D.T. Krippene

~ Searching for Light in the Darkness

D.T. Krippene

Tag Archives: Writing Muse

Believing

25 Wednesday Dec 2019

Posted by dtkrippene in Inspiration, Musing

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Believing, Holiday Reflections, Writer's Life, Writing, Writing Muse

I miss childish times when believing was unhampered by the distractions of adulthood; making a living, raising a family – you know, the stuff of life.  The little guy above; he doesn’t quite understand the meaning of a simple tree ornament, but he believes there is magic in his hand.

I attended holiday gatherings the last couple weeks with friends I hadn’t seen in a while. The inevitable question arose, “how’s the writing going?” I delivered the usual pitch; published a couple short stories; working on finishing another manuscript, etc. etc.

We’re expected to call ourselves writers when asked. It is part of shoring up the walls of self-belief. Folks who ask, respond as expected with, “Gee, that’s neat. What have you written?” Cue awkwardness. “Oh – uh – I write apocalyptic, little paranormal – got a couple short stories in a mag you never heard of – oh, there’s my wife. Can you excuse me a moment?”  

For those of us who write but have few if any credentials to show for our hard work, the magic of believing wanes over time.

When I first embarked on this venture decades ago, it was to prove that I had it in me to write a book. I had fun doing it. Wrote another. I believed in myself.  I graduated to magazine articles and crafting words for new stories. A real full-time job and being a parent kept the effort to stolen snippets of time. I wrote without a clue how the book industry worked, blissful in my belief that I was ready to test the literary waters.  

I discovered myself afloat against a tsunami of content and woke up on a desert isle of disbelief. Reality set in with the chain of five-percenters – five percent of all writers finish a book, five percent of that never submit, five percent of that never land an agent, five percent of those never see the publishing light of day …   

What the hell was I thinking? Even if I managed to flag down one of many gatekeepers, I was up against seasoned professionals. That childish belief melted like a snowman in a winter thaw.  

Imagining stories and writing them down had always been easy for me.  Who knew there were rules, lots of rules, pretty rules for the gate-keeping cadre? Took the next few years to learn how to write, but at least I kept at it. It changed my writing style, some of it good, some of it that chipped away at my writing voice. I emerged as a self-taught gatekeeper and entered a mobius strip of write, edit, critique, prune, rinse, repeat. I’d write ten-thousand words, and trash about eight. Where once it took me six-to-eight months to finish a book, now swelled to a couple years.

Then someone asked, “Why are you still at it after all these years?” It was the same as asking, why do you still believe?  Good question. I didn’t have an immediate canned reply. In a moment of self-reflection, I rephrased the question. What plants me in front of an empty screen starving for words? I found the answer in the bio I’d written many years ago.

With an imagination that never sleeps, DT has a muse who refuses to be hobbled as a mere dream.

I’d forgotten that I write because I can’t help myself. I don’t need a reason. All I need is to believe I can translate the muse in my head and create magic on a page.

As for swimming the murky waters of publishing, cue line from the movie, Galaxy Quest. Never give up, never surrender. If the current project doesn’t float, I’ll move on and write something new. For me, the real fun is in the creating. 

To my fellow writers, may your holiday spirit be amply laced with a child-like belief in yourself.

 

 

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The Silent Light of a Winter Night

30 Sunday Dec 2018

Posted by dtkrippene in Inspiration, Musing

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Holiday Spirit, Serenity, Unsplash.com, Writer Inspiration, Writing, Writing Muse

 

Dec 2018 casey-horner-1061318-unsplash Compress

Casey Horner @mischievous_penguins

 

It’s that time of year when I’m away from my writing desk to spend time with family out west. I had hopes to scratch a few lines between the happy helter-skelter of being with loved ones. I made a promise to my muse I wouldn’t desert her (see November’s article, A Writer Comes Home to His Beloved Muse).

Dec 2018 paola-chaaya-181635-unsplash

Paola Chaaya @paolitta

Presents scattered on the floor like flotsam, bellies full, and kids down for the night, instead of quiet conversation, clutching mugs of hot beverages on a cold winter night, the adults had their eyes glued on smart-phones. I too browsed the cacophony of apps and media distraction. No wonder I can’t think creatively. I tried reading, but the oversized television screen on mute kept drawing my eye.

 

 

Karthic Chandran @karthikchandrasekar
Karthic Chandran @karthikchandrasekar
Todd Diemer @todd_diemer
Todd Diemer @todd_diemer

I stared at the Christmas tree in lazy thought, and shook my head. Peace of mind in the monochromatic world of all things life oriented can be elusive. Our heads are too often pointed downward in the bustling crowd. Even those who live in remote places are as burdened as city dwellers from the incessant distraction of a connected society. I needed to find some quiet – a place of reticence to air out the brain.

 

Ray Hennessy @rayhennessy
Ray Hennessy @rayhennessy
Mira Kemppainen @mirakemppainen
Mira Kemppainen @mirakemppainen

I set the book aside, closed my eyes, and imagined a small town, where new fallen snow muffled my footsteps, the only sound that of a hushed breeze though barren branches – and the occasional air pump of holiday yard blimps. I thought of a cardinal balanced on snow-laden boughs, its scarlet feathers a singular lighthouse in a sea of white, and a lantern post, its warm yellow light a beacon against a colorless palette.

Dec 2018 max-bender-485477-unsplash compress

Max Bender @maxwbender

 

The streets of the small town were deserted, and I marveled at the twinkle of holiday decorations that festooned houses. As if waiting for someone to notice, a lone white bulb was tucked inside a riot of colored lights. Like the cardinal, and the lantern, it impressed upon me the serenity of a simple light in an ostentatious environment. It’s where I needed to get my head at if I had a shot at writing anything.

Dec 2018 filip-mroz-183341-unsplash crop

Filip Mroz @mroz

I turned, and spotted lighted candy canes on the edge of thick forest. I trudged away from the brashness of holiday décor. Somehow, my whimsical town had disappeared, and I was on a deserted road in a thick forest. I shuffled my foot in the snow to find what powered this odd display, until my eyes revealed a single set of footprints leading into the woods.

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Desert Inspiration

31 Thursday May 2018

Posted by dtkrippene in Inspiration, On Writing

≈ Comments Off on Desert Inspiration

Tags

Desert Landscape, Writer Inspiration, Writer's Block, Writing, Writing Muse

Desert

Aside from a writer’s muse that never sleeps, I’m used to finding #writerinspiration from mostly colorful photographs and art from a variety of sites. I post the ones I like on my Twitter feed and Facebook page. My favorite place for royalty-free photos without restrictions is Unsplash.com. Two of my boards on Pinterest – Searching for Light, and Characters, are both galleries of art and photographs used to fine tune the muse when I’m writing scenes.

Desert 2 Edit

This past Memorial Day weekend, I went on a desert excursion with my son-in-law in his off-road 4Runner.  That my young grandson tagged along as well, made the trip extra special. 

But – we were talking about writer inspiration.

 

How does one go from a visual inspiration of a colorful marketplace …

Unsplash sam-beasley-compress

 

… and find inspiration in the homogeneity of a desert landscape?

 

Unsplash nicolas-cool-107337-Desert Crop

 

First, you need to get off the beaten track, and into places most vehicles can’t tread. That’s where I discovered it isn’t the visual so much, as it is – the silence.

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About DT

dtkrippene

dtkrippene

A native of Wisconsin and Connecticut, DT deserted aspirations of being a biologist to live the corporate dream and raise a family. After seven homes, a ten-year stint working in Asia, and an imagination that never slept, his muse refused to be hobbled as a mere dream. A member of the Bethlehem Writers Group and Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group, DT writes apocalyptic science fiction, paranormal, and parallel universe science fantasy. DT has published several short stories. “Hell of a Deal”, in the paranormal collection, Untethered, and most recently, “Man’s Best Friend”, in the 2021 Best Indie Book for Fiction, Fur, Feathers, and Scales. He also appeared in the Write Here – Write Now short story collection with his middle-grade paranormal, “Locker 33C”. An active member of the Bethlehem Writers Group, he’s been a featured author in the BWG Writers Roundtable Magazine, and will appear in the July 2021 Summer Issue with “Hot as Sin”. His latest project is an apocalyptic tale of humans on the edge extinction, and a young man born years after surviving humans had been rendered sterile. You can find D.T. on his website, Searching for Light in the Darkness, and his social media links on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

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Fairy Tale of the Month

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charles french words reading and writing

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D.T. Krippene

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Jerome W. McFadden's Blog

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Book Reviewer and Blogger

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One writer's experiences, and battles with words

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Michael A. Ventrella

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unbolt me

the literary asylum

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I didn't travel 10,000 miles across the globe to not make any friends

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