Photo is of smoke from our morning campfire at an undisclosed location somewhere on the back of Pikes Peak, August, 2011.
writing
1st Time NaNoWriMo Observations: Pansters vs. Planners
So like a good little NaNoWriPar (National Novel Writing Month Participant) I’ve been following my local activity threads on the NaNoWriMo website. The first thing I notice is that there are few first-time participants like myself and these seem to me much younger than me. Oh well. C’est la vie. I didn’t get into this to hang out with any particular crowd. Our Municipal Liason (ML) is the owner of a local book store in her tenth year of doing NaNoWriMo. In an event where it seems that one is considered a winner simply by finishing, this seems to be big deal. And believe me, finishing, is no easy feat. We are talking 50,000 words in 30 days (November 1 – 30). Around 300,000 writers will participate and about 10% will actually finish. Pray for me people. Pray really, really hard!
An interesting dichotomy has garnered more of my attention as of late that is basic to writing and yet nonetheless fascinating. It is the division of the “pansters” and the “planners” otherwise known as “plotters” (suddenly I’m hearing the battle of the pugs and the poms from the musical Cats in my head). It’s not a new concept and much has been written on the subject. Basically, some writers write by the seat of their pants, throwing everything out there and seeing what ends up sticking during the rewrites, yes plural, meaning several. Obviously if you throw so much spaghetti at the ceiling, you’re going to have to clean it up. Others, opt for a more organized approach, these are the planners. Planners write outlines, make meticulous character development charts, create complicated story trees, map plot points, and basically leave as little to chance as possible. There are pros and cons to both approaches making neither one necessarily right or wrong except in the eye of the person doing the actual writing.
Pansters experience the divine art of creation through sheer imagination. A panster doesn’t think about where the story is going, how many scenes it’s going to take to develop each chapter, whether or not he is hitting plot points at the right time or if the character that just appeared out of nowhere is actually necessary to the story or what kind of ice cream she likes. Pantsters just write. In fact, the less thinking there is, the better. This allows for a purer channel for the story to come through and pantsters live on a kind of faith that their characters will come through and introduce themselves in all their idiosyncratic glory when the time is right. Of course this means tons of work on the tail end in the form of re-writes, but allows for a free and flexible flow of creativity. Sometimes pantsters don’t even know how a book is going to end until they are quite a ways into it. Hence the pantster runs a high risk of getting hopelessly lost in the big, scary forest of a story of her very own making <shiver>.
Planners/Plotters on the other hand, plan as much as possible on the front end of a project. They are the ones busy making outlines, developing story trees, mind-mapping and using any number of other ingenious organizational tools to map out a book long before any actual writing begins. By the time a good planner is finished with her planning, why, the book has nearly written itself. Unfortunately, writing this way doesn’t leave a lot of room for creative flexibility and when new material shows up that doesn’t fit into the paradigm of the world already built, it often must be scrapped or tabled for use somewhere else rather than be explored. However, Planners usually have little to do once the first draft is written as they’ve already planned out the entire thing and know how everything is going to turn out.
Who are these pantsters and plotters? Well, I’m about to drop some heavy duty, maybe even surprising names on you here:
Pantsters
Stephen King –
Preeminent “King” of horror, notorious pantster
Ray Bradbury –
Science fiction writer extraordinaire, pantster
Kim Olgren –
NaNoWriMo participant, multi-genre writer and blogger, pantster (okay, maybe not that big of a name…yet)
Planners
Charles Dickens –
Master Storyteller, planner
Edgar Allen Poe –
Yes, really, despite spending most of his time in one intoxicated state or another, planner
J.K. Rowling –
as with many fantasy writers, planner
Most writers fall somewhere in between the two. pantsters might use some plot points or a loose outline and many planners are not nearly as structured and rigid as the tools of the trade may indicate. However, I’m learning that many pantsters and planners are quite passionate about their particular approach to writing.
If you are a writer, which method do you prefer? Are you a pantster, riding the wave of the story and seeing it through to the end? Or are you a planner/plotter, putting things together with an end already in mind? Why does your particular method work so well for you?
Demons, and Heros, and NaNoWriMo…Oh MY!
Not so long ago I was in the midst of finding a new job and trying to solve some nasty medical issues while my daughter and two precious grandkids moved into our house doubling the headcount overnight. Fast forward five months and now I’m feeling healthier than I have in a long time, all the “kids” are still here, I found a full time job, and I’ve joined NaNoWriMo. What? Nanowhomo? Nanowhatnow? I know, I’m beginning to see it too, I may just be a glutton for punishment. Before all this I spent four years working full time while going to school full time to earn a degree that has recently become absolutely meaningless to me (no, I will not discuss the financial implications of this).
I have always been a somewhat introspective person and it only took one simple question to turn my whole psyche, not to mention my world, upside down. I hate it when that happens! So now that you’re dying to know how one little question turned a grounded, down-to-earth, professional, level-headed, practical gal into a mental, gelatinous pile of goo I’ll tell you what the seemingly innocuous inquiry was.
“What if there is no retirement?”
That’s it. Six simple words, “What if there is no retirement?” Did I freak out because our 401k is nonexistent after stints of unemployment for both me and my hubby? No. Did I lose it because I had just realized there will likely be no Social Security when I reach “retirement” age? Nope. It was much more horrifying that that. Something went off in my soul. My heart felt stifled, I couldn’t breathe for a moment, and for once, my ego had absolutely nothing to say. In that moment of pure clarity and suspended time I realized something big. No, something HUGE. Suddenly and large part of my life lost all meaning entirely, which left an opening for a true and passionate calling. No matter how terrified I was, there it was, plain as the nose on my face.
I couldn’t keep doing what I’ve been doing only to get what I’ve been getting and I certainly didn’t want to live… be…die…”retire” living the life I was living. Suddenly Peter Gibbons voice is in my head from the movie Office Space and I’m thinking every day I have to go into the office is the worst day of my life. Guess what? It is, and there’s nothing I can do about that right now. However, I can’t undo what I’ve seen and it’s funny how being really sick forces you to take a look at your life and figure out what your real priorities are.
Enter NaNoWriMo.org. Before this major epiphany I had resigned myself to being “okay” with the slow and constant drudgery that is my life with maybe an occasional vacation, but now that I know what I know, it has become slow torture leading to certain death. Think I’m overdramatizing? Show me someone who has heard his or her true calling and I’ll show you someone who would wither and die on any other path. I had begun writing a novel several months ago but it has been slow going as I learn a new job and juggle a house full of six people while trying to find the time to write.
NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It is put on by The Office of Letters and Light. You can go to the website NaNoWriMo.org for more information. What NaNoWriMo participants do is write the rough draft of a novel, all 50,000 words, in one month from November 1 to November 30. Gah! Yep. This writer is going to attempt a 50k novel in 30 days working full time with six people in the house! Go me! This is my first time at NaNoWriMo, so I’m doubly nervous and excited. If you are a writer and have always wanted to write a novel but procrastination, fear, or whatever other excuse you’ve made has stopped you, maybe you’ll want to check NaNoWriMo out to get your feet wet.
Once I realized that every day was going to be the worst day of my life until I could get out of the cycle of going to a j-o-b every day I had to move. I had to set things in motion to be and do more, to create a life with more meaning and to give meaning to what I do day in and day out.
All that said, I am ever so grateful to my employer for giving me the means to pay the bills and I work for some wonderful people who will still be wonderful without me pushing papers around for them once I’m ready to become free. Even the caterpillar has to take it on faith that it will become a butterfly because it basically becomes caterpillar soup in that chrysalis before a beautiful butterfly is formed and bursts from it. I am stepping out in faith that out of the soupiness of what’s gone before, I’m changing into something different, something beautiful and someone who can offer the world a little something more. The demons of the past will meet the heroes of the future on the field at NaNoWriMo. Stay tuned.
How about you? What was your epiphany? Your wake-up call? Are you still trying to figure out what you want to be when you grow up? I felt that way for a long time. How did you know when the defining moment had arrived?
What Is Your Relationship to Silence? – Danielle LaPorte
Danielle LaPorte asks her burning question of the week. What is your relationship to silence? I found this a very intriguing question. As I began to ponder the question I wondered how many uber-busy people out there would even get the question. In a time of e-mail, Facebook, smart phones, electronic tablets, and huge TVs, I began to wonder how many people actually know what real silence is anymore. If I grabbed fifty of my Facebook friends and asked them if they meditated or spent any time in silence on a regular basis, what would I find? I suspect that very few would respond that they do.
For me silence is comforting. The world has become a noisy, dirty, mean, joyous, frenetic, volume on max, cacophony of speedy activity. I guess I’m kind of old fashioned or maybe it’s because I’ve found that my best writing comes to me out of silence. I own an android phone, I have a Facebook account, email, and entertainment system that includes a 47” flat screen TV, as big ‘ol stereo receiver and surround sound, but I spend the majority of my day – quiet. I’m sure that will change once I find a day gig to support me while I’m writing, but for now, I relish each quiet day. I don’t turn on the 47” TV during the day. In fact it is off until my husband gets home from work in the evening. Most days, I don’t even turn on my favorite companion, music. It’s fabulous, but then I’ve always been the kind of person who grabbed a bit of silence whenever I could. Don’t get me wrong though, I also do my fair share of making noise and running around like a madwoman.
Silence is refreshing. Silence is grounding. Silence is soothing. Silence is the place where the infinite, the holy, and I meet. Silence is the place where my angel wraps her wings around me and gives me strength. In silence my spirit rests. In silence I find the beauty of my own spirit. Silence makes no demands and yet its incredible power changes lives.
I appreciate the quiet moments in my life. Not long ago, my son and I sat in the living room, each on our respective computer. Me working on a story and he working on some video editing, I believe. We sat silently working for some time and I deeply appreciated the fact that this person who had been raised with all the modern day distractions our electronic era has to offer, could still sit comfortably in silence with another. He is a mere twenty-one years old and is already wiser in the ways of silence than many other adults I know.
Obviously I think silence is a good thing. I think everyone should get a little bit of it every day. Not necessarily in the form of intentional meditation, but if nothing else, to unplug for a while. In taking a moment to hear yourself, you connect to the divine or higher self. Silence allows us to give our brains a rest from the myriad of stimuli that are thrown at it every other second of the day. I know a few people, myself included, who tend to go outside, take a walk or find a quiet place to sit when a particularly difficult or complicated issue comes up at work. Many times that few moments of silence is all that is needed for the answer to a problem to show itself. Silence is valuable.
Now that I’ve told you mine, what is your relationship to silence? Is it a good thing, or do you have better things to do with your time? Does silence make things you don’t want to think about crop up for you, or is it a comfort?
Unedited Original Book Excerpt by Moi
WARNING: Disturbing images and paranormal twistedness ahead. Read on at your own risk. This is an unedited excerpt from one of the novels that I am currently working on.
He approached from the back of the house. Climbing the steep hillside and working his way through the trees as his master had instructed, his muscular body moving like a cat. He strangled the white chicken before ripping its head off. Master wanted the blood localized, not spread all over the back yard and chickens had a tendency to run around with their heads cut off. The muscular chicken killer quietly chuckled to himself. Good thing the backyard was totally isolated from the neighbors’. The master said he wanted it to make an impact, the crimson against the snow white feathers. Hopefully none of the local wildlife would find it before she did. He filled a small paper cup with chicken blood, picked up the head, and proceeded to the house. He scaled the back of the house like a frog and slid open the kitchen window. As he guessed, it wasn’t locked because it was on the second floor with no access, or so most people thought. Most people didn’t think creatures like him really existed. It wasn’t his job to judge, it was his job to do. He made his way to the master bedroom. He carefully constructed what would look like an altar scene. He laid out a solid black silk scarf and arranged the head among some night-blooming jasmine. He added a used white candle to create the illusion that a ritual was performed here along with a dagger. The bowl of blood would also rest here when he was done with it. Now came the fun part, he took off his socks and shoes and began to carefully paint the bottoms of his feet with the blood and proceeded to wander out of the bedroom careful to start out facing the bed then turning and walking out of the room. He reapplied blood as needed until he reached the patio door, unlocked it being sure to leave a bloody handprint, and walked to the railing overlooking the dead chicken in the yard. He was practically giddy, but now he had to make sure he exited without a trace. Master had burned the prints off of his hands and feet years ago so he could use him for things such as this. His small hands and feet lent an eeriness to the scene because they were like a child’s. He carefully washed the blood off of his hand and feet with pre-wetted wipes. He was sad that he couldn’t keep it. He stuffed the wipes in his pack, went back in the house, locked the door, and leapt out of the kitchen window landing in the grass next to the chicken. He could see the blood was coagulating quite nicely in a pool around the stark white of the feathers as he smiled down at his work. Like a puddle of wet paint with a soft, dry skin over it. He was an artist after all and the Master had allowed him to take his talent to immeasurable new heights. He sensed the darkness before he saw it, it was twilight and the master was waiting in the trees. The chicken killer became frightened and terribly excited at the same time as he hurried to the Master.
The man known only as “the Master” to the creatures of this world who served him was known by many other names. He was evil incarnate, hell itself, the fallen angel, Satan, and he had fathered this child. She didn’t seem to be listening to the warning he had sent through Scortch. She didn’t know she was his daughter. It was better that way and it was only a son that most need worry about coming from his loins. Despite the fact that she continually wounded or destroyed his minions, he could not bring himself to destroy his own flesh and blood or try to turn her into something she wasn’t. He would not twist her, he loved her too much. It was a weakness. He was unclean from all his dealings over the millennia and she was pure. So he was resorting to scaring her. He knew if she took the job that the FBI offered, she might not survive and her soul would reside in a kind of purgatory for an eternity. He couldn’t have that, his blessings from God being so few and all since he ejected him from heaven forever and made him into the king of hell. Holy bastard. Regardless, he had to save Lucy from herself, which meant ensuring the job was done right by watching it first-hand.
I hope you enjoyed what you read here. For those of you who have been following me for a little while and decided to go ahead and read this, I realize this may be a vast departure from my usual blog content other than being in my writing wheelhouse. Don’t worry; the shock will wear off soon. 🙂
The One Lovely Blog Award
Holy cows eating muffins in the barn on a Sunday! I am a humble recipient of the “One Lovely Blog Award!” Thanks so much to Amy, writer of Afternoon Popcorn Snack for the nomination! Amy’s blog on life in Oklahoma, simple recipes and photography is awsome! Love it! Being so new to this whole blogging thing I am truly honored, and blown away, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to share some great blogs. Thanks to my family, friends and fellow bloggers who comment on my posts. It’s so nice to know I’m not just talking to myself out here! 🙂
Rules of acceptance (as mentioned by other bloggers):
*thank the person who nominated you and link back to them in your post
*share 7 things about yourself
*nominate 15 or so bloggers you admire
*contact your chosen bloggers to let them know (this might take me a few days so please bear with me)
7 new things about myself
- I am a recovering constant doubter and worrier.
- I adore corny movies! Joe Versus the Volcano, Labyrinth, Dodgeball, The Emperor’s New Groove, and Miss Congeniality being among my favorites.
- In addition to mainstream, I read indie/self-published books…lots of them! Shhh!
- I spend at least 5 minutes doing absolutely nothing every day…it’s called meditation.
- I talk to the animals…most of the time they don’t answer.
- In addition to my bachelor degree, I have an honorary doctorate in religious philosophy; I’m an ordained minister, a licensed cosmetologist, and a public notary.
- I’m just now figuring out what I want to be when I grow up. 😉
In all honesty, I’m so new at this I wasn’t sure that I would be following enough blogs to pull off a sufficient list, but I do…barely…and I’m adding to it all the time. So here’s some blogs that I have found to be inspiring, innovative, or just plain fun! Everyone has something to say, few have the courage to say it out loud. Thanks so much to the writers of these blogs (and many more I don’t know yet) for choosing to be courageous!
Barely Poppins Creative Noshing Danny’s Kitchen Living Simply Well
Happiness Stan Lives Here Five Spoons Kate’s Creative Space
Domestic Diva, M.D. eatates sierralei A Modern Christian Woman
The Local Tourist – Colorado Bucket List Publications
Teaspoons and Tinsel catchcarri Travel Monkey – The Adventures of Kongo
Don’t Tread on Me
Learning how not to be taken advantage of when you’re an open, empathic heart is difficult. It’s taken a long time for me to learn that saying “no” is, in many cases, better than saying “yes”. Here’s the thing about being there for everyone all the time…it’s exhausting and it doesn’t really help anyone, including you, especially if you are being taken advantage of or used you as a crutch. Saying “yes” when everything in you is screaming “no” is wrong. Yes, it is. Think about that obligatory function that you promised you’d go to with your coworker or friend even though you hate “functions” and you’re especially not into the topic. What happened when she asked you to go? Did your chest tighten up? Was there a voice in your head screaming “NO” while another was trying to find justification for saying no, while another was trying to convince you that it wouldn’t be that bad and you’d get to spend time with your friend? Did your throat start to feel like it wanted to close up? Did you already feel guilty for even thinking of saying no?
If none of this has ever happened to you, good for you! You apparently know how to say “no” in no uncertain terms. You probably won’t be interested in anything further said here. Have a nice day.
As for the rest of us who have been faced with the hard “no’s” this is for you. IT’S OKAY TO SAY NO…………TO ANYTHING! There. I said it. It’s out in the open and I feel fabulous! You do not have to be a doormat. You do not have to hold anyone else up. You can focus on the stuff you need/want.
Where is all this coming from, you may ask? Well, as I began taking writing seriously and started writing for a purpose (and hopefully make a buck or two) I learned something pretty quickly. I had to take myself seriously as a writer if I expected others to take me seriously. That meant that my writing time had to become sacred no matter whether anyone else understood it or not. It’s my job to make the people in my life understand that I am working when I am writing just as much as if I were going to the office. That means that if I’m at work I am not available to go to functions that aren’t relevant to my job or no longer fit into my plans, do favors that I wouldn’t ordinarily do while I’m on the clock and so on. When I am writing, I am on the clock and people will only take that as seriously as I do.
I’m not saying that you get to arbitrarily say “no”. All I’m saying is seriously think about the things that you’re saying “yes” to that really, really make you want to pull your hair out and examine why “no” might be a better answer. Also, think about why you want to say “no” as this could be very enlightening. If you’re saying “no” out of fear, then maybe you should think about saying “yes” (unless your fear is that saying yes will immediately lead to another situation where you are once again forced to say “yes” or “no”). Empower yourself to be you!
Just something to think about…
Epic Fail!
Epic fail! It is with sincere humility I write today. I have found out that whirlwind vacations, keeping up with a blog, keeping up with book writing and keeping up with a job search proved too much for me. So the answer to my question in an earlier blog (before I went on vacation) would be…yes and no to writing while you’re on vacation. Although I totally overwhelmed myself, I learned so much! I ended up blowing off any writing on the last two days of vacation and just kicked back instead, which turned out to be a wise move.
I spent most of my vacation stressing about splitting my time between my family and my writing, which was exactly the situation I didn’t want to find myself in. I didn’t want the guys to think I was disengaged and not interested, but at the same time I really wanted to keep up with my writing. This resulted in me going back to our rooms at night while they stayed out at the casino. It wasn’t a huge leap for me to do this since I’m not much of a gambler anyway. Walking around the casinos and up and down the strip is fun, but I’m just not into the gambling thing. What little money I gambled, I lost. Since I was back in our rooms earlier and therefore in bed earlier, I was up earlier and used that time to my advantage to write as well. The problem was that I didn’t have much down time. I was either on the go with the guys or writing although we did have a couple of days where we spent two or three hours by the pool and then I was reading.
I wrote in the car during our driving days when I wasn’t taking pictures out of the car windows. This was somewhat productive, but there comes a time, whether writing at the condo or in the car after a full day, that one becomes just too tired and brain dead. This was what frustrated me the most. I wanted to do more, but my brain had had enough. When it comes to my blog, I don’t want to put out anything other than my best work. I’d rather not post than post something sub-par.
This week I have been recuperating from vacation (if you caught any of my road trip blogs you would know we were extremely busy), redoubling my job hunt efforts and catching up on book writing. I’ve missed my blog very much and I’m happy to get back to it. I’ve learned that if I want to write on vacation I need to pick only one or two writing projects to keep up with and that includes my personal, daily journal. I’ve learned that if I want to write on vacation I have to do a better job of balancing activities, writing, and down time. The brain and the soul need down time, time doing nothing to recharge creativity and even logical thinking. I’ve learned that it’s okay to put the writing aside and be present for the vacation rather than worrying about getting it all done. That’s what work is, not vacation. I learned that I should stop along the road any time the mood strikes me and take more pictures (although I took some 200 anyway, many with windshield bug splatters in them). I learned that I don’t have to spend every minute with everyone else. I found that I just can’t bring myself to drag my laptop to the pool. It just seems to be in violation of some law of relaxation or something…kind of like using your smartphone at the table. It’s just not right. Maybe I’ll change my mind at a later time, or maybe I would feel differently if I had regular access to a pool and it wasn’t something of a treat for me.
Recharged and refreshed. I am now ready to continue. I look forward to sharing more about my six-state adventures and other cool stuff. Wow, when you put it that way, six states in nine days; that is really busy! No wonder I was having trouble keeping up! Maybe this wasn’t such and epic fail after all.
How much down time, if any, do you build into your vacations? Do you like to cram a lot of activities in or do you like to hang out by the pool all day?
Road Trip! Is There Such Thing as a Vacation From Writing?
From Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way to Stephen King, author of On Writing and many a creepy tome, to Alan Watt, author of The 90-day Novel and founder of the L.A. Writers Lab, the general consensus of most writers seems to be “write everyday”. Being a brand new blogger working on two novels while job hunting I became a bit concerned about how this was going to work with being on vacation for about a week and a half. I didn’t want to lose momentum on my novels and I sure as heck didn’t want to disappoint the modest following I had worked hard to build on my barely-off-the-ground blog. In short, I don’t think that writers get, nor do they really want, vacations from writing. Eek! I just figured out something new about myself…I’m one of those writers! <Panic! Danger Will Robinson. Danger! Beep! Beep! Woop! Woop!> Wait.
This is where the Online Learning System (OLS) I chose for obtaining my college degree came in ever so handy. With the exception of a vacation in Mexico, I attended school on holidays, weekends, and while on vacation. It wasn’t that hard because my virtual classroom allowed me to attend school almost any time and anywhere I wanted to. Of course there are caveats, price being one, of course. However, successfully completing a degree program online also requires a tremendous amount of dedication and discipline. Coordinating far-flung teams of people to work on papers and projects through online chat threads was both quite challenging and quite rewarding (you try coordinating the completion of a 20 slide PowerPoint presentation in four days on the pros and cons of a free economy for a team consisting of people in three different U.S. time zones, a soldier on a ship in the gulf and someone who barely types in English in Dubai, whew!) . The pressure was constant with compressed courses lasting only five weeks and an individual assignment as well as a team assignment due every week. Papers averaged 1500 words and had to original and APA formatted, with proper references and citations. Who said all online schools are diploma mills???
As I thought about the similarities between OLS and writing in general I found the task of keeping up with my writing much less daunting. Hey, looky there, the $300,000 education is finally paying off (yes, that was sarcasm). True, there are certain environments that are more conducive to creativity, but the same can be said for studying. Where I’ve found I could concentrate on studying with grandkids, kids, dogs, cats, and barely controlled chaos going on, when writing I needed a lot more quite. Many of the tactics I used for school on the road I’ll be using for writing. I have some tools that will be helpful and there are others, such as an I-pad, with its 8hr battery life that I can only wish I had.
Our road trip begins in Colorado Springs heading to the Grand Canyon. The next leg of our journey takes us to Las Vegas, NV. A two-day side trip during our week in Vegas will take us to Los Angeles, CA. Then it’s back to Vegas for a couple of days before we drive home.
Here’s my plan:
I will use certain downtime to my advantage much like Brian Johnson’s mother told him to do in The Breakfast Club. Only when I’m relaxing by the pool or in the ocean or at the black jack table; that is just what I’m going to do. Relax. Hours of riding in the car and getting up a little early, and hanging out in restaurants will give me plenty of time to write on my laptop, in a notebook, or jot down flashes of inspiration in my mini notebook I keep in my bag.
I will not allow myself to stress about writing, word counts, or anything else of the sort and hence ruin my vacation.
I will allow my vacation to keep my creative fires kindled by enjoying all the things I will get to do and see, then writing about them.
Three simple rules, that’s it. I’m not looking for balance here. As Danielle Laporte, one kick-a$$, gorgeous, accomplished woman with her head screwed on straight, tons of charisma, and a fabulous spiritual philosopher says, Life balance is a myth, and the pursuit of it is causing us more stress than the craving for balance itself. I almost got caught up in the life balance trap planning for this vacation and my writing. Instead I’ve chosen to go with the flow, write when I can (because I love it and…well…it’s fun!), and have as much other fun as I possibly can (because…well…it’s fun!). I am a reserved person most of the time which is often mistaken as disinterest by the people around me, but inside my head is a myriad of thoughts and feelings spinning all manner of stories from what’s going on around me. To me, this is great fun, whether I’m in a casino, on the road, in an airport, on a plane, at home, by the pool, working, etc. the stage in my head is always active.
I’m looking forward to vacation and sharing some of what I see, think, and eat along the way. I’m also looking forward to writing about it.
How do you stay on track with writing while away from home? Is it hard or easy to stay focused? Do you tend to procrastinate? Suggestions welcome!
What’s your favorite place to eat in L.A.? In Vegas? I’d love to hear from you!
Why On Writing by Stephen King is My Favorite Book on Writing
So Stephen King set out to write a book he didn’t even really want to write just for us floundering newbie clownfish swimming around in the shark infested waters of the writing world. I’m so glad that he did because it has become my favorite book on writing. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of great books on writing from the perspective of the craft, not to mention technical precision. Another one of the best on craft that comes to mind is Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way. Of course what serious writer doesn’t have Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style somewhere nearby? If you don’t, and you are a writer, you should, but I digress.
King’s book is special to me because I felt like he really let us into his personal world of writing. He showed his flaws, his unrelenting, raw passion for the art/work, how it got him into trouble, and how it works for him. He talked openly about where he had trouble writing. I never knew that The Stand almost didn’t happen. What? Really? King even goes so far as to include a snippet of his own rough, first draft of another story followed by revisions.
King tries not to get into the mechanics of writing too much although he did include a brief overview. He seems to want to focus on anything but, which is well and good because there are plenty of books and other outlets out there for that purpose. He focuses more on his own process of writing and makes it clear that if you think writing is your thing, you better be doing for the right reasons. You better be doing it because you love it, have to do it, and are passionate about it rather than for fame and fortune, and he’s right. There are plenty of writers out there working a full-time “day job” while they spend any spare time they have hunched over a computer or notepad beating out the stories that are rattling around in their brains just dying to get out. Most serious writers will have the same advice for new writers like me “Don’t quit your day job.” It’s not a dig at a writer’s skills. It’s just a testimony to how hard it is to make a living at it and the big unknown about what will stick and what won’t.
Along with the craft of writing, King has some things to say about the business of writing as well. He talks about how to find the right agent, submitting stories, and dealing with rejections to name a few. He gives us his opinion of what a good pitch letter looks like and shows an example. Once again, real examples make King’s book on writing stand out, open and honest.
Toward the end of the book, King gives the harrowing account of his terrible car accident in 1999 that nearly forced him to retire. I, for one, am glad he chose to soldier on. King is a true writer in every sense and at a time when anyone can self-publish a book (whether it’s actually good or not) King is one of those that still has tremendous pride and passion that shows in the quality of his finished, albeit, creepy products. I’m not saying it’s the definitive end all, be all on writing, but it is definitely worth the read.
K.A. Olgren Stories 'n' More 