Personal Rants

Bookshelf of Young Melfka – Myk’s Book Tag

booktagJust a day after I was nominated in Liebster Award Blog Hop, I’ve been sneakily tagged by Myk Pilgrim from Little Plastic Castle who challenged me to reveal ten most formative books. Books that shaped the Melfka I am now.

Digging into the depths of my past might be traumatic for the onlookers, so you keep reading on your own responsibility. But if you’re brave enough (or just curious which peculiar and unexpected books I listed), keep reading! (more…)

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March 1, 2015
On Writing / Personal Rants

The Writer’s Other Half

WritersHalfENThey say that writing is a “lonely” business: hours spent on research in the library or on the Internet, hours spent writing and editing… all of it alone. But they also say that no man is a lonely island, and that also seem true: we have families, we have friends (even if they feel neglected at times) and we often work full-time which means having coworkers. And most importantly, we do fall in love and find partners, create new families. We are not alone, yet… we are sometimes, struggling to be understood or accepted not only as beloved family members or best friends, but also as writers. (more…)

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February 14, 2015
A Month of Writing / On Writing / Personal Rants

A Month of Writing

MoW-ENNot so long ago I’ve explained how NaNoWriMo, although great initiative, wasn’t really working for me and how I’d be more eager to participate in something to build up the writing habit instead of speeding into a book within a month. And there it came, the opportunity to challenge myself, commit to writing and make friends with a group of people who do the same: the 365k Club.

The idea, originating from Jane Steen, was brought to life by Katherine Grubb and Jessica White from 10 Minute Novelist group. They invited fellow writers, professional and not, to partake in the challenge of writing 365,ooo words in a year, which meant to produce on average 1000 words every day. I thought I’m not capable of meeting such a goal. I thought that life will surely interfere preventing me from even trying. And I thought that a hopeless plotter such as me won’t be able to plot quick enough to meet the daily word count.

And with all these thoughts… I signed up. (more…)

10 Comments
February 6, 2015
On Writing / Personal Rants

Cleaning Your Literary Wardrobe

1Every once a while I look into my wardrobe and think it’s time to sort it out. Not only put all the skirts together and put sweaters beside one another, but actually take out all the clothes, check if they still fit and try to remember when was the last time I actually wore them. I don’t like it as it requires parting with pieces I feel sentimal about, but never really wear or admitting that there’s no way I’m going to fit in that blouse again. And the jacket? I love it, but it really starts looking shabby… If you can’t relate, maybe you can imagine how unappealing this task can be.

But what I do love is cleaning my literary wardrobe: looking back at all the ideas I scribbled down years ago and inspecting the forever postponed works in progress. It’s not only a pleasant surprise of finding hidden gems I’ve forgotten, but also a decision whether anything is worth coming back to. Some texts are archived to be forgotten forever, but others get to be considered again, and kept for later. They will be perfect for these grim days every writer has sometimes when they feel out of fresh ideas. (more…)

6 Comments
January 19, 2015
Personal Rants

Another year goes by…

2014ENA couple of days I got an automatic post from Facebook inviting me to view my 2014 summary and – of course – share it with my friends. I looked out of curiosity and noticed that the snippets were based on the pictures I uploaded and the amounts of “likes” they got, so Facebook pretty much missed most of the important events in my life. I shrugged and created my own: a simple collage of seven anthologies published this year. Because, in the end, writing is one of the most important parts of my life and I always get very excited seeing my stories released. (more…)

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December 31, 2014
On Writing / Personal Rants

No Excuses for Plagiarism

plagiarismRecently I came across an article from 2010 about a German writer whose first book, a bestseller, was proven to be plagiarized from a novel of another author. What shook me more than the act itself, was the author’s defense. “It’s not copying, it’s mixing”, even though supposedly whole passages were copied from another author’s work.

Just a week later I witnessed online a similar situation: a young Polish author publishing with a vanity press openly admitted that his book is a fan-fiction set in one of the bestselling fantasy author’s world and using her main character. This time the excuse was similar: “it’s only inspiration and it’s ok if I use the main character’s name, because it’s not the same character”. I didn’t get to read an excerpt from the book, but the book’s description suggests the main character is a dragon, just like in the bestselling series. (more…)

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December 7, 2014
On Writing / Personal Rants

Brace yourselves! The NaNoWriMo is… not coming!

NaNoWriMo(1) Are you doing it this year? I’m so not ready! I need my outline done. There is so little time left! OMG! Are you ready? Do you have any tips? Here’s my plan for success! What will you be writing?

If you are a writer or have any writing friends, these comments pop in social media quite often at this time of the year. Almost everyone is preparing for (or dreading) the start of National Novel Writing Month (that has, in fact, become quite international). Everyone, except for us, few people in the corner, watching this cheerful madness with unusual calm. (more…)

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October 30, 2014
On Writing / Personal Rants

Music Inspirations – part 3

5825010322_7211eb8d22_zThere is only a few more songs left on my list and I hope you enjoyed this musical journey with me. This is the last part of the “Music Inspirations”, but as I usually discover new music and come up with ideas, maybe one day there will be few more to be posted. If you found inspiration while reading or listening feel free to share them in the comments as I love to see different perspectives and ideas. (more…)

4 Comments
September 15, 2014
On Writing / Personal Rants

Music Inspirations – part 2

4553096837_5cd3cebdb9_oA comment to the previous part of the Music Inspirations made me realize that I didn’t make a clear distinction between “writing music” and “music inspiration”. The first one often consists of a writer’s favorite songs or maybe background music with no lyrics if they prefer (such as classics or movie soundtracks) that helps to focus on writing or isolate from the surrounding world. The second one can be anything that the writer heard, a new hit on the radio by some popular singer or a long-forgotten lullaby or anything else, including songs outside of a writer’s musical comfort zone.

When I look at my music inspirations I realize how different this list is from what I usually listen to and from what I listen to when I write. Of course, some of the songs make it to my permanent playlist, be it the writing or the general one, while others stay forever attached to just one idea, and I don’t really listen to them once I wrote the story they inspired. If there is a rule to my musical inspiration, I have to find it yet. All I can say for sure, they happen and they come unexpectedly: just like the one that made it to the list below. (more…)

7 Comments
September 1, 2014