Writing While Ill

Forget about it.

I had the happy misfortune of falling ill last week. (thursday, to be exact)

Not the under the weather kind – flat out, can’t move, if you touch me, I’ll find a way to kill you so that we can all die together kind of ill. it was that bad.

During that time, I contemplated quitting my classes (I’m comfortable enough at this point that such a thought is ludicrous, but I thought it anyway) wondered if I should write a will, and suspected Gawd was after me.

This blog is brought to you by the letter E coli. I won’t go into details, but I recommend not cooking three week old sausages for dinner. Yikes!

Okay, back to the writing – I had five poems to fulfill for one assignment (thankfully, I had a ton of notes), a book to read and analyze and the on-going poems for my workshop (of which I was planning to submit the unheard of one a day for a week).

Prioritize. The poem a day for a week can wait – the class members usually submit one a week (but me, not being a poet, must work harder, that’s all). For three full days, until yesterday afternoon, I did absolutely nothing. after awhile you just tell yourself – it ain’t gonna matter if you’re not healthy.

so I concentrated on health (especially the all debilitating hydration!), whatever I could read of the book – a good one – last year’s newbery award winner: One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia. and started to pull my notes for the five children’s poems for a book I’m going to call The Handy Handbook.

I can’t say I’m up to speed – this is the most writing I’ve done in five days, but it does feel good to keep the rails greased, as it were.

Some Thoughts on Reading and Craft Assessment

Some business: I thought I had written more for this blog than I see on line. If I do discover that I have, then I’ll repost them or post them here. So there may be some unexpected posting in the next couple of days.

I’ve always tried to assess my place in the literary universe, as writer, author, public, fan, etc. As a fan or public, most of these ruminations take the form of wondering whether I should read this author or that genre for my personal entertainment. I love Stephen King and up until the Gunslinger Series, have read most of those books. I’ve read many of Alexander Duma’s books, and so forth. I like the Science Fiction Genre and some Fantasy and find myself being pretty selective along those lines. Heinlein, Niven, Tolkein, Rowling, fulfill most of those needs.

Once, while reading Dean Koontz’s The Watchers, a fan of Koontz interviewed me to see what I thought of it. We discussed the book – which I absolutely adore – but when I discussed the idea of Koontz’s management of Jungian archetypes within the book (spinster, adolescent child, 007 type bad guys) she suggested that I probably wouldn’t want to read any other Koontz book – that the majority of his work had the same feel and that The Watchers (up to that point 15 years ago) represented the best of what he did. True or not, I set him aside as a choice for author’s to read. I’m not inclined to read that way anyway, so no one should be too surprised.

In assessing my writing craft needs I kept hearing the twin scenario: write write write read read read. For an artist, the two must come together.

I am no reader, by any stretch of the imagination. and it wasn’t until my third year in the bachelor’s program that I was finally able to get up speed and comprehension. This is nice because it means, quite simply, that I can read more books, learn more things, have more mental tools – something that is very important to me. Then came the Master’s and the goal of not only writing novels, but publishing them as well.

I will take years, I realized, to get my chops up and to produce work competently and proficiently. To that end, I began to realize that I was still deficient in the area of reading. I am not well read.

One of the courses needed for the MFA is a creature called Directed Reading. Each genre has a Directed Reading program. It’s a grueling 16 weeks of (usually) reading a novel or work a week. In some cases, such as Children’s Lit, we could be assigned two books a week. What then happens is that the books are analyzed and explored for numerous things. Such as structure, voice, syntax – any number of things.

Last semester I took two Directed Reading courses: Memoir and Narrative Poetry. I survived. By the end of that semester I was reading three times faster and had acquired great comprehension skills. But the point is this: I took these courses together because I needed to become a reader. I do not think that I can achieve my goals without paying attention to these skills and reading in general. After taking these courses, I can see that READ READ READ is just as important as WRITE WRITE WRITE

Fourth Week Report at the Masters

One of the hardest things to do during classes is to let some things go. My office is crowded with mountains of books – but they are organized, I promise. In the last year I’ve purchased over 100 books for the classes alone, not to mention the few that I just can’t seem to keep my paws off of. But it’s now how I want it.

In earlier discussions I have mentioned how frustrating it can be to not be organized but the focus right now is on school. I want to protect my investment in time and money and knowledge by staying on top of things academically. I have yet to do all the things for poetry I’ve wanted to do – and time is fading fast!

Last week there were familial needs and future business needs to attend to. If I hadn’t been on top of things in the past and doing my best to get ahead of the work, then I would have suffered greatly. As it is, I’m where I need to be but will be planning to take advantage of a (hopefully) quiet week coming up.

The take-away: Working harder at the beginning of courses always pays off. I’ve been rewarded with positive responses to the work and I still have a wealth of material to create more work from (especially important for the poetry course), though not as much as I’d like.

Opening Files or Lining Up the Ducks

Recently I took a friend to the Salton Sea. We were on a very tight schedule, and as this friend from Ohio had never been to the Salton Sea but knew of my love for it, she came with me on a one day visit. the driving time alone was to be seven hours. The most we could hope to stay and be back at Disneyland for an evening meeting, was three hours. She wanted to see Salvation Mountain, the volcanic mud pots were on the way, as were many other austere scenic opportunities along the way. We never made it to Salvation Mountain. And barely made it back to Disneyland. How important was it for her to go to Salvation Mountain? I don’t know. Will it make a difference to her and her God? I doubt it. But! If she really wanted to go or had to go – then she could have done so if she’d made a plan and schedule to make it out there.

Of course, flying by the seat of the pants is always good – and this cheap analogy is only meant to segue into what it takes to be productive in writing, and not – necessarily, what it takes to be organized in life.

One of the magical things you can do to move the work along, is to have an idea of where you’re going. I mentioned that I will be opening files soon, both in the computer and physically with a file folder, to help facilitate ease of writing production. This is easier to do when you know where you’re going (!) but it does a number of things as well.

1) Defines the road you’re going on. Often times in writing and planning we have a pretty good idea of where we want to go. The problem comes in when we get sidetracked. Being side-traced at the Salton Sea was a lot of fun. The mud pots are an amazing phenomena. But we did not reach Salvation Mountain – God save our souls!

2) Offers insights into greater opportunities. All that silliness aside about not going to Salvation Mountain – we did have a plan: Go to Salvation Mountain. Okay, good. Then we got in the car and left for the mountain. As it turns out we were able to find other things along the way. if we had not made the plan (opened the file) to go to Salvation Mountain, then we wouldn’t have passed other photo ops, and mud pots, etc. In other words, there were things worth watching along the way.

Opening a file early can occasionally reveal other opportunities ahead of time. I still had a year to go when I opened all the class files for my Bachelor’s degree. By doing so, I was able to see what was ahead of me and how it related to earlier classes and later classes – the end result was my mind was now operating on more than a “here and now” mentality with my courses – I could, in effect, see into the future and take advantages of information that impressed my instructors/students and I had greater control over the facts.

3) Makes it easier to just get started. Often times after studies and projects and writing 2K, it’s difficult to switch mental gears and move forward on a new or old project. having the files prepared (even if they’re empty) is usually enough to get the snowball rolling. It really can be that simple sometimes. There’s an empty file – but it is something! You’ve made a contract with yourself to put something into that file and it’s a lot easier to get something in there if there is indeed a file open.

I’ll even go further that than, if I can. Why not start a word file to go into the empty file?

Why not title the word file with something that might have something to do with the project at hand.

These kinds of personal prompts keep the subconscious mind ruminating behind the scenes so when you return to them later you could have days, weeks, or months of subconscious activity available to your hands and mind by the time you get to work on them. They allow you to incubate and execute when it’s time to get to work – no small gift, I assure you!

Mr. Momentum and Knowing When to Switch Gears

The last three weeks, I've been working like gang-busters! (I wish I knew what a 'gang-buster' really was - though I could take an educated guess) Everyday I've been worrying over my poetry workshop, CYA craft class (no - CYA does not mean Cover Your Ass; it means Children's/Young Adult) and the CYA Directed Reading course. Three courses in a Master's program are nearly enough to drive one mad. The level of competency that is required when approaching this kind of work is near brutal. It's at this level one could almost compete with the big boys, and sometimes do.

In my case, I've been pounding out the observations of life (required journalizing for the poetry workshop), occassionally attempting to actually write (and submit) a poem or two, reading poetry (also in preparation for the course) and writing a children's early reader book (this writing is perhaps the most exact and toughest of all) about my favorite heros - Samurai Snail and Sumo Slug - while still contributing mightily (at least that's the hope) to the Directed Reading arguments and observations.

So here's the catch and the reference to the title. I have to do more and dig deeper on the poetry angle - that can't change - I'm  still entrenched. The Directed Reading won't change - I have research, observations, and notes to give and take. Samurai Snail and Sumo Slug, however, are a different story. I have to leave them. I've spent the last six weeks creating, writing, rewriting, editing, and working their story and character. But the dictates of the class demand that I do something else (like write five publishables poems over the next three weeks) and then something else a 120 pp manuscript and then 220 ms. - give or take about 50pp.

What does this mean? It means that I HAVE to switch gears. No choice. Normally, I might want to polish slug and snail and - at the very least - send it off to an agent. Oh, what a pleasure it would be to have Ms. Johnson crying over my verse!

So. there's my dilema and my task: let go of something that is gaining ground to begin a new task.

How to do this? I don't know for sure, but here are some ideas:

1) Put the thing to rest. Mentally say good-bye; Physically put all notes and manuscripts into a folder and shut the file cabinet.

2) Open a file for the next project. On the computer. Physical file for what is to come.

3) In a class course, I've been known to create empty folder in anticipation for future projects. I don't know why, exactly, this helps. But it does. I have yet to do this for all my future work, but I will most likely finish this by the week-end or next week at the latest. One reason for this is that the early push in a class can be overwhelming until you get the rhythm of the work and the nomenclature of the subject a little more pat and organized. It also doesn't help when one is inclined to play more than they should if they want to make the Dean's list.

Keeping It Going – Paper or Plastic?

There sometimes need to be an reckless approach to writing material. Just putting your hand to the keyboard, or as I prefer, pen to paper.

The advantages of writing by hand are nurmerous and I’ll share a few here.

I’ll get rid of the obvious:

1) When the electricity goes out, the paper can still be read. This may seem to an obvious statement, but I’m surprised by how often I’m surprised at my pleasure at seeing something I’ve written by hand. Yes – it can happen.

2) When the computer fritzes out, there’s a hard, hand written copy. Yeah, I know – more of the obvious, but back up of this sort is still back up.

- There’s an argument here to print out everything that you put on the computer. Aside from the cost of ink, I’m not sure this is always a good idea. But I do print a lot of my material so I can review it.

- If I am more than 10% into a revision, I’ll usually print out what I’m working on so I can read it for consistency and grammar and readability. Unless – I’m unusually proud of what’s being edited at this point.

I’ve rarely been caught short as a result of these habits – I shred or throw away much once revisions have been accomplished.

The not so obvious reasons for writing by hand: 1) allows for greater options while writing – length of time to write a word vs. typing one. 2) keeps the hand and body more available to service the mind: read here exercise. 3) Taps into the mythology of creativity. While typing is no less a creative effort than handwriting, it is nonetheless a different kind of creativity – handwriting offers another outlet of experience.

Rejection - a Slice of Life

Okay. I was rejected. Again

It hurts. I won’t lie. But when I look at the manuscript again, I immediately began to clean it up. Should I resend it?

It was for a National publication and the rejection nearly always makes me wonder if I’ve screwed up, or if I had a legitimate chance or if I was day dreaming.

1) I have to remember whether or not I sent it out as a lark or as a competitive piece that I thought had a real chance to win. this time i did.

2) I reviewed the work I sent. Was there too many cliches? Did I send it out with too many clerical errors? Was I too pedestrian? I this case, I suspect I was too pedestrian with too many clerical errors (though I don’t think there were many) and I suspect there were too many cliches.

3) I don’t think I was day dreaming – after reviewing the work, I think I was simply too amateur. Thought he contest is meant for amateurs, only the savvy actually get through..

I will try again with another piece that I could not define at an earlier time. I am able to see some weaknesses that existed before  - so we shall see.

Self Assessment of Competency

Keeping neutrality in assessing one’s own work is possibly the most difficult thing to do. I also suspect that keeping neutrality towards one’s work is also what allows for professionalism to flourish. There are many mantras in the world of writing that are spouted in this regard.

When writing, do not edit at the same time. Here’s the thinking: when one wants to write, let it flow and let it go. What comes out, supposedly, is thought and from that thought, meaning. This is good for drafting emotional content, exploratory thinking, and journalizing. And as I am currently involved in the study of poetry, I can see the value there.

But one must keep in mind one thing: It’s unpublishable. Okay, so maybe I get it published online when I submit some ramblings in a blog – but by and large, very little of it works the first time around – if any. Free association is important when writing. There are a few authors who can produce on first draft – but they are experienced and few and far between.

Prior to writing, have an outline. This is something some writers complain about. The argument goes, if they have an outline, the freedom of writing is lost. The difficulty is this: without a plan, even a loose one, meaning gets lost. Writing, unfortunately, is not an exercise in improvisation anymore than Reality TV is unscripted or real. Neutrality in composition – keeping the constant editor at bay – can actually be realized with a prior plan or outline.

Example: I can have a loose outline of three points (from English Comp): Hitler lost the war because he was 1) insane, 2) a vegetarian, 3) was unimaginative – admittedly weak reasons – but many “A” papers have been built on weaker premises. Then, as I write to prove these points, I remember something: The Allies let Hitler live, knowing that he would make more mistakes alive than those around him – who were inclined to do a better job. Now I can strengthen my argument to include that he was outsmarted.

When writing, know your ending. Here’s the problem. Writing from an outline, or knowing where you’re going to end up structures your writing ahead of time. The difficulty lies in being married to the concept or the outline. This is fine in a deadline situation – at least you get a product. But the product will likely be missing something.

I’m not referring to professionals who seem capable of writing off the cuff. Whether they’d admit to it or not, they are simply able to formulate the fundamentals before they get to sitting down to write. Either through brilliance, genius, or experience, they set down the guidelines of the work they are hoping to achieve, and get to it. This is why the Bridges of Madison County was written in two weeks: Waller had been writing seriously for 25 years before he came upon the concept of Bridges and hit the right note.

I’m inclined to do a bit of all of the above. In the last three years, I’ve seen my compositions grow and my ability to manage them after first drafts. When determining your own style, I would suggest an attempt at all of these. The second one is the one that has helped me most during essay exams, and I’ve always done well during those. (to recap an earlier blog: take five minutes of an hour to outline the essay and two to edit at the end)

When tasting these differing approaches to writing be wary of the one you ‘hate’ the most. Odds are there’s a great strength to be found there – some way to get to a greater truth or emotion or organic feel to the work.

Competency: You Know It When You See It

There are many levels of competency and awareness when it comes to assessing one’s own work. Judging one’s own work is difficult for a number of reasons. For one, we become invested in our own work and the quality of the work loses emphasis for the sake of trying to create meaning. That may sound contradictory: losing emphasis by trying to create meaning. But what happens is the author tends to reach for meaning and as he does so remembers all the previous arguments that build up – some foundational point – that leads to the argument.

Then you get sidetracked.

Many of my blogs/essays run in this way. The biggest trick is to keep the topic as narrow as possible while still forwarding information as fresh and interesting. I do this all the time. Obviously. this is one reason why I keep finding myself summarizing what’s gone on before.

So then: Judging one’s work: One of the hardest things to do is to read – physically read! – one’s own work. It’s an interesting exercise. I have found it very very difficult to reread my work, but the benefits of doing so really pay off.

Okay – so to narrow the subject of this blog: read your own work to assess its level of competency.

Next up: how to assess the competency of your own work.

Sticking to it and then Looking Back

One of the most amazing things that happens when one writes continuously (5/7) is that it doesn’t take long before there is a substantial amount of crap that builds up and you have to decide what to do with it. Writing writing writing is one thing you have to do in this business – of, well – writing. There are so many avenues to explore, it’s hard to figure where to focus. Level of skill is important to keep in mind, rewriting is good writing, practice makes perfect, and so forth.

Fairly early on in my exploration of writing as an art and career (please don’t laugh too hard) was a self awareness that concluded I did not have the skill level to write, much less publish. Knowing that I don’t know has been one factor that has kept me on track and has encouraged me to continue. Should I ever get to the point that I feel I have arrived (okay, I might feel that way after ten published novels) in terms of craft, myth-lore, and grammar then I’ve promised myself to give it up.

There have been many times where I’ve come against some mountain of craft that I couldn’t climb, and that maybe, just maybe – I should give up the thought of being a writer. Whenever I find myself thinking I should give something up, then that usually means I can find the answer that is stalling me. With a little bit of effort and meditation, I should be able to discover what it is and handle it. This is never NEVER easy, but it is doable.

In the end there have been only a few times where I felt I should truly give up. After a couple of years of looking into classes, where I was clever, but not good enough – I found my voice – that I had a writer’s voice that sounded an awful lot like me when I’m at my most individual way. When I felt I could connect. another occasion was when I realized I actually had something intriguing to say (all previous efforts looking more like a third grade rehash of some Gilligan’s Island episode), something competent.

If I can connect once – I can do it again. If I can be competent once – I can do it again. Gaining access to these two elements of writing provided the confidence I needed to continue my quest for success. So now I have this volume of work that is more or less garbage. But there are elements of connection and competency. Increasing one’s skill level by writing all the time (more on this later) is important towards completing projects. What occurs during these times are unexplored thoughts. These unexplored thoughts and expressions have the germ of genius. Eventually, they will get reused, resurrected, and resuscitated. Why not hasten the process by reviewing?

One of the hardest things for me to do is go over my crappy work – but it can pay off. It helps to know how awkward the road has been. Not to laugh at yourself (or cry), but to see where you were thinking and how you can take advantage of such thoughts with a more mature (?) or different perspective – the river has moved on. How to do this?

Bottom line: Pick up the work. Read the words. Make notes. Be done with the old stuff – unless you deem it profitable to rewrite and edit accordingly.

Getting Back To It

Not that anybody is following these blogs (at this point), but there has been a five day break from the last submission. This is not a big lag, but when one is ‘supposed to write one daily,’ according to some of the wisdom touted at the residency (I don’t subscribe to “daily,” but close), five days can be considered a substantial enough break.

Which brings me to todays thoughts:

Five out of Seven days is enough to be considered “daily”

Never worry about where you were – only where you’re at.

Writers (artists) seem to have a quirky way of looking at the world – and I thought it was only me! Of course, just to qualify, I believe there are artists everywhere, whether they be carpenters, electricians, CEO’s, painters, sculptors, or authors. It’s the knack for getting things done in a way that is fresh, organic, and original that separates the artist from the performer.

Often times, it is easy to get caught up in the public trap of seeing someone make an outlandish statement such as: I write 2K a day. That writer is either lying or telling the truth. Odds are, they’re lying. If they’re not they’re extremely busy and my hat’s off to them. If they are then they should be ashamed of themselves: God cries when you lie.

Ah, but what about the Five out of Seven rule? Can you take your hat off to yourself if you’re following that one? Most certainly. If anybody asks me how my writing is going and I’m getting 5/7 then I’m writing everyday. This is what I call the acceptable fudge factor.

There are other considerations. Life has a way of getting in the way of creating art. Mother’s really want you to stop by for a visit, the wife says, let’s take the holiday off, a son may step into the office to shoot the breeze (or other things), and so forth. What’s a caring individual to do? Accept their needs to see you as a way of understanding that you need to see them, and move on.

Naturally, especially if this is to be a profession, it is important to insist on your time and space – more on that later – but it is equally important to allow others to impinge upon you. This is good humanity. Herman Melville was more or less forced to immure himself to finish Moby Dick. He found himself inclined to help his neighbor, family, and friends. Poet Marvin Bell has likewise stated that he does the majority of his work at night (hence the title of one collection, Nightworks) for very similar reasons: chores, spending time with Dorothy, etc.

This may sound too much like what Jesus once said: Do not worry about the day, for the day has enough worries of its own. Okay, that’s a paraphrase, but close. But the principle applies. There is simply too much work that needs to get done to be freaking out over missing five days of blogging or writing or creating or schooling, etc. to freak. Freaking is debilitating.

Bottom Line: I’m picking up where I left off.

Accessibility: Having the World at Your Fingertips

Never mind the internet. Running through the web is like having an encyclopedia in your hands. I used to grab one to look up – something – and then I’d get sidetracked by some extremely old photograph of the Barrymore’s or something from the turn of the previous century and get caught up in their stately beauty, long coats. Of course, I’d only recognize one of the Barrymores – John, with those heavy eyes, even when he was young, and remember his role in It’s a Wonderful Life. Then I’d think of Jimmy Stewart. What an interesting fellow he was. A WWII vet and Wonderful Life was his return to the screen after who knows what he saw out there in Europe. and I’ve never been to Europe, though I almost went a few years ago . . .

And so on and so on and so on – And what was it I wanted to look up?

Oh, yeah. Bicycles.

Streamlining one’s agenda can be tough at times. it certainly is for me. And even though I nearly always make my scholastic deadlines – I can have difficulty creating and meeting my own agenda. Why should I? I have met the requirements of agreement – a very sacred thing for me: my word is my bond!

To that end, I intend to streamline my desk a bit. Clean it up and keep my tools accessible. Which they are, but they could be better.

Waxing and Rolling: the Benefits of Journaling

I have had and am having the privilege (yes, there’s a great price to pay for it)of sitting at the feet of those who have blazed literary and publication trails. Kathleen Alcala, Dr.Carolyn Wright, Bruce (Holland) Rogers, Wayne Ude, Kirby Larson, Bonny Becker, David Wagoner, and too many numerous instructors over the years to mention, have all contributed to the dialog of craft, myth-lore and grammar. If this sounds like name dropping – so be it. But the truth is, these people are passionate about their work. They are likewise considerate to those who are equally passionate – and that means me.

I mention them as a segue to journal writing. I do not know, save one, their habits on journaling. But I’m guessing by their output that it is prodigious. The one I do know is David Wagoner. During our residency poetry workshop class David announced that he takes two times a day to journalize. I will not mention what those two times are because I feel that to journalize is to meditate and ruminate and (as the Buddhists say) be mindful – and as such, it is as sacred a moment as one can imagine.

I have never been much of a journal-ist. And, in fact, early on, in attempting to find my location in the world of writing, I found myself avoiding it for a number of reasons. Chief of these reasons was that I kept turning my entries into story as soon as I would begin to write. Nothing wrong with that except there was a tendency to produce too many unfinished works.

Eventually, I came around to keeping many journals up to and including: wax paper. In Jack Heffron’s book, The Writer’s Idea Book, was the suggestion that a long stream of paper (such as butcher paper) might free a writer from the normal constraints of jotting notes on a sheet of paper (though arguably a computer scrolls much in the same way). If he mentioned a roll of wax paper, I can’t recall. I am currently on my second roll of wax paper and use Heffron’s book as prompts to write ideas.

Bringing this together – it was David who pointed out that these kinds of journals are a great wealth of material when exploring different subjects to write poetry about. As a novelist, I can readily see how such rumination and observation can assist in scene setting, character development, and so forth. And as I am a proponent of handwriting one’s thoughts (again, for the usual number of reasons) I have had great fun writing on a 200yd. roll of wax paper. Which, by the way, seems to work best with a no. 2 pencil.

2K and the 10% Rule

Still on the subject of writing 2,000 fresh words a day – do or die.

The reality, of course, is that writing 2,000 words a day of fresh material is a very difficult task to do – if you think about it. Family situations arise, your girlfriend calls, your momma wants to tell you about the new gray-spotted owl she spotted while taking out spots on her laundry. All these things are important, even essential, to the living of a good life. If I were to think too hard on writing so much work I think I’d pop a blood vessel or two – and I knew a few who feel that I probably have.

So the trick is: don’t think about it. Do it.

Get that word processor fired up (think blank page), put your fingers to the keyboard and get typing. I usually start with: Now is the time for every good writer to get off his ass and write.

This usually doesn’t help much but it does get me 15 words closer to my goal. Then the second sentence should come: Why the F am I writing anything down when I don’t really care what I’m writing about? Because you’re writing something – anything at all – to get some work done.

What then begins to happen are all those thoughts regarding that house you saw with the window shade half opened or that guy who nearly cut off that pedestrian or the mother who kept slapping her child at the restaurant thoughts start creeping in. Those moments where you thought to yourself: I should write a story or journal entry or observation about those things, but never did.

And all of a sudden, those thoughts creep from the grey matter of your brain like the living dead, and they make themselves available for you to entertain – or at least take a pot-shot at. Or, if you’re lucky, begin writing that scene you had in your head time and time again. This happened to me a couple of days ago and I got rolling and produced 3K.

There are a number of Communication principles at work here (I’ll let Nostrabobus explain) but the thing I’d like to suggest here is that some of the early, crappy writing – getting it out of the way, is necessary for the sake of exploration.

It’s a lot like taking an essay exam. Unless you’re brilliant (I’m not) and can proceed without any preparation (I can’t) it is a wise strategy to take 10% of the time allotted for test and spend 8% planning with loose outlines and thematically key words to frame the essay. (the other 2% should be used to edit at the end of the time)

So the principle is simple:

1) Get the ball rolling – anyway you can.

2) Write what comes up mentally, naturally, or even take a few minutes to plan ahead.

3) Once you’ve found your focus (ie: write a scene) then move forward.

I can’t recall the reference, except that it was in an Idiot’s Guide or Xfor Dummies but the attribution/paraphrase is close: Roger Zelazney sez: If you want to write more work – type faster.

2K/Day

2,000
That’s the magic number. Writing two thousand words a day that are fresh, interesting and some what directed is not always easy to do. One of the guiding principles that was repeated over the last residency (not that this is the only time I’ve heard it) was the idea of write write write. You hear this mantra all the time at conferences and workshops every where. The added spice this time was this comment:
Poets who make $500 a year or less write when the inspiration strikes; poets who make over $500 a year write constantly find inspiration within the work.
I translated this to my own experience and recognized that I am now within striking distance of creating these goals. I’m not so blind to see that it’s about the money – if that is to come, it will come. As long as I can grow in craft and skill, I will keep at it. Writing 2K/Day is definitely one aspect of my skill set that I will cultivate towards my goal of publication.
The general consensus is that the 2K should be fresh work – not editing. One reason to write these blogs is to get (and keep) the writing ball rolling. By keeping my fingers moving and saying something ‘somewhat’ meaningful, even if it’s a journal about writing, I will be able to maintain a kind of warm up attitude going so that when it’s time to compose, I’ll be in that frame of mind.

Returning Home After NILA Residency and the Universal

Okay.

A little catching up. I’ve returned from Whidbey, Washington a richer man. I have sat at the feet of greatness and have been influenced by a number of my peers. This is exactly why I go to the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts (formerly WWW – Whidbey Writers’ Workshop) MFA program. Can one truly learn so much in so short a time? Yes – if one has prepared their life to do so. I can safely say that I have done so. This is no small boast, I know – but it is important to know where one stands in the universe.

Speaking of the Universal: The day after I arrived form a grueling trip down Interstate 5 the wife demands (okay, we’d planned it earlier, but I had expected to arrive on Wednesday or Thursday, not Friday) that we go to Universal Studios – a place I hadn’t visited in nearly 30 years. I won’t say too much about it, except that I enjoyed the visit and was pleased with their product. It was a fun combination of circus and theater.

What does this have to do with writing? Plenty. Paying attention to those that are close to one is essential to one’s personal integrity. Love and friends are important. If they’re not – that’s fine, but don’t go crying about how miserable your love life is.

The take away? Cultivate your garden and enjoy the fruits.

Post NILA Residency Recovery

I’m on the way home from the usual whirlwind ten day residency on Whidbey Island. More on what, exactly, a NILA Residency is, and more on what a Paradigm is. A scribe, of course, is one who writes. Being proficient at writing is my personal goal – not just in fiction (my personal Everest) but in all forms. So – Scribe, it is.
Welcome to my blog.
At the moment I’m at my daughter’s farm at Ft. Jones, California. I’m exhausted from the last three weeks and am en route to home. I’m wrought emotionally, physically, and mentally – 1,200 mile trips can be taxing at time. This is not a whining blog, but one where I will share what’s going on as I achieve my personal goal of writing proficiency and professional goal of publication (which I attempt to obtain within the next three years.
There will be a lot of catching up to do, so I’ll fix a time scale to work with that will both chronicle this journey of mine and project forward some of the goals I hope to obtain and am in the process of obtaining.