Firefly said:
So Donna, to start out with, can you share some of your experiences in the writers art during the evolution of "Homer the Little Unicorn" from a writers perspective?




Thank you Firefly for starting this discussion!

I had basically thought that writing is about creating a story and getting it published after. Creating the story is easier than getting it published if you want a traditional press. Though, don't take that to mean that creating these worlds, characters and events is an easy thing. It takes time and dedication.

However, first time authors may get discouraged with the whole publishing process. Just know that you can always do Indie publishing. I wrote a blog about my experiences with publishing a children's book.

As for the creation - I let my mind do its thing. I let the story write itself.

Firefly said:
That is so true. One author once said that his biggest task was to enforce the discipline to be at his typewriter at a certain time, for a certain duration every day and not let anything else take that time. Once there the story flowed into words typed.

Would you share what obstacles presented themselves to you, and how you got around them during your experiences writing Homer the Little Unicorn?[/blockquote][blockquote]Firefly said:
That is so true. One author once said that his biggest task was to enforce the discipline to be at his typewriter at a certain time, for a certain duration every day and not let anything else take that time. Once there the story flowed into words typed.

Would you share what obstacles presented themselves to you, and how you got around them during your experiences writing Homer the Little Unicorn?


Sounds like something Stephen King said in his Memoir on writing.

Time is the biggest obstacle in writing. People don't understand that I want time to write and they take it personally. I would say that other people are the biggest obstacles in a writer's career. I think if they would understand that we aren't disconnecting from them, we are creating because we love to do it, that would help a lot.

Another obstacle is distractions. As a creative person, I have a lot going on in my mind. I could be on a hot run with a storyline, only to have another story pop in - or another type of project take my attention. Also, another person could come in the room and be loud which kills the creative process.

I didn't get around them. That's why it took so long to publish and why I have several books started with one in final editing.

There must is software such as the mind-mapping or tree variety that can serve as a framework for collecting and organizing those thoughts over separate stories, and once you give it acknowledgement by logging and organizing it into software it frees up your mind from that idea trying to get out to make room for what related creative thoughts come next.

Before we move on to your inspiration for writing Homer the Little Unicorn, what writers tools/services do you use and would recommend for others, and what advice would you give to other aspiring writers who want to intelligently manage their writing experience as much as possible?




I've posted about the software I use, in blogs on Lit. Such as Scrivener, LibreOffice,Gimp , Stephen King's book On Writing, Memoir of the Craft , and in our thread here. Of all of those, pen and paper are the best. It gives a more personal, intimate start to a story.

I use LiterarySocial to have a place to connect with authors and fans, to give and get advice, and to promote my work. I suggest that other writers join Lit or a site like it and become part of the community. It can be a great help with all of the tips and feedback that can be used to grow as an author, and to help bring your stories to life. When I created Lit, it was because I hadn't found a place out there that allows authors, readers, agents, etc to connect on a site where their shared stories are copyrighted/protected by DMCA and where the site doesn't take ownership of their stuff. That's very important. Read the terms of any site you join. Most take ownership of your content. Here, we DMCA it and own an online copyright to protect it but you own your content. Our copyright only extends to it on this site to prevent others from stealing it from you.

To move on now to the inspirational aspects of your writing Homer the Little Unicorn, can you tell us what inspired a little unicorn as the character form in your new children s book?


Well that's actually sorta funny. I wanted to bring Homer's The Iliad to children but it's such a huge poem that it was just too big an endeavor. So, I thought to do a smaller introduction of some Greek Mythological creatures and name the main character Homer as a nod to the original.