Last Edits, My Personal Best, and Being Present…

The past two weeks have been a blur.

I’m in the last stages of editing my novel, The House, that is due out later this year, and times have been quite interesting.

It’s funny what happens when you reach a point of having to let go of a book and “put it out there” so to speak.

For me it’s a scary time.

And particularly so, since I’m self-publishing this novel. My first work, Keeper of Secrets…Translations of an Incident” a collection of short stories, was brought to print by a traditional publishing house.

Of Intermediate Regions, Hunger and Thirst…

There stands an intermediate region in the life and structure of a novel, that place between crossing the border of the opening and beginning and entering into a series of actions that lead to the penultimate center of the journey.

It lies between the edge of that vast new world of survival that constitutes the protagonist’s path of growth and transformation, the steps she or he makes towards achieving their goal. It is a land filled obstacles of varied sorts, and the ultimate crisis that manifests profound change.

This area operates much like the night before that big game, the minutes ticking up to giving one’s debut concert. For writers this can function much like reading one’s novel for those last times wherein we institute final edits towards bringing the work to its brightest hue. Read the rest of this entry…

Give-and-Take, Mysteries and Playgrounds…

Networking is an interesting and weird thing. It requires give-and-take.

In a world or culture so focused on taking, and amassing, the 21st century version of connecting with others can cause us to see some things about ourselves that are not so pretty.

The Internet is clearly a place where transparency is a plus.

You must give to get. And what you give has to be of service to those from whom seek to receive.

So how does one get into this mode of giving without worrying so much of what I’ll receive?

Of Perseverance, Remaining Open, and Characters that Embody Our Change…

Of Perseverance, Remaining Open, and Characters that Embody Our Change…

Perseverance in completing that first draft it the first act of embarking on the journey of evolution we undergo each time we craft a story.

Thus we focus our energies and concentration on towards typing each word so that we might complete each sentence, craft every paragraph, shape each scene.

At this time, we, the writer must not fall under the spell of judgment and self-criticism of what we write.

Our goal is to remain open to the words coming through us. We must turn off the internal editor and write. Read the rest of this entry…

Distractions, Passion and Showing Up…

Why is it so difficult to write sometimes?

Distraction.

It is the secret enemy of writers and authors that slithers in, most often unnoticed, when we have many things going on.

Ahhh, the art of multi-tasking.

Distraction presents an especially difficult challenge when good and positive things are happening for and to us.

Writers, like most artists, come to our work because we were not seen and acknowledged by our parents.

Well-meaning, and by no means Mommie Dearest, our parents held our well-being as their utmost concern when guiding, and coercing, if not blatantly steering us from pursuing the work we sought to accomplish as artists in our efforts towards attaining financial fulfillment by doing what we love.

They cared for us. Yet, their ideas were oftentimes the least supportive. And so we found ways of distracting ourselves from their desires and will to have us be more normal by choosing careers offering what they felt certain would provide a more stable and secure lifestyle.

Of Dark Places, Irrevocable Decisions, and Transubstantiation…

Of Dark Places, Irrevocable Decisions, and Transubstantiation…

The pull to reach the summit of action in a novel, or story requires the writer to look within.

More than that we must reach down into those dark places where fears, and hidden joys lurk.

It is here when connecting with those aspects of life that frighten us that we uncover the yearnings and desires that motivate and drive our protagonists and supporting cast. Read the rest of this entry…

Dear John, A Daughter’s Wish and Moments of Awakening…

My daughter recently stated that she hopes that my husband and I live to a ripe old age and that we die together, much like Noah and Allie in the movie based on The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks. My daughter had just finished reading Spark’s novel, now a movie, Dear John.

That’s the great thing about reading books. They awaken us to parts of ourselves, hopes dreams and wishes, and those held for us by loved ones.

That my daughter, not yet 25, could offer me such a gift I find astounding. Most children, and rightfully so, want their parents alive for as long as possible.

Saying this to my daughter, she responded with, “I can handle my life, take care of myself as long as I know that you and Daddy are together somewhere in the universe, even if I’m not with you.”

Of Clarity and Understanding, Guide and Map, Epiphany and Plot…

Of Clarity and Understanding, Guide and Map, Epiphany and Plot…

Reaching that point where the protagonist has made the change, we, as writers feel differently.

We see the world of our novel from another level.

Ideally we come to hold those dimensions of personality regarding our central character(s) come in greater clarity and understanding.

And yet this is also a place where we can get to know ourselves better as individuals, not simply as persons who write.

Faith, Our Personal Best and the Work We Do…

The hardest think about raising children is developing patience. Writing stories and novels also takes time. And faith.

Both processes ask that we give our personal best at all times. And yet to do both jobs well mothers, parents and writers need room to breath and reflect.

But I want to stay with mothers, because so often when we write we, and the world does not take seriously what we do, particularly if we choose to operate primarily as a mother, and a writer second.

Those of us who choose to place our writing second do so because I think on some level we know that we will never reach our personal best at crafting stories until we have nurtured our children to an adequate point in their and our lives.

This is not the only way to come to writing. This is our way.

Of Dilemmas, Alice in Wonderland, and Shifts in Consciousness…

Of Dilemmas, Alice in Wonderland, and Shifts in Consciousness…

There comes a time in every story or novel when the main character stands in the midst of her, or his dilemma like Alice does when facing Wonderland.

The protagonist ponders, How do present circumstances differ from my immediate past?

This place, like that of Alice in her wondrous, and yet frightening Wonderland, sits between the immediate past of the main character, a time of order and safety shaken by chaos, and the present moment of having begun the journey towards adapting to the change required by upheaval. Read the rest of this entry…