Kaitlyn's Reading Salon

Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art.
– Stanislaw Jerzy Lec, Polish poet (1909-66)

Ha! Isn’t this the truth, not just for a writer, but for any artist. You’re young, anything is possible. You can return from the first manned mission to Jupiter and cure cancer the very next day. You can run faster than a gazelle and jump higher than anyone. You are boundless.

Then you get a few years under your belt and you realize that few things are possible. We’re human. The phrase ‘if you can dream it, you can be it’ means well, but isn’t altogether true. There are too many variables for anything to be possible. There are too many people leading random lives. We are simply not good enough. It could be anything keeping us from something. Maybe our goal wasn’t reasonable or wasn’t chased with sufficient diligence or courage or maybe we didn’t have sufficient diligence and courage to begin with.

But as you age you realize that external accomplishments don’t compare with the internal ones. This is especially true for an artist, whether you are writing something or making a quilt for the county fair. The day in, day out diligence required to ply the artists trade every day is its own reward. Sure, I’ve got wares to sell you here, but you know what? If you subscribe, great. If not, that’s OK, too. This came from the bottom of my heart, and writing it was supremely satisfying. My idea of fun.

xoxoxo
Kaitlyn K

Dearest Readers,

Apologies for deserting you for a few days. One of the interesting aspects of writing is that while you do try to write every day, the reality is that is difficult. Every now and then you need a break because the mind is no different than the body: overuse it and nothing productive is accomplished.

Dearest Readers,

Short Story Saturday resumes this week when Part II of One Plus One Equals Three is released. For those of you who enjoyed meeting Daniella, Nicole and Brady in Part I, you will equally enjoy Part II. For those of you who have not the pleasure, consider reading the preview and then subscribing to read the whole thing. One Plus One Equals Three is a funny, thoughtful story and will be a (very) naughty story before we are done because funny, thoughtful and naughty is what you expect from me.

One of the questions I get asked from time to time is: how often do you write? Do you write every day? Most days? Some days?

People are different, but rare is the day when I don’t put something to paper. Offhand, I think the last time I didn’t write something on some project or another was two years ago when I was on a road trip. I took the last three days or so off because we were doing things and setting some time aside to write was too difficult to bother with. And those days off were nice. But writer’s write and I find it is best to write every day.

One question I get from time to time is where does inspiration for stories and characters come from?

Everywhere is the only possible answer to this question. Everywhere, everywhere, everywhere and I am fond of saying every person I meet is a character and every situation a plot. In fact, it is rare when a person or situation does not suggest something to write about. It may not be particularly good, or it might be something that I write on slip of paper so I don’t forget it or it might flee my mind as quickly as it came. Now, I can’t write everything that comes to mind, but there is always a plot to be found. I presume this happens to every writer. It’s what we do: turn the human experience over and examine it before sitting down and saying what we feel needs to be said.

Dearest Readers,

We are pleased to debut Short Story Saturday today! Today’s feature is One Plus One Equals Three, Part I. You will meet Brady, Nicole and Daniella in Part I and you will find Brady likes both of these women and, like guys throughout human history, Brady is having a difficult time deciding which one to ask out. Part II will run in a couple of weeks. If you haven’t already, click here to read a preview and click here to subscribe. 

Deciding whether to base a character on someone you know or to start from scratch is one of the writer’s most basic dilemmas and there is not a hard and fast rule. My advice is to trust your instincts.