Today is an historic day for our country. As I write this, the inauguration of our new president is my background music. I wonder, if when I complete my novel, I’ll remember the words I type today and always connect them to the event that changed the face of the American Presidency forever. This event has nothing to do with the story I’m writing, but it has everything to do with who I am as a person. So, essentially it will color my story, even if just a bit, because such a profound event in my lifetime has to have an effect on me as a person, and ultimately as a writer. The inauguration is a peaceful transfer of power. It’s the kind of thing people around the world look at and wish for. It’s amazing to me that just across the pond people use high powered weapons to get their point across, while we walk into a voting booth to let our voices be heard. Because of that I’ve got freedom to sit here at my computer and do what I love, and I’m grateful. Today is a good day, a proud day and I’m glad to be a part of it.
Archive for January, 2009
A Proud Day
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009Side Tracked But Not Off Track
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009Getting behind is something no one wants to do, especially when it comes to goal setting. As writer, there’s no one else to keep us honest but ourselves. Don’t get me wrong, I depend on my faithful critique group, and see and hear them in my head when I’m working. I can’t live without almost daily email exchanges from my writing partner. But when it comes to the day to day, get the words down between loads of laundry kind of motivation, there’s only one place it comes from: me. Yep! Me, myself and I get up each morning, get breakfast, get the kids off to school (with the help of my wonderful husband) and get to the task at hand. There’s no one standing over me saying, “C’mon Patti, get to work. You’ve got 4 hours until lunch. How many words to want by then?” If I don’t set my own goals and stay honest about meeting them, this time next year my novel still won’t be fit for human consumption. And I don’t get this time back. None of us gets to relive one moment of the hours we have. When they’re gone, they’re gone, so making the most of each one is important.
This week I’ve gotten a bit sidetracked, but in a good way. Even in the midst of novel writing, there are manuscripts to put in the mail, queries to follow-up on and new contacts to make. All those things happened to me this week, so I don’t consider it time away from the work, but just another aspect of it. Oh, did I mention that not only is there no one to keep me honest, we writers also do our own promotion and try to sell our own work until we find an agent. So, that means sometimes the business of writing has to come first. But now all that’s taken care of for this week and I’m back on track for today. It’s time to revisit the story and pick up where I left off. I’ll have to admit, the sidetracking came at a good time yesterday since I was diving into some tough scenes in the novel and needed to look away for a bit. Drawing from memory means taking the good with the bad, and I just wasn’t quite ready yesterday to deal with some of the bad. However, after a good night’s sleep and a smooth start to the day I’m ready to take another crack at it.
So, whatever project you have today, whether writing or otherwise, don’t worry if something sidetracks you a bit. Take time to deal with whatever it is and get back on the road! Happy Writing!
January Junk
Thursday, January 8th, 2009Days come in the life of every writer when you just have to take time to tend to obligations. That’s today for me. Paying bills, filing, and getting a manuscript out in the mail all take time from the creativity of actually sitting down and doing what I love. But it’s all the little things in life, frustrations, schedules, a messy work space that give me things to write about. Each emotion, each experience, each seemingly insignificant activity is what makes up human life. If I’m paying attention today, I’ll get some good stuff. By just watching others and myself and taking mental notes (and actual ones) on how I respond to them and they to me helps me be a better writer. Like a painter who is always sketching, always looking and always aware of the best light, the best colors and the best setting, good writers observe their subjects carefully and at all times. Our subjects are the people around us living their everyday lives. Today, even though I most likely won’t meet my writing goal, that doesn’t mean my work on the novel stops. It’s all a part of the process and living in the moment and getting all I can from it only serves to make me a better writer. It might also help me be a better mom, wife and friend; more fringe benefits of the journey!
The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men
Wednesday, January 7th, 2009That famous line haunts me each day now as I push myself to meet my daily writing goals. It seems like each day there are things, both large and small, that try and sabotage my writing time. But it’s like anything, if it’s important to me I won’t let anything get in the way. So, here I am on day three of this new journey already wondering if I’ve got enough words in me today to meet my 1500 word goal. So here are some thoughts already rolling around in my head about what I’ve written so far.
The main character in the story is beginning to emerge more as her own person and less of a blending of the three or four people she started out to be. I’m already second guessing my plan of making her a violin player instead of a girl who loves to sing. If she is a singer, I can go with my original plan, but if she’s a violin player it makes the relationship between her and her new best friend had less tension as they go along. If I change it now it will be better than if I wait since I’m not too far in to make a substantial change. The other temptation is to continue writing from this angle and see where the story naturally goes rather than force it into a semi autobiographical account.
Today’s goal is to get more words down. I don’t think I’m up to reworking anything just yet until I get some more thoughts and scenes down. I like how this girl is taking form, even though she’s a bit different than what I’d originally planned.
Here’s to all you folks out there trying to stick to your own New Year’s plan…don’t worry about the mice or the men and just do what you set out to do. That’s what I’m doing today even though it isn’t as easy as it was yesterday! Happy writing.
Mind Doodles
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009Woo Hoo! I met yesterday’s writing goal by just a little over 1500 words. I also worked on a couple of short pieces that needed some finishing touches. Funny how what you plan to write just takes on a life of its own in the beginning stages. I had such a clear picture of my main character before I started and then she began to evolve into a combination of two people: one from my past and one from the present. It will be interesting to see what she looks like by the end of today’s session. I love what one of my writer friends calls this stage of the process…”mind doodles.” She’s so right! I’m a big doodler and have been all my life. I used to fill up the margins of all my school papers with eyes, hands, dogs, swirls, boxes and anything that poured out at the time. Sometimes I forgot which papers were going to the teacher and which stayed in my notebook. So my teachers got some very interesting looking papers from me.
Mind doodles, like any kind of brainless activity can easily get out of control though, so that’s why I’m giving myself a set number of words per day as a goal. It seems if I just keep going and going without reigning myself in after a while the story gets lost in memory and feeling before I can turn it all around. This is fine in daydreaming, but some discipline in the thought process is vital, at least for me. We don’t change that much over time, and if my writing becomes like my daydreaming in math class in high school I’ll get a failing grade…or at least a C…in my craft.
So, today’s goal…1500 more words and a little more self-control in what they are. Mind doodles with a purpose! See you tomorrow…
Hello world!
Monday, January 5th, 2009Happy New Year to everyone who visits my blog! I don’t know who most of you are, but I do know that I appreciate your being interested in the life and times of a writer and what I’m up to on a daily basis…well almost daily. That’s my goal for this year anyway. My other major goal is to finish the novel that’s been floating around in my head for a while now. Most writers go through some sort of evolution throughout their journey, and I’m finding that I’m no different. Even though I never thought I had a novel inside me, here I am with one finally screaming to get out. The funny part is, it isn’t the book I thought I’d be writing. The story seems so ordinary and tame given our society and the likes, dislikes and appetites of our culture. However, there is something we learn from every life that passes through this place and the voice in my head needs to tell her story. So, I begin today. The kids are back to school, my other work is on a bit of a hiatus, it’s cold outside and there’s no holiday coming up that requires anything more than a card; so, no more excuses. It’s time to begin. Thanks for coming along with me on my journey.
Today’s writing goal…1500 words of whatever wants to come out first. I was up most of the night rehearsing scenes in my head, so this should be a piece of cake. I’ll just be glad to get them out so maybe tonight I’ll sleep a bit better! And just so you know, my book is about a middle school aged girl named Maddie…more to come.
