Spit before you write!

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NaNo, Writing process

This morning I was in the middle of brushing my teeth when one of the twins came in to ask me a question.  I immediately responded even though I didn’t stop the process of brushing my teeth.  Mothers!  We’re always trying to multitask.

My four year old looked at me and said, “Mommy, I can’t understand you because your mouth is full of toothpaste.”

No kidding.

This little exchange got me thinking about my writing.  Larry Brooks over at Story Fix is a strong advocate of clarifying before you write.   Before this year, I worked hard on my story, The Son of Asgard.  Two years of working on it.  I couldn’t get it to go anywhere.  Then I started mapping out my story.  I did more in one afternoon of mapping to elevate my story than I had done in those hard two years!

I’m all for organic writing – of letting the story write itself.  I’m pretty much doing that with NaNo, but with a bare bones outline guiding me along the way.  Knowing the key ingredients of STORY and mapping out at least a brief outline can mean the difference of talking with my mouth full of toothpaste or  spitting before I speak.  Instead of writing a lot of words to confuse myself, I have clarity on how to get there.

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Writing with Feeling

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Writing process

Recently I was in a session with a Calyco healer (healing through energy).  As we were talking, she related an interesting story.  She has a friend that has a beautiful voice and recorded a CD professionally.  The healer had bought the CD and started to listen to it, but couldn’t get through half of it because she felt anxious.  This happened every time she plugged in the CD, so she threw it away.  Later she asked her friend, “What was going on when you made that CD?”  The healer’s friend related a tale of being rushed through production, always feeling behind, and overall… anxious.

Since then I’ve noticed writers saying things like, “I just got my manuscript back from the editors, and the only chapters they disliked were the ones I didn’t like.”  Coincidence?  I’ve also talked to another author who said her bestselling book is the one she really loved as she wrote it.  Interesting.

My thought is, pay attention to how you’re feeling as you write.  We can’t help life going on around us – sometimes it’s ideal and sometimes it’s not.  Authors are human!  Imagine!  However, you don’t have to let life affect you “in the zone.”  If it’s true you can mass produce feelings, you don’t want to produce something people are going to act adversely to.

Now there’s a plot.  Someone writes a book that mass produces _________ and makes ____________ happen.  That could be a cool story!

Does it get you there?

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Writing process

I apologize for the length of time it takes me to answer comments lately.  There are reasons, but you’re not here to read about all that.  You’re here about the Write World.  I have replied to all comments to my knowledge.  If I missed one, please let me know.  No comment should go unanswered.  😉

Does it get you there?

The other day I was reading an excerpt of a book by Janine Bolon called, Money, It’s Not Just for Rich People.   In it she explains that before you do anything else, you need to determine where you’re headed.  Then you need to watch every single penny you spend.  While you’re watching, you’re asking yourself, “Does this get me to my ultimate goal?”

Later that night, I sat down to read a book.  It was a book I was curious about, but it wasn’t on my need to read list.  It had nothing to do with anything.  It was a novel based on a reporter – I don’t care for reporter stories.  I opened it up, and read the first few pages.  Not feelin’ it.  I braced myself to blow through it.  Then the thought came.

WHY?

Why blow through something that has nothing to do with anything?  I’m never going to write a story like this.  I’m not going to learn about style or characterization or anything else by blowing through the story.  That takes methodical reading.

So I sent the book back to the library.  Big.  Huge.  Relief!

Instead, I’m reading Timeline again.  And then I have Harry Potter #7 on my list.  And a few more bestsellers.  And Larry Reed’s Story Structure ebook.   And I write on my own story for a few hours.   Maybe as well as our money, we should be watching how we spend our TIME.  Time is too precious to waste.

Haha – this from the girl writing a time traveling book.  😀

PS  Will someone please tell me that Hunger Games is much better than what the 1st chapter looks like?  So far I hate it.  There is nothing positive going on, and that’s a huge turn off for me.  In my world (write or real), things might be pretty darn ick, but there is always something to be glad for.