shape Shifter

You’re a shape shifter leaving me confused        
Showing me your pretend wounds
Trying to figure out which version I’ll meet next         
I hate to say this but for you there’s nothing left, not even respect      
Every time I meet you you’re a different man
This wasn’t supposed to happen, it wasn’t a part of the plan       
One moment  you’re a lion shielding, protecting me                                                   
The next you’re ready to destroy everything you see         
One day you’re a wounded deer asking for help with love in your eyes,
and suddenly you are a porcupine with piercing arrows of your own in the form of lies         
I refuse to be that girl this sick game I refuse to play          
After tonight I won’t ever ask you to stay
All the bridges we built are burnt their gone                      
I’m a shape shifter now changing my very form             
I was a hopeless flower shaking in your arms                       
But tonight im gonna grow wings, fly away, so you can cause me no harm

Public Speaking for writers? Eeek!

Okay. Confession time: I hate public speaking.

But that’s okay because most of the misunderstood classic authors hated public speaking.

All writers  believe that they are antisocial. All we ever want in life is a cabin in the middle of no where so we are free to create.

However when it comes to marketing, we  are experts in procrastinating. I find myself saying yes to any kind of social activity to get away from convincing someone to buy my product. It’s just not for me.

Also, unfortunately unlike most classic authors I am not an alcoholic.

So there’s nothing to keep my mind away from the fact that authors are not only marketing their work but also themselves.

We all want to be the next John Green or Stephanie Meyer but let’s face it..
It’s easier to get followers on Twitter than to get someone to open their wallet and buy your book.

Anyway I’m 3 blogs in now and if you have been keeping up with me I’d like to say thank you you’re awesome! Virtual hug for you! And you have most probably noticed that I have secret powers where I can magically find  any situation and figure out a way to make it negative.

So to be more constructive and find new ways to broaden my horizons; I have decided to enroll myself in a public speaking club. The club is called Toastmasters and there are meetings every week. There are clubs all over the world to help you with public speaking.

I’m hoping it’ll help me gain confidence to speak in front of an audience with grace and to be precise. I’m also hoping it’ll help me find a way to not turn tomato red when a group pf people look at me. And if I can learn to stop shaking when I speak in front of an audience I’ll be able to say I’ve made immense progress.

Yay for self improvement!

How to plan before you plan to write.. Huh?

Accepting you have a problem is the first step to finding the solution right?

Okay, that’s good.

My name is Fatima and I am a planner.

How much research is too much research? How much planning is too much planning? How do you know when your idea’s are formed enough for you to start writing? Does too much planning over-complicate the process?

After researching what other authors went through (yes I see the irony of researching what it means to research too much) I realize it’s a trap lots of writers get caught in.

The reason behind this is simple. We really really want to succeed. Writing is a profession. However, unlike most professions, there are no ladders for writers to climb. One doesn’t start off as an assistant to the assistant and strive to make it as the CEO. There are no set rules. And that can be terrifying. Your first book can bring you great success and land you on the New York Times Best Seller List, or it can come and go without making a sound. The trap most of us beginner authors fall in is to take this profession angle too seriously and forget why they decided to sit and pick up a pen in the first place.

Writing is art. To write is to be free.

(hold for dramatic effect)

Step back and let it be art. Let yourself dive into the book. Write, and write some more.

Or, you know, in my case, actually start writing.

 

 

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed”

 -Ernest Hemingway