Rick Jantz, Writer

Don’t Give Up On Your Dream Of Being Published

August 25, 2014 By Rick Leave a Comment

The dream of every writer — to become published. More than 25 years in the making (see explanation below) my first full-length novel will soon be released on Amazon. What an incredible feeling!

Like many other writers I’ve always had an underlying passion for the art so I could share my ideas, beliefs, and ways of thinking through the written word. Images of scenes and characters often haunted both my waking and sleeping hours. Many notebooks have been filled with ideas, plots, and subplots. This was just something I knew I needed to write.

And now, the picture on the right shows you my first success; not financial but creative. Following your vision and bringing it to life in a book is a success that only writers can know.

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Living In The Story – The Voices In Your Head Are Real

August 20, 2014 By Rick Leave a Comment

When you eat, dream, and talk in your character’s voices and are getting strange looks from passerbys then you know you are right where you need to be…living in your story, breathing with your characters, wondering how they are going to solve the obstacles you’ve given them to overcome.

And that’s such an exquisite place to be and one that you won’t share with any others. When you’re writing that novel you need to be screaming in frustration with your protagonist or driving a powerful car with your antagonist as they try to escape. But with salivating mouth you force the protagonist to calm down and figure out how to end the madman driving insanely away with the woman you love.

You are the maestro and must know all the parts!

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Title Or Story: Which Comes First?

August 14, 2014 By Rick Leave a Comment

Before I get into this post I want you to know something; I wrote the title for this article before I wrote the article. Now lets see how I declare myself.

I’m always fascinated with how authors come up with the title for their stories or books. Did they have a bathroom eureka moment and pulled up their britches and go flying to their keyboards to get it down? Or do they patiently write the whole book and then sit back with a glass of wine and ponder what they call the beast?

Name it or write it…what do you do first?

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How To Stay Focused On Your Writing: Oh Look, A Butterfly!

August 11, 2014 By Rick Leave a Comment

I was recently asked how do you stay focused on your writing with all of the other distractions around us. Wow, not as easy to answer as I thought. But finding the discipline, the focus, to write is a must if you are serious about a writing career or else your dreams will go up in a puff of manuscript smoke.

Oops, be right back, there’s a monarch butterfly in the garden!

While somewhat tongue-in-cheek, distractions such as butterflies, screamo bands, and ice cream all too easily take us away from our story. Somehow we must find ways to drown out everything distracting (families included) and pound loudly on those computer keyboards forgetting and ignoring everything else.

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4 Tips On How To Create A New Story Idea

August 9, 2014 By Rick Leave a Comment

Have you ever entered a new project or got an idea for a new story (or even a genre you want to write for) and wondered how the heck you were actually going to create your new story idea? With a heavily palpating heart you grab your notebook or turn on your computer and stare at that blank screen.

This is not writer’s block, you haven’t even begun writing that blockbuster novel yet. This is something that comes first…tapping into that inner muse, that creative part of you that knows there is a story waiting to be told. Here are some tips for you.

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I Passed A Grunting Man This Morning

August 8, 2014 By Rick Leave a Comment

Lost in my own private thoughts I saw a man walking towards me similarly distracted. For some unknown reason it behooved me to say, “Good morning”. He grunted, “Morning”

What? Wait! I believe that grunting is reserved for myself to give, not receive. There are others who willingly give a curt grunt that, while it acknowledges you, it also says “leave me alone”? But for some bizarre reason I thought that delight was left to me. To be the recipient is not something I’m fond of.

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I Thought My Wife Might Be Lottery Lucky – Nope!

August 5, 2014 By Rick Leave a Comment

Who hasn’t been convinced that they’re destined to be the next super-lottery winner? I was but after 20 years of only winning small pots (highest was $100) I figured I needed a new strategy. This time, being so lottery-savvy now, I asked my wife to go into the convenience store and told her exactly which lottery ticket to ask for. I was confident that with her “winning ways” she would become “first-time” lucky and we would be rich.

…Nope! Didn’t work, not even for a free ticket. Now what do I do? Send her in again? Ask for a divorce? Hmm…

OK, OK, I’m kidding. I won’t send her in again. And for everyone who likes a good love story I won’t divorce her because she has been my lottery ticket in life and has helped me become the person I am today (and, arguably, I’m a good person).