motivate – Page 6 – Noreen Lace

Book Signing!

Published on September 25, 2019September 23, 2019 by Noreen LaceLeave a comment

I love autumn. I love October. I love Halloween. And this October 19th at 4pm, I’ll be signing How to Throw a Psychic a Surprise Party and Eddy at the $10.00 Books in Northridge, California.

This bookstore is one of my favorites. They mix classics, used, and publisher buyouts for a unique collection of books. AND they happen to be between TWO COFFEE SHOPS! Both of which serve bomb pastries.

This book signing will feature our own psychic! She’ll be reading your fortune using the Tarot.

Plus other surprises!

More Info to follow!

Braggadocio, accidente.

Published on September 23, 2019September 22, 2019 by Noreen LaceLeave a comment

I’m ashamed, truly. I don’t usually brag, but someone asked… they asked!

I once woke up with a line to a story. It was four in the a.m. and I woke up with “the day she ran over her neighbor’s dog…”

(Pet lovers – no dogs were injured in the writing of this story.)

I wrote it down, but then the story started pouring out, so I got out of bed and wrote for three hours until I had to go to work, then finished it when I returned home. Of course, that was the first draft of “Of Strays and Exes.”

A few more drafts and it was published just a few months later. Sometimes that happens.

They wowed – so I wanted to share that not all stories go that way. Another story, took YEARS. I want to say maybe six or even eight years to get right. It went through many drafts and grew.

I’m pretty damn proud of that story. Yeah, I said, it was pretty damn good.

Maybe I lost them, I don’t know. I laughed, they laughed.

See – sometimes things spill out and they are a gift from the muses; other times, things are hard and you have to work and work to get them right, and when you’re finished and it’s accepted and loved, you feel your hard work has paid off, it’s successful.

I return to my usual humble self.

Sunday Visitation

Published on September 22, 2019September 22, 2019 by Noreen LaceLeave a comment

Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds

Failure is a great teacher!

Published on September 16, 2019September 15, 2019 by Noreen LaceLeave a comment

Challenge yourself

Published on September 9, 2019September 9, 2019 by Noreen Lace2 Comments

Caving in the Sierras six or seven years ago.

We have to challenge ourselves to become better versions of our old selves.

To become better at anything, we must challenge ourselves.

To grow, learn, understand, and create new connections in our brains, we must get out of our comfort zones.

That is in writing and in life.

Our brain, our writing, our lives are built on what came before. If there’s nothing new to add, we can’t grow.

Growing makes us better people, better writers. Therefore, challenges make us become better people, better writers.

* saying things in different ways can help more people understand and relate.

Author to Author

Published on September 6, 2019September 5, 2019 by Noreen Lace2 Comments

Hanging out with people who are serious about their writing feeds a writer’s soul.

Here’s me with Dan Rhys, author of The Lone Escapist. Where’s my book?! I need to start carrying a copy with me!

The Unintended Consequences of Story

Published on September 4, 2019September 2, 2019 by Noreen LaceLeave a comment

I heard from a woman who asked me to share a story with young people. The story was my own, The Healer’s Daughter, from How to Throw a Psychic a Surprise Party.

She said the story was valuable and every young person who has ever bullied or been bullied needs to read it.

Bullying is a part of the story, and for the little girl in the story, it’s a very big part – as it was for any and all of us who were on the wrong side of the mean kids.

She felt, I believe, it would also help bullies to gain some sort of understanding. Maybe, maybe not. But I appreciated her feedback on what some people feel is a minor part of the story.

I appreciate the feedback and that my story touched her so much she feels the need to share it.

Much appreciated.

Our stories have power. And they have unintended consequences. I’m happy that mine leaned toward positive.

People Gonna Hate

Published on September 2, 2019September 1, 2019 by Noreen LaceLeave a comment

It doesn’t matter what you do, people are going to be adverse to you, your writing, your ideas.

Writers can not be people pleasers. Mostly because it is not in the human to be pleased or satisfied for long.

We need to seek and hunt and move forward.

However, I think many people strive on strife.

Nasty people feed off negative responses.

I ran into a woman recently who, for some reason, had a bug up her ass. I’m unclear what the woman’s problem was, specifically, and I didn’t attempt to find out.

There’s always a choice. And I choose not to engage with people like that. Most of their negativity and nastiness is more about them than it is about anyone they act out upon.

Let there be haters – Choose not to engage!

Writing Buddy

Published on August 26, 2019August 25, 2019 by Noreen LaceLeave a comment

My new writing buddy. He must have worked, had a breakthrough with my latest WIP!

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Writer’s Fight Club

Published on August 21, 2019August 19, 2019 by Noreen LaceLeave a comment

I’ve been worked over by a story all summer. I feel like we’ve been beating each other up and down and neither of us is winning.

At this point, I hate this story. But, no, not true. I love it. I love the characters and want them to have a voice, a say in their life.

But, gosh darn it – speak!

Maybe I have not been giving the story it’s due, it’s time. The main character, Bella, came simply enough and her father did too. This is the primary relationship and the source of conflict in the story, but then there are a whole bunch of secrets. Aren’t there always?

I wrote the first draft and showed it to my writing partner who said the story had merit and I should keep at it. So, here I am, months later, keeping at it! Frustrated.

Writers understand this. Sometimes stories do this to us. The story wants/needs to be told, but it’s so hard in coming.

I need to do it. I need to force it. I need – I don’t know. Maybe it’s the story’s needs I should think about. It needs some time maybe, more thought; it needs to be brought to life for whatever reason it was given to me to write.