Today is the last full day until my vacation starts on Friday. I am over the moon with excitement and anticipation for my vacation this year!
Of course that brings up the question—Should I write on vacation or take a break and recharge? I've never been one to be set on rules about my writing. I write when I write. When I feel inspired I can write for hours at a time. When I’m struggling I try to write for at least five to ten minutes and then stop. The only thing I do try and continue to do every day is to write for a little bit.
On my vacation that changes and more times than not all of my jobs, writing included, get pushed back to make room for fun, relaxation and simply resting. It is the time to be with my family, give myself time to catch my breath and make memories.
If I get truly zinged by a wonderful idea I will rush for my notebook, jot it down or record it on my phone for use later. So I don’t ignore everything-I just don’t explore them on vacation.
When I get back and resume my writing full-time I am always amazed at how much energy I have and how the enthusiasm has returned full-force. The ideas and words just seem to flow.
So here’s to everyone’s summer vacation this year! I hope you too find a chance to recharge and happy summer!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Spark of Creativity
This weekend my middle daughter asked me why I wanted to write. I gave her the usual answer of how much I love to be able to express myself, having something that has lived in my imagination come alive and take form on paper (or screen) and because it makes me smile. She nodded and we went about our Saturday. There was something about the question that stuck with me though. Something more about why I wanted to write.
What had been that initial spark? Was there one thing that jumpstarted my writing? I thought about it overnight and into Father’s Day. As we waited for our table for our Father’s Day dinner it hit me. I knew exactly the moment I wanted to be a writer. I was reading Go Ask Alice by Anonymous when I was eleven.
Yes eleven was probably a bit young for that particular book but I was blessed with a mother who didn’t really believe in restricting books and the arts from her children based upon age. I remember the day I got Go Ask Alice. I had gone to a garage sale with my grandmother. She was an avid glass and Avon bottle collector and we scoured the garage sales for finds. While she was inspecting a table of breakables (as we call them), I was immediately drawn to the huge table of books stacked upon one another. Now, if I could have had my way, we would have taken that whole table home. However, as it was my grandmother and being concerned with cost (can you imagine?) I was limited to one book.
I spent at least an hour reading the backs of the books and putting them in three piles, Keep, Nope, and Maybe. Then I narrowed through the Maybe and Keep piles until I was down to two books, Go Ask Alice and Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews. I asked for both of them and was told quickly it wasn’t going to happen. Finally I left with Go Ask Alice. I devoured that book in one sitting. I didn’t move until I finished the book.
That night I put pen to paper and started writing down ideas, thoughts, cares, concerns, characters, etc., anything and everything. I haven’t stopped yet. I never really thought of it as a career though, more of a love. It was my release and a time when my imagination could be allowed to run wild. I was one of those kids that adults would say they had their heads in the clouds. I daydreamed while I walked.
Go Ask Alice is still listed as being Anonymous though now is mostly believed to be by Beatrice Sparks. It is listed as a work of fiction though was presented much differently in the early 1970’s when it was published. It deals with a fifteen year old girl’s battle with addiction and the myriad of problems that comes with this battle.
It completely captured my attention and had me paying attention to people around me from that moment on. I started to “people watch” and speculate on what their stories were. I wondered about everyone from the grandmotherly lady behind us in the shopping line to the boy who sat behind me in class and pulled on my braid during silent reading. I started writing down those musings and giving them voices.
I still have that much battered copy of the book and am planning to re-read it this summer. I wonder what it will spark this time!
What had been that initial spark? Was there one thing that jumpstarted my writing? I thought about it overnight and into Father’s Day. As we waited for our table for our Father’s Day dinner it hit me. I knew exactly the moment I wanted to be a writer. I was reading Go Ask Alice by Anonymous when I was eleven.
Yes eleven was probably a bit young for that particular book but I was blessed with a mother who didn’t really believe in restricting books and the arts from her children based upon age. I remember the day I got Go Ask Alice. I had gone to a garage sale with my grandmother. She was an avid glass and Avon bottle collector and we scoured the garage sales for finds. While she was inspecting a table of breakables (as we call them), I was immediately drawn to the huge table of books stacked upon one another. Now, if I could have had my way, we would have taken that whole table home. However, as it was my grandmother and being concerned with cost (can you imagine?) I was limited to one book.
I spent at least an hour reading the backs of the books and putting them in three piles, Keep, Nope, and Maybe. Then I narrowed through the Maybe and Keep piles until I was down to two books, Go Ask Alice and Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews. I asked for both of them and was told quickly it wasn’t going to happen. Finally I left with Go Ask Alice. I devoured that book in one sitting. I didn’t move until I finished the book.
That night I put pen to paper and started writing down ideas, thoughts, cares, concerns, characters, etc., anything and everything. I haven’t stopped yet. I never really thought of it as a career though, more of a love. It was my release and a time when my imagination could be allowed to run wild. I was one of those kids that adults would say they had their heads in the clouds. I daydreamed while I walked.
Go Ask Alice is still listed as being Anonymous though now is mostly believed to be by Beatrice Sparks. It is listed as a work of fiction though was presented much differently in the early 1970’s when it was published. It deals with a fifteen year old girl’s battle with addiction and the myriad of problems that comes with this battle.
It completely captured my attention and had me paying attention to people around me from that moment on. I started to “people watch” and speculate on what their stories were. I wondered about everyone from the grandmotherly lady behind us in the shopping line to the boy who sat behind me in class and pulled on my braid during silent reading. I started writing down those musings and giving them voices.
I still have that much battered copy of the book and am planning to re-read it this summer. I wonder what it will spark this time!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Last Nerve
Writer’s block, frustration, short attention span, impatience, and lack of sleep. Put those things together and you will have me at least once during the week. On those days I have to find other ways to release my creativity before it threatens to explode and throw creative juices all over the place. Appetizing huh?
Notice how I said one day of the week is normal for me to be completely frozen creatively? Yeah well this week has been particularly rough. I have experienced those things at least four times already this week. I wasn’t feeling my stories-any of the five-and my music was all old and overplayed, well, in short everything was getting on my last nerve.
That poor last nerve, it has been severely tested over the years, but never as badly as this week. So in a last ditch effort to save it I turned to painting my house. Yes, yes, you heard me. I am painting my house. Now it is mid-June in Missouri-usually the weather is pretty and not too warm so painting should be fairly easy. OH NO! Mother Nature decided she needed to take a shot at my last nerve. She has sent scorching humidity-packed days followed by thundering loud rainstorms at night. So painting the outside was out.
AH-HA! I outsmarted the old broad, and decided to paint the inside instead. I have been up to my eye balls in turquoise, pink and purple paint, not to mention spackle compound, tape and paintbrushes. After much ooohhhing and aaahhhing over my daughters' choices for their rooms, I set to working. There is something very calming about painting-until you hit the trim work. My last nerve almost didn’t make it through the trim painting. I do have some very cute pictures of my five year old though who fashioned a WalMart plastic bag into a lovely paint romper, complete with smirk!
So in the middle of this painting I an idea smacked me. It hit me so hard that I had to get off of the ladder, which was killing my feet anyway, so now I have a battered last nerve and sore feet. I ran into the kitchen, grabbed the envelope that my cell phone bill was in and jotted down my idea. So then what happened? I didn’t want to paint anymore, but now I have bedrooms torn apart and have to finish them. Painting is getting on my last nerve----
Notice how I said one day of the week is normal for me to be completely frozen creatively? Yeah well this week has been particularly rough. I have experienced those things at least four times already this week. I wasn’t feeling my stories-any of the five-and my music was all old and overplayed, well, in short everything was getting on my last nerve.
That poor last nerve, it has been severely tested over the years, but never as badly as this week. So in a last ditch effort to save it I turned to painting my house. Yes, yes, you heard me. I am painting my house. Now it is mid-June in Missouri-usually the weather is pretty and not too warm so painting should be fairly easy. OH NO! Mother Nature decided she needed to take a shot at my last nerve. She has sent scorching humidity-packed days followed by thundering loud rainstorms at night. So painting the outside was out.
AH-HA! I outsmarted the old broad, and decided to paint the inside instead. I have been up to my eye balls in turquoise, pink and purple paint, not to mention spackle compound, tape and paintbrushes. After much ooohhhing and aaahhhing over my daughters' choices for their rooms, I set to working. There is something very calming about painting-until you hit the trim work. My last nerve almost didn’t make it through the trim painting. I do have some very cute pictures of my five year old though who fashioned a WalMart plastic bag into a lovely paint romper, complete with smirk!
So in the middle of this painting I an idea smacked me. It hit me so hard that I had to get off of the ladder, which was killing my feet anyway, so now I have a battered last nerve and sore feet. I ran into the kitchen, grabbed the envelope that my cell phone bill was in and jotted down my idea. So then what happened? I didn’t want to paint anymore, but now I have bedrooms torn apart and have to finish them. Painting is getting on my last nerve----
Friday, June 4, 2010
Re-Write Purgatory
As I type this I am in the middle of re-writing my WIP#1 and am knee-deep in choices. What scenes are strong enough to keep versus those that are weak and don’t help the story along? Which dialogue is essential or that dialogue that can be edited out?
Many, many, many times I allow myself to stew on these choices and let them sit in my head for a few days. That way I can go through the various scenarios and endings and decide from there where I would like the story to go. Sometimes I can cut one line of a scene and it suddenly just clicks and I know where I am headed again. Other times it is a whole page or two and I still don’t care for the scene.
At this point I absolutely adore my characters and their story, but I am going to have to make a tough choice on which way the story goes. I had written it to end one way and the more I think about it, the more I don’t care for the ending. So I’ve decided to re-write the entire ending and see if that is more palatable to me.
Re-writes can be both exhilarating and tedious. When a scene clicks the ideas, words and thoughts just seem to flow out of my fingers and onto the screen. Other times it is a slow wade through the muck and mire to get where I need to be. I am great at writing the big picture but details tend to bore me to write. Not a great quality I know. It’s something I’m working on and getting better at. Heck, what can I say, I have to force myself not to read the last chapter of my books for the ending when I get antsy about the way the story is going. I have yet to do that, but the idea is always tempting me.
Re-writes can tend to be overwhelming at times. There are so many ideas, thoughts and scenarios that jumble around in my head and not enough space to utilize them all. When this happens, I open another file that I have labeled IDEAS FOR THE FUTURE and put them in there. I find this to be a great resource for me. Currently I have about five works in progress and I review my written notes and IDEAS folder regularly for inspiration if I feel stuck.
For me re-writes are an opportunity to throw those great memories into a story. Those little details that might stick with a reader. I love when a writer makes a character compatible to me in some way. It could be a gesture such as turning their wedding ring on their finger when impatient, or their quick tongue that unleashes sarcastic clips of speech. I add those details on my re-writes more times than not.
So I’m back to the details today…..Julia, Clint, Sarie, Amie, Cam, Micah and Danjal, here I come!
Many, many, many times I allow myself to stew on these choices and let them sit in my head for a few days. That way I can go through the various scenarios and endings and decide from there where I would like the story to go. Sometimes I can cut one line of a scene and it suddenly just clicks and I know where I am headed again. Other times it is a whole page or two and I still don’t care for the scene.
At this point I absolutely adore my characters and their story, but I am going to have to make a tough choice on which way the story goes. I had written it to end one way and the more I think about it, the more I don’t care for the ending. So I’ve decided to re-write the entire ending and see if that is more palatable to me.
Re-writes can be both exhilarating and tedious. When a scene clicks the ideas, words and thoughts just seem to flow out of my fingers and onto the screen. Other times it is a slow wade through the muck and mire to get where I need to be. I am great at writing the big picture but details tend to bore me to write. Not a great quality I know. It’s something I’m working on and getting better at. Heck, what can I say, I have to force myself not to read the last chapter of my books for the ending when I get antsy about the way the story is going. I have yet to do that, but the idea is always tempting me.
Re-writes can tend to be overwhelming at times. There are so many ideas, thoughts and scenarios that jumble around in my head and not enough space to utilize them all. When this happens, I open another file that I have labeled IDEAS FOR THE FUTURE and put them in there. I find this to be a great resource for me. Currently I have about five works in progress and I review my written notes and IDEAS folder regularly for inspiration if I feel stuck.
For me re-writes are an opportunity to throw those great memories into a story. Those little details that might stick with a reader. I love when a writer makes a character compatible to me in some way. It could be a gesture such as turning their wedding ring on their finger when impatient, or their quick tongue that unleashes sarcastic clips of speech. I add those details on my re-writes more times than not.
So I’m back to the details today…..Julia, Clint, Sarie, Amie, Cam, Micah and Danjal, here I come!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Favorites
This past Saturday my oldest daughter asked me to drive her and two friends to the local mall. I obliged willingly, knowing that my presence would not be required or appreciated and I could slip across the street to the local book store. No children, and a free trip to the book store, who would turn that down? Not me!
As I walked into heaven, also known as the book store to mortals, I inhaled deeply. Have I mentioned my love affair with the written word? If not, I have one. It’s a small one, but intense nonetheless.
I wandered through the aisles, wide-eyed and wistful, mentally adding titles to my “Want” list. My fingers traced the spines of the various titles and my eyes drank in the pretty covers. I am going to need at least two more jobs to pay for the many books on my list. Or my husband is :P.
That’s when I spied it. The very thing I didn’t even know I was looking for. The Summer Reading book table in the center of the main aisle, piled high with the books I’ve loved to read over the years. A Tale of Two Cities, Tom Sawyer, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and so many more. I wanted them all. My head hurt from the many choices, and my hands ended up hurting from picking up book after book and then my arms were aching from the load.
Eventually I settled on four. I bought Catcher in the Rye, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, and The Outsiders. My heart ached every time I had to make a choice between books. I didn’t want to give any of them up. Needless to say, more trips to the book store are planned.
The choices I made were based partly on my two older girls. They both are fanatic readers and have already started summer reading lists for the Mark Twain Awards, but I want them exposed to so many more titles beyond the new ones. I am a strong believer in the classics. They have withstood the test of time for a reason.
I remember the first time I read The Outsiders. I immediately wanted to be a Greaser and fell hard for the Curtis brothers. Wuthering Heights? Catcher in the Rye? Pride and Prejudice? All of the ideas that capture today’s hearts in books can be found in these classics. We may modernize the stories, twist them and flip them a bit, but the foundations are all there for what we continue to write today.
These books have the power to transport you to another time, another place and surround you with people you love, you hate and that you love to hate. How powerful is that for a person, especially a young person?
So this has me to thinking, wondering what other titles I want to have around for my children and myself to enjoy. Any suggestions? I’m making my list and my husband is perusing the want ads as I type!
As I walked into heaven, also known as the book store to mortals, I inhaled deeply. Have I mentioned my love affair with the written word? If not, I have one. It’s a small one, but intense nonetheless.
I wandered through the aisles, wide-eyed and wistful, mentally adding titles to my “Want” list. My fingers traced the spines of the various titles and my eyes drank in the pretty covers. I am going to need at least two more jobs to pay for the many books on my list. Or my husband is :P.
That’s when I spied it. The very thing I didn’t even know I was looking for. The Summer Reading book table in the center of the main aisle, piled high with the books I’ve loved to read over the years. A Tale of Two Cities, Tom Sawyer, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and so many more. I wanted them all. My head hurt from the many choices, and my hands ended up hurting from picking up book after book and then my arms were aching from the load.
Eventually I settled on four. I bought Catcher in the Rye, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, and The Outsiders. My heart ached every time I had to make a choice between books. I didn’t want to give any of them up. Needless to say, more trips to the book store are planned.
The choices I made were based partly on my two older girls. They both are fanatic readers and have already started summer reading lists for the Mark Twain Awards, but I want them exposed to so many more titles beyond the new ones. I am a strong believer in the classics. They have withstood the test of time for a reason.
I remember the first time I read The Outsiders. I immediately wanted to be a Greaser and fell hard for the Curtis brothers. Wuthering Heights? Catcher in the Rye? Pride and Prejudice? All of the ideas that capture today’s hearts in books can be found in these classics. We may modernize the stories, twist them and flip them a bit, but the foundations are all there for what we continue to write today.
These books have the power to transport you to another time, another place and surround you with people you love, you hate and that you love to hate. How powerful is that for a person, especially a young person?
So this has me to thinking, wondering what other titles I want to have around for my children and myself to enjoy. Any suggestions? I’m making my list and my husband is perusing the want ads as I type!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)