Editing and readjusting my Mind

...with the mall, my sister, and 50 cent elephants

Earlier this week we spent three beautiful days in Lincoln City writing. I know many of you are probably hideously jealous... But the actual writing part wasn't all that dandy.

I'm on the fourth round of edits for my current nonfiction writing project and it's complete torture. For some reason this book has been extremely painful to write. And you can tell. I'm pretty sure the whole things sounds like someone typing while being hung by their toes.

My deadline is June 10th. I just know I'm not ready to write this book.

Thank God for other people! I have gotten so much input on this project. I am so thankful.

Many people have met with me, emailed me, talked with me, and advised me. And if it all turns rotten, I'm just going to blame it on them. ;-)

As in most things, my sistah friend (a.k.a. Polka Dot/Susannah) has been a huge help. (And yes, I did pirate the above picture directly off her blog.)

We went through the entire manuscript word by word. It was abstract, she made it personal. It was drab, she made it shiny. It was dull as tombs, she made it bouncy and lively. She can think of just the right word or phrase without even pausing. Why is it that writing comes so easy to those who don't even want to pursue it?

After sending the poor book back out for feedback, we packed our suitcases and hit the outlet malls. Susannah found one of those elephants you put quarters in so kids can ride...and yes, she did it. Only it wasn't meant for someone as tall as 5'9". An elderly man walked past and kept looking around and hollering, "That's too funny." So much for being discrete...

We came home and had internet again and Blogger was shut down for over 24hrs. Nice.

I tutor writing on Thursdays. I love writing with kids. They don't bang their head against the table and moan (generally), they just write. And it comes so easy and beautiful and imaginative! I can't begin to explain how teaching writing refreshes, encourages, and readjust my head about the whole thing.

You don't want to hear about our Clackamas Town Center adventure...that's a completely different story. ;-)

Let's just say it's been an interesting, wild, productive, and learning week. In the midst of a beautiful insane weekend, I am going to think about this--

Why is writing so hard for writers?

I think my mind needs some editing.

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Writing Junk, a Poem, and other Rambles

If you are a writer you've probably been told to write junk. I write it continuously.;-) But what this is supposed to mean is "get started on something or anything."

If you don't feel like you're in the right mood yet, just scribble away with whatever comes to mind. This gets you doing something and pretty soon you can get down to the project you want. Writing junk has been the only way I have defeated writer's block besides running and brushing my teeth. This is how my sorry excuse for song lyrics started out.

Many experienced writers suggest starting with poetry or some sort of metered ramble. This helps you get into the flow and rhythm of words. While this can be a little degrading for the cause of poetry, I think it works really well.

The biggest problem I have when I touch the keyboard after a break is stiffness. When I start writing all the words are going to be one syllable in five word long sentences. I have to get myself to loosen up somehow. I haven't got all this figured out yet, and my writing of "junk" is much more extensive than warm ups, but I know it's helped me.

Now I actually want to learn how to write semi-respectable poetry. Why do I have so many interests? I can't possible learn enough about everything I want to! It's so easy to just end up knowing a little bit about everything...and it's not all that helpful.

So, I'm sharing a piece of "junk" with you.

I've have two song ideas that I've been hashing out for several months now. As soon as I get really attached to an idea it's so hard to make it work. If I just start writing to write and something comes out, everything is so much easier. I'm sure you've experienced this before. A very natural phenomenon.

So, these two ideas are still in a jumble, but I did write something rambling to get in the mood.

I didn't have much of an idea of where I was going, but when I could tell I was going somewhere, I started to think of where that might be... (I'm so organized. :-P)

I recently read I Capture the Castle which was certainly an interesting book. I really liked most of it, but a couple issues came up that have been (apparently) simmering away in my mind.

In the book, Cassandra, the heroine, dabbles in Christianity but basically decides it's a sort of opiate for not really living life. She thinks she'd rather have the pain and misery and really feel and experience everything. The "pious" people she knows seem kind of secluded in their corner and rather childish. The book doesn't really come to a conclusion and just abandons the thread.

You hear this idea other places too. I think the way a lot of artists think relates. They just want to live. Don't bother with the other stuff (a.k.a. not doing whatever you feel like).

I'm not sure if I'm explaining this well, but it seems like a pretty sad idea.

I don't think you can truly feel all the wonderful things God intended for us without Him.

Love, joy, suffering, hope, death...they're all meaningless without Christ. What is joy without God? Can we even call that sort of one-dimensional happiness joy? Where is hope? Love is only centered on ourselves. How is that love?

Christians fall flat on their face and feel it. They also feel the exhilaration and forgiveness as they are picked back up by something stronger than themselves.

Yeah...so, anyways. Here's the song/poem/junk thing-

I know no wisdom
I see no truth
I run without looking
I stop without stumbling

There is no beginning
There is no end
There are men circling
There are men spinning

I have no confidence
I have no hope
I live without meaning
I die without leaving

They sing their singing
They shout their praise
They cry while dancing
They sin while praying

I cannot discern
I know no joy
They run while looking
They laugh while stumbling

I feel no future
I have no tears
They praise while dying
They laugh when crying

I always enjoy thoughts and criticism.

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Keep Persevering....

Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.

~Gene Fowler

Writing is the hardest way of earning a living, with the possible exception of wrestling alligators
~Olin Miller

Write without pay until someone offers to pay.

~Mark Twain

Back to Routine

So, today I'm having a serious talk with myself. I need to get back to my daily word count.

I've been hammering through the rewrites on my short story, but now I've sent it to some trusted friends and I'm trying to remain at peace while I wait for feedback. Hopefully they'll still talk to me. :-)

This morning didn't go so well. You can ask Suzy. ;-)

I grabbed anything in arms reach to distract me...and since I've been trying to teach myself to enjoy poetry, Suzy got a good dose of Shakespeare's sonnets, Oscar Wilde, and Lord Byron.

I did discover a few things...

I've read Shakespeare's Sonnets more than once now, but it was an interesting review.

I'm fairly new to Oscar Wilde's poetry.

Suzy rejoiced over The Grave of Keats (I think Bright Star scared her forever) and reveled in The Dole of the King's Daughter although I'm not sure we figured out what it means exactly. I like Oscar Wilde's frequent references to Shakespeare and his characters too. His Ode to Portia is kind of cool.

I confessed I laughed during Byron's Lines Inscribed Upon a Cup Formed from a Skull. I don't think it was Suzy's favorite though. :-)
I discovered When we Two Parted which is what In Silence or Tears is based of (this is on the Gaudreau, Bennett, and Auldridge album, This Old Town). I had no idea. I love that song!

That was kind of cool.

All this caused me to irrupt in a few stanzas dedicated to Suzy, but she was not impressed.

So yes...I have writer's block.

But I will conquer it this afternoon.

I just need to tie myself to my chair, remove all the books from my reach, and start typing.

So yeah...I guess I should get going.

Sorry for the ramble,
Miss Pickwickian

Plotting

So...I've been plotting recently.
My story has been in my brain long enough that it has got itself all discombobulated. I have too much stuff happening that isn't directly connected at the beginning. I have details I keep forgetting need to be revealed early on so I don't end up with surprises or info dumps.

Since I've finally decided on the time period and my POV characters, its time to get to business. I need to see how I switch back and forth from Lilly and Ramirez and how things work together.

I've been working on 3x5 cards so I can move scenes around and see how they fit. Its been easy to add info and to revise. When I'm finished with a scene the card can go in the done stack. Yes! I've accomplished something, even if it has to be revised a gazillion times.

After and extended session of plot explanation, my lovely sister drew her interpretation in a simple pie-graph. Hopefully this is not the feelings you will come away with when the book is a finished product. ;-)

This is my "story board" I've now had for some time. It's a timeline as well as concise versions of my character sketches. Originally I was going to put post-it-notes down the time line so I could moves stuff around and such, but I decided the 3x5 cards were working better for me. My boards have also proved rather hard to store, but they've been helpful.

This is Emerald.

This is Antony.
He's no longer a character in my story, but I like having him on my story board because he looks cool. ;-)
He wasn't serving my purposes. The only way he really fit into the story is if he died in this cool way... Well, my sister didn't like that. It happens that she'd grown pretty attached to Antony. Death threats ensued.
So I took him out and added another character in who behaves much better.
Antony will have to have a star role in a future story.

Those pics are Ramirez and Edion/Adion.

"The Inevitable"
This is the end of my timeline.

This is Rackbrier.
The picture is actually of a German World War II ace I've had a crush on since I was nine. The Blonde Night of Germany changed my life forever. ;-) This picture is of one of Erich Hartmann's buddies at his wedding.

Yup.
This is my story board.

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Keep Putting Things in Your Noodle!

About a week ago I had a busy, stressful sort of day. Odd animal issues (sheep delivery with a vet, bottle babies, etc...), busy life, and an event at church in the evening.
Anyways...it was pretty crazy and I just wanted to lay down and take a nap. I had the time to write for a moment, but I was just too dead to accomplish anything. I wanted to do something utterly brainless.
You know when you feel like this? You just need to space out if you aren't going to be asleep?

Well, I only had an hour or so before we had to take off for the evening, so I sat down and tackled my "Westminster Catechism Study" book. Something I did not want to be doing at the moment, but really needed too.

Gradually my brain stopped complaining and yawning and I found myself genuinely interested in what I was doing. Within a half hour I had a dozen things I wanted to write about.
I noticed this actually happens a lot to me. And most often during a theology or history book!

I get so full of ideas doing studies that it is very hard to keep concentrating. I try not to allow myself to grab the keyboard and start typing frantically.

Sometimes we don't need to space out (sometimes we do...but it's not good to let yourself to be dumb too often ;-). Sometimes we need to go learn something or maybe do something with our hands.

Next time I get writer's block I'll pick up my Catechism study book. Weird? It works!

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian