Category Archives: Antics

Pregnant with Book? Write it!

Antics

I’d been saying I wanted to write for twenty years.  I’d said it so often and for so long that people who knew me didn’t even hear it anymore…  Even though I said it all the time and no one listened anymore when I did, the secreat was, I meant it.  I’d always meant it.  Actually, the real secret was stranger than wanting to write a book.  The real secret was that I already thought of myself as a writer.  I’d hardly written a word and I couldn’t think of a single idea for a book, but in my mind, I was a writer.  I’d been a writer since I was seven…  I was pregnant with book.  I could feel it kicking to get out.

From “Chosen by a Horse” by Susan Richards

When the @^&$ hits the fan… What I worry about as I write

Antics, Writing,

I’ll be honest.  I’m complicated.  I worry about a lot of things.  I over-analyze.  I dissect.  (Nod your head sympathetically toward my husband.  He’ll appreciate the gesture.)

Sometimes I feel like I’ve got a whole universe jammed inside my skin.  I’m stretched tight like a sausage with all the stuff I think about.  (Bonus points if you know why I selected that image.)

I’m not going to tell you what I worry about.  Mostly it’s boring, cliche, or embarrassing.  But I will tell you that the worrying is analogous to my writing process.  In the same way I might  fret about my kids’ future, I turn the elements of my story around and around.  I twist and tangle and ultimately untangle the narrative threads.  Because I’m complicated, I write complex characters in shifting universes.  I like to think that the personal anxiety has a purpose that is made manifest in the writing.

But the curious thing (and the point of this post) is that I never feel anxious about writing the book.  Isn’t that weird?  I worry about all these things, but there’s a deep down secure knowledge that I can write the book.  I will serve the story.  And I’m always learning how to do it better.  Cool, huh?

 

Writing–like archery–requires a target, constant adjustments to your aim, and lots of practice

Antics, Writing, ,

As I type, my back, shoulders, and arms are very sore from archery practice.  The bow in the picture is a compound bow with a 30 lb draw, which means it takes 30 lbs of force to pull the string past the point of highest resistance.  After that, it is relatively easy to hold, allowing the archer time to aim with care.  It’s a very different technique than with a long bow, which is generally a fast draw and shoot affair.  In either case, however, it takes a lot of practice to become a consistent shot.  And if I switch bows or arrows or move back or if there’s wind, I have to make many adjustments in order to continue to hit the target.

A writing career is very similar.  We have to constantly adjust to changing conditions and always re-focus on the target.  In January of every year, my critique group, Viva Scriva, has a goal-setting meeting.  We review the preceding year and set our sites anew for the coming one.

Here’s what my 2011 goal list looked like:

  1. Spend Jan-May finishing the first draft of my new YA novel.
  2. Focus on building my relationship with my agent.
  3. Build the VivaScriva website.
  4. Spend June-August researching new nonfiction book.
  5. Spend Sept-Dec drafting aforementioned nonfiction book.
  6. Rebuild my website.
  7. Write those two magazine articles I didn’t get to in 2010.
  8. Keep up with my newsletters.
  9. Book 4-6 school visits or conference talks.
  10. Build a solid marketing resource book for myself and the Scrivas.

So how did I do?

Pretty darn well on 2, 3, 6, 8, and 9.  (I’m especially proud of both my website and the Scriva site).  The “new YA” novel (1) is at about 50K words (2/3 done probably).  I had to set it aside in July when I signed on to write a YA novel for Angel Punk (I know there are worse problems to have!), but it’s far enough along that I’m confident that I can finish it up when I have some time.  Plus I’m about 55K words into Angel Punk so I do deserve a self-congratulatory pat on the back for writing well over 100K words in 2011. 4, 5 and 7  were scuttled, and 10 is a jumbled pile of papers in a corner of my office.

Looking over the last year, I see that the target I was aiming at changed dramatically with the contract for Angel Punk.  All my goals had to be readjusted, but my core direction remained and remains the same: to write for kids and teens about heros, adventurers, and scientists.

I’ll leave you with a great TED video in which Richard St. John answers the question: “What Leads to Success?”  In it, he talks about the eight secrets of successful people include focus and hard work – keys to archery as well as writing.

What were your goals for 2011?  How was your aim?

Looking at things we can’t have – a good idea or not?

Antics, My Reads

From my own dog-eared, oft-read copy of THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER (one of my all-time favorite books):

It was a picture of a ship–a ship sailing nearly straight towards you.  Her prow was gilded and shaped like the head of a dragon with wide open mouth. She had only one mast and one large, square sail which was a rich purple. The sides of the ship–what you could see of them where the gilded wings of the dragon ended–were green.  She had just run up to the top of one glorious blue wave, and the nearer slope of that wave came down towards you, with streaks and bubbles on it. She was obviously running fast before a gay wind, listing over a little on her port side…  And the sunlight fell on her from that side, and the water on that side was full of greens and purples. On the other, it was darker blue from the shadow fo the ship.

“The question is,” said Edmund, “whether it doesn’t make things worse, looking at a Narnian ship when you can’t get there.”

“Even looking is better than nothing,” said Lucy. “And she is such a very Narnian ship.”

Sometimes I wonder if I’ve done myself a great disservice by reading fantasy novel after novel about sword fighting, dragon riding, prince kissing, and other exciting things unlikely to ever happen in my real life.  What about you? Are there things, characters, or experiences you obsess over?  Are there “six impossible things” you really, really want?

Today on my run I saw an old car with a bleeding eye, skunk-sprayed dogs, a smashed snake and…

Antics, Writing, , ,

 

… a talking mud puddle, sunlight shining on moss, and barges on the river below.   Running is good for my writing, my monkey mind, and my butt.  I am lucky that I get to run in the forest on a ridgeline high above my city.  There is lots to distract me from the burn in my legs and the feeling of near-suffocation as I run.

I was inspired to starting running by my writer friend and fellow Scriva, Liz Rusch.  She described her ideal writing day as one in which she went for a run, ate a big breakfast with eggs, and then went to the Sterling Writer’s Room at the Central Library in Multnomah County to work for a solid 4-6 hour stretch.

After I got the right gear for running in our wet, cold winters, I too embraced this start to my day.  I fell off the wagon for awhile because I was busy with the horses and sheep at the barn (that was good for writing too), but I’m back to my running.  And except for the squashed snake, it was a damn good way to start the day.  I’m off to write.  Maybe you should go run!