Archive for the ‘General’ Category

Slacker!

Friday, March 5th, 2010

I know, I know.

I headed off on a week long writer’s retreat three weeks ago and I haven’t written about it yet.

Well, to be honest, I’ve had some ‘fun’ mental health stuff going on and I pretty much have been slacking since I got caught up with work after arriving back home.

(Wow, that sentence ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would.)

To condense the writing retreat into one word: success.

I came back home with the knowledge that I still have a writer brain (which equates to me simply being a slacker rather than having lost ability), a finished post-apocalyptic short story, a fantasy short story about one third done, a romance novella about three quarters done and a romance novel idea I am very excited about.

Hm. Perhaps another problem is my lack of focus on a single project.

No matter what any of my other problems are, it’s more than obvious that things will rock and roll quite well if I just make time to focus on them. However, even with the super-affordable place I stayed at, running away for weeks at a time is not a financially viable way to get writing done.

I guess I’ll have to be like everyone else and actually, oh, work hard on it.

I’ve already taken steps to help myself, including installing LeechBlock. Now I just have to make some goals to work toward.

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Posted in General |

Booking Through Thursday – Grammar

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

I usually keep my Booking Through Thursday posts at Down Under Views, but I thought this rant fit on this blog as well…

In honor of National Grammar Day … it IS “March Fourth” after all … do you have any grammar books? Punctuation? Writing guidelines? Style books?

More importantly, have you read them?

How do you feel about grammar in general? Important? Vital? Unnecessary? Fussy?

If you know me (know I’m a writer), then you won’t be surprised to hear that I have the Strunk and White Elements of Style. I have heaps of other books on writing, etc, but Elements of Style is my only one that focuses specifically on the technical side of writing.

I haven’t read Elements of Style through like a regular book, no. I have used it more like a reference book, picking and choosing when I need.

And this is where I get into a rant…

Especially in this day and age, I feel that grammar (spelling, etc) is very important! I am absolutely disgusted by some of the articles and books that are out today and touted as actual good writing.

Bull! That’s what I say.

I’m not perfect by any means, but it’s not like there is some shortage of editors out there. Heck, these days they can customize down to whether they edit your grammar and punctuation, overall story critique, so on and so forth. I’m a freelance editor with few credits; hire me if you are on a budget!

I have seen words misspelled on restaurant menus, heard radio announcers say things so wrong that they have sent me into fits of giggles, articles that have no point I can decipher in their confusing run-on sentences and self-published books that had so many errors (not to mention plot holes) that my husband had to stop me from sending it back to the author full of red marks.

I don’t know if it is because we just take so little pride in our work these days or if the ‘instant gratification’ society we live in that is causing all this, but I find it amusing – more often annoying.

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Posted in General |

Leaving the Comfort Zone

Friday, February 19th, 2010

I began reading a fantasy trilogy early last year and in the first book I became rather attached to one character. She wasn’t a major character – at least not at the level she should have been after the first book – but I identified with her all the same and looked forward to the chapters with her in it.

I finished the first book, then the second, and hoped that in the third book, there would be something great for her. Her own happy ending. Unfortunately for me, she was (literally) ripped apart toward the end of the book along with her lover.

Needless to say, I was a bit upset and nauseated at the turn of events.
As a reader, I felt a bit pissed off for a while, but the writer in me emerged eventually and calmed me down. See, the writer in me recognized the brilliance of the move. Of course it would be more potent to kill her and her lover off because first, she was expendable, and second, it just might get the reader to feel something.

Goal accomplished.

Writing within your comfortable boundaries might satisfy your grandmother and Uncle Dick, but it won’t get your reader to feel much or take anything away from the story once s/he is done reading. (That’s assuming you’re talented enough to keep their attention through an entire story.)

The quote “Kill your darlings” is actually a lot better advice than you might think. In fact, it might be one of the more important pieces of advice you’ll ever hear.

If you need a little exercise in the killing department, take a character you like from your current work in progress and create a scene in which s/he dies. Violently. If anyone thinks you’re a bit off, you can tell them I told you to do it.

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Posted in Characters, General |

It’s Okay to Stop

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

It’s okay to stop and put the pen down.

Yesterday I went to the air conditioned library to escape the brain melting 100+ degree heat of the Australian sunshine. While there, I had one of the best writing days I have had in a long time, finishing up the work day at over 3,000 words typed for the day.

Do I attribute this to a fabulous muse? The delicious smoothie I had while there? The wonders of air conditioning?

Perhaps, in part, but by and large I attribute it to the fact I took a few days off writing. I tried not to think about it. I relaxed. I went people watching.

Basically, I did what every writer needs to do now and then not only to write better but to manage to keep whatever amount of sanity you have:

Get out of the writing room!

Yes, writing is about putting your ass down in the chair and getting some writing done, but it’s also about living. If you never get out of the writing room and experience life, then who do you think you are going about as if you have something to write about?

If possible, sometime this week get out and go somewhere new. Or, at least, go somewhere you rarely go. On your lunch break, after work, whenever works best for you. Go somewhere new and live it up. Experience things.

Do it because this is one of the few times I’m going to tell you to get your bum out of the chair.

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Posted in General |

When Characters Speak Up

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

I try to be a nice human being. I try to keep my karma nice, shiny and clean. I make plans with the full intention of following through on them in a timely matter…

Sometimes the world just doesn’t like me.

The world doesn’t like you? Try being me.

Excuse me? Who are you?

I am the woman you haven’t even taken the time to name yet.

Um…

In the story you started! The one that has been floating around in your brain the last few weeks? The one you finally started writing?

Oh, I see. I haven’t given you a name yet, have I?

No. At this point, I’m still the nameless wonder floating around in your messy head. You haven’t named me. You haven’t even put me in a scene yet!

Well, that’s because you-

I know it’s because I don’t have a name yet! Time, time, time. You’re always rabbiting on about not having enough time. You’d better make some time or you can kiss this sexy leading lady goodbye!

Wait. You’re from the desert. You wouldn’t say ‘rabbiting on’. That’s something I would say.

Just make some time and pick out my damn name already!

…

As you can see, a lot of things have been taking up my attention lately, so my plans haven’t being going as I had originally hoped they would. Between life, work and finishing up my column for my new spot in the Mornington Peninsula papers (yay for me! Newspaper writing.) I have been running behind. As per usual.

Do forgive me. I fully plan to be more organized, caught up -

And plan to have given me a name!

All of that, by next week. Until then…

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Posted in Characters, General |

Blogging Too Much

Friday, February 12th, 2010

I was cruising around the internet the other day (yes, the other day – despite the date you see on the post I’m going to link) and I found this post from Get Paid to Write Online. Although brief, I identified with what Sharon said about overwhelming yourself with blogs and how it’s sometimes hard to say when it’s too much.

I started writing here in 2006 (that long ago?) after having a love/hate relationship with blogging for two years. Excited about having work to do while I couldn’t actually work in Australia, I dove in head first and didn’t look back. Not too long after that, I began looking at other blogs and planning taking them over.

I honestly can’t remember the order and dates of when I took over other blogs, but my list grew to two, three, four, and so on. I expanded out from the 451 network and took on work elsewhere as well.

Then I reached my limit.

With seven blogs requiring regular (if not daily) updates, one requiring daily updates, and others still requiring a slightly looser updating schedule and other freelancing work on top of that, I almost completely burned out. Overwhelmed, I had taken on a workload I couldn’t maintain.

I wasn’t writing creatively, I wasn’t working on my novel and I certainly wasn’t happy about any of it. My stress levels skyrocketed and I felt overworked more often than not. Add on feeling depressed about having no energy and nearly no time to work on my novel, and I wasn’t a great person to be around. (My poor husband.)

So I began to step back. Small steps at first, which was about all I could do with commitments I’d made. Then came the bigger steps: ‘retiring’ from a blog or two, not making any new commitments, learning to tell people ‘no’.

I began writing creatively again.

Don’t let your eagerness to pay off bills or become a social networking guru take you away from your true passions. Don’t forget the writer, the author, in you in favor of spending yet more time on the internet. Learn when to step back and how to balance the various areas of your life.

Always make time for the things that make you happy – even if it involves taking a bit of a pay cut.

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Posted in General, Writer's Block |

Finding Time To Write

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

While we would all love to write a bestseller and have it pay for all the bills plus a summer home in Italy, it’s just plain not possible for the majority of authors. Even becoming a published author doesn’t mean you can quit your day job – especially these days. No longer do artists, writers, etc have patrons who are willing to pay the way for that next great piece of literary genius. (I suppose you could call my husband my patron, but that’s getting beyond the point.)

So we do what we must to pay the bills. If we’re lucky, it’s within the realm of what we love to do: write.

However, as appealing as writing for a living (and not in the novel writing way), you have to be even more careful with scheduling and making time to write creatively, or you run the risk of never finishing your book.

I write a lot. I work at home as a freelancer and writing is what has paid my bills since I have moved to Australia. I have since taken on other non-writing work, but writing is a big source of my income. I write (type) thousands of words every day.

So why is it that my novel isn’t progressing?

Because by the time I am doing getting all my work done, I want to go relax. I don’t want to sit on the computer for another hour on another project, no matter how much I love my novel.

So if you are (non-creative) writing for a living or thinking about a career in freelance writing, make sure it is what you truly want to do and that you’ll have the time and energy for the other things you want to accomplish. Don’t go so far that you’ll find yourself in the situation that I’m currently in – seemingly no time for creative writing and trying to figure out where to step back in order to make life, and fiction writing, more than just a to-do list item.

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Posted in General, Time Management, Writer's Block |

Write Like an Australian – A Lesson in Fast-Paced Writing

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

If you’re a non-Australian looking for a good lesson in fast-paced writing, then you need look no further than Australia.

One of the first things I noticed about Australian language and speaking, besides the actual accent, is the habit of the majority of Australians to interrupt. But far from simply being a very rude country, it’s actually the way of the language.

Maybe it’s because Americans have guns, so if you piss them off you could get shot, but Australians don’t place such a high importance on waiting until a person is completely finished speaking. Instead, if they think they know what you are going to say, where you are going with the conversation, or even if something relevant has popped into their minds, they won’t hesitate to speak up.

I’ve puzzled over this for a while and come to the conclusion that Australians place more importance in the ideas and messages being conveyed rather than the actual words.

How does this help you with your writing?

If what you’re working on is starting to turn yawn-inspiring, take a lesson from Australians; don’t be afraid to interrupt your characters. Be it their inner monologues, discussions with other characters, or even switching perspectives from one chapter to another. Don’t place the ultimate importance on what they are saying or thinking.

Don’t be polite to your characters.

If you want to try this out in exercise form first, take two characters and write a scene (or more) consisting of interruptions galore. Just remember that moderation is usually a good thing.

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Posted in General, How To |

The Writer’s Retreat

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

Well, it’s official. I will be ‘out of the office’ in all ways from February 13th to the 20th.

No internet.

No home (as in, I won’t be at home, not that I won’t have a home).

Questionable phone availability.

All I will have is a room (not even with a desk), my laptop and plenty of time to write. Oh, and alcohol after five.

I have never been on a true writer’s retreat before, and I certainly haven’t been anywhere away from home by myself since I moved to Australia. This ‘retreat’ is more like a ‘let’s see if she comes out sane’ exercise’, but I am slowly getting past the nerves and to the prospect of this being a good thing.

I’ve written a lot since I moved here, but most of it consisted of both professional and non-professional blog posts. I would estimate my creative writing efforts to be at maybe 10-15% of the lot. What does that mean? It means I’ve started quite a few things but finished few.

There will be posts while I’m gone, thanks to the wonder abilities of ‘post ahead’ on Wordpress. Even so, you can imagine me sitting on a bed (remember – no desk – the rooms are small) with my laptop, desperately trying to write (finish?) something.

I don’t want to think of it this way, but I can’t help regarding this as the ‘make or break’ moment of my writing. This time away will show me if creative writing is still in the cards for me…

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Posted in General |

Writer’s Retreat?

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

Almost every writer I know would like a little more time, a little less chaos and a lot less noise when it comes to writing. They imply that they’d like nothing more than to be stuck in the middle of nowhere to write to their hearts’ content.

But would you? Truly?

If you were offered a week with no internet, questionable phone service, no friends or family, no shops/theatres/etc to distract you, would you take up the offer?

Would it be a dream? Or would it actually be something that made you nervous?

I’m curious to know if writers would truly want what they claim to want, or if it is their current environments that make them the writers they are.

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Posted in General |
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