Kelly Stone:

-- Author of GRAVE SECRET (2007), a woman's literary novel, called 'powerful' and 'well written' by RT Book Reviews.

-- Author of TIME TO WRITE: More Than 100 Professional Writers Reveal How to Fit Writing Into Your Busy Life (2008), nominated for The American Society of Journalists and Authors Outstanding Book of 2008 Award.

-- Author of THINKING WRITE:  The Secret To Freeing Your Creative Mind (September, 2009), which demonstrates how to use the power of your subconscious mind for writing and creativity purposes.

-- Licensed Mental Health Counselor, master's degree from FSU

-- Published in 6 Chicken Soup for the Soul and Cup of Comfort Anthologies

-- Published more than 100 articles in magazines such as Family Circle, Writer's Digest, Cat Fancy, Toastmaster's, and others.

Reviews for THINKING WRITE:

"More than a fascinating tutorial on how to tap your subconscious, Kelly Stone's THINKING WRITE is a tool every creative person needs . . . She proves the subconsious can be tapped for brainstorming answers . . . ." ~~Dianna Love, New York Times Bestseller

"Practical, thought-provoking, and easy to use, Kelly Stone's THINKING WRITE gives any writer the tools they need to unleash their creativity. If you want to write but have been feeling blocked, this is the book for you!"                                  ~~C.J. Lyons, national bestselling author

Fun Facts about Kelly Stone!

-- A Gator Getter Ambassador at University of Florida -- when pursuing undergraduate degree

-- Took ballet for 20 years

-- On Romper Room at age 4

-- Lives in a 100+ year old house, used as a dance hall at the turn of the century

-- Has 5 cats and 3 dogs, all rescues

Kelly -- Welcome! I've never met you, but I feel like I know you.  We both have clinical backgrounds.  We both teach writers how to deal with their recalcitrant muses. We both teach writers how to access their subconscious minds.  We both teach writers how to enhance their creativity.  And we're both hypnotherapists too . . .   We must share DNA.  ;-)

THE INTERVIEW:

ML: TIME TO WRITE, released in January, 2008, is loaded with tips from 104 writers on how they fit writing in their lives. Your second nonfiction book, THINKING WRITE, was just released a few days ago.  Why did you write THINKING WRITE?  What does it offer readers?

KS: Thank you for having me on your blog. I wrote THINKING WRITE as a companion to TIME TO WRITE, a book in which I tell aspiring authors that no matter how busy they are, they can always find time to write. After I finished that book a lingering question remained in my mind about how to best use the limited writing time people have available.  Everyone is so busy these days, and we all have to accommodate very limited writing periods around very busy lives.

As a licensed mental health counselor, I have an understanding of how the mind works, and I wanted to know if I could translate that knowledge of the mind into a program for writers that would help them get into a creative state of mind quickly and easily in order to make the most use of sparse writing time.  The answer was yes, and that's what THINKING WRITE offers writers--ways to quickly and easily access your subconscious mind, the seat of all creativity, for writing purposes.

ML:  Chapter 2 of THINKING WRITE explores the Anti-Writer.  What is the Anti-Writer?

KS:  Sigmund Freud, the father of modern day psychology, was the first to identify a working model of the mind.  He said that there are three components to your mind: one is the conscious mind, one is your vast subconscious, and between those two is your preconscious mind.  The preconsious is a very concrete all-or-nothing portion of mind that often causes conflicts and attempts to interfere with the goals of the conscious mind.

I call this interference toward the writing goal the Anti-Writer ™. It's important for all writers to take control of their Anti-Writer ™ because it can sabotage all of your efforts toward success.

ML:  What are four ways writers can take charge and overcome their Anti-Writer?

KS: 1) Spot the troublemaker by keeping a notebook and writing down all negative thoughts you have about your abilities as a writer.

2) Write down all the ways you sabotage your own writing efforts--maybe you set aside time to write but when you get to your desk, you consistently draw a blank and don't write anything, and never get a manuscript finished.  That's your Anti-Writer™ at work.

3) After you have identified patterns of your Anti-Writer™, create on index cards countering statements to your Anti-Writer™ thoughts. For example, if something you think a lot is, "I never have time to write," a countering statement can be,  "I know there is time in my day to write, and I will find it."

4) Acknowledge that you have this portion of your mind that works against you and be alert to your sabotaging behaviors, actively work to overcome them by doing the opposite behavior.  In the example I gave above, you would start writing anything at all just to get the words flowing and change the negative energy to a more positive flow.

ML: Writers are the most creative people I know.  But we all need to be reminded to use our subconscious mind's power for maximum creativity.  Could you share some boost-your-creativity techniques used by Robin Wells, Kristin Painter, Tess Gerritsen -- and others?

KS: It was very inspiring to interview these wonderful writers.  Tess Gerritsen said that whenever she gets stuck in her stories, she will lay down and stare at the ceiling.  One of the things she is doing there is relaxing her body, which is a critical component to allowing the subconscious to come closer to the surface of the conscious mind.

Robin Wells uses what I call "Positive Programming Statements" to help her find success as a writer.  These are some of the positive statements you tell yourself to combat your anti-writer™. An example of one of Robin's statements she used before she got published is included in the book.

Kristin Painter gave me a great example of how using the dream state can enhance creativity and help you overcome writing blocks.  What she does is immerse herself in her story and then she thinks about it as she's falling asleep.  That's an excellent technique for getting your subconscious mind to find solutions to plot problems and in general enhance your writing the next day.  I call it Dream Solution Work and there's more on it in the book.

ML: In Chapter 10 of THINKING WRITE, How Nature Inspires Creativity, you address using the power of the color green to stimulate creativity.  Please share some going-green-for-creativity ideas with our blog guests.

KS: There is a documented link between the color green and the mind's ability to relax the body, which is a critical component to accessing the subconscious mind.  So you can write in green ink (which is what Virginia Woolfe frequently did), you can plant a garden outside your window, you can sit on the beach or in the mountains and write, or you can simply take a walk through a park when you get stuck.

ML:  I enjoyed seeing that you had interviewed New York Times Bestsellers Allison Brennan and Cathy Maxwell for THINKING WRITE. Allison took my editing classes on-line a couple of years before she got published (I'm smiling!) -- and Allison took one for the second time on-line this spring.

I met Cathy when she attended one of my full day Master Classes last April.  I know both Allison and Cathy are committed to digging deep to create a well-crafted novel.  How do they use music to enhance their creativity?

KS: Again, it was a pleasure to interview these great writers.  Allison Brennan makes a play list of each book she writes that includes fast, medium, and slow rock music.  She chooses different song lists according to what type of scene she is writing that day to actually affect the speed that she writes. Cathy Maxwell writes romance and she told me she once wrote a dance scene to a certain song that she played over and over so that she could get the rhythm of the words on the paper.

ML:  We all want to make strong connections with our characters.  We all want to write the best dialogue.  We all want to make our characters' live in the reader's hearts.  What tips can you share from THINKING WRITE regarding how writers can build strong characters?

KS: Have an actual dialogue with them.  Interview them as if they were real people.  Ask them about their motivations.  This is a form of what is called Free Association.  It cranks up creativity by putting you in touch with your subconscious mind.

ML:  Last question!  What suggestions do you have regarding maximizing creativity?

KS: Write at the same time every day, even if it's just for 30 minutes.  A scheduled approach to writing actually programs your subconscious mind that you write at a certain time, and therefore need it to be available to you.  One of the biggest secrets to success is that you can actually program your subconscious mind to bring about the reality you want--I tell you how to do this in the book--so make sure you are programming in the reality you truly want!

Have a special place just for writing and don't do anything else in that space other than write.  Combat your anti-writer™ by using the techniques described above and in THINKING WRITE.

Last, read THINKING WRITE and choose the techniques that resonate with you. There are a ton of ideas for maximizing creative output.  Pick the ones that work best for you.

ML:  Kelly  - From one psych specialist to another, thank you for the interview.  I bet our blog guests will be using several of your suggestions to optimize their creativity.

It's time for you all to post questions -- or comments -- or share your ideas.

How do you overpower your anti-writer™?

How do you boost your creativity?

How do you build your success?

Anyone who posts to the blog could win THINKING WRITE from Kelly, or a Lecture Packet of their choice from me.

Don't be shy.  Post a comment - even if it's one word:  Hi!

Kelly will drop by the blog several times today to respond.

I'll draw names at 8PM Mountain Time -- and post the names of the TWO WINNERS by 8:30PM tonight.

I'll drop by a few times today too.  Thanks for being here.  See you on the blog!

All smiles..............Margie