The Not Writing Guilt

I haven't written a word in about a month. Before that, it was sketchy. I was working on revisions, halfheartedly. Mostly I have been letting story problems tumble around in my head and reading more.

My creative juices have been exhausted with a move. In the last two weeks, I have washed every dish, bowl, cookware, silverware and other kitchen gadget and accessories I own. I washed every piece of fabric in the house, from pillows to towels to clothing to jackets I don't even plan to keep. After sanitizing everything I own, I have to find a place for it to live in our new house, which is another challenge. To add to the chaos, I got a new computer on Mother's Day, and have been trying to make that transition. Getting a new computer is like a death to me. I have to lay the previous computer to rest and set up the new one. I hate that process. For months while still working on "Divided Moon," I was working with a computer that would shut down after 20 minutes of work, yet I would insist I was not ready to change computers, not until the work was done.

In spite of all this chaos, I have niggling guilt in the back of my brain for not writing. I have a fount of ideas, and actually recovered a notebook filled with plot, character sketches, a timeline and scenes for a horror novel I was too afraid to write before. I think I am ready now, if only I could get my house and office in order.

It will come, and I remind myself that a writers' downtimes are periods of collecting data. I have definitely been collecting data in the last few weeks. No words on the page, but ideas are bubbling as I examine my WIP, this lost WIP, my goals and other writing related things that don't involve actual writing.

I suppose I write this piece to remind myself, and all writers, that we are working, even when we aren't. Banish the guilt of not putting words on the page every day, as contemplation of story problems and planning other projects is also work. I also remind myself that when life gets in the way, I should pay attention, because it could be fodder for work. We have to live in order to know enough to create.

Book Review: Cinder

This is no fairy tale. Cinder, the debut young adult novel by Marissa Meyer and the first in her Lunar Chronicles series, is a clever, futuristic retelling of Cinderella….except I like this one better.  This Cinder doesn’t need a prince to save her, although one is making his intentions clear. She has a plan of her own that is interrupted when she has to save Earth.

Many elements of the fairy tale give the story a familiar feel. Cinder has an evil stepmother who puts Cinder to work and prohibits her from attending the ball. She has two stepsisters, although one of them is heartbreakingly charming. Cinder is dirty, not from cleaning the ashes from the fireplace, but because she is a mechanic and working with grease. Then there is the ball, and a twist to the lost shoe I saw coming, but loved all the same.

What is different is this story takes place in the future, when gasoline cars are ancient relics. Cinder isn’t entirely human, but a cyborg. I am not a frequent reader of science fiction or fantasy, so I wasn’t sure if I should know what that is. As far as I could tell with Cinder’s focus on her gloves and boots, she has some metal parts.

The story is predictable at times, which is fitting for a fairy tale retelling. We all know how the story goes. Yet there are surprises in every chapter that make this a light and enjoyable read. 

(Almost) A Year of Simple Living

Last summer, we decided to relocate the family to be together, moving from a 2200 square foot house to a two bedroom apartment in a new city.  It was a big change. Three boys sleep in one room, with about one foot between the beds. The garage is too small for our cars, so we were scraping windshields every morning all winter. We all learned patience and bladder control with one bathroom, five people, and a cat. Even the cat had to wait for the bathroom from time to time.

Tomorrow morning marks the end of our journey as we close on a new house in our new city.

Although I had doubts along the way, more than a few, the experience of living small has been something that changed all of us, probably forever.

1) Never underestimate the importance of a couch. We didn’t have furniture for the first five weeks in the apartment. Not having a decent place to sit in your place is harder (no pun intended) than any of us thought. We bought bean bag chairs, but they went flat after three weeks or so.

2) Same for a yard, or a square of driveway. People grill out in front of their garages, surrounded by a line of other garages in a parking lot pretty far away from a table. I hate it when the kids play outside, as all they have is the parking lot, which is not safe.

3) We don’t just love each other, we like each other, too. There has been no privacy for any of us in the last nine months. We laughed more often than we thought possible and grew closer. Perhaps because for some time, we were the only people we knew in town.

4) Being together is what is important. The darkest days were when the cat went missing. While it was hard to be away from him, not knowing if he was ok was what made a couple of us cry in the night. His return was the happiest of days and melted even the most cat hating family member. (Otis loves you too, Dean).

5) I don’t need half the stuff in my kitchen. I couldn’t bring everything, since the kitchen in the apartment is 1/3 the size of that in my house. I took the essentials. The only thing I truly miss is the George Foreman grill. Yeah, it surprises me, too. I miss it more than a microwave.

We won’t move first thing tomorrow, as I have some things to do to this house before we move our life and excessive stuff in. It could be a few weeks, perhaps as much as a month. I think I should leave a note of apology on the door of the apartment directly under us upon moving out. They put up with a lot with us.

Getting Past the Inner Critic

We all know the inner critic. It is the reason I write 15 blog posts before I decide to post one. It is the reason I spend years instead of months on novel revisions.

It isn’t good enough. Nobody would want to read this. It could be embarrassing.

The common advice for novelists in a first draft is to shove the critic aside and keep going. Writing a novel is a huge undertaking. Allowing the inner critic to voice its objections in early chapters may be an insurmountable roadblock and your work becomes a half finished novel. The words need to get on the page before you can really work with them. You need to fully flesh out the idea, and then tweak it.

If you are in revisions, it gets a bit trickier. I find it easiest if I work on one thing at a time during revisions….making the scenery pop, working on dialogue, fixing plot problems….one thing at a time. A notebook can be handy, to write notes on future revisions when the inner critic pops up to point something out.

Having a critique group is vital. Outside voices and eyes on the project can be far more informative than normal writer insecurities.  

The inner critic is not only for novelists. I see those shy Facebook posters and nonTweeters. Your friends and followers want to hear from you, too. Otherwise, they wouldn’t follow and friend you. Don’t be afraid to speak up, show a bit of yourself, cast aside the inner critic and embrace your voice. 

Book Review: Doll Bones

The doll on the cover of Doll Bones by Holly Black is as deliciously creepy as it appears. As the story progresses, secrets are revealed, theories are confirmed, and strange happenings are not completely explained, making the doll that sends these three friends on an impossible quest even creepier.

It is a fun adventure born from the imaginations of children. There are some scary moments when we remember how young these characters are, like on the bus in the night. As they trudge along, these friends face the perils of their adventure and the very real issue of growing up and getting too old for play. 

It is a satisfying read worthy of its Newbery Honor in 2014.  

Writers Out Loud

I spent last weekend in Madison, WI near the university campus, and not for a basketball game. It was the 25th Annual Writer's Institute Conference, sponsored by the University of Wisconsin Continuing Studies Division. About 300 writers gathered to pitch to agents and one editor, learn about the craft, meet colleagues and be inspired.

Writers are generally introverted people, but in the din of the chatter in the ballroom at the Concourse Hotel, I wondered if I was the only one who hadn't overcome that handicap. I tend to hang back and observe, too afraid to make the first move.

Except when walking up and down State Street between my on campus housing and the hotel. Downtown Madison is an energetic, friendly place, but not where I want to walk alone. My aloof, shy nature took a backseat as I easily approached and assimilated among couples, runners and college students who happened to be headed in the same direction.

I am not particularly comfortable with networking opportunities, such as conferences, but I always learn something and even with my wallflower tendencies, I make at least one new contact. We must step outside our comfort zone to grow....as a writer and a person.

The first keynote speaker, Nathan Bransford, seemed to be outside his comfort zone. He gave good advice in quotable nuggets, but didn't appear as at ease as his online presence. Perhaps he was tired or too busy shivering as it was snowing and blustery on that first day, causing delays in travel for many of the presenters. One of his best pieces of advice was to keep writing, as it could be the solution to every problem encountered in writing.

Next, I sat in on Ron Kuka's presentation on the Deep Edit and heard mind blowing advice for revisions. Words on the page became a sensory experience under his red pen, and he showed how to make that happen without overdoing it. He instructed writers to invoke at least three senses on each page, but touch each image once.

Christine DeSmet led an active discussion on plot, helping writers narrow it down to a central question. She also encouraged writers to have puzzles to solve and said an object is crucial. Every story must have an object. I keep thinking that can't be true, but haven't identified a story without one.

It warmed up by the second day, for nearly everyone. Writers were more eager to participate in discussions. While agent Laura Biagi gave advice on what made a stellar opening, volunteers from the audience demonstrated that a lot of writers start their stories with characters waking up naked.

That made me wonder about the pitch sessions going on throughout the conference. Agents and editor were taking eight minute pitches from authors. It is hard enough to have my own stories rattling around in my head. I can't imagine hearing seven and a half more stories every hour.

Jane Friedman, as much a capable and knowledgeable guide for writers in person as she appears online, gave solid advice on query letters.

She also gave the last keynote on Sunday, when the sun came out and warmed the world. She showed the business end of authoring, backed by slides with graphs showing the changing landscape.

By the end of the conference, I had a head and notebook full of advice, new goals, and a bunch of new websites to check out. I also love Jacquelyn Mitchard even more in her role as editor for Merit Press. Or maybe I just love hearing editors gush about the books they acquired.

As a touch of magic to the weekend, I walked up State Street each morning hearing the call of the Mockingjay. That is not as impossible as it sounds, since the movie makers had to use the call of some kind of bird to represent the mockingjay. Yet it was fitting for a weekend where imagination, play and dreams were business as usual.

Why Every Writer Should Take a Workshop on Picture Book Writing

Writers are the most information and inspiration hungry crowd of people, always looking for ways to improve their craft, see things in a new light, learn new techniques for plotting, building characters, beginning a story, ending a story. That thirst for knowledge endears them, but may drain the checkbook from time to time.

So why would a novelist waste those very hard earned dollars on a picture book writing workshop?

They probably wouldn’t. There are plenty of other workshops out there for novelists to take. Yet, a trip to the “Bunny Eat Bunny” world of picture book writing could shake up things a bit, and give a writer a new perspective.

Picture books are very short, as short at 500 words. I can barely write a 500 word blog post. Writing an entire story, with a beginning, middle and an end in so few words is breaking down a story to its very core.

The choice of words is crucial. With so few words, each word is debated as to whether it is the best one. If you want an exercise in building your vocabulary, this could be it. You can spend days trying to find the right word for “jump.”

The writer must keep the reader engaged in a picture book. Every page needs a picture, and it needs to be different than the other pictures in the book. Picture books are often 32 pages, which means the story needs a lot of action or twists and turns to fill out every page in an interesting way, while still needing to flow from one to the next with little explanation (remember there are few words allowed).

There is often a rhythm to a picture book. I took a rhyming picture book workshop at the Iowa Summer Writer Festival a few years ago. It was very eye opening. I didn’t realize the brilliance of Dr. Seuss and Karma Wilson until I started counting syllables in their sentences and which ones were stressed. Rhyming isn’t only about matching the sound at the end of the sentence and having the same number of beats per line. There is a meter involved, with the rise and fall of language being measured and repeated. That is hard!

The most important thing I got out of those picture book writing workshops was the sense that novel writing was so much easier. My picture book writing friends would disagree, thinking a novel is much too long and complicated to keep organized. But it gives some space to tell the story, which is not allowed in a picture book.

It also gave me a very big appreciation for picture books. People often think they are easy to write, because they are simple, engaging stories that read very well. It takes hard work to get them there. I know that now.