Snow Fall and Writing

As I was shoveling the 7 to 10 inches of snow from my walkways this morning, I thought how like writing that was. One shovelful, one small chunk at a time. I could see where I needed to shovel to - the road, the driveway, the house--just as with a story goal {which you should always have before you start to write} you know where you need to go, all you have to do is get there. One small shovelful, one small word, sentence, paragraph, page, chapter at a time.

If there is one thing I learned from NaNoWriMo it's that when its large its hard [your goal 50,000 words] - when its small its easy - [1,667 words a day]. Like the snow, one shovelful at a time, one walkway at a time, one job done in fine style in no time at all.

So even if it's drifted, there's away through that drift. Even if you are feeling blocked, there is a way through that block. One tiny step at a time.

"Art is made from talent and character. Adverstiy strengthens character and can strengthen our art as well," says noted writer, artist, screen writer, musician Julia Cameron. She used a phrase to describe one of her acquaintences that absolutely makes him visible. "With a face like a ravaged cathedral and a shock of snow-white hair to top his alpine height..." Do you need to see a picture - or does her magic with a pen, give you a sense of the man...can you see from the tiny shovelful of snow how she is building the snowbank while she cleans the walk? Her person becomes a living, breathing human being before your eyes, one word, one phrase, one sentence at a time.

Don't believe me how completely one step at a time does the job... look at a blizzard. How does it start? One tiny, beautiful snowflake at a time falling in just one place. As it perseveres adding one snow flake after another it grows - soon you have 2, 4, 6, maybe 10 inches of snow. It still is only falling one tiny snowflake at a time in that one spot. Build your writing the same way. Put one word after another until you have a clause, add more until you have a sentence. Make another one and add it to the first and soon you will have a paragraph. String some paragraphs together and you'll have a page, then another page until you have a chapter. If you keep going one word at a time, you'll have a novel in no time.

Somewhere it was said that you can't see where you are going at night, well not any farther than your headlights can illuminate. But you can make the whole journey by following as far as those headlights can reach - and just keep doing that all the way to your destination whether it's a mile or a couple hundred miles. Same with snow flakes and shoveling snow or books and writing them it gets done one bite - or byte at a time.

So get the pen to the page - write the first word--that's all it takes. Happy shoveling!

HABITS FOR WRITERS

I could put a number in front of that title— say-- 10 habits or whatever – but why would I? If you’ve followed my blog for long, you know that I say “Successful Writer’s Write Every day" no matter how they feel, what’s going on in their day, or if they don’t have a pencil to their name. Anyone who wants to be a writer will talk the talk, and walk the walk. So if I were numbering these points I would call number one the “Develop the will to write daily,” priority, number one on your to do list – Let's start by calling it what I prefer to call it, your goals list.

Everyday you meet people who say "I want to write a novel. I have this great idea," yet they never sit down to get page one started. As Rob Parnell ( www.easywaytowrite.com ) has said on numerous occasions “If you want to write novels you have to start NOW [emphasis mine] immediately, and not put it off any longer."

In this world ,we can save money for a rainy day – but we have not found out how to save/bank time for when we want it at some future date – NOW is all you have. If not NOW, When?

Setting goals for yourself is one way to get a finished project. Say you agree to write three pages a day – hey, if you do that everyday, you’ll have nearly 1,100 pages in a year – that could easily equal three novels.

Be sure when you are involved in that goal setting that you commit to finish projects. Getting 300 books, or articles, or essays started—does not equal a finished, saleable project. Check those idea faeries at the door. Write down their intrusion with a great idea and then continue on to finish your current project before you grab up one of her sparkling new ideas.

It has been said that it takes 21 days to create a habit. My challenge to you is, if you want to be a writer – write at least three pages every day for the next 21 days. Pick a time convenient for you —morning, evening — it makes no difference when. What does make a huge difference is that you do this. Twenty-one days isn’t a long time, it isn’t a month, it isn’t hardly worth mentioning time-wise, but once you do it—you have formed a valuable HABIT, a precedence, a ritual, a practice, which will eventually get you to your goal of becoming a writer, perhaps even a published author.

So get started today. What have you got to lose, except perhaps your fear of getting started.

When In Doubt Look It Up

If you’re describing a technique, could you describe it to a blind person — I mean do you know it that well that some one could understand you. As one author said, Do you know how to change a tire? Prove it — could you change it on a busy freeway, in a down pouring rain — have you ever?—I’m paraphrasing here, but you get the message don’t you?

The question is, do you really know how to fly an airplane, what makes a gun a pistol or a revolver is there a difference? Were there wagon trains out in Colorado in 1819? Were there railroad trains? Thank heavens there were editors who caught my slips in my Young Adult Novel. Your character can’t think something reminds him of something, in this cased the wagon master on a wagon train, if he could not have possibly experienced it. Even if your editor misses it, one or heaven forbid, many of your fans might not. In which case you’ll probably get angry fan mail and even lose a few readers. No author can afford to lose readers or fans.

So when it’s a possibility that you aren’t exactly, one-hundred percent positive you are right—RESEARCH FIRST. I can’t stress that enough. Whether you are writing fiction or non-fiction, readers will not tolerate infractions of these types. If you were a copywriter it cost you a profitable client, in fiction, it could cost you your career. Research that will put you a head above any lazy writer who decides to fake it, who decides to assume he knows.

I had a biology professor who once had a favorite phrase that has stuck with me since he said it years ago. “Anything you assume without knowing—Ass u me — makes an Ass-out of-U and – Me.” Very apropos and a phrase worth remembering for anyone, but especially writers hoping to have a substantial career.

Another Great Writing Tip 0r Trick to Grab the Writing Muse

Lists -- you make them every day - to do lists, grocery lists, birthday/event lists, writers can use them to their advantage. They can use them to spark their muse -- much like brainstorming or mind mapping - try this:
Make a list about something ordinary -- sorting laundry, garage sale, party games, grocery list--anything. Off the top of your head no pondering allowed = )
(I'll wait, go ahead and make your list..tum, da , dum, da dee, tum tum)
Okay you done? Good now take that list and take ten minutes or so (set your timer) Now read your list. Do you sense a rhythm to what you wrote down after a few lines?

Laundry:
Dark Blue - yeah you too
whites - pretty pinks work
undies - and a sundries
well okay that's stretching it but you see where I'm going-- What was your list about - was it about love and all the things you associate with it? Could you turn that into a poem? How about the argument you had, the anger you felt at the stupid driver who cut you off -- any topic is prime for a list and you never know what writing it could spark.

The Garage Sale list could include - a list of available items, the buyers you encountered, the seller, what the day was like - rainy, sunny, hot, cold, blustery--what of those items you haggled over--what history might they have had?

The imagination is a powerful tool, combine it with lists and you are on your way to opening new doors with your writing. Try it! You just might like it. Please let me know how you did - you can post a comment here or you can leave a comment at my web site I look forward to hearing your thoughts and your results.

More later. And don't forget to watch for our guest blogger - Joyce Anthony when she tells us about her writing career and her new release STORM that is taking the world by storm.