I used to live in the city and write about Marilyn Monroe, old boyfriends, JFK, capuchins for paraplegics, Bill Holden and solicited phone sex. Maybe I had to write about those things before I was able to find the really inspirational, the truly motivating.
The mundane.
Because then I moved to the suburbs.
There is a routine. Get up at 6:00 every morning, drink coffee, feed the kids, wash hair in the laundry room basin, make the beds, pick out clothes, etc, etc. There are moments it seems meaningless, or just boring. But then there are moments that make it worthwhile. It can be like reading Shakespeare and finally getting it. It can be like finding the blue jellybean that was hidden in April, except now it’s June.
It’s life, stripped bare. Plain and simple.
This doesn’t mean you can’t write about Marilyn Monroe or solicited phone sex or secret agent ninjas or whatever—just don’t forget the ordinary amidst the extraordinary. It breathes life into a story. It makes something real.
Today, my little girl had two of her friends over and I had to go upstairs to tell them to stop jumping on the bed. One of her friends looked up at me and said,
Why not?
And I thought right away,
What a great line.
Actually, the first thing I thought was,
I don’t know why not.
Which is what led me to think,
What a great line.
Look to the mundane for inspiration. It’s happening all around you. You just have to see it.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Today is the day you start calling yourself a writer.
The first bit of advice I bring you today may very well be the most important advice you ever receive. Before you read any further, get out your notebook and write a letter to yourself. Ask yourself why you want to be a writer. Try this for a few minutes and then come back and we will chat.
Ah, so I see you've come back. Good! That is a start. So, how easy was it to write your letter? Did you stare at the empty page for a few astounding moments? Did the words flow freely from your mind onto the paper? Is your paper still blank?
Regardless, you now have it set in your mind why you want to be a writer. Or maybe just the opposite--did you discover along the way that writing isn’t for you? If so, that’s OK to, but today is the day. Today is the day you must decide if this is the road that will make you the happiest in life.
Writing is not going to be your normal 9-5 job that makes you wake in the morning with dread every day, which can be brushed off at the end of your dedicated eight hours, not if you’re a good writer anyway. Writing will consume much of your life, as it should! This should be a warm welcome to those of you who are still serious about being a writer. Every meal you take, every person you encounter, every breath of fresh morning air will be your pallet of inspiration.
Still sound like fun? To me and many others, yes, this is a blessing! But to some, they may cringe at the thought of having such a dedicated line of work.
Today is the day you must decide. If you decide this is the path you were meant to take then do it! Be consumed by it! If you do not really love to write and find it as mundane and backbreaking work, maybe you should reconsider your career. And that’s OK. Rejection letters, late nights, and blank, frustrating minds are all part of the writing game.
I probably will not be the first or last to tell you that it is not easy being a writer, but if this passion of yours has yet to dwindle away, you will be rewarded in a way you never thought possible. To see your story told, your first acceptance letter, the finished manuscript you poured sweat and tears into is a feeling unlike any other you will have ever experienced. But it will not have come easy. Today is the day you must decide how much it is worth to you. Today is the day you start calling yourself a writer.
Ah, so I see you've come back. Good! That is a start. So, how easy was it to write your letter? Did you stare at the empty page for a few astounding moments? Did the words flow freely from your mind onto the paper? Is your paper still blank?
Regardless, you now have it set in your mind why you want to be a writer. Or maybe just the opposite--did you discover along the way that writing isn’t for you? If so, that’s OK to, but today is the day. Today is the day you must decide if this is the road that will make you the happiest in life.
Writing is not going to be your normal 9-5 job that makes you wake in the morning with dread every day, which can be brushed off at the end of your dedicated eight hours, not if you’re a good writer anyway. Writing will consume much of your life, as it should! This should be a warm welcome to those of you who are still serious about being a writer. Every meal you take, every person you encounter, every breath of fresh morning air will be your pallet of inspiration.
Still sound like fun? To me and many others, yes, this is a blessing! But to some, they may cringe at the thought of having such a dedicated line of work.
Today is the day you must decide. If you decide this is the path you were meant to take then do it! Be consumed by it! If you do not really love to write and find it as mundane and backbreaking work, maybe you should reconsider your career. And that’s OK. Rejection letters, late nights, and blank, frustrating minds are all part of the writing game.
I probably will not be the first or last to tell you that it is not easy being a writer, but if this passion of yours has yet to dwindle away, you will be rewarded in a way you never thought possible. To see your story told, your first acceptance letter, the finished manuscript you poured sweat and tears into is a feeling unlike any other you will have ever experienced. But it will not have come easy. Today is the day you must decide how much it is worth to you. Today is the day you start calling yourself a writer.
Who Has the Time?
Well, you do, of course! One of the hardest aspects of being a writer, especially if you are still working a day job, is finding the time you need to do everything you need to do. This was one of my greatest downfalls in the beginning of my writing career. I would sit and think about writing a lot; I would even go so far as scribbling notes.
I thought the writing would magically appear before my eyes. I am still not sure what I was thinking.
Anyway, the point is that you have to schedule time for writing and research. The first thing you should do is buy a small notebook; if you can, splurge and get an actual daily planner.
At the beginning of the week or month, whichever is more realistic for you, take the time to sit down and make out a schedule for your self. Think about your days off and how you spend them or your time before and after work. Every hour is precious. So the one of two days you have off from work, schedule them down to the last minute. You should take at least an hour a day for your writing. For example, on Monday use your hour to search job boards, Tuesday use your hour to do research, Wednesday take this time to do some free writing or query letters and so forth. Scheduling will help you stay organized and feel less scatter-brained.
You will be amazed at the end of your first month how much you have accomplished. You should also try to make deadlines and goals for yourself as a way of staying on track and noting your accomplishments. You will feel much more rewarded this way. Schedule yourself for a month and then take a day off.
Besides, what good is a writer if they spend all his/her time behind a desk?
I thought the writing would magically appear before my eyes. I am still not sure what I was thinking.
Anyway, the point is that you have to schedule time for writing and research. The first thing you should do is buy a small notebook; if you can, splurge and get an actual daily planner.
At the beginning of the week or month, whichever is more realistic for you, take the time to sit down and make out a schedule for your self. Think about your days off and how you spend them or your time before and after work. Every hour is precious. So the one of two days you have off from work, schedule them down to the last minute. You should take at least an hour a day for your writing. For example, on Monday use your hour to search job boards, Tuesday use your hour to do research, Wednesday take this time to do some free writing or query letters and so forth. Scheduling will help you stay organized and feel less scatter-brained.
You will be amazed at the end of your first month how much you have accomplished. You should also try to make deadlines and goals for yourself as a way of staying on track and noting your accomplishments. You will feel much more rewarded this way. Schedule yourself for a month and then take a day off.
Besides, what good is a writer if they spend all his/her time behind a desk?
Use Microsoft Word to Punch up Your Prose
From overused adverbs to overly complex tenses, many mistakes writers make are predictable and easy to fix. Your word processing program probably contains a tool that can help you find these errors and tighten your writing. In Microsoft Word®, that tool is Find, which is located under the Edit menu. This function searches your document for whole and partial words.
Do you use the word “would” too often?
“Each day, Tom would go to work. He would sit at his desk pretending to be busy. Then he would walk to lunch.”
Type “would” into the Find window. One by one, see if you can replace it with simple past tense:
“Each day, Tom went to work. He sat at his desk pretending to be busy. Then he walked to lunch.”
Another common mistake is the overuse of adverbs. A well-chosen verb is more efficient—“walked slowly” vs. “sauntered, “ “ambled”, “moseyed,” “crept.” Luckily, adverbs are easy to find; most end in “ly.” Use Find to look for instances of “ly” and eliminate the adverb wherever possible. Try this on other things. Look for “ing” endings. Ruthlessly seek and destroy “very,” “really,” and “extremely.” If possible, have a writer friend look over your prose and point out other common flaws. Think of ways to use Find to seek them out. Happy hunting!
Do you use the word “would” too often?
“Each day, Tom would go to work. He would sit at his desk pretending to be busy. Then he would walk to lunch.”
Type “would” into the Find window. One by one, see if you can replace it with simple past tense:
“Each day, Tom went to work. He sat at his desk pretending to be busy. Then he walked to lunch.”
Another common mistake is the overuse of adverbs. A well-chosen verb is more efficient—“walked slowly” vs. “sauntered, “ “ambled”, “moseyed,” “crept.” Luckily, adverbs are easy to find; most end in “ly.” Use Find to look for instances of “ly” and eliminate the adverb wherever possible. Try this on other things. Look for “ing” endings. Ruthlessly seek and destroy “very,” “really,” and “extremely.” If possible, have a writer friend look over your prose and point out other common flaws. Think of ways to use Find to seek them out. Happy hunting!
What Your Teachers Never Taught You About Outlining
I was one of those kids in school who wrote outlines after writing a report. You probably were too. The way they’re taught in school, they’re so static, so formal, that they become documents with lives of their own. No wonder they frighten even the best of students. But when I began working as a writing tutor, I revisited outlines. Many of my students were disorganized writers. All the thoughts were there, but jumbled. Sometimes there were enough thoughts for more than one paper, all mixed together. Outlining was just the tool they needed.
The trouble is that no one ever taught them or us there’s such a thing as a working outline—one that can change often and wants nothing to do with legions of Roman numerals. It can be as individual as you and the project you work on. If you write something short, you may be able to keep your outline in your head, but don’t skip a step and neglect it entirely. If you work on a novel, you can plot it out as a timeline on roll paper and tack it on the wall. In-between, there are all sorts of options, from mind mapping to sliding index cards around on the dining room table. I’ve even walked students through outlining midway through their writing, cutting up overly long papers into paragraphs, writing main ideas on the slips, and sorting them.
The key is to remember an outline’s true purpose. It’s meant for organizing your thoughts, seeing what fits with your purpose and what’s extraneous, where the gaps are and how to fill them. Later, circumstances might dictate a formal outline. Then and only then should you lock it down and line up your legions. By then, they should already be close to battle-ready.
The trouble is that no one ever taught them or us there’s such a thing as a working outline—one that can change often and wants nothing to do with legions of Roman numerals. It can be as individual as you and the project you work on. If you write something short, you may be able to keep your outline in your head, but don’t skip a step and neglect it entirely. If you work on a novel, you can plot it out as a timeline on roll paper and tack it on the wall. In-between, there are all sorts of options, from mind mapping to sliding index cards around on the dining room table. I’ve even walked students through outlining midway through their writing, cutting up overly long papers into paragraphs, writing main ideas on the slips, and sorting them.
The key is to remember an outline’s true purpose. It’s meant for organizing your thoughts, seeing what fits with your purpose and what’s extraneous, where the gaps are and how to fill them. Later, circumstances might dictate a formal outline. Then and only then should you lock it down and line up your legions. By then, they should already be close to battle-ready.
To Love By Way of Cooking
Tackling the abstract is never easy.
One day, a student came to the tutoring center for help writing about love. She didn’t know where to start. We chatted a bit and I learned that she lived with her daughter, mom, and grandma.
I had a hunch. Somebody had to feed all these women. “Who cooks in your family?”
“I do.”
“You enjoy cooking for them?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“You’d consider it an expression of love, then?”
She nodded, smiling. We had a place to start.
Natalie Goldberg, in Writing Down the Bones, gives similar advice on writing about sex—not an abstract subject, but still a tough one. If you feel sexy, she suggests, and you write about something else, like eating a melon, the reader will feel it too, even though you haven’t been explicit.
Any large, abstract, or dangerous subject can be tackled this way. Start with the small, the concrete, the safe as an entry point. Describe the lunch you ate or didn’t eat the day your parents told you they were getting a divorce. Your sudden distaste for bologna sandwiches can help your reader empathize without being hit over the head with your shock and sadness.
One day, a student came to the tutoring center for help writing about love. She didn’t know where to start. We chatted a bit and I learned that she lived with her daughter, mom, and grandma.
I had a hunch. Somebody had to feed all these women. “Who cooks in your family?”
“I do.”
“You enjoy cooking for them?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“You’d consider it an expression of love, then?”
She nodded, smiling. We had a place to start.
Natalie Goldberg, in Writing Down the Bones, gives similar advice on writing about sex—not an abstract subject, but still a tough one. If you feel sexy, she suggests, and you write about something else, like eating a melon, the reader will feel it too, even though you haven’t been explicit.
Any large, abstract, or dangerous subject can be tackled this way. Start with the small, the concrete, the safe as an entry point. Describe the lunch you ate or didn’t eat the day your parents told you they were getting a divorce. Your sudden distaste for bologna sandwiches can help your reader empathize without being hit over the head with your shock and sadness.
Defeating Writer's Block
Writer's Block... people cringe at those words, as if the words themselves were contagious. Most writer's block is anxiety based. We can literally talk ourselves out of writing for one reason or another. Every writer asks himself these questions from time to time: What if my plot is 'ordinary?' What if I can't make my characters sound real? What will my critique partners think of me after they read this? And the big one... Am I good enough to be a writer?
I don't suffer from writer's block, never have, never will. You too can avoid writer's block, and here's how:
1. Work on multiple projects at one time
Every project needs "down" time, so we can distance ourselves and literally let our brains rest. By having other projects to work on, we don't waste the time stressing over being stuck on one project, we simply move on, avoiding the stress of "not writing." And once we put the “troublesome” project aside to work on another, the answer will strike us when we least expect it.
2. Just start writing
If you're up against a deadline and don't have time to let the project "rest," then just start writing. Put your pen to the paper or your hands on the keyboard and write. It doesn't matter about what. It doesn't have to relate to your project, in fact it often works better if it doesn't relate to your project. The idea is to get your creative juices flowing.
Start writing about how weird or interesting your neighbor is, or why you can't stand that annoying advertisement on TV. Literally jot the first thought, or even word, which enters your head. And if nothing comes to mind, then starting writing about how nothing is coming to mind! But don't stop writing... that's the key. Don't stop for anything, until you've filled at least two pages. Don't stop to fix your grammar or spelling. Don't stop because you've accidentally shifted thoughts or POV midstream. Keep writing. Make it one long, run on sentence if you have to, but keep writing. Before you know it, you will find it hard to stop.
Now pick up that project which stumped you in the first place. If you find your mind wandering to every topic except this project, try this same free-writing approach again, only this time focus on the details of your project. Start writing about which character is your favorite or why the topic should have been discussed in every newspaper. Again, spelling, POV, jumping from idea to idea doesn't matter, as long as you're writing about your project in some form or another. Before you realize it, you'll be writing "The End" on the last page of your project.
I don't suffer from writer's block, never have, never will. You too can avoid writer's block, and here's how:
1. Work on multiple projects at one time
Every project needs "down" time, so we can distance ourselves and literally let our brains rest. By having other projects to work on, we don't waste the time stressing over being stuck on one project, we simply move on, avoiding the stress of "not writing." And once we put the “troublesome” project aside to work on another, the answer will strike us when we least expect it.
2. Just start writing
If you're up against a deadline and don't have time to let the project "rest," then just start writing. Put your pen to the paper or your hands on the keyboard and write. It doesn't matter about what. It doesn't have to relate to your project, in fact it often works better if it doesn't relate to your project. The idea is to get your creative juices flowing.
Start writing about how weird or interesting your neighbor is, or why you can't stand that annoying advertisement on TV. Literally jot the first thought, or even word, which enters your head. And if nothing comes to mind, then starting writing about how nothing is coming to mind! But don't stop writing... that's the key. Don't stop for anything, until you've filled at least two pages. Don't stop to fix your grammar or spelling. Don't stop because you've accidentally shifted thoughts or POV midstream. Keep writing. Make it one long, run on sentence if you have to, but keep writing. Before you know it, you will find it hard to stop.
Now pick up that project which stumped you in the first place. If you find your mind wandering to every topic except this project, try this same free-writing approach again, only this time focus on the details of your project. Start writing about which character is your favorite or why the topic should have been discussed in every newspaper. Again, spelling, POV, jumping from idea to idea doesn't matter, as long as you're writing about your project in some form or another. Before you realize it, you'll be writing "The End" on the last page of your project.
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