Be Nice To Your Muse!

Hello! I am Kendra Mei Chailyn (Kadian Tracey) and I am very happy to be a part of this blog! I don't write M/M but I figure every writing has a muse or two or three! I write interracial (mostly) Sensual and sweet romance. I figure addinga touch of heat to certain thing is a good thing. *winks*

The Muse--There's a topic I hadn't written about that in a long time. My muse hadn't gotten that much use this year because I spent most of the year researching about Egyptian Mythology.  Sure, I did some research for my two Shadowcat books. Those had to deal with giant Kyphur cats so it was pretty cool. This research is into a Egyptian God that is lesser known and with that said it takes a lot of digging to find enough, trusting info on him. It's strange how much dusty papers I have to go through and the looks I get when I walk up to librarians and hand them my paper lol.

So let me start my saying this...when it comes to my writing, my head let everybody in!

But that's another blog all together. Today we're here to talk about my Muse.  The strange thing about how I write is that anything can be my muse. The other day I was walking down the street and saw a lady with an orchid in her hair and I get this idea for my story ...The Thing About Love is... and today I was sitting at work talking to this woman on the phone and bam! here comes Pulse. I don't stick to one thing or person and say this is my muse and nothing else! Whenever I get an idea, I hold

on to it for a few days, and if it morphs into this nagging obsession, I begin fleshing it out. My muse
(whatever it happens to be at that time) will keep talking and I keep writing until the story - the skeleton of the story at least- is finished. Then I go in, and do a complete rewrite. When that's finished I see what my muse thinks.

One of the scary sides of the Muse appears when a few of them are in my head at the same time, and they all decide to have a conversation with me, telling me what their stories should be like.  The day I got the idea to write my story In The Name of Love I was sitting by Lake Ontario, just staring at the water. This idea for the story hits me followed closely by another idea for my Egyptian Mythology story and fairly fast after that a second book for In The Name of Love. Of course I ignored the second book idea, I really don't do series--not really my thing (grins yet still after I got it accepted at Passion in Print - they requested the second story - so I wound up writing it anyways!). On another hand, some may argue the scariest part of the Muse is when it's not talking-when all is quiet on the western front--you know, no story ideas? We call that writer's block.

When that happens I find I get irritated, muttering to my muse asking it why hath thou forsaken me? In all honest sometimes I find its better for our muse to take breaks - why? It gives us time to breathe and remember that our mind needs time to re-coop from all we've put it through throughout the past few months of a year in some cases. Just because our muse is always there for us we often times take it for granted. We ignore stories, refuse to write stories or conform to other people's muses throwing tantrums. So, sometimes our muses decide they aren't going to take this crap anymore, pack their things and leave you a Dear John letter.

Moral?

Be nice to your muse. Feed it, nourish, grow it and once in a while? Give it something a little naughty.

You can thank me later *wiggles brows* lol

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Love,
Kendra Mei Chailyn (Kadian Tracey)
Follow me on twitter: @kendramechailyn

What Summer Means...

And it is here like a bat out of hell!

Remember when we were kids we couldn't wait for summer break? I mean first we had no school! Then we knew we could go to the beach, vacation, spend MORE time with our friends, go to movies, fireworks, festivals, carnivals, Caribana! But damn - for me summer has changed into something I barely recognize.

It's kind of weird because it's finally summer and I just got into writing for the summer break when WHAM! I start getting emails for Chrismas Submissions.  I thought about it and so far I haven't been able to write much for Christmas story. Maybe its because I'm Canadian and after winter is gone, I mentally block out everything to do with the freezing cold but I am officially blocked.

Anyways, with summer here comes all the things of summer I've come to dislike over the years. Why? Well first of all its so warm outside and inside.  Now, this gives everyone the license to go outside wearing little to no clothing! Don't get me wrong--I love walking around partially naked like the next guy - but I do that in the privacy of my own home.  The ones I see, I often time ask my friends "where is the rest of her skirt?" or saying "That is NOT a dress!"  or "Seriously! Who is she fooling with that? That's her panties! That is not shorts!"

That means allergies, for one, allergies so bad it makes you want to gouge your eyes out, pave every patch of green surface you can find then rub your nose into a blanket until it falls off. Oh yes, my allergies get so bad. Most of the pills for that make me so drowsy even when they say they don't so the one pill I can take is the one that takes about half an hour to kick in. By them my nose is burning, my eyes are itching, my throat is scratch--not cute.

But, though those are two things I dislike about the summer months, I also like it because I normally go to places to motivate me in my writing--places like old churches and food festivals like Taste of the Danforth or Rib fest - all kinds of good stuff. But lately, I find myself slacking on doing things in the summer. Perhaps it stems from my rampant disregard for my mental stability as things just seem to be heaped atop my head in the past few months. But whatever the reason I haven't had much interest in going out and doing anything.  And with that I find my three works in progress have stalled or have taken on turns I never expected them to--turns that will require major rewrites at a later date.

Recently, summer means writer's block. Three other stories, Runt of the Pack, Captain Dragonheart's Woman and Rosetta Stone (yes, I'll probably have to change that title) have been on the back burner for almost two years now. For some reason, I can't seem to write these. The first two are not contemporary so that is probably why, but the last one, I have no idea why its taking me so long to complete it. It's a more indepth story and I want to write. But something just won't let me go beyond where it sits now at about 10, 000 words. Perhaps its because whenever I open the file I re-read all that is there because it has been so long since I actually ready the story I have to get re-accustomed to the characters. But whatever the reason, I figure once I have a chance to go away and just do nothing but photography, eat junk food and enjoy the sunlight for a day or two, the urge to write them will come back. 

But anyways,

Summers, lately, have morphed into something I never expected. Not sure how to tackle it, but let see how this one will go.

hugs,
Kendra