From the Master

You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair - the sense that you can never completely put on the page what's in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page.

~Stephen King (from On Writing)

Is that brilliant or what?! Don't you just love Stephen King? We aren't asked to be reverent or politically correct or funny or anything else - he just asks us to be serious about our craft. I think most of us are already serious - painfully serious, even.

We are serious about our craft, about learning and growing in order to better our skills. I'm proud of us. I'm proud of our sharing of information. I'm proud of our questions and answers and problem solving for one another. I'm proud of the way we cheer for those successes while we wait (not-always-so-patiently) for our own.

Stephen King tells us,

This isn't a popularity contest, it's not the moral Olympics, and it's not church. But it's writing, damn it, not washing the car or putting on eyeliner. If you can take it seriously, we can do business. If you can't or won't, it's time for you to close the book and do something else. Wash the car, maybe.

 You gotta love it! 
 

Voraciously Obsessed

 

If you read good books, when you write, good books will come out of you.

~ Natalie Goldberg

 

For people who love to write, I think reading is a natural obsession. So many times I've seen us refer to ourselves as "voracious" readers, and I don't think it's hyperbole - we really are voraciously obsessed! Each time we review titles or share a favorite, we gush our enthusiasm or choke on our disappointment. Books are at the core of who we are and who we hope to become. Personally, I can think of nothing I'd rather have at my core than words!

 

What are some of your all-time favorite reads?

Secret Words

"I am a writer: I am a magician, conjuring something into being where nothing was before. Studying my art, learning the secret words to bring forth a world from the hat of my imagination. The hand is quicker than the eye. Did you see the trick behind my words? Or did I do it well enough that it all seems like magic? May I become better and better so that my craft does not show and my stories amaze and entertain."

~K.L. Oberst

(source)

May your day be filled with writing magic. 
May the hat of your imagination overflow with secret words.
Go ahead . . . amaze and entertain!

 
How is your magic lately? 

 

Writer Weightlifting

 

“I always did well on essay tests. Just put everything you know on there, maybe you’ll hit it. And then you get the paper back from the teacher and she’s written just one word across the top of the page, “vague.” I thought “vague” was kind of vague. I’d write underneath it “unclear,” and send it back. She’d return it to me, “ambiguous.” I’d send it back to her, “cloudy.” We’re still corresponding to this day … “hazy” … “muddy”…”

 

~ Jerry Seinfeld (Sein Language Bantam Books: 1993)

I've always loved this piece by Seinfeld. It never gets old. I think this is how we sometimes feel when we've completed a manuscript and it's time to hit the editing button. From the suggestions of  CPs or betas or editors, pointing out our areas of "unclear" and "hazy", we get an opportunity (yes, opportunity) to strengthen our characters, our conflicts and resolutions, our story.
 
At a workshop I attended, Ralph Fletcher shared his original "final draft" of the PB Hello, Harvest Moon. I liked it. Then, he shared the letter he received from the editor at the publishing house after they reviewed it. OUCH! I was shocked that a writer like Ralph Fletcher could get spanked like that. There were 18 separate comments - two of them were positive. After we all recovered from the shock of this revelation, we read the published version of Hello, Harvest Moon. Some of my favorite parts were missing, but I had to admit that the story is much stronger with the revisions.

No writer, however brilliant, should think revisions aren't necessary. Therefore, we should think of the ugly, editing monster as writer weightlifting, making our story stronger with every tiring repetition.

How do you feel about writer weightlifting? 

Do you approach editing as work or as an opportunity?

A Writer is Like . . .

"A writer is like a bag lady going through life with a sack and a pointed stick collecting stuff."

~ Tony Hillerman

(photo source)

I came across this quote recently and remembered this post. I originally posted it a couple of years ago, but I thought it would be fun to do again.

 

Okay everyone, on three...

Grab bags!

Ready sticks!

And...
Write!

What creative and playful simile can you come up with today?

Today is Important

A New Day

by

Dr. Heartsill wilson 

 

(Source)

This is the beginning of a new day.

I have been given this day to use as I will.

I can waste it, or use it.

I can make it a day long to be remembered for its joy, its beauty and its achievements, or it can be filled with pettiness.

What I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.

When tomorrow comes this day will be gone forever, but I shall hold something which I have traded for it.

It may be no more than a memory, but if it is a worthy one I shall not regret the price.

I want it to be gain not loss, good not evil, success not failure.

Make the most of today. Make it count, if only in small ways, because small things are the foundation of bigger things.

Word Stones

"Like stones, words are laborious and unforgiving, and the fitting of them together, like the fitting of stones, demands great patience and strength of purpose and particular skill."  

~ Edmund Morrison

I haven't been particularly patient or purposeful lately, which means I haven't been too skillful, either. My goal this weekend: to sit my butt down and do some serious revision. 

Hopefully my husband, three children, two cats and a dog will cooperate. What are the odds? Hmmm . . .

What is your goal this weekend?

I Like Myself When . . .

 

“I like myself better when I'm writing regularly.”
~ Willie Nelson

 

 

It never ceases to amaze how writing ebbs and flows. There are times when the words pour out like water, and there are times when I just don't even want to think about them. I agree with Willie, though: I like myself a lot better when I'm being productive!

 

What makes you like yourself better? 

 

Glittering Pages

"Stay alive, refreshed in language! Listen to little toddlers bopping metaphors around the room like balloons. Let language zip and lean, sound can lead you, be surprised as you are writing. I play with words every day and I am going to play right now. It takes me where I need to go, into the real content, and into serious hard places, too. Experimenting means anything goes. We need to keep doing that on our pages if they are to keep glittering and waking us up."

~ Naomi Shihab Nye

Don't you just love that? Naomi Shihab Nye is a brilliant wordsmith. "Famous" is one of my favorite contemporary poems. In fact, I used it in a post a couple of years ago HERE.

Ralph Fletcher, one of my favorite writing gurus is a collector of words and phrases. When he hears something interesting or memorable, wherever he is, he writes it down and adds it to his collection. One of my favorites I found in his book, Pyrotechnics on the Page: Playful Craft that Sparks Writing. He overheard a three-year-old girl on a tricycle yell to her father on a park bench, "You stay with your sun, Daddy. I'll ride with my wind."

Other nuggets from his collection include:

• Overheard at a bar: "Mothers raise their daughters and love their sons."
• His brother: "A knife will cut you until it earns your respect."
• His son: "Daddy, could you really get in a barrel and go over Viagara falls?"
• Shared with him by a 5th grade teacher about a student: "There is April the month, and there is April Ham Lincoln."

Don't be afraid to eavesdrop, collecting nuggets like these ones for your own "collection". Then, when the language play in your MS feels a little dull, you'll have a fun source of inspiration. And I recommend anything and everything written by Ralph Fletcher. He is my greatest source of writing wisdom and inspiration!

Do you have any fun nuggets to share?

Middle Age

"Middle age is when you're sitting at home on a Saturday night and the telephone rings and you hope it isn't for you. "

~Ogden Nash

I don't know about  you guys, but that is SO me!

Happy Friday,

have a great weekend,

and I hope the phone doesn't ring for you.
 

The End

"Story endings are hard to write - often much harder than beginnings. Any author who wants to be published must understand how to write a book with a powerful ending."

~ Marg McAlister

This is where I'm currently living in my revision coma: the pre-climax, climax, resolution phase. The oh-my-gosh-endings-are-totally-not-my-strength phase. Yes, the book was finished. Yes, I do have my fabulous agent. Yes, I'm still re-writing the ending. And  because my brain is stuck in ending mode right now, what better topic for today's post?

For my benefit and yours, here are a few "no-no" tips about endings. According to Marg McAlister, there are four main BAD endings that will get your hand slapped by agents and publishers everywhere (from "Write a Story Ending That Will Satisfy Readers"):

1.) The Story Ending That Is Too Good to be True  

The underdog not only wins through but is suddenly popular, rich and powerful. The ugly duckling swaps glasses for contact lenses, ditches the frumpy hairdo, loses weight, dresses better and marries the 'prince'. The author's mantra here should be "the hero can end up with what he MOST wants, but not EVERYTHING he wants."

2.) The Story Ending That Goes On... and On... and On  

Build up to the story climax, write the final powerful scene, then get out of there. Any scenes that follow the story resolution should be short so they don't detract from the ending. Part of a writer's craft lies in understanding how to tie up various plot threads ahead of time, so they are not faced with having to explain it all right at the end.

3.) The Story Ending That Leaves Unanswered Questions  

Sometimes the author deliberately leaves the reader wondering what happened as a device to sell the next book in a series. This ploy probably works for popular, established authors, but it results in a lot of unhappy readers. They really don't want to wait a year for the next book to tell them what happened. If the author is not so well known, the reader might not bother buying the next book at all.

In other cases, the author fails to answer questions simply because they've forgotten. In the race to finish the book (Hooray! It's done at last!) they've missed resolving some 'minor' point. Unfortunately, readers usually keep turning pages because they're curious about what happened... and this applies to lesser plot elements as well as the main story question. By keeping a plot notebook, authors can help to eliminate this problem. A story timeline can include all questions that need to be answered by the end of the book.

4.) The Story Ending That Kills off the Main Character  

Authors who kill off the main character (or let them die from some ailment) will defend their decision to the end: "In real life, people die. Life's not always perfect," or "He had to die to be true to the story."

Some readers agree and don't mind the main character dying (even if they shed a tear or two) but readers treat it as the ultimate betrayal. They have identified with this character; they have lived in his skin; they have viewed the world through his eyes; they have felt what he feels. The main character's death is like a death in the family. Authors who want to sell the novel and to win readers should give careful thought to the fate of the main character.

So, what do you think . . .

Do you agree? Or are there any you disagree with?

Run Wild

“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

  ~ Albert Einstein

Today, let your imaginations run wild!

I know I haven't been commenting on your blogs as much as I usually do. Please forgive me. I'm in the throes of editing, but I should come out of it soon. You know I love ya!
 

Passion Fuel

"Acknowledgment and celebration are essential to fueling passion, making people feel valid and valuable, and giving the team a real sense of progress that makes it all worthwhile."

~ Dwight Frindt 

 

 

And THAT, my friends, is what makes our blogging community so dang great! 

 

Today, 

acknowledge and celebrate  

someone else! 

 

Being a Beginner

"You can learn new things at any time in your life if you're willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up to you."

~ Barbara Sher

So many of us had to start from the beginning when we embarked on our writing journeys: learning to blog, learning to write well or better, learning to find a critique partner or two or ten, learning to query and to edit and to edit better . . . and always, always, learning to be more patient.

Being a beginner opens the door to the possibility of great things to come. If we are too afraid to begin, we'll never know what it feels like on the other side of our dreams. 

When have you been willing to be a beginner 

in order to chase a dream?

Tension and Conflict

 

"Our instinct as human beings is to provide answers, to ease tension. As writers our job is the opposite, to create tension and not dispel it immediately."

~ Sol Stein

"Plot conflict is not conflict merely in a character's mind or soul, while he sits at home. A plot conflict has to be expressed in action. The more struggle a story involves, the better the plot."

~ Ayn Rand 

 

It took me a few years to fully embrace the "kill your darlings" (or at least make them miserable) philosophy. Once I did, once I really amped it up and layered on more action and misery, then I finally got my agent. But it took me 3 freaking years to really do it--even though I knew I should. I never did it enough. MORE is BETTER.

So . . . how miserable are your characters?
Are you being too nice?

Sail

"To reach a port, we must sail - 

sail, not tie at anchor - sail, not drift."

 

~ Franklin Roosevelt

To achieve OUR goals we must write. 

Not stare at the screen for hours "thinking" (please say I'm not the only one who does that). 

Not check Twitter and FB every 10 minutes for new messages. 

Not put it off until tomorrow . . .

WRITE.

I Am Me

"I am somebody. I am me. I like being me. And I need nobody to make me somebody."

~ Louis L'Amour

 (source)

In the crazy world of publishing, it's easy to fall into the mindset that we NEED an agent to validate who we are as writers. Then we NEED a publisher to validate our stories. Then we NEED sales to validate our publishing success. Then we NEED a second book to validate that the first book wasn't a fluke. And so on and so on . . .

THAT'S NOT TRUE. Those things are all wonderful and are all part of the journey we are trying to take, but they do not make us somebodies.

I am a somebody every time my husband tells me he loves me. I am a somebody when I hug my kids and tuck them in at night and watch their Christmas programs or athletic activities. I am a somebody when I help my students become better readers and writers. I am a somebody in a hundred different ways each day. Because I AM ME.

When your heart starts to doubt, 

what makes you feel like a somebody?

Persistence in Practice

"Forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you're inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won't. Habit is persistence in practice."

~Octavia Butler

I am working to embrace this philosophy right now. My re-writes were flowing freely, my CP and agent were loving them, and then . . . nothing. I hit a wall. And my CP was on vacation when I hit it. I just kind of shut down, ya know? Two weeks and not ONE new word.

So, it's time to just write. Period. I can't give myself permission to live in this bubble of denial any longer. Waiting for inspiration has not moved me forward. Maybe getting back in the habit of punching the keys will. 

How do you break through those brick walls when you write? 

 

Gateways

"Nothing is predestined. The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings."

~ Ralph Blum

If there is one thing we learn as writers, it's that nothing is guaranteed in the book world. More than anything else, we have to hold onto hope with both hands. Never let it go. A setback today may be the stepping stone that leads us forward tomorrow. 

So many writers have shared stories of heartbreak and success with us over the years. SO MANY: Elana Johnson's 180+ rejections before finding an agent smart enough to sign her; Beth Revis wrote TEN novels over TEN years before her ACROSS THE UNIVERSE success. It goes on and on . . .

If you want to be inspired, to feel hopeful, to believe in the impossible, read the following stories.

* Caroline Starr Rose's joy...then disappointment...then joy again story HERE and HERE and HERE 

* Natalie Whipple wrote this post HERE and now has a novel being published by HARPER TEEN in 2013!!

* Katie Ganshert's long wait HERE

* Karen Amanda Hooper's story, HERE 

* Shelli Johannes-Wells's story HERE

These are only a few of the many stories out there, but they never fail to make my heart smile and soar with new hope.

What helps keep your hope alive?

Done O'Clock or Half-Past Through?

"The time of day I do not tell,
As some do, by the clock,
Or by the distant chiming bells
Set on some steeple rock,
But by the progress that I see
In what I have to do.
It's either Done O'Clock to me,
Or only Half-Past Through."

~ John Kendrick Bangs

 

 For all my NaNoing writer friends! 

And for the rest of us:

meeting deadlines, 

racing revisions, 

hurrying to critique, 

and

wishing for "The End"

P.S. I just finished reading TANGLED TIDES, and O-M-G was it good! Sooooo freaking good!!!!