This might not be aligned properly. And it might be blurry too. But it doesn’t matter. Today, our group needs this message.
We hope it resonates with you too.
When the going gets rough, the rough get writing
Back for the first blog post of 2013 and sadly, it’s not a happy one. I lost my sweet mom two days after Christmas. She’d experienced some health issues throughout November and rebounded for a time in December but unfortunately it was temporary.
My mom, me in the plaid and my big sister.
I’m not in a place where I have any kind of perspective or insights to share about this whole experience but I did volunteer to write this blog post because in the days since my mom’s death I have found that writing has become a lifeline. In the first few days after she died, I couldn’t sleep. I’d get up in the wee hours of the morning and was drawn to my laptop. I began writing my eulogy for her service, madly trying to commit every detail I’d miss and every memory I’d cherish to the page. I talked with my sister who said she was struggling to write something but for me it was the only thing that offered some sort of solace.
I did a little bit of investigating and turns out there really is something to this idea of writing through the grief of losing someone you love. Author Louise Desalvo explores writing as a way to heal the emotional and physical wounds of life in her book Writing as a Way of Healing: How Telling Our Stories Transforms Our Lives. There are grief writing workshops, like this one, offered by hospices and community support groups. Grief even has its own genre, the literature of loss as explored recently by the New York Times.
So I must be on to something.
One final note—I hope none of our readers ever find themselves in a similar situation with losing a loved one but if you do, may you have the good fortune to experience the exceptional support and love I’ve received from my fellow restless writers in the last few weeks. Their emails, hugs and thoughtful gifts have all helped to hold me up and I am eternally grateful to them. xo
Filed under Uncategorized
When Words Fail…
I’m currently on a self-imposed, unintentional hiatus from writing. After diligently blogging, freelance writing and working on manuscripts/querying for five years, I simply…stopped. Rather than experiencing a defining moment of Today I Shall Write No More, there were a number of contributing factors.
Taking a desk job (I won’t bore you with the details aside from that fact that it sucked balls) ate up a lot of my writing time and left me exhausted. I sold my house and herniated my back within the same week. I explored my inner woo woo. My kids went from seven o’clock bedtimes to keeping Letterman hours.
Things piled up and for once I put writing at the bottom of my list. And that was okay.
Over the past few months I’ve been jotting down ideas and letting them percolate until they’re ready to be written. I’ve quit the soul-sucking-office-drone-gig day job and committed to a few freelance assignments. I have no pages to bring to the Restless Writers’ meeting, but I did write this post.
I’m dipping my toe back in the creative pool. And the water feels fine.
Vive la créativité!
LS
Filed under Uncategorized
The Freelance Switch: Being scared and doing it anyway
I’m no stranger to freelancing. I’ve been moonlighting as a freelance book indexer and writer for the past 11 years. And it has always been mostly manageable. Up until now, that is.
I recently made the decision to leave a stable, comfortable and well-paying role in communications to focus on my freelance work. Trying to be kick-ass in two careers was getting too challenging, and I decided the time was right to choose the path that was the best fit for my strengths, skills and passion. Today marks the two-week countdown to owning my days.
The people in my network who know about my moonlighting side say it’s about time. I have wanted to strike out on my own for as long as I can remember. For years I have been gobbling up books like My So-Called Freelance Life, The Anti 9 to 5 Guide, Making a Living Without a Job, and the $100 Start-up. (PS: If you know someone with as much love for the “joyfully jobless” life, tell them to connect with me on LinkedIn, because I’d love to hear their story.)
I expected to hear a lot of negative remarks from my friends and family. Instead, I got the opposite: most comments consisted of variations on “I’m so jealous” and “You’re so brave.” The ones who are jealous probably think that working from home means I’ll be enjoying long lunches and coffee breaks with the PVR, luxuriating in impromptu naptimes, and writing dazzling prose while reclining in the La-Z-Boy. Those people probably also think that Sex in the City realistically depicts a writer’s life.
The ones who said I was brave have a more realistic view of the freelance life—the ups and downs, the lack of a support system, the isolation, the uncertainty, the potential drop in personal hygiene standards. True, there are many benefits to being the captain of your own work-at-home ship, but I am still pretty anxious.
Here are the kinds of things keeping me up at night:
- Will I forget how to act in polite company? I will probably swear a lot more than I do now.
- Will I go a little stir-crazy? Granted, I already talk to my cats when I’m on a deadline, but what if they start talking back?
- Will my lazy side turn out to be my dominant side? I confess to already being a champion napper, and it is very easy for me to be busy doing absolutely nothing.
- Will easy access to the fridge make even my comfiest yoga pants feel tight? Note that said fridge is often filled with tasty pastries, sauces made with real butter, and puh-lenty of carbs. (My husband is a pastry chef. Do not envy me.)
- Will I be able to motivate myself to be successful? Every decision will be my own, and success or failure will be up to me.
Despite all these fears and anxieties, some more serious than others, I am still making the leap. Interested in hearing how it turns out? Watch for more posts to come with the scoop on what it’s like to make the freelance switch.
Maria
Filed under Freelancing, Starting up
Confession Time
I dumped the entire contents of my purse on the floor of my doctor’s waiting room this week. Embarrassing? Yes. But there was a silver lining. While I was crawling on the ground (in a skirt!) gathering up the little pieces of my life, I made a few choice discoveries, including a $50 gift card for The Bay that was MIA since last Christmas and the head of my son’s much-coveted Darth Vader Lego figurine. Better than this though, I also found my ideas—long-forgotten writing ideas for book plots and characters that I’d jotted down on the back of receipts and sticky notes.
I have a habit of doing this. If you came to my house, you would find more of the same random notes on my bedside table, my phone, my laptop and in the back of my agenda for work.
This system for organizing my writing ideas is about as effective as it sounds – chaotic and unreliable. My notes, if I even remember that I’ve made them, are never where I think they should be when I want them. In fact, right now I am leafing through my agenda in search of a bright yellow sticky note that had some great ideas on it for this blog post. Ah, actually found it—crumpled at the bottom of the bag I cart back and forth to work every day.
Clearly, I am in need of some sort of system to help organize my writing.
I turned to my fellow Restless Writers to see how they keep track of their projects.
Maria wondered if a binder qualifies as a system—I say yes. In her binder Maria says she keeps hard copies organized according to the working title of the piece, including previous versions, all dated. Beckie relies on file folders, storing notes and papers in folders, one for each writing project.
A quick Internet search tells me there is a myriad of stuff out there for people just like me. Programs like Evernote, Mindjet, and an eBook The Oraganized Writer that promises 30 days to more time, money and less frustration. There is even a mobile app Werdsmith, created for writers to help them keep track of ideas whenever inspiration strikes.
Do others have organizing systems they’d be willing to share? What works for you?
Filed under Organization, Trials and Tribulations, Writing resources
It’s Been a PITCH of a Summer
The Restless Writers have had some challenges this summer.
The pages and word counts have evaporated kinda like sweat. It’s been a summer of renos, indexes, puppies, and house hunting. Our meetings have gone down more like patio parties and opportunities to kvetch about our lives and ‘honey-do’ lists. But there is hope! We have all managed to share new ideas and bring the early workings of new-fangled projects to the table (along with brie and butter tarts).
We have pitches. Four of them.
Creating a pitch can be a bit like peeling back the layers of an onion. We all know a well-crafted pitch begins with a brief sentence that describes the book. So we started there, then followed it with character and situation information. We did this while taking into consideration three key story sparks and of course, the ultimate hook. We managed to come up with a structure that worked for us, while keeping in mind that we were pitching to each other as a writing group and not agents. We were pitching ideas, not complete projects.
And this is how we did it.
THE PERFECT PITCH:
- WORKING TITLE
- LOGLINE (i.e. one sentence summary)
- GENRE (i.e. YA/Women’s Fiction)
- WORD COUNT
- SIMILAR BOOK TITLES (or similar author’s style)
- MAIN CHARACTER (and main character’s goal)
- SITUATION
- CONFLICT
- DISASTER
- STORY RESOLUTION
Perhaps this is a template that you too can use while you pitch your new project to your peers. Try it for a few different projects before you settle on one. While it is a bit scary, it’s totally worth it.
Now the real work begins. We are about to begin plot summaries and outlines.
Our pitch of a Summer is setting us up for a fantastic Fall!
Filed under Getting published, Group meetings, Inspiration, Motivation, Writing ideas
Planning a writing retreat, Restless Writers-style
The Restless Writers are about to head out for an inspiring, tranquil, meditative, get-your-ass-in-gear writing retreat at a nearby lake-side idyll. What last minute writing ideas and goal-setting are we engaged in tonight? Find out for yourself:
Maria: Okay, the most important question: What should I pack? Is it super-informal? Dress up for dinner? Or casualence?
Beckie: Is that a real word?
Lori: [To Beckie] Casual plus elegance, duh. [To Maria] It’s a B&B. You can walk around in footie pajamas and rollers if you want.
Maria: I need to know how many bras to pack. I’m a planner.
Lori: The important thing to remember is that this retreat is all about writing. We’re all trying to get back into the flow. I know I need my writing mojo back. This day-job thing is killing me!
Beckie: I really need to buckle down, guys. I have projects pulling at me from every direction. I need to focus and just WRITE!
Maria: Same here. Now that I’ve decided which project to focus my energies on, I’ve got to keep the momentum going. Working through the pitch process as a group was really helpful. Now the real work lies ahead…
Lori: Here’s the real question: Is there Wi-Fi?
Beckie: Yes, according to the B&B owners. We are going to love this place. I hear there’s a three-course breakfast.
Lori: Honey, if there aren’t Cheerios in my sock drawer and I get to pee alone, it’ll feel like the frickin’ Taj Mahal.
Sharon: I wish I could come too…
Maria: Yeah, we’ll miss you! Just hang with us on Twitter. We’ll all be tweeting. It’ll be like you’re there in spirit. Maybe you can do a backyard writing retreat at the same time.
Sharon: Yeah, while dodging flying soccer balls and listening to an endless chorus of “mom, watch this!” I can feel the inspiration.
Beckie: Let’s pack running shoes so we can burn some calories while we brainstorm.
Lori: *snorts into her pomegranate juice*
Maria: That’s it. I’m bringing three bras.
Lori: I just hope I can find one that my kid hasn’t used as a slingshot recently.
Beckie: I get the Jacuzzi room. Called it. No erases.
Maria: As long as my room has a working mini-fridge and our stash of sauvignon blanc, we’ll be set.
Beckie: Hmmm… I don’t think there are mini-fridges. But either way, party in Maria’s suite Friday night!
Lori: Sigh… I’ll bring the ear plugs. And the SleepEze.
Want to see if we survive the weekend? Stay tuned…
Filed under Diablogue, Group meetings, Retreats and conferences
It all starts with a spark
When it comes to storytelling, I like to think of a quote from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland: ‘”Begin at the beginning,” the King said, very gravely, “and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”’
This approach to storytelling, however, doesn’t describe my writing process. Most of the time, it’s a little spark of a concept, a bit of dialogue, or an irresistible image that gets my fingers flying over the keyboard. If I can’t get the image or the idea out of my head, I know there’s more I need to do with it.
Once I have a handle on that tiny scrap of an idea, I can start working with it, tumbling it around in my head or on paper, drawing out the threads of the story. The characters, the setting, the plot—everything emerges from that one bright spot of inspiration.
I suppose my writing has always started with a spark—something that ignites the story and gives it the energy to move forward. Rarely does that spark kick the story off—and it’s hardly ever perfect. Sometimes it doesn’t even make it past the second edit. Its job is to act as the catalyst that gets me moving forward on the story.
American children’s book writer Beverly Cleary said it best: “I don’t necessarily start with the beginning of the book. I just start with the part of the story that’s most vivid in my imagination and work backward and forward from there.”
What about you? Does a spark ignite your writing? Or is your approach more planned and methodical?
Maria
Filed under Inspiration
Spread the Light
Do you like to write poetry? Are you on Twitter?
Consider joining in a collaborative Twitter poem Wednesday June 20, 8 – 10 pm EST, in celebration of the solstice. The theme, naturally, is Light.
How does this copoem work? Simply get on Twitter and tweet a line or two of original poetry. Make sure to include the hashtag keyword #copoem in your tweet so it doesn’t get lost. (If you search using the hashtag key you will be able to see what others have written too.)
Afterwards, the tweets will be gathered and stitched together – perhaps with an edit or two – and the final poem will be posted at www.karenkachra.com. Who knows what we’ll come up with…it’s an experiment!
Thanks to Tara T. @tara_in_canada for this fun idea and Karen Kachra @karenkachra for organizing everything!
Happy Solstice,
The Restless Writers
ls
Andrea
bjas
Sharon
Maria
Restless Writers 