“A happy life consists in tranquility of mind.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
I’ve been unplugged quite a bit lately – trying to find a little tranquility. Easier said than done. You would think that would mean that I’ve done lots of writing lately, too. But, sadly, no. I have some time off this week and hope to balance family time with a little “me” time for writing. (One can always hope!)
Have a great week, everyone!
It’s Road Trip Wednesday! This week, the folks over at YA Highway are
asking When you need creative inspiration, where do you go?
In a word: out. The funny thing is, I do it subconsciously and never realized it. But in a pinch, I’ll go out on my deck with my laptop. And if I’m really looking for a change of scenery, and therefore a jostle of my creative juices, I’ll head to the grassy paths and quiet of the woods.
There is a state park just at the edge of town that works perfectly for this. Both pictures in this post were taken there. There are miles of trails where a person can take a hike, stop to look out over the river, or sit on a bench and listen to the wind weaving through the trees.
It’s the perfect place to completely unplug and put my head in a much more quiet place than it’s used to. I don’t necessarily take along a notebook or laptop. It’s just a good thinkin’ place. I unscramble all my thoughts and then dash back home to write down whatever nuggets of wisdom I may have been able to dig up.
Admittedly, I don’t get there as often as I’d like. Especially this summer, when it’s been a hundred-and-billionty-degrees for days on end, it feels like I’ve barely stepped foot outside at all. Here’s looking forward to fall!
Where do you go when you need to find creative inspiration?
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
Like this little guy, who believed in his future outside his safe and sound birdhouse in my backyard. Remember a couple weeks ago when I posted this picture and said that the momma bird wasn’t happy with me because I was getting between her and her babies? The bird in the picture above was one of those babies. They’ve all flown the nest now. And I feel like I’m about to fly the nest, in a way. I found out yesterday that I have been accepted into a group called the MNYA Writers group. I am beyond excited to participate in this group of people whose purpose is encouragement of each other, furthering their craft and cameraderie. It’s another step in the right direction down the path toward improving my writing and publication!
Have a great week everyone – keep believing in the beauty of your dreams.
This week, I got my manuscript back from the fabulous Kris Atkins who graciously agreed to be my critique partner. I’m pretty sure I’m getting the better end of this deal. I haven’t shared my MS with anyone who isn’t related or a friend. So this was a BIG DEAL.
And it was fantastic.
Kris’ comments were insightful and to the point without being harsh. And unbelievably helpful. Some comments pointed out things I hadn’t thought about. Some confirmed fears that I had about the plot, characters, etc. A few of her comments made me totally face-palm. (Note to self: it’s never a good idea to use the same word three times in three consecutive sentences. You knew that already, didn’t you, self? Yeah, I thought so.)
One of her comments got me thinking I need to do a little more homework on the alien race that I created in this MS. I need to create some cultural quirks and every day rituals or habits – build a little more of their back story. So to help brainstorm some ideas, I tapped into my demographic: my 13-year-old daughter. I didn’t regret that decision immediately. But… eventually.
She bombarded me with questions. “Are they humanoid? Bi-pedal?” (Yes, she actually use the word “bi-pedal.”) “What are their houses made out of? Do they eat meat? How do they hunt? Are men dominant over women? How long do they live? What is their planet like? Do they live in deserts? Forests?”
This went on for about half an hour before she broke the proverbial camel’s back with this question: “How do they do their laundry?”
Pffffttt! How should I know how they do their laundry?! Well, the answer is – I should know how they do their laundry, shouldn’t I? I created the race. And even if I’m not going to work laundry day into the story line, I should have some sense of how that gets accomplished. Otherwise, they’re not believable in my head. And if they’re not believable in my head, why would they be believable in my readers’ heads?
Now I’m feeling that I need to back up and do some major character-and-world building exercises.
Fellow writers: I’m curious. How do you build your worlds and your characters? Do you go above and beyond the details that you will actually weave into your story? Do you build entire backstories for your characters or worlds that you may never use simply for the purpose of getting to know your characters/worlds better? How much time is too much time to put into these kinds of exercises?
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt
This wonderful quote is right along the lines of the more colloquial – “Bloom where you are planted.” I don’t know who said that. Hallmark, maybe. Just this week, I had a conversation with a good friend about whether or not pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing would appeal to me. And when I think about it, it kinda does appeal to me. But my gut reaction is that the timing (and the finances) are just not right at the moment. It’s a nice little pipe dream to have, though, while in the meantime, I “do what I can, with what I have, where I am.”
Have a great week, everyone. Go out there and do what you can, with what you have, where ever you are!
(The above photo was taken at a relative’s house. From this angle, it kind of looks like a wall in a secret garden, doesn’t it? It’s really more of a trellis. But, let’s pretend it’s a secret garden.)
“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.” – Maya Angelou
I’ve always loved this quote. I think what she’s trying to say is that we all have a message, a story, a painting, a song, a novel … something that is in us trying to get out. Have a great week and do whatever you can to sing your own song!
This little bird definitely had something to say. I took this picture in my backyard a few days ago. I got between this momma and her babies to take the picture and she was NOT happy with me. Don’t worry – I snapped a few quick shots and got out of her way. 
Have a great week everyone!
Is it just me or does the sometimes-argument between being self-published or traditionally published remind anyone else of the Dr. Suess story THE SNEETCHES? I’m not sure who, in this scenario, would have “stars upon thars” and who would be the ones who are “left out cold, in the dark of the beaches.”
In any case, I think everyone would agree that – at the end of the day – whichever path you are on, the goal is to “make good art,” as encouraged in this fantastic commencement speech by Neil Gaiman recently. The text of the speech is here. I’m sure just about everybody and their sister has seen this speech by now. But if you haven’t it’s well worth the time. And definitely a great motivator on any Monday!
Have a great week!
Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very”; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. –Mark Twain
You gotta love Mark Twain. That man had wit and wisdom beyond his years. And this quote, in particular, has always rung true for me. Whenever I see it, I always think, “What’s the word that I should substitute ‘damn’ for so that my editor will delete it?” That is, if I had an editor and if, in this era, the word “damn” was actually considered so heinous as to be deleted from any common piece of literature. Maybe I’d have to substitute it with a different four-letter word.
In any case, the point is: what is that one word (or two, or three) that you use far too often in your writing even though you know you shouldn’t but you do it without even thinking?
For me, it’s “realized.” Ugh! I never realized (see what I did there?) that I overused abused that word until it was pointed out to me. Guess which word I try to never, ever, ever use anymore?
Other offending words I hear writers talk about are “very” (I guess abusing that one never goes out of style), “was” and “so.”
Another issue? My WIP is in the first person and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to go back through and take “I” out as the first word of a paragraph. If you look back over a page and see that “I” starts 90 percent of your paragraphs, you know you’ve got some major revising to do!
What are the habitual words that you use in your writing? How do you train yourself to stay away from them?
I came across an interesting exchange on Neil Gaiman’s Tumblr site a little while back – interesting to me because it discussed something I had wondered about myself. (Sidenote: Isn’t the internet a wondrous place? Any question I have had or will have or didn’t even know I had will somehow, sooner or later, show up somewhere out on the internet without me ever having to ask it!)
Anyhow – the actual exchange can be found at this link. But since I’m apparently not smart enough to get a screen capture so as to actually place it here in the blog, here is the content:
Q: Mr. Gaiman, when people read the stories I have written, they always ask me what message I’m trying to convey or what symbolism I have in what I’ve written. I’m never sure what to tell them because most of the time I’m not thinking about it, I’m just trying to tell a story that I think people will enjoy. Do you always have a message to convey and symbolism to think about in your stories? Or is it okay to just write something for people to read and enjoy?
A: Don’t tell them anything. Just smile sweetly and write the next story.
Figuring that stuff out is their job. Your job is making things up. And if you’re making things up properly there will themes and symbols and messages aplenty, whether you intentionally put them in or not, because you are human and alive and writing a story.
A writer gets to explode on the page. Critics and readers are the ones get to to gather up the shrapnel and examine the damage and figure out who got hurt.
I love this! You know when you read a really good book and then you read some professional review of it and they talk about all the symbolism and meaning behind all the stuff that you just thought was a really good story? It always makes me wonder if I should be trying to put more symbolism into my stories. But maybe in many of the stories where symbolism has been divined and praised, there wasn’t really meant to be symbolism at all? Maybe the author just wanted to tell a really good story. That’s what I strive for in my writing. And to do just that much and do it well is challenging enough!
How about you? Do you put much thought into the symbolism behind your stories? Or are you just striving to tell a good story?
Just For Fun
I watched Willow with my daughter last night. This is STILL a good movie! I suggest you rent it or pull it up on Netflix tonight. This was back when Val Kilmer was still pretty hot (though, to be fair, I looked better back in 1988 than I do now, too) and before Warwick Davis became Professor Flitwick.
Last week’s Road Trip Wednesday on YA Highway asked who you share your love of YA with in real life – as opposed to all the wonderful YA bloggers who form a fantastic network of supportive friends. I didn’t participate in that RTW simply due to time but I always like to see what the prompt is and I always give it at least a little thought whether I participate or not. My first thought at this prompt was the few close friends who I have talked into reading things like The Hunger Games or Harry Potter and who, despite themselves, really liked them.
Then it occurred to me that I was looking right past my best YA compadre: my oldest daughter – who is officially a teenager today. (Lord help me.)
She has been my bookworm since… forever. When she was little, we read and read and read books every night. As soon as she could read for herself, she just took off. Her nose is in a book a good part of every day.
And now that she’s getting older, we share much the same taste in books. Some of my favorite moments of motherhood are when she says, “Mom, you have GOT to read this book I just finished.” Then she rattles off an entire summary and list of characters.
And you know what? She’s got great taste in books. Case in point: she just finished Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake. She ripped through that in about two days and then insisted that I read it. I started it last night and, though it was creeping me out, I could NOT tear myself away.
She enjoys writing, too. And, I know I’m biased, but I think she’s pretty good at it.
So, Happy Birthday to my best YA buddy!
