Hunting the Muse: Creative Writing Podcast

A longer episode with podcast updates, writing updates, a sample read of Chlorophyllium 9, and talking about creativity. What is Creativity?(Show notes: huntingthemuse.com/podcast/9) Welcome to HuntingTheMuse.com's Creative Writing Podcast.  If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element. Today's podcast episode is about Creativity. Taking a closer look at what creativity is and what it means to be creative. Not subscribed to the podcast? Get it now! My Week Labor Day weekend was great! I'm usually off on Friday's, but this year I've made a real effort to make it to the kids' homeschool co-op sessions. Sure, it eats into time I could spend in an empty house, writing, but I feel like I've been missing out on this experience with them. I guess that's one thing about having your oldest getting ever-closer to 18 and then having a very young one join the party. I just don't want to miss out on the important stuff. I swear, you blink and so much of life has passed you by. I know my dream is to become a full-time writer, but this is just something I have to do. I'm starting to get some rhythm to it and I have even gotten some words in during the classes. I'm mostly an observer at this point, I help when needed, which isn't much in my wife's class on world geography. But when we rotate over to the nursery, I tend to help a little more actively. To celebrate Labor Day, I cooked up some mean steaks on the grill and we tried to watch Tomorrowland. Unfortunately, the disc we got from Red Box was scratched and it was skipping huge sections of the movie, so we bagged that idea and watched some Doctor Who, Season 1 instead. I won't lie to you, I also wasted a pretty large chunk of time playing the new expansion that just released for World of Warcraft. I haven't paid for game time in over 5 months now and this was the perfect time to play the auction house as players were scrambling to level up their crafts. Call me a nutter if you'd like, I love online economies and making money in online games. I know it's not real money, it's just so much fun! Podcast News What's new with the podcast? Milestones? Achievements? I realized this week, while looking at some of the podcasts I listen to regularly, that my post names were way out of whack with how other folks have their episodes showing up in iTunes. I've gone back and changed the post names and I'll probably have to manually refresh the RSS feed or something, but I hope it changes the older episodes. The change makes a lot of sense, now that I think about it. This is just another one of those instances where I look back and think, "Now why in the world did I think this way was somehow better? Sheesh, no brainer!" I'm notoriously hard on myself and overthink silly things like this. I haven't gotten a whole lot of listener feedback for the podcast lately. Listener Shout-outs My dad replied to my author newsletter this week. Here's some of what he had to say, "Every podcast gets better and better. They are done in a professional manner yet you draw people in with your personal touch. Listening to them makes me want to know more about you. When you start your writing prompts I am almost disappointed because I realize that we are reaching the end of the podcast. Yet the prompts makes you think with a creative mind. You do an excellent job. I am very proud of you. Nothing in life seems to stop you. You just learn from it and move forward. I think that Coma is my second favorite right behind  “The Boy in the Window.” I know you are very busy but if you get time you really need to work on Coma I think it has great potential." Thanks, Dad! I really appreciate that you take the time to listen to my podcast and read my stories. It means the world to me! I'm really excited about all the stuff I have going on. I won't lie, though. It can be pretty exhausting. This whole podcast journey has opened my eyes to how much I still don't know. But I'm

  My wife, Tara, interviews me!  What Writing Means to Me(Show notes: huntingthemuse.com/podcast/8) Welcome to HuntingTheMuse.com's Creative Writing Podcast.  If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element. Today's podcast episode is a special one. My wonderful wife, Tara, interviews me and asks that tough question: what does writing mean to me? We talk about my first writing experience and why I feel so drawn to writing. This podcast episode follows a conversational format, but under the surface of my own recounted experiences, you can see some of the underlying foundations of writing and what it takes to be a writer as it applies to your own story. We all come to the empty page with different backgrounds. And if storytelling has taught me anything, it's that there are hidden gems of truth within every story.  Not subscribed to the podcast? Get it now! When did you first develop a desire to write? The first writing experience I remember was in Ms. Shupe's first grade class. We were supposed to write a short story and I wrote one that was very similar to The Lion and the Mouse. It was called, The Lion and the Turtle. It was a total knock-off. But my mom worked at Hill Air Force Base and they had computers. So she typed it up for me and printed it out and put it into this very professional looking folio. I took it to school and, probably more because it looked nice, Ms. Shupe put it on the bulletin board outside the classroom for the whole school to read. It blew me away and I was so excited about writing, you know, in first grade... with my knock-off story.  So, where did it go from there? Well, for the most part, I only wrote for school assignments. There was something that went down in fifth or sixth grade. A couple of the guys in my class started writing a story about kids with super powers. But it got out of hand and nobody ended up wanting to finish it because we couldn't stop fighting about who had more super powers. So that didn't go very well. But then in junior high I started to write poems. I wanted to write stories, but I got hung up on using the correct punctuation. I had questions and I tried to ask my English teacher but it never came out right, so I never got the answers I was looking for. It was really stupid stuff like, do you put the period before the quotation marks or after the quotation marks. If somebody asks a question, is it a question mark and then quotation marks, and then if it's 'he said' or 'she said' is the 'h' or the 's' capitalized? We didn't have the Internet back then, so I couldn't just look it up and I never really got any good answers to those questions and I just felt kind of silly for asking them after a while so I stopped. But the stories that I did start writing, I would love to tell you that they were awesome, but they weren't. They were crap. I still have some of them. They were just utter crap, but what are you going to expect from a junior high school kid? At the time you thought they were awesome, though? I was pretty sure I was writing them with the punctuation wrong and I talked in the last episode about perfection and how that can be a total creativity killer and that totally killed it for me. Because I wanted them to be perfect. It was really bad cliche stuff. Yeah, I thought it was cool at the time, but it wasn't that great. And then, it was before the Internet, right? So we had the Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) and we would, I called myself a modemer, you'd use the modem on your computer and dial in over the phone line and connect to the BBS. It was basically a simple chat program that brought in all sorts of different users across different telephone line systems and you could chat with people. You could post files. So I posted up some of my poems up there and you read some of them, didn't you? I did. It was before we met. Yeah, I was only on there because a friend who got me on. I wasn't computer

It's the start of the school year and in this week's episode we're going to talk about Beginnings (Back to school) (Show notes: huntingthemuse.com/podcast/7) Welcome to HuntingTheMuse.com's Creative Writing Podcast.  If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element. This week's podcast episode is about beginnings. Summer break has faded into the past and it's the start of the school year again. As my children get settled into their new schedules and meet their new teachers, I'm reminded of those days when I was a child. New pencils and notebooks, new clothes, and a new chance to have some memorable adventures. While we mourned the loss of our summer freedom, going back to school symbolized exciting times. I often feel this way when I get excited about a new writing project. Don't you? Not subscribed to the podcast? Get it now! My Week Hello, Muse Hunters! I hope you all had an excellent week and that you were able to get some good writing done since the last episode. This last week for me was very interesting, and if you remember from the last episode, I ran into a huge slump and found myself trying to push through a lot of self-doubt. This lead to a lot of soul searching and revealed some great insight into the motivations of one of my antagonists. Well, let me tell you, that discovery seemed to jostle a few more out of the woodwork and I began to examine how I've been approaching my writing. This has to be one of the greatest parts of doing this podcast so far. I'm really forced to examine my beliefs about writing and what I've told myself I'm capable of and that introspection has brought forth some very interesting fruit. It's been a cooler, rainier August these last couple of weeks, breaking the streak of 100 degree (plus) days. It's much cooler than last year, that's for sure. The change has been nice, though all this extra water has encouraged the grass to grow double-time, so I guess I'll be out there with the lawnmower and some of my favorite podcasts this weekend! It was time to go back to the VA hospital yesterday for my migraine shots, 32 of those little suckers, if you believe it. It sounds bad, but it's not quite as horrible as it sounds. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's not pleasant, but when it saves you from some of the headaches, it all works out in the end. I'm not seeing a huge improvement yet, but this is just my second round and the doctors told me that a lot of patients see more benefit in the second or third batch. So I've got my fingers crossed.Podcast News I'm still trying to play around with my settings and the process I'm using to record these episodes. I'm still new at this, so if you've heard a few of my episodes so far or if this is your first one, please stick with me. If you have a suggestion for improvement, I'd love to hear from you! Right now, there are no sponsors for this podcast. I'm doing my best to write and deliver helpful content, but it does take a lot of my time. I've made it a personal goal to do at least 52 weekly episodes. That means that if you're worried about whether you should invest your time in a new podcast, you can rest assured that I'll be sticking around for quite some time. After that? Well, we'll have to see where this road takes us. If there's enough support and interest, this could definitely be an ongoing thing. I can honestly tell you, as a podcast listener, I know how sad it can be when you go to refresh that next episode on a podcast you've been enjoying, only to find an abrupt end. Do you have suggestions for topics? Do you have comments about any of the episodes or want to say hello? Hit me up on Twitter, @BradyFrost, and I might read your comments on one of my future episodes! Listener ShoutoutsBen Marble (@BenMarble1) said, "Nothing wrong with a little passion in your work! I plan on listening on the way to work tomorrow. So far I've liked your cast" Thanks, Ben. I really appreciate you saying

 Pushing Though (Show notes: huntingthemuse.com/podcast/6) Welcome to HuntingTheMuse.com's Creative Writing Podcast.  If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element. Today's podcast episode is about pushing through. We all deal with emotional difficulties at different times with our writing. This episode will talk through that process and help you to overcome your self-doubt.This week was tough, but despite all the roadblocks, the hiccups, and the distractions... I was Doing It! Not subscribed to the podcast? Get it now! My Week As a military veteran, I deal with a lot of anxiety and depression, and I'm going to try to do my best to remove that filter from my personal weekly updates. But, if you asked me right out, I'd tell you I had a tough week. And that would be true. But there were also some really good moments, and I can't discount those. I made some huge progress with lining up story components and defining the motivations of a particular character in Chlorophyllium 9 and subsequently Final Hope. That process often requires that your ego go through the crucible and it's a process that can be hard, but it can also be very worth it if you want to create the best story possible. Work wasn't too bad, though I did get some stern words from an upper management member who, I feel, misunderstood a situation where I was trying to do the right thing. I won't go into any detail here, but my supervisor was pretty awesome and smoothed it out as best she could. It was great that she supported me and was on my side. (Of course, insert emotional trigger here, though. Feeling like I was stuck and unable to defend myself took me back to a pretty bad situation I was in for a long time during my service. This probably helped fuel my bad feelings about my writing.) Podcast News I didn't get time to produce the shortened outros I talked about in the last episode. I think doing this would be an improvement, but it probably isn’t the highest priority at this time. Installed the Patreon App on my phone and have been uploading some quick writing prompts: both audio and pictures. It's been a lot of fun and it doesn't take much time. Now, I've been trying to figure out how Patreon works and it seems like there are two types of posts you can do. One is the standard free-for-all, while the other is attached to a donation. So, for patrons who support you, you provide special content on a pre-arranged agreement (such as, no more than twice a month). This raises the question, if in the future I do start getting patrons, what content should I create for my supporters? I originally planned on providing up to two additional podcasts per month, but these things take a lot of time to produce and that might not be very feasible. So, what about posting stories based on some of the creative writing prompts posted that month? You see, my goal with this podcast isn't necessarily to get better at podcasting, though that's naturally one of my concerns. I want to do well at whatever I'm doing. Producing extra episodes is taxing and coming up with seven writing prompts that are more than a single sentence can be tough. Furthermore, producing podcasts doesn't necessarily make me a better writer. Writing stories based on the prompts and providing them to my patrons could be mutually beneficial, but are my podcast listeners here for their own creative writing endeavors, or are they interested in my writing. Is there a segment of listeners who are interested in both? Who enjoy what I do enough to offer their support in exchange for my writing? My biggest concern is, what is the best thing for me to do to provide value for my patrons, while also increasing the skills that best align with my writing goals? What do you think? I would love to hear from you! Writing Updates I started out the week feeling pretty good about the progress I had made. Then I started questioning the overarching motivations of

 Doing It! (Show notes: huntingthemuse.com/podcast/5) Welcome to HuntingTheMuse.com's Creative Writing Podcast.  If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element. Today's podcast episode is about doing it! Setting goals.Following ThroughFighting for the dreams that are important to you.This week was tough, but despite all the roadblocks, the hiccups, and the distractions... I was Doing It! Not subscribed to the podcast? Get it now!Writing Updates Chlorophyllium 9 is coming along nicely. I've already written over 6,000 words in my expansion of the story since I unpublished it. The characters are starting to grow and I feel like they have a lot more dimension to them.  I've been working in Scrivener and being able to select alternating chapters and read them back to back has been invaluable! I love that I can quickly see if my cliff hangers are paying out and if my pinches and pulls are doing their jobs. So far, I'm very satisfied with how everything is coming together. Greg's thread (my primary MC) is almost done and then I will be moving to polish up Julia's thread. I'm really excited to see the story go back up on the market, but I've learned a lot of things on the road to where I am right now. I'm definitely going to be sticking with Kindle Unlimited for a while. I just don't have the following or enough of a mature series to support going wide. I think I really liked the idea of it, but seeing what that move did to my short story sales is enough to convince me that I need to build a strong foundation before branching out.I will also definitely be waiting until Final Hope is complete before I release Chlorophyllium 9. I've already covered this to a degree in previous episodes, but it just makes sense to finalize the whole novel before I release the novella. I'm not going to make that mistake again.I might even delay publishing Chlorophyllium 9, then Final Hope, until I have at least a strong foundation for the next novel in the series. This isn't a big stretch as I have that novel partially outlined already and I know what purpose it will serve in the overarching series.I'll have to watch how things go as I get closer and modify my strategy accordingly.That's one of the great things about the shifting Indie culture and weighing what is working vs. what isn't. There are so many great voices to listen to and get input from. It truly is an amazing community to be a part of.A Tough Week As I mentioned earlier, it was a tough week for me. You see, we moved to the country about 2 years ago and we don't have a few of the conveniences we were used to back in Utah. One of those conveniences we gave up was access to a public sewer system. That's right, we have a septic tank, and this weekend things came to a head when I heard the burbley-gurbelies bubbling up in the lawn. I guess the sprinklers stopped working and the last tank in the system had filled up with water that would normally be pumped out into the field. Yikes! Afraid that we might get some back-flow into the house, I tried my best to get things working again. I attempted to siphon off water out of the tank, I tried messing with the electrical breaker. No dice. I really hoped it wasn't the septic pump. Yeah, it was the pump... $475 later, we once again have a working septic system. But, as luck would have it, just a few hours after that issue was fixed, I got home and noticed that one side of the house was practically boiling. It seemed like one of the A/C units wasn't working. I went outside to take a look and there were several bites in the thermostat control wire leading into the unit. What could possibly do such a thing? Bunnies... Yeah, those crazy North-Central Texas rabbits do some crazy stuff. So, determined to try to fix it myself and save some money, I headed to the hardware store for a spool of wire I could use to splice in. I picked up some electrical tape and some other doodads, (hey... I'm

 Understanding Your Writing Goals.  (Show notes: huntingthemuse.com/podcast/4) Welcome to HuntingTheMuse.com's Creative Writing Podcast. Since last week's episode was so down-to-the-wire hectic, I tried to have a little more fun this time around. I hope the intro I made for the writing prompts doesn't bother anyone. It probably won't be a regular thing. I'm actually feeling a bit silly for including it now. Haha! If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element. My week was pretty busy, but I still managed to get some writing in, about 3,000 words on 9, plus other bits of writing here and there, which is great! We went to see the animals at the Dallas zoo and it was a scorcher out! Still, we got to enjoy some time in the kids area and even got to play some Pokémon Go with the older kiddoes. Other than that, we did a whole lot of walking. Writing updates:Chlorophyllium 9 is now down from all markets. I pulled it from KDP today and switched my old short stories back to KDP Select. I didn't mention this in the podcast audio, but you can now read those stories for free if you have Kindle Unlimited. What I noticed when I took those short stories wide was that ALL sales died. I'm currently debating whether I should do a fresh release of Chlorophyllium 9 when I have Final Hope completely written. There are several reasons for me considering this. It would dump the 7 reviews I have, but I'll gain new release status in exchange. There have also been a lot of growing pains associated with how the story has grown since it was first published. I go into these a bit more in the audio of the podcast. Not subscribed to the podcast? Get it now! Along with this week's podcast topic, I'm taking a look at my goals. I'm challenging myself to write faster. Things I've considered include viewing my writing time as if I were taking on a part-time job. Would that help me give myself permission to write? (See Episode 3) Podcast News: Just a quick reminder, please consider joining the Hunting the Muse Creative Writing Podcast group on Facebook. I envision this as a place where we can foster creative writing discussions and you can post your questions or suggest topics to be covered in future episodes. You can post links or snippets of your writing that stemmed from a podcast writing prompt. This Week's Topic: Understanding Your Writing Goals First things first, your goals belong to you! You don't need to make someone else's goals your own. You are on a special journey. Sometimes it makes sense to evaluate what your goals are. Just make sure you're setting goals that align with what you really want. It's been said that "Comparison is the death of joy." I think that saying could also be, "Comparison is the death of art." What do your writing goals look like? Do they include a specific word count? Do you want to write short stories or novels? Do you write to achieve relaxation? Do you just want to develop your hobby, without concern for economic factors? Is this a potential career for you, or are you in it for supplemental income? Resources and groups: It can be helpful to seek out resources and groups that align with your goals. Maybe for you, that might include listening to this podcast. (If so, I'm honored.) I have joined a few Facebook groups and forums for writing. Of course, not all of them have worked out. When they don't, I silently exit stage right.20 Books to 50kI recently saw a suggested, closed group on Facebook called: 20BooksTo50K. I decided to check it out and requested membership. Easy enough. Worst case, I figured I'd lurk for a while and then make a silent exit. I have since learned more about the group, and the story is great for a few different reasons. Since I joined, I've listened to several podcasts that touch on this 20 Books to 50K concept. Most of these were older podcast episodes (from a few months back) that I was finally catching up on. Throughout this pro

A Brand New Podcast Format, Outlining and Grapes, and Prompts.Welcome to HuntingTheMuse.com's Creative Writing Podcast. (Show notes: huntingthemuse.com/podcast/2) If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element. This week's show had a brand new format, the title has been changed to The Hunting the Muse Creative Writing Podcast after a serendipitous happenstance that occurred when submitting the podcast for iTunes approval. Weekly creative writing prompts will still be provided as part of the show. Not subscribed to the podcast? Get it now! The podcast started out with some personal updates. We visited the Perot Museum in Dallas this last weekend and Pokémon Go launched! We live out in the rural areas East of Dallas, so catching Pokémon and leveling up has been harder for us. The trip to Dallas, however, coincided with the server issues the social game was experiencing, so we didn't actually get to log in and play until just before we headed home. As for writing updates, I am hard at work with Final Hope, the continuation of the Chlorophyllium Collection, which picks up at a high tension point mid-way through Chlorophyllium 9 and expands the shorter work into a full-fledged novel. Chlorophyllium 9, itself, will be included in Final Hope as Part I and lays an important foundation for the rest of the story. For this project, I am increasingly realizing that I get my best word count when I have outlined sections in advance. I cover this in the episode and challenge my long-standing beliefs that I had outlining. There's an abstract story about my childhood friend, Joel, and grapes, which I use to break down the path that brought me to where I am today. If you are interested in learning more about outline vs. writing by the seat of your pants (otherwise known as 'pantsing'), a great resource is: Libbie Hawker's book,  Take Off Your Pants!: Outline Your Books for Faster, Better Writing. What you'll find below is a series of creative writing prompts to help get you through your week. There are no rules as to how you should use them, but I recommend taking your muse's hand; wherever she may lead you. Whether you find yourself writing a descriptive scene or dialogue, a poem or prose, or anything else (even if it seems entirely unrelated to the prompt), you have won. Happy writing, and may you find success in hunting your muse this week.  1. Did you say something?You were going about your business in a public space (a flea market, a farmer's market, or a crowded street), when you catch a snippet of conversation between strangers that sounds out of place and unexplainably alarming, though by itself benign and senseless. For some reason, this odd conversation sticks with you as you get back to the rest of your afternoon. After several hours, however, you come to realize the nonsensical words you'd overheard had a profound correlation to big events that were about to transpire that day. 2. Before the storm.A large storm is brewing and the weather alerts advise taking cover. While you go about bolting the hatches and securing your emergency supplies, it becomes apparent that something else is troubling you. But just as the approaching storm will leave a trail of torrential havoc in its wake, this central conflict threatens to leave its own path of destruction. 3. His name is Fernando.You are walking alone in a park, when you're approached by a dashing young gentleman who appears to be dressed in fancy, old-world attire. When he talks to you, his words sound overly proper, if not downright archaic. He says his name is Fernando and he's lost in this land so far from his own. 4. Animal Instinct.You're visiting a zoo with friends when someone points out that all the animals you pass by seem to be tracking you with their eyes. Every exhibit is the same. Even if the animals were previously occupied, they immediately stop what they were doing and

Giving Yourself Permission to Write.Welcome to HuntingTheMuse.com's Creative Writing Podcast. (Show notes: huntingthemuse.com/podcast/3) If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element. This week's show is all about giving yourself permission to write.  Weekly creative writing prompts are provided at the end of the show. Not subscribed to the podcast? Get it now! In this week's episode, I provided a quick personal update on my week so far and shared my impression of Scrivener's new iOS release. I also talked about Chris Fox's book, Write to market, which I cover in more detail below. It was a good read, and it caused me to rethink my current strategy for my novelette, Chlorophyllium 9. I've since decided to take it down from the wide online market while I make some changes that should better align it to be a fully functional Act 1 for Final Hope. I also learned about cover art and what expectations certain images can telegraph to potential readers. It was really interesting stuff! Podcast news: I created the Hunting the Muse Creative Writing Podcast group on Facebook, where we can share more creative writing discussions. You can also post your questions and request topics to be covered in future episodes. Feel free to post links to your writing that you based off the podcast's creative writing prompts. This is arguably the hardest phase of podcasting and I could really use your help! It's so difficult finding your target audience and receiving feedback. Drop me a line and let me know where I can improve and if you think my efforts are worthwhile. Now on to this week's topic! Giving Yourself Permission to Write.Why aren't you writing as much as you'd like? Are there any reasons that stand out in your mind? Perhaps there's not enough time in the day or you don't feel like it's worth the time? Do you constantly weigh the amount of effort it takes versus your ability or the possible outcomes? At some point, did you convince yourself that writing isn't a valid pursuit? What are your preconceptions about writing and where do they come from? What's more important, the idea of writing or the act? For some of us, writing is all we seem to think about. We're dreamers. "One day I'll write that novel." But actually sitting down to do it can be tough. We have trouble carving out time and negotiating other obligations. We have a fear of failure. What if I do this and it turns out to be no good? I can't fail if I don't try. (Which is actually, as it turns out, the ultimate failure: the failure to try.) Permission has to come from you! You are the only one who can give you the permission you need to write. No one else is going to make you a writer. No one else can make sure that you're present in the task when you show up to write. Support is nice, but it isn't required to produce art. Learn to count on yourself. Hunting the Muse is about taking control of your writing process. I'll admit, this wasn't always the case. Take a look in the archives and it's easy to see that there were times when I lost my way. What I learned is that it's important to have personal accountability and to pursue your dreams on your own terms. Make time to write, because it's important... As mentioned in this episode, Chris Fox's book, Write to Market: Deliver a Book that Sells, provides a good look into a thought process that major publishers have used for centuries. But instead of blindly submitting a manuscript and hoping the themes and tropes match what's on the publishing What's Hot list, Indie authors can do a little research and figure out what themes give their book the best chance on the market. Of course, these themes change over time and I would never recommend giving up the soul of your writing, but it can be helpful to understand what a potential reader might expect when they pick up your book. Understanding these expectations can help you formulate ways to both satisfy and surprise your readers.

Why I missed a week and the importance of fighting for your dreams.Fight for that Dream!(Show notes: huntingthemuse.com/podcast/10) Welcome to HuntingTheMuse.com's Creative Writing Podcast.  If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element. Today's podcast episode is about fighting for your dreams. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made if we're ever going to achieve the things we've spent so much time dreaming about. Do you want to be a writer? Well? Get writing! Not subscribed to the podcast? Get it now!Podcast News I missed last week, but I'm back with an extra long episode today to make up for it! Listener Shoutouts Radio silence. Hit me up on Twitter or at www.rbradyfrost.com/contact-me Writing UpdatesAs I mentioned in the podcast update, I opted to press forward with my writing after encountering some resistance with unfortunate events last week. I am very happy with the progress I made and things are looking good! Still, we always have to keep pushing toward those goals. Pursuing your dreams is important. Don't just dream about what you want to accomplish. Start doing it. Time is the one resource you will never get more of. You might be able to get a promotion or take on a second job to make more money, but you will never get more time. Why do we often opt to spend time on diversions instead of doing the things we really want to do? The Sign-Off Show notes for this episode are rather sparse. This week was full of tangents and passion about writing and dreams. What else can I say? And now, for this week's writing prompts! What you'll find below is a series of creative writing prompts to help get you through your week. There are no rules as to how you should use them, but I recommend taking your muse's hand; wherever she may lead you. Whether you find yourself writing a descriptive scene or dialogue, a poem or prose, or anything else (even if it seems entirely unrelated to the prompt), you have won. Happy writing, and may you find success in hunting your muse this week.  1. Wayward ShadowLike Peter Pan’s shadow, you’ve noticed your own dark twin has been acting of their own accord as of late. While this makes for some interesting party tricks and a lot of laughs, it isn’t something you can control and it seems as if your shadow is learning how to interact with objects in the real world. Your friends are convinced you’re some kind of amateur magician, but the truth is: you don’t have any tricks up your sleeve and you’re just as mystified as they are. A few nights of parlor tricks go by before things begin to get even more strange. Your shadow disappears for hours at a time and when it returns it often appears exhausted, collapsing on the fabric of your favorite armchair. Rarely, it will muster the strength to tear itself off the surface of the floor and walls and sit across from you like a darkened void. Staring into the dark hollows of its eyes makes a shiver run down your spine. How is any of this even possible? Then, after a particularly long absence, your shadow returns just moments before a loud knock sounds on your apartment door. It’s the police and they have a warrant for your arrest. They are saying something about fingerprints at the scene of the crime and inform you that you have the right to remain silent. 2. The PatientYou’re a nurse and you love your job working nights at the hospital but, ever since a new doctor rolled into town a few months back, things have been getting weird. You can’t put your finger on what it is, exactly, and you’re determined to figure it out. As tensions rise, you find yourself backed into a precarious position. Someone has taken note of your snooping and now your job is on the line. You’ve always taken great pride in putting the patients first, and when you notice that some are disappearing, you know what you must do. You wait. At first it seems like the pattern has broken and everything has gone back to normal. Were you re

The Scene that Never Was -The difference between storytelling and writing.(Show notes: huntingthemuse.com/podcast/11) Welcome to HuntingTheMuse.com's Creative Writing Podcast.  If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element. I was talking with Tara this week about my Coma: The Cataclysm project and today's episode stemmed from that conversation. Is it possible to plan a scene so long that you forget you never actually wrote it? Yes. I can confirm that this is a distinct possibility! Not subscribed to the podcast? Get it now! Podcast News I realized that my podcast episode file sizes were pretty large and I'm experimenting with adjusting the settings to get things just right. Big files means more hosting costs and a pain for you. So I'm going to be working on that in the future. Also. just a heads up, there probably won't be an official podcast next week. We're going on a little trip and it may be difficult to record and upload something. Also, stay tuned for this week's special, funny creative writing prompts intro. I don't think this one will be permanent, but it was a lot of fun to throw together and I challenge you to listen to it without smiling. Writing Updates I've had to make some tough decisions with my writing lately. Yeah? One of the big ones came with the realization, and finally admitting to myself, that Chlorophyllium 9 doesn't make for a very searchable title. And it's really hard to get the type settings to look good on my cover. So, going forward, I think I'm settling on the new title: Distant Worlds. While this move ditches the novelty of showcasing the name of the mineral I invented, it makes a lot more sense when you consider how readers will find and otherwise look for the novella. I had originally intended that title to be for one of the novels in the series, but it really does capture the essence of what Chlorophyllium accomplishes as a story. It's okay! I have plenty of time to  come up with a replacement title for future books as I move forward. I'm still working on Final Hope and making progress. It isn't coming as fast as I would like, but every day I sit down and write and get my word count higher, it's a win. Storytelling vs. Writing How much time do you spend in the planning phase of creating your story? Are you like me, in that sometimes it seems like you spend far more time planning and building than you do actually writing? This can be a significant problem for some writers. Myself included. But, I'm climbing that mountain every single day. Instead of just dreaming about writing, I'm actually doing it. Look, there are a lot of resources out there. A lot of products claim to have all the answers, but it's a never-ending road, that one. Sometimes I think how-to writing books and courses tend to feed into themselves, imparting a fear of failure in many cases when they should be filling you with hope. Make sure you're not just crafting a story, if your dream is to be a writer, stop planning and start doing. Start writing and let that be the medium you use to tell your story. I'm doing it. It goes one step at a time. And guess what? You can do it too. Stop buying into products that promise to make you into a writer. You've got to actually sit down and do it. If you want to read something, read a book you love or even one you hate. What did the author do well? More-so, how did they tell the story? The Prologue This once scene in particular, the one I thought I wrote, will be making its debut on my blog in the next couple of days. You can check it out here: http://www.rbradyfrost.com/coma The scene has changed a bit since I first imagined it. Much of it is the same, but I did choose to break sooner. I've learned how to be a better storyteller since then, and part of that is knowing where to cut things to leave both an emotional impact and a desire to read more. I'm not about to say I've done it perfectly, but I think it's pretty good