Bonus Episode with Danielle Ice

Hey friends! Welcome to the next Indie Author Spotlight Bonus Episode!! Hopefully you read the feature on Danielle over on The Writer's Workout website, where I'm a volunteer. If not, turn around, about face, go there first to learn more about our featured author. I promise it will be worth it!

author Danielle Ice

What does your writing ritual look like? 

My writing ritual continues to morph and change, but I consistently write on my living room couch either in the early mornings or evenings (my husband works nights) and listen to video game music as a soundtrack to what type of scene I’m writing at any given time. I try my darndest to not get stuck into a doomscrolling loop on my phone when I look up synonyms or quick fact checks, but it’s worked for me so far. It likely will change when my firstborn child makes her grand entrance at the end of March, but we’ll see what happens.

What’s the worst advice you’ve ever received as an Indie Author? 

This is a fun question, and my personal ‘worst advice’ is one a lot of people may not agree with. The “write every day” piece of advice has never worked for me. Anytime I have, I’ve just had to backtrack and erase all the work I’ve done when I inevitably get that lightbulb moment that just needed more time to gestate before it was ready to reveal itself. My usual pattern is this: I’m on a roll and writing and then I get stuck. I go on a walk and think and within a couple of days, I usually figure it out. I start getting on a roll again and then hit another roadblock, and so on it goes. I can’t force a lightbulb moment, nor can I force myself to be in a writing mood if I don’t feel like it. I don’t write as a full-time job and I don’t think I’d ever want to, and I feel like forcing myself to write every day turns my hobby into a chore and I’m deathly afraid of that happening. You don’t have to run every single day to be considered a runner or even a great one, and I’d argue writing is no different.

What’s your go to book, movie or musical artist when you need some inspiration (or just a break from the keyboard)? Why? 

You may have caught this briefly before, but I tend to listen to video game music when I write, but I also listen to it when I’m stewing on an idea or several. Video game music is meant to enhance a feeling, and if I have music that focuses on the feeling I want to convey in a scene, it helps my thinking process. I usually plug in my earbuds and go on a long walk in my neighborhood if I ever feel stuck on what’s supposed to be happening next in a story. As an example, I listen to calm Animal Crossing music when I’m trying to think through a calm conversation, I listen to Dark Souls music when there’s an emotionally heavy battle scene I’m working on, you get the picture. My usual go-to’s though are from the Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts series 😊

If you could snap your fingers and be “known” for one piece of your writing, what would it be?

I would say my Tides of the Universe series is one I would love to be known for. That series has been a labor of love and it’s been fun to listen to people when I ask their opinions on it. I’ve been the most invested in that one time-wise, but I am also personally proud of that one the most because I can see how I’ve grown as a writer with each book getting increasingly better. Seeing it as a movie would be amazing, but I feel like all of us authors feel that way 😉

Any other tidbits you wanna share? 

One piece of advice: give yourself permission to call yourself a writer. You don’t have to have something traditionally published to be a writer, you don’t have to write every single day using an old-fashioned typewriter, and you don’t have to have approval from someone else that being a writer is a core part of your identity. Chances are, if you daydream about your stories a lot, have plenty of notebooks filled out with random story notes (and plenty waiting to be written in!), and get excited when you meet another writer because they just GET it, then you’re a writer. Welcome to the club! 😊