Monthly Archives: May 2012

Bright Summer Writing Tips

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Summer is the writer’s time to get out of our writing chairs and rooms and into the world.  With longer days and warmer weather, summer offers a comfortable phase of the year to gain experiences and insights that we can bring to our writing now and the other seasons. 

10 Ideas:

1. Unearth an old work, reread it, rework it, investigate solutions and apply what you find.  Seek.  As come August 1, September 1, and October 1 many literary journals begin accepting submission again.  Be ready. 
2. Spend time in nature.  Write. Scrawl out poems along a mountain trail, stroll beaches and let the sand and sea speak to you, sit upon a rock and mesh with its geological essence, with a notepad and pen always within grasp.
3. Visit all the bookstores in your town, talk with the folks that sell or will sell your books, check-in how are they? Make contact.
4. Read part of your works-in-progress or a finished piece publicly: at an open mic, at the local bookstore, at a public event, coffee shop or group campfire.  Share.
5. Sit at a sunny outside cafe soaking in the summer energy, making character sketches and expanding your characterization scope, take notes on passerby quirks, and document the summer smells and colors.
6. Meet new people. Meet new perspectives. And learn new ways of viewing the world, to incorporate into your stories.
7. Visit your summer farmer’s market and summer fairs, record over heard conversations, and document creative dress.
8. Take a trip, visit a new place, join a group or club outing, creating an opportunity for new experiences that can instigate new inspiration for writing.
9. Read, read, read!  in a place that you can only read in the summer, outside on a porch or in a hammock, on top of a flat rock along the ocean.  Read those titles you’ve stacked up over autumn, winter and spring, the Christmas and birthday presents, open the cover and dive in.
10. Attend a summer writers workshop or conference, summer is the time of expansion, opening!

11 Indespensible Writing Books for Fiction

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With a plethora of writing books I sat on the floor, for hours, in the writing section of Powell’s Bookstore in Portland, Oregon, investigating ALL the writing books they had on their wooden shelves. Happily I hunted.  At that time I left with two key books (*listed below).   In other cases, a writing friend has suggested a “must have” book, or even gifted me a pertinent writing book.  In the books that follow I found the answers to writing questions or problems I was encountering in writing my first novel, The Tile Maker. 

The list:

1. *Your First Novel by Ann Rittenberg and Laura Whitcomb, foreward by Dennis Lehane—Succinct, this book explains how to write your first novel, and at the end of each chapter has suggested reading.  Blessed I bought it and have it, for it is my guide on what to do next, as I head towards publication.
2. The Writer’s Portable Mentor (What a great title! I love this book! I was gifted this book) by Priscilla Long—This book is like finding a gemstone, valuable beyond measure…no kidding. 
3. The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler—In this book the mythic structures of storytellers and screenwriters, based on Joseph Campbell’s work, show’s you how to tap into the mythological core which exists in us all.
4. Stein on Writing by Sol Stein—Written from an old pro Sol Stein has been on all sides of the industry and his experience and knowledge are helpful for any writer. He introduces “triage” as a way to revise your manuscript drafts. 
5. How to Grow a Novel by Sol Stein—Another winner, with good questions to ask yourself as you write and rewrite.
6. Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass—Straight forward, this books tells you the key ingredients to write a breakout novel.
7. *Rules for Writers by Diana Hacker—A must have on hand, when grammar, punctuation, and dialogue questions arise.
8. Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne & David King—Excellent advice on all key parts of writing fiction: show and tell, characterization and exposition, point of view etc…
9. The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman—Organized into three parts, preliminary problems, dialogue, and the bigger picture, this book has sound advice and examples of what works and what doesn’t.
10. Webster’s Newworld Thesaurus—Every writer should have a hardbound Thesaurus, yes, I use the Internet Thesaurus at times, but most of the time, it is my pleasure to thumb through this good friend, given to me by a good friend.
11. Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition, Unabridged, with a 1934 copyright— A Very Large dictionary, with 600,000 words, I still do not have this dictionary but I want it, and will have it one day.  I am making due with a Chambers Dictionary, I picked up used, a 300,000-word dictionary as of now.

Up Productivity: Writing and Editing

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writing atomMid-way through my current novel’s rewrite I came across an excellent article in the November/December 2011 issue of Poets and Writers “A Writer’s Daily Habit” by Ellen Sussman. The helpful advice I gleaned: break writing down into 45 minute blocks with 15 minute breaks in between.  She calls this the “Unit System.” I tried it.  It worked.  It revolutionized my writing process.  What I found was that I could rewrite ten pages in a day, whereas before I would get through, on average, four. Why is this important?  For myself it meant being able to cover more “page ground,” making the task of rewriting and editing a 400 page manuscript more manageable, allowing me to get to some sort of completion sooner. Like finding a secret passage that lets you up the mountain faster to enjoy the view.  Because rewriting a novel is normally months and years of work, and with this new time block system I can now work a solid six-hour day, instead of feeling exhausted and unable to go on after working in straight blocks of time.  I now write in one three-hour block in the morning and another after lunch.  At the end of each writing day, I am still tired, but not burned out as I was before switching to this system. And the journey of rewriting has sped right along, as my mind was allowed to rest those precious 15 minutes every hour.

Saraswati: Invoking Assistance to Write

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As writers a moment arrives for most of us when we need to call upon something larger than ourselves to intervene, to assist in our creative endeavor. Maybe the novel idea, characters, and scenes have been visiting you for years but you just can’t seem to start writing or you sit in front of your blank screen waiting for the words to burst forth but nothing comes. Or, life required you to take leave of your half-written manuscript, and now, months or years have passed but the work still begs to be completed or perhaps you obediently shelved your first draft of your book for the recommended three to six months and now what?

How do you start writing when the thought of it seems daunting or even impossible?

I encountered such a situation, a commonality amongst us writers. In an act of faith coupled with discipline and surrender, which I believe is the essence of writing (and spiritual life), I set out on a 40 day pre-writing meditation practice, to invoke the Hindu goddess Saraswati to help me in my effort to write and revise. I sang this mantra “Om Aim Saraswatyai Swaha“ 108 times, counting on my japa mala, a 109 (inclusive of the muru bead) beaded string like a rosary, before writing each day. Saraswati the goddess of hidden wisdom, the symbol of knowledge, music and the arts, and credited for making projects fruitful and successful. You don’t have to be Hindu to believe in the female creative spirit and she goes by many names around the world: “Yanchenma” in Tibetan Buddhism, “Brigid” a Celtic goddess, and “Ix Chel” by the Mayans, just to name a few. Energy is our universe. So, I made a concerted effort to align myself with Her universal creative force. Come to my aid, please! Mother of Muses!

Daily chanting I found my brain being stimulated by the mantra’s words, each sound’s vibration, my creativeness awakened, and that I had already accomplished something as I sat down before my computer to write. At first, my voice was shaky and unrefined like the first draft I was rewriting. As the days passed I noticed my voice becoming stronger, more sure of itself and clear, and I felt this was also happening with my novel  — it was improving and revealing itself more to me. My morning singing mirrored my writing and gave me a way to see that progress and inspired me to keep going. A mantra is a thread of words or one sound, like a quote or beautifully written fragment, sung from the heart, like our words we place on our pages. At the end of the 40 days, I was so pleased with my manuscript’s advancement, I committed myself to another twenty days of chanting. By the end, I felt empowered to continue on my own. Thank you Saraswati, for I am She and She is me! Please feel free to try this yourself and investigate — the power of mantra with writing.

Om Aim Saraswatyai Swaha Om, “Om and salutations to the feminine Saraswati principle Om.”