I find myself looking for advice on every topic, from politics to movies, through the internet; but I have to say, the best advice out there still comes from the pulpit. Now, I’m not here to preach or get religious on you, but I really learned something today and I wanted to share it with everyone.
My wife and I are not regular church-goers, but we watch Paster Joel Osteen anytime he’s on. Some people like him, some hate him, some say he’s more guru than a minister, but to me, he is an excellent preacher. I love the way he takes everyday life, scriptures, and Bible stories and weaves them into his sermons. Watching and listening to him over the past few years has taught me more about being a good Christian than 18 years of growing up a Southern Baptist.
Today, he was talking about negativity and how it can impact your life. He talked about how hanging onto negative emotions can block you from your inner creativity and reaching your goals. It really hit home with me because of what I’ve been going through this past year and how it’s stifled my ability to write.
I lost my job recently. It was me being stupid and thinking it couldn’t happen to me and, guess what, it did. Since then, I had to cash in my 401K, file for bankruptcy and cut back on a lot of the luxuries in my life.
I took the opportunity to do what I love to do and write. I was able to push through and finish my third book in the Forever Avalon series, but that was several months ago. I tried to start writing my fourth book but the creativity just won’t flow. I know the story I want to write. I can see it in my head, I just can’t make the connection to write it down. Writer’s block is normal but it’s more than that. My creativity has stalled and diving towards the ground.
I know that I’m still hanging onto a lot of excess negative baggage. Every time I drive by my former place of work, my stomach tightens and I my head hurts. It’s found its way into my dreams that wake me up at night. Everyone has told me to move on and get past it, but it’s not that easy. I spent more than 30 years in the U.S. Navy, both as a Sailor and a civilian. It’s what made me the person I am today and I threw it away.
I would love to sit at home and spend my days writing, spinning story after story and make a life at this, but it’s just not possible right now. This “black cloud” that’s hanging over me is still there. I did make it go away, for a while, when I went up to the Military Academy at West Point to write for the 2016 Warrior Games. I was in my element, writing press releases and feature articles by day and working on my own stories at night. When I look back at those two weeks, I know that there is a silver lining out there for me, I just have to find it again.
I’m sorry if I seem to be venting and using my blog to tell my sad little story, but there is point coming. I know there are probably a few people out there feeling the same way I do. I just want to relay that message from Paster Osteen. You need to let go of the negativity, whether it’s getting past something bad that happened in your life, a fight with a loved one, a sudden illness or maybe even something worse. Let go of it all and you can find that inner peace, that spark of imagination or find yourself making that goal.
I know I’m going to work on my issues to get back to writing. I have many more stories to tell and I don’t want this one thing to stop me in my tracks. We all have to find a way.
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Mark Piggott is the author of the Forever Avalon book series. Forever Avalon is available for purchase at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The Dark Tides is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iUniverse.The Outlander War can be previewed at Inkitt.
We’ve all experienced it, some more than most. It is an obsession that we can’t explain nor can we understand ourselves. With me, it began in college in the 1980s, where I was introduced to Dungeons and Dragons. That’s where I fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
Even after I joined the Navy, I continued to play D&D. I found friends aboard the ship and we played during our duty days and off-duty hours. When I eventually stopped playing, I turned my obsession around and started writing, and it was from that, I created my
Writer’s Block is defined as “the condition of being unable to think of what to write or how to proceed with writing.” For many writers like me, we just call it “a slow march into Hell with only a thimble of water to drink.” It can make or break any author. It will make you miss deadlines, collapse goals and potentially lose money we haven’t earned from our last book. In other words, a bottomless pit from which there is no escape for the weak and weary. Once you’re there, it’s hard to climb your way out of it.
The BFG, written by Roald Dahl in 1982 and directed and produced by Steven Spielberg, is the only book by Dahl that hasn’t been made into a feature film previously. The BFG (Mark Rylance), while a giant himself, is a Big Friendly Giant and nothing like the other inhabitants of Giant Country. Standing 24-feet tall with enormous ears and a keen sense of smell, he is endearingly dim-witted and keeps to himself for the most part. Giants like Bloodbottler (Bill Hader) and Fleshlumpeater (Jemaine Clement) on the other hand, are twice as big and at least twice as scary and have been known to eat humans, while the BFG prefers Snozzcumber and Frobscottle. Upon her arrival in Giant Country, Sophie, a precocious 10-year-old girl from London, is initially frightened of the mysterious giant who has brought her to his cave, but soon comes to realize that the BFG is actually quite gentle and charming, and, having never met a giant before, has many questions. The BFG brings Sophie to Dream Country where he collects dreams and sends them to children, teaching her all about the magic and mystery of dreams.
This brings me back to my opening statement. Kids, and even parents, today flock to Finding Dory instead of The BFG. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Pixar movies, but to see a classic like The BFG ignored for a talking fish is sad. This generation is so hung up on movies, television, the internet, and video games that they all but ignore reading such great stories. It’s only because of technology today that movies can bring these stories to life. Watching The BFG made me want to read the book again, to bring back the magic from long ago.
I just wanted to let everyone know I will not be blogging for the next two weeks, but I have a very good reason. I will be supporting the 2016 Wounded Warrior games at the West Point Military Academy. I will be writing stories about the games, covering all the major events and ceremonies as well as publishing some feature articles on the athletes themselves.
Today is Memorial Day, a day when we honor the sacrifice of military service members who died in defense of our great nation. According to 
Death is always an option for writers, especially since death is a natural part of life. Heaven and Hell are concepts we’ve learned about from Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Although, there are many who are skeptical of religion and do not believe in an afterlife. For example, reincarnation is a concept of the afterlife found among Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Rosicrucians, Theosophists, Spiritists, and Wiccans. Before that, you have varied concepts of the afterlife from the Fields of Elysium and Tartarus to Valhalla and Limbo.
It was Plato who said, “The soul takes nothing with her to the next world but her education and her culture. At the beginning of the journey to the next world, one’s education and culture can either provide the greatest assistance or else act as the greatest burden, to the person who has just died.” Although this sounds a little more like reincarnation than the afterlife, I think it speaks of a higher purpose. We are taking all we are from this world into the next when we die. That’s a lot of baggage to bring with you. The stories of one’s life can be told by what you take with you into the next. That brings some peace and solace while others hope it is enough to earn them a place in the afterlife.
Inspiration … it’s a word I use a lot in most of my social media posts. You’ll find #inspiration in almost everything I write. I can relate to so many different things as I weave my stories together. Movies, books, television, theater, and music give me the focus and drive in everything I do. Even as I am writing this blog, I am listening to Joss Whedon’s 2005 sci-fi classic Serenity.
It’s the simplest things in life that inspire us. I remember a few months ago when I was working to finish the third book in the 
“Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in the face of certain defeat.” That’s from Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. That’s just one constant you can always find throughout literature, words to live by and wisdom to navigate through the rivers of self-doubt. As authors, we represent the struggles of not only our own lives but that of the world events happening around us. Authors want to instill hope, courage, determination and justice in the words we right.
The end of the world has been prophesied since the dawn of time. The Mayans said the world would end on December 21, 2012. The Vikings called it Ragnarök when the world ends and the Norse Gods die, only to be reborn. Of course, the book of Revelation in the New Testament goes into detail about the end of the world and the second coming of Jesus; and with the current climate of financial, political and global upheaval happening today, people are scared that our time has come.
As writers, the end of the world can come about through endless possibilities and that gives us so many options in the stories we tell: Zombie apocalypse, machines taking control, deadly viruses, nuclear war, climate change, etc. We are fatalistic in our views of the apocalypse and show humanity at its worst to bring about the end of the world. Yet, through all that turmoil and tribulation, we find a glimmer of hope. There is always one guiding light or shining star that wins out in the end and gives everyone, from readers to storytellers alike, that spark of optimism that will inspire.
Mark Piggott | Fantasy & Steampunk Author 