Pauses for Pentecost by Trevor Hudson

I found my next read since I finished Trevor Hudson's Pauses for Lent: 40 words for 40 days.  It should have been a no brainer but it took me a while to come back round to it.  Pauses for Pentecost:50 words for 50 days.

"Pentecost is a holy day when Christians commemorate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the early followers of Jesus Christ. Originating from a Greek word meaning "50th day," Pentecost occurred 50 days after Christ's resurrection. Before the events of Pentecost, Jesus had followers, but there was no movement that could really be called the church. Pentecost is considered the birthday of the church.

In Pauses for Pentecost, Trevor Hudson leads readers to focus on one word and scripture verse each day. He invites us to pause for just a few minutes to read the brief daily reflection and do a simple practice. The beauty of this book is its simplicity, and the thoughtful meditations guide us to a deeper understanding of the meaning of Pentecost."

The prayer at the beginning of the book really hit me:

"Lord Jesus Christ, breathe the freshness of your spirit into us that we may come alive again to the possibilities and potential of our own lives, to the uniqueness and wonder of each person around us, to the beauty and brutality of our world, and most especially the wondrous glory of God that fills our universe. May be truly become Easter people filled with your spirit!"

A big Amen to that!

Year of Writing Dangerously: Something on the Page

So many takeaways from A Year of Writing Dangerously.  Something I have to remember and practice is that no matter what is going on around me, I shouldn't let it stop me from writing it all out.  Instead of internalizing, which I still have a habit of doing, get it all out on the page. Just write.

"Did you dive into the past and write the things you were told never to air in public?"

Actually I did when I was leading the Flash Nonfiction course on WVU.  I bled on the page, experiences with parents, siblings, friends, life, all out there for everyone in the class to see.  Not only was it cathartic for me, but it opened the way for the other writers in the class to release their inner editor, their inhibitions and write.  

"Did you find some humor in the chaos in your life?"  Most certainly.  Stupidly getting a sunburn the day before I donned a cookie monster outfit to entertain kids for a PBS event.  Was it worth getting sick? I guess, especially when kids took me for the real thing and parents thanked me for not bursting their innocent bubbles.  Writing about our trip to New York, homeschooling, all of it.  We'd all be lost without humor in our life. 

"Did you write during the days and months when you felt empty and you had doubts?"  This is a tricky one."  I hate writing about the same thing over and over again, reliving the past, when I should have gotten over it.  I learned I held onto grudges for a long time and didn't love as unconditionally as I thought I did.  While I discovered my foibles and mistakes and worked through them, I also found my strengths.  Although there are days I don't want to face myself on the page and dive into the internet and books until I gather the courage once again, only to discover I'm still worrying at torn fabric that is loose and either needs to be pulled apart completely or sewn back together. 

"Did you get something on the page?"  I have almost every day this year so far. Patting myself on the back.  Story writing leaves a bit to be desired but I'm persevering. 

"Because that's all we can ask for and expect everyday  - something on the page."  One of these days I'll make some progress with my current WIP.  For some reason, I've built a brick wall between myself and the characters and really, really need to just blow the damn thing apart."  And coincidentally a writing exercise from Kicking in the Wall yesterday.  I'm mulling that one over. 

"Remember that you have a story to tell that no one else on earth can tell the same way you can. Remember that your story is important; someone needs to read it. Remember what a connected community you're part of when you write. Remember that you can find the most inspiring teachers in every book you love. Remember that you can be awash in doubt and fear and still write. Remember that the way out of doubt and fear is through them, one word after another."

Amen to that, sister! 

Step by step, word by word, I'm getting something on the page.

2020 First quarter writing Wrap Up

Hey! Tomorrow is the first of April  which means it's a new quarter and time to revisit the goals I set for myself for Quarter one.  I persevered in writing almost every single day, some of which I posted. I pretty much failed with my current WIP-RT.  I did print it out and put it in a notebook, but other than that no progress.  Lent arrived and I concentrated on free writing.  

I'm still reading "A Year of Writing Dangerously: 365 Days of Inspiration and Encouragement by Barbara Abercrombie. I've been forging ahead, reading a few entries at a time, quotes and conversations inspiring me or full of synchronicity.  Such as

"It's the imagination that gives us poetry...You have to follow where the poem leads. And it will surprise you.  It will say things you didn't expect to say. And you look at the poem and you realize; that is truly what I felt. That is truly what I saw." ~ Philip Levine. 

I don't consider myself a poet and there are very few poets I read unless doing research for the next 52 Books sunday post.  However, I'm writing more and more poetry along with snippets of conversations with myself and characters and the universe, a few story scenes. Whatever comes to mind.  I'm  tempted to commit to A to Z poetry and post a poem every day for the month of April.    I'm also tempted to do the A to Z writing challenge.  However, I know I wouldn't be able to keep up with it. I'm unofficially setting a goal to continue writing every day during the month of April as I have been for the first quarter, diligently for Lent and after Easter as well. And if I happen to come up with enough poems to post everyday, that will be just groovy. I'm not going to force it though and we'll see what happens. 

I filled my first quarter goals with my eyes are bigger than my stomach syndrome and planned way too much.   I gave up on Crafting the Personal Essay and Dinty Moore's Flash Fiction as neither inspired me.  Both were books I'd used before and for some reason, once I'm done with a book, I don't like to go back.  I have several writing books on my shelves, including Barbara Abercrombie's Kicking in the Wall as well as Anne Bernay's What If, which  I have yet to utilize so I'll be drawing on them for a variety of reasons which includes helping me finish revising WIP-RT. 

I have a tendency to quit writing when I'm stressed and I'm trying hard not to let the stress of the day stop me.   

I'm following the KISS method this time!

~Cheers~

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~ 

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! 

    

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! 

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

Tuesday Tango: I can't believe....

I can't believe I'd been afraid to dive out of an airplane.  It was the biggest rush, free falling and floating, diving towards the earth.  Granted I didn't do it alone, strapped to the instructor, a rather odd position to find myself in.  I don't usually get that close to another man unless I'm taking him into custody. A good old fashion headlock with no room to squirm.  Once was enough though.  Beautiful and terrifying.  One more thing to mark off mom's bucket list.  She made me do it. When have you ever been able to say no to your mother?

I can't believe I was intimidated by her.  Here I am, forty years old and she still makes me feel like a child.  That's all me, though.  I like being taken care of...sometimes.  She won't let me see her bucket list. I think she's making it up on the fly. No pun intended.  

I can't believe she never told me about the running of the bulls. She has pictures to prove it, along with the scar on the back of her leg when she fell over a chair in the process.  She likes to tell strangers that was how she and dad met.  One of the bulls tagged her and dad saved her just before almost getting totally trampled.  She's feisty and finicky so I found it hard to believe she'd get down and dirty with the bulls until she showed me proof.

I can't believe how many years it's been since Jessie and I did the same thing.  I looked at mom and called Jessie, put him on speaker phone.  "Hey, man! Mom just showed me a picture of her running with the bulls." 

"No way, Mrs. E."

"Yes dear, believe it." 

Jessie chuckled and said "hang on, I've got a picture you need to see." 

She narrowed her eyes at me and I shrugged.  The phone dinged and I turned it her way.  Her eyes widened at the site of me and Jessie sitting on a wall where we'd jumped to get out of the way of the bulls.  Her spine straightened with a snap.  "You lied to me and told me you'd gone to Portugal."

"We did after a bit of a side trip.  At least we got away without any scars."  

"Gregory," She actually snarled at me.

"Mom!" both Jessie and I said together in a whine like we we used to do in high school. 

She huffed out a breath and shook her head. "Boys."

"Well, you did it first, paved the way."

She smiled and patted me on the back.  "And don't you forget it."



Greg - Eyes in the Ashes

Monday Meander: The Role of Handwriting

I'm a big proponent of writing everything long hand.  I write out all my fiction stories, flash and scenes long hand because I go completely blank looking at the white screen. However, I have no program writing blog posts on the fly.  Haven't figured that one out yet.   While reading, I'll underline portions and then go back and write it all out, along with the thoughts sparked by the text at that time. Otherwise I don't remember.  According to Susan Reynolds in Fire Up the Writing Brain writing longhand helps with comprehension and thinking.

"Handwriting is one of the most advanced human capabilities, because it combines all the complexities of language in concert with intricate psycho-motor activity.  It gives physical form to our thoughts and emotions, which is why some of us fall completely in love with the act of writing and spend hours searching for the perfect notebook for brainstorming ideas, journaling, or writing."

I encourage everyone I know to write long hand, but alas my son doesn't buy it.  He says he writes it all in his brain, then on the computer.  Of course, he and hubby have both photographic and eidetic memories and never forget a thing.

Handwriting also helps you express emotion:

According to psychiatrist Roland Jouvent  - "With handwriting we come closer to the intimacy of the author. That's why we are more powerfully moved by the handwritten manuscript of a poem by Verlaine than by the same work simply printed in a book.  Each person's hand is different: The gesture is charged with emotion, lending it a special charm."  Reynolds continues with "Cursive in particular, adds an element of dancing, instilling 'a melody' in the message."

So start practicing your cursive!

Creating your own anxiety, rather than passion

Do you ever create your own anxiety by jumping ahead of yourself?  Yeah, me too.  I finished off the last few questions in Fierce on the Page. The last question is "What do I want to discover about myself as a writer or about writing in general this year?

I don't know yet.  My goal right now is to write, fill my creative well, and post on my blog every day.  I'd like to come up with content that entertains, amuses, teaches others.  Maybe have folks learn from my experience.  Back the truck up. Am I ready?   I haven't been thinking of anyone else but myself at the moment. I put in a lot of time and effort the past couple years worrying about  and helping other folks with their writing.   Am I ready to write for an audience?  I can feel anxiety creeping in and I'm not exactly sure why.

Some times you have to be selfish.   I'm taking this time to write for me, to find my passion again. Writing is a discovery process. I'm discovering myself again and by freeing up my thoughts and ideas and meandering on the page, I'm working on freeing  my characters again. I like imagining what my characters are thinking about or doing.  I want to learn their complete story.  And to do that, I had to learn how to tell my complete story.  I think I've made some progress in that direction, but I still have much to learn.  Plus I think it's time to let my characters loose and see where they take us.

I just copied this quote by Roald Dahl which I probably should tape to the side of my computer.

"If you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it at full speed ahead.  Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is not good.  Hot is no good either.  White hot and passionate is the only thing to be."

Monday Meandering

Ack!  It's truly been one of those days in which I haven't had much time to myself and I failed to write anything Sunday to post today.  My imagination was running wild this morning, tidbits of stories running through my head while showering.  What would happen if you suddenly went blind while driving?  Would  you have any warning?  What would you do? Slam on the brakes or try to pull  to the curb?  Would anyone stop or just think you are being an asshole.  How long before anyone stopped?  Would you be able to dial 911 on your phone or just wait until someone decided to see if you needed help.   Hmmm!  A name, a child, possibilities.

Then on the way to work, just at the intersection where I do a uturn to our shop, an accident had just happened.  A truck smashed into a smaller car which was half crushed.  If I had been a minute earlier...  Lots of people rushing about so I made my way to work, thankful for the last red light and to idiots who had been driving like road slugs which prevented it from me being the one in the smushed car.  Hug your kids and spouse tonight.  You never know....

Let's Write...

The universe is trying to tell me something.  I signed up for the Writer's Digest Short Story class which began last week.  My muse has been hitting me on the head the past few days with TLC's Waterfalls.  I've had the chorus lyrics running through my head for the past couple nights:

Don't go chasing waterfalls.

Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to.

I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all,

But I think you're moving too fast.

Then yesterday, she finally got through to me. The title of a story.  Yep, Chasing Waterfalls,  along with a couple character names and a inkling of an idea.   Then realized today I'm not quite ready to start writing just yet, so it wouldn't work for the WD class. So decided I'd work on Yellow Belly Shoppe for Cowards. It's one I began while taking classes at WVU and never quite finished it.   

I keep running across the idea of writing 52 short stories, one a week,  ala Ray Bradbury everywhere on the internet the past few days. And Sage Cohen had mentioned it as well in Fierce on the Page.  Which lead me to Write Practice and Joe Bunting's Let's Write a Short Story.  While I was downloading it, also saw James Scott Bell's How to Write Short Stories which I just had to get.   I just finished reading Bunting's book and love the idea of taking the novels and characters in those stories and using them for short stories.  It serves as a way to get deeply into the characters and their motives and lives.  I've been considering a short story for Greg so I know I'm headed in the right direction. 

I was sitting here thinking I needed a theme for July for the blog and the universe gave it to me.  Molly Totoro who just published Journaling toward Wholeness (which I'm still reading) pointed me in the direction of NaJoWriMO - National Journal Writing Month - which runs January, April, July, and October.  I'm dithering on joining although I know I should, but don't want to commit, and end up doing it anyway.  I'm commitment phobic these days other than those I've made to myself like blogging and morning pages.  

The universe is yelling at me to get my thinking cap on and writing butt in gear.  Time to listen and brainstorm. 

Flotsam of life

Do you ever have those days in which you just want to hide away from the world but you know you can't. My dreams tend to reflect what's going on in the back of my mind.   An interesting phenomenon took place in my dreaming world.  For the longest time, I've had the same type of dream in which I'm at a school or university library.   Sometimes I'm there visiting, other times living there.  I leave to go the store.  When I decide to return, I get completely lost and either find myself half way across town or lost in a maze, unable to get back to where I started.    Last night, the dream started out in much the same way.  But instead of trying to go back home, I began to explore the different stores, shopping, food tasting, and just meandering about. Hmm? I wonder what that says about my life?  Progress is happening!

While reading and outlining more of Fierce on the Page, I decided I'm more of a plotter than a pantster.  I began working on my very first story -  Floating on the Surface - way back in 2007 for NaNoWriMo.  Once I decided upon the goal of the story, I spent a month world building and creating characters, figuring out the setting, drawing pictures of streets and houses, and names of all the places in the town. Then wrote out a general outline of scenes. November came and I was ready to write.  I've done the same for most of my stories, except for Green Cross which didn't work at all before  I realized I wasn't a pantster. Truly, an experiment gone wrong, although I fell in love with the main character, Hunter.  He's shown up in two other stories, handing out clues left and right, which are part of his story,  but also part of Eyes in the Ashes and Blue Steel.  I don't think he's ready for his own story yet as he's highjacked, err, taken up residence in Eyes in the Ashes. He and I need to have a talk!

What does poop have to do with grief?

Yes, my brain works in insane ways.  I was cleaning out the litter boxes yesterday and two words popped into my mind:  poop and grief.    Neither hubby or James take care of the litter boxes. They don't have the stomach for it, so it's always been my responsibility.   When Herbie died last August, I did a major cleaning as if getting rid of his scent would make things all better.  You really don't think grief will hit you hard, when an dies, but it does. One of our fur babies, raised from birth, a member of our family. I still see him out of the corner of my eye, sitting outside the patio door. Plus mom's been gone almost four years now.  And there's the loss of a couple cyber relationships in my life that were very important. Grief comes in waves - some big that knock you over, some little ones that misplace the sand beneath your feet, and make you take a step backwards.  So what does this have with poop and the litter box? 

Cat's poop and try to act nonchalant with half their body outside the litter box, the other half inside, doing their business.  They hid it, cover it up,  Don't look at me, they say, eyes straight ahead, ignoring the human who happens to walk by. Later you clean it out, sift, scoop, toss in a bag and/or flush, depending on your way of doing things.  We bag and throw it away.  So - Grief. 

Sometimes, you try to avoid it, but when you gotta...you gotta.  You try to hide it,  your public face versus the private face.  When it's no longer possible to hide, you sift through and either throw it away or heaven forbid, put it back on the mental shelf for another day.  I stumbled across What's Your Grief today and their article on Understanding Avoidance in Grief.   One of the factors they listed is avoidance or denial of feelings or emotions.  One thing that makes fiction writing or even non fiction writing so interesting as well as cathartic is writing with feeling, with emotion.  But what happens when you deny those feelings.  Yep, writer's block or rather writer's avoidance.  Or like Sage Cohen says - it may be procrastination, may be incubation. 

I worked through a few things during a Flash non fiction class, surprised myself with the honesty, the emotion and discovered a few things in the process.  Something I need to continue to work on - let those emotions through, work them out, resolve and let go.  Yet, I've avoid it with my fiction. 

 I have a character and his backstory involves the loss of his wife.  I've wanted to write his story for quite a while but had been avoiding it. Too emotionally intense.  And how do you explain to your hubby or son why you're crying over an imaginary person.  Yep, writers. We get emotionally involved...when we let ourselves.  

So what's the moral of this story - the relationship between poop and grief?   Sift through the litter, scoop it out and throw the poop away.  Whether you throw it away on the page or just out of your mind, let it flow, let it go.  

  

Writerly Wednesday: Render the Tree, Capture the Forest

The latest exercise in Chapter 3 of The Making of a Story is all about capturing the details called Render the Tree, Capture the Forest.  By carefully choosing a few details, attempt to capture an entire place, a town, a city, a county.

Since I'm working on editing Eyes in the Ashes, figured my main character driving through town would be perfect for this. During the writing, quite a few new ideas sparked about the story so have to say very helpful exercise.


In the early dawn light as the clouds pearled over the redwood trees, the sheriff drove into town. He passed the bakery where Jacky usually started baking around 4:00 a.m. His stomach grumbled as sourdough and butter, cinnamon and blueberries competed with chicory and roasted espresso beans. Danny waved, loading the truck for his early morning deliveries down at the marina. All the windows along Main sparkled, shiny and clean in time for the May Day parade and the beginning of the fair.

In a couple days, the streets would be packed with folks from all over the valley. All the merchants busily preparing for the big day as they created window displays to attract every eye.

Madison books had recently updated their front window to show off local author Jeremiah Gleason’s new thriller “The Dark Gate.” His book sat on a mossy tree stump in the center, surrounded by an assortment of cookbooks, and local travel guides, ringed by greenery from the forest. Down the boardwalk, hanging plants lined the walkways with rocking chairs scattered in front of Patty’s Pizza Palace.

Next door at Four Tunes, the art studio’s front window remained covered. Sebastian and Helene, no doubt had something clever planned. He hoped they would exhibit pieces created by local artists, instead of one of their latest wacked out creations. However, they were being secretive about the whole thing.

As Greg drove the windy road, the marina came into view and reminded him of the miniature diorama displayed in the library. Jackson’s three white, tall sail masts towered above the rest of the boats. Out in the bay, the Greek’s yacht anchored for the week. The mayor had been a bit obtuse about the man and his companion. Although, now that he thought about it, how coincidental that Jackson had showed up as well. He had yet to come by the office, so now would be the perfect time to find out what the heck was going on.

He drove to the end of the pier, parked and headed down the steps to the slips. Seagulls kited above, their cries competed with the chatter and clanking of the fishermen while they offloaded their catches of the morning. As he neared Jackson’s boat, the scent of coffee overrode the moist fish laden air.

Then the man himself appeared on deck, a broad grin on his face, and a cup of steaming coffee in one hand. “You’re late.”

Greg climbed aboard and eyed his friend, took in the pinkish scar that ran down his cheek and the cane in his other hand. “So it seems and the stories of your demise have been greatly exaggerated.”

WIP Wednesday - Interrupted by Notes from the Universe

The universe is telling me today - to read, to sit, to ponder, to think, to just be.  Especially when Nora Roberts releases a new book into the universe.  Life stops when one of her books arrives.  

Chasing Fire

I think the problem with my reading life lately. I needed a Nora fix. *sigh*

Plus I received this note from the universe this morning

Robin, it's the way you think. That's your purpose. It's never been about what work you choose, what gifts you develop, or what niche you fill - let these be for your pleasure.

Think as only you can think, which will lead to feelings that only you can feel, from which connections will be made, lives will be changed, and worlds will come tumbling into existence.

Thanks,
    The Universe

Not much to report on the ROW80 front. Check out everyone else's progress here. 

Happy Writing and Reading!

 

WIP Wednesday - Just keep swimming!

Just Keep Swimming!

You just gotta love Dory! I'm swimming right now, in the midst of doing taxes and also working on class stuff. The module this week in Humanities - Kantian and utilitarian ethics. According to Kant, motive is the operating force and actions are based upon what you think you ought to do based on a sense of duty versus the right or moral thing to do. Pity or compassion doesn't play a role.   Utilitarianism is the ethical concept that says what is right or good is what brings the most happiness.  When faced with a choice, take the one that will make the most amount of people happy.  For example: Given the choice to save one person or five people from being hit by a train, save the five and let the one die.  Or if there is one person you can throw in front of the train further up the tracks that will save them all, do it.     

So right now I'm contemplating the question: "consider Kant's requirement that other people be considered as ends in themselves and not as means to an end.  Can you think of any cultural or economic practices that might seem to violate this principle?"      Fun huh! 

Also started working on the taxes.  Yes, I know. Should have started long before now.  I have excuses.  Discovered the version of Quickbooks we have at the shop, doesn't want to work on my windows 7 laptop for whatever reason.  Figured, no problem..... installed turbo tax at work to import the quickbooks file into it.  Something screwy there too.  Didn't want to do it.  Que the violin music, please.   Just have to do it the old fashion way, and printed off all the reports needed and will  manually enter the information.    So...... that's what I'll be working on for the next few days.  

In the midst of all this, re-evaluating the first quarter of home school curriculum, making some changes and refreshing myself on how to be a better mentor to my 5th grader.  I've had a decided lack of patience lately, which doesn't fair well, when trying to teach my wonderful child.   Which is one reason I decided to reread Thomas Jefferson Education.  

I'm continuing to write everyday and making progress.  Getting a little bit closer to that final scene of Red Thief.  The morning pages are going well and helping me work some frustrations out on the page.   I'm in week 7 of The Artist's Way - recovering a sense of connection.  One of the tasks is make a collage.  Collect 10 magazines, set yourself a time limit and go through, cut out images that reflect your life and interests.   Make sort of a pictorial autobiography.  Shouldn't be too difficult, right.  Unless all you have is Writer's Digest, Writer, Bookmarks, Air and Space and Reader's Digest.  *facepalm*   As a result,  I kind of went on a subscription bing of magazines I've been wanting, but never got around to it.  Subscribed to Poets and Writers, Sunset, Coastal living, Smithsonian, Conde Nast Traveler, and Old schoolhouse.   Happy Happy Joy Joy! 

I haven't had a whole lot of time to write any reviews. Heck, I haven't had a whole lot of time to read for pleasure. However, I just started "Heart of Deception" by M.L. Malcolm for TLC Book Tour coming up on April 4th.  

Speaking of reviews, you may have already seen this, but if you haven't, you should.   It's a great reminder to authors of how NOT to respond to a negative review.  This author melted down, telling commentors and the blogger to  'f' off twice when he refused to delete the review and in my opinion just killed her career as it were. Amazingly unprofessional but educational for the rest of us.

Sometimes God calms the storm.  At other times, he calms the sailor.  And sometimes he makes us swim.  ~Author Unknown

Just keep swimming!  

WIP Wednesday and Row80 - did somebody mention the tortoise and the Hare?

Slow and steady wins the race!

I have steadily been plodding along with Red Thief, writing half an hour a day and actually finding more of my main character's back story being revealed. Helpful little tidbits which assist with the story. Aha moments! Love those! I am making progress and methinks the first draft will be finished by the end of Row80's  first quarter.

I'm still in week 3 of The Artist's Way -  Recovering a Sense of Power. The chapter is all about anger, synchronicity, shame, dealing with criticism and growth.  Thought I don't feel like I've ever lost my power, so to speak, I'm learning all kinds of interesting things.   I've been sharing tidbits with my hubby along the way. We are both great believers in synchronicity because it happens quite a bit in our lives.   Just like Artist's Way coming along at a time I needed it.  Week 3 is going to take me two weeks because it's taken me just the week to read through the chapter. I remember things better if I write them down, so taking lots of notes.  Interesting tidbits to share:

"Anger is meant to be listened to. Anger is a voice, a shout, a plea, a demand. Anger is meant to be respected. Why? Because anger is a map.  Anger shows us what our bounderies are. Anger shows us where we want to go.....   Anger is meant to be acted upon.  It ns not meant to be acted out.  Anger points the direction.  We are meant to use anger as fuel to take the actions we need to move where our anger points us." (pg 61)

Synchronicity.  Is it God or coincidence?  Depends on what you believe.  Jung said it is "an apparently meaningful coincidence in time of two or more similar or identical events that are causally unrelated."  I love what Cameron has to say about it: 

"We like to pretend it is hard to follow our heart's dreams.  The truth is, it is difficult to avoid walking through the many doors that will open. Turn aside your dream and it will come back to you again.  Get willing to follow it again and a second mysterious door will swing open." (pg 66) 

Remember the old adage be careful what you wish for or prayer for, because it just might come true.   Cameron also says 

"Understand that the what must come before the how.  First choose what you would do.  The how usually falls into place itself." 

Criticism is always hard to take, no matter how it's put.  Is constructive criticism really constructive?  My son is a burgeoning artist. He loves to write and draw and we try to encourage him as much as possible. I don't want to kill his creativity and do the best I can so support his efforts.  However, when you've seen the same drawing half a million times, or another fan fiction rewrite of Mario, it's difficult.   Cameron provides some great advice regarding criticism.

Pointed criticism, if accurate, often gives the artist an inner sense of relief...  Useful criticism ultimately leaves us with one more puzzle piece for our work..  Useless criticism, on the other hand, leaves us with a feeling of being bludgeoned.  As a rule, it is withering and shaming in tone; ambigious in content; personal, inaccurate, or blanket in its condemnations.  There is nothing to be gleaned from irresponsible criticism."   pg 72

We've all been the subject of useless criticism and unfortunately I've seen a bit of it, not only in real life but  online as well lately. It serves no purpose, just alienates people.   So I'm learning how to provide useful criticism and seeing the benefits of it already.

Lots of tasks this week including paying attention to non nurturing habits, nurturing friends, feeding your inner compass with an artist brain activity and looking at the trait of people you admire.  Homework!   I love this quote in the sidebar of the chapter:

"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.  And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost."  Martha Graham

So I'm taking off the blinders and paying more attention to what's going on around me. What about you? Are you are believer in synchronicity or serendipity. What do you believe - God or coincidence?

My goals for the next week:

1) Write morning pages every morning during breakfast
2) Write 30 minutes a day on Red Thief
3) Complete week 3 tasks in Artist Way.
4) Read and post review of Angelology by Danielle Trussoni for TLC book tour March 1st.
5) Come up with H theme for Sunday's post for 52 Books blog week 9

Check out everyone else's progress here

WIP Wednesday -- Week 7 of Row 80

1st round - January 3rd through March 24th

We are halfway through the 1st round of Row 80 and I'm still plugging away.  I feel like I'm making progress with the first draft of Red Thief, even though I'm only writing a couple pages or about 500 words a day.   I am writing every single day.  There have been mornings I've gotten up and so wanted to just read a book during breakfast and just go into veg mode and hang out online for while.  I have withstood the temptation however and have faithfully been writing my morning pages.  Talking it out on the page, stream of consciousness style and just letting it all hang out there seems to be a good positive influence.  I save the reading as a reward for finishing my morning pages and my writing in the morning.  Unplugging until 4:00 every day is working well too! 

However, I feel like I need to do more. You ever get that feeling. Like you aren't doing enough.   I'm about ready to sit down and write up a to do list like Judith of 365 has done.  Maybe if I am seeing things being checked off, then I will feel like I'm accomplishing more.    

Speaking of accomplishments  -- I got a A in my Short Story Class.  Happy Happy Joy Joy! 

I came up with an idea and not sure if it is a good one or just plain crazy.   Since I write everything long hand, considering the idea of using the typing up phase as my edit process.   I have a couple free weeks before my next class starts and I could be using the extra time to be typing up what I've written so far.  But I don't want to get bogged down.  I want to keep going forward with the story .  So I'm going to keep going, finish the story, then type it up.  It will be considered my first edit phase.  So this first round is totally dedicated to just writing.  The next phase will be editing and research.

I started Week 2 of The Artist's Way and really enjoying it.  It's all about getting rid of the 'crazymakers' in your life - the toxic negative people who do their best to distract you from writing or making positive changes in your life.  I have to say we've done a pretty good job of eliminating those type of folks from our lives and we limit our interactions.    Not only does Julia Cameron have some great insights, the tasks are really opening up my eyes and imagination. Also I've been trying to figure out what to do for artist's dates.  I love trying different food and my hubby is a meat and potatoes kind of guy, so is my son.  So on one of my work days, going to be taking myself out to lunch and trying different things.

Completing the various tasks is helping me provide some suggestions to hubby and helping him make some some positive changes.  Between ROW80 and The Artist's Way, I'm doing great.   Plus through the rowers,  I've discovered  a few new to me authors and am enjoying reading their works. 

Goals for next week

1.  Complete week two of Artist Way

2.  Continue writing at least one page a day on Red Thief - 75% done.

3.  continue doing Morning Pages

4.  Write review of Green and post

5.  Research books with Greek setting and/or by Greek authors for Week 8 of 52 Books weekly post.

Check out the blog hop here

WIP Wednesday - building up writing muscle

Happy to say Red Thief is progressing nicely. Still don't know my word count because I haven't typed anything up yet.  My short story class will be over with the final next week and I'll have a free couple weeks before my last class starts, in which to work on it.   Yes, I have one more class left and I will have my Bachelor of Science in Liberal Studies.  I'll still debating whether I want to go after a Masters in Fine Arts or just take some writing classes. 

I just received "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron, the inventor of morning pages. It is a 12 week course in "discovering and recovering your creative self".  My goal this week is to just read through the book and familiarize myself with the whole program.  The morning pages are working for me currently and seem to be helping my memory, which is a good thing, plus keeping me on track with working on my WIP in the mornings, rather than sluffing off. 

With the end of January, came the end of the 31 days to Better Writing Habits from which I learned quite a bit and will be useful in the future.  Something that I had never thought about was toxic language.  One of the topics was how toxic language can hinder your writing.  Words such as can't, should, have to, impossible or need to are considered toxic because they take away your power.  They are negative and limit you. 

Use “Can” Instead of “Can’t”–You can do anything you want to do. You can do anything you set your mind to do. It’s been proven over and over and over again. So say “can.” “I can be a writer” and “I can write this novel.”

Use “Want to” Instead of “Should” “Have to” or “Need to”–When you use the phrase “want to” you’re making a choice. It’s no longer being forced on you, you are choosing it. There is power in the phrase “want to” because it shows you have a desire to do something. So say “I want to be a writer” and “I want to write this novel.”

Telling yourself you should do something is taking away your choice. Telling yourself you have to do something is extra pressure and most folks when you tell them they have to do something, will do the opposite. Do you need to write or do you want to write. You don't need to, you don't have to, but you want to. You are making a choice to write because you want to. Getting rid of the toxic language gives you back your power.  I had never thought of that, so taking out the toxic language and replacing it with more positive - I want, I can, I will.

My goals for the next week:

1) continue morning pages

2) write one page a day

3) Read through and preview  "Artist's Way"

4) Post review of Forsaken by Shadow 

How are you doing with your goals?  Click here to see how everyone else is doing.