Burn Out with E. Kaiser Writes

Hello! I have E. Kaiser Writes here today to talk about burn out. It's debilitating, frustrating, and it WILL happen to you.

E. Kaiser is a good friend of mine. So far, I've only read her first book, but I quite enjoyed it, and I really want to read the rest. When I can afford them. Her fairy tale retellings sound particularly awesome.

Find her on the Interwebs:

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When Life Gets A Writer Down

  

Burn out.

 It happens to every writer, and the sneaky thing about it is that you really won’t be able to tell it-is-what-it-is until someone else suggests it. 

It can ambush a writer from lots of different angles, and sometimes it’s not even really the writing’s fault. Sometimes pressures outside of creative pursuits intrude and make your writing life miserable.

This is okay, this is to be expected. It’s like a log in the road on the quest you’ve been writing. Everybody knew it (or something like it) was going to happen... except the characters.

(Isn’t it funny how readers, writers, editors... we’re all aware that the journey can’t be completed without challenges and obstacles... but when we are in our own journey, we are just as surprised as our characters when we come up against a tough hurdle ourselves?  )

Anyway. Diagnosing burnout is the most crucial step, and a lot of times this is helped by having “fresh eyes” on the depression, weeping, anger and utter self-loathing that roils in the writer’s soul.

 Here’s where having writer friends can really cut to the chase on this, and with a really good diagnosis sometimes that cuts the whole problem down to size!

This happened to me recently... and even after all this time (I’ve been writing for over 15 years now) I was blindsided by the problem. It took a wise friend to offer me hope that I wasn’t going crazy, would probably enjoy writing again, might actually like (later) what I’d just spent the last months on.

  (This is also a big reason why the rule “Never throw your writing away” is important. You night have written something truly terrible, in which case you’ll get a good laugh out of it ten years from now. But it might also be something that you’ll like later, but your eyes are all out of focus right now, so don’t press delete!!! Don’t do it! Let it rest, let the process breath.)

This friend listened to my fears, recommended a diet of sleep and movie-watching, and a break from writing.

 Then she went on to listen to my other problems... the ones that were really looming so large at the moment that their grim, dark shadow was killing my creativity and any appreciation for the arts at all. This shadow monster was the real reason I was ready to jump out of my skin and about ready to cry simultaneously, and after having a heart to heart about it the grim cloud of lightning and darkness was somewhat dispersed, and rays of sun started to shine through.

Viewing the threats through the lens of the Lord’s ultimate authority over all, I began to breathe again, and my heart rate eased up, and by the next day, I was actually back to writing like a multi-armed creature of legend.

(The transformation was that fast, and that is very rare. But still, it demonstrates the glistening jewel that is a good counsel of a friend... or as Proverbs puts it: “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.”  Couldn’t agree more! Thanks, friends! I deeply appreciate you!!!)

Anyway, there’s the facts. Sometimes “burn out” has little to do with what you’re writing... but don’t be fooled, your writing can take a real bruising from it. And you can even be lured to do crazy things you’ll later regret, like deleting your whole project, or something. (Please don’t ask me how I know!!!)

This segues into the field of where to find and how to cultivate writer friendships, but that’s another topic! 

Guest Post - Roses with E. Kaiser Writes

Today, I'm here to share with you a series that I'm very eager to read, Thaw by E. Kaiser Writes. The first two books are already out, and the third should be up on Amazon soon. (I don't remember when, exactly, it's supposed to be out, but the first three books release fast). I wish I weren't broke at the moment, because I really want to read these stories, as they're retellings of several wintery fairy tales, including the Snow Child and the Snow Queen. 

Just look at the lovely cover arts!

And to celebrate this release, the author is here to guest post on Roses, an important element in the first and, I think, second books. 

From Whence Came the Roses
 
When we went back to Anderson's original Snow Queen tale one element that really jumped out was the repetition of roses within the tale. -- This wasn't just confined to Anderson's Snow Queen, roses show up in many others including the Red Shoes, (not one of my favorite tales!) at the end when the angel shows up in the room with the girl, (now footless) and also pious; and touches the walls and ceiling with a rose, transforming them into a church.--
 
 So... roses were a major theme in Anderson's mind, and they definitely come out in the Snow Queen. First the childhood friends Gerda and Kai either play together in their rose gardens, or lean over the rose planted window boxes in their second story bedroom windows. 
 
 Later when Gerda is searching for her friend she comes to a house where the lady wants to keep her, so the lady makes all her roses go underground so Gerda will not see them and remember the friend she's searching for. Gerda's tears wakes one the bushes and the rose comes back topside, and tells her that Kai is not buried, for it would have known if he was in the ground. (Anywhere, I guess... the ground is a lot more communicative than we suspected, apparently.) 


 So, roses had to play a part in our tale as well... and as I wrote they began to unfold into a sort of symbol of our Princess Girthild's enthusiasm and zest for life in spite of life's obvious drawbacks. Early in the story "Girta" plays in the garden alone, trying to walk the stone wall of the rose beds. She slips and falls headfirst into the thorny bushes, but when her Nurse pulls her out and scolds her Girta appears more disappointed in her failure to complete the challenge than the fact that she is scratched and her dress torn.
 
 So here they could be viewed as symbolizing life, and possibly illustrating one of the chief differences between the royal sisters. Ilise focuses mostly on the painful, sad parts of life and draws away more than she should, hiding from it all.... while Girta disregards any risk, ignores the possibility of downsides, and rushes headlong into life, blithely certain that her force of will alone will make things turn out right. 


 (Both are of course quite wrong, but how they come to deal with that is another, longer, story.)

 
 Later nurse sets Girta to snipping blossoms as a distraction, and Girta is enchanted with the prospect of going all over the castle giving roses to all the guards. 
 (This childish eagerness to distribute gifts could be seen as more than a simple pastime, perhaps the roses are standing in for the love that Girta wishes to receive, and so she hurriedly hands it out to anyone she can reach?)
 
 When Girta leans over the castle wall and sees young Kai, she throws him roses too... she doesn't differentiate at all whom she reaches out to. (This could be seen as foreshadowing... unknowingly desperate to be loved, she gives it eagerly without the usual precautions.)


When another boy visits Girta eagerly fetches roses for both Ilise and the visitor, blithely handing Ilise a red rose and the visitor a yellow one. Ilise, conditioned to Girta's excitability, simply accepts the gift, but the boy rejects the yellow rose, citing the thorns. Girta is dismayed, but the repercussions of the boy's act will echo long into adulthood for him. In the end Ilise's temper freezes the rose Girta gave to her, but she slams it in a drawer, hiding it away.

 
 Later, when she is grown, both she and Ilise are presented with golden roses, their petals gilded with enamel to look like perfect reproductions of  the original. 
 Ilise receives a white one, the color of innocence, purity and sincerity; but unconsciously mirrors the cool frosty world in which she exists. To her the gift means little, it is simply a trinket presented by a visitor.

Girta's is crimson red; the color of fire, exuberance, and of course, passion. This rose begins to take on more and more meaning in her mind as the tale progresses, until the reader could almost think that she sees it as the return on all the roses, and love, she gave away throughout her childhood. They have come back to her, condensed into a rose that will never die, a love preserved, forever. 
 Toward the end of the tale her view on it changes again, but if there is one thing consistent about Girta, it's changeability.


 Later when Girta is hotly pursuing her search, she comes to the Rose House, which we left with exactly that name. It seems logical that a lady so devoted to growing the flowers would happily christen her home in the same vein. When further along in the story we encounter the only inn in the nearby village of Rasnaburg; called "the Rooster and the Rose", it is not hard to imagine that the lady of Rose House also owns the inn. Possibly this fascination with the flower is a familial thing, since the inn and the house have most likely worn their names for several generations.

 

 When at last Girta hotly discards the crimson enamel rose, it is a gift she will not receive again. In time she will recognize it on the gown of another, and she herself will receive a rose of a different color. It is true that sometimes the things we are so certain will make us happy are the very things we throw away, but then can their loss truly sting if they were not really meant for us? One beautiful thing can be admired by many, but truly belong only with the perfect match.
 
 And Girta's zest for life is not done yet, not by a long shot. 
She is much more than any color of rose, and her check-mate is yet to come.

E. Kaiser Writes credits her nearly nomadic childhood for the vast reach of her fictional worlds; she has lived (and gotten to known the locals) in the Rocky Mtns, the Smoky Mtns, the plains, the deep forest, the searing Texas summer and frozen Minnesota north. 

She wears many hats: writer and editor of ad copy, web copy, office correspondence & fiction; a cowgirl, animal trainer, seamstress, jeweler, artist and... authoress!

You can connect with her on her blog:http://ekaiserwritesablog.blogspot.com/
Her website: http://ekaiserwrites.webs.com/
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/E-Kaiser-Writes-Author-Illustrator/308540109167073
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/ekaiserwrites
On Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/ekaiserwrites/
You can find her books on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/E.-Kaiser-Writes/e/B006RY1L2E


To celebrate the launch of this series, Elizabeth is hosting a Rafflecopter giveaway at her blog:
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/1c7f78455/