Tag: Blocks

  • Last Day of FEARS Workshop

    Today is the last day of my FEARS workshop.  Did you miss it?  No worries.  You can still check it out on the Forum.

    You can continue to ask questions and I’ll ask them as they come through.

    Hope to see you there,

    ~Tina

  • Writing Tools and Tricks for Getting on the Page



    Wisdom abounds about writing goals – so many words written a day, keeping certain routines, having accountability.  Many kindly authors will share their valuable tips when asked.  Yet each individual is different.  To this day none of these ideas have worked for me.
    Once the glorious bustle of November’s National Novel Writing Month ends, so does my grand output.  Good habits fall by the wayside and my output trickles to little or none.  I don’t necessarily even wallow in editing.  Some of my novel manuscripts have remained untouched since the day I met that year’s NaNoWriMo goal.
    This time I wanted to continue the joy of storytelling beyond November.  So far, I have.  As you can guess it hasn’t happened through goal setting, at which I’ve never been particularly good.  Nor have I set a particular routine.
    The madness in my method seems to tie more into what many experts suggest to help break a habit.  I’ve shaken things up this time.  Routines are being broken.  Times, locations, even methods have been altered according to whim.
    No longer do I feel the need to get my writing done early in the day.  The day is far from over by afternoon or evening.  Why not save the best for last?  Yet if I wake with inspiration from a dream, I may certainly get the words down before they’re lost.  The words may be recorded in a notebook, Microsoft Word, or the Scrivener software I recently purchased.
    I also have been writing out some character and setting sheets in Scrivener, adding more topics as I go.  I usually just carried details around in my head.  Besides cementing a few characteristics, I’ve found myself learning new things about my fictional peoples/places.  And it’s been a pleasure getting to know them, whether those details make it into the story or not!
    As for one huge change, I went to some write-ins during NaNoWriMo and blessedly got invited by some nice folks to year round gatherings.  I’ll be going to one tonight, in fact.  I just have to decide which project I’ll open.  Edit the latest novel or write something new?
    On that note I’ve also rekindled my love of short stories.  Somehow, they seemed inferior to novels.  How could I consider myself a writer if I wrote tales under a few thousand words?
    I seemed to have forgotten some famously beloved short story collections.  And as several wise folks have told me: the fact I’m writing makes me, by definition, a writer.  I hope you’ll join me and dive into whatever speaks to your heart.

    Happy Writing!

    –

  • Reading Deprivation – An Artist’s Way Dilemma


    Entering week four of the Julia Cameron “Artist’s Way” workshop, my friends and I face a difficult challenge.  For this seven day period we are not supposed to read – at all.  Already I have fallen back into my word addiction, haunting the aforementioned forum this fine Tuesday afternoon despite best intentions.

    I succeeded better yesterday, putting back the magazine in my dentist’s waiting room unread.  The periodical leaped into my hands, I swear.  Seriously, without a novel in hand, my brain automatically sought another distraction.

    And mental distraction is exactly the thing Ms. Cameron wishes we would avoid.  Without constant informational inflow, our thoughts might turn inward.  Scary notion, huh?  Less frightening, we might find ourselves doing something constructive.  She hopes a new outflow will nudge aside artistic blockage.
    Admittedly, I still spent some time watching television last night but I’m keeping such mind numbing activity to a minimum.  As a result I found some positive and even playful substitutions.  In one day I enacted several reading alternatives that would not have occurred to me most other weeks.
    Waiting while a loved one received a physician’s care, I called my parents.  Later I flipped through a photo album before recreating a favorite image on manila drawing paper.  The resulting art is amateurish, certainly, yet the process was fun and rewarding.
    A friendly, self-proclaimed comedian friend of mine pointed out that I’m actually reading as I prepare this post.  I had to laugh.  Even Julia Cameron’s writings offer some contradiction.
    For example, in one paragraph she warns against filling our inner silence with things like television (as I mentioned above), gossipy conversations, or constant radio chatter.  On the following page she lists some other things people can do besides read and tops the list with listen to music.  Perhaps her mention of the radio refers to talk shows, for that matter.
    At any rate, I intend to do my best at promoting inner quiet.  Who knows what new activities my brain might cook up next?  On that note, it’s time to check the mailbox and maintain the silly hope my postman didn’t delivery a tempting new comic book.

    –

  • Writer Wednesday – Going with the Flow

    I had a post due yesterday for Writer Wednesday and didn’t have the heart due to the anniversary of the 9/11 travesty.  Today, though, I realized that life should move on in honor of those we lost.  And so, here is a little tidbit I’ve postdated.

    Films are a passion of mine.  To my delight, some of the most iconic bits from my favorite flicks were happy accidents due to circumstance or a great ad lib.  In a different example, the crew members in “Alien” reacted with natural horror during that famous dinner incident.  Filmmakers cued only John Hurt in to the details regarding his character’s final scene.  It gives me ever greater appreciation for the process that is movie magic.
    Writing can benefit from such happenstance, as well.  While there is plenty of greatness that comes from scripting and outlines, we artists should never automatically toss out an idea just because it goes against our grand scheme.
    Sometimes we need to go with the flow.  Stumped on where to take the story next?  Follow a plotline on an odd tangent and see how your characters react.  The departure might result in an exciting direction no plan could foresee.
    I hope you free your mind to create something new, wonderful, and unexpected.  Now I need to go follow my own advice.  Happy writing!
    Oh, and if you want to check out some of these great movie moments, here you go.  Enjoy.  You’ll want to expand the video to full screen for the all important captions.  Oh, and there is adult language.  Sorry about that.

  • Writer Wednesday – Using the Tools


    Tips and tricks abound to aid the creative process.  I’ve become familiar with some very clever ones, often through the warm and wise counsel of accomplished author Catherine A. Noon.  She introduced me to the multi-talented Julia Cameron, for example, who has an entire side career dedicated to inspiring fellow artists.  Another gifted friend reminded me just this morning of some grand ways to hush the inner critic (Thanks, E!).

    Unfortunately, I’ve discovered a recurring failure to utilize these tools.  However much sense a plan makes, my good intentions somehow evaporate.  Why?  I think I’ve pinpointed a reason.  Buried in my psyche, a notion seems to persist that good writing materializes like a rabbit out of hat.  It’s supposed to be magic.
    I do believe that art has magical properties.  Without it, existence lacks a sense of hope or wonder.
    An important thing to remember about magic, though, is that David Copperfield didn’t really walk through the Great Wall of China.  Criss Angel can’t actually levitate.  They’re illusionists who put countless hours into manipulating the willing minds of an audience.
    Performers on any stage workto entertain us.  Why should writing be any different?  The answer: it’s not.
    Julia Cameron summed up my quandary in a line from “Finding Water”.  To paraphrase, my ego wants creativity shrouded in mystery.  This snooty persona thinks that artistic pursuit is somehow above punching a time clock.
    Today I defied this snob by setting a timer.  And you know what?  Thirty minutes dedicated to storytelling didn’t feel constrictive at all.  The added paragraphs gave me a sense of accomplishment even if the critic still sneered at the low word count.  So what?  I can set the timer for another thirty minutes when this post is up.

    What gets you on the page, stage, or wherever you wish your art to flourish?  I hope you’ll find the time to get out there today and do it.

    –

  • Resuscitating the Inner Artist


    I’ve been making a real attempt to renovate the front garden this year.  The neighbors must be pleased; I know I am.  While gardening is invigorating, if often sweaty and exhausting work, the results have been spectacular.  But as punishment for years of neglect, a noxious weed plagues my perennials.  Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis), otherwise known as wild morning glory, is sprouting all over as the season advances.  What I once considered an acceptable invader with its tiny white flowers now alarms me with several feet of growth in mere days.  The skinny vine rapidly winds around my cherished butterfly bush, mangling the delicate blooms.

    As I unwind this vermin, deceptively tender stems snap off at the ground and give me a false sense of accomplishment.  Only upon identification of the weed have I learned that new shoots will emerge from the smallest bits of roots left in the soil.  Complete removal requires pesticides that I’d rather have avoided for the sake of the wildlife I want to attract.  There’s just no way that I want to try eradicating this thing without modern chemicals.  Heck, one recommended compound is 2-4, D, a component in Agent Orange!  So I’m going to continue unraveling the vines from my flowers, leaving enough at ground level to target with the broad spectrum herbicide glyphosate while avoiding the desired plantings.
    I face a prolonged, fastidious process.
    With a weakness for metaphors, I can’t help but see yet another in this lesson.  My artistic side has been suffocating for a long while.  I’m slowly learning that there are a number of weeds I’ve allowed to infiltrate and strangle my writing.  Time and persistence are required to identify, control, and eventually decimate these damaging trespassers.
    Distractions, doubts, and detractors that keep me away from the page have to be systematically acknowledged before destruction.  That critic in my head with those easy whispered excuses must be confronted.  I have tools at hand such as those taught by Julia Cameron.  In fact, a group of very supportive forum friends (some of whom contribute to this blog – thanks to you all, dears!) are currently guiding me through Cameron’s “Finding Water”.

    This fight can be won.  I just need to stay alert, attentive, and consistent with my efforts.  The fruits of these labors will be well worth the effort.  Now excuse me while I go work on a story.

    –

  • Lovely Monday

    Boria

    It’s Monday at four o’clock in the morning, almost five.  I couldn’t sleep so I got up to write a bit.  I figured I’d use the time to share some thoughts on writing and life, at least according to Noony.

    First, a digression: the picture above made me laugh this morning when I wandered my archive looking for something to illustrate today’s post.  Boria is an odd cat.  Raised by our dog, he thinks he is a dog.  This is a look he gets on his face when I do things he doesn’t expect – like get out of bed at an unholy hour.

    I talked about blocks last time I had a regular bimonthly post, and I’m still in a similar situation vis a vis my story.  But this isn’t all bad, at least in my opinion.  Why?

    Fallow periods are necessary in any artist’s life.  Sometimes they arrise because we fish our pond too aggressively and don’t take the time to restock the fish.  Other times they arrise because of outside stressors.  This latter one is the case for me as I extricate myself from an organization I’ve been actively building for the last three and a half years.

    On the other hand, as I sit back and reflect on all I’ve done and learned, I realize I am wealthy indeed.  I’ve made friendships that I’ll keep for a lifetime, and, like Thomas Edison is quoted as saying relative to his failed attempts to invent a working light bulb, I’ve learned things that don’t work in running a business.  While I haven’t been writing as much in the last two months in terms of story output, I have been blogging quite a lot and working on my social media tasks.  I think it’s important to remember that even if we aren’t working on a particular project, it does not mean that we are not working – even if there’s no action apparent to the outside eye.

    Fallow periods are necessary and deserve our respect.

    One hopes that after this one, I won’t freak out my cat anymore, as well.

    Boria

  • Writer Wednesday: Why Blogs Are Good For Writers

    In thinking about a topic for today’s post, I am reminded why blogging is good for writers.  Of all the forms of social media available to us, blogging is the most flexible and the most adaptable to an individual writer’s style.  Not to diss Facebook, by any means, I merely want to point out that if you’re a writer, you ought to be blogging.  Why?

    Here, then, are Aunt Noony’s Five Reasons Why Blogs Are Good For Writers:

    1.  Blogging allows you to explore your voice.  What is voice?  It is, quite simply, the thing you use to talk with.  It’s a Zen concept and, for that reason, tough to pin down.  But what is definite is that voice is as individual as the writer.  The better we can get in touch with our own voice, the better writers we become.  We get in touch with our voice by writing.  A lot.  Blogging lets you do that in a low-pressure, supportive environment.

    2.  Blogging gives you a platform.  Do anything long enough and you begin to develop a set of topics and opinions upon which you can feel qualified to write.  If you love coffee, for example, pretty soon you’ll get tired of writing “I love coffee” and start to come up with some interesting coffee facts.  Collect enough of those kinds of articles and poof: instand coffee platform, just add water.

    3.  Topics for blogs are unlimited.  Do you enjoy talking about underwater basketweaving?  Go for it! Cosplay?  Have at it!  Knitting?  Do it!  Any and all topics, both tame and adult-oriented, lend themselves well to blogging.

    4.  You can expand your skills by blogging.  You will, over time, learn a bit of HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language), the language in which websites are written.  You will begin to understand how search engines find topics when users are looking for things.  You will make friends and influence people though your blog, and one day, maybe help others into the world of blogging.

    5.  You don’t have to limit yourself to arbitrary character limits.  If you only feel like posting a sentence or two and a bunch of pictures, you can.  If you feel like writing and writing and writing on a topic that makes you passionate, you can.  The sky’s the limit!  You can adapt your writing to your moods and, in the process, collect a set of clips that you can leverage later to other blogging opportunities.

    Still on the fence?  Why not ask your favorite blogger if they’d be willing to let you do a guest post on a particular topic?  No one says you have to dive in head-first your first time.  You can ease into the blogosphere gently.

    I’ll warn you, though.  It can quickly become addictive.  Enjoy!

    Write on!

  • On Blocks and Other Frustrations

    Have you ever set a goal for yourself, like, “I’ll finish this story by X date,” and then realized your mind’s gone blank?

    Yeah, me too.

    I wanted to have the next chapter of The Night Is a Harsh Mistress today, and set that as my goal.  Then, when I sat down to write, my mind went blank because I worried about whether it will be any good.  Rather than fight the goal, I figured I’d chat about what works for me for getting around it.

    First, be careful about what goals you do accept.  If you know that setting your expectations can tend to block you, then be selective about what goals you do try to struggle for.

    Second, set small goals for doing the work.  For example, try using a timer and set it for 30 minutes.  Even if you just stare at your computer for that 30 minutes, (and no cheating on Facebook or garbage surfing), see what happens.

    Third, if that doesn’t work, try sitting with your journal for a while.  Write about why you don’t want to work on your goal.  Write all the nasty, petty, complaining little putsy comments that you can think of.  Sometimes, just getting them out there can help.

    Fourth, try something else.  If you have another craft, like knitting, do that for a bit just to get moving creatively.  Or, try a blog post, like this, for example.

    Fifth, give yourself permission to fail.  By the time it got to be dinnertime, I realized I wasn’t going to get the chapter done today.  Instead, I decided to be honest and write about my block, and in the process, came up with some ideas for how to get around them.  It doesn’t make my goal happen, but it does keep me moving in the right direction – and that, in and of itself, can help you.

    Above all, remember we are all imperfect beings.  It’s not about the goals you accomplish, but the journey you take along the way.  As they say, you win some, you lose some.  Just keep moving forward and you might be startled by how many you start finishing.

    Happy creating!