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!

November Madness

Happy November Everyone!
Brand new month, brand new chance to make me number one best seller for the month of November and beyond. I read about Amelia Earhart (pronounced airhart)today when I was reading my Biography of 100 Most Influential Women of All Time – was her name a foretelling of her future – her destiny or a coincidence? A woman of many firsts , especially in aviation, it makes one pause to wonder.

Then there was Murasaki Shikibu first woman novelist from Japan in C. 978 – 1030 Deborah G. Felder says of her...masterpiece is the crowning acievement of a period in Japanese history notable for the predominance of literary women. It would take another eight hundred years before the distinctive voices of women would again be heard as clearly in fiction as was Murasaki Shikibu's in The Tale of Genji." She compares Shikibu's efforts to other great novelists that deserve to be read such as Proust. She had a dream, she had a vision, she stepped toward it.

Fascinating how these diverse individuals made their mark in history. It would appear they never planned for any notoriety only finding ways to do what they wanted to do. Perseverance, determination, vision all of it directed their steps. They did not leap the Grand Canyon in one step – they knew they needed to take that first step and the next and the next in order to get where their vision was.

I also received my boxed set (in a treasure chest type box) of Harry Potter books. Never Mind what JK Rowlings announced about one of the characters, the fact that she wrote these books and the mind boggling sky rocket to the top of the charts that these books took--is enough to amaze anyone. I have not read any of the Harry Potter books yet, but I plan to. I have a friend who hates to read and wants to be a writer (she has since published two books) She has read very few books since she left high school--but she read these cover to cover, beginning to end, book one through book seven. If JK can do that, I must discover her secret - I must read them. And so I will as soon as...my small step to becoming famous is over.

Today my small baby step was to begin my novel for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo – to those in the know) a 50,000 word novel in a month. That’s only a little over 1,600 words a day for 30 days. It’s an exercise in commitment. Not being committed to an insane asylum for daring to try, though during my first attempt three years ago I thought I was vying for that option. {grin} As it turns out, I could do that and more.

So far I have published two of the novels I wrote during former NaNoWriMo challenges – So this year January Flannel (Working title of the book and name of the accidental sleuth) will unfold as the owner of the small gift shop The Capricorn Goat and mystery writer writing under two pseudonyms Dixie Dakota – and Amber G Store. I’m off to a good start.

If you are interested in the challenge check out http://www.nanowrimo.org/ and see what you are facing. There are only 90,000 other writers participating according to my last visit. Imagine all the incredible energy put forth by such a large community of writers. My 1,989 words today is a drop in the bucket, but I’m still counting and one drip at a time that bucket will get full. WRITE ON! I say.

Determination, Desire, Discipline

Most of you know Debbie Macomber – or about her if you haven’t read any of her books. She is a very prolific and popular romance writer – but guess what? She’s ordinary and she’s motivated by need — or at least she used to be. I found the article below as part of a book by Jack Canfield **The Success Principles, How to get from where you are to where you want to be. I thought it would be an inspiration to us all.

When Debbie Macomber decided to pursue her dream of becoming a writer, she rented a typewriter, put it on the kitchen table, and began typing each morning after the kids went off to school. When the kids came home, she moved the typewriter and made them dinner. When they went to bed, she moved it back and typed some more. For 2 ½ years Debbie followed this routine. Supermom had become a struggling writer, and she was loving every minute of it.

One night, however, her husband, Wayne, sat her down and said, “Honey, I’m sorry, but you’re not bringing in any income. We can’t do this anymore. We can’t survive on just what I make.”

That night, her heart broken and her mind too busy to let he sleep, she stared at the ceiling in their darkened bedroom. Debbie knew with all the responsibilities of keeping up a house and taking four kids to sports, church, and scouts—that working 40 hours a week would leave her not time to write.

Sensing her despair her husband woke up and asked “What’s wrong?”

“I really think I could’ve made it as a writer. I really do.”

Wayne was silent for a long time, then sat up, turned on the light, and said, “All right, honey, go for it.”

So Debbie returned to her dream and her typewriter on the kitchen table pounding out page after page for another 2 ½ years. Her family went without vacations, pinched pennies, and wore hand-me-downs.

But the sacrifice and the persistence paid off. After 5 years of struggling, Debbie sold her first book. Then another. And another. Until finally, today, Debbie has published more than 100 books, many of which have become New York Times best-sellers and 3 of which have sold for movies. Over 60 million copies of her books are in print, and she has millions of loyal fans.

And Wayne? All that sacrifice in support of his wife paid off handsomely he got to retire at age 50 and now spends his time building an airplane in the basement of their 7,000-square-foot mansion.

Debbie’s kids got a gift far more important than a few summer camps. As adults, they realize what Debbie gave them was far more important — permission and encouragement to pursue their own dreams.

Today, Debbie still has dreams she wants to fulfill—a television series based on her books, an Emmy Award, a number-one New York Times best seller.

To accomplish them, she has a routine: she gets up every morning at 4:30, reads her Bible, and writes in her journal. By 6:00, she’s swimming laps in the pool. And by 7:30 she’s in her office answering mail. She writes between 10 AM and 4:00 PM, producing three new books a year with discipline and perseverance.

What could you accomplish if you were to follow your heart, practice this much daily discipline, and never give up?

This book is filled with motivation and inspiration like the Chicken Soup for the Soul series he is co-author of — it gives one pause to think, and then take action. Unstoppable — that’s what we need to be. WRITE ON gang.

The Success Principles. How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, by Jack Canfield ISBN 978-0-06-059489-3 $15.95 www.thesuccessprinciples.com

LIVE LIFE INTENSELY/FULLY

LIVE LIFE INTENSELY
by Billie A Williams © 2007

“For your writing to have depth, you must experience life to the fullest.” [Rob Parnell, www.easywaytowrite.com ]

Does that mean you have to go out and sky dive even though you are afraid of heights just so you can write well? I think not! I doubt even John Grisham or Patricia Cornwell have sky dived. Your background can provide a rich tapestry from which to draw or intense fantasies provide varying degrees of depth and intrigue to your writing.



For instance fantasy author Brenda Kleager isn’t satisfied to sit and dream up fantasy worlds – she is continually experimenting with new ideas, new venues—researching and developing her worlds, her characters. And, when she is not designing characters or worlds, she designs jewelry and book thongs and more for authors [ http://www.treasuredsecrets.info ], or she is writing books on natural/holistic topics. She is a teacher, she is a mother, she is a student, and she can move across town or across states without taking a second to pause for a breath. In my book, she is a prime example of living life intensely, going for the brass ring every day in everything she does. She is the Literary Specialist (Little Professor) at
www.word-mage.com/ offering her abilties to help others.

As writers we come to discover, writing itself seems to add intensity to our lives. The very act of thinking on the page, developing characters to people our stories, designing plots to wrap around the guidelines of the genre we are patterning our story to fit, personal growth, achievement and spiritual fulfillment help to develop the writing and the person/author.

Dealing with rejection takes a certain kind of chutzpah and writers become adept at handling it and moving on. That takes intense living. Believing in yourself enough when some others don’t seem to, takes a certain kind of courage and perseverance. It is an experience, it is growth and it is living without walls when you defy that rejection and dare yourself to try one more time.

Think of yourself as Einstein – not 10,000 failures but 10,000 experiments that didn’t yield the desired outcome—yet! If dyslectic Einstein can be an inventor of great things, how could one little rejection stop you who are living intensely, while wringing every drop of power out of every second of life?

Becoming a successful writer is the ultimate gamble as you risk your self-esteem, your livelihood, your ego on the belief that you can succeed. Living life intensely doesn’t need to be living recklessly; it just means challenge yourself to do the thing you fear. Stretch yourself, to do the thing that helps you grow, helps you gain experience that can be used in your career. Fear is the energy for change that fuels your growth. Fear nothing.

There is a saying around that “nothing is wasted on a writer” and I think this is true. What other profession lets you use every single thing that— rules your day, or spoils your mood, or elates you, or crashes your dreams, yet allows you to further your career? Live it for all you are worth, whatever the day may bring and you will be living your life intensely. Look at those dreams in your background while you were still young enough to dream, before someone told you you couldn’t, that it was a foolish waste of time – dream again—it isn’t a waste of time – it’s time moving you to stretch and try and be all that you can be! YOU’RE UNSTOPPABLE! Live your life that way.

Playing Tag

Playing Tag is carefree, exhilarating, with no deadlines, no expectations you just play the game -- racing against yourself to keep from getting tagged - suddenly you're it. Now what? Can you relate this to your writing?

You've read, you've studied this was the carefree, exhilarating part. There were no deadlines or expectations. It was just you exploring, but all of a sudden you are out there. It's your turn, it's your words being loved or rejected, shoved back into an SASE (self-addressed, stamped, envelop) to be returned to you along with a standard form "Not for us." A rejection and you are crushed. You decide this game is not for you. You decide you aren't tough enough to chase after someone and tag them only to have them say - I'm on the goal you can't tag me - Your work is no good we don't want it.

Something inside you won't let you quit. It's like Issac Asimov said, "I write for the same reason I breathe, for without it I would die," and you know it's true of you too. You chase, once again hoping to catch that brass ring, that illusive editor/publisher that thinks your work has that something special enough to be polished until it glows by the editorial staff and you...you open the letter with trepidation, heart palpitating-- Dear Ms....We are delighted to offer you a contract for.... Your eyes blink back the tears and you read it again TAG YOUR IT! You did it, they want your story. You won't believe it until you read the contract, sign the contract send it in and have a signed copy come back in the mail to you.

Now it's time for the happy dance and cyber chocolates and champagne - you are IT you have been TAGGED. Perseverance has finally paid off. And that's what it takes is dogged perseverance. Once again you dig in and begin to write and send, and send and write and write You are a writer it's been confirmed and you have the contract to prove it.

A writer with verve, wit and chutzpah is soon to be a guest blogger at Printed Words - Joyce A Anthony author of the critically acclaimed novel STORM is to be our guest blogger on APRIL 13.
Don't miss her interview right here - find out how Storm came to be, what makes Ms. Anthony tick, and more.