A great power lies inside of you. Close your eyes. Be still. In time you will feel it, like a low  frequency that connects you to this universe. There is a power in stillness, and for writers it can become their greatest weapon.

I never plan out my story-lines. Instead, I let the idea naturally come to me and then like a tea bag steeping in water, I let these thoughts naturally grow in strength over time. Once an idea is formed in my mind, I finally sit down to put pen on paper, but even then, these "ideas" are not concrete nor are they set in stone.

To be a good intuitive writer you must listen to your gut- always. This style of writing is similar to a spiritual person that utilizes their third-eye after long periods of mediation to effectively sharpen their intuition. In this same way, I use my "gut feelings" when crafting a story.

In short, intuitive writing is a style that only a few authors adopt, most of them are self-professed introverts with their heads constantly in the clouds. This style of writing is a scary process because there is no end game in sight, you never know how your story will end. I would say it is like gambling, but it does not replicate that high that is often associated with such a risky past-time. Rather, it is like walking around a darkened room while squinting your eyes into tiny slits and having your arms carefully spread out in case you happen to fall upon the cold, hard floor. It can be an exhilarating feeling, especially when you gain inspiration from your subconscious thoughts, natural surroundings, or random people that you happened to encounter when you are at the peak of your writing process. Suddenly, crazy plot-lines pop up inside of your head when you are engrossed in tedious, quotidian tasks, such as washing the dishes, driving to work, or taking a shower. A sudden epiphany strikes like lightening and then you rush over to your notebook to write it down. I often have this experience with potential character names or their physical appearances at random times of the day, it is as if the story is building by itself inside of my head with little effort on my part.

Now imagine you and your friends set up the game of dominoes. Picture it in your mind's eye. You can see the long line, the beginning and the end, don't you? It is universally acknowledged that when you knock down one piece then the rest of them will follow. Now, with most writers they set up their novel like a game of dominoes.  Intuitive writers are significantly different, we set up the game while the dominoes pieces are still falling. Crazy, isn't it? Except we knock down the pieces in slow motion, while placing the next dominoes at the perfect time to have it knock down another one. It is like a rat race, a whirl-wind event, but that is the most exhilarating part about it!

If you want to learn more about intuitive writing and how to master it, I will share a few key tips in my next blog post. Make sure to subscribe to blog or follow me on Instagram @petergray_writer to learn more.

All my life I have been that person that walks outside the line. I've been called the black sheep, a lone wolf, an eccentric person. Why? Because I am that circular peg that refuses to be jammed into a square hole.

Being an odd anomaly gave me some trouble in high school, hell, even in University. But being different isn't necessarily a bad thing. There is a reason that Sela kindly said these following words to Teddy: "Conformity is the poison of life, or at least in society. Be who you are, Teddy, and you will find your true friends then." My subconscious mind was reassuring myself that it is okay to be different.

So, where am I going with all of this? I wanted to tell you, the reader, that a valuable lesson I learned this past year is that it is okay to be unpredictable. There is this strange idea out there in the publishing world that you must stick to one genre. I have been advised that if I want to jump into a different genre that I must create another pen name. Let me tell you that juggling one pen name is quite enough for me, so adding another one would give me a headache. It is my belief that if a reader loves your work, I mean genuinely loves it, they will not be thrown off guard if you jump into a new genre. When I published "Cursed" I thought I would always be writing in the paranormal romance, but later on I realized I wanted to try historical romances as well. They left me in a state of confusion, as I continued to ask myself "How do I go from one genre to another? Will I lose followers? Will people be unwilling to try it?"

I have learned that readers are wiling to venture into a new genre. They will open up a new book if it has good reviews and they are familiar with the author's work. It is not 100% guaranteed that they will like it, BUT they will attempt to read it because they love the author and want to support their work. In conclusion, it is okay for an indie writer to experiment with different genres. You can be unpredictable, and throw your fan base off guard. As long as the work is honest and from the heart, it won't make a difference which genre you are writing in.

My next book "At Peace" will fall into the historical romance genre, much like my widely successful novel "Awakening." In the year 2022, I hope to publish the second part of "Far from Home: Book Two." I am also working on a dark, Gothic horror novel that is taking place in the isolated moorland of England in the nineteenth century, but those details are kept under wraps for now (yes, I am keeping a secret from you). What genre will I dabble into in the coming years, well, you will just have to wait and see...

There came a point in my life that I was so good at writing sex scenes that I could be penning it in a middle of a University lecture, even on the subway ride home. After a while I grew tired of it, and decided that when I become a self-publisher I wanted to experiment writing and publishing clean romances as well. It would mean not having a book cover with a hot sexy man bare chested with abs, or a steamy photo that would send young woman flocking to Amazon to buy it.

Now, do I miss writing steamy romances? Certainly, the desire is still there to produce them. At the same time I have learned (much to my satisfaction) that a slow burn has just as much fighting power. When I penned "The Tragic Tale of Teddy Woven" and "Awakening," there was a clear intent to create a slow burn where the main characters did not kiss until the very end of the novel. Why? Because I know that the reader deep down inside desires it. They can't take the sexual tension seething between the two characters and want the instant gratification of seeing them finally giving into their desires.

So, a valuable lesson I learned this year is that sex does sell, but so does a good slow burn.

Part three of Real Talks will be revealed this upcoming Saturday, so check my blog or Instagram for the latest updates.