Tag: Writing

  • One Small Step For Us, One Giant Leap For Art

    As I sit here, grumbling that I have a blog post due and I’m sick and would rather be in bed, I’m reminded yet again of the power of the little:  one small step can, over time, add up to big progress.

    What do I mean?

    I’m facilitating a workshop using Julia Cameron’s book, FINDING WATER.  Sundays are the day I post the new week’s essay and discussion-starter.  Today, though, I’m dealing with a cold that seems to want to suck all my energy out of my nose.

    After fighting with it for a while, I cracked open the book and the words on the page jumped out at me: “What small step can I take today?”  I don’t have to write a huge essay, just grist for the mill.  I just have to start the conversation and keep the ball moving.  A small tap will do.

    Rachel and I are celebrating the release of our novel, TIGER TIGER, from Samhain Publishing.  At times, we had to remind ourselves to just focus on the next right step.  Finish one chapter.  Edit one section.  Draft the synopsis.  These small steps can add up to a novel.

    So, dear reader, I offer this to you.  What small step can you take in the direction of your own art?

  • 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.

    –

  • Writer Wednesday – The Importance of Hope

    I am considering changing my career and have gone back to the basics, which for me, is What Color Is Your Parachute by Richard Nelson Bolles (which, if you haven’t read it or it’s been awhile, go pick up the new version, it’s awesome).  In the very first chapter, he writes about Hope and how to find it.

    I think he’s right-on.  You can read his book for his four keys to finding hope because they’re well worth reading – regardless of where you are on your career path.  But for my purposes here, I wanted to highlight his first point:  make sure you have at least two alternatives in every situation.

    We’ve talked about this kind of mindset on Writer’s Retreat before.  Darla’s Keeping the Faith and my own Power to the People are two recent examples.  Writing is, by its nature, a solitary pursuit and it’s critical to keeping the fingers moving on the keyboard that we keep the right mindset.  I don’t know if “right” is exactly the word I want, more likely it’s “effective” as in, “does what I’m doing work to keep me on the page?”  If it does, great, if not, try something else.  And that, Dear Reader, is where having alternatives comes in handy.

    For example, let’s say we’re writing a story about Jake and Luke.  Jake is a biker and Luke is a day trader.  What happens if we make Jake a suburban cyclist instead?  Or what if Luke is a child counselor?  What if Luke is Lydia?  What if they’re brother and sister, instead of a romantic partnership?

    It makes sense from a battle standpoint, as well.  There’s an old saying, “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.”  How does a strategist prevail, then?  By having a backup plan, contingency plan, whatever you want to call it.  Figure it’s your Zombie Apocalypse Survival Plan.  It doesn’t matter what you call it, it matters that you have it.

    After all, having a plan to survive the apocalypse means you have to hope that you will survive the apocalypse, eh?

    See why hope is so important?

  • Using Prompts To Expand Your Repetoire

    During the month of April, join me at Coffee Time Romance for a free workshop, “Using Prompts to Expand Your Repertoire” and experiment with getting onto the page. Whether you’re a seasoned author or a brand new writer, you’re bound to find something that will spark your creativity.

    I have found over the years that it’s fairly easy to find critics. Writing groups full of people who will tear apart what you’ve written are a dime a dozen – and worth about that much. Anyone can tear something apart and it’s always easier to edit than it is to create from scratch. Bullies in sheep’s clothing abound at groups like that and it never ceases to amaze me how new victims seem to fall into their net without much of a struggle.

    Harder to find, by far, are the groups whose mission is to catapult people onto the page. Most writing problems are solved by practice. It’s like the old saying goes: “How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice!” Prompts are one way to do that. We can experiment with story ideas, scene concepts, new ways of describing things, all in short spaces without pressure. Writing prompts are generally short and not meant to be used for anything “real” – though it’s been my experience that one can be surprised by a diamond in the rough if one is open to trying new things.

    If you’ve been wanting to get back onto the page, or don’t have any clue what a prompt is but are intrigued, I hope you’ll join me over at Coffee Time Romance this month. It’s free and all you have to lose is your writing block.

    Write on!

  • Emotion for the Masses

    It’s common knowledge that emotions show unconsciously in our body language.  In jurisdictions practicing wise policy, police officers and their ilk receive training to translate this instantly, enabling life saving reactions to armed suspects about to shoot – or not.  Human beings transmit these signals from our faces to our very feet depending upon the circumstance.

    So ingrained, these reactions show even when there is no one present to read them.  I realized this in a unique way yesterday.  A mild skin irritation between my eyes would hurt whenever I made certain expressions, and this happened frequently while reading a newly purchased book.
    This author drew me to experience the various highs and lows, the shock or joy or sorrow, right along with her characters.  That immersion, this ultimate escapism, is what draws me to fiction.  Hence I’m reminded why I enjoy writing.
    I want to pull others out of their reality.  Heck, even when penning something private I gleefully submit myself to the sentiments and passions within the words.
    These are, of course, the same reasons we listen to music and look at works of art.  I sincerely thank those who’ve moved humankind through the ages and look forward to what comes in the future.
    Meanwhile, may you discover something today that transcends your spirit from the daily grind.  Or, perhaps you will craft it yourself!  Now, time to dust off my muse and get busy, right after I search out another book by this particular author (and leave praise of her craft while I’m at it).

    –

  • Written into a Corner

    I have several stories that have never been completed.  As the title of this post suggests, I essentially wrote myself into a corner.  The problem returned to mind when I completed the following word game with my partner:

    We ended up with this interesting corner-to-corner design but were unable to play all the tiles availed to us for the game.  I found it uniquely frustrating, as well as reminiscent of the backlog of tales languishing on my hard drive.  It even escapes me as to who won this round of the game.  I’d prefer to play to the bitter end, either ending up with unused tiles or leaving my partner with them, ultimately using every letter rather than hitting the “pass” button again and again.

    So how do I work toward that goal in writing?  How do I complete these unfinished stories?  If I really don’t mind a bitter end as mentioned above rather than “happily ever after”, the sky’s the limit.  Right?

    The first step is to quit beating myself up.  To look at the whole catalog and mark each unfinished title as a failure will only freeze my willingness to fix any of them.  Instead, I intend to pick one example and pinpoint what caused me to stop writing.

    I know one of my weaknesses is in action sequences.  One story in particular comes to mind where the hero and heroine are about to meet their latest nemesis.  Then everything just stopped for fear I would only ruin what came before.

    Perhaps it’s time to find help in that regard by seeking out writing exercises or even just reading a good action scene I admire.  The important thing is to try.  And for some months I’ve been too intimidated by the inner critic to begin.  I’ve been paralyzed from even reading these works in progress.

    Maybe I should ignore what came before, thereby avoiding my inevitable edit mode, and pick up where things left off.  The results might bring a surprising success.

    I hope you are not like me and aren’t letting anything hold your creativity back.  Let’s go make art!

    –

  • Writer Wednesday – The Power of Proofreading

    Wow!  I just finished reading an e-book and have never been so overwhelmed by typographical errors in my life.  Never have I seen so many mistakes, to the point that they took me out of the story.  Who edited this?  The Three Stooges?

    Interestingly, the title was a re-release from something published in 2008.  Not knowing if this could possibly have anything to do with the problem (which seems unlikely), I can’t help commenting that it felt at times like the writer’s first language is something other than English.  There were wrong tenses, misused words, missing words, extra words – you name it.

    The story itself was very enjoyable, by an author whose writing I greatly enjoy and admire.  And yet, sadly, I am likely never to read the tale again for all the annoyances.  Too bad I can’t go into my Kindle Fire and fix the issues.  Wouldn’t that be nice?

    As for the names of story and author, I’ll keep those to myself.  Additionally, I’ll cross my fingers to never find something so botched again.  Now I’m going to read this several times before posting and try to make sure I don’t make any of the same mistakes!

  • Writer Wednesday – Chapter Titles

    As both an avid reader and fledgling writer, I often consider the naming of chapters.  By no means do I consider the practice necessary, nor do I see many authors doing so these days.

    There are, however, times when I haven’t been able to help myself.  For example, I once wrote a short story with food items as chapter titles.  Within each chapter I worked that word into the storytelling.  They ultimately tied together as ingredients in a recipe.

    The reason I chose to expound on the issue here, however, is because of an e-book I recently downloaded.  This particular author, who composed a decent tale, took an odd stance on titling.  She actually used the location, month, and year in which the ensuing interval occurs.

    Because the storyline sometimes visited the distant past, that might not have seemed a bad choice.  However, I found that her habit merely pulled me out of the story without purpose.  After all, the flashbacks were just that – flashes – and always appeared in italics.  I can’t think of one instance where the title came from the past, either, while the timeline progressed naturally from the end of the previous chapter.

    I’ll definitely consider this experience for my future writings.  What is your opinion?  Do you like chapter titles?  Do you use them?  Or perhaps I’m odd for even considering the point.  Please let me know what you think!

  • 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!