To End The Year

One of my favorite quotes.

“Time interval is a strange and contradictory matter in the mind. It would be reasonable to suppose that a routine time or an eventless time would seem interminable. It should be so, but it is not. It is the dull eventless times that have no duration whatever. A time splashed with interest, wounded with tragedy, crevassed with joy - that's the time that seems long in the memory. And this is right when you think about it. Eventlessness has no posts to drape duration on. From nothing to nothing is no time at all.”

― John Steinbeck, East of Eden

25 December 2019

Holidays 1980

Writin' or not

[original posting April 2009 ]

A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult 

than it is for other people. -- Thomas Mann

There was a time in my mid-twenties when I was determined to be a writer. From that experience I can honestly say that determination has nothing to do with the task of being a writer. I suppose that is not a unique observation. Many endeavors require skill before commitment and at least for me, writing was one of them. If you can't you can't. Banging your head against a wall you have no chance of climbing or painting is just crazy. You know the old watching the movie over and over waiting for a different ending.

When writing finally came to me, it was completely unexpected and not something I was seeking. But there it was one day, my voice had found the tips of my fingers and I just started to write.

Which brings me to the last week or so. I have been banging on two screenplays, nibbling around the edges of my sci-fi book and churning out gobs on internet SEO material and even getting a head start on my summer WSOP obligations. But nearly every day I have returned to this blog and come up empty, blank, move on. What is that about?

I ran into an old friend who started a blog and has managed four posts in just under a year. I joined Twitter and found lots of folks have 140 character voices.

I think I will speculate myself out of my blog malaise. Blogging is a different form of writing, just google it. You will find cyber-reams of thoughts and even "rules" about what blogging is and is not. But from a personal level, there is an aspect of blogging that you either consider or you just accept and that is: Just how comfortable are you with putting your insides out there into the webosphere?

Where is your privacy line? What won't you disclose? What is truly private and off-limits? Once you think you know this, try to blog every third day. Eventually, I guarantee, your "third day" will be an off day for you. Something is not quite right with your world and, of course, that is what is up for you and "should" be blog fodder. But you hesitate.

There really are rules of blogging. The ones that are important reside inside of you, in your heart, in your soul, in some deep dark recessed places. Until you come to grips with them, you will either show up only on the surface of your writing or you will post pictures of baked goods and sunsets. Nothing wrong with that, we just are more interested in hearing from your inner writer.

2019 - the same rule applies to your novel, if your brain or heart or soul ain't in it . . .

The Benefits of Writing

[first posted November 2015]

Write two paragraphs and call me in the morning.

"Science has good news for people who write: The consequences of putting pen to paper go beyond hand cramps and furrowed eyebrows. Study after study has linked the act of writing to myriad mental and physical health benefits, including elevated mood and emotional well-being, decreased stress, an improved ability to deal with trauma and even physical healing."

FULL ARTICLE from whence come these conclusions.

Upon Attempting to Be a Novelist [early reflections]

[originally written June 2011]

All praise to any novelist who takes us out onto thin ice, under which large, dark shapes are discernibly swimming. Michael Cunningham

As a rule it is not a good idea to tell someone a story before you write it. Any comments or feedback will distort your vision before you have committed the words to paper or cyber-storage. About eight months ago I told two good friends and trusted critics the first part of my novel. I had what I thought were all 35,000 words written and I was interested in their reaction to the big reveal that finishes part one. Indeed it was at this point all of my large, dark shapes came into view and I did indeed have my readers out on very thin ice without them even noticing they had been led out onto a lake.

Unfortunately, neither of them liked the dark turn my story takes and I was concerned that the tale was way off track. So I turned back to the pages and began to edit, I could have simply changed the big reveal but I was sure I had it right. Must have been the lead-up twas lacking. After several weeks the 35,000 words had burgeoned to 63,000 and I sent the newly fattened part one out to six readers, including those same two I had verbally told the story. Lo and behold none of them were put off by the big reveal, in fact, the two who had been less than lukewarm originally were glowing with their praise.


I pondered this for a few moments and realized I had attempted to condense my well structured dark forms into a two minute verbal summary. Clearly, darkness needs some time to build. I needed those thousands of words to lure my readers out onto the dangerously thin ice and then and only then to reveal the sinister shadows beneath them. 


Lesson learned, I ain't tellin' nobody no stories no more; at least not ones that are going to take tens of thousands of words to deliver all the darkness and shadows.

Grammarly

There are lots of sites on the web to correct your spelling, add or subtract commas and, heaven forbid, locate the evil passive voice. I go with grammarly even though I employ some punctuation usages they do not agree with.

Careful though, as with any "know-it-all' algorithm, grammarly has its detractors. I agree that writers can get lazy when an authoritative website gives its imprimatur to our well-crafted phrases. To avoid such slavish bowing to the cyber-gods, read this article before turning over more that 12.7% of your creative talent to a bot grammar bully.

On the other hand, who knew how many times you or I were using "just" or "very" or "really." No, really, just really, very often, really!

Scribophile

There are lots of writing schools, writing workshops, writing communities on and off the web. I just happen to prefer Scribophile. The basics are simple. You earn points by offering critiques of other member's work. You then use those points to post your own work in chunks of 3,000 words or less at a time.

At Scribophile you can post anything from poetry and flash fiction to short stories or chapters of your novel. I am currently reposting the first ten chapters of my novel - Grey Angel. This round of posting comes after a course of new editing invigorated by my recent online immersion in manuscript submission.

You can also participate in forum discussions on all aspects of writing or join groups that focus on a particular topic. I belong to groups aimed at Magical Realism, Novel Chapters and TLC - Tough Love Critiques. Be careful not to use these alternative activities as pencil sharpening. The site is most useful when you post your own work and write reviews for other writers. Though the periodic contests can be fun.

Let me know if you join, I'm always happy to lend a blue pen to a friend's words.

Writing Inspiration (from a decade ago)

These thoughts were originally posted 9 Nov. 2009

At least half of all writing involves just sitting and staring into space. 

Letting your brain out to hunt down ideas, 

bringing them back all warm and bloody between its teeth. 

 - Warren Ellis

I consider myself a master of sitting and staring into space. I also have graduate training which includes wandering in the woods, vegetating on the veranda and a certificate in morning meditation disguised as sleeping in. Ideas come to me in all of these and many other places, however, I have yet to sink my metaphorical fangs into a single one of them. No, my process is more welcoming. I tend to nurture a new idea, giving it a proverbial saucer of milk.

I don't like to take notes unless the idea comes to me as I drift off at night. All writers abhor the thought of waking in the morning with no chance of recalling what the Pulitzer idea was they had the night before. But unless I am about to commune with Morpheus, I prefer to wander a bit, perhaps take a walk or at least pace about a snow bound house and let a new idea percolate and flourish.

Some new ideas are just scenes that may be part of a story yet undiscovered. All I really need is some time to lock the key pieces into memory where it can await the rest of the story from which it has prematurely erupted. There are times when a day or two later, I check my mental, paper or cyber notes to find what I have is not a scene from a story but, in fact, a blog post. Something like this one today.

Pondering Warren Ellis' rapine writing habits, I wonder if I might add a touch of the carnivore to my sitting and staring routine. Gives a whole new perspective to the practice of vegetating. Perhaps the tone and tenor is different when one ravages an idea.

---

photo credit: archives