When writing gets real

This is what it's about. This is where I've been. This is when writing is real. Often, eerily, other people (characters) have to take over your brain, or some part of the process to make your story believable.

I discovered a post on Omnivoracious in which Karin Slaughter and Gillian Flynn have a conversation about books, characters, and process. The whole thing is great reading, but my favorite summation of the writing process is from Slaughter (seriously, what thriller writer wouldn't kill for that name?):

"Some of my best work comes from a flop sweat of realizing that what I’ve just spent two weeks knowing was going to be perfect and work brilliantly will never make it onto the final page. And I think going down these wrong roads teaches you about your characters, because at the end of the day, the story should always work in service to the characters."

Now, back to work so I may bring you an actual book of my own. Check back for updates and reveals!

Just Keep Swimming!

This post is not just about swimming.

Our children have a book about the Disney character Nemo. In the book Nemo faces doubt and obstacles about whether or not he’ll make the swim team, or win a race. He doubts his chances because he has two mismatched fins—a regular-size fin, and a tiny little one.

While Nemo may not be so sure of himself, his friend Dory encourages him every chance she can. “Just keep swimming!” Dory cries. By the end of the book, well, I won’t spoil it. You can find Just Keep Swimming online or at a store. I like the positive messages about faith and perseverance.

We all need this in our lives! Personally, there are times when my writing work, and revisions get tough. When I feel bogged down and can’t phone a friend, I remind myself to, “Just keep swimming!” I needed to say it a lot last week to power through a tough spot. And it worked! My project is moving forward, and I’ll be making some fun announcements about it in the coming weeks.  

Do you have an encouraging phrase, or something you do for yourself, or others, when the going gets tough? Share it with us, maybe you’ll help someone, or start a trend.

Just Keep Swimming!

Playing through the pain

Whenever my peers and I suffered through difficult tests, tryouts, performances and other such trials the words “suck it up” and “shake it off” came out of the mouths of our coaches and teachers frequently. I heard them more times than I care to detail here, but I’ve not forgotten.

I knew going into this venture there would be some highs and lows. By venture I mean fill in the blank—writing career, parenthood, life, you get the picture. I also knew it could lead to fun stuff such as back pain, eye strain, anxiety, saggy butt, carpal tunnel, etc. But, as I stop to write this amidst a major push to finish a novel, raise kids with my husband, freelance, maintain a household, be a good citizen of the world, etc., I am struggling.

I know it is time to push through the pain, but there is a good dose of heavy heart with each page I write and every moment I get with my beautiful family this week. I am not sad by the writing or the family, but because I don’t think my grandma will be around long enough to see the full potential of either.

She has been a huge supporter of my endeavors (and sympathizer of the struggles) to be a writer. I am a writer—at least she saw me practicing my craft and shared in the happiness as I became published. But, I hoped so hard this year she would be around to see her great-grandchildren at the holidays, and be around to read her grandchild's first book.

She loves books. I just thought it would be really great to share part of this with her, and I just don’t know if we’ll have the chance. We have so many wonderful memories, times we went to the library, times we surrounded ourselves with books and catalogs. She helped pass her love of books and learning on to my mom, who gave it to me, and my kids. Our children also get some from their dad’s side, thankfully.

So, while I’m saddened we may lose a dear member of our family, I know I need to be thankful. I am thankful. I am thankful for life, family, and so many things. But, I think it is important to recognize she may not hug the babies again, or read another great story, or even my story. And I need to let myself be sad for this for just a little bit. Maybe a miracle will bring her around, I believe it could happen, but if it doesn’t I know she would want us to celebrate her and share our love with others. In fact, I read stories about people making a wish come true for Batkid and the sweet sentiment of one woman interviewed for Humans of New York yesterday and it made me think of my grandma. 

While we all have problems, struggles and pain, spreading love and joy is an important message we could all use to hear.

I’ll grab some tissues, hug and kiss my sweetie and my kids as often as they’ll let me, get back to the work of publishing articles and book(s), and play through the pain. Whatever happens, I plan to encourage my family to spend more time having fun together, playing, sharing, goofing off, reading and celebrating life. These are gifts, cherish them. 

Oxford comma fun, really

I sometimes write about, well, writing. This is one of those times. It's a link really. Here is an interesting Mental Floss piece about the best arguments, for and against the Oxford Comma. English majors and writers should find this fun. Enjoy!

Are things really better in Hawaii?

Recently, a present from Hawaii arrived. This note was enclosed. Cheerful colors, lovely handwriting, it's just a pretty note. So, I have a theory Hawaii may have something to do with how sweet this note is. I'd like to prove it, but it would take a second mortgage and lots of convincing/strategizing/begging on my part. I'll just go out on a limb and say if I lived/worked/vacationed in Hawaii, I could probably create a happy note like this one. Anyone want to fund my highly scientific research?

Experimenting with Google+

I've been trying Google+ out. It's new. It's good. It's adding to my tech time, though, which cuts into my writing projects, but I'm dealing. So, if you're out there in the ether, tweeting, FBing or on Google+, raise your virtual hand or give a shout and let us know how you balance work and the rest.

Don't Just Type Something, Write Something!

Lakshmi Pratury during a past TED Conference delivered a talk about the importance of letter writing. Mentioning her father’s own letters, she said, “So maybe we all need to leave our children with a value legacy, and not a financial one. A value for things with a personal touch -- an autograph book, a soul-searching letter. If a fraction of this powerful TED audience could be inspired to buy a beautiful paper -- and write a beautiful letter to someone they love, we actually may start a revolution where our children may go to penmanship classes.”

Writing as a legacy. I think this is important to note because the physical act of putting pen to paper is going the way of dinosaurs and disco.

A Huffington Post story recently described “ABC News reports that 41 states have adopted the Common Core State Standards for English, which omits cursive handwriting from required curriculum. Now that it's not mandatory, schools around the country are debating whether or not to spend valuable teaching resources on penmanship.” Not mandatory? What? Are we expecting that computers and automated spelling programs will teach our kids to write or even spell? When will we stop writing all together?

There is something important about seeing and feeling a word as it is written. I have so much to say, it’s going to take more than one post to get into it. So, before I get started on my soapbox, let me say this. I love my laptop and my Smartphone. They are Über-convenient, but there is something real and lovely about a handwritten letter.

It saddens me to see such a decline. I comment several times each year when we receive holiday cards without a single word. Some aren’t even signed! What worries me more is that I am a writer and the same thing is starting in our house. First, it’s “I think we should use labels this year. It would be so much more efficient.” Then it spirals into, “Quick, let’s just sign these (instead of sending a personal note) and get them out the door. I mean, c’mon, it took us three weeks to schedule a family photo session for this holiday card and an extra week to get them since we were so late in the first place. Plus, if they aren’t mailed soon, they won’t reach your parents before we visit them again anyway.” Pretty soon, you’re up to your ears in work and dirty diapers, and too tired to think straight, so you slap on some labels and stamps and grumble as you have to take them to the post office to get post-marked by Holiday Eve.

But, I digress. My goal is to get our son’s birth announcements out this week. We are still within the six-month mark that Emily Post recommends. While it makes me feel a little better, I still feel a little slow in getting them out. Plus, I would like to get them out before we see any more of our family this summer. It’s just time to get these things out!

So, I plan to hand write every envelope and mail them this week. There may not be a bunch of personal notes (only a few will have them), but it is commonly acceptable for birth announcements since new parents are indeed taking care of a baby and living on little if any sleep. There will not be any address labels in under thirty seconds, and no return labels from our insurance agency (man, those have come in handy, more than once). The envelopes and any notes inside will be handwritten. And it feels good to actually write.

I sign off, with about ten cards completed and a stack more staring me down. I will do this. It may take time, but it’s important and I hope it starts an upward trend where this writer once again writes her own notes and letter instead of just hitting send. What do you like to write?