.png)
I’m a writer. Wait, I’m a professional writer. That sounds so much better, and it’s music to my soul. Until about four years ago, I was a closet writer, filling up notebooks with poems, short stories, and essays, too frightened of what the world would think of my creative scribbling. Then one day my wife told me I was cluttering up the computer and to do something with all of my writings. So I did. I published my first book ‘The Colors of my Mind’ and the roller coaster took off from there
Fast forward to the summer of 2015. My second book, ‘View from the Sidelines’ had just been published. I was on cloud nine, fully immersed in my journey as a writer. I started a novel ‘Eleven Fifty Nine’ and it flowed out of me fast and furiously for two weeks. Then it stopped, as if the faucet had been shut off. In fact, all of my writing creativity disappeared. My poetry was flat and stale, my short stories were bland with no heart, and I was puzzled because I had never been unable to write. I had ‘Writer’s Block’ and my mojo had deserted me.
I didn’t have a clue about how to shake off whatever was plaguing me. I read books, went to bars and events looking for any kind of inspiration. Nothing worked. I was scared I had lost my ability to write. I thought of going to a hypnotist or a therapist, showing how desperate I’d become.
During a casual conversation with a friend on social media, I was asked if I’d ever written or considered writing erotic stories, to which I answered with an emphatic “No!” Yet, the idea stayed in my mind about trying something new. I opened my laptop and started writing a short erotic story titled ‘I like to watch.’ I wrote it in a couple of hours, then e-mailed it to beta readers for feedback.
They loved it, and begged for more. I couldn’t understand what was happening, but I returned to my laptop to write another erotic story ‘Make-Up Oil’ about a long married couple. Funny thing happened without me realizing it at the time. While writing the second erotic story, I had an idea for another story about a karaoke singer. I switched back and forth between the two stories, knocking them out within a couple of days.
The rest of the summer of 2015 writing production was epic. My mojo had returned with a vengeance and I basked in having my “flow” back. The output from that summer? I wrote nine erotic stories, totaling 54,000 words, which became my third book ‘Touching Myself.’ The title is not because of the obvious, but because I had to reach within myself to write the book. I also wrote about twenty-seven short stories, nineteen of which became my fifth book ‘Watching for Potholes.’ Throw in about four hundred poems written that summer, many of which were featured in my fourth book ‘Perceptions of Beauty.’
I’m still releasing material written in the summer of 2015, with three books on schedule to be released this year. I lost my mojo or my “flow” for a while, but when it returned, I welcomed it back with open arms. Nowadays, if my mojo goes on hiatus, I simply immerse myself in untested waters and wait. My “flow” always returns, leading me to new adventures in writing. The lesson learned was to never doubt my rhythm or flow, but simply to buckle my seat belt and enjoy the ride. As for the novel ‘Eleven Fifty Nine’ which I started in the summer of 2015, I finished writing it last April. It’s in the hands of my editor, who loves it by the way. Time to start sending query letters to publishers. And yeah, I’m still in my “flow” writing daily. Life is better with rhythm…
-Marlon S. Hayes
Marlon S. Hayes is a writer, poet, and author from Chicago, Illinois. He’s the author of View from the Sidelines, a poetry collection,Touching Myself, an erotic anthology, and his latest, Perceptions of Beauty. He’s a featured author in the upcoming anthology, A Journey of Words from Scoutmedia. Currently, he’s looking for a publisher for his novel, Eleven Fifty Nine. Follow him at Marlon’s Writings on Facebook.
Comentários