Month: November 2018

Writing Through The Pain

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Li Carter
Writer, artist and crafter. Owner of Rainbow Butterfly Creative. The process of creating something brings me freedom. This is the blog of my life scars and all.

Writing Through The Pain

The Struggle Is Real

by Asdrubal luna on Unsplash

I made the decision to do Nanowrimo again this year, and I am determined to win this time. I’ve had a few setbacks, which have left me very much below the ‘on par’ word count that I should be at, but I’m not too worried, because I have a lot of writing to do and that simply excites me.

The thing is, though, that my anxiety doesn’t agree and leaves me feeling freaked out about the number of words I must hit. Well, this year, I refuse to let my anxiety win, when it tells me that I am a failure, and that I may as well give up, because, you know what? Even if life gets in the way and I find myself unable to actually finish the 50000 words, I have still written far more words than I would have done if I hadn’t been doing Nano.

Some of the things that have come up have been general ‘life’ things, but others (and this is where I struggle), are to do with my physical and emotional health. Some days, my tmjd flares up and I have a constant headache from the moment I wake up, to the moment that I go to bed. These days have been more often than not, lately, and it’s been hard to put the work in when my head feels like it’s going to explode.

The reality, though, is that the world doesn’t stop, just because I’m in pain. The truth is, that it keeps going, and nowadays, time seems to move faster and faster, and I can’t just stop whenever I have a bad day. I simply have to push through the pain, if I am ever going to get this novel finished and out and about in the world.

So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to push forward, and I am going to just keep on writing through the pain, because I know it will ease off eventually, but the writing that I do will always be there, and there’s nothing like the sense of achievement that looking at a finished chapter gives you!

Li Carter is a writer, artist and crafter. She lives in South Wales, UK, with her family, and five rescue dogs. She’s on Twitter @rbcreativeli , Facebook: Rainbow Butterfly Creative, and Instagram @rainbowbutterflycreative and is the author of My Only True Friend: The Beginning. She is currently working on a new series titled The QuickSilver Chronicles. She is the original Rainbow Butterfly, and wants to fill an ever darkening world with a little bit of beauty and creativity.

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Red

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Li Carter
Writer, artist and crafter. Owner of Rainbow Butterfly Creative. The process of creating something brings me freedom. This is the blog of my life scars and all.

Red

A Poem

by Katarzyna Pe on Unsplash

Red,
Petals fall as blood,
Tears are many,
As loved ones lost.

Young,
Barely more than children,
Gave their lives,
For our peace.

Remember,
These brave souls,
Off to battle,
But never to come home.

Poppies,
Our sign of remembrance,
We will remember,
We remember them.

Always.
Lest we forget,
The poppy bleeds red,
And we never forget.

Li Carter is a writer, artist and crafter. She lives in South Wales, UK, with her family, and five rescue dogs. She’s on Twitter @rbcreativeli , Facebook: Rainbow Butterfly Creative, and Instagram @rainbowbutterflycreative and is the author of My Only True Friend: The Beginning. She is currently working on a new series titled The QuickSilver Chronicles. She is the original Rainbow Butterfly, and wants to fill an ever darkening world with a little bit of beauty and creativity.

Rain

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Li Carter
Writer, artist and crafter. Owner of Rainbow Butterfly Creative. The process of creating something brings me freedom. This is the blog of my life scars and all.

Rain

A Haiku

by Hannah Domsic on Unsplash

When the skies are grey
There’s no sunshine to be seen
And raindrops fall fast.

Li Carter is a writer, artist and crafter. She lives in South Wales, UK, with her family, and five rescue dogs. She’s on Twitter @rbcreativeli , Facebook: Rainbow Butterfly Creative, and Instagram @rainbowbutterflycreative and is the author of My Only True Friend: The Beginning. She is currently working on a new series titled The QuickSilver Chronicles. She is the original Rainbow Butterfly, and wants to fill an ever darkening world with a little bit of beauty and creativity.

The Magic Of Music

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Li Carter
Writer, artist and crafter. Owner of Rainbow Butterfly Creative. The process of creating something brings me freedom. This is the blog of my life scars and all.

The Magic Of Music

And Why I Love It So Much

by Marius Masalar on Unsplash

I’ve always loved music. I’m not a musician, or a singer, but I love the effect that music has on me. I love how it can often express far more effectively, what words cannot.

The thing is, music speaks to my soul. It’s lilting melodies reach into the depths of my heart and often pull out emotions that I didn’t even know were there.

I listen to music, probably for at least a third of the day. I have it on while I write; while I drive; while I make art, and while I craft. I listen to all different kinds of music, and it often depends on my mood.

I have an incredibly eclectic taste in music, and I have absolutely no ‘guilty pleasures’. In fact, I hate that phrase! If I like a song, then I like it, and I’m not going to pretend that I don’t because it isn’t ‘hip’, or ‘on trend’.

It makes me so angry when people feel like they have to be ashamed of the music that they like, just because others might make fun of them.

My niece asked me a while back, what music I liked, and I told her “pretty much anything”. Then she said that she meant which genre, to which I replied, “pretty much anything”.

This seemed to totally confuse her, and she couldn’t comprehend that my likes in music were not confined to a specific genre, but that’s just how it is. It’s how it’s always been.

I grew up in the 90’s, when we used to record our favourite songs from the radio onto cassettes. I remember one such cassette, which I had labelled with the artist on it, and I lent this cassette to a friend, who told me the following day that she had removed the label, because she was worried that other people might see it and make fun of her for listening to that artist.

This just made me feel incredibly sad for her, that she wasn’t able to allow herself to express her likes and dislikes freely. The artist in question is still making music, and in spite of battling a chronic illness, is doing incredibly well for herself in the industry.

The thing I’m trying to get at, is that music is a powerful, personal thing, and I refuse to allow it to be pigeon holed in my life. I can count on one hand, the number of songs that I dislike enough to actively avoid listening to, and I am proud of that fact.

I feel that having an open mind like this helps to inform my writing, as I am able to select the songs, which are most appropriate for the tone of the piece I am writing.

Of course, there are certain tracks, which I always find myself adding to my writing playlist of the day, but then there are others, which will appeal more directly to the story in question.

I feel that I am incredibly lucky to have this attitude towards music, and I can honestly say that it opens a lot of doors for me, creatively speaking, within my mind, which might otherwise remain closed.

Which songs to you find yourself adding to your playlists?

Li Carter is a writer, artist and crafter. She lives in South Wales, UK, with her family, and five rescue dogs. She’s on Twitter @rbcreativeli , Facebook: Rainbow Butterfly Creative, and Instagram @rainbowbutterflycreative and is the author of My Only True Friend: The Beginning. She is currently working on a new series titled The QuickSilver Chronicles. She is the original Rainbow Butterfly, and wants to fill an ever darkening world with a little bit of beauty and creativity.

November The Fifth

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Li Carter
Writer, artist and crafter. Owner of Rainbow Butterfly Creative. The process of creating something brings me freedom. This is the blog of my life scars and all.

November The Fifth

A Haiku-ish..

Fireworks crash the sky,
Bonfires burn up the Guy,
Do we remember,
Why?

Li Carter is a writer, artist and crafter. She lives in South Wales, UK, with her family, and five rescue dogs. She’s on Twitter @rbcreativeli , Facebook: Rainbow Butterfly Creative, and Instagram @rainbowbutterflycreative and is the author of My Only True Friend: The Beginning. She is currently working on a new series titled The QuickSilver Chronicles. She is the original Rainbow Butterfly, and wants to fill an ever darkening world with a little bit of beauty and creativity.

Character Assassination

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Li Carter
Writer, artist and crafter. Owner of Rainbow Butterfly Creative. The process of creating something brings me freedom. This is the blog of my life scars and all.

Character Assassination

When authors break your heart…

Found shared on Facebook, author unknown

I came across this image on social media yesterday, and it both made me smile, and got me thinking. The thing is that I cried my eyes out when Dumbledore, and Hedwig, and Dobby died. I couldn’t understand it at the time. Sometimes, I still can’t, but it’s just something that I have to put up with.

As a writer, I know that the author has every right to both kill, and allow characters to live, and I can pretty much guarantee that JK Rowling also cried as she wrote those scenes, but she would have known that it was necessary for the story. Harry’s life is characterised by loss, and the only way to keep this thread is for him to continue to experience more and more loss until the eventual, and final battle and ultimate conclusion. The fact that, throughout all of this, Harry maintains his compassion, shows exactly why he is the hero of the series.

Truthfully, as writers, we have to make these decisions, and however much we joke about it, I can tell you that we do not take these decisions lightly. Only the most callous and heartless author will kill off characters with little to no thought.

I’ve been working on a novel now, for about eight months, and I already know that one of my characters must eventually die, and the thought of writing those scenes is so painful. And I haven’t even introduced the character yet! Yes! I am aware of how stupid this sounds, but I know that if you are a writer, then you will understand me.

I guess, in the end, as readers, we have to trust that the author knows their characters best, and knows what’s best for them, and the story as a whole. As writers, we must learn to trust our own instincts. They very rarely steer us wrong.

What struggles have you had as a writer? Or a reader? Which characters have you cried over? Let me know in the comments.

Li Carter is a writer, artist and crafter. She lives in South Wales, UK, with her family, and five rescue dogs. She’s on Twitter @rbcreativeli , Facebook: Rainbow Butterfly Creative, and Instagram @rainbowbutterflycreative and is the author of My Only True Friend: The Beginning. She is currently working on a new series titled The QuickSilver Chronicles. She is the original Rainbow Butterfly, and wants to fill an ever darkening world with a little bit of beauty and creativity.

Already Behind

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Li Carter
Writer, artist and crafter. Owner of Rainbow Butterfly Creative. The process of creating something brings me freedom. This is the blog of my life scars and all.

Already behind…

Nano’s, the struggle is real!

by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash

Well, fellow writers (and Nano’s) will know this struggle all too well. We’re on day three, of the month long project, and I am already behind. I should have 5000 words today, but I currently sit at a little over a thousand, because life got in the way.

Part of me is panicking, and wondering if I can do it or if I should just give up, but I know that’s Muriel talking. She wants me to give up, and she keeps telling me that I’ve no hope of actually doing it. She says that the world is better off without my novel, and that really, it’s pointless for me to push myself.

Well, you know what? F*** you Muriel! I will keep writing, and I will catch up, and I will finish, and I will prove you wrong!

Li Carter is a writer, artist and crafter. She lives in South Wales, UK, with her family, and five rescue dogs. She’s on Twitter @rbcreativeli , Facebook: Rainbow Butterfly Creative, and Instagram @rainbowbutterflycreative and is the author of My Only True Friend: The Beginning. She is currently working on a new series titled The QuickSilver Chronicles. She is the original Rainbow Butterfly, and wants to fill an ever darkening world with a little bit of beauty and creativity.

Prepping For The Fifth

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Li Carter
Writer, artist and crafter. Owner of Rainbow Butterfly Creative. The process of creating something brings me freedom. This is the blog of my life scars and all.

Prepping for the fifth

On fire, fireworks, and fears…

by Jingda Chen on Unsplash

Now that Halloween is out of the way (thank goodness, bah humbug and all the other scroogish things that I can say), and November is upon us, we have the delightful joy of fireworks and bonfires to look forward to (yes, I am being sarcastic). I dislike both of these so-called holidays with a passion.

The thing is, I’m terrified of fire. I have a phobia of it. I can just about tolerate a well behaved candle nowadays, but nothing very much bigger than that. And fireworks, while it is impossible to ignore the beauty of them, I simply can’t get past the need for the screaming, whistling, and loud bangs, which are so far beyond what is reasonable.

With all of this noise going on, (and let’s face it, it’s never just for the one night, is it?), I really fear for all of the pets and wildlife who will be terrified by the noise, not to mention those service men and women who, upon hearing these bangs and explosions (because that’s what they are), will quite possibly be transported back to a time in their lives, which is full of trauma. The thing is, they actually make silent fireworks, which I would be perfectly fine with, and if this is an option, why do we still see fireworks with ever increasing loudness being sold year after year?

It seems crazy to me, in a time where so many countries are ravaged and war torn, and where we have supposedly declared a war on terror, that we still insist on celebrating Guy Fawkes, who was, if we cut to the chase, A TERRORIST! When was it decided that he was an ‘ok’ kind of terrorist, who should be remembered all by himself? This makes no sense to me at all.

I know that I’m being a bit ranty here, but it’s my blog, so I’m going to write exactly what I want to write, and I hope that any of you reading this can accept that.

I guess what it comes down to, is that I really REALLY dislike these supposed holidays, and to be honest, I can’t wait for them to be over and done with.

That being said, for those of you that have differing views to me, I hope that you enjoy whatever celebrations you plan to have this year, just remember to check your bonfires for wildlife before you light them, and make sure that any pets are safe and indoors where they can get as little stressed out as possible.

Li Carter is a writer, artist and crafter. She lives in South Wales, UK, with her family, and five rescue dogs. She’s on Twitter @rbcreativeli , Facebook: Rainbow Butterfly Creative, and Instagram @rainbowbutterflycreative and is the author of My Only True Friend: The Beginning. She is currently working on a new series titled The QuickSilver Chronicles. She is the original Rainbow Butterfly, and wants to fill an ever darkening world with a little bit of beauty and creativity.

The First Day

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Li Carter
Writer, artist and crafter. Owner of Rainbow Butterfly Creative. The process of creating something brings me freedom. This is the blog of my life scars and all.

The First Day

A Poem

by Djurdjica Boskovic on Unsplash

The clock struck twelve,
and costumes shelved.

Halloween passed,
Nanowrimo at last.

Fruit tea and tears,
As writing commences.

The fear of blank page,
Turned to blind rage.

As characters play,
Making things go their way.

And I, the struggling creator,
No more than a puppet I fear.

I type and type all through the night,
Yet when I’m done there’s still so much white…

Li Carter is a writer, artist and crafter. She lives in South Wales, UK, with her family, and five rescue dogs. She’s on Twitter @rbcreativeli , Facebook: Rainbow Butterfly Creative, and Instagram @rainbowbutterflycreative and is the author of My Only True Friend: The Beginning. She is currently working on a new series titled The QuickSilver Chronicles. She is the original Rainbow Butterfly, and wants to fill an ever darkening world with a little bit of beauty and creativity.