Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you and yours! 

12th Grade! Check!

From this 

First Grade 

to 

High School senior -  class of 2018 

James graduated from high school today. When we began our home school journey, little did we think we'd continue all the way through to the 12th grade.  With the help of Vision in Education,  the home school division of San Juan Unified School District, who held our hands and kept us on track, he earned a 3.97 grade point average and  graduated with honors and a Golden State Seal merit high school diploma.  I am so very proud of him and all he has achieved. 

Thursday Epiphany: Creative changes

Ch ch ch changes!  MyProWriMo is being called on the account of creativity.  Yes, odd.  I haven't had time to post because my brain has been busy - working on the story, writing in my head, talking through ideas with hubby, writing and editing.  I won't feel guilty about not posting everyday because I'm making progress, albeit slow progress.  I feel like we're in the second honeymoon phase. My writing relationship has gone from glowing to comfort and now we've rediscovered each other and can't get enough.  *grin*  

Once I started typing up revised chapter one, it took longer than expected.  Ideas and epiphanies, hubby putting in his two cents worth, more changes until I decided it was time to move forward. I can always go back and do another pass.  Currently on chapter two, going back and forth with the characters and myself about which clues to drop now or hold on for later.  How much detail do I go into. I don't want to dump any backstory, so dribbling it out bit by bit.  How else will anyone know what is going on in the heads of my main characters.  

I can see now why some writers do several passes, looking at dialogue, senses, description, and setting. Each time I reread, more of the picture pops out.  Like painting a picture, going with broad brush strokes, working with light and shadow, putting in the fine details, dabbing bits here and there.  The vision in my head doesn't always match what comes out on paper.  But that isn't a bad thing. 

So posting is going to be a bit sporadic. I'll try to put up something at least once a week. I still have book reviews to do.  I finished A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin which was simply amazing.    I'm enjoying delving into historical fiction more so than detective stories these days.  At least they don't compete with the story in my head.  

TTFN! 

News of the Day: Story check in - Perseverance

I spent a bit more time working on Layla's scene and debating between first person present or third person past.  She's basically trapped somewhere so her scenes are scattered throughout the story.  I like first person present but how does that mix when the rest of the scenes are in third person past?   I know I should choose one or the other. Something to ponder for a while.  

I'm also second guessing working linearly on Eyes, instead choosing to work on scenes that haven't been written instead of taking each chapter chronologically until I've worked my way through the whole book.  I'm in the one of those wishy washy modes and worrying I'll get bogged down again after the first few chapters.   No matter what it will get done, as long as I'm working on it every single day.   Perseverance is the key. 

I stumbled upon The Millions  Five Non Fiction Books for Writers to read in an Emergency and much like the author, I found I can't read books about writing while writing or editing.  They make me second guess myself.   I can ignore all that while doing a first draft but when it comes to editing, no way.   I also find myself steering away from mysteries and suspense stories, instead immersing myself in historical fiction and other literary genres.  I've discovered, that even though I'm writing suspense, that paranormals, urban fantasies and mystery books, pull my attention away, totally distracting me from writing.  My brain fills up with their stories, blocking out mine.  Which is probably why I'm eyeballing Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra for when I finish Helprin's Soldier of the Great War.  

I also came across the Shortest Novels Written by 20 Authors You Should've Read by Now and I'm happy to say I've already read Don Delillo, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Jane Austen, Ernest Hemingway, Haruki Murakami, Charles Dickens, J.R.R. Tolkein.  I have Cormac McCarthey's The Road on my shelves.  At some point I'll dive into the rest. Nice to know there are shorter books to read. 

~Cheers to a great weekend~ 

Writerly Wednesday: Creativity and Cats!

A to Z Poetry: Choices

Choices 

Is your cup half empty or is it half full?

Or is it overflowing, due to things you think 

are beyond your control?

You've caged yourself in and given me the key,

granted us the privilege,

giving me your responsibility. 

Don't give me your strength, nor give me your weakness,

then tell me it's my fault and and expect it 

to be accepted with meekness 

Life is full of cups and cages

 of our own making. We all have choices,

My mother would always say, quite sagacious

Take back your key and throw it away.

Build yourself up, not tear yourself down.

 Break out of your cage and rule your own day.

~R.L. McCormack

Sunday Salon: Productive and Creative

Happy Sunday!  I am quite proud of myself although it's only been four days.  I've automatically, without help of the alarm, woken up an hour early every day.   Except for today of course.  I have spent at least 10 minutes daily working on the first scene in Chapter one. I'm ready to type it up and move on to the next scene.  Yesterday I had been thinking that since it had only been four days and the month started midweek, I should give myself extra time and continue to work on that one scene for this week.  However, I'm ready to move on.  Hubby's been quite useful as a sounding board, bouncing ideas off of him.  He's being quite encouraging.  

So the goal for this week is to review and rewrite Scene 2 from Greg's point of view, plus write and schedule posts for this week.  I'm almost caught up with my book reviews, have three more to write and then I'll schedule them for the coming weeks.  

James and I are going out this afternoon for our annual Super Bowl Shopping trip.  It became a tradition when our wonderful neighbor starting putting off an air horn every time his favorite team made a touchdown.  Drives both of us up the wall.  We have fun going to the comic book store, Barnes and Noble, and picking up something for dinner.  My book buying ban is still in force (which a friend quickly reminded me of when she heard about our shopping trip) so I'm going to try and resist temptation.  Maybe I'll pick up a book for Hubby.  *grin*

My 52 Books group is traveling through England for the month of February and this month's flower is Rose.  I shouldn't have too much trouble spelling that one out.  

I'm still reading Helprin's A Soldier of the Great War (dusty and chunky) which is quite interesting and Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase (ebook) and as always, his books are off the wall.   I just finished listening to Faith Hunter's Blood of the Earth from her Soulwood series and will begin Curse on the Land tomorrow during my drive to work.   

It's the beginning of the end of our homeschooling journey.  We are down to the wire as we begin James 2nd Semester of 12th grade. Never imagined we'd end up working through all 12 years.  Hubby, who always swore he wasn't a teacher, now happily embraces his position and is learning just as much as James this year with Geometry and Chemistry.  I'm in charge of the two e's this semester -- English and Economics.   We still have half our budget given to us by Visions to spend, so going to have some fun shopping for biographies, memoirs, poetry, as well as more chemistry materials.  

Off to shop, then plan lessons for the week.  

~Cheers~

First Lines: A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin

First lines:  On the ninth of August, 1964, Rome lay asleep in afternoon light as the sun swirled in a blinding pinwheel above its roofs, its low hills, and its gilded domes.  The city was quiet and all was still except the crowns of a few slightly swaying pines, one lost and tentative cloude, and an old man who rushed through the Villa Borghese, alone.  Limping along paths of crushed stone and tapping his cane as he took each step, he raced across intricacies of sunlight and shadow spread before him on the dark garden floor like golden lace. 

February Intentions: MyProWriMo

Hello February! How do you do.  This is the month I planned on doing MyProWriMo (My Promise to Write Month) and I'm already balking.  "I have too much to do," Miss Busy Butt yells from my left shoulder and while little Miss Sunshine Hope whispers with confidence from my right, "yes we can."   

Organization is the key, plus Lent is coming up so my intention is to spend less time internet browsing and more time writing.  Particularly since I finished outlining Eyes in the Ashes.  I finally came to the realization that I could spend days and months getting ready with more research and more character interviews and this and that, because it's so much fun. However, the goal is to actually rewrite the book and I expect some things will be revealed in the writing that I hadn't thought of during my brainstorming sessions.  And that's part of the fun of writing as well.    So.... 

My intentions for this month:   

WIP:  I have 30 chapters plotted out and plan to work on one chapter a week.  I've been dithering between first person and third person and will see which works best.  All the exercises I've done lately with my main characters have been written in first person which has really flowed well. The first draft was done in third person but I feel like I'm connecting better with the characters in first, so will see how it goes.  I dove in yesterday, rewriting the first scene from first person point of view and it's humming along.  Goal -  complete 4 chapters this month. 

Post every day:   Posting every day will be simple enough as long as I'm organized and spend my afternoon writing time wisely.  I have a tendency to get lost on the internet for a couple hours after James and I are done with lessons.   I don't know about you, but I'll go online to look something up, then the distractions begin.  Before I know it, it is time to make dinner, then James wants to watch something and hubby wants attention and then all I want to do is read for the rest of the evening.  So time management is the key.  My posts will be a mixture of book reviews, chapter notes, A - Z poetry, pictures, flash fiction or nonfiction, life updates and whatever else sparks this month. 

Book Review: Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg

I finished Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones which was most entertaining, educational as well as an inspirational read.  Her essays are like meandering down a winding trail with something new around each curve to observe and absorb, with new or common sense ideas to try out different approaches to writing as well as writing in different places and spaces.   

Synopsis:  With insight, humor, and practicality, Natalie Goldberg inspires writers and would-be writers to take the leap into writing skillfully and creatively. She offers suggestions, encouragement, and solid advice on many aspects of the writer’s craft: on writing from “first thoughts” (keep your hand moving, don’t cross out, just get it on paper), on listening (writing is ninety percent listening; the deeper you listen, the better you write), on using verbs (verbs provide the energy of the sentence), on overcoming doubts (doubt is torture; don’t listen to it)—even on choosing a restaurant in which to write.  Goldberg sees writing as a practice that helps writers comprehend the value of their lives. The advice in her book, provided in short, easy-to-read chapters with titles that reflect the author’s witty approach (“Writing Is Not a McDonald’s Hamburger,” “Man Eats Car,” “Be an Animal”), will inspire anyone who writes—or who longs to.

I'm more of a sporadic writer, writing daily for long periods of time, then maybe not at all for weeks or more.  There is always something percolating in the back of my mind but I don't always feel the need to get it down on paper.  After a while, ideas blend together to form an epiphany that gets me writing again.  I had been doing morning grumbles (morning pages), then started to laugh at myself for dwelling too long on things that I can not change and decided to go back to ignoring what Goldberg calls the monkey mind. 

We all have the mind of a monkey. This analogy, slightly humorous though it may be, is actually quite salient. Consider that we humans have around fifty thousand separate thoughts each day, many of them on the same topic. You might imagine that each thought is a branch, and you, or at least the attention of your conscious mind, is indeed a monkey, swinging from thought-branch to thought-branch all day long. ~ Pocket Mindfulness.

So when I came to the chapter The Goody Two Shoes Nature I realized I had been doing some of my writing out of duty rather than because I wanted to, which of course takes all the joy out of it.  

"Some people hear the rule "Write every day" and do it and don't improve.  They are just being dutiful.  That is the way of the Goody Two-Shoes.  It is a waster of energy because it takes tremendous effort to just follow the rules if your heart isn't in it.  If you find this is your basic attitude, then stop writing.  Stay away from it for a week or a year.  Wait until you are hungry to say something, until there is an aching in you to speak.  Then come back.

Writing can teach us the dignity of speaking the truth, and it spreads out from the page into all of our life, and it should. Otherwise, there is too much of a schism between who we are as writers and how we live our daily lives. That is the challenge: to let writing teach us about life and life about writing.  Let it flow back and forth." pg 168-169 

I was a Goody two shoes in all things growing up.  I thought I had gotten past that but discovered I was bringing that to my writing practice. So I did quit, for quite a long time.  So this spoke to my heart. 

Since I am in the process of rewriting my current WIP, her essay on Rereading and Rewriting is synchronous. I had been trying to decide how to approach it?  Do I edit electronically -  cutting, pasting and adding or do I work from the printed out version, making notes and filling in?   Neither method seemed to be working for me.  OR....do I rewrite scenes all over again on a blank piece of paper, taking what I know about the story?  

Then I read:

See revision as 'envisioning again.'  If there are areas in your work where there is a blur or vagueness, you can simply see the picture again and add the details that will bring your work closer to your mind's picture.  You can sit down and time yourself and add to the original work that second, third or fourth time you wrote on something.  For instance, you are writing about pastrami.  Your first time writing is good, but you know you have more to say about the subject.  Over a day, two days, a week's time, do several more timed writings on pastrami.  Don't worry that you might repeat yourself.  

Reread them all and take the good parts of each one and combine them.  It is like a cut and paste job, where you cut out the strong writing of each timed writing and paste them together.  So even in rewriting you use the method and rules of timed writing.  This helps you to become reengaged in the work you wrote before.  Attempting to reconnect with first thoughts is much better than standing in the middle of your mosquito swarm trying to swat at your discursive thoughts before they suck blood.  It's a much more efficient way to rewrite and it bypasses the ego even in rewriting.

Given that God, the universe, or synchronicity, whatever you want to call it, has in the past few days thrown the idea at me from several avenues -  the prospect of a fresh start, keeping in mind what I've already written -  I think it's time to take that advice. 

I thoroughly enjoyed Writing Down the Bones and highly recommend it.  

Monday Meanders: Weekly intentions - filling in the blanks

Sunday evening and hubby is using everything - including the kitchen sink - to make Margaritas!  *grin*    He dug out the old oster blender and ice crusher and is having a fun time mixing our drinks.  Best he's made yet...Well this time! 

I made great progress this week with outlining my current WIP on poster board and had more than a few epiphanies! I've always been a visual person so don't know why I didn't try this before.  Love seeing each scene and how I can move each one around to make better sense.

I'm far from done  and have written more notes,  found holes in the main arc and subplots and discovered which characters I need to still interview.  Even after two sessions with the storyboard, I can see I need to put in more time ironing out details so this week will continue to work with the story board and adding scenes.  I have made a lot of changes regarding the number of characters, deleting some and including new ones, plus I had too many points of view. I also forgot I had just the basics on my villains and never interviewed them, so will work on their background as well.  I think I'll give myself two more weeks for refreshing myself on story points, discovery and interview process, with the goal of beginning actual rewrites the first week of February.  I know characters will reveal new information and some things will change as we move through the story, so as always I'll remain flexible.  

However, life interrupts with taxes so I'll be working on those this week. I need to run our 2017 numbers and find out if we own more in  taxes than originally planned for, since our next estimated payment is due.  I know I should have done this a while back, but just didn't have the time.  Plus we coming to the end of the 1st semester of 12 grade and you guessed it, grades are due.  Lots of numbers will be floating through my head for the next few days.  

Meanwhile I'm 2/3rd's of the way through Sharon Kay Penman's historical novel,  The Sunne in Splendor.  I really enjoy her writing.  I shelved The Courage to Write because it was too negative for me and happily reading Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones essays as well as Write a Novel in Ten Minutes a Day by Katharine Grubb.

I've been quite inspired the past couple weeks and feeling more creative. I now look forward to writing, embracing whatever emotion is raised in the moment rather than burying my head in a book and ignoring life.  

Happy writing! 

    

A to Z Poetry: Birth

Birth

An idea comes in the midst of sleep.

Drowsily you grab paper and pen

to scrawl words to keep,

before they are lost again.

Characters once asleep

 in the shadows of your mind,

come to life with a leap.
A story is born in a moment of time.

Let's start with my name
then we'll fill in the rest,

the chick says as she claims

 a home in your mind's nest. 

I want joy and strife,

a mountain to climb, a pit so deep, 

the bottom or top of my life.

will take time to reach.

I may need a mate,  but not quite like me  

we'll both need a race, a riddle, a quest, to solve.
I don't want simple or carefree

while our life evolves.

She sits on your shoulder, filling your ears.
You'll tell the tale of my life
living vicariously through my fears and tears,
laughter and love and strife.

A lifetime created with one little spark
when you read the page
written so clumsily in the dark.
Psst! My name is Sage.


~R.L.McCormack~

Thursday Epiphany: Outlining

I had an epiphany today. I have various exercises as well as a short story using the characters from Eyes that I completed while taking classes a while back.  I realized today that all that information can be incorporated into the main story as flashes of backstory or part of the story, providing clues to the characters as well as the conflict.  I don't have to stick with the conclusion in the short story since no ones read it except class mates and it isn't published, so nothing is written in stone. Such a freeing moment.  I've been writing lots of notes and started to fill out post its for the story board.  It's slow going but that's okay.  I've gotten a good start and will continue to work on it throughout the weekend.   

Doing a happy dance! 

Writerly Wednesday: Getting Organized

Our two week Christmas break from lessons is over and time to get back into the groove of learning. Every Sunday I fill out James weekly assignment sheet. The other evening I sat down to fill out his schedule as usual. I happened to look at the pile of books and notebooks in my writing nook, thinking how I'd fit my writing and blogging and everything else in for the day while he's busy working on his stuff, when the idea hit me. To do's and notes and bullet journals just were not working. I needed something simple and always accessible, not buried in a notebook. 

I should make an assignment sheet of my very own to follow weekly! 

I ignored the voice of the editor in my head saying it's another way to procrastinate from what I really needed to be working on, which is the story board. "Hey you," I say to the criticism, "I printed out the story, put it my notebook and I bought a trifold bulletin board so I'm ready to jet. Lots of changes are percolating around in my brain, so shut it." *grin* Besides, I'm being creative.  The lines aren't perfect and that's a bit annoying which I'll blame on paint and having to do a bit of rework since Word wouldn't let me save it in jpeg for some reason.  Pdf yes, Jpeg no.  *facepalm*

I'm psyched and ready to roll! 



 

Monday Intentions: Review and Rewrite

Have you ever edited the life and your voice out of a story?  I've come to realize I did just that with Eyes in the Ashes.  I wrote it several years ago and had writer classmates and friends  over a period of time review different chapters and provide feedback. Lacking the foresight to decide what was the best thing to do, I implemented way too many changes.  Every time I've gone back and looked at the story, I'd tried rewriting a bit more, but have never been quite happy with how things turned out.  In the meantime,  I've changed and learned so much about the craft of writing and grown into my skin as a writer. Plus I've written a few more stories and even one that kind of ties in with this one, as well as flash fiction and nonfiction.  But I always keep coming back to this particular story.  Things have been percolating in my brain for some time with changes in characters, points of view, and more.     

So I have decided to go back to the beginning and as my husband the engineer keeps telling me - start with the baseline.  He's a great sounding board for ideas and is totally in with me story boarding the story.  Little does he know that I may take over the kitchen wall, but for right now I'll try to keep it poster board size.  *grin* 

I printed out the original draft today and will write up the list of scenes this week and figure out where I need to delete or add scenes.   I've already decided to rewrite from my main character's point of view and have been having fun interviewing and delving into his backstory.  I know much more about him now than I did a couple years ago.   In addition, will write up a current list of things to do involving character interviews,  research and more.  I'm going to take it week by week with the goal of reaching THE END by the end of the year.    

I’ll keep an accountability record by reporting on goals and accomplishments each week. 

The first requirement in taking a step in the right direction is to take a step in some direction. ~Robert Brault

Thursday First Lines: Hear the Wind Sing by Haruki Murakami

"There's no such thing as a perfect piece of writing.  Just as there's no such thing as perfect despair." So said a writer I bumped into back when I was a university student.  It wasn't until much later that I could grasp his full meaning, but I still found consolation in his words--that there's no such thing as perfect writing