Getting in the Mood

MENTAL STATUS: Slightly concerned. I kept my daughter home from school because she's congested, coughing and an all around mess. But at least, there's no fever. Whew!

Okay. This is a short post, since I'm really trying to be good and write today.

My topic is for all my writer friends. (Permission to stop reading if you aren't)

Did you ever read something you wrote and know it needed an emotional charge (or were TOLD it needs an emotional charge by a critique partner, in my case), but you’re unsure where to begin?

Oh. Good. Well, welcome to my world.

As I sat, staring at one of the scenes I had written a few months ago, I was reminded of an article back in the RWA magazine that had talked about improving your writing skills. One of the recommendations by the author was to read.

Huh. What an enlightening moment.

But, actually, that advice is so true. I don’t think there’s anything better to get in you in the mood to write than to read a good book—or even a bad book! HA!

What’s weird is I personally like to read something totally away from what I normally write to get me in the mood. I love writing romantic comedy type stuff, but I recently needed to step far far away from my happy-cloud- la-la world and begin writing the black moment part of my story.

So, I read a few chapters of Michael Connolly’s The Poet. Uh, believe me, not a funny book. In fact, I found it dark and in some spots a little depressing—but in a good way! (Actually, it’s one of my favorite Michael Connolly books) After reading those few chapters, I was left kind of sad. The perfect mood I needed to write something… well... sad. (We'll see what my critique partners think, though)

Do you have any special inspirations you use when writing?