I like lists. I like making lists of things to do for the day, the week, the month, the year. Lists of stories I have in various stages of progress. Christmas lists. Lists of meals for the week. Grocery lists. I get so much satisfaction out of crossing completed items off my list that I will write something down that I have already done just so I can cross it off. It's an illness, I know.
So, in the spirit of lists, here are some of the creative endeavors I've been involved in since my last post. Photos to follow at a later date since one of the things on my new list of things to learn is how to download and print photos off our new camera. I believe my 12-year old knows how. . .
1. Revised and sent a story off to www.literarymama.com. Great on-line journal so check it out. Should hear back within 3 months.
2. Learned to solder. Created two pendants that I then turned into necklaces. I designed two collages for each and sandwiched them between glass slides, taped them, then soldered the edges, making a frame, soldered jump rings on and ta-da- a necklace. Now I just need to get my own supplies so I can do it at home.
3. Did a major revision on an old story, workshopped it today. Attempted to start the rewrite when I got home earlier but decided I just need a little bit of breathing space on this one for now. Trying to sort out the conflicting comments which were all valid and thoughtful.
4. Spent 7 hours yesterday teaching some friends to collage while creating my own assemblage. It is now hanging up in our living room but after looking at it I decided to "revise" it. I am going to take the wings off and create new ones, bigger and separate from the main piece. Each one will stand on its own but all hang together on the wall creating one piece of art.
5. Morning pages most mornings.
6. Yoga most mornings.
7. Worked out all but 2 days.
8. Did the first draft of a monthly 12-page newsletter.
9. Read 5-10 pages of Proust most weekday mornings. ("Swann's Way")
10. Read every single story in the "The Best American Short Stories 2006."
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Sunday, October 08, 2006
The Key to Writing
All I can say is thank God for my writer's group and their objective eyes reading my stories. I spent all week immersed in a major rewrite that I thought I had pretty much nailed. Uh, not so much. It turns out there was too much residue left in from the old version and it marred this draft, resulting in murky motives and shakey dispositions in characters that I didn't intend. So I am mulling new possibilites, churning what-ifs to see what happens. Which leads me to this: I have discovered the key to writing. Let me clue you in.
There are two actually. The first is one you hear over and over but ignore in hopes that they are all wrong and that you really can learn to write through some sort of osmosis. Well, you can't. So the first secret is to write. To show up on a regular basis. Every day if possible which I have since September 1 when my great novel writing challenge began. It's cliché but true: writing begets writing.
Secret number two: walking. There is just something about the rhythm of walking that allows all those characters and scenes you've been pouring onto the page because you've been showing up everyday, to settle and shift into new patterns, unlocking places in the story that were previously stagnant. The movement of walking allows your story to move. Again, this is something that you cannot just take my word on. You need to experience it yourself. This week during one of my walk so many of the scenes that had been flashbacks suddenly became part of the current story. Then today, after my workshop, I went for a 45 minute walk around Kensington lake where blue water shimmered against the backdrop of fiery leaves and white sailboats. I got back to my car, grabbed a notebook and sat at a picnic table and scribbled two pages worth of what-if questions. Now I may not use all of them but they are enough to get my story moving again and to get me back into the story.
Go ahead. Show up to that blank page every day this week, even if you don't know what happens next. Especially if you don't know what happens next. Then walk. Carry the story with you and walk in silence. No tunes. No books on tape. Just you and the story. See what happens.
QUOTE
Every moment is enormous, and it is all we have.
- from "Long Quiet highway"
There are two actually. The first is one you hear over and over but ignore in hopes that they are all wrong and that you really can learn to write through some sort of osmosis. Well, you can't. So the first secret is to write. To show up on a regular basis. Every day if possible which I have since September 1 when my great novel writing challenge began. It's cliché but true: writing begets writing.
Secret number two: walking. There is just something about the rhythm of walking that allows all those characters and scenes you've been pouring onto the page because you've been showing up everyday, to settle and shift into new patterns, unlocking places in the story that were previously stagnant. The movement of walking allows your story to move. Again, this is something that you cannot just take my word on. You need to experience it yourself. This week during one of my walk so many of the scenes that had been flashbacks suddenly became part of the current story. Then today, after my workshop, I went for a 45 minute walk around Kensington lake where blue water shimmered against the backdrop of fiery leaves and white sailboats. I got back to my car, grabbed a notebook and sat at a picnic table and scribbled two pages worth of what-if questions. Now I may not use all of them but they are enough to get my story moving again and to get me back into the story.
Go ahead. Show up to that blank page every day this week, even if you don't know what happens next. Especially if you don't know what happens next. Then walk. Carry the story with you and walk in silence. No tunes. No books on tape. Just you and the story. See what happens.
QUOTE
Every moment is enormous, and it is all we have.
- from "Long Quiet highway"
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Still Filling Pages
WRITING ACCOUNTABILITY
The new structure appears to be working. I went to Starbucks on Sunday with my daughter. She did her homework while I did several timed writes, filling at least ten pages in my notebook which is the only point- to just fill up pages.
A few of my favorite books for pulling writing prompts from:
"The Writer's Book of Days' by Judy Reeves
"The Pocket Muse" by Monica Wood
"Five Minute Fiction" by Roberta Allen
"The Writer's Book of Matches- 1,001 Prompts to Ignite your Fiction"- by the staff of "fresh boiled peanuts"
This week I've been working on a major revision of an old story. I just finished a draft about five minutes ago. It's about 6400 words. I'll take a fresh look at it tomorrow and fix any glaring inconsistencies before sending it out to my writer's group for our meeting on Sunday. Today I put in about four hours. Yesterday two and a half. Monday about one and a half, and much of that time was spent culling through old files, trying to find a story I felt a spark with and could revise in less than five days. Of course I did all this while doing laundry, fixing meals, running to Jump Rope practice, gymnastics, vlounteering at school during lunch recess for mileage club, helping with homework, signing school papers and caring for the new kitty that showed up on our back deck. Will have to post a photo of her. Too too adorable. Named her Tallulah. Lulu for short. And although cat number one, Zoey, hates her living guts, Lulu still tries to play with her.
READING NEWS
Just finished the new one by Cormac McCarthy called"The Road". It's the first time I've read him and I was blown away. It tells a horrifying but oddly beautiful story of a postapocolyptic America. I especially loved how the prose echoed the physical and emotional landscape of the story- bleak, sparse but hopeful. I literally held a pencil as I read so I could underline certain sentences that took my breath away.
"He thought each memory recalled must do some violence to its origins."
"Nights dark beyond darkness and the days more gray each one than what had gone before. Like the onset of some cold glaucoma dimming away the world."
The whole novel is filled with jewels like these.
The other book I picked up after "The Road" is "Running with Scissors" by Augusten Burroughs. Talk about two books that mess with your mind! It's been on my bookshelf for a long time but now that the movie is coming out I need to read it. I overheard a woman comment at a bookstore last week that she read the first nineteen pages before throwing it across the room in disgust. Hearing that made me even more curious. I am well past page nineteen and if she was disgusted by those few pages then it's a good thing she put it down. I don't find it disgusting but it is extremely disconcerting especially knowing that it is a memoir. And in spite of the bad rap of that genre lately, I am inclined to give the writer the benefit of the doubt until shown otherwise.
RANDOM NEWS
I believe that registration is now open for anyone wishing to participate in the official Novel Writing Month that starts on November 1. Check out their website at www.nanowrimo.org
QUOTE
A writer's path includes concentration, slowing down, commitment, awareness, lonliness, faith, a breakdown of ordinary perceptions.
- from "Thunder and Lightning"
The new structure appears to be working. I went to Starbucks on Sunday with my daughter. She did her homework while I did several timed writes, filling at least ten pages in my notebook which is the only point- to just fill up pages.
A few of my favorite books for pulling writing prompts from:
"The Writer's Book of Days' by Judy Reeves
"The Pocket Muse" by Monica Wood
"Five Minute Fiction" by Roberta Allen
"The Writer's Book of Matches- 1,001 Prompts to Ignite your Fiction"- by the staff of "fresh boiled peanuts"
This week I've been working on a major revision of an old story. I just finished a draft about five minutes ago. It's about 6400 words. I'll take a fresh look at it tomorrow and fix any glaring inconsistencies before sending it out to my writer's group for our meeting on Sunday. Today I put in about four hours. Yesterday two and a half. Monday about one and a half, and much of that time was spent culling through old files, trying to find a story I felt a spark with and could revise in less than five days. Of course I did all this while doing laundry, fixing meals, running to Jump Rope practice, gymnastics, vlounteering at school during lunch recess for mileage club, helping with homework, signing school papers and caring for the new kitty that showed up on our back deck. Will have to post a photo of her. Too too adorable. Named her Tallulah. Lulu for short. And although cat number one, Zoey, hates her living guts, Lulu still tries to play with her.
READING NEWS
Just finished the new one by Cormac McCarthy called"The Road". It's the first time I've read him and I was blown away. It tells a horrifying but oddly beautiful story of a postapocolyptic America. I especially loved how the prose echoed the physical and emotional landscape of the story- bleak, sparse but hopeful. I literally held a pencil as I read so I could underline certain sentences that took my breath away.
"He thought each memory recalled must do some violence to its origins."
"Nights dark beyond darkness and the days more gray each one than what had gone before. Like the onset of some cold glaucoma dimming away the world."
The whole novel is filled with jewels like these.
The other book I picked up after "The Road" is "Running with Scissors" by Augusten Burroughs. Talk about two books that mess with your mind! It's been on my bookshelf for a long time but now that the movie is coming out I need to read it. I overheard a woman comment at a bookstore last week that she read the first nineteen pages before throwing it across the room in disgust. Hearing that made me even more curious. I am well past page nineteen and if she was disgusted by those few pages then it's a good thing she put it down. I don't find it disgusting but it is extremely disconcerting especially knowing that it is a memoir. And in spite of the bad rap of that genre lately, I am inclined to give the writer the benefit of the doubt until shown otherwise.
RANDOM NEWS
I believe that registration is now open for anyone wishing to participate in the official Novel Writing Month that starts on November 1. Check out their website at www.nanowrimo.org
QUOTE
A writer's path includes concentration, slowing down, commitment, awareness, lonliness, faith, a breakdown of ordinary perceptions.
- from "Thunder and Lightning"
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Needed: a new structure
I have deemed this draft of the novel done. I need to let it sit now for a week or two before looking at it with fresh eyes and seeing what the hell I have actually written.
Which leaves me without the structure that was so vital for this last month of prolific writing productivity. So I need a new structure. A new plan. And this is it: on the weekends I am going to take a break from writing on any specific piece. Not from writing itself. The weekend is for playing. For freewriting and just filling up pages. I did 2 twenty-minute writes today. The topics were:
1. The Woman I Kept to Myself (from the title of a book of poetry by Julia Alvarez)
2. What was it that I wanted? (from a line in one of her poems)
I have 9 hand-written pages and it was so much fun to just let my mind wander and roam without a specific goal in sight, only to keep my hand moving for 20 full minutes.
My goal this week is to get a story ready for my workshop on Sunday. 2 hours (at least) of revision daily. It won't feel as productive as the 2000 words a day was. That was a straight ahead no matter what goal. Revision is less linear. More of a spiral process so I think the time quota instead of pages or words will work. We'll see.
Now I am going down to our art space in the basment for more creativity with k. She is finally feeling better. The fever broke and she can eat real food again.
Quote:
If you want to see your own face, if you want to drop off the old yellow coat of yourself, pick up the pen.
- from a symposium on writing and zen.
I love the line "the old yellow coat of yourself." That could be a writing topic for tomorrow.
And for more inspiration, check out this link:
http://www.laserrania.com/odysseys/houston_why_i_write.html
It's an essay by Pam Houston.
Which leaves me without the structure that was so vital for this last month of prolific writing productivity. So I need a new structure. A new plan. And this is it: on the weekends I am going to take a break from writing on any specific piece. Not from writing itself. The weekend is for playing. For freewriting and just filling up pages. I did 2 twenty-minute writes today. The topics were:
1. The Woman I Kept to Myself (from the title of a book of poetry by Julia Alvarez)
2. What was it that I wanted? (from a line in one of her poems)
I have 9 hand-written pages and it was so much fun to just let my mind wander and roam without a specific goal in sight, only to keep my hand moving for 20 full minutes.
My goal this week is to get a story ready for my workshop on Sunday. 2 hours (at least) of revision daily. It won't feel as productive as the 2000 words a day was. That was a straight ahead no matter what goal. Revision is less linear. More of a spiral process so I think the time quota instead of pages or words will work. We'll see.
Now I am going down to our art space in the basment for more creativity with k. She is finally feeling better. The fever broke and she can eat real food again.
Quote:
If you want to see your own face, if you want to drop off the old yellow coat of yourself, pick up the pen.
- from a symposium on writing and zen.
I love the line "the old yellow coat of yourself." That could be a writing topic for tomorrow.
And for more inspiration, check out this link:
http://www.laserrania.com/odysseys/houston_why_i_write.html
It's an essay by Pam Houston.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Day twenty-eight
Word count: 52,327
Quote:
Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open.
- from "Wild Mind"
Not much of a difference in word count between today and yesterday. A little less than 200 words but I'm amazed I got that much in considering I had to go pick up k. at school because she was sick. I squeezed in another Dr. appointment I already had for e. to check out her ankle that has been hurting for a month. After an hour and a half at the dr. they sent us to the urgent care for x-rays of the ankle and to the pharmacy to help soothe the wicked viral infection for k. She just had some broth and a pill and now needs to gargle with benadryl and maalox- yummy... Obviously she will not be going to school tomorrow and the dr. said to plan for a rough weekend. Perfect...
Oh, and I've always loved the above quote from N.G. My writing has all kinds of energy when I remember to do that.
Quote:
Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open.
- from "Wild Mind"
Not much of a difference in word count between today and yesterday. A little less than 200 words but I'm amazed I got that much in considering I had to go pick up k. at school because she was sick. I squeezed in another Dr. appointment I already had for e. to check out her ankle that has been hurting for a month. After an hour and a half at the dr. they sent us to the urgent care for x-rays of the ankle and to the pharmacy to help soothe the wicked viral infection for k. She just had some broth and a pill and now needs to gargle with benadryl and maalox- yummy... Obviously she will not be going to school tomorrow and the dr. said to plan for a rough weekend. Perfect...
Oh, and I've always loved the above quote from N.G. My writing has all kinds of energy when I remember to do that.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Day twenty-seven
Word count: 52,138
Quote: Follow what you love and it will take you where you need to go.
- from a symposium on writing an Zen
I think that maybe I have completed this first draft. It's far from done and there is so much to flesh out in the middle but a first line - perhap "the" first line" came to me as I was writing today so I feel it is time to swing back around to the beginning of the story. I thought I might want a break from it before tackling the rewrite but maybe not.
Quote: Follow what you love and it will take you where you need to go.
- from a symposium on writing an Zen
I think that maybe I have completed this first draft. It's far from done and there is so much to flesh out in the middle but a first line - perhap "the" first line" came to me as I was writing today so I feel it is time to swing back around to the beginning of the story. I thought I might want a break from it before tackling the rewrite but maybe not.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Day Twenty-Six
Word count: 50,142
Writing is a way to connect with our own minds, to discover what we really think, see, and feel, rather than what we think we should think, see, and feel.
-from "Long Quiet Highway"
Yes- that is not a typo up there- I did pass the 50,00 word mark today. Three days early. But it still isn't quite wrapped up. I don't expect it to be a completely finished, polished story but I do want the dangling threads to begin to come to some kind of closure. Most of my stories do not have neat and tidy endings so that's not what I'm going for but maybe by tomorrow I will reach a point where I feel that this particular draft is done. It reminds me of a class I took where we had to write a complete short story in three to five pages and I always struggled with that. It can take me that many pages to begin to learn what the story is about. So it's like that but on a larger scale, trying to show a complete story arc within 50,000 words. I can see the benefit which is why I am scrambling to get it to a kind of closure. I want to be able to look back at the story with a fresh eye and see a story that then needs to be fleshed out. And who knows- maybe the fleshing out will take the story in a completely different direction which will then lead me to a totally new ending.
Writing is a way to connect with our own minds, to discover what we really think, see, and feel, rather than what we think we should think, see, and feel.
-from "Long Quiet Highway"
Yes- that is not a typo up there- I did pass the 50,00 word mark today. Three days early. But it still isn't quite wrapped up. I don't expect it to be a completely finished, polished story but I do want the dangling threads to begin to come to some kind of closure. Most of my stories do not have neat and tidy endings so that's not what I'm going for but maybe by tomorrow I will reach a point where I feel that this particular draft is done. It reminds me of a class I took where we had to write a complete short story in three to five pages and I always struggled with that. It can take me that many pages to begin to learn what the story is about. So it's like that but on a larger scale, trying to show a complete story arc within 50,000 words. I can see the benefit which is why I am scrambling to get it to a kind of closure. I want to be able to look back at the story with a fresh eye and see a story that then needs to be fleshed out. And who knows- maybe the fleshing out will take the story in a completely different direction which will then lead me to a totally new ending.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Day Twenty-Five
Word count: 48,438
Quote:
Writing is a great journey. It is a path with the possibility of making us free. And it can do all of this while you sit at a desk.
- from "Wild Mind"
New scenes keep popping into my head and I frantically type them in, adding more and more words to this novel, knowing that it is not in any kind of sequence that makes any kind of sense yet. That will come during the revision process. I just keep telling myself that this is the down draft. I am just getting everything that I know down. The next phase is the up draft, where I fix it up, deepening what I know, adding layers. I have read a few pages here and there and while it is far from perfect I can feel some sparks there on the page. It is the kind of book I would be drawn to read.
Quote:
Writing is a great journey. It is a path with the possibility of making us free. And it can do all of this while you sit at a desk.
- from "Wild Mind"
New scenes keep popping into my head and I frantically type them in, adding more and more words to this novel, knowing that it is not in any kind of sequence that makes any kind of sense yet. That will come during the revision process. I just keep telling myself that this is the down draft. I am just getting everything that I know down. The next phase is the up draft, where I fix it up, deepening what I know, adding layers. I have read a few pages here and there and while it is far from perfect I can feel some sparks there on the page. It is the kind of book I would be drawn to read.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Day Twenty-four
Word count: 45,347
Quote:
The reader wants to come along with you. Take her.
- from Thunder and Lightning
That's it...long day.
Quote:
The reader wants to come along with you. Take her.
- from Thunder and Lightning
That's it...long day.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Day Twenty-Three
Word count: 45,347
Quote: Our voice emerges when we're jolted, loosened, connected to ourselves in a way that's bigger than ourselves.
- from "Thunder and Lightning"
I didn't get a chance to sit down here at my computer until 7:00 tonight. Today we cleaned the house and tackled the basement which is also our art area. Then I worked out, made lunch and went grocery shopping. Got home just before 5:00 when the girls' sleepover started. So now the house is filled with five "tweens" but I managed to sneak in here and add another thousand words to my story.
Quote: Our voice emerges when we're jolted, loosened, connected to ourselves in a way that's bigger than ourselves.
- from "Thunder and Lightning"
I didn't get a chance to sit down here at my computer until 7:00 tonight. Today we cleaned the house and tackled the basement which is also our art area. Then I worked out, made lunch and went grocery shopping. Got home just before 5:00 when the girls' sleepover started. So now the house is filled with five "tweens" but I managed to sneak in here and add another thousand words to my story.
Friday, September 22, 2006
Day Twenty-Two
Word count: 44,266
Quote:
Your mind has its own paths to travel. Just step out of its way.
- from Long Quiet Highway
Just squeezed in over a thousand words today. I showed up but nothing magical happened. I probably won't even use what I wrote today. It was all cheesey and trite. But at least I wrote it and got it out of the way so maybe something better will appear tomorrow. I think I am letting a certain idea I had influence the story. This particular plot line feels forced. Maybe I just need to let it go. Or as the quote says: step out of my own way.
Not sure where the day even went today. I did talk on the phone to my best friend from high school for an hour and a half, washed and changed all the sheets on the beds, did other laundry and even went Christmas shopping, bought two presents and wrapped them when I got home. So all in all a very productive and satisfying day.
Here's to the first day of the last week of this particular challenge but really, it's not the end. It's like a diet is never the true answer. There is no quick fix. Sure, I am writing this novel in thirty days but what really matters is what I do on the 31st day. And the day after that. And on and on. It's a matter of staying connected to my writing on a daily basis. It's a matter of showing up even when -or especially when- I have no idea what happens next. It means finishing this draft, putting it aside, revising an older story, getting some stories circulating out there again then going back to this novel and reading it with some clarity and distance and starting the process of writing it all over again. Each day I begin again. And again and again...
Quote:
Your mind has its own paths to travel. Just step out of its way.
- from Long Quiet Highway
Just squeezed in over a thousand words today. I showed up but nothing magical happened. I probably won't even use what I wrote today. It was all cheesey and trite. But at least I wrote it and got it out of the way so maybe something better will appear tomorrow. I think I am letting a certain idea I had influence the story. This particular plot line feels forced. Maybe I just need to let it go. Or as the quote says: step out of my own way.
Not sure where the day even went today. I did talk on the phone to my best friend from high school for an hour and a half, washed and changed all the sheets on the beds, did other laundry and even went Christmas shopping, bought two presents and wrapped them when I got home. So all in all a very productive and satisfying day.
Here's to the first day of the last week of this particular challenge but really, it's not the end. It's like a diet is never the true answer. There is no quick fix. Sure, I am writing this novel in thirty days but what really matters is what I do on the 31st day. And the day after that. And on and on. It's a matter of staying connected to my writing on a daily basis. It's a matter of showing up even when -or especially when- I have no idea what happens next. It means finishing this draft, putting it aside, revising an older story, getting some stories circulating out there again then going back to this novel and reading it with some clarity and distance and starting the process of writing it all over again. Each day I begin again. And again and again...
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Day Twenty-One
Word count: 43, 254
Quote:
The more deeply we can allow ourselves to sink into the darkness of our own selves, the more we can settle into the mind of being a writer.
- from "Long Quiet Highway"
As I close in on the final 10,00 words of this draft I am frantically fitting in scenes of conflict and escalating the trouble in my characters' lives. Much of the revision process will involve the pacing of the conflicts, not revealing too much or too little too late or too soon.
Quote:
The more deeply we can allow ourselves to sink into the darkness of our own selves, the more we can settle into the mind of being a writer.
- from "Long Quiet Highway"
As I close in on the final 10,00 words of this draft I am frantically fitting in scenes of conflict and escalating the trouble in my characters' lives. Much of the revision process will involve the pacing of the conflicts, not revealing too much or too little too late or too soon.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Day Twenty
Word count: 41,093
Quote:
Writing is the willingness to see.
- from "Long Quiet Highway"
I just printed out the pages I have so far (130), three-hole punched them and put them in a binder along with all the scrap papers with my precious notes. I can see the end in sight and know that I will need to be semi-organized to tackle the revsion process. I didn't really find my structure until I was a good 50 pages into it. After this initial draft is done, I need to map out a timeline to hang in my office here to refer to as I rewrite. Right now I am just getting the scenes down as they come to me, knowing that the sequence can be fixed later. Some scenes I am writing, knowing they are a little too cheesey or melodramatic but I put them in anyway. It's all about just getting it "down" now in order to have something to fix "up" later.
Quote:
Writing is the willingness to see.
- from "Long Quiet Highway"
I just printed out the pages I have so far (130), three-hole punched them and put them in a binder along with all the scrap papers with my precious notes. I can see the end in sight and know that I will need to be semi-organized to tackle the revsion process. I didn't really find my structure until I was a good 50 pages into it. After this initial draft is done, I need to map out a timeline to hang in my office here to refer to as I rewrite. Right now I am just getting the scenes down as they come to me, knowing that the sequence can be fixed later. Some scenes I am writing, knowing they are a little too cheesey or melodramatic but I put them in anyway. It's all about just getting it "down" now in order to have something to fix "up" later.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Day Nineteen
Word count: 38, 773
Quote:
When we actually write and lift that heavy pen to the vast page, beings seen and unseen help us.
- from "Wild Mind"
The pen felt very heavy and the page extremely vast today but I actually sat down and wrote and those beings appeared. Go figure...
Quote:
When we actually write and lift that heavy pen to the vast page, beings seen and unseen help us.
- from "Wild Mind"
The pen felt very heavy and the page extremely vast today but I actually sat down and wrote and those beings appeared. Go figure...
Monday, September 18, 2006
Day Eighteen
I waited until the last possible moment to start writing today- 2:00 and I just finsished as daughter number one got off the bus a few minutes ago. It is a cold, rainy, dreary day. Perfect for curling up with a good book. But I did finally haul myself to the computer, adding some 2000 words to my story. I wasn't sure where I was starting today but it ended up in an interesting place. A couple things changed and I wasn't sure how that would work but I followed it anyway and it feels inevitable. And I only found that out by showing up. I know I sound like a broken record but it's the lesson I keep having pounded into me day after day and it is the lesson I so needed to learn. And will continue to have to learn over and over again.
Total word count: 36, 241
Quote:
When we write we begin to taste the texture of our own mind.
-from "Long Quiet Highway"
Total word count: 36, 241
Quote:
When we write we begin to taste the texture of our own mind.
-from "Long Quiet Highway"
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Day Seventeen
I am tired, cranky and not focused today but I still ground out just over a thousand words. I can't emphasize enough how important it has been for me to show up everyday to this story. To my writing. It keeps me connected to it. It is always there, wandering around my subconscious, which is why I have so many scraps of paper with little what-if notes to myself scribbled on them, most of which I am incorporating into the story.
Total word count: 34, 184
Quote:
Each time we sit down to write we have to be willing to let go and enter something bigger than ourselves.
- from "Long Quiet Highway"
New current working title: "A Kind of Shelter"
Off to do the grocery shopping for the week...
Total word count: 34, 184
Quote:
Each time we sit down to write we have to be willing to let go and enter something bigger than ourselves.
- from "Long Quiet Highway"
New current working title: "A Kind of Shelter"
Off to do the grocery shopping for the week...
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Day Sixteen
I'm finding myself really enjoying the expanse of a novel. I love having all this space to roam freely in and out of my character's heads, lives and pasts. I wrote part of a novel eight or so years ago then freaked myself out and decided I didn't know what I was doing and maybe I should focus on short stories just to learn about the craft of fiction in a smaller form. Since then I've written forty or so stories. So I am used to the tightness and control of the short story form. But now, especially making this mad dash through 50,000 in thrity days, I am feeling free to just let it rip and see where it takes me. It is an amazing ride.
My goal this weekend is to do 1000 words each day. Just to stay connected to the story but letting myself have a bit of a break.
Total word count: 33, 161
"Trust your own mind."
- from "Long Quiet Highway"
My goal this weekend is to do 1000 words each day. Just to stay connected to the story but letting myself have a bit of a break.
Total word count: 33, 161
"Trust your own mind."
- from "Long Quiet Highway"
Friday, September 15, 2006
Day Fifteen
It's amazing how the more I write, the more material is churned up and needs to be written. Even at the movie theater yesterday I had to take out the notebook I carry dedicated to this novel and there in the dark scribbled two pages of ideas that came to me as I was watching the movie. I looked at them this morning and not only can I actually read them, but they all seem to still be good ideas.
I thought I was going to describe the house today but Lucy's scene, that I thought had ended yeseterday, went on for the full 2000 words today. Now, it won't all stay in the order I've written it in this draft, but most of it will find a place- somewhere I think. I hope.
I now realize how writing everyday takes a certain physical readiness. During these last fifteen days I have been eating really healthy food which,for me, means not too much sugar; working out 30-60 every day; plus 20 minutes of yoga and meditation early in the morning; maybe walking again in the late afternoon or early evening where I usually get some good ideas for the story; and I've been in bed by 9:00 most nights. If not for that structure to support me, I doubt I could continue at this pace.
Total word count: 32, 136
Quote:
"Writing brings you back to the natural state of mind, the wilderness of your mind where there are no refined rows of gladiolas."
- from "Wild Mind"
I love the line: there are no refined rows of gladiolas
Off to another mid-afternoon flick. Aaah... the sweet rewards of slowly reaching my goals.
I thought I was going to describe the house today but Lucy's scene, that I thought had ended yeseterday, went on for the full 2000 words today. Now, it won't all stay in the order I've written it in this draft, but most of it will find a place- somewhere I think. I hope.
I now realize how writing everyday takes a certain physical readiness. During these last fifteen days I have been eating really healthy food which,for me, means not too much sugar; working out 30-60 every day; plus 20 minutes of yoga and meditation early in the morning; maybe walking again in the late afternoon or early evening where I usually get some good ideas for the story; and I've been in bed by 9:00 most nights. If not for that structure to support me, I doubt I could continue at this pace.
Total word count: 32, 136
Quote:
"Writing brings you back to the natural state of mind, the wilderness of your mind where there are no refined rows of gladiolas."
- from "Wild Mind"
I love the line: there are no refined rows of gladiolas
Off to another mid-afternoon flick. Aaah... the sweet rewards of slowly reaching my goals.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Day Fourteen
Well, I set a goal of breaking 30,00 words today and I just reached 30, 024. According to the schedule in the book I should reach 30,000 by day 18 so I am 4 days ahead of schedule.
For a reward I am treating myself to a couple of movies. Today I am seeing "The illusionist" and tomorrow it is "The Last Kiss" with Zach Braff. I loved his movie "Garden State". We'll see if this new one is just as good.
Quote:
"Don't wait for 100% acceptance of yourself before you write,or even 80%. Just write. The process of writing will teach you about acceptance."
- from "Wild Mind"
I am just writng everyday. Just showing up and seeing what happens. Accepting that whatever gets written that day, even if it doesn't survive the final cut, it still was necessary to get me to the end. Everything I write tells me more of what I need to know about the story and characters. So accept it all, even if as you write you know the scene is a little sentimental or the dialogue a little cheesy. It can all be fixed later. Now is the time to just write.
For a reward I am treating myself to a couple of movies. Today I am seeing "The illusionist" and tomorrow it is "The Last Kiss" with Zach Braff. I loved his movie "Garden State". We'll see if this new one is just as good.
Quote:
"Don't wait for 100% acceptance of yourself before you write,or even 80%. Just write. The process of writing will teach you about acceptance."
- from "Wild Mind"
I am just writng everyday. Just showing up and seeing what happens. Accepting that whatever gets written that day, even if it doesn't survive the final cut, it still was necessary to get me to the end. Everything I write tells me more of what I need to know about the story and characters. So accept it all, even if as you write you know the scene is a little sentimental or the dialogue a little cheesy. It can all be fixed later. Now is the time to just write.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Day Thirteen
Got my latest start yet. Didn't sit down at my computer until 1:00. But it's 3:11 now and I just added another 2000 words to my novel. Not sure if this scene even works. Some of it feels forced and trite but at least I showed up. That's what this little experiment is all about.
Total word count: 27,343
Quote:
Ask yourself, "What do I love deeply? What has brought me to my knees? What has totally broken me?" The combination of these answers can give you a voice.
- from a symposium on writng and Zen
Total word count: 27,343
Quote:
Ask yourself, "What do I love deeply? What has brought me to my knees? What has totally broken me?" The combination of these answers can give you a voice.
- from a symposium on writng and Zen
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